MoviePeg
Filed under: Culture
Birthday for a cause
Dear readers,
I hope you are well and enjoying the summer! Today is especially beautiful here in Seattle.
I have two requests and an update:
First, I am inviting you to join me in making a difference in the fight against extreme poverty. I support a Seattle-based non-profit called One Days Wages (launched in October 2009 and has received national attention) and am trying to raise $5,000 to fund projects around the world that have an outsized impact on the needs of the world's poorest.
One of the things that I love about One Day's Wages is that the basic idea of many ordinary people giving a little bit each to make a big impact is so simple and powerful. For my upcoming birthday, I am donating my one day's wage, and am inviting my family, friends, colleagues, and you to consider giving a small amount (like $10) to help me reach my goal. If this sounds interesting to you, please check out my "birthday for a cause" page.
Please share this if you think it's cool!
Second, we owe much of our success to word of mouth and especially the phenomenal Yelp reviews that clients have written about our support (we've got some gifted writers as fans!). If you have written such a review, thank you! If you Yelp and would like to post a review, our page is http://www.yelp.com/biz/my-mac-hero-llc-seattle
Our update: we are moving at the end of the month to a new house two miles south from our current location in the Central District. Our address will be updated on the Yelp page when we do.
Thanks for reading!
J. P.
Clearwire 4G review
A quick note to share my positive experience with Clearwire 4G WiMax service in the 98144.
I picked up a Clear Modem Series-G on Friday night at a kiosk at Northgate Mall and was up and running right away and experiencing (at home) about 3 Mbps down, which is only about a sixth of the Comcast cable connection we have, but boded well for my office where DSL was barely delivering 0.5 Mbps (not a typo!), and the other options we had investigated promised to disappoint and cost a lot.
Brought it in and set it all up this morning and found that with the antenna next to an east-facing window (vs. north), that we were consistently getting almost 5 Mbps down/1 Mbps up. TEN TIMES faster than DSL for downloads and noticeably faster for uploads as well... for likely less than half the price what we are currently paying!
So, the pluses:
This service makes great sense when you are in an area which is underconnected and has good exposure to 4G towers. We basically are leapfrogging conventional and more expensive connectivity options. Bottom line: much greater bandwidth for less money.
Very simple pricing structure and friendly policies (so far as I can tell; I was quoted a $40 early termination fee--the cost of one month of service--for the standard two year contract).
The minor issues:
Since the Clear modem is in gateway mode and I am using an AirPort Extreme (Late 2009) router, I end up with the less-than-desirable double NAT situation when I have a guest network turned on. I will have to play with this a little more; I may end up using an older router to share a "public-on-my-LAN" IP to guests.
It's too bad that Clearwire won't send a rep out to a location so that you can measure signal strength and bandwidth prior to signing up, but I guess that's why they have the 14 day trial period. In my case not an actual hassle since it appears to be working out.
Sakura in bloom
Welcome, iPad.
The iPad is the internet appliance par excellence. It'll be fascinating to see how software will adapt to the new form factor.
Bulgogi (Korean-style BBQ)
A brief interruption to our irregularly scheduled programming:
Ingredients
Per pound of thinly sliced, lean beef—
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp rice wine (I use Kikkoman Aji-Mirin)
2.5 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp water
1 clove crushed garlic
2 medium green onions, finely chopped
1 tsp sesame seed
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
0. Wash hands well!
1. In a bowl, mix the sugar with the liquid ingredients until dissolved. Then mix in the garlic, green onion slices, sesame seeds, and black pepper.
2. Take a slice at a time of the beef and pat it into the marinade, mixing the sauce and the meat evenly.
3. Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight.
4. Pan fry, optionally with sliced mushrooms, which soak up the juices!
5. Enjoy with rice, kimchi, and your favorite beverages!
Here is the recipe in plain text format for easy import into some database-type app (I actually keep it as a "Company"-style card in my Address Book with the recipe details in the Note field).
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