garry’s posthaven

This financial and trade embrace between the United States and China grew so tight that Niall Ferguson, a financial historian, has dubbed the two countries Chimerica.

--Chinese Savings Helped Inflate American Bubble in the NY Times

This explains one of the biggest trade imbalances of the modern age, and how we got to where we are now.

Time's a flyin away, and I think it's that time of the year to reflect and think about goals for the new year. Next year, we'll go back and see how well I did. =)

Leisure goals

• Spend at least ONE afternoon (Saturday or Sunday afternoon) every other week exploring a part of the San Francisco Bay Area that I haven't been to before. Blog about it.
  
  • Napa / Sonoma
  • Big Sur
  • Lake Tahoe
• Take the train someplace cool. Really enjoy seeing the countryside and traveling, but without all the driving.
• Go overnight camping / backpacking somewhere. Maybe in the spring, when it's not so dang cold.
• Watch more movies in the theater. Indie, foreign films that deserve our support.

 

Health goals

• Actually use the gym in my apartment complex twice a week. It's nice, and as close as could be. It's got everything too. Run. Lift weights. Makes food taste better. Might even live longer.
• Protein shakes with workouts. Work on those guns. LOL
• Sleep at least 7 hours a night. While five is the physical minimum per night, it sure doesn't help with critical and logical thinking. Sleep deprivation takes a toll.
• Sleep by 4 AM every night. Sleeping when the sun comes up sucks, and has become an all too common habit.
• Eat green leafy vegetables at least once every day. Seems easy, and hard, all at the same time.

 

Culinary goals

• Learn how to make:
  • Roasts, including prime rib, in the oven with great marinades and to precisely the right doneness (medium rare)
  • Beef rendang, curry chicken, and other southeast asian dishes
  • Indian food favorites, including butter chicken, chicken tikka masala, saag paneer, dal bhat, and naan
  • Sauces and reductions that have perfect consistency.
• Learn how to bake bread, pastries, pies, and cakes. Do not buy a Kitchenaid unless I can realistically justify the purchase because I'm baking regularly and/or enjoying it.
• Visit a farmers market every other weekend to stock up on vegetables and fruit.
• Don't buy from Safeway/Whole Foods, it's a rip off. Take the bus to Trader Joe's or the asian markets in Chinatown / Clement St.

 

Geeky/productive goals

• Write RSpec/Cucumber tests everywhere all the time. Behavior driven development works. Rails apps are so complicated that manual testing should be a thing of the past.
• Regularly measure user retention and track response to new user features. You can't improve it if you don't consistently measure it.
• Respond to email at specific times three times a day, otherwise do not go into reactive / multitasking mode.
• Log as many 50 minute hardcore nonstop coding times as possible (at least 4 solid hours per day). Take 10 minute breaks to stay fresh.
• Read Hacker News only once a day.
• Start a Rails/MySQL/Scaling/product design blog with friends. Blog at least once a week, something noteworthy and cutting edge that we're doing.
• (stretch goal) - Release an open source Rails plugin/gem that does something useful. Give back to community that has given so much to us.

 

Living Better / Giving Back

• Get a Flip Mino HD and start working on that family history documentary that you've been thinking about doing forever. Time is fleeting, and you won't be able to capture these important stories forever.
• Volunteer time doing what you do best (product design and coding) for organizations that need it (through Reddit's feedaneed.org)

Mark and I grabbed great gourmet burgers this afternoon at Joe's Cable Car in San Francisco. Delicious.

 And how's this for store design?

---
Sent from my iPhone

A privateer or corsair used similar methods to a pirate, but acted while in possession of a commission or letter of marque from a government or monarch authorizing the capture of merchant ships belonging to an enemy nation. For example, the United States Constitution of 1787 specifically authorized Congress to issue letters of marque and reprisal.

--Piracy (via Wikipedia)

There was an absolutely fascinating article in Harpers that I just read about the debatable morality of state-sponsored privateers during the Revolutionary War in the United States, and its parallels to today's crazy financial markets where privateers plunder our retirement funds instead of British supply vessels.

But the article, By the rivers of Babylon by Lewis H. Lapham, is entirely unavailable in whole or in part on the Internet... so it's impossible for me to quote it, short of typing it in myself. Harper's Magazine may be 158 years old, so I guess they're a little bit behind the times on this "Internets" thing...

UPDATE: Check it out on Gary's posterous, it's now online.

