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I turned on my iDevices yesterday ad noticed that the red bad was lighted up instructing me to update my Apps. I hopped on my Wi-Fi, and looked to see what all the fuss was about and to my surprise there was an update for iBooks 2 featuring new interactive textbooks. Wish I had these when I was in school. After the update, I decided to have a look around and for some odd reason the first book I tried to find was an algebra book. Don’t know why I tried to find a book about algebra, was not my favorite topic in High School. Actually I did not mind algebra so much but had an awful teacher. On my way to browsing for algebra books I found a free preview textbook called  Life on Earth, a biology book by E.O. Wilson. The pictures looked really cool and it included videos. Its free so I pressed the download button. It was sort of late and the book was ~ 980 MB… that would take an hour or so to download… so I paused the download and went off to sleep. I resumed download earlier this evening and its still downloading as I type so I can’t say I’ve experienced the book quite yet. Just incase you did not get the invite Apple is now in the business of interactive electronic textbooks. Can’t wait until the download is finished to check this out. The textbooks are about $15 to think how much $ I could have saved on textbooks in College…  Mon $15 for a textbook? Granted you have to have an iDevice and Wi-Fi to download.  An iPad which is what I would use to view these books is ~$540, then you have to have Wi-Fi access to download which means some sort of broadband connection. These books aren’t exactly 10 MB so they are going to take a while in some of the areas with “crappy broadband connections.”  I hope that Apple release a cheaper iPad next Month or whenever the iPad 3 is coming out. It should not only be lighter in weight but lighter in price. If not to compete with the Kindle Fire at least to make the price point a little easier to swallow in these hard economic times. Perhaps the textbooks are a sign of more iPad 3 goodness???

White willow (Salix alba) is a natural source of salicylic acid

I was yapping on the phone with my Mom about stomach issues having had a share of problems of my own on Friday. She was complaining about her stomach being upset for not very obvious reasons. So I was giving her my $100/hr pre- Dr.’s visit diagnosis. You see she’s already been tested for a number of issues and thus far the Doctors have found nothing. My diagnosis was some form of food allergy or the obvious one stress. Anyway, we got to discussing what she was cooking for the evening, she was getting ready to make Stew peas and rice a tasty Jamaican dish with a lot of kidney beans in it. Now I know that both of us have had some issues with the kidney beans in the past. We like kidney beans but kidney beans does not like us very much and all sort of stomach woes tend to result within minutes after consumption.  My Mom told me that she can have the tasty dish it with Beano or Maalox. I looked up the ingredients for Maalox and found a host of inactive ingredients I could not pronounce and a few for which I know I’m allergic to. One warning on the label got me thinking:

“Allergy alert:Contains salicylate. Do not take if you are

• allergic to salicylates (including aspirin)
• taking other salicylate products

I looked up some more info on the Salicylate business and found a host of info here including foods and other common goods that contain Salicylate. The list of foods that may contain this ingredient had me wondering about some of my own stomach troubles…

There is a  food guide here that rate foods and drinks according to the amount of Salicylate in them. Now I have no idea what’s up with my Mom’s stomach issues and I’m not saying it has to do with any Salicylate sensitivity of any kind but I came across this info and perhaps it might help someone out there who has been having some stomach and other issues of late.

Cool Image I found from Couch Ave

Wow! This year sort of sneaked up on me although I’m glad 2011 is over. It was a rough year, we had some of the worst snow storms I’ve seen since I’ve lived here, some serious budget cuts at work, and a whole lot of working and what seems like going around in circles the last part of the year. So to 2011 I say goodbye and Good riddance…  I’m hoping to spend more time with my family this year, get more exercise, and take more time out of my schedule to relax. I’m also looking to not get so stressed out about work, which means getting more help with those unusually large projects we have going and organizing and cleaning those databases and servers that have gotten out of hand the past year.  Yah I have high hopes for this year can’t wait to see how things went come this time 2013.

Beannachd Dia dhuit!

Usually I don’t give a shameless plug for a restaurant but if you find yourself in the Ithaca-Tompkins County area near the airport be sure that you stop by the Parkgrill Cafe. The crab-cake sandwich there is a real treat, it’s not only good but  it’s big. Usually when you get a crab-cake you get these tiny little balls of mainly breading… not at the Parkgrill Cafe. You get a gigantic crab-cake sandwich with some serious crab meat not a bunch of breading. The bread is what goes around the crab-cake that makes it a sandwich. Picture a huge lump of crab meat seasoned and fried to perfection, on two slice of bread  (I like mine on wheat) or a ciabatta roll, lettuce, aioli  or no dressing if you don’t want that and it’s chow time.  Joan (the owner and chef) also has some really good soups… There is this Southwestern bean soup that is reminiscent of  some good ole fashion gumbo by the way (she makes a mean gumbo as well). She’s got lots of other treats come hungry for breakfast or lunch. The rice bowl is also good and is a favorite if you are in a hurry and want to grab your food to go. They also do catering so if you are having a party and don’t have time to worry about the food, don’t let them worry about that for you.

Wow I can’t believe its Christmas again. Last year this time it was freezing outside this year the weather is not the -18 degrees weather we had the last Christmas. I for one am thankful that I’ve made it this far it has been a hard year with budget cuts, lots of work, and a few other headaches. Things are looking up and there is plenty to be thankful for this year. Many Blessings to you and yours as you travail through these times. Take Care and Joy to the World!