The Apple TV a Guaranteed Disappointment

It's a slow news week, so people of course start talking about the Apple TV, not the Apple TV, but the Apple TV that will make everyone's wishes come true Apple TV.  Of course the problem being is everyone wishes are different, and if Apple did make a TV that met everyones' wishes no one would want it because it would be hideous.   So I going to predict right here and now, if and when the Apple TV comes out.  There be a dozen articles on how disappointing it is and that so much more was expected written before the first week of release is over.   

Last night I was on Google Plus and I was reading a post by +Kol Tregaskes about Google Currents. So I decided to set up a Google Currents edition of my own. At first it was fairly simple you can add rss feeds, articles from Epub, google docs, photo and video channels and social updates. That part was easy and I completed without much problem. Once you have everything set up you are given the option to distribute the content, that is where the trouble came. In order to distribute the content you have to verify that you are the owner of said content. There was no problem verifying my Blogger account Klandwehrs Window to the World or my Google plus account. This will only publish your public listings, so if you publish to individual circles, it may not be much use. The real problem came when I tried to verify my Tumblr blog. The problem was a tired user (me) and less then clear directions from the various web sites I visited. The Google Webmaster gives you a snippet that you have to place in your Tumblr template. The direction say to place the snippet after the , its not clear whether you are suppose to place the snippet after the actual symbol < heading > or after the < /heading > symbol so its between the heading and the body. The articles seemed indicate that the snippet went after the < heading > symbol, so I tried to place it right after that symbol, no go. Then I tried it one line down, still no go. After about an hour of working on it and almost ready to give up, I finally realized that the snippet went after the < /head > symbol, between the heading and the body. At point it gives you a url that you can give to your friends or post to Twitter and Facebook or Google Plus.   I am still working on it, but I like the idea. 

What's Wrong with American Business

My husband works for a company that manufactures nickel products including sheets, wires, rolls...etc for everything from airplane parts to generators.  Each week they have a Thursday meeting, where they set up goals and check on their progress, which sounds really nice and I am sure there is some book that tells management that this is how it is done.  The problem is the goals have nothing to do with reality.  One meeting they were told they had to ship 50x of one of the products, when one of them mentioned that they only had orders for 25x of this product, it didn't matter they had to ship 50x.  Which left half the meeting scratching their head trying to figure out how they were going to show that they shipped 50x, when the order was for only 25x.    Then one week, the upper management was mad because they weren't meeting a quota.  One of the reasons they weren't meeting their quota was because the presses and furnaces kept breaking down.  The punishment for not meeting the quota, was the company wasn't going to fix their machines, until they met their quota.  So the company answer to them not meeting their quota was not to fix the very problem that caused them not to meet their quota.  The reason for all these quotas,  has nothing to do with what there customers want, it has to do with what Wall Street wants and the upper managements stock portfolio.  The company is not serving their customers it is serving Wall Street and that is the problem with much of American Business today.

TiVo and Me

How not to do Customer Service by TiVo

I have been a TiVo customer since 2005 and am a big fan of the box and how it works. I am not a big fan of their customer service however. In the middle of October I decided to cancel the service on my Series 3 TiVo, I wasn’t using the box anymore and was going to get rid of it. So I called TiVo to cancel the service on it. The first thing that is irritating is they ask you why you are cancelling the service, saying your not using it anymore or your getting rid of it is not enough, you have to specifically tell them why you are getting rid of it (as if it is any of their business). Once I answered the question to their satisfaction, they then tried to up sell me to buy a Premier TiVo, despite the fact I had told them I wasn’t interested at this time. Finally they cancelled my service, however as I told my husband you almost have to get nasty to get them to do what you want.

About a week later I was looking at my banking site and noticed that TiVo had withdrawn $79.00 from my account for a termination fee. I wasn’t happy, but I remembered I had changed by contract back in July and it is a yearly contract so I accepted it. On Tuesday I got a letter in the mail from TiVo saying I was late with my payment and if they didn’t receive it with 2 weeks they were going to send me to collections. Mind you this was the same payment they had pulled from my bank account a week and a half before. So I called TiVo back and confirmed the payment was received, when I asked why the letter was sent out, the csr did not have a good answer, but assured me everything was fine on my account. I hung up the phone, thinking I was finished with TiVo. However today I was on my bank account again and I noticed my bank account was $76.00 lower then it should have been. When I looked at the history sure enough TiVo had removed $76.00 for the second time. When I called TiVo back they told me it was already set to be credited back, but it could take up to two days for the process to finish. So I now have to wait two days to get my money back, which by the way I was going to use to pay my cellphone bill, which will now be a day late, along with the fact if I hadn’t looked at my banking Web site and tried to pay the bill it would have overdrawn my account. In case you are still wondering, yes I am pissed off, what makes me even angrier is the TiVo box is a great product, but their customer service makes me want to stop using their product altogether.

