Team Espinoza

The very poorly lit picture I texted to Amanda showing my accomplishment

We recently moved our wireless access point from my former office (now Zander’s room until we redecorate it for Roman) to the family room so it could be in closer proximity to where we spend most of our time when we are online. The upside is the iPad and laptop have better reception and the XBOX and DVR can now be hard wired to the internet. (Thanks John for handling the cabling!) The downside to this move was that our 8 year old iMac G5 (nickname: Manzana Blanca) that didn’t come with a wifi card installed (and hadn’t needed one until now) was relegated to being a stand-alone machine. The G5 is our digital hub for music and photos so it needs to be online.

Last night while shopping for a suitable USB wifi card I saw in forums that people had hit-or-miss experiences with G5′s and USB wifi cards and they advised to use an AirPort card in the built-in slot for best results. A quick Google search showed me I could buy one off Amazon or eBay for around $30 bucks. In the description I saw that these cards were compatible with G3, G4 or G5 machines. *Light Bulb*.  We had bought Amanda an old G4 Macbook that she used until the hard drive demonstrated what the sound of metal scraping against metal is like. A quick removal of the keyboard and eureka! An AirPort Extreme card! But, would it fit in the G5?

I flipped the iMac on it’s front and loosened three screws (seriously, Macs are the best designed machines) and immediately saw the slot for the AirPort card and it was the same size. Rear panel back on, power up.

G5: “I’ve found an AirPort card, would you like to use it?”
Me: “Yes, yes I would.”

Done.

It felt good to ‘use what we got’ – A mantra Amanda and I often recite in our continued endeavor of Gazelle Intensity. Also, this episode was also an example of how great design of products pays dividends years later.  I challenge anyone to show me an almost 8 year old Windows machine that is in such good shape as our little Manzanita.

I am coming to terms with the fact that I am allergic to Mountain Cedar. Almost everyone in San Antonio has some sort of reaction to Mountain Cedar every January. I thought I was immune, until now.

Last year at this time I saw a doctor for an upper respiratory infection and a sinus infection. Last year I was pregnant, so I thought it had something to do with that. I saw that same doctor again this year for the very same symptoms. She said it was Mountain Cedar. I mentioned that I have lived here for 13 years and I have never had a problem with it. She pointed out that it effects you more as you get older. Hooray for getting older.

I got my prescription for a z-pack and left her office. I’ll probably be there again next year for the same thing.

Today is my fifth day being sick, but the drugs are beginning to work. I think the coughing and the head pain is the worst. I began to feel almost normal once my headache started to subside yesterday. Hopefully, I will feel well again by the end of the week! I got stuff to do.

It is nice to be in the 2000′s of the timeline of the book. Also, reading how the iPod came into being was very interesting.

The interaction between the Apple team, the key additions made and the availability of the right technology made the iPod’s development seem ordained.

I decided to go 27 days without dessert. I must be nuts. My Twitter friend @lamHookem gave me the idea and was my inspiration. Leticia was going through the holiday season without sweets. I don’t know how she did it. She even baked for others and didn’t even sample. Leticia has lost over 90 pounds and two years later she is still maintaining it. This post will inspire you too!

I need to detox from the holiday indulgence. Also, I want to see if it will make a difference with my weight. I LOVE dessert. I’d have something sweet every day. This isn’t good if you have a high probability of getting diabetes. I’ve already had gestational diabetes once and was borderline two times after that.

Today is Day 7 of no sweets. I’ve eaten a lot of grapes and strawberries. I haven’t been too strict, because I still eat cereal and bread (a post about this later.) Those two things are not the same as ice cream, cookies, or a slice of cake.

Dessert Party

Before this no dessert phase, I hosted a Dessert Party for my book club. This is the only picture I have from that night. Aren’t these the signs of a good party?

This is what I made:

- Oreo Cheesecake Bars. I liked that I could make these a day in advance. I didn’t add enough butter to the oreo crust and it created a lot of crumbles. Also, I would have made the chunks of oreo larger in the cheesecake part to make them sweeter. They weren’t bad, but I probably won’t make them again.

