counterclockwise

So staging is going swimmingly, and the liquid metaphor is very apt. Uncle Sam has given us a generous travel stipend, which has gone towards a libation-heavy menu at a raucous nearby seafood establishment. I’m as tipsy as I’ve been in recent memory. Believe it or not, this is a prudent use of taxpayer dollars. We have very little time to acclimate to our new Peace Corps lives and bond with our new Peace Corps brethren. The alcohol lubricates the social functions which will propel us through the next few weeks of hardcore emotional challenge.

Or, in more situationally appropriate words:

“I only just met you, but I luvs u guys. Yur *hic* kendred spiruts wif me.”

Next time I post will be from Paraguay. See y’all there!

South American barbecue, I’m told, is one of the wonders of the world. And I look forward to finding out about it; I’m a patron of those arts in North America as well. Today, for example, my mother, J, prepared a farewell rack of ribs in honor of my impending departure.

After 1997, when our family started shrinking, ribs overtook pork shoulder (also known as Boston Butt) as our barbecue course of choice. The current favorite recipe is one discovered and refined by my brother, B. For purposes of comparison, it’s documented below.

You start with pork loin ribs, which are meaty and tender, if relatively low on fat. For the first stage of cooking, you wrap each rack into foil packets with onion and several top secret spices.

The packet preserves the meat’s moisture, but allows for better smoke flavoring than stove top parboiling methods. It also saves you the trouble of doing a separate marinade step. You cook these over charcoal, of course.

When the ribs are approaching completion, you add vegetables (pictured here, sweet corn and vidalia onions) and place the meat directly over the fire to get a good sear on.

Serve with good beer, maybe some baked beans, and garlic bread.

Now how do you do yours?

Well, I’m running the full version of WordPress now, and vive la différence!

There are still some bugs to work out, and I don’t fully understand some of the new features yet, but I’m getting there. I’m sorry to say, however, that your previous comments are lost forever. I’ll do my level best to keep that from ever happening again, and I’d say our chances are pretty good. In fact, I’d say they’re better than ever. My favorite new advantage of using the full version is that my future backup files will be much more robust.

One thing I absolutely must do is give a shout out to Michael Hancock at the install4free project. This is a group of volunteer gurus who will quickly and cheerfully handle the most technically demanding aspects of installing WordPress with your hosting solution. These guys saved me literally weeks of baby steps and painful learning experiences. Thanks a million!

I’ve made a mistake.

I chose to use my web hosting company’s instant blog application. You see at the bottom of the page where it says “powered by WordPress”? That’s not the whole story. The other chapters go like this:

• Not all bloggers are technically savvy.
• Some of us are pretty much idiots.
• But idiots can pay hosting companies, too.
• Smart hosting companies make the blogging process close to idiot proof.
• In order to make a technical thing like WordPress software idiot proof, you have to strip out certain features. Simplify it. Dumb it down.
• That was OK for a while, but now I’ve hit a wall. I need more powerful tools, and I’m not afraid to be confused for a while as I learn.

So bear with me, and expect intermittent outages as I work my way up the learning curve.

Price of a very nice, high capacity, super ergonomic backpack if purchased new: $275

Price of same, used once, via eBay: $97 (after shipping and handling)

I’ve had one bad eBay experience before, but this certainly wasn’t it. And I do love my new backpack. So far I’ve got about 30 pounds (or 13 kg once I arrive in metric-land) of heavy, uncomfortable stuff like power converters, essential gadgets, and shoes in there, but I still feel like I could wear the pack all day. Previously I’d resolved to just suck it up and suffer through the airport in order to accommodate my stuff. Now it looks like that won’t be necessary. Of course, I say this having not yet spent days on end attached to my baggage . . .

I’ve purchased a second-hand laptop to bring abroad with me so I can write, and store photos, and all that jazz. My means are limited and I don’t anticipate getting into video editing or any Halo 2 Vista clans, so I chose a modest machine. Here lately, I’ve been catching up on maintenance and downloading all the updates for everything with the understading that it’ll be a very long time before I have access to another high speed internet line.

It’s raised some interesting questions. Exactly what software would you take with you if you were marooned on a desert island?

I’m going with Windows XP for the operating system because Vista (being newer) unquestionably has more as-yet-undiscovered security flaws just waiting for the right opportunist. And while I’ve worked with Linux desktops before and have nothing but respect for the hardy souls who’re trying to popularize it, I just don’t know that system well enough to maintain it solo. Windows, on the other hand, I can fix with my eyes closed and one hand behind my back.

Usually, at least.

I’ve got a home version of MS Office, which I suppose I’ll keep because I’m just more familiar with its bells and whistles than I am with OpenOffice.org’s Writer. I’m still taking the OO.org suite along because I want their spreadsheet and presentation utilities. I’ll use Mozilla’s Sunbird calendar, although I’ll confess a weakness for Google’s calendar in more connected climes.

Photo-wise, I’ll probably rely on a mix of MS Paint for easy crops & resizing and The GIMP for more complicated work. Confined as I will be to a laptop touchpad, I don’t envision doing much in the way of deft digital retouching. As a matter of principle, I refuse to install any kind of album making software. So long as you’re Windows proficient enough to create and rename folders, they’re more hassle than they’re worth.

For other media, I’ve got Windows Media, iTunes/Quicktime, and the VLC player. I’m still contemplating music and video editors. Can anyone suggest something low cost and light weight?

Last but not least, we come to security software. I used to be a Zone Alarm kind of girl, but in recent years I’ve found it too expensive and too obtrusive. I’ve got good computer hygiene; I surf using Firefox with Adblock and Filterset.G, and I keep abreast of phishing currents. The Windows firewall is enough when supplemented with regular Ad-aware scans. I’ve also installed HijackThis. It’s like a gun. You get it and maybe feel a little safer, but you hope you never have to use it. It’s also like a gun in that you never leave children or amateurs unsupervised in its presence.

I haven’t installed any virus scanners. I don’t want to spare the processing cycles they take up, and I won’t be able to update the definitions file more than once a century.

So those are the programs that I won’t leave home without. If I were really brave, I might try to use the package assembled for the One Laptop Per Child initiative. It’s a fascinating idea, and it did my heart good today to hear that they’re going to distribute their wares in Uruguay. But at present I think two new languages - Spanish and Guaraní - are enough.

I’m selling my car. As you might guess, the Peace Corps luggage allowance does not cover the transportation of a sedan, not even a compact Japanese one. As you might not have guessed, we are explicitly forbidden from operating any kind of motor vehicles in our assigned countries. No buying a car in Cape Verde. No new motorcycle in Mongolia. And no scooter in Suriname. In fact, we aren’t even allowed to accept rides on two-wheeled motor vehicles. Taxis, buses, and trains are OK, but there’s something about the developing world’s tendency towards unpaved roads and unhelmeted noggins . . .

So, if you know anyone in the Knoxville area who needs a gently used 2002 Nissan Sentra GXE, I’m letting this one go for $6000, which is under the Blue Book price, and about half of what I paid for it three years ago.

EDIT, 5/22/07: I’ve sold the car now. Well wishes to the buyers!

Welcome and bienvenidos.

I will leave the United States for Paraguay at the end of this month. I will post more here shortly.

Meanwhile, want a guided tour of the comment box? I’ve currently got it set so that anyone can reply to these entries. I promise your names and e-mails won’t be abused if you choose to leave them. The one catch is that this blogging software does ask you to demonstrate that you’re not a spam-spewing robot before it lets you leave messages by asking a random, simple question. [This is no longer the case. I’ve changed my anti-spam scheme. Leaving an e-mail address is mandatory, but there’s no more math.]

If you’d rather not comment here, feel free to e-mail me. If you take this site address and insert “@gmail.” between the dot and the com, you’ll find me.