Lanchester.net ...musings of an old nerd

In plenty of time for Christmas, let's modify the King Arthur glutenfree cookie mix slightly and toss in some delectable add-ins for a holiday treat everyone in your family will love (even the gluten-loving ones!).

Before you begin, here are a few tips:

• Cookie baking for me turns out best when using AirBake (or similar) cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.
• You need a wire rack (or two) for cooling the cookies.
• A 1" Pampered Chef cookie scoop is a necessity of life. :)
• When cooking with liquor, use the real thing (not a "cooking" variety). I'm not a big drinker, so I don't know what a good brand of liquor is. I just try to buy a moderately-priced brand that's on sale.

The cookie mix calls for you to add these ingredients:

• 1/2 cup soft butter - just soften it, don't melt it completely
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons water - here's where we get wild! Substitute brandy for the water.
• 1 to 3 cups of add-ins. We'll add 1/2 cup white chocolate chips, plus 1 cup Craisins you have first tossed in boiling water for a minute, rinsed, drained, then pressed between paper towels. (Why the elaborate ruse? It removes the extra sugar coating.)

Follow the good King's instructions for everything else. Mmmmm!

I was helping out at Vacation Bible School a couple of weeks ago, and in our church, VBS is at night. Some nights, you don't head home until around 9:00 pm. I happened to flip on my headlights in my 2002 Honda CRV, and nothing happened. (Well, the parking lights came on.)

It seemed a bit odd to me that both headlamps would go out at the same time, especially since both were replaced three months ago (after one of the original headlamps finally gave up the ghost after eight years).

After ticking off everyone on the drive home by driving with my high-beams on, I hopped on the internet to figure out how a safety hazard like this occurs. Turns out others were having the same problem. I found that others were taking off the steering column cover (three screws), and inspecting the white electrical connector plugged into the back of the headlight dimmer switch (also known as the turn signal).

And mine was fried. I wasn't happy, and I took it the Honda dealer to see if there was a safety recall. I didn't want to pay a lot for this, and I certainly didn't want to put the same defective parts back on.

The Honda dealer is replacing the dimmer switch and the electrical connector and wiring harness, all for $185. Sounds good to me. It was hard enough for me to get my big amazon hands behind the steering wheel to pry open the connector to see that it was fried. There's no way I'm going to attempt the fix myself. I'm electrically incompetent, anyway. And they said it's an upgraded system that shouldn't fry this time.

And while we wait for parts to come in, the Honda dealer fixed it for free with a spare used part they had.

If I didn't know better, I'd almost swear I was at the local Mazda dealer's service center. (I'm a huge fan of the local Mazda dealer's service department. They're great!)

Buying gifts for others is a process laden with missteps. For example (with details changed to protect the guiltily), we once bought some Buddhist friends a nice Buddhist book, only to receive a Buddhist monk's chant tape the next holiday from the friends. The friends mistook our desire to buy something they liked with an interest in the subject. Or maybe they're just re-gifters. :)

In any case, I thought I did a pretty good job figuring out what to buy DH for a recent anniversary. He loves to listen to music. He plays an old iPod through an iPod speaker system upstairs in the bathroom as he gets ready in the mornings, and he constantly hooks his Mac up to speakers to play his eclectic mix of tunes. What better to buy the man than a wi-fi LogiTech SqueezeBox Radio, recommended by "internationally beloved(TM)" technology pundit, Andy Inhatko, writer for the Chicago Sun Times?

This speaker with a wireless card and a nifty display will connect to multiple Macs and play your music or internet radio. Splendid!

There are a few drawbacks.

• The manuals and documentation are poor. Try reading the info at http://wiki.slimdevices.com and http://forums.slimdevices.com. (SlimDevices apparently sold the SqueezeBox line to LogicTech.)
• The current firmware, 7.5.1, is buggy, at least for me. The menu on the device kept changing. I couldn't switch between mysqueezebox.com and my Mac as a source (explained later) because the menu choice to switch them kept disappearing. The home menu wouldn't always go home. Bizarre!

So is it worth it? Yep, even with the bugs. 

