2010 Resolutions

1a) Lose 30lbs.
1b) When 1a is complete, go skydiving!
2) Run the Get In Gear 5k on Saturday, April 24, 2010 (my first 5k ever)
3) Learn how to can tomatoes/tomato sauce
4) Make at least 2 kinds of wine this year
5) Pay off my last school loans.

Struts and Websphere Application Server 6.1

If you're upgrading from WAS 6.0 to 6.1 (I know it's over 3 years old when I'm posting this) and have a struts project, you will need to add this custom property in order to get it to run:

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.invokefilterscompatibility = true

Servers > Application Servers > server name > Web Container Settings > Web Container > Custom Properties.

Belated Announcement.

I just wanted to plug a project I've been working on since September for work. We built this web site for the state of Georgia and I think it's really cool.

http://georgiahealthinfo.gov/sfc/

Basically, it allows citizens to search for medical service providers near their home/job/any place in georgia and see quality and cost comparison data for specific medical services. Hopefully this allows citizens to make more informed decisions about their medical care.

Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine Best of the Best Party

Last night Ann, Ann's friend Meagan and I went to the Minneapolis/St. Paul magazine's Best of the Best Party 2009. There was about a dozen restaurants serving free bite-sized foods plus free wine from Bridlewood (where I have actually been wine tasting) and some free Grey Goose cocktails.

We had a really good time and found a few restaurants to put on the list of places to try. The party was extremely busy and the worst part of the night had to be the line to check in. The food and drink quickly made up for it though. For me, the two best bites came down to Barrio and Lord Fletcher's. Barrio served a mini taco with seasoned ground beef, some queso fresca (I think that's what kind of cheese it was) and cilantro. Lord Fletcher's stole the show with a seared beef tenderloin sliced atop a potato chip and topped with some creme fresh. It's the only thing that made me go back for seconds.

Some of the other things we tried was some sort of artichoke with salsa from Solera, some braised pork belly from Smalley's Caribbean BBQ, Cobb Salad from Wildfire add Strawberries/Rice Crispy Treat in chocolate fondue from The Melting Pot.

I think I'll definitely be trying this party next year.

Minneapolis Ruby Meetup

Since I've been using Ruby on Rails for work for the last year or so, I decided to try and join ruby community in Minneapolis. HOWEVER, there doesn't appear to be a ruby community in Minneapolis (or St. Paul) that meets in a formalized fashion. SO, I've decided to create one.

If you're in or near the twin cities and are interested in ruby, join the meetup and come hang out with us. (Assuming anyone else decides to join. :) )

Who thought Chipotle was healthy?

If you (like me) have some ill-thought NYE resolution to lose weight, and still want to have chipotle on occassion then Chipotle Fan might be useful to you. You can "build" your burrito of choice and it will spit out the nutritional information including calories, fat and fiber. (Those are the three factors when determining weight watchers points.)

A chicken burrito with all the tasty toppings and a bag of chips is easily over a days worth of calories! A burrito of just rice starts at 450 calories and 13 grams of fat. The tortilla itself is 290 calories and 9 grams of fat.

Just some food for thought...

Supertasting

I think people like to think they are a supertaster. It implies that somehow their sense of taste, and therefore their likes and dislikes, are better than a non-supertasters opinion. (Though apparently supertasters are at higher risk for certain types of cancer that bitter compounds help protect against.) I admit I've had that feeling a few times. Being a fairly picky eater, I thought maybe that could justify being picky. However, I don't think I am a supertaster - and most of my food dislikes are due to texture rather than flavor.

Either way, now you can know for sure whether or not you're a supertaster by ordering a test. For 4.99 they send you some paper that has been soaked in an extremely bitter compound that only super tasters can detect.

I kinda want to order one even though I don't really think I'm a supertaster.