The Kansas City Public Library launched the “Destination: Anywhere” 2012 Adult Winter Reading Program on Monday, January 9, 2012. I plan to participate, although I may not read many (or any) of the suggested books. For the first time since I started following their adult reading programs, I saw non-fiction titles listed in their suggestions. I often need extra motivation to read non-fiction books, as I much prefer to escape to a place that you can’t find on any real map. I am most at home on other worlds, in other dimension or in completely imaginary places.
Of the fiction titles suggested, I now have motivation to read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (something I probably should have read decades ago). I am also intrigued by The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingslover, which also has a book discussion scheduled for Saturday, February 18th 2:00 p.m. at the Trails West Branch.
Whether or not I attend any of the events or read any of the books, I look forward to adding to my collection of adult reading program coffee mugs. If you don’t live in the Kansas City metropolitan area, an alternative way to participate would be through the library’s GoodReads group.
My daughter continues providing meals to her father (and I benefit as well). One of her suggested menu items happened to be stromboli. She called her boyfriend last night for the recipe, but he had a bad day at work so supper at the Moss Home quickly became leftovers. Rachelle called me later while I was out at the grocery store picking up items for today’s return of the chicken pot pie. She needed French bread to make her stromboli. I told her I needed a minimum of three to four hours to make that type of bread. I asked her if I could make some French bread on Sunday afternoon so she could make the stromboli on Monday. She agreed and eventually left to spend the evening (and night) with friends.
Monday morning, I reviewed the stromboli recipe via the King Arthur Flour web site. I placed the ingredients for the dough in my bread machine and added time to the dough cycle so that the dough would be ready for Rachelle around 4:30 p.m. I went merrily off to work and called her at 3:00 p.m. to make sure the bread machine started on time and that the dough looked like it should. She told me it looked great and smelled wonderful.
I got home at my regular time and the stromboli was already baking in the oven on parchment paper on the pizza stone. The house smelled glorious. Within a half hour, we took the baked stromboli out of the oven and let it rest and cool for ten to fifteen minutes. I sliced it while Rachelle heated up some marinara sauce. We each enjoyed at least two slices, if not three.
Later, after we’d stuffed ourselves, Rachelle realized she should have let the stromboli rise before baking it. Neither of us had thought about that and had not allowed for that second rise time in our evening dinner planning. Next time, we’ll definitely let the stromboli rise for at least a half hour or longer. This recipe is a keeper!
I am composing this quick reference guide (or workflow or flowchart) for persons who shall remain anonymous. I plan to refer them to this page (encouraging them to bookmark it in their browser) the next time I receive yet another request for how to get an ebook transferred to their Nook.
1. Barnes & Noble Nook Books: It is not necessary to click the Download button after you purchase a Nook Book. This is tempting, especially if you are sitting at your computer, browsing through the Barnes & Noble website and not actually shopping via your Nook Color (using a wifi connection).
(a) Press the n button on your Nook Color and select the Library item.
(b) Press the Sync button in the lower left-hand corner of the screen (which looks like two arrows chasing each other in a circular pattern).
(c) Any new books you have purchased will appear after the sync completes.
2. Non-Barnes & Noble eBooks: Anything you purchase from a non-B&N retailer, even if the price is ‘free’, will most likely be ‘protected’ by DRM (digital rights management), which actively prevents you from copying the downloaded ebook file from your computer to your Nook Color. If you are lucky enough to find an ebook without DRM protection, please skip down to the last step below. Otherwise, the only approved method for transferring ebooks you legitimately purchased involves using yet another piece of software called Adobe Digital Editions. This transfer process may vary depending on the vender and assumes you have downloaded, installed and activated both your copy of Adobe Digital Editions and your device (Nook Color) in that software.
(a) Download the ebook from where you bought it and make note of the file name (in case you have trouble remembering where your computer downloads file to – usually the Downloads folder). Windows may automatically associated the downloading file with Adobe Digital Editions, which is a good thing. Let it launch ADE after it downloads the file if need be.
(b) Connect the Nook Color USB cable to your computer, then connect it to your Nook Color.
(c) ADE should now display your Nook Color device as available in the left-hand navigation pane.
(i) To add the ebook you just purchased/downloaded, select Add Library Item (or press Ctrl+O to open) from the Library menu in ADE.
(ii) Navigate to the folder where you downloaded the file (in a Windows 7 environment, you may already have a favorites item called ‘Downloads’ available).
(iii) Select the ebook and click the Open button. ADE should now display the cover of the ebook as a thumbnail in the left-hand area. Or, if your view is currently set to the List option, then new ebook will be listed by Title, Author, etc.