Somewhat well-explained concepts:

• The SqueezeBox has to connect to your home network so it can access internet radio and also your iTunes (or other music library).
• It can connect via built-in Wi-Fi or via Ethernet.
• You can connect more speakers to SqueezeBox, although I think the built-in speaker is just fine for my great room (kitchen/living room).
• It comes with an audio cable to connect an iPhone/iPod (although if your Mac is on the same network, why would you?).

Some concepts that aren't explained at all (and I finally figured out by trolling the SlimDevices forums):

• To connect to internet radio, the SqueezeBox has to connect to your network so the SqueezeBox can connect to mysqueezebox.com, where you will need to set up a free account.
• To connect to your Mac's iTunes, you need to download and install software called SqueezeBox server, which indexes your iTunes library, including playlists.
• The connection to mysqueezebox.com and the SqueezeBox Server connection to your Mac are mutually exclusive. You can only have one active at a time.
• You CAN listen to internet radio via your Mac's SqueezeBox Server connection. So why would you care about mysqueezebox.com? Well, my two Macs sleep a lot of the time to save energy, and why would I wake up a Mac just to listen to internet radio?
• And why do you even care how you're connected? Well, because the box's presets (like preset buttons on your radio in the car) seem to be saved by connection--which Mac are you connected to, and are you connected to mysqueezebox.com. Favorites seem to be handled the same way. So in my house, there are two Macs, then the mysqueezebox.com connection. That's three possible connections, and you've got to stop and think what presets are where. I've decided to just use the same presets for all. We don't have that much internet radio we listen to. Six presets will work for now until I can sort it all out.

Applications are something you can "install" on your SqueezeBox. I have the Podcast Player app installed, and Joyce Meyer's podcast and Leo Laporte's MacBreak Weekly podcasts saved in the app. Pretty cool. Of course, apps are installed and managed via SqueezeBox Server (which is on your Mac), so I'm guessing my Mac has to be on to play those podcasts…a bit of a pain.

All in the all, I love this thing. The wild child will be wanting one for her apartment now.

The above email was sent by Verizon to me on June 2. On June 14, they cancelled my dry loop DSL! Tech Support can't help me. I have to wait until Billing opens in the morning to fix this (assuming they can fix it). Thanks, Verizon DSL!

The bright sandy beaches of South Carolina are a sight to behold. If you watch the ocean closely, you might see a few dolphins chasing their supper just off the beach.

The muddy waters of health insurance in South Carolina are a sight to behold as well, as least the Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) variety. All this became apparent when my adult daughter, a four-month policyholder, tore her ACL recently playing volleyball with some friends.

I suppose if I didn't know any better I might think it was standard practice in health insurance to DENY EVERY SINGLE CLAIM PRESENTED, but I've had more than my share of orthopedic injuries and surgeries, and not one has ever been denied. Not once. Never. Not even by BCBS in my state.

In the few short weeks my daughter has been actively using her health insurance, she has also been denied coverage for an MRI of her knee, an MRI she was pre-authorized by BCBS of South Carolina to get, for failing to be pre-authorized. Hmmmm...I can only conclude BCBS of South Carolina has run out of money, and is trying to find a few suckers who will actually pay instead of fight. (Yes, we called BCBS of South Carolina to give them THEIR OWN pre-authorization number after the fact for the MRI to enter into their computer system so they would pay the claim, but they just transferred the call to the National Imaging Association. Much confusion! BCBS didn't listen to my daughter's explanation. The call-taker thought she wanted to obtain a pre-authorization!)

Side note: BCBS of South Carolina's website is http://www.southcarolinablues.com, presumably because the policyholders spend so much time singing the blues.

But my daughter's situation gets better (worse!). Every one of the "preferred providers" my daughter has used so far has "overcharged" her, acccording to Blue Cross Blue Shield. So she is apparently responsible for all these overcharges, which are significant. Why are these doctors and facilities listed as preferred providers if they are overcharging?

BCBS of Illinois, on their explanation of Benefits (EOBs) would subtract out the "overcharge," signifying (I assume) BCBS of Illinois had pre-arranged with the provider to be charged the "proper" amount. This is what I expected to happen in South Carolina.

