The iPad 2 event from Apple is about to start. It looks like the update is going to be very minor, more in line like the update from iPhone 3G to 3Gs.

Also there are rumors floating that they might release 3rd revision as early as September. It would be a shame to spend $600+ now to find out 6 months later that your purchase is vastly outdated.

Here’s to hoping that we’ll get a good update today!1

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Pork with Apples, Ginger & Honey

Мясо по-валлийски мы попробовали в гостях у Игната. Нам очень понравилось! Вика любезно прислала мне рецепт, и вчера я выбралась это блюдо приготовить. Моей маме тоже понравилось! С фланом я не заморачивалась (хотя он тоже был вкусным), а просто подала на гарнир пюре и маринованые грибочки. Спасибо, Вика!

Для свинины:

4 отбивные
2 яблока
50 гр. сливочного масла
0,5 чайной ложки свежего имбиря

In: Food & Dining Tags: apples, cooking, ginger, honey, pork, recipe
Time: 13:30 Comments: 2 Comments Post a Comment

«Social Network»

We watched Social Network a week or so ago and I ended up liking the movie quite a bit. Aaron Sorkin did a great job as always. The dialog was fast paced and clever. Not sure how true the story is, but it made for a good movie. Jesse Eisenberg did a great job playing the main character. (3)

«Deadwood»

We just finished watching the 3rd and the last season of Deadwood and were left with mixed feelings. The show itself was superb. Engaging story, great characters — Al Swearengen, Seth Bullock — and acting. It has very little to do with being a western and mostly deals with politics and clever tactics. A lot of characters were actually based on real people.

However HBO decided to cancel it after a 3rd season. I don’t know what the reasoning was, but that left a lot of pissed off fans, us included. Basically there is no conclusive ending to the show as it stands. So my rating is for the show itself, not how it was handled or rather mishandled by HBO. (2)

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

AJAX Powered Photography Tab

I’ve been wanting to add some AJAX functionality to the Photography (Photostream) Section of this blog for some time now. The browsing of photos seems like a perfect fit to be done this way to speed up the process and not have to reload the same stylesheets, javascripts and static images over and over again.

I used jQuery (comes bundled with WordPress) to implement the functionality. I created an XML output based on the same very template that is used to display the normal photo page and the generation of the dynamic XML itself is handled natively by WordPress. I’ve ran into some conflicts with Prototype (used to power Lightbox feature), but was able to sort all of them out. Continue Reading

In: Software Tags: AJAX, blog, jQuery, photography tab, WordPress
Time: 13:18 Comments: No Comments Post a Comment

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Arosha — 7 Months

Arosha in his walking thingy, 7 months and half a day old.

Today Arosha has turned 7 months! Happy birthday, little one! We love you!

I’ve noticed that the days go by faster now, and with each day Arosha is becoming more and more aware of the world around him. When he hears a sound, he just has to turn his head and see what’s going on. It makes the nursing a bit more difficult (I don’t talk or even read stuff on the iPhone anymore while nursing), but I guess that’s actually a good thing.

Arosha still nurses often throughout day and night. The longest he can wait between feedings is probably 3.5 hours, but usually it is closer to 2.5. He does not like solid food all that much, but we keep offering it to him. So far he’s tried butternut squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, apples, bananas, avocado, peach and buckwheat. He could not get enough of bananas at some point, but then his passion cooled down a few degrees. Continue Reading

In: Family Tags: Arosha, birthday, eating, months, sleeping
Time: 15:44 Comments: No Comments Post a Comment

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Meat and Potatoes Pie

I made this pie yesterday, and it would have been gone yesterday, have I not wisely preserved part of it for tonight’s dinner.

It came out delicious!

I used beef since lamb is not easy to find in our neighborhood. I also used young potatoes (I think they add a touch of sweetness to the filling) and a bit more spices than the recipe calls for. I will definitely make this again! Mrs. Mansurov published an excellent set of photographs illustrating the process, which made it even easier for me.

In: Food & Dining Tags: beef, cooking, meat, pie, potatoes, recipe
Time: 22:05 Comments: 1 Comment Post a Comment

Friday, March 11, 2011

New Skill

Suddenly, yesterday, Arosha developed a new skill — now he’s able to get on all fours and he’s almost ready to crawl. He can get his knees under him and his arms fully stretched out. On rare occasions before he was able to get his knees under, but his upper body would rest on his elbows or just lay flat. He keeps swaying back and forth in this position now.

He has been doing this all day yesterday and, sadly for us, a good part of the night too. And in the morning again. At night I heard weird sounds, walked up to his bed to find him on all fours looking at me. He also started adding consonants to his vowels. Now he keeps saying ba-ba-ba-ba-ma-ma-ma a lot.

In: Family Tags: Arosha, crawl, sounds, talk
Time: 13:35 Comments: 3 Comments Post a Comment

Таня says:
March 13, 2011 @ 08:09

Растет малыш!
Умилило, что Ароше так понравилось новое умение, что он даже ночью тренировался
А еще я часто слышала, что малыши иногда задом наперед начинают ползать,потому что руки (или ноги – не помню) сильнее.
У нас Антошка научился как-то произносить очень громко звук А, так тоже весь вечер “тренировался” на разный манер. Так прикольно было ))

Alena says: Subscribed

March 13, 2011 @ 21:21

Танюш, спасибо за комментарий. Он еще не совсем ползает (даже назад). Я не совсем понимаю его моторику, но ползаньем в полном смысле этого слова то что он делает я бы точно не назвала. А вообще вот уже пару дней каждое утро я его нахожу в кроватке на четвереньках (и ночью иногда тоже). Думаю, еще пару недель — и поползёт.

Kara — thanks for your comment! He is still not too mobile, but he’ll probably get there soon. It’s amazing how fast they learn new skills. I remember how impatiently I was waiting for him to roll over and how it seemed it would never happen. We need to buy a door gate to separate our kitchen. For now he still can’t get far, but I think in a few more weeks it might be a whole different story.