After careful consideration, we decided on lasagna.

I cleaned the eight or nine stalks of kale of its grass clippings (she warned me about that, too) and removed the spines, then set the leaves aside. In a small frying pan, I sauteed olive oil, garlic and mushrooms. In another pan, I put two vegetarian bouillon cubes with some water and olive oil and set them to simmer.

Next, I added the mushrooms to the bouillon to simmer. I chopped the kale into 1-inch wide strips and added it to the bouillon to simmer, stirring occasionally. Once the kale turned a rich, dark green and softened, I turned down the heat.

My oldest son, Arthur, is the lasagna king of our house, so he layered the sauteed mushrooms and kale in addition to the browned Gimme Lean vegetarian sausage, ricotta and mozzarella cheeses, spaghetti sauce, and lasagna noodles into the baking pan. He cooked it about a half hour in our imprecise oven (it's a Monarch wood-coal-electric combination stove circa 1945 featuring a thermometer in the door with useful marks like "warm" and "hot."), and let it cool for ten minutes before serving.

Delicious!

She has a lot to offer, and I am excited to see how it evolves. Read the blog and post some comments. 

Go Lockmom!

The top case contains the keyboard and the track pad, and it rests inside and slightly on top of the edge of the bottom case. The screen bezel has two little ridges in it that keep the screen from touching the keyboard when the computer is closed. When these computers go in a bag (like the bags that come with the computers when they are part of the MLTI...), there is additional pressure that gets applied to the top case by these ridges. The result is catastrophic failure of the plastic where the ridge touches the plastic.

I brought the computer in, and they took it without question. Quoting the Problem Description/Diagnosis  portion of the Genius Bar Work Authorization,

Makes sense to me! I left the computer at the bar around 12:45 pm, expecting to get a call tomorrow. I got the call at 2:00 pm, telling me that the repair was complete. Go Apple!

In addition to the top case, the repaired computer also has a new screen bezel that includes the camera. AJ reports crisper images from the camera. Another benefit for him is that the case had become wracked as it compressed, making it difficult to eject CDs and DVDs from the slot loading drive. Discs now glide in and out with ease.

It is important to note that this computer was repaired without question and without an Apple Care contract. While I haven't been able to find notice of a replacement program at apple.com, this seems to be the real deal, at least in Maine.

The Mikvah was a bone of contention between different interest groups in Portland: the women who need it for their monthly cleansing, the people who need it for conversions, the families who need it for kaschering pots and pans and other kitchen utensils, and the men who use it for cleansing prior to Shabbat and other holidays and festivals during the year.

My involvement in the Mikvah was a practical one. When the filters failed, I did my best to get them back in service. When we discovered a water routing problem in the backfeed system, I installed valves and pipes to correct it. When other maintenance tasks arose, I would lend a hand where practical to bring the Mikvah back to service. When the air handling system failed and mold overtook the building, it was clear that a more dedicated approach to maintenance was required.

Mikvat Shalom was organized by Marilyn Fried, then the Executive Director of Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh, on whose land the Mikvah sits. She saw the decrepit state of the Mikvah as an opportunity to build community among the competing interests. Representatives from Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh, Congregation Bet Ha'am, Temple Beth El, and Chabad of Maine as well as unaffiliated Jews from the community came together to take on the challenge of restoring the Mikvah and creating a center of renewal and cooperation.

During the dedication, Rabbi Akiva Herzfeld remarked that he did not know of another Mikvah that had the support of the entire Jewish community. I am proud of our community for having come together to achieve this goal and having created a vibrant and welcoming Mikvah.

Upon replacing the phone and restoring it from the last backup, the phone (now iOS 4.01; the backup was iOS 4, and the phone was OS 3.x until a day or so before the swap.) exhibits the following symptoms:

So, we restored the phone to factory new, and then synced it with her computer. 

Initially, surfing the web crashed Safari, but we wiped out the bookmarks and the cached pages and cookies, and we could surf the web. Yay! Although we could surf the web, we couldn't set up any email accounts. Boo! Google Apps (gMail, actually) claimed that the password was wrong, but I was able to setup the same account on my iPhone without any trouble. Quite easily, in fact.

