Happy Halloween!!!
I just downloaded a new app for my iPhone called Instagram, above are four shots of our jack ‘o lantern from it.
Not a lot of treat or treaters this year. Maybe because the World Series is on and the Giants are winning 4-0… So far we have only gotten 14 kids at our door, but several of them posed with our jack ‘o lantern to take pictures :)
I want to cook a Curry dish, but my Mom can’t eat spicy foods. Is there such a thing as non-spicy Curry (since I’ve only seen Curry that is spicy)?
Anyone have any recipes?
I have a spare 500GB SATA hard drive that I’m not using, so I decided to replace the 250GB internal hard drive. I bought the 500GB hard drive a while back to try to fix my old Mac mini, but I never got it to work again, so I gave up.
For reference, I’m using the article “Simple Hard Drive Cloning/Backup with Carbon Copy Cloner” for step by step directions:
First step was to get a 2.5″ Hard Drive Enclosure so I can clone my existing MacBook internal hard drive to the new one. I got a cheap Vantec NexStar TX 2.5-Inch SATA to USB 2.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure from Amazon for under $10. Once I got this in the mail. I installed the new 500GB drive into it, plugged it into my MacBook and formatted it.
Next, I download the Carbon Copy Cloner app to clone my existing drive onto the new one.
After more than 3 hours of copying files over, I shut down the MacBook, opened the back panel and unscrewed the internal hard drive. I then swtiched it with the new drive… powered it on… and it booted up with everything pretty much the same. The only big difference was that I have way more hard drive space.
Now, I’ll keep the original hard drive (in the USB hard drive enclosure) for a couple months, just in case something goes wrong with the new drive.
We got our first frost advisory this evening, so I took the two one-gallon pots of Pineapples I have in the backyard and placed them in the patio for a little bit of protection. It was 42°F When I went outside.
A few weeks I discovered a new Canon EOS DSLR—the Canon EOS 60D—with an articulating screen, which I’ve been waiting for!!! It was rumored back in January 2010, and was released in late August, but I just hear about it a few weeks ago (where have I been?).
Screenshot taken from Canon’s site.
I went to Best Buy to check it out and it is much bigger than my existing Canon Rebel XSi… I was hoping Canon would have a Rebel with an articulating screen, but I guess they never did release one.
After seeing the 60D I wanted to get it, but I didn’t want to make an impulse buy. So I’ve been doing research and reading reviews and I decided that I’m going for it… I ordered some Amazon Gift Cards from Wells Fargo Gift Card Mall (so I’ll get 3x the points) to cover the cost and I’m just waiting for those in the mail to place my Amazon order.
I was initally just going to get the 60D with the kit lens (18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS UD Standard Zoom Lens) which is currently $1,267. But I’ve also wanted a f/2.8 lens for a while now and had the Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8 SP XR ZL Di LD Aspherical (IF) on my Wish List. So I may just get the 60D body only for $1,100 + the Tamron for $499… Hmm, a $332 difference. I’ll have to think about this…
On a side note. As I was looking for Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 reviews on YouTube, I discovered a photographer’s channel that has a lot of good tips. Check out Dom Bower’s Channel and Dom Bower Photo’s Channel on YouTube. He also has a blog.
I planted more seeds into Jiffy Peat Pellets (4 each):
– Swiss Chard ‘Green Lucullus’ 
– Kale ‘Red Russian’ (G2/2010) – Seeds collected from this year’s plants
– Cilantro/Coriander (G2/2010) – Seeds collected from this year’s plants
– Kailaan ‘Blue Star’ (Chinese Kale/Chinese Broccoli)
– Spinach ‘Bloomsdale Savoy’
– Spinach ‘Correnta Hybrid’
I read that Spinach and Cilantro can be grown in the fall/winter/spring in free-free zones, so I’m going to try to grow them this fall/winter and see how well they do. I always though these two were summer plants.
I was browsing Burpee’s website and saw a chartreuse-green Hippeastrum called Evergreen.
I’m putting this on my wish-list.
Here’s more info on Dave’s Garden.
Just a few days after sowing, the Dinosaur and White Russian Kales are sprouting.
I also found some Super Sugar Snap Peas seeds as wells as Sweet Pea ‘Early Gigantea Mixed Colors’ seeds as OSH in El Cerrito.
I soaked 16 Snap Peas and 12 Sweet Peas seeds in water and will plant them out either Monday or Tuesday.