And then on the next screen choose English (Pirate). Now you will experience a lot of fun things with your Facebook page.

And even if you log out, you’ll get some fun Pirate awesomeness.

You’re welcome!

I made two slight changes, I wanted a spicier cookie so I added ground cloves and a bit of nutmeg, and the recipe called for shortening but I used butter. Here’s the recipe as I made it:

• 2 cups flour
• 1tbl ground ginger
• 2tsp baking soda
• 1tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup sweet cream salted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1/3 cup cinnamon sugar mixture

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Sift flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and salt into a bowl and set aside. (I mixed it all up with a whisk.)

Place butter into another mixing bowl and beat until creamy (room temp works best here). Gradually beat in sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and molasses until well combined. Gradually add flour mixture into shortening mix and stir thoroughly until well combined. Mix until a soft dough forms.

Pinch off small amounts of dough and roll into 1 inch balls. Roll each ball into the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat.  Bake about 10-13 min until tops are rounded and slightly cracked.

I reviewed several recipes until I decided on this one. Some say to refrigerate the dough for a bit before rolling and baking. I did not chill the dough at all and these turned out just fine. The original recipe does not say to chill it either. So if you want to chill the dough that could be something to consider.

I have a Pampered Chef baking stone, a Calphalon jelly roll pan and a Wilton cookie sheet. I found the baking stone made the prettiest cookies with the nice, cracked top (the ones in the photo). Calphalon came in second and Wilton came in last for the prettiness.  Just as a note if you’re trying to figure out why your cookies don’t look as cool as mine in the picture. Baking stones haven’t always been the best for me with cookies. This is why I have the other metal pans, because baking is so touchy. Did you follow the cookie fail link up there? Yeah, that was for EVERY pan of cookies I tried baking no matter what I used. I’m still not sure what went wrong there.  As a final note, there was an egg suicide while baking. It leaped right from my hand onto the floor. Eggs are hard to clean off the floor so if you can prevent egg suicide I’d recommend it.

A friend of mine shared a letter she wrote to someone. I was incredibly honored that she feels she can trust me with such a private thing. I’ve written so many letters since I started keeping a journal. As much as I wanted to share them with people (and not just the person I was writing to) I always held back. I haven’t even read any of them to my therapist, I always seem to “forget” to have the journal with me.

You don’t have to restrict yourself to just a letter. Try writing a dialog with the person where you speak not only for yourself but for him/her as well. This helps me get a better handle on both sides of the story. You can also try to rewrite the way the story ends for you. I find it empowering to have control over a situation that previously left me feeling helpless. I’ve also incorporated some people as characters into stories I was working on. This helped me to take out some aggression, get some sense of satisfaction, and move my plot along when I was all worked up over something that was distracting me from writing.

Remember, the unsent letter is just that – a letter you don’t have to send. If after a period of time has passed, and you feel this letter NEEDS to be sent, that’s up to you. But just because you wrote the letter, that doesn’t mean it has to be put in and envelope or copy/pasted into an email or anything.  You can tear it up, burn it or bury it. Hell, you can even mail it off to Santa if you want. If you really want you can write that letter over and over and over, writing it once doesn’t mean you can’t do it again.

If you’re interested in reading some unsent letters, all you have to do is type it into Google and you’ll get plenty of blogs, tumblrs etc on the topic. Just skip over the stuff with World of Warcraft, apparently it’s also the name of an old quest.

When I go on job interviews and try to explain to the hiring manager why I’ve chosen to move from media buying to web development, I don’t think I articulate just how amazing my online experiences have been and how much it means to me.

My internet journey began with a WebTV. I bought it because my brother told me we could use it to meet up and talk in the chat rooms and it’d be cool. (And it was way cheaper than buying a computer and a subscription to AOL.) But chatting with my brother ended up becoming secondary to chatting with all the amazing people I met online. We’d discuss how to build websites (on GeoCities) using our WebTVs, (not so easy when you have no way to upload images ) share our love of Science Fiction, and bond over hardships as well as celebrate joys in life. Almost 15 years later, I’m still friends with many of those people. I’ve even met some of them in person. They are all very dear friends.