(iv) Click the thumbnail of the new ebook cover and drag it to your Nook Color device (listed in the left-hand navigation pane of ADE).
(d) Close ADE and safely disconnect your Nook Color from your computer.
(e) Back on your Nook Color, there are two ways to find the ebook you just transferred from your computer:
(i) Using the Library application:
(1) Open your Library and switch to the My Stuff area (last tab/button along the top).
(2) Drill down to the Digital Editions folder and click on the ebook file name you just transferred from your computer to the Nook Color.
(ii) Using Search
(1) Type the file name or title of the new ebook.
(2) Select the ebook from the search results.
3. Library eBook Lending: Most libraries also use Adobe Digital Editions to managed the ebooks you borrow. Your library may already provide you with instructions and a tutorial. I know mine did:
(c) You can use the same process described above to find the file on your Nook Color (either through the Library application or by Searching for the file name or title of the ebook).
4. Public Domain eBooks (DRM-Free): Those ebooks downloaded from Project Gutenberg or the public domain section of Feedbooks, should be DRM free and thus will not require the use of Adobe Digital Editions to copy the ebook file to your Nook Color.
(a) Download the ebook and note the file name and folder location.
(b) Connect your Nook Color to your computer.
(c) When prompted (an Autoplay dialog box should pop up), click the ‘Open folder to view files’ option.
(d) Drill down to the My Files folder on your Nook Color and open the Books subfolder.
(e) In a separate Windows Explorer window, find the ebook file and Copy it (Ctrl+C).
(f) Return to the Nook Color window that should be open to the Books subfolder of the My Files folder and Paste (Ctrl+V).
(g) Close all Windows Explorer windows and safely disconnect your Nook Color from your computer.
(h) You can use the same process described above to find the file on your Nook Color (either through the Library application or by Searching for the file name or title of the ebook).
To manage all your DRM-free ebooks, I would suggest using Calibre, an open source software package. I give you fair warning, however, that Calibre is not as easy to use as it could be, but I have hopes that the user interface will improve with each update. I only recommend Calibre to people who are not technology challenged.
I missed this status update from the Lyric Opera last week (posted on their Facebook page on Friday, January 6, 2012 at 4:00 pm):
Please join the Lyric Opera of Kansas City to celebrate 20 years of educational programming this Sunday, January 8th at 2PM at Rockhurst High School. We are honoring those that have made our programming a success. All are welcome to attend this presentation and reception.
I also missed a similar Tweet sent out by them sent out at about the same time. So, Sunday afternoon, as Terry and I prepared to make home-made Chicken Pot Pie (first attempted successfully back in March 2011), my daughter woke up, read her e-mail and promptly rescheduled my entire Sunday afternoon.
And if I had paid attention to the Kansas City Star, I might have caught the article they published Saturday about both the Giver and the 20 year celebration.
Obviously, my performing arts radar malfunctioned this past week.
While Rachelle scrambled to find something appropriate to wear for performing (slim pickings since most of her clothes are back at her home-away-from-home in Denton, Texas), Terry and I got the first stage of the chicken pot pie completed and stored the results in the refrigerator until our return from the celebration. Rachelle and I traveled to Rockhurst High School (my first time to visit this facility) and spent a pleasant afternoon. Rachelle joined current Lyric Opera Camp attendees and alumni (she is both an alumnus and a past counselor for the camp) on stage to sing a song they all learn during camp.
After refreshments were served, Rachelle also had an opportunity to perform a piece from Così fan tutte. She spent a few minutes (before and after her performance) providing an update to the staff and students on what she’s been doing the last couple of years at UNT. If Rachelle wasn’t returning to Texas this Thursday, she and I would probably attend the world premiere of The Giver opera this Saturday at 2:00 pm.
We returned home and finished crafting our Chicken Pot Pies. We popped them in the oven and enjoyed them for a late supper. A good thing that recipe is very filling, as supper was the only meal either of us (Rachelle or I) ate Sunday.
Terry and I attended the local City Council meeting this past Thursday night. We opted to attend in person first because agenda item number seven directly affected us (see my previous post on the ‘no parking’ sign installed and uninstalled last month on Bambi Court) and, second, because we cannot watch the ‘reruns’ of the council meetings on Channel 2 since we do not subscribe to Time Warner Cable (we are DirecTV customers, at least for the time being). However, after digging around on the City’s website, I found their media center and discovered they had already posted the video from Thursday night’s council meeting for viewing online by the time I started composing this post on Saturday morning. Regardless, we arrived about thirty minutes early because we did not know how well attended the meeting would be. We also thought we would be searched for security purposes, but we were not (a sign posted next to the council chamber entrance stated the obvious restrictions – no weapons, etc.). A printed agenda lay before the sign, but no printouts of supporting documentation (in particular the two ordinances placed on the agenda).