They got the mozilla one down, but they forgot the Webkit/CSS3 compliant ones.

Don't forget:

 border-radius: 5px;
-webkit-border-radius: 5px;

Steph and I cooked tonight and wanted to share the recipes with you! My part was easy, it seriously took 15 minutes. Here's what you need...

For the tilapia:
2 tablespoons pepper
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup of panko breadcrumbs
1 beaten egg
4 fillets of tilapia (frozen or fresh)

For the pesto pasta, I cheated and just went with Trader Joe's pesto.  =)

Beat the egg, then coat each thawed tilapia fillet with the egg. Mix the rest of the stuff in another bowl, and coat each fillet generously with the breadcrumb/seasoning mixture. On pie pan or cookie sheet, spray non-stick spray and place each fillet. Preheat the oven for 375 degrees, and when ready, cook for 6 minutes, turn, and then cook for another 6 minutes. Voila, delicious fish fillets in 12 minutes or less.

The pasta was incredibly simple too -- boil water in a large dutch oven, add salt and olive oil to prevent bubbling and increase heat, and drop the cappelini in for 4 minutes uncovered. When ready, separate from the water in a collander and sprinkle liberally with a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Then transfer to a dish and spoon 4 tablespoons of Trader Joe's pesto from a jar, mix and serve.

Can serve 2 people with leftovers, or 4 people about right depending on how hungry you are.

For the delicious Vegetable Tian (baked avocado, onions, purple potatoes, tomatoes and cheese), see Stephanie's posterous.

Tartine for brunch with David, Sushmita, Theo and Molly. Coffee with Jerry. Christmas play at the Cornerstone Church, and now Steph is making a baked vegetable tian, and I'm making pesto capellini with breadcrumb encrusted tilapia fillets.
 
It's raining in San Francisco. It's very much a Trane afternoon. We are feeling very adult contemporary.

---
Sent from my iPhone

[The Rain Song's] lyrics are considered by Plant himself to be his best overall vocal performance.

--The Rain Song by Led Zeppelin, via Wikipedia

It is the springtime of my loving - the second season I am to know
You are the sunlight in my growing - so little warmth I've felt before.
It isn't hard to feel me glowing - I watched the fire that grew so low.

It is the summer of my smiles - flee from me Keepers of the Gloom.
Speak to me only with your eyes. It is to you I give this tune.
Ain't so hard to recognize - These things are clear to all from
time to time.

Talk Talk - I've felt the coldness of my winter
I never thought it would ever go. I cursed the gloom that set upon us...
But I know that I love you so

These are the seasons of emotion and like the winds they rise and fall
This is the wonder of devotion - I seek the torch we all must hold.
This is the mystery of the quotient - Upon us all a little rain must fall...It's just a little rain...

My favorite thing to do is to improvise fried rice. Here's what I had lying around...

4 eggs
2 cups of cooked white rice
4 cups of brown/wild rice medley
3 cups of chopped button mushrooms
1 lb of grilled and diced chicken breast
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of white pepper finely ground
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
4 cloves of garlic, diced finely
1/4th of an onion, finely diced
4 tablespoons peanut oil

I heated my cast iron wok for about 5 minutes on medium-high, drop 2 tablespoons of peanut oil in, and cracked the 4 eggs in. Scrambled with my spatula, then removed from the pan. Turned the heat to high, and used the other 2 tablespoons of peanut oil and browned the garlic. Once the garlic was brown, I put in the mushrooms and cooked those down a bit until softer, then dropped in the chicken and onions. Then I added all the rice and other ingredients including the egg, and cooked for about 5 minutes stirring constantly. It came out perfect, and now I have enough food for the rest of the week.

As for the snow pea shoots:

3 lbs of snow pea shoots (man it was huge, but it cooks down a lot)
4 cloves of garlic, finely diced
1 tablespoon white pepper
4 tablespoons peanut oil

Heated the peanut oil and browned the garlic on high heat, then dropped the whole mass of snow pea shoots into the wok. Here's where it's interesting. My Dad always told me to NOT to stir immediately, but instead let it cook down on high heat. It gives the bottom shoots a darker texture, and then maybe 3 or 4 minutes in, turn over once and mix a bit. Towards the end, I added the white pepper.

So there you go-- It's hard/impossible to mess up fried rice, and snow pea shoots (found only at your local Chinese market) are a great veggie companion. And actually it's the soy sauce / oyster sauce / rice vinegar that really brings the whole dish together, I find. Bon Appétit!