25 May 2009

Chicken and Corn Fried Rice with Lemon Spinach

I saw this recipe awhile ago on NPR's website.  I've cooked it twice and it's tasted pretty good.  I've altered the recipe a bit, though.  I used lemon juice from a bottle, used frozen spinach, used garlic powder instead of minced garlic and omitted the ginger -- ginger is expensive.

16 May 2009

Cracking Down on Downloading Music Illegally In France

I heard this piece on Marketplace the other day on downloading music illegally in France.  While I think it's important that artists' rights are protected, I'm not entirely sure that I agree with the method that France is using.  Summarily disconnecting someone from the Internet, without a court order, strikes me as a little bit draconian.  The idea of monitoring someone's Internet use without a court order also strikes me as a little bit creepy.  Comments?

10 May 2009

Bank of America and the Ransom

I got a brochure from Bank of America about their pricing changes, and I learned that if you want to transfer an IRA to another financial institution, they will charge you $50 (!) to do so. They shouldn't hold someone's retirement savings for ransom. Here's a link (to a PDF) for it. You should probably transfer the funds out of a Bank of America IRA before 5 June, when the pricing changes go into effect.

07 May 2009

Hiking Across Maryland

Last Saturday, I hiked forty-one miles across Maryland in the Hike Across Maryland.  We started at 5:20 a.m., when a school bus disgorged us at the start of the trail.  After a rock scramble at 6:30 a.m., I was at the second checkpoint (and had hiked 5 miles) by 6:57 a.m.  According to the statistics, of the people that finished this hike, I placed in the first quarter.  I was hoping to finish faster than I did (11 hours and 49 minutes), but I'm still pleased.
I've posted pictures to Flickr.  It's definitely an experience I won't forget.