During the Audience Participation portion of the meeting, we heard a report on the success of the past two year’s Kansas Sampler Festival. At the conclusion of the report, I expected the Mayor to ask if anyone else present had a non-agenda item to present, but instead he immediately skipped to the first agenda item, that of the presentation by Coffman and Associates of the results of their Site Selection Study for the Leavenworth County Regional Airport. Rather than repeat their entire presentation here within my blog post, I will instead refer you to the public website hosting all the studies (including the Site Selection one): Leavenworth County Airport Study
I was surprised (well, perhaps not) that the recommended site, of the three sites found feasible, happened to be just a mile or so south of my residence in Lansing, referred to as the Gilman Road Site. Probably not the most ideal spot from my perspective as a home owner (prop planes flying directly overhead at much lower altitudes than the large commercial jets that fly over to land at KCI on the other side of the river), but I can appreciate the positive economic impact this site would have for Lansing in general and Leavenworth County at large. Apparently, though, the Leavenworth City Council, and Commissioner Phil Urban in particular, does not agree with my take on the recommend site. He was quoted in a Leavenworth Times news item (published the day before the Lansing City Council meeting) that he ‘hated seeing everything going south.’ He further stated he would vote against the City of Leavenworth ‘being involved in building an airport at the Gilman Road site’ but would vote in favor for either of the other two sites (Coffin Road northwest of Leavenworth or Eisenhower Road to the west – see map above). The lone commenter to that Leavenworth Times article observed the obvious, but did raise some points of interest.
The regional airport for Leavenworth County is by no means a done deal. Two more studies need to be completed, but first a sponsor needs to step forward. A regrouping with the other municipal and county entities looks to be the next action item before anything further can proceed.
The meeting proceed apace soon after the Site Selection Study presentation, with the tabling of agenda item number three. I did not completely follow the gist of the conversation between the Mayor and the City Administrator, but someone vital (either from the LCDC or another local organization) had planned to attend but obviously had not made it to the meeting.
Agenda item four was quickly approved (unanimously) and we moved on the agenda item five, a request to purchase police vehicles (specifically two Dodge Chargers and a Tahoe). After a brief explanation by the Chief of Police (at least I assumed he was the Chief of Police … we were not formally introduced) and some questions and discussion from the Council Members, the item was approved (again unanimously).
The next two agenda items dealt with city ordinances (specifically numbers 899 and 900). Having worked in the legal field for over twenty years, and read many legal documents (including statutes, regulations, municipal codes, briefs, etc. etc. ad infinitum), I really wanted to get my hands on the text of the ordinances. I held my piece, however, since I had no real options as an observer. Yes, I could have stood up and inserted myself into the discussion, but I refrained (or restrained) myself as the Council Members were doing a good job of asking appropriate questions and stimulating debate.
Ordinance No. 899 was a rezoning action request for several lots in the Carriage Crossing area. Greenamyre Rentals owned the lots and needed them rezoned and replatted. Many questions and concerns were raised, including the ‘chicken and egg’ observation that replatting couldn’t be done without rezoning, but ultimately the action passed (with one dissenting vote by Council Member Andi Pawlowski).
Ordinance No. 900 was a proposed amendment to the Lansing City Code regarding the regulation of parking on public streets during snow and ice removal within the corporate city limits. Obviously, this is the moment we’d been waiting for. And although neither Terry nor I stood up to partake in the discussion, we were pleased with the Council Members questions, concerns and actions. While our two Council Members (for Ward Two) cast dissenting votes, the amendment passed. My concerns about parking in the cul-de-sac during the other ten or eleven months of the year were alleviated earlier during the debate. I was again shocked though by the Mayor’s assumption that the discussion had concluded, without opening the floor up to others for questions or comments. If I had felt very strongly, I would not have hesitated to stand and assert my opinion, regardless of any resulting embarrassment or impoliteness. The Mayor asked if there were any further questions, but then immediately, without taking a breath, called for the vote.
The meeting quickly wrapped up and adjourned soon after the last agenda item approval. No reports were delivered by the City Engineer, the City Attorney, the City Administrators or others. I made my way to the secretary (at least I assumed she was the meeting secretary since she appeared to be taking down the minutes for the meeting) and asked if the ordinances were available for review online. She said no, at least not until signed, but she would gladly e-mail me a copy of Ordinance No. 900 as soon as it was available. I left her my business card.
