This Makes No Sense At All

1. You need to have the Chrome browser 2. Open Chrome 3. Chrome will show you a New Tab. Right click somewhere in the chrome area. At the bottom of the list, we are looking for "inspect".  If it is NOT there, turn on developer tools by left clicking those three vertical periods to the far right of the search bar at the top. Then left click More Tools, then left click Developer tools.  A messy bunch of stuff will appear, probably at the bottom of your screen. This is the inspect window . To get the inspect window off to the right of your screen, out of the way , find its three vertical periods near the top under the "other bookmarks" in my image, right next to the x. Left click it. The first line says "dock side". Left click the rightmost figure of dockside and it will put the junk to the right of the screen. It may still be too wide. Drag over the left edge until you see the two vertical bar move symbol, and drag the edge as far right as you...

Susan and I have different walking paces. We enjoy walking together, but one day a week I get to a long hike (six hours or so). I've got many options, local quasi wilderness trails on dirt paths, or city or neighborhood streets to a coffee shop at the appropriate distance. Rain generally sends me out on paved streets routes. But Friday was different. Last Thursday night weathercasters were having a field day. Nothing excites them more than a big storm coming. And what was coming this time was the Pineapple Express, an atmospheric river, direct from Hawaii and going to dump all over Northern California. Many many inches, flood warnings, Yosemite Valley was closed, and on and on. So, as an intrepid long distance hiker, compelled to hike on in any weather, I felt challenged by this storm. Friday morning at 10:30  the rain was beating on the roof while I donned my Marmot Precip rain pants and jacket, and stepped out the front door and rigged my umbrella for hands free hiking. The ...

People sometimes ask me what software we use, why not Powerpoint, etc. so I'm going to log my thoughts and progress in building our presentation for REI. First of all, the software. Back in the late 90s when I was dealing with Powerpoint in a business setting, it was really kludgy, a typical Microsoft product of the time. So, I am biased against Powerpoint, probably unwarranted for the current product. I Googled images on bad Powerpoint presentations - actually a lot of very good info on presentations there, but no ugly image I could insert here. When we started doing presentations around 2003, I needed some digital software that would do dissolves, play music, integrate video clips, etc. and found WnSoft's PicturesToExe , very inexpensive. It didn't do everything I wanted but the projected image was far better than anything I had seen. I've stuck with that product ever since. Judging from its forum participants, it seems to be mostly used by high end photography c...

Dec 2017 and I am putting Susan's new book, Healing Miles , out to Kindle. I assume things will have changed again in the Kindle world since the last book (in 2012), so I'm logging my steps for my benefit and maybe yours. First step was to copy the Indesign file that represented the final version sent to Createspace and Lightning Source (print on design companies). Indesign puts out a PDF file that would to to a conventional printer, or a POD company such as CS or LS. Indesign also can put out an epub file that is the raw material for the Kindle version of a book. I work with a new copy of the ID file, as some tweaks are made for Kindle. One is that some Kindles, and certainly most Kindle Readers read color, so all the black and white images and illustrations in the book have to be replaced by color versions. I'm setting the book up as text reflowable. This was the only method on the 1st kindles. Now you can do fixed format, comics, etc. But for a mostly text based book...

I picked up my James Beard Cookbook the other day, looking for his curry sauce recipe, which I had not made for several years. In the fold of the book was this piece of yellow lined paper with a handwritten recipe for rum cake. The last time I had made this recipe was maybe 30 years ago, and origin of the recipe long forgotten. We had a need for dessert to share in a couple of days, and on seeing this recipe I was fixated on preparing it. This is not something you want to share with anyone who might be fighting an alcohol problem, but outside of that, delicious, though calorie laden. I was asked to share the recipe, so here it is: No photo - we ate it before I thought of memorializing it. Rum Cake: The cake: 1 cup chopped pecans (optional) 1 package yellow cake mix 1 package instant vanilla pudding 4 eggs 1/2 cup cold water 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1/2 cup Meyers Rum (any strong flavored dark rum will do) The Glaze: 1/4 cup butter 1/4 cup water 1/2 cup rum 1 cup sugar...

Guemes Albergue Camino trails have been an almost annual event for us, but in 2014 a mysterious period of severe leg pains struck Susan, limiting her walking to a hundred yards or so for a while. Throughout 2014 and early this year, she has gradually been extending her distance, more thru ibuprofen and walking through the pain than anything else. When she was able to do nine miles, we decided we were ready to attempt another camino trip, with no commitment as to how far each day, or how far we would get. Camino Norte looked possible, with short enough stages so that we keep most days at 20 km or less, and a max of 25 km. Rest days would be taken when ever we thought appropriate. That's the background. This post is about the facts of the trip you might need to know. The experiences will have to be another story. The spring trip was in May - June from Irun to Bilbao. The fall trip was in Sept - Oct from Bilbao to Vilalba. On the plane trip into Bilbao for the 2nd trip, our c...

Walking through the French Quarter A few posts ago I wrote of This Ain't No Mouse Music and our Louisiana addiction that was displaced by long distance hiking. We've been restless this year, grounded from hiking, no walks through Spain or France. When we spotted a cheap flight to New Orleans, that old obsession beckoned. Five days. Arrive Weds midnight and return Monday afternoon. Our plan was a musical pilgrimage with days to be determined. A 3 day Jazzy Pass for $9 gave us unlimited trips on buses and streetcars (provided they came). Thurs 8:30pm Rock & bowl Chubby Carrier - did this  Fri 6pm dba Tuba Skinny       8pm Snug Harbor Maria Muldaur 8 and 10pm - did the 8pm Sat 6pm Three Muses Hot Club of New Orleans - did this     10pm Tipitinas Art Neville and Treme Brass Band - did Mulates instead Sun 5:30 Rock & bowl Bruce Daigrepont fais do do. - did this This all coincided with a few days of sun and an arctic blast of wi...