Killer Resturant Web Sites!

Well the web class spins onward and I was really amazed to see the fantastic work of so many students who worked so hard in creating a website for their favorite restaurant. Many websites came out really fantastic!

After viewing the great results I wasn't too anxious for anyone to see my work. I realize this is an art form that I'll never be that great at. Perhaps that's just as well. Spending long hours in front of a computer tends to give me backaches and hemorrhoids.

Perhaps if I felt confident in Dreamweaver, and didn't get bogged down in figuring out trivial problems, or in figuring out what to do next, I could bugaloo and get a mojo on and spit out some really good websites.

In the meantime, I'll go back to doing something useful -- like shoveling compost and tending my grapevines.

WOW! They're so KUL!

When starting a website (all three of them) the first problem I usually run into is what colors to make what. Now there's a website that already tells you what colors go with what so you don't have to hurt your brain trying to think of what color will match what you've picked.

It's just so Kul! And of course, it's also from Adobe, the folks that own all the software for doing these websites and graphics, so they must be kul!

Hold on, some nefarious rebellious spirit is whispering in my ear that this site is a marketing ploy for Adobe. Would they be that sly? Would they be publishing "kul"-looking websites so that we'd be thinking that their products are "kul"?

Oh noooooooo!


The website http://kuler.adobe.com

W3 Schools for the Web - Challenged Among Us

Miyia (from class) gave me an URL of a website that has really been helpful in learning snippets of CSS and HTML. This site is so simple that even I can understand it. It provides the code and shows the effects just in case you're tempted to copy and past on to your site.

This is truly a site for simpletons like me. Please check it out! Write a review! Give me crap about it! Respond!


http://www.wschools.com

Websites for Webitorial Enlightenment

Below are a few websites for scarfing up free goodies that you can copy and paste 

into your sites and look like you know what you're doing.

"Muziekpark http://stylesinspiration.com/muziekpark/

Dispite the corny name. This site presents a lots of design choices available for 

copy and paste. Lots of interesting ideas from extremely talented people who 

put their stuff out there for the world to see. 

I guess wanting you and me to put a quarter's worth of comments into the 

comment box. They certainly deserve it.

"Csszengarden" http://www.csszengarden.com

The csszengarden aims to "excite, inspire, and encourage participation".
That's right grasshopper! Take it from the masters, any of the CSS code you
want (or need) to seek enlightenment. there are plenty of great site templates
available here for the taking. Maybe after trying to get my own CSS code
working all afternoon in vain, I could use a bit of Zen, -- If not Zin, or maybe
even sin.

"backround labs" http://www.backgroundlabs.com
I think this is where Microsoft word gets all its clip art. I shouldn't complain
as it IS free. But I couldn't really find anything inspiring. It's positively underwheming. 

New Nebbiolo Vines

I was given Nebbiolo grafted vines this February. Nebbiolo is a red Italian wine grape variety.  Nebbiolo derive its name from the Italian word nebbia which means "fog." During harvest, which generally takes place late in October, a deep, intense fog sets into the Langhe region of Italy where many Nebbiolo vineyards are located.  Nebbiolo produces lightly colored red wines which can be highly tannic in youth with scents of tar and roses. As they age, the wines take on a characteristic brick-orange hue at the rim of the glass and mature to reveal other aromas and flavors such as violets, tar, wild herbs, cherries, raspberries, truffles, tobacco, and prunes.My vines are shown above. This is their first year and they're just making it up to the guide wire.Behind in the distance you can see my raspberries, which I hope to mix in with the wine during fermentation so that my Nebbiolo wine won't taste like tar or prunes -- but more like raspberries. Growing grapes and making wine is a long-term project. It will be next year this time before I have any grapes and two years before I have any wine that's drinkable.

So I tore up my Barberra vines -- which had provided an extremely high acid wine, with these new vines.  After hearing horror stories of how the glassy wing sharpshooter gave Pierce's disease to a friend's vineyard, I figured I'd try and play it safe. Also, these Nebbiolo vines are grafted onto rootstock which should make them more disease-resistant. Most of my grapevines I've self-propagated from cuttings I've gathered from wineries -- mainly cause I'm such a cheapass and don't want to pay for the grafted variety.

Must be Muscat Love!

I bought a muscat grape vine at my local Home Depot on a whim about two years ago. This particular muscat variety is called "Venus". It was developed by the University of Arkansas.

Last year I had my first grapes from this vine. Only two bunches -- but they were humungous dark purple and sweet as hell. I ate them all up and never made wine. This year there looks to be around 6 bunches and I hope to get at least a gallon of wine. Also, I manage to propagate a few new vines from cuttings that I'll plant nearby.

Muscat grapes have a really unusual taste and flavor which can be described as very sweet and "grapey". I've only found one winery that makes wine out of them. It's called Big Cat Winery in Temecula.  They make a very unusual light white wine (great for hot summer days) from their Muscat grapes. If you get to Temecula you should check them out. they're a little off the beaten path. I took a dirt road to find them.

One of the most unusual things about these Muscat grapevines is the size of their leaves. they are huge. Gigantis! You could use them for Adam and Eve swimming shorts!

What a day

For all you millions of fans out there dying to know what my day was like read on. Read on. Actually,  I
can't believe that anyone would want to read this drivel  -- probably why it's so hard for me to write anything in it.

I wish to hell I had a pain pill, just so swallow it and feel good. Feel good about something in this terrible day. Something about the warmth of pseudo opiates dispels all fear and makes your pain go away.

I'll explain more. I guess if you've read this far you probably are wondering who the hell I am or what I'm complaining about. It's just one of those days where nothing goes well. Every thing that I try to do goes awry and I start to take it personally. Like it's my fault (Uh, it probably is.) Like I'm a failure and absolutely no good  at what I'm suppose to be doing. (Oh well, I guess it's out in the open.). Days like this serve to undermine any sense of pride I seem to develop in anything I do.

I guess this is all part of life. We have good days, and bad. This was a bad one. Let's move on!