Even now I’m still meeting fabulous people online either through social media or online communities. I’ve found soul sisters, mentors, coaches and an amazing support system through my online friends. The internet has helped me to build a community, a family, of people that I can turn to with all kinds of different questions and issues.  I want so much to be able to create and add to this resource I’ve found. I want to help other people see what I’ve seen and find the same kind of community that I’ve found. I want to help people see the power in the internet. I want everyone to know what I know. Social media isn’t just another way for businesses to sell you things you don’t need. It’s a way for you to reach out to others and connect. Give it a try!

I hoped my wallet had just fallen out of my bag and some lovely person would mail it back to me. I did call the credit bureau they said they’d notify the others and I got a letter in the mail saying they had. I also contacted my bank and put a super secret password in place on my account. Then I continued about my business.

Over the weekend, though, I got a letter in the mail from Sears telling me my credit sucks so I can’t get a credit card. I thought, WTF? I haven’t been in a Sears in YEARS. Why on earth would I want a credit card?  I then realized those bastards who stole my wallet thought I had decent credit. Did they not notice that I have no credit cards?? Hello Dumbasses!  Well, after talking to my brother and being told some horror stories, I went to the police station and filed a police report so I could cover my ass. I then called the FTC as well as Trans Union, the credit bureau listed on the letter from Sears.  Well, it turns out that although Equifax (who I called the Monday after  my wallet was gone) said they’d tell the others, they didn’t actually tell the other bureaus that my stuff was stolen. If you are ever in this position, call TransUnion first, you actually get a person on the phone. Equifax is all automated, never do you get a human.

I ran my credit report and I saw that these jackwagons went to Sprint and AT&T as well.   I called Sprint to make sure they didn’t give these people anything (they did not) and I called AT&T to be sure as well. Since I do have AT&T home service already I was worried they may have given these idiots a phone or something and then I’d be stuck with the bill. A very lovely woman named Elizabeth helped me and gave me the number to their fraud department (If you think someone is trying to get AT&T service with your info call 866-718-2011)  The thieves did not get anything from AT&T with my info, thank goodness.

If you lose your wallet or it gets stolen, or if you think your identity has been stolen here’s what you need to do:

Call your bank first – hopefully they’re awesome like my bank and you get a human on the phone without pushing buttons. I honestly have no idea if anything with my bank account number was in my wallet, so they put a super secret password on my account.

Call the credit bureaus – all three of them. Don’t believe them when they say they will contact the others for you.

TransUnion

Equifax

Experian

Each of them have a way to report fraud online. TransUnion was the only one that  I called and actually  reached a person. I’d certainly start with them. If you’ve got the option to make these places call you to confirm that you’re the one applying for credit, do it. Experian has it on their online form, but you’ve got to check the box to make it appear. I did not see anything like that on Equifax’s form. TransUnion asked me if I wanted the option.

Call the FTC – 1-877-438-4338 Make sure it’s on file with them that your information was stolen. It will help you in your fight to prove your identity was stolen.

File a police report – I know it seems like a hassle to go to the police. Especially in a city like Chicago where they don’t even pull you over for turning right from the left hand lane in front of a police officer (I saw it happen!!).  But, in Illinois if your ID is lost or stolen and you have a police report you don’t pay the fine to get your ID replaced. Also, it’s something you’ll need when calling the FTC – they ask for the police report number.

And finally, keep written notes of dates and times when you did all of this. Also write down who you talked to at each place, the officer’s name who took the report (if it is not on the police report you received), and everything else you deem worthy of writing down.  Put all of this in a very safe place. Check your credit report immediately and then check it each year. Keep an eye on everything you get in the mail. Even if you think it’s junk, open it and look it over. I thought that Sears letter was junk but something made me open it. If you see someone submitted your info to any kind of lender or potential creditor, call them and make sure no one got credit that wasn’t you. I feel that I’m lucky that my credit is completely shot or I’d be fighting with a few places right now.

