Live Writer

I’ve downloaded Live Writer to see if inserting items and adding Plug-Ins would be easier.  So here’s a test!

Hopefully I can add an additional blog – MoInk

Here’s a picture:

For a video, I believe I need to add Windows Mail so that I can log into Windows Live and upload a video.

Ah Ha!  One of the Plug-ins is Insert Video.  So I’ll add that and anything else that looks interesting.  Well, still asks for my ID (email account) but I’ve found it so, here goes: but it says no videos to upload.  Maybe I should read the instructions!

Ok, think I got that figured out.  That’s the part I hope is easier and more intuitive than WordPress.

Now to check out the Plug-ins.

Well, Plug-ins were not all that interesting, so I think I’ll try to get this into my drafts online.

Perfect!  The post was filed in drafts on both WordPress and Live Writer.  I published from Live Writer and it took the drafts off both lists and now I’m editing in WordPress – very very cool so far!

Banana Splits

I love the Banana Split Show, which shows my age.  Today I found a recipe for Banana Split Pizza:

Banana Split Brownie Pizza

1 package (19.5 oz) brownie mix
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese softened
1 can (8 oz) crushed pineapple, drained
2/3 cup powedered sugar
1/2 cup nuts
Strawberries
Banana
Chocolate syrup and whipped cream

Preheat oven to 375° F. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions. Place parchment paper on 15-inch baking stone. Pour brownie mixture on paper and spread into 14-inch circle. Do not bake without parchment paper or batter will run off stone while baking.  Or use a round pizza pan instead.

Bake 15-20 minutes or until set. Cool completely. Mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Spread over brownie crust. Drain (reserve juice) and spread pineapple on top.  Slice banana and strawberries.  Dip banana in pineapple juice to prevent browning.  Chop nuts. Arrange fruits and nuts on top of cream cheese mixture. 

Top with whip cream.  Drizzle with chocolate syrup. Chill.

Rare Journeys

Ian Baker, who wrote The Heart of the World: A Journey to the Last Secret Place, a story about looking for Shangra-La in Tibet’s Tsangpo valley, also has a website that “ offers educational adventure travel to some of the Earth’s wildest and most compelling destinations.”  That’s going on my bucket list for sure.

TBR:  

Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson. 

I read Speak last year when it was assigned in my son’s language arts class.  I also rented the movie.  Highly recommended young adult reading.  Check out the author’s website, it is extremely well done.

No Country for Old Men

After seeing the movie, I checked out the book by Cormac McCarthy.  Wow – it is just like living in the movie.  Mr. McCarthy received a Pulitzer Prize for The Road, another book to add to my TBR list.  My regret is not keeping count of the murdered since I wondered how many there were after seeing the movie.  I’m halfway through the book and can’t remember how many to that point.  There’s a lot of dead people in this story. 

Bonus info!  Brad Pitt reads the audio books.  Now you can have Brad read you a bedtime story.  You know…Brad….bed…story.  heh heh

Sit Down and Shut Up!

I picked up this book by Brad Warner a few weeks ago.  He also wrote Hardcore Zen.  He is from Akron (just down the street from me) and is playing at the Kent Stage (down the street the other way) with his band, 0DFx (Zero Defects) on May 4, the anniversary of the Kent State shootings.  I’m taking my son since the band is an old school punk band and Brad is the bass player (my son plays 4-string and 6-string bass). 

Through Brad’s website, I found KentZendo, a local group that has regular meetings for teaching and zazen (seated meditation).  Maybe I will check it out!

Personal notes re: Kent State:

• My dad worked there doing elevator maintenance for Otis Elevators and was at work the day of the shootings.
• I attended Kent for one year in 1980.
• I have applied to graduate school and a full scholarship at Kent in the School of Library Science.  The scholarship is for Youth Librarians with a focus on museums. 

Pangolins, Guanacos and Okapis – Oh My!

Pangolins are scaly anteaters that will roll up like a pill bug when threatened.  The scales would lead you to believe that they are some kind of reptile but they are mammals.  According to scientists, the pangolin is not technically classified with anteaters.  Genetic research has it in its own order, philodota.  And look what I found!  The Pangolin Band! 

