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Remarkably Simple Blog
Up one levelTips, tricks and products we love
Hiking Wheeler Peak - Bull of the Woods Trail
My wife and I had quite an adventure climbing Wheeler Peak via the Bull of the Woods Trail. It is a very scenic way to climb Wheeler. Neither rain, nor hail, nor string wind could keep us from making it to the top.
Recipe for Turkey Chili
Here is a our recipe for our special turkey chili. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- Butterball or other whole turkey breast (you can substitute chicken as well)
- 1 lemon
- 2 medium onions
- 6 or so cloves of garlic, minced
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1tsp rosemary
- 2 cans of garbanzo beans (chick peas)
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 3 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 cans of green chile enchilada sauce
- 3 cups grated Monterrey Jack cheese
Preparing Turkey or Chicken
Add the thawed turkey breast to a crock-pot with 3 pints of water, 1/2 lemon's worth of lemon juice, 1 1/2 tsp oregano, 3 cloves of garlic, 1 chopped onion, 1tbsp fresh parsley, 3 tbsp butter, 1 tsp rosemary. Cook in the crock-pot overnight on low.
Separate the turkey meat from the bones (it should be tender enough to fall off of the bone) and set aside. Strain remaining turkey stock and set aside.
Preparing of the Final Turkey Chili
Add the turkey stock to a crock-pot. Break the turkey meat into smaller chunks as necessary and add the turkey meat to the crock-pot. Add the remaining ingredients (onion, garbanzo beans, garlic, lemon juice, cumin, oregano, ground cloves, cayenne pepper and green chile sauce) and simmer for at least 3 or 4 hours.
Serve in a bowl and top with grated Monterrey Jack cheese.
Twitter for Business: Twitter for Friends
A friend of mine's book that will save you time and headaches
Guitar Hero - fun for all ages
We recently purchased Guitar Hero World Tour for the xBox 360 as an early Christmas present to ourselves. It was a huge hit at a recent social for our BNI group.
Guitar Hero is a great party game. Multiple people can play. The average song lasts three to four minutes for those with short attention spans, and everyone else has fun watching.
I was surprised at the variety of people (both people who play video games as well as those who never do) who played and enjoyed the game.
The other thing to keep in mind is that there is absolutely no correlation between being good at playing the guitar and being good at Guitar Hero.
GARMIN Forerunner 405
Finally a GPS enabled HRM in the size of a sport watch.
Treadmill Running
If you are treadmill shopping, be sure to look for one with a relatively strong motor, a nice wide deck that reduces impact, and has fans. We really like our NordicTrack treadmill for all of those reasons.
Omnifi DMS1 Part 2
Setup was a breeze. I really like the unit and will likely pick up another one.
Sprint Mobile Broadband - Internet Almost Anywhere You Might Need It
I'm soooo glad I added a Sprint Mobile Broadband card to my mix of gadgetry. This is one piece of technology I use often.
Audio Options Throughout Your House
Sonos and other lower cost alternatives
HD DVR, Slingbox and Other Cool Video Tools
It is amazing how many cool video tools there are on the market right now.
Birthday & Anniversary Reminders
My wife and I both really enjoy many of the features of SendOutCards. One of the handiest though, has to be the reminder system.
It has taken more than a year to get all of the birthdays in, but it is very handy once you do. Every time we hear we missed a birthday, we go in and enter it so we'll be sure to catch it next year. I get an email 7 days before the birthday, to remind me to send a card or get a gift.
I typically don't have a problem remembering my anniversary, but it has been helpful receiving the email 7 days ahead to remind me to get a gift!
Our Bathroom Now Includes A Kohler Devonshire Whirlpool
It all started simply enough with a flooring project. Before we were done with the demo, I jokingly told my wife that she now had the walk-in closet she had been wanting, and that it included a sink.
In addition to the flooring, we ended up getting a new toilet and bathtub. After a variety of research, we chose the Kohler Devonshire Whirlpool for our bathtub.
I believe this product helps simplify life by helping us handle stress. It has a self-draining pump and has an option for a heater (Which I definitely recommend).
