Here is a shot I took using my iPod while riding the subway in Buenos Aires. There are always entertainers and solicitors working hard to make a buck or two on the “Subte,” and this was one of the more entertaining ones I saw. He kept sitting on the laps of different people… Some people pretended that he wasn’t there (making it even more hilarious).

Lots of juicy organizational tips in this one. Some of it even over my head. Lots of great tool recommendations, incorporating iPad into a productive work routine, and more.

After they talk for over 2 hours about all of the Mac and productivity geekery, Merlin has some really great things to say about life priorities, the ignorance of youth, and fearlessness during a recession. