Beck's Cafe » 2006 » January

My Husband Betty

beckscafe — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 17:31:00 +0000

Helen Boyd is the author of one of the best books on dealing with living with someone with who is transgendered from the spouse’s (most particularly the wife’s) perspective. If your married, I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to understand your spouse’s point of view, it goes a long way to helping you both communicate on your very real transgender (GID) issues. Whether your male-to-female or female-to-male I’d suggest you take a look at her book. This book was very important to me in understanding my wife’s point of view. For my wife, she was able to at last read something from another genetic woman who’s husband is transgendered and who did not necessarily think their situation was all "wonderful" nor all "terrible". It’s well researched, well written, and well worth reading.

Helen’s journal, (en)gender, is at this link here.

You can buy the book from Amazon at this link here.

64-bit slap down

beckscafe — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 22:23:00 +0000

64-bit desktop computing (for the rest of us, not the tech weenies) is starting to really make a surge. I had posted here about 64-bit computing asking the question if any of us really needed it, and how we might get some bargains in the meantime on older 32-bit computers. Back then, I had the opinion that most of us won’t need 64-bit computing, however, the times are changing, and for the Frugal Tech, you dollar can go further on your tech purchases.

What we are talking about of course is the seemingly epic struggle between Intel and AMD for control (or at least a reasonable split) of the computing desktops and compute server racks of the IT World. On one side, we’ve got Intel with it’s approach to the market and on the other AMD with it’s approach. They are both driving everyone to 64-bit (even if the software applications are not quite available yet).

For the technically inclined, please note benchmarks at C/net at this link here
Our friends in Russia (and now also the U.S.) at X-Bit labs have run some benchmarks as well and you can see those at this link here.

First, the punch line – AMD Athlon64 based computers at 64-bit are hands down better than their Intel counterparts. On price, performance, and on the lesser considered but equally important issues of power consumption and thermal dissipation (how much heat the chips give off) AMD’s Athlon64 processors are just a better bargain.

So let’s talk about why you should care, what you might do about it, and, most importantly for the Frugal Tech, how it effects your purse.

Why should you care? Well, first and foremost, as a Frugal Tech, your going to get more for your dollar with an AMD Athlon64 based desktop. And, it’s not that you pay more for an AMD based system and get alot more, rather, you pay less for that and get alot more. Generally speaking, your going to find that an AMD Athlon64 system is $200 to $400 cheaper than a comparable Intel computer. And there’s no reason to worry if Microsoft Windows XP is going to be in support of it as they are already are (as seen at this link here)

Second, because the AMD chips that run the computer run cooler, the life and reliability of your new computer will be longer. AND, it will take less electricity to run your computer as well. Both of those are good signs that your hard earned frugal dollars will live longer in your shiny new computer. By the by, older AMD processors did have a problem with over heating. However, AMD’s new processors (Athlon and Opteron) have completely fixed that problem.

To go find an AMD computer, they have a nice tool here that can help you, just click this link here. Before you do though, looking through the following article links will be time wisely spent to make sure you are a wise frugal tech, stretching your dollars and enjoying your new computer:

PC Magazine’s guide to buying a new computer click here
C/net’s guide to buying a new computer click here

Snarflats and Thingamabobs – review of The Little Mermaid

beckscafe — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 15:12:14 +0000

I make no bones about the fact I love older movies. I have nothing against newer ones, I just like to find the fun niches in the older ones. The buried treasure if you will

When you have sick children, one of the nicest things you can do for them is just be with them. This is no small feat at times! The to do list is on your mind, that project needs to get done…

Well, I got a chance this weekend to do both of the above nice things, revisit an old movie and make sure one my sick children felt better while watching Disney’s “The Little Mermaid”, based on the story by Hans Christian Andersen (see link here). If you haven’t seen this one in a while you should! If you’ve never seen it you really have to. The animation is the older two dimensional approach that Disney built it’s reputation on and it’s done very well. However, what sets the story apart is the story line. It’s amazing how good it is – even today.

Some of my favorite parts are:

The heroine, Ariel’s, spunky character and her deep need to be someone decidedly different from who she is currently
Sebastian, the crab, as sidekick and babysitter
The theme of sacrifice for the one you love
The great music!!
The fact it’s just plain fun and romantic

So grab that cocoa, blanket and the one you snug with and have a look, you’ll be happy you did

Chicken Ragout with Potatoes & Olives – Tasty Chicken Heaven

beckscafe — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 21:46:37 +0000

When I made this I thought, "they will hate it". I have no idea why I thought that, I think it was the odd mixture of onions, garlic and olives and how those simply do not mix with children. Then, as I was making this dish, and the wonderful aromas were wafting from my kitchen kingdom through the rest of our house, I heard the peep every chef loves to hear, "hey what’s that smell, it smells sooo good". Well, my confidence shored up, I drove ahead in making this dish. The recipe is courtesy of "Make it in Minutes" a Weight Watchers cookbook (you can check out the cookbook at this link here). A ragout, for your general cooking trivia knowledge, is French for "A well-seasoned meat or fish stew, usually with vegetables". This one uses chicken and it is heavenly (especially on a cold night).

Click on for the fabulous taste treat!

What you’ll need
1 teaspoon olive oil
1.5 lbs skinless boneless chicken thighs trimmed of all visible fat (you could also use skinless chicken breasts)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 onion thinly sliced (depending on the pallet of your audience, 1/2 onion works well too)
1 garlic clove, chopped (I love garlic and used three cloves, quite yummy for garlic lovers – and my kids were ok too)
3 plum tomatoes chopped (I used 4 large regular tomaotes, it was just fine)
1 large baking potato, peeled and cubed (Idaho, Irish, or Maine potatoes all work fine use others as you see fit!)
10 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped (don’t use green olives, trust me on this).
1/2 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup dry white wine (or 1 bottle dry white wine – drink the bottle & save 1/4 cup for the meal ).
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

What to do
Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprikle the chicken with the salt and pepper and saute until browned on both sides, about 5 minutes. Add the onion and garlic; cook until the onion is just tender, about 5 minutes longer. Stir in the tomatoes, potato, olives, broth, and wine. Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the potato tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the basil.

Prep to plate time is about 40 minutes maximum.

Calories and Fat
Serves 4
Breakdown per serving

Calories, 306
Fat, 9 grams
Carbohydrates, 19 grams
Protein, 36 grams