Terry and I returned home, sooner than we thought, the meeting only taking a little more than an hour to complete. I need to reach out to our Council Members and thank them for listening to their constituents and representing their interests well during the council meeting.
Our brief foray into civic participation ended on a more upbeat note than we originally thought it might. Perhaps we’ll do it again next month, just for fun.
As I pulled into the Hallmark Corporate circular driveway, I realized, with some dismay, that the Mayor’s Christmas Tree had disappeared from it’s featured spot at Crown Center. And as I walked one of the rider’s to the lobby entrance, the two Christmas Trees that had graced the corporate lobby were also missing. Another Christmas season packed away. No more twinkling lights on trees or houses. No more hopeful, joyful carols on the radio nor piped through the overhead speakers at the grocery store. I felt deflated.
At least Hallmark waited until the official end of Christmas. Yesterday marked the twelfth day and today is traditionally celebrated as Epiphany. On January 6th, we celebrate Epiphany as a Christian feast day commemorating the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ. Western Christians observe principally (but not solely) the visitation of the Biblical Magi to the Baby Jesus, and thus Jesus’ physical manifestation to the Gentiles. Eastern Christians commemorate the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River, seen as his manifestation to the world as the Son of God.
The Revised Common Lectionary for today, the Epiphany of the Lord (Year B), suggests reading Matthew 2:-12 for the Biblical narrative of the Three Wise Men:
1 In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: 6 “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’ ” 7 Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” 9 When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
an appearance or manifestation, especially of a deity.
a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.
a literary work or section of a work presenting, usually symbolically, such a moment of revelation and insight.
So here I sit, disillusioned by the passing of another Christmas season. I know that when I get home tonight, I need to pack away the Christmas decorations and dismantle the Christmas tree, storing both in the basement storage room.
Yet I am trying to initiate some enthusiasm for this new year. I continue to persevere in my quest for living healthier. Five days and counting now. It helps that everyone else in the family (including the dogs) has joined me in my Wii Fit adventure.
What I’m truly looking forward to won’t happen for nearly half a year. Rachelle will graduate from college in late May (or early June). Sometime between now and then, she’ll give her senior recital, which I plan to attend (in person instead of via live streaming).
Terry’s right hand is progressing well. The orthopedic surgeon saw him for a second followup visit this afternoon and prescribed some physical therapy and wants to see him again in six weeks. We’re still ecstatic the biopsy came back negative last week for cancer. Now begins the long grueling road to recovery and the welcome return of guitar riffs reverberating through the house.
I had trouble sleeping last night. I stayed up too late watching the latest installment of Restaurant Impossible and then couldn’t get to sleep. I think I finally dozed off after midnight, but that left me only five hours before the alarm woke me up. I snoozed for ten minutes, even though I couldn’t afford to lose ten minutes out of my morning routine since Thursdays are also trash and recycle days in Lansing. To top off a great start to my morning, I cut my finger on one of the cans in the recycle bin. So now I’ll be typing awkwardly all day thanks to a bandage on my left ring finger.
The work commute got shortened by ten minutes or so this morning due to a sick child of one of the riders. Before I hit the road and picked anyone up though, I made a stop at Baristas in Lansing to wake up with a mocha. It would not be good form for me to doze off while driving everyone else to work.
Chef Rachelle fought my favorite appliance today (my bread machine) and won the battle to create pita dough. Her menu for this evening included gyros (lamb) with home made taziki sauce. Simply divine. Don’t tell the Wii I had two!
Soon after dinner, Terry and I went to City Hall to attend the City Council meeting (I will post a complete report in a separate post tomorrow). Agenda item number seven directly affected us (search for my previous post on the no parking zone sign installed last month on our court). We sat through a report on the Kansas Sampler Festival and the presentation of the regional airport site selection study by Coffman Associates. Interestingly, the ‘prime’ site suggested for the airport is on 600 acres just a half mile or mile south of our house, between Gilman and McIntire Roads.
When we finally got tothe parking agenda item, I was relieved to see a good bit of discussion and debate among the council members. Obviously, the voice of the citizens raised in thier wards had been heard loud and clear. The ordinace (No. 900) passed with two dissenting votes. The meeting quickly adjourned soon after and I asked the secretary to provide me with a copy of the ordinance, which would have been helpful to review before the meeting. She agreed to email me a copy.
