ThePlanet Pain
Boom went the DNS hosting facility. Looks like my email and site were caught in the current ongoing drama over at ThePlanet.com. I only had my DNS routed through them but that was enough to take it all down. I’m not as concerned since DNS has a nice way to catching up once the NS server is back up, which as of a few minutes ago it was for me. Pretty scary to think of a explosion taking out a few walls though.
BeerMenus.com
I have a new favorite way to drink fine beer in NYC, BeerMenus.com. The site is very clean and easy to find exactly where good beer is at, especially the hard to find ones like my favorite, Grimbergen Brown. I submitted my new favorite bar in Brooklyn right now (Grimergen on tap!), Bar Tabac (on Yelp), so I’m curious how long the brothers take to approve.
The site was founded by two brothers who were frustrated by bad beer selections… I feel their pain, especially when out with my Dive Bar Friends (you know who you are).
My request would be an iPhone version of the site to allow for easy additions of new bars!
They are also having a launch party on Saturday, May 24, 2008, at Blind Tiger Ale House. See Facebook event for details and RSVP.
iPhone Home Screen Custom Icon
It’s so easy it’s trivial. All you need to do is save a 45×45 pixel png file as “apple-touch-icon.png” in your web root.
Wordpress for iPhone
Just added the iWPhone Plugin for Wordpress, that creates a really nice looking version of this blog if you are using an iPhone, like I am prone to do.
Totally easy to install and looks painless so far, took all of 2 minutes and didn’t require me to touch my current theme… beautiful.
Big Head Todd Video
As as follow-up to yesterday’s post, here is a video from the Big Head Todd concert, I was standing right next to the filmer. I don’t think I made it into the background sounds, but I know who did.
Big Head Todd and the Monsters
Went to see Big Head Todd and the Monsters at the Bowery Ballroom last night. Incredible show and as good as when I saw them live over 10 years ago (gasp). But then again, one of the benefits of seeing a Colorado band in NYC is you can actually get close to the stage. As you can see from the photo, I got front row for their show which is always a great way to see a band.
Second show tonight and tickets are still available!
Spaghetti Ice
One of the few, and most definitely the best memory I have from living in Germany for two years as a child is Spaghetti Ice. I have only seen this in Germany, and even there is it hard to find and usually doesn’t appear on any menus. When I traveled to the Stuttgart area in 1993 I was able to find it at a local restaurant but only by asking.
What is Spaghetti Ice you ask? The great creative creation that is Italian Ice crafted to look like pasta. The spaghetti pasta is vanilla gelato with pureed strawberries for the marinara sauce and coconut or shaved white chocolate for the Parmesan.
The photo above is from my brothers crafting and dare I say it was as good as the old country. I picked up the Spaghetti Ice maker from who else but the Spaghetti Ice Cream Company.
We used the recommended Bryers Vanilla which was fine but gelato works much better. And Hailey didn’t know what to make of it and passed, but Owen dived right in like a champ. Ruby also seemed to enjoy the bowl.
Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam
Feels like a season for new books. This one is not written by a friend but written about him! You see, he has quite the sorted past and one must be wary of Bronx residents that move to Virginia (hi Guy!).
Prodigal Son by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is being featured on IndieFeed as “Part 4 of a 9 part series, celebrating the release of
Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through 20 years of the New York City Poetry Slam by Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz!”
I already have a copy of the book and now just required the GLG signature to guarantee my early retirement to Tuscany.
Wordbook
Earlier this year I moved from Myspace to Facebook, primarily since I moved companies and much like IM client preference, everyone used Facebook instead of Myspace. I also never really got into Myspace on a daily basic, so no big change there. But for most of this year I have been pretty religious about checking Facebook and playing with it. It may be a company I don’t totally trust and think they need to do less evil, their social network is a lot of fun.
So finally playing with a Wordpress plugin, Wordbook, to send my blog posts over to Facebook thru the Facebook API. The installing of the Wordpress plugin was a breeze with a simple FTP of the files. Then all that was needed was clicking on two Facebook icons for the install. The only annoyance was that it wasn’t clear that the Facebook icons were more than just decoration.
Now let’s see if this posts makes it way across…
New Book: Sentenced Before Birth
A friend who now lives in France has written a book about her experiences with DES and trying to have a baby. The official release is December 17. The book is titled Sentenced Before Birth: A Journal About Infertility and Miscarriages: A Womans Hope, Faith, Fortitude and Resilience by Cathy Ramey-Johnson. More on DES from Wiki.
As a woman, Cathy never questioned having children. When the time came, she discovered with horror the terrible chemical molecule named DES. Cathy is a DES daughter, as her mother took it when she was expecting. Aside from facing some uterus cancers, DES daughters have tremendous difficulties conceiving and/or carrying a pregnancy, and when they are fortunate to do so, it remains a story of pain, despair and everlasting hope: a true crusade against fatality. This is the story of Cathy’s five children who never became more than embryos or fetuses. Legally, they’ve never existed, yet they have changed her life forever; they are her shooting stars. As of today, Cathy’s refusing to accept the fatality of DES; she will continue her crusade for motherhood.