- La Bete Noire. This is a flourless chocolate cake with a ganache frosting. The name of the cake is translated into “The Black Beast.” It is very rich. You have to eat it in very small portions. Overall, I liked it. I will use a better grade of chocolate next time, because you can really taste the chocolate. I used bittersweet chocolate for the cake part and semi-sweet for the ganache. I loved that I could make this night before and it keeps in the fridge. If another occasion rises I would love to make this for another group. It’s a fancy dessert that is easy to make and serves many portions.

- Carrot Cake. I used Sigrid’s recipe from the Pioneer Woman website. Ree made hers in a sheet pan in the blog post, but the original recipe calls for a bundt pan. I think bundt cakes are easier to bake and serve. Also, as a friend astutely noted, bundt cakes allow for more surface area for icing. Oh, this icing is to die for! It is one of those recipes that makes me wonder “Did this really come out my kitchen?” I had loads of frosting leftover so I served it as a dip for strawberries. I think that bowl was almost licked clean. I WILL be making this cake again. Easy and delicious.

A few other ladies brought stuffed mushrooms, chocolate chip bars, and butterscotch bars. It was a wonderful selection to suit anyone’s tastes.

Now that I have reminded myself of the sweets I am missing, I am getting back to my dessert fast. It ends on my birthday in February. I am definitely looking forward to my present to myself – a good piece of rich, dark chocolate.

One of only two family pictures we have from our vacation.  And Zander isn’t even fully visible.  We need to be better about taking group shots on vacation!

Well, it is a little you too. Facebook, we are breaking up.

I took a break from checking Facebook and updating my statuses over the holidays. I didn’t even log in for over two months.

This quote from LittleMissWilde.com articulates very well how I feel about Facebook:

“Facebook is a social utility that allows you to procrastinate by scrolling through a constantly updating stream of photos of pasta, cryptic updates and endless event invites from people you met once three years ago and haven’t spoken to since.”

Facebook isn’t inherently bad for those who can maintain self control, have lots of extra time, and can let silly comments roll off easily. I am not one of those people. Here are a few reasons why I quit:

- I can be a judgemental person. My pastor mentioned once that someone with a spiritual gift of discernment, can slip into using that gift to judge others for subjective reasons instead of righteous reasons. Raises hand, that’s me. I don’t mean to, but I become Judgy McJudgerson when I read people’s updates. Even to the point of judging their use of social media. (Vaguebooking drives me nuts.) I feel like God gave me the Bible verse Matthew 5:30, “And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” Facebook was causing me to sin in my heart, so I am cutting it off.

- I don’t have a lot of spare brainspace and time to keep up with Facebook. I don’t have time to be upset that the app isn’t working again or that I have another change to figure out. It takes time to manage your account well. Also, I’d love to have time to care about all my friends’ daily minor details, but I simply can’t. All the information is overwhelming to me. I have a few friends and family members that I keep up with outside of Facebook and that is enough for me right now.

- I want to be sought out. If someone truly wants to know what is going with me, then I hope that they would email me, text me, send me a tweet, or invite me to coffee. The same is true in reverse. Since my break from Facebook began in November, I have made a point to invite friends out to lunch and to coffee. I have had brainspace and time to be concerned about friends I deeply care about.

- I don’t trust Facebook. Maybe I have read too many Science Fiction novels or I have taken the movie “The Social Network” to heart when I shouldn’t have. I feel like they want you to put your whole life into Facebook and follow you around the web to fill their data mines. It’s a bit too Big Brotherish for me. Their privacy policies are misleading. I’m not afraid to share about my life on the web. I am all over Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, Flickr, and here. I just feel in more control over my information on these sites. Especially here at Team Espinoza where I own my own data. I know for a fact that Twitter sells their tweets to marketers, they don’t try to hide it like Facebook. Once a friend  saw a Gap ad on Facebook with a photo of her daughter in it that she had uploaded to Facebook. I shared about my distrust of Facebook back in 2010 here.

I am going to be making more of an effort to blog and update our site. Our baby is 9 months old and life in general in calming down. So look for me over here at Team Espinoza, instead of Facebook.

** Bonus points to anyone who can guess who wrote that post it note in the photo and to whom. 

Merry Christmas from the Espinozas!