| We've moved! (but still have to finish unpacking) |
[Nov. 18th, 2008|04:27 pm] |
EDIT@6:54PM PST
We just implemented a temporary fix for our internal network and it *looks* promising. We'll let it bake in overnight and see how well it performs tonight and tomorrow.
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Hi hi!
We've completed the majority of the move and had the site back up by 20:00 UTC (hey, look, I can post! You can read! Yay!) , but there's still some lingering issues that we need to clean up and are aware of so please be a little more patient while we wrap up the odds and ends.
I want to echo the lj_releases post where we thank ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) burr86 and dormando for their ceaseless efforts, skill and knowledge. The LJ Ops and Engineering teams have/are *still* working their butts off but without burr86 and dormando's expertise, we could not have pulled this off.
For you techies, the slowness on our website is known, and the issue is currently isolated to oversubscribed ports on our core switches. That's direct from our vendor. Yeah, I know... Anyways, we're trying to implement a temporary workaround and we'll be looking to upgrade our hardware as a permanent solution. Please, hang in there a little longer!
bt |
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| random substitution question |
[Nov. 16th, 2008|11:55 pm] |
Okay... So I was thinking about desserts.
I have a social evening with friends every monday. They make dinner, and I bring desserts.
Last week I made apple crumble, and that was quite tasty.
I was thinking of making an apple cake, but I don't want to make apple desserts 2 weeks in a row.
So here's my question...
I have an apple cake recipe, and I was thinking about making it with pears instead of apples...
THIS is roughly the recipe I am using... So what do you guys think?
I know, it's not a good eats question, but you guys are more active than most of the cooking groups I see, and you guys share my taste in tv, so I figured you might have good ideas for foodstuffs. :) |
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| LJ News Special Edition: Server Move, Permanent Account Sale Update, A La Carte Userpics |
[Nov. 16th, 2008|11:35 pm] |
Welcome to a Very Special Edition of LJ News.
Moving Day and What It Means for You
Moving What Where?
The long-awaited server move takes place this Tuesday, November 18, at 8:00 a.m. PST. We're moving the site from servers based in San Francisco to the servers in our new data center in Montana. A massive data move like this takes a lot of heavy lifting, and to haul all that data from San Francisco to Montana, we have to take the site down, starting at 8:00 a.m. PST on Tuesday morning. We don't think the move will take more than four hours, but there's always the possibility that it could take longer (the best laid plans and all).
What Does This Mean for You?
During the downtime, nothing on LJ will be available—no posting, no Friends page, no LJ mail, nada. When we bring the site back up, we're going to ease into it rather than open up a floodgate of traffic. Posting might not be immediately available or the site could be slow to load for a while.
New servers mean new IP addresses, so it's possible that LJ mail might not reach your email inbox because your email provider or client doesn't recognize the new IP addresses. We're working with email providers to whitelist the new IPs. There are a few things you can do on your end:
- Add these two IP addresses to your "allowed senders" list (or whitelist) and address book in your email client: 208.93.0.18 and 208.93.0.50. These are the new IPs for sending comments notifications and LJ mail to your email inbox.
- Add lj_notify@livejournal.com and webmaster@livejournal.com to your email address book.
If you can't edit the spam or junk filters in your email client, you may need to disable them entirely. Make these changes just before 8:00 a.m. PST on Tuesday morning or shortly after the site comes back up to ensure that your LJ mail makes it to your inbox.
Those of you who use domain aliasing to forward your domain to your LiveJournal will need to create a CNAME record that maps to livejournal.com. Please note that we're no longer supporting the A record. For more information, check the domain forwarding FAQ.
Before the move, you can check ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) lj_maintenance for complete details about the planned downtime. During the move, you can check status.livejournal.org for updates about the site's status.
Permanent Account Sale Delayed
We regret to inform you that due to the server move, the Permanent Account sale has been pushed back to December 4, rather than November 20 as announced in the last news post. After the virtual dust has settled from the move, we'll be able to turn our attention to the Permanent Account sale. Except for the start date, the details remain the same: You have a limited opportunity to purchase LJ for life for only $175. It's a bummer to delay the sale, but on the bright side, you have more time to save up.
But What About A La Carte Userpics?