I then removed all of the apps from the phone in the hope that there was an app that was causing the conflict with iOS 4. That didn't do the job. 

Out came another brand-new iPhone 3GS, and we moved the SIM card and began the restore process. Unfortunately, the phone was iOS 3, so it had to be upgraded to iOS4 before we could continue. Unfortunately, the phone failed the OS upgrade, with the ever helpful "Unknown error."

Moving the new new phone to another computer for restore, it failed, so we declared it DOA. Now, back to the one we got yesterday for another try.

After restoring it to factory new, we were unable to surf the web. So, now I have had three different iPhone geniuses poring over the phone, and all are puzzled.

Next, we take the new phone (not the DOA one from today, but the replacement from yesterday) and restore it to new phone state, without ever connecting it to my wife's computer. In this factory new state, the phone wouldn't run Safari! Now, we have at least a diagnosis: the new phone has some issue with its network hardware that prevents it from working properly. Unfortunately, between my wife and I, we have exhausted the on-hand phones, so there is no replacement phone available. One was ordered, and should arrive tomorrow or Wednesday.

All in all, we had three computers attached to several iPhones in different combinations for over three and a half hours with a diagnosis, but no satisfaction. Now, the new phone is back to its hobbled state, able to work as a phone and get email, but unable to surf the web.

I installed iOS4 just now, and was struck by two things:

This is in direct conflict with Apple's unbelievable letter to the public that the phone's problems are with the software that displays how many bars you have, and not with the antenna design. Come on, Apple, fess up and fix the problem. It's a sign of a good company that makes exciting products and keeps the public energized about its brand. It a sign of a great company that owns up to its mistakes and fixes them before they become a public relations nightmare.

Look at Toyota. Their recall problems over the last year are legendary. However, have you heard that Honda has had similar recalls? Sure thing, my Honda Odyssey and a whole slew of other Honda cars were recalled for braking and transmission problems. Hmm, sound familiar? The thing is, though, that Honda reached out to us owners through the mail and through communication from the dealer to get us in to the dealer and get the problems solved. I didn't have to learn about it on the evening news, and I feel a lot better about my Honda.

I believe that Apple's customers would feel a lot better about their iPhone 4 purchase (and, of course, future technology purchases from Apple) if it would take steps now to fix the phones and get new ones into the hands of its customers.

With my son, I did some tests to determine if we had the three elements of internal combustion: fuel, spark and compression. We had all three of these, so we turned to see which of the cylinders wasn't working properly. Pulling the ignition wires one at a time told us which cylinder wasn't firing, so we swapped the spark plugs to see if it was the plugs. The same cylinder wouldn't fire, and when the engine ran, it was backfiring. 

I pulled the cowling and found that our friendly mice had packed fiberglass insulation around the cylinder head on that side, which probably caused the cylinder to overheat and seize.  I took off the valve cover, and voila! There were the bent valve push rods. I removed them, straightened them, and put them back in the motor. I buttoned it all up again and it turned over like it was new.

The important question is: why did the push rods get bent? I believe that the mice and their insulation caused the cylinder head to overheat, and the cylinder must have seized there when we shut it off last. When the cylinder seizes at the top of the stroke, the valves will crash into it and the push rods will bend. My expectation is that the cast iron parts are much stronger than the push rods, so they failed as designed, protecting the innards of the cylinder.

I feel it is a good idea to put new push rods in there, so I got the part numbers from the manual and headed on over to Sears. Turns out that they closed their parts depot, and no longer carry parts. Customers must use the online parts service to get replacement parts. I tried to get them at a couple of local small engine shops, but they don't have the cross references to the Sears parts, even though it's a Briggs & Stratton engine.

So, I'm now at the mercy of Sears. It is sad that the once mighty and convenient Sears has been reduced to an online parts counter. I know where I won't spend my money when the time comes for my next tractor.

This release updates the Rapid Application Development environment to Flash Player 10.1, which opens the door for mobile Flex development. According to Adobe, some of the improvements include:

Adobe also released Hero, its latest iteration of the Flex SDK. Read about it here. It is intended to unify the development paths for desktop and mobile, and provides a single framework for developing Rich Internet Applications as well as desktop applications based on AIR2.