Migrating This Blog to Scrawl
Scrawl is a lightweight blogging product for the Plone Content Management System
SendOutCards Picture Plus to the Rescue
As the cliche goes, "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." But sometimes when they do, you end up better off.
LinkedIn and Facebook
After resisting all of the social networking sites for a long time, I'm hooked on these two sort of.
iPod Nano & Nike Plus Shoes
Can't wait to test this out ... http://www.apple.com/ipod/nike/
Actually, for my wife to test it out. We've got the iPod Nano and the Nike Plus shoes.
I'll post a follow-up after we get them up and running (no pun intended).
Jawbone Bluetooth Headset
Lots of buzz, but I think it lives up to it.
Attention all IR mouse users: ditch the dongle and get a bluetooth mouse
I really like my Dell bluetooth travel mouse. No messing with the dongle, just turn it on and go.
Battle of the Palm Treos (750W vs. 755P)
My wife and I have both upgraded our phones. She ended up going with the Treo 750W, and I have the 755P.
I really like the feel and shape of the phones. Both have the same exterior. They have a non-slip plastic cover and don't have an external antennae. The resolution on the screens is excellent.
I use mine as a portable video camera. It seems that every time our daughter is doing something cute the real video camera is nowhere to be found.
Summer Infant Night & Day Monitor
A video monitor is the only way to go for your baby.
Baby Shower Thank You Cards
Thanks to SendOutCards, my wife had fun sending out thank-you cards. We took a photo of Meredith, our beautiful little girl, and easily created fun thank-you cards.
We received a lot of positive feedback about how neat the card was, and the best part was that it only took me a few minutes to create a card my wife could use over and over again.
Hunter Ceiling Fans - they stand behind their products
We are definitely a Hunter Fan family. Every fan in our house is a Hunter, but we didn't start out planning to do that. We had a great experience with our first one and have really enjoyed using it.
South Africa and Sattelite Radio
South Africa has a lot of modern infrastructure. They have great roads and modern cities. They have pretty much everything we do here, except sattelite radio.
I happen to like sattelite radio, except for the commercials. For commercial-free music, they sure do have a lot of commercials. Despite that, I'm definitely wanting XM in my next vehicle.
Bluetooth - great opportunity but has a long way to go
Bluetooth has the ability to make our lives so much easier. But it also has a long way to go. My wife's Motorola Bluetooth headset was really simple to set up, easy to use, and has a long range. It is a shining example of one of the ways bluetooth makes life easy.
Structured Procrastination: An Interesting Concept
Structured Procrastination is a concept that can help procrastinators to become highly productive and effective people.
Palm Treo 650
I previously used a Samsung i500 before I purchased a Treo 650. It was a great phone, but lacked the usability of the Treo for sending text messages and emails.
I purchased the 650 after missing 10 calls one day during committee meetings. I decided I needed to be more accessible to my clients and business partners. The Treo has been a great tool for that.
I have a friend who has two Treos so he can talk on one and type on the other.
The 650 seems to be much more stable than the 600, has a better screen, built-in Bluetooth and a better camera. I'm holding off on the 700w and 700p, though to see the experience of others.
My Treo has been relatively stable and had not lost data or required a hard reset until I did a firmware upgrade a few days ago. Syncing my Treo is really simple now that I have a laptop with a Bluetooth card. It does take a while now that I have a number of files and photos on my Treo.
All in all, the 650 is a great product that does much more than I'll ever use it for, but makes the things I do often much easier.
Welcome to the Remarkably Simple Blog
I look forward to sharing things I've learned and/or found useful and reviewing new products and services here. Given my background in public relations and as a web developer, I will warn you that I may tend to prefer things with a high geek factor.
Guitar Hero III - fun for all ages
We recently purchased Guitar Hero III for the xBox 360 as an early Christmas present to ourselves. It was a huge hit at a recent social for our BNI group.
Guitar Hero is a great party game. Multiple people can play. The average song lasts three to four minutes for those with short attention spans, and everyone else has fun watching.
I was surprised at the variety of people (both people who play video games as well as those who never do) who played and enjoyed the game.
The other thing to keep in mind is that there is absolutely no correlation between being good at playing the guitar and being good at Guitar Hero.