We know we promised more information about a la carte userpics, and we're sorry that details have not been forthcoming (blame it on the move). We're still planning on having a la carte userpics, but we don’t have any details yet. When the move is over, we'll have more information. We're sorry for the delay. |
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| For FAILBlog.org |
[Nov. 16th, 2008|08:19 pm] |
I just took this picture at my local grocery store and sent it to http://failblog.org --
Can you spot what's wrong? It could affect the health of you and your family.
Update: Hint: It's not what's there: it's what ISN'T there. |
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| We're moving Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 16:00-20:00 UTC |
[Nov. 14th, 2008|12:17 pm] |
We're pulling the plug! And putting it back in a different location! Ok, that was bad.
Seriously though, our data center move -- from San Francisco to Montana -- is scheduled for THIS TUESDAY, November 18, 2008 at 16:00 UTC (this equates to 8AM Pacific timezone) and will last for 4 hours. Unfortunately it'll be total downtime for all our sites and services -- no posting, no reading, no email.
Another ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/newsinfo.gif) news announcement will be posted on Monday November 17, including links to updated FAQs that you'll want to check out before the move.
As always, status.livejournal.org will have any updates during the move so bookmark it and check it out for the latest news.
All of us at LiveJournal have been eagerly looking forward to this move and I want to thank you for your patience and understanding as we put the finishing touches on something that will allow us to bring you an even better product in the future.
Though for us in the Ops and Engineering teams, we'll be REALLY happy if, on Tuesday, everything just works the same way it did on Monday. Heh.
bt
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| Chocolate Meringue Pie? |
[Nov. 14th, 2008|11:14 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | busy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Repo! The Genetic Opera Soundtrack | ] |
The lovely people at Lovely Bake Shop in Chicago are going to make this for me! Thank you for everyone who helped out; I truly appreciate it! Internet hugs for everybody!!
I've been scouring the internet for a place that makes a chocolate meringue pie. My fiance's grandfather isn't doing very well, and he's had a taste for this pie from his childhood. I live in the Chicagoland area, and I can't find a place that will make this for me, whether it's on their menu or not. I know I can make this myself, but he wants it from a bakery.
Does anyone here know of any bakery that has this available to order online or something? Is there something in the Chicagoland area that I might have accidentally looked over? I've even posted in Yahoo! Answers and no one's responded.
Help me, fellow Good Eats fans! You're my only hope! |
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| Alton on NBC! Advertising! |
[Nov. 12th, 2008|10:18 pm] |
So I'm watching Life tonight on NBC, and after the opening bit, a commercial break, and . . . Alton! He was in an ad for Welch's Grape Fruit Juice, and it wasn't on at some unholy hour, but at 9:05 PM!
I'm so proud.
Also, check out the Good Eats page at Food Network, it's been totally re-done.
Update: Kind of buried in the comments, so I'm putting it here: Alton Brown at Welchs. Thanks, marphod
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| Sweet Potato Pie |
[Nov. 12th, 2008|03:50 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  curious | ] |
So I made Alton sweet potato pie. I made a two at the same since all I needed to get was an extra sweet potato and a second bag of pecans. I think it came out great and seemed to go over well at the party I was at. I have a friend who loves sweet potato pie and loves pecans. So I gave him a big old slice while he was over last night. He took one bite and then left the rest without comment. So is there any sweet potato pie fans who didn't like Alton's version? The only thing I can think of is that perhaps the yogurt gives it a non standard taste, |
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| unitasker alert! |
[Nov. 11th, 2008|05:25 pm] |
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Did anyone watch the Crackers show last night? (I think it was new.) Remember the part where AB is making graham crackers, and he whips out a multi-pizza-cutter-type-thing which he says you need if you want your cracker edges/dimensions to be factory-straight? First of all, is that not a blatant unitasker? Second of all, where do you even get something like that? I have no idea how to google it; "cracker cutter" doesn't exactly work. |
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| Fried Ravioli without the teacher |
[Nov. 11th, 2008|01:00 pm] |
severus_bracae loaned me his pasta maker so I could make the ravioli I made at The Folk School last week. Made the dough, rolled it out, filled ravioli with turkey pepperoni and a chunk of mozzarella, boiled it, fried it in olive oil, and dropped them into a bowl of grated parmesan so the parmesan melted on the ravioli. Sauteed some garlic in oil and salt and added crushed tomatoes for a sauce. Hells yeah. |
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| Great Value Lite Spread (Wal-Mart) v. Butter |
[Nov. 10th, 2008|08:20 am] |
Ok, so I know this isn't Good Eats related but I feel this community can help me. If not, that's cool, I'll delete this post. So, that disclosure aside, here's my question...
