RSS Feeds Apparently Hosed on Bloglines

I subscribe to one of my own RSS feeds on Bloglines to make sure things are working okay. The past few days, all of my feeds have been not been updating on Bloglines and are giving me an error. When I bring them up in the browser, they look and work fine. I haven't changed anything, so the problem must be with Bloglines. I've seen this happen with other blogs before and I don't know what causes it. If anyone is having trouble with any other readers, please let me know.

Update (11/28/06): Looks like the problem worked itself out.

How to Make Really Good Yams

I don't really like to cook that much, but one thing I always enjoy making the night before Thanksgiving is candied yams. I make them, let them cool down, put them in the fridge and then warm them up in the microwave right before the meal.

Here's how I make them. First preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Get two cans (or one large can) of yams with juice. Open the cans and empty the juice into a saucepan and then dump the yams in a casserole dish. Dump a whole bunch of brown sugar into the juice. (I don't measure it, but I make sure it's a generous amount -- enough to turn the juice a dark brown.) Add generous amounts of cinnamon, ground cloves and pumpkin pie spice. Put the juice mixture on high and bring it to a boil while stirring it. Once it starts boiling, you have to quickly turn the heat down to medium or medium-high. You may also need to grab the saucepan and lift it off the burner until things cool down some or else it will boil over.

You want to let the juice mixture attain a gentle, rolling boil. Let it boil and keep stirring it. When the juice starts to thicken into a syrup and starts clinging to the spoon, you are ready for the next step. It usually takes about 15 or 20 minutes for the juice mixture to turn into syrup.

Pour the syrup over the yams in the casserole dish and place the dish -- uncovered -- in the oven. Let it bake anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes. Every 10 minutes or so, take a spoon and baste the yams with the syrup. You want the yams to not be too firm or too mushy.

Some people like to add marshmallows or nuts to the yams, but I don't think that's necessary. The syrup makes them delicious enough!

Update: I would post a picture of my most excellent yams, but my digital camera is broken and I've sent it off to be fixed. Canon is fixing it for free because the problem was caused by a flaw in that particular model.

More Thankful

More things I'm thankful for:

Coca-Cola in the little glass bottles.
Coke Icees
Cherry Coke
Chocolate
Venetian glass -- especially Millefiori.
My sound blocker headphones.
Online Christmas shopping.
Online shopping.
Being able to truly relax after a long day.

Thankful

Dawn Eden has posted some things she is thankful for. I feel like I'm so negative all the time, and I'm such a complainer, that perhaps I should do the same. So aside from the obvious (God, family, country), here are things I'm thankful for in no particular order:

My dog.
My cat.
Hot bubble baths when my back is hurting.
Hot bubble baths when I'm cold and can't get warm.
Hot bubble baths.
LUSH
Creekside Soap
My new car.
My iPod.
Being able to play my iPod in my new car.
The free XM satellite radio for a year that came with my new car.
Being able to listen to my iPod while I work.
My job.
Audiobooks
Music
Not having to wear glasses anymore.
C.S. Lewis
Altoids Tangerine Sours

That's all I can think of right now. I may add more later.

Veterans Day - Project Valour IT

First off, I want to say thank you to all who have fought and are still fighting for our freedom.

Secondly, I want to point out a way where you can put your money where your mouth is. Soldiers' Angels is raising money for Project Valour IT. The money goes into buying voice-activated laptops for our injured troops. On this Veterans Day (or on any day), please consider donating to this worthy cause.

My prediction was half right...

Last week, I predicted that the Democrats would win the House but the GOP would keep the Senate. Well, the Dems have taken the House, but it looks like they may take the Senate too. (It's still not clear as of this writing.)

Am I happy about the results? No. Am I surprised? No.

I don't like the message this sends to our troops overseas. I also don't like the message this sends to our country's enemies. The message is one of weakness.