Check your wallet and purse right now, what’s in it that doesn’t need to be there? Take it out put it in a safe place and make sure you know where that safe place is because you don’t want to lose it. Also, if you carry your money, ID and bus pass in the same place – that’s going to bite you on the ass. Keep each one in a separate spot. Luckily my bus card was in a separate pocket of my bag and not in my wallet. I was still able to get home.

Google Music is in beta. How Google Music works is, you upload your music files to “the cloud” and then you can access your music wherever you are from any mobile device or computer. Even if you’re offline the recently played songs will be available. You can also select songs you really like to always be available offline. You download the music manager to your computer that will then start the upload of your music once you tell it where the files are located. This happens in the background so unless you’ve got a very slow machine you really shouldn’t notice any difference in computer performance while this is happening.

The worst part about Google Music is the amount of time it takes to upload all your music, especially if you’ve got a lot. I believe the program told me it found about 14,000 files on my external hard drive.  I’ve had access to this for about 6 days now and I’ve only got a fraction of my files uploaded, (about 2,000). Now, just to be fair, as I’ve said, my music files are on an external hard drive. I don’t always have it hooked up to my computer and I don’t always have my computer on. I’ve left it on and hooked up over the weekend to try and get this to finish more quickly. I’ve noticed that any files with embedded DRM will NOT upload.  So, not ALL your music will be available.  Once a number of files are uploaded though you can get access pretty quickly on a mobile device and start listening. I’ve installed the app on my Android phone and I’ve created a playlist and I’ve been listening since this past weekend. As long as you’ve got a strong signal, the songs play seamlessly. Making playlists is very simple through the phone app. Just press and hold the song listing, a menu will pop up, pick “add to playlist” and then either create a new playlist or select one already created.  Any playlists you create on your phone/mobile device will show up when you log in on a computer. The web interface is simple to use as well. Just click the plus sign next to playlist, name it and then go to your list of music and select the songs you want to add through the little menu square.

Google Music is currently free, but again, it’s in beta and you need an invitation. When I heard about Google Music I searched for it and requested an invite through the website, I got one within a week. As far as I can tell Google Music does not have it’s own library of music to show you new artists or let you stream music you don’t already own. This service is strictly for your personal music library.

The other new music service on the internets is Spotify.  Spotify has been around in Europe and it is just starting up in the US. The free version is only available by invitation, but if you’ve got a Klout account they’re offering up invites. I asked for an invite at the Spotify website when I first heard of it and I got one within a few days of asking. Although by that time I had already signed up using the Klout code I received. If you want to pay for one of their premium services you can get in immediately. I haven’t played around much with Spotify yet but I did download the player to my computer. It looks and feels  a lot like iTunes. However, on the free version there are giant ads that block some of what I need to see on my tiny netbook screen and there’s no intuitive way to adjust the size or move things around. The online player for Google Music has no ads. I was able to listen to songs in the Spotify library immediately including the new Duran Duran song and a couple others that they suggested to me. Once you tell it where your music files are you can start listening immediately to your own library. Compared to Google Music this is much faster. It was a couple of days before the web interface of Google Music would let me even see that songs had uploaded (even though I could already access some of them with my phone.)

Premium members of Spotify can stream songs from the Spotify library on their phone, while the free or Unlimited users can only listen to their own music that Spotify recognizes and has a license for. This is very much like Google Music that wont upload files with DRM in them. It is possible you might have some tracks that Spotify doesn’t have a license for that you wont be able to stream on your phone… this blows if you ask me.

I’m not sure how either of these applications would handle any existing iTunes playlists since I haven’t bothered with iTunes for some time now.  I’ve been without a good chunk of my music library after the crash of a desktop computer. I didn’t want to hook my iPod up to anything and risk losing all the music I have on it.  Honestly I’m sick to death of the record labels and all of these services catering to their demands. Whatever happened to fair use? I’ve bought this music and I’ve taken the time to load it onto my machine. Why can’t I listen to it on ANY player I own or may own in the future?  OK, no more ranting.