Yesterday a friend of mine wanted to make a 1/2 batch of chocolate chip cookies (from the receipe on the back of the Nestle chocolate chip bag) and I noticed that for the 'butter' component she used Great Value Lite Spread from Wal-Mart. Noticing this I said, "Why aren't you using butter for the butter?" She replied "I am". I said, "No, that's not butter" and then we actually got into a full blown argument/almost-fight over Butter v. That Goo.
Then after that the batter never came together so I suggested a)start over with real butter and since that didn't work, then I said b)why not just add a bit more water to see if that pulls everything together.
That worked. Sort of. The batter came together in the proper consistency but the cookies puffed up and had more of almost a biscuit texture and very very bland taste.
So, here's where we ended up... she says if I can find a website or 'proof' that Great Value Lite Spread isn't butter she'd agree with me. Even though on the actual tub of goo it compares itself to butter as in "Less calories than BUTTER" she doesn't think that matters.
Am I frustrated? Oh. Hell. Yeah.
Do I think this community can help me find a site I can send her explaining the differences? Oh. Hell. Yeah. Too. |
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| pasta machine in/near 20165? |
[Nov. 9th, 2008|05:12 pm] |
Anyone have a pasta machine in/near 20165? vikingsparrow promised me one for Thanksgiving but I wanna practice. |
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| Not show related...yet? |
[Nov. 9th, 2008|07:25 am] |
So, I'm a geek and I love food - especially Good Eats what with AB's whole science/food combo. I LOVE his IR thermometer gun. Seriously. But... Has he seen this?
A nonstick with a thermometer BUILT INTO the pan. Talk about precision! Not sure how long the heat sensors would last, but....I want to try it anyway!
Edit to add: This could catch his eye too - being a multi-tasker and all |
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| Okay, NOW I feel happy about the election. |
[Nov. 8th, 2008|05:56 pm] |
Before my relief that the election picked a clean winner overshadowed my joy.
vikingsparrow and I just arrived at Dulles Airport and went to Chick-Fil-A, where customers were trading their outdoor McCain/Palin signs for discounts on chicken.
O happy day. |
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| I just met a girl named Natasha... |
[Nov. 8th, 2008|11:37 am] |
The TSA agent in Atlanta handed me my travel guitar and asked "what's your guitar's name?" I said, "It's brand new. What's your name?"
"Natasha."
There it is. Now I have to write a song about Natasha, the sassy dark Atlanta TSA agent with the heart of gold.
See if I don't. Watch this space.
Love and joy. |
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| Pressure cooker happiness! |
[Nov. 8th, 2008|12:45 am] |
At Macy's tonight, my wife spotted a 3.5qt pressure cooker, regularly $49.99, for $20.
And it rang up for $13.
Oh joy! Calloo callay! Now I just have to wait until the pressure-cooker episode comes on again so I can make stuff in it. I know I can pressure-cook soaked beans. What else would a vegetarian find it useful for? Does it make tofu so tender it falls right off the bone? |
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| show and tell day at the Folk School |
[Nov. 7th, 2008|07:39 pm] |
Today was show and tell day at the Folk School, when all the classes display their work. Everyone in the cooking class except me made pumpkin soup, and I made savory pumpkin bread for the soup ("Joy of Cooking" pumpkin bread: cut the sugar in half, replace ginger with sage.)
Visitors came to the class all day and made quick work of my cinnamon ice cream from the class banquet from last night (vanilla ice cream with a drop of cinnamon extract per serving.)
Then I had time to play, so I boiled my beef stew ravioli, sautéed some sliced garlic and added a can of crushed tomatoes.
Then I washed the ravioli to keep it from sticking and fried them in olive oil and salt and plated it with the garlic-tomato sauce and grated parmesan. Gone in five minutes.
Not bad for the first batch of pasta I've ever made.
vikingsparrow took a photograph emulsion-transfer class. People told me privately that she's a great photographer and her stuff would sell. I tell them that I told her the same thing and that I would man a show booth for her but Yankee girls don't know how to take a fckn' compliment. |
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happy