Day 14 - Songs from my Childhood

Jeez. I'm not so much a music person, but I'll give it a try...

Used to love this song, yes sir yes sir. It was awesome.

My parents used to sing this to me while giving me a backrub. It still makes me feel nice and warm when I hear it.

Day 13 - Whatever tickles your fancy

Hmmm...I don't know. I'm at a loss of what to write about...I guess I'm just excited about where life is going to go next. I'm making plans, getting things ready, and starting the next stage of my life, I think. I have no idea where I'll be in 2 years, and I love that! San Francisco, Australia, New Zealand, England...all these places I'll get to live...so awesome. I really can't wait to get out and go places. I'm going to make a pledge to myself to try and do something cool every weekend.

Day 12 - A Self-Portrait.

I'm shit at drawing.

Day 11 - Share your favorite recipe

I'm not much of a cook, though I really do enjoy cooking. My favorite style, however, doesn't follow a recipe--instead, I just try to experiment with different flavors and see what happens. Usually, the result is god-awful. Here's a simple one that I enjoy, though:

Roast Duck and Potatoes

Ingredients

• 1 duck
• Some potatoes. 4 is probably okay.
• Salt, pepper
• Rosemary, any other spices you want. Cumin sounds nice, I don't know. Curry powder might work as well.

Recipe

1. Clean and wash the duck. Rub salt and pepper into the skin.
2. Place duck on a rack above a baking pan
3. Roast duck in the oven until done. I think around 300° Farenheit for...an hour per pound, maybe? I really don't know. Maybe it's just an hour all around. Oh well, google it. Or find the instructions on the wrapping the duck comes in.
4. After putting the duck in, cut the potatoes into cubes (eights or smaller) and cover with salt, pepper, and rosemary/whatever other spice.
5. Allow them to roast. Again, I don't know how long. The normal amount.
6. Once it's all done, enjoy!

I like duck a lot. This recipe's gone quite badly in the past, so be careful about how you cook it.

Day 10 - A letter to the person you hate the most or who caused you the most pain

This one's hard. I don't really feel like I hate anyone...there's not really a standout for the causing-me-pain thing either. I'll do the one I can think of but...it's really not too long. It's all I can think to say to this person. Anyway...

Dear...you,

You could have...TOLD me first. No matter, though.

Day 9 - List some of your favorite bloggers

Hmmm...I'm not too hip on the ol' blogosphere, so I'll take a very liberal definition of "blogger" to include...well, essentially any website with an RSS feed :-). This includes podcasts, etc. So...here we go.

• Being Rubbish at This Thing Called Life by Laura Day - this is a given! She's my favorite blogger...though she could update once or twice <coughcoughcough>!!
• Joel on Software by Joel Spasky - Joel on Software. Kinda a must for any software engineer. I find myself being directed to his posts so often (and reading his thoroughly entertaining Mercurial tutorial--which, by the way, completely converted me from my old-fashioned SVN tastes) that I figure I should include him here. His insights on software management and design are entertaining and very accurate.
• Pharyngula by PZ Myers - A very interesting science blog by PZ Myers, a biology professor. He writes not only on science, but primarily on critical thinking and fighting pseudoscientific thought. Living in the deep South, his skeptical perspective can be a refresher.

I'll also include some podcasts I quite enjoy:

• Stuff You Should Know - SYSK is one of my favorites. Each podcast--usually 20-40 minutes long--educates about a specific topic. The hosts, Chuck and Josh, present the show in a very accessible format, discussing the topic with a lot of humor and making me laugh.
• This American Life - A fantastic podcast/radio show presenting stories from all walks of life. One of the more intellectually stimulating radio programs on the air.
• Smodcast - The creation of director Kevin Smith and producer Scott Mosier (you've probably heard of Clerks), this podcast is...hrm. I find it hilarious. It's just about the opposite of This American Life...the jokes are base, but oh so funny.
• Radiolab - Radiolab is quite similar to TAL but more...I don't know. Arty? It uses some fantastic sound design--if listening to this podcast, make sure you have surround speakers (e.g. in a car or awesome stereo system) or headphones.

That's about all I can think of for this one...subscribe and read 'em!

Day 8 - Photo of you taken recently

This is a photo of me and my girlfriend Laura sitting on a very, very big chair. We were in Colorado skiing! We'd just gotten off the slopes, and I'd just been treated to a tirade of profanity due to the fact that a run was a bit too steep. Fortunately we laugh about it now (well, she does...I still have nightmares). Colorado was fun, but, of course, saying goodbye was sad.