We're back from Indonesia, and I've finally renamed and commented on my photos. Yaty's a bit slower on her photos, but I'm sure they're coming.

It was a great trip, a bit too long to be away from "life", so much to catch up on with mail, and bills, etc. Way too short a trip to really enjoy. In three weeks I learned a ton of Bahasa Indonesia, I'd love another month or two to finish learning. It was a joy to get to know the family better, and Za really loved meeting everyone, but three weeks flies by so quickly, wish it was three months.

We are all now nursing sicknesses and injuries, traveling 1/2 way around the world really can take a toll on you, especially when you ignore the sores on your feet...

It's no secret. I like to eat out. You get different food all the time, everyone can get whatever they want, there is no prep or clean up. Eating out is great! But expensive... And doesn't always work well with babies... And gets really expensive with kids...

I know how to cook, but can't get motivated. Not sure why, I used to cook quite a bit, but now I'm just to lazy or demotivated to do it. I did previously get gifted a "private chef" where a chef-lady came to my apartment and cooked a bunch of food which was promptly frozen and then I had yummy food over the next few weeks. I liked the idea, but that has got to be pretty expensive.

Then I noticed a couple places around town:

• Dream Dinners
• Let's Dish

The basic idea is that they prep the food for you, put it in a restaurant style work center, you rotate around the stations (one for each recipe) and in 2 hours you can make 12 meals with 6 servings each for a lot less than eating out, and even decent value compared to a super market since they purchase in bulk and you only use what you need. After assembling the meals, you pack them up with instructions, take them home and over the next few weeks you prepare them to the directions and eat 'em.

There is a thread on "My Money Blog" that seems to have quite a few people happy with the concept, and Dream Dinners in particular (the largest chain of these this concept that I have found), plus they mention a few other chains that aren't convenient to me.

So, anyone tried this? Thinking about it? Just the thought of no clean up is enough to get me excited.

Haven't flown in a while, here's the skinny on the new regulations:

3-1-1 for carry-ons = 3 ounce bottle or less; 1 quart-sized, clear, plastic, zip-top bag; 1 bag per passenger placed in screening bin. One-quart bag per person limits the total liquid volume each traveler can bring. 3 oz. container size is a security measure.

[ TSA : 3-1-1 on Air Travel ]

For the Hijabi Jet-Set there are new-new guidelines for head coverings:

All members of the traveling public are permitted to wear head coverings (whether religious or not) through the security checkpoints. The new standard procedures subject all persons wearing head coverings to the possibility of additional security screening, which may include a pat-down search of the head covering. Individuals may be referred for additional screening if the security officer cannot reasonably determine that the head area is free of a detectable threat item. If the issue cannot be resolved through a pat-down search, the individual will be offered the opportunity to remove the head covering in a private screening area.

[ TSA : Religious and Cultural Needs ]

And the TSA is kind and gentle with the kiddies:

We specially train our Security Officers and they understand your concern for your children.  They will approach your children gently and treat them with respect.  If your child becomes uncomfortable or upset, security officers will consult you about the best way to relieve your child's concern.

[ TSA : Traveling with Children ]

And the big thing I need to do? Psyche myself up for the hurry-up-and-wait, hurry-up-and-wait, hurry-up-and-wait that modern travel by airplane has become. But don't feel sorry for me, feel sorry for Yaty, she's got to put up with me.

Yo Gabba Gabba! is a fun live-action program for young children ages 1 and up. Join our host DJ Lance Rock as he introduces us to friendly toy monsters in a magical land full of music, dance, colorful cartoons, and simple life lessons that will get you and your children up off the floor to learn and dance along. Just say the magic words! YO GABBA GABBA!!

[ Find Out More About Yo Gabba Gabba! ]

So says Nick Jr, I think it's more of a mass hallucination. I guess the Ska band "The Aquabats" were tired of not getting their music played on Baby Einsteins, or they decided the world was ready for a hip-hop kids show, any which way I'm not sure if it's the craziest thing I've seen since the '70s, or my new favorite show...

40 Kids have 40 days to build a brave new world without adults to help or hinder their efforts. Can they do it? These Kids, ages 8-15, will turn a ghost town into their new home. They will cook their own meals, clean their own outhouses, haul their own water and even run their own businesses including the old town saloon (root beer only). Through it all, they'll cope with regular childhood emotions and situations: homesickness, peer pressure and the urge to break every rule they've ever known.

[ Kid Nation on CBS ]

I was disappointed when in episode 7, the bullies smashed Piggy's glasses and no one seemed to respect the conch anymore. The clips for next weeks show some kind of boulder falling off of a cliff, hope it doesn't hit anyone...

Ramadan Yjm3na, originally uploaded by o0()^SmSm^()0o.

Welcome Ramadhan!

May this be a blessed, productive, and fulfilling Ramadhan for us all.

Now you can buy a house modeled after one of Martha Stewart's three houses. People love these houses so much that sales are bucking the downturn in new home sales. Says a representative for the company building the homes: "It's our version of the iPhone. It illustrates the power of something different with a brand tied to it."

[ Now you can buy a house modeled after one of... (kottke.org) ]

@josephgrossberg: Wow. Talk about not getting it.

From this I can infer that there was a downturn of phone sales? Or the houses are a hybrid house/mp3 player with an innovative interface? Or their houses actually fit in your pocket and you can make calls on them?

If you ask me Martha Stewart has jumped the shark and not used her stint in the pokey to her advantage. A recent trip to Michaels introduced me to the Martha Stewart line of Scrap Booking supplies, and I have to hope that the Scrap Booking community is outright rejecting her crap in favor of their own creativity. (And no I don't scrap book, I'm toying with a new hobby in jewelry making...)

If you create software development tools, you’ll want to consider building on the Visual Studio 2008 Shell. A streamlined Visual Studio development environment, the Visual Studio Shell provides the core foundation so you can focus on building your application’s unique features. Flexible customization options help you deliver optimized experiences for specific markets.

[ Visual Studio 2008 Shell ]

Meaning, since you love Visual Studio and want to just get used to one IDE, you can now use the Shell and educate it for other platforms (like ColdFusion!). Previously that would have cost over $10,000 to get the rights from Microsoft to Frankenstein their IDE, but now:

Q: How much will the Visual Studio Shell cost?

The Visual Studio Shell will be freely available as part of the Visual Studio SDK starting with the release of Visual Studio 2008. Building and deploying applications based on the Visual Studio Shell will be royalty-free.

So we're ready for you to download the VS2K8 Shell SDK and build us an awesome CF editor, Gruska...

I grew up in Silver Spring in the 1970's and 1980's and as I keep telling everyone, it's no longer the Silver Spring I grew up in. Here are some prime examples, and some places that haven't changed in 30 years.

[ New Silver Spring - a photoset on Flickr ]

Hey look, I'm quoting myself! But seriously, Silver Spring is so nice now, check it out!