Second workday of the new year. Gearing up for all the projects slated for 2012. Busier (which makes the time go faster) and only one meeting (that went longer than scheduled, of course). Basically, I survived another day at the office.
Hump day (also known as Wednesday) is also double-punch day at Planet Sub. Since one of my New Year’s resolutions is a healthier lifestyle, I reviewed the Nutritional Information on their website before calling in my order. While my second favorite sandwich (the Planet BBQ) had fewer calories than my first favorite sandwich (the Super Hero), it had gobs and gobs of sodium. So it was a toss-up between the Tuna (without mayo) and the Roast Beef (without mayo or cheese). The tuna won because it was the lowest in sodium. Beautiful walk to and from Planet Sub thanks to the unseasonably warm weather we’re enjoying during this first week of January.
Even though Terry’s right hand is in a splint, WolfGuard will meet tonight to practice with the new drummer. We decided to skip a home-cooked meal by Chef Rachelle in the interest of saving time. We ate a quick supper at Mr. Goodcents (yeah, I know, two sandwich places in the same day). I reviewed their Nutritional Information brochure and couldn’t find a single sandwich (besides the veggie one) that had less than 1,500 mg of sodium. Way, way too high for my diet. The lowest calorie and lowest sodium item that appealed to my appetite ended up being penne pasta with marinara.
On the way back home, we took a side-trip to Dillons to pickup a prescription for Terry and grab a few items. We made it back home with plenty of time to spare before the band members started arriving.
As the band started rehearsing, I left to take Rachelle to visit some friends. On the way home, I admired the constellation Orion, the waxing moon and enjoyed the unfrigid temperature.
Now that I’m back home, I can wrap up a couple of work projects while being serenaded (several times because practice makes perfect with a new percussionist) of vintage Rush (Finding My Way Home). I’ve still got to squeeze in some cardio before slipping upstairs to read myself to sleep again.
Tomorrow is the final day of the Twelve Days of Christmas. If it was a Friday or a Saturday night, I might be tempted to host a Twelfth Night party. Instead, I’ll probably be attending the local city council meeting, since one of the agenda items tomorrow night deals with the recent appearance (and disappearance) of ‘no parking’ signs in several cul-de-sacs around Lansing (see my previous blog posts for further enlightenment). I can only hope an Epiphany of policy is forthcoming. (Feel free to chortle if you fathom my irony and/or sarcasm).
I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post the fantastic dinner my daughter cooked for us last night. She whipped up a batch of spinach lasagna roll-ups from scratch, including four of them without any cheese just for me. Exceptionally delicious and spicy (thanks to a mishap with the red pepper flake dispenser). I can’t find the exact recipe she used online, but many of the ones I found sounded very similar to what she did from memory. My small contribution to dinner included my home-made sourdough re-purposed as garlic butter and Parmesan toast. I also helped create our pre-dinner salad course with organic baby spring mix, red peppers, green onions and a bit of my home-made raspberry vinaigrette dressing.
I returned to work, as did everyone else in the vanpool, including the latest addition. First commute in the van since late summer when all but one seat was occupied. We left a few minutes earlier to accommodate the earlier work schedule of our new addition, yet everyone was on time for all their retrievals.
I ordered Rachelle’s contacts based on her new prescription. I also contacted the mail-order pharmacy we use for our most expensive prescriptions to update the credit card information on file for the auto-refill ones. Just a bit frustrating that I had to spend several minutes on hold, only to be told to call another number, which also placed me on hold for several minutes to accomplish what should have been available via the pharmacy website. I suppose I should be grateful that I spoke to an American and guaranteed his continued employment.
On the drive home, I realized the sunset would be quite beautiful, but by the time I arrived home (around a quarter after five), the sun had mostly set. I snapped a few photos with my cell phone’s camera, two of which I’ll post below:
I continue to explore the Wii Fit Plus options. I setup a customized routine to do every other day that includes a half dozen Yoga positions and seven strengthening exercises. All the Yoga stuff is new to me, although some of the stretches I’ve done in other fitness classes in years past (just not knowing they were Yoga-based). By the time I finished my routine, I was tired and a bit shaky.
I will definitely be too tuckered out to get up at three o’clock in the morning to watch for the Quarantid meteor shower. A shame really, since this shower can produce more than sixty meteors per hour. Of course, if I did wake up at that time, the clouds that covered the sky at sunset would (with my luck) still be obscuring the stars (and meteors). If I stay in bed, other astronomers may have better luck viewing the shower since the skies will be clear (provided I’m not planning on observing).
I plan to doze off while reading shortly. So I will wish you all a very good night.