Guanacos are related to llamas and live in South America. They are not domesticated like llamas or alpacas, but they are very elegant.  Another wild South American camelid is the vicuña, which has the most valuable wholly coat of all and are even more delicate and graceful than the guanaco.

The okapi is my favorite animal.  It is very elusive, only discovered in 1901 by Europeans although it has been known to Egyptians for 2,500 years.  It lives in the rainforest of the Congo.  What is fascinating about the okapi is that it has zebra stripes on its legs only and is actually related to the giraffe!   

 

If you go to the National Geographic Kids Video section, there’s lots of cool videos – search for the Rock Stars to see the yellow footed rock wallaby which has a ringed tail and can really scramble those rocks!

The Shakers and the Quakers

The Shakers are an offshoot of the Quakers.  They are an offshoot that has withered like a vine in the winter.  The members are celibate, so the group only grew by recruiting new members.  Not too far from us, Shaker Heights near Cleveland was originally founded by the Shakers.  A Maine community has a handful of Shakers today.  You may be most familiar with Shaker furniture, which is known by its simplistic design:

But, of course, that is not all!  You can find The Shakers and Quakers everywhere!  Plainfield High School’s newspaper is titled Quaker Shaker.  Cal State’s Fullerton Theatre department had Shakers, Quakers and an all-female cast last month.  And the best, saved for last – Shakers and Quakers, who, according to their MySpace, have a large library of Funk, Latin, Latin-Funk, Swing, Jazz, Big Band, Island, and Rock music…”  They “…are a 12 member ensemble consisting of Drums, Guitar, Bass Guitar, 3 Saxophones, 3 Trumpets, and 3 Trombones.”  Go check out their awesome sound!

UPDATE - I forgot to include the fact that there is a Quaker Meeting House two blocks from our house!

Writers, writers, writers

More biography neighbors! 

SHAKESPEARE  to the left of me, SHELDON to the right, here I am – stuck in the middle with….

TUPAC SHAKUR

Like Shakespeare and Sheldon, Shakur was a prolific writer including a book of poetry.  In reading about him, I found the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Also, I found that Sidney Sheldon wrote for I Dream of Jeannie and The Patty Duke Show and started writing novels after the age of 50 – wow.  There’s two ends of the life success spectrum – Tupac with early success, early death and lots of posthumous success; and Sheldon with early success in being a playwright and screenwriter followed by later life novelist success.  Then, of course the entire success spectrum inhabited by Mr. Shakespeare. 

This first paragraph of Nicholas Rowe’s The Life of Mr. William Shakespeare is a delightful description of why a biography:

[1]
IT seems to be a kind of Respect due to the Memory of Excellent Men, especially of those whom their Wit and Learning have made Famous, to deliver some Account of themselves, as well as their Works, to Posterity. For this Reason, how fond do we see some People of discovering any little Personal Story of the great Men of Antiquity, their Families, the common Accidents of their Lives, and even their Shape, Make and Features have been the Subject of critical Enquiries. How trifling soever this Curiosity may seem to be, it is certainly very Natural; and we are hardly satisfy’d with an Account of any remarkable Person, ’till we have heard him describ’d even to the very Cloaths he wears. As for what relates to Men of Letters, the knowledge of an Author may sometimes conduce to the better understanding his Book: And tho’ the Works of Mr. Shakespear may seem to many not to want a Comment, yet I fancy some little Account of the Man himself may not be thought improper to go along with them.

We saw a great satire of Shakespeare called The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) at The Kent Stage.  Check out the Othello Rap:

More Biography Neighbors

Today, while shelving a Churchill biography, I noticed Agatha Christie to the left and Kevin Clash to the right.  Who is Kevin Clash?  (you ask, as did I)  He is Elmo!  Yes – red, furry, adorable Elmo.  His autobiography is titled My Life as a Furry Red Monster – What being Elmo has taught me about life, love and laughing out loud.