There were quite a few self-righteous conservatives who sat high upon their perches and crowed about how they were going to teach the Republicans a lesson and vote third party or refuse to vote at all. (I'm looking at you Mark Shea and Rod Dreher.) Well, I hope they are happy now. I hope the rest of us don't end up paying for their sanctimony.

The left will of course be gloating. But at least we won't hear any inane "voter fraud" whining or pathetic threats to "take to the streets".

So anyway...hang on to your wallet and stay armed and vigilant...the Democrats are back!

Update: Welcome Mark Shea readers! Let me clarify something. No I do not think Mark Shea or Rod Dreher are powerful enough to do in the GOP. (And besides, they needed no help, being so good at it themselves.) I was merely citing them as examples of the the "let's teach the GOP a lesson" crowd. I don't think wasting your vote because the GOP isn't pure and perfect enough for you is constructive.

Update 2: For those who would paint me as some sort of sellout because I voted GOP while realizing they are less than perfect, my response is simply to link this: Sweetness & Light posts about the Democrat agenda. For pro-lifers, please note that passing the vetoed embryonic stem cell bill is a priority. As S&L says:

It's the same old same old. Stab our soldiers in the back. Neuter our intel agencies. Pump money into "social welfare" and government unions. And of course we must raise taxes.

So, look down your nose at me and think you are better than me if you want. At least I didn't play a part in making the above possible.

Dear moonbat on the corner...

...of Fairfield Drive and Mobile Highway:

As I was turning left onto Mobile Hwy. this afternoon, I saw you holding up two signs. One said, "Bush Is a Pig". The other said, "The USA Is Not Free". Do you realize that if the latter sign was true at all, you would not have the freedom to stand on a street corner holding up either of your signs? Probably not. Nevertheless, I really wanted to flip you off and I almost did, but I decided to concentrate on my driving instead. What can I say...I have a new car and I'm being extra cautious. Anyway, since I didn't get to flip you off, this is for you:

Sincerely,
Susan B.

Dawn Eden Rules!

Check this out...you won't be sorry!

I Hate Politics

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I've been really busy and really tired. Most of the news has been centered on the elections and politics. I agree with Barb: I hate politics, too. But, as Barb points out, we have to care about what happens because we are affected by it.

I'm very much a pragmatist. I'm not the type to refuse to vote for the Republicans because they are not perfectly pure on every issue. I realize that religious conservatives are supposedly not held with high esteem by people high up in the party. (Although, I will say that David Kuo has his own axe to grind as well, predictably scolding religious conservatives for concerning themselves with "silly" things like abortion and medical ethics while saying that they should be more concerned about the usual "social justice" stuff, which translates to more government.) I realize that the Republicans leave a lot to be desired when it comes to spending and other economic matters. When it comes to the war, I think that the Bush Administration needs to rethink their strategies and perhaps replace Rumsfeld with someone else.

However imperfect the GOP is, I will vote straight Republican, holding my nose in many cases. The alternatives are not acceptable to me. I'm not going to throw my vote away on some third-party nobody or by writing in some nonsense or by sitting at home.

You think the war is a mess now? Wait until the Democrats start running things. I mean, I do not trust the defense of this country or our military in the hands of the Democrats. Kerry's latest gaffe simply let slip exactly what liberal elitists think of our military. Believe me, the military knows what liberal Democrats think of them, the spin notwithstanding. And just reading the reactions of liberals when you try to get them to understand the Islamist threat shows me how deluded and unserious they are. They are happy to keep spouting those politically correct platitudes ("Only a tiny number of Muslims are violent extremists! Anyone who says different is Islamophobic!") and keep their heads buried firmly in their nether regions.

My prediction, for what little it's worth, is that the House will go Democrat and the the GOP will keep the Senate for now. Also, no matter what margin a GOP candidate wins by, expect the kooks to start in with the "fixed election" conspiracies. ("No, it couldn't be that people didn't like the Democrat candidate -- it has to be election fraud!") In fact, I've already started hearing this crap from the usual suspects. Unfortunately, we will never have normal elections again. The kooks will always be with us.