Why are things handled so differently between Illinois and South Carolina for health insurers with the same name? And what is the insurance comissioner's number in South Carolina? I have a call to make.

Overall experience with the iPad: Love the thing! My MacBook Pro is largely ignored now, used only for such tasks as movie editing, picture handling, and scanning/printing. The iPad is excellent for reading/cruising the internet in the car and in the house or in bed. Having taken a lengthy trip with the iPad and the Mi-Fi, I now find these things annoy/annoyed me a bit about the iPad: 

• The Name: Why, oh why, did they call it the iPad? Are we used to it now? I shudder less when I hear it, but I still shudder.
• Headphones: It doesn't come with headphones, and although iPhone headphones work with the iPad, it was really difficult to get any headphones to fit in the jack the first few times (a tight squeeze).
• Charger: The charging cable is too short, and Apple makes you fork over more cash  if you want an accessory to make the cable longer.
• Calculator: The thing needs to have a calculator on it. Thanks to a third-party developer, there's a free app for that now.
• Clock: Where's the clock/alarm clock?
• Location-Based Services: I'm not sure how this works on a wi-fi network, but part of the time while traveling about 700 miles one-way with the iPad and a Verizon Mi-Fi portable hotspot, the iPad's Maps app knew exactly where I was (the Mi-Fi is cellular-based), but most of the time, it thought I was two miles from my house (in the opposite direction of my travel). I understand you should get a 3G-based iPad with a GPS chip if you want pin-point accuracy, but the inconsistency of the results I got with wi-fi location services is what I don't understand. How does it put me 700 miles from home one minute, then exactly where I'm at the next? Must be something to do with the capabilities of the cell tower I'm connected to.

 But the above annoyances are minor. I love the thing!

They are right. It's smokin' hot, wicked fast, and stunningly beautiful. You should get one if you have the cash.

I ordered a Wi-Fi Apple Tablet (iPad, awful name!) from an Apple Specialist, the closest thing to an Apple Store we have in this area. (And they have served this area well since the 1980's, I think.)

At first they indicated they wouldn't be open on Saturday for us to get our tablets, which I thought was strange. Where was the big party? The tea, cookies, streamers, and balloons?

And then I read a rumor that Apple Specialists have been under a special non-disclosure. They couldn't even let anyone know they were getting any tablets today (April 3, 2010), and they certainly couldn't advertise it in the paper or on the radio. There isn't even a picture of a tablet on their website with a "Coming Soon" banner.

All they would tell me is they have a purchase order with my name on it, and if the tablets come in on Saturday, I can have it. (I have to call in Saturday to see.)

So we'll see. Why did the silly dog wake me up so early? :)

If you're lucky enough to be walking around with a Verizon Mi-Fi in your pocket, it would be a good idea to turn off broadcasting the network name. It's just an added security precaution so the casual user doesn't see your SSID (network name) pop up when he turns on his wireless-capable device near you.

How do you turn off broadcasting your Mi-Fi's SSID?

• Launch a browser on your Mi-Fi-connected device (iPhone or computer).
• Type in 192.168.1.1 in the address line and click Go (press Enter, whatever!).
• The Mi-Fi's status page will appear. You need to login with your admin password to make any changes.
• Type in your admin password in the upper right corner.
• Click the Login button.
• Choose Settings from the Advanced menu at the top (in the red menu bar area).
• Under Access Point, uncheck the setting "SSID broadcast enable".
• Click the Apply button.

That's all. Now you'll have to type in your SSID on your computer/iPhone/iPad the first time you want to join the network. (Some devices will always keep track of it and hop back on it. Others will force you to retype it every time.)

Needless to say, you also need to turn on security (WPA2 preferred, if your wireless cards can handle it).

I've always found Sylvan Border Farm general-purpose flour to be the best gluten-free flour, but I thought I'd branch out and try something new: Orgran All-Purpose Gluten-Free Wheat-Free Flour.

The flatbread I made with the Orgran flour was great. I still don't know if Sylvan Border Farm or Orgran is better. Orgran has lots of stars on Amazon. We'll see if I can reach a conclusion in the next few months.