Why would you choose Spotify over Google Music? Well, if you want something to suggest new songs to you and let you listen to stuff you don’t own and maybe share playlists with friends then Spotify is for you.  Keep in mind you can only share music that Spotify is licensed to share though. UPDATED TO ADD: You must have the PREMIUM account to listen to any music NOT ALREADY ON YOUR PHONE. You can not access your home library on your phone if you don’t have the premium account. It does give you the option to sync wirelessly to your music, but if I’m on my home wireless why would I want to listen on my phone? The computer is right there…

Why would you use Google Music over Spotify? If you only want access to your own library and maybe want some kind of online back up for all of it (I haven’t looked into using this as an online backup system for my music, but I’m thinking this would be a great way to backup my stuff ) if you own many computers and devices and want to be able to get your music no matter what machine you’re on, this would be ideal for you. Especially if you’ve got a LOT of music. Initial set up will take some time, but it could be worth it. Aside from the music manager to be able to upload songs to the cloud there is nothing to download.  As long as you have access to the internet you can listen to your library wherever you are. Are you a freelancer? Want to listen to your stuff when working on-site? Use Google Music, just log in and everything is there for you to listen to and you don’t need admin rights to load a player. Do you travel a lot? Use a netbook without much drive space? As long as you can get to Google Music you can access your tunes! If you use Spotify you’ve got to download the player on EVERY COMPUTER you use in order to listen to anything.

I’m going to keep playing around with both of these to see which one I like best. If you’ve got an opinion I’d love to hear it!

small journal

I have an addiction to blank books. Even just ordinary notebooks, I can’t seem to go into an office supply store without leaving empty handed. Most often it is some kind of note book that I buy. This weekend I went to the Printers Row Lit Fest and I found this awesome new leather bound journal at one of the vendors there. I saw the array of books they had and I just could not leave without buying one.  The one I picked out isn’t that big. All hand made, even the paper inside.

look how much paper!

Now I just need help figuring out what to do with it. It has a TON of paper, unlined. It’s small enough to carry around all the time. So what do I do with it? Do I write important school web coding notes in it? Do I write my thoughts down? Shopping lists? Help me out.. what do I do with this awesome journal?

I had no idea that this was a competitive program to get into. I assumed they helped everyone. Yes, we had to take computer tests and drug tests and interviews and bring them all kinds of papers and forms and jump through a lot of hoops. It just never dawned on me that it wasn’t an easy thing to do, and if I had known this was so competitive I’d probably have been a lot more nervous. In the end about 250 people were accepted, they told us around 2,000 people applied. We have 7 people over 60 in our group.

I was accepted into the web development program. It’s a whole new career path from the one I’ve been on. But it’s also something I’ve always been interested in learning. At the end of the program I’ll be CIW Certified and our instructor said she’d help us with any other certifications we want to get. I know this wont be an easy process. Going back to school after all this time will be hard. But I’m looking forward to a structured routine for my days. If you see sudden changes to my website you’ll know I’m practicing what I’ve been learning. And if I don’t post here for the next 6 months you’ll know that I’m just way too busy. You should probably call me.

I will be attending classes at IIT (the big tech university, not ITT that has commercials on late night television) for the entire 6 months of the program. And in addition to the classes, I’ll be working for three months with one of their partner businesses and three months I’ll be working at one of their partner non-profit organizations. I find out Friday what my posts will be. They’re keeping us busy 6 days a week between the on-site learning as well as the classroom stuff. And we get a stipend during our training which is incredibly helpful.

I’m extremely excited about the whole process and how much assistance they are giving us. They’ve partnered with Challenger, Gray & Christmas to help participants create resumes, search for jobs, write cover letters and practice interviews. They are giving us so many resources and I had no idea things like this existed.

I highly recommend if you’re on the hunt for a job and you haven’t been able to find anything that you try looking up job training programs. I bet there are a bunch of them out there, waiting for you to take that first step.

The Cubs dugout!

Posted via email from Piratealice’s posterous

I’ll tell you all about how a sugar addict can become a vegan for 28 days, possibly longer. I’ll tell you how much this stuff is going to cost and I’ll share any shopping tricks I learn along the way. I’ll share recipes too, because we all like recipes, right? So go…now… read all about it the first couple of days have already been posted.