Google Search on iPad

I am using the new Google search app to post this directly from my iPad. Writing within the Blogger app that is available through the app page. This is pretty cool. I hope that Apple doesn't mess with it. It is great for writing up the post. It is not so great for pictures and links, but if you want to quickly write something down and finish it up later

Poach Chicken, Quinoa and Spinach

Today for supper made poach chicken breasts with quinoa and spinach, ended up really tasty.  Take two boneless, skinless chicken breast and cut them up into pieces about the size of chicken nuggets.  Put into bowl and sprinkle with a little salt.   Take some plain yogurt and mix in some Red Thai Curry paste.  Add that mixture to the chicken, stir and let marinade for several hours.  Melt a stick of butter (no this is not low fat) in a pan or electric fryer at low temperature.  If you use the electric fryer set the temperature to simmer.  Once the butter is melted and the chicken a piece at a time, let the extra marinade sauce drip off and discard.  Cover and let cook until done about 30-40 minutes check occasionally.  Once the chicken is done remove to a bowl.  Then in the same pan add the spinach and let cook until done.  Remove the spinach from the pan and let it drain in a sieve.  Once the spinach is drained of the excess liquid add to the chicken. Then add the cooked quinoa and mix everything together.  Add a little red pepper and salt and pepper to taste and serve.  

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1-2 Tb of Thai red curry paste
• 1 whole stick of butter
• Quinoa (cooked according to the package)
• salt, pepper and red pepper to taste 

The measurements are approximations, I don't actually measure things when I cooked, so you may have to experiment a bit.   

Choices

The series The Walking Dead has gotten me to think about choices. In the series the characters are forced almost daily to make life and death choices . Most of the choices we make are much simpler what restaurant we are going to go to for diner. Are we going to go with the iPhone or Android. None of these choices are earthshaking. If we make the other choice in most cases it will make little difference. What happens though when the choices you make do make a difference. In 2002 Joe Paterno, head football coach at Penn State was told of sexual misconduct involving a former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky and a young boy. Joe Paterno at that point had three choices do nothing, reported to the incident to Athletic Director Tim Curley or report it to the police. He chose to report it to the Athletic Director , who then reported it to President Spanier. No one along the line chose to report the incident to the police.

They were not the only ones, reports of incidents go back to 1994. In 1998 an incident was reported to the police but was never prosecuted. Janitors working at Penn State were witness to another incident at the gym of Sandusky possible sexually assaulting a young boy in 2000. Again it was not reported to the police. All along the way men both in power and not made choices to either ignore what they saw or heard altogether or relabeled them as something acceptable such as horsing around. Had one of these men made a different choice at any time, they might have saved another boy from being a victim.  How many choices have we avoided making because they make us feel uncomfortable or it seems easier to ignore them.  The right choice isn't always the easiest one, but making it is the difference between being able to look one self in the mirror and not.

Honey that Isn't Honey

Lifehacker published an article that said that most honey sold in the U.S. shouldn't be defined as real honey. That it has been filtered so much that all the pollen has been removed. Pollen that may have health benifits and makes the honey traceable back to the sources. Which is extremely helpful in case of a contamination outbreak.   This makes me so frustrated.  Pure honey is such a great product. Why is there this need to improve on something that doesn't need improving.  Of course part of the problem is the consumer, who has been trained not to like something unless it looks perfect.  We need to try to remember that good looking food isn't always good tasting food in fact the opposite maybe true.  

The Fighter Dies

Late last evening Joe Frazier died.  For those of you who barely know who Joe Frazier is, he was a fighter, who his biggest skill was his determination.  He wouldn't stop moving forward.  His battles against Muhammed Ali were epic.  They were 15 rounds of war in a ring.  Frazier was the opposite of Ali in every way.  Ali was flash and speed, hit and get out.  Frazier was move forward and slug it out.  Outside the ring Ali was the consummate communicator, while Frazier was awkward and I suspect found talking in front of the media the thing he liked the least.  There is a song from that era by Simon and Garfunkel called The Boxer and the last verse describes Joe Frazier perfectly

In the clearing stands a boxer 
And a fighter by his trade 
And he carries the reminders 
Of ev'ry glove that layed him down 
Or cut him till he cried out 
In his anger and his shame 
"I am leaving, I am leaving" 
But the fighter still remains 

Baking and the Wandering Mind

I made oat bran muffins on Saturday.  The muffins aren't a disaster, but they aren't ready for a muffin bake-off either.  The biggest problem is they didn't rise, because I used two eggs beaten, when the recipe called for two egg whites beaten.  Which I didn't realize until the first egg was already in the bowl.  I have to admit despite their look they taste really good, although next time I make them I am going to add some raisins and maybe I'll actually follow the recipe.

I have to admit I am a good cook, but I don't have the right mind set for baking.  I tend not to measure things, which is ok when you are cooking, not so much when you are baking.  With cooking it is ok to change ingredients and to experiment, with baking unless you know what you are doing, experimenting can lead to a disaster. My husband who is an engineer is a good baker.  He is very precise with his measurements and he follows recipes exactly, That is how he thinks, he concentrates on one task at a time and the more precise directions you give him the better he likes it.  On the other hand I am the type of person who likes to do three things at the same time. I want general directions and then let me take over from there.  The more precise the directions the more I feel boxed in and the more I am likely to rebel

Bean Soup Today

A Rainy fall Monday
Bean Soup today.

 No light summer Soup today

 A heart Bean Soup, thick and creamy

 Chunks of ham from the hock floating in it

 Rich and meaty.
 That's what I want today,

 The kind of soup that warms you from head to toe

 and fills your very soul. 

 Yes it's a bean soup day

Introduction

I am not sure where this Blog will go, but I am sure it will be an interesting journey.  If you come along I hope you will be entertained and maybe learn something along the way.