I am in the midst of creating a mobile application, and we have been complaining internally about how easy it would be if only Flex (Flash Builder) supported Flash Player 10.1. Targeting Android and Blackberry devices, we now can create one app using Flex and AIR rather than several different apps with different development kits. It is true that the player isn't ready on the devices, but by the time we're done with the App, Flash Player 10.1 should be widely deployed on Android and RIM as well as Palm and others.

MotionX GPS Drive features spoken turn by turn directions, but you must pay a fee to access them. The $3 per month or $25 per year access charge from FullPower is quite reasonable, considering the $10 per month from AT&T (discounted to $6.99 recently). The cost of the app is also quite reasonable, at $2.99 for iPad and $.99 for iPhone.

My Garmin requires periodic map updates, and I had purchased the NüMaps Lifetime Maps package over a year ago. I strongly recommend that to anyone who has a Garmin device. I had updated my device a few weeks ago, so I am confident that its maps are as current as they can be.

MotionX GPS Drive pulls its maps from the air via 3G or WiFi (if it has a connection), so if you have a 2GB data plan, you might want to watch your data usage come the end of the month if you rely on MotionX GPS Drive. Relying on cloud-based maps, though, make its maps theoretically more accurate than the Garmin's, especially as you near the end of the quarterly update cycle for the Garmin.

Operationally, Drive's interface is reasonable if a bit crowded. It has more options than the Garmin, and it features walking as well as driving directions. Other Garmin devices feature walking directions, but the C340 is intended as a driving only device. Drive can operate in Portrait or Landscape mode, and I recommend a window mount for anyone who will use Drive as a daily GPS device. I propped the iPhone on the dashboard near the Garmin, which has a dedicated charging stand.

The two systems began chatting at me almost simultaneously once I got moving, and provided similar instructions. While Drive gave me "get ready to turn" followed by "Turn now" instructions, the Garmin lets me know long in advance what's coming up, and then reminds me to "Turn right onto xxx Street" when it's time to turn. Since I was doing some in-town driving first, the "prepare to turn" messages from Drive got to be a little annoying, but they would be welcome in unfamiliar surroundings.

I intentionally left the programmed route to see how the devices would respond, and they both gave the same instructions to return to the desired route.

On the highway, I noticed that my iPhone battery was getting low. I had the iPhone plugged into my charger, and when I turned off Drive, the iPhone charged as expected. Hmm. This morning, I fired up Drive, set a route, and plugged the iPhone into my computer. Although I wasn't going anywhere, Drive gave me periodic reminders to get moving. While attached to the computer, however, the battery charged as expected. I will need to investigate this further, or get another charger. It could also be that the car 12V port can't push as much current as the computer can while charging, resulting in a net loss of charge in the battery in the car.

The position of the iPhone matters when driving. I put it in different positions on the dashboard and on the passenger's seat, and found that not all locations were favorable to GPS reception. While pulled over to take a call, for instance, the iPhone lost signal, but the Garmin kept right on tracking.

Background operation in iOS 4 is also nice. Rather than using the built-in iPod interface, you can use iPod to control your music. I am an audiobook listener, so I like having access to the chapter list in the built-in interface. Also, since Mail runs in the background, I was able to know when emails arrived that were pertinent to my trip.

Assuming that I can resolve the charging issue with the car, I believe that I could use Drive while traveling. The Garmin is certainly more battery-efficient, but toting two devices while traveling is a drag. I can't forget that I got the iPhone so I could combine my Palm T5 and my Motorola flip phone into one unit. I don't believe, however, that I'll toss the Garmin just yet. 

Visit the Audition page on Adobe Labs.

The prerelease is scheduled to open in the Winter of 2010. According to the page, Audition for Mac will offer:

• Powerful audio editing and multitrack mixing views
• Superior noise reduction capabilities
• Native 5.1 Surround support and multi-channel effects, plus other new effects
• Optimized audio post-production workflows
• Fast start-up, high performance multi-threaded processing, and parallel workflows

I returned to Phone this evening and then entered my voicemail password. There were two unheard messages from today, about which I was very unhappy. Moral of the story: be sure to visit Voicemail immediately after updating the iPhone, or you'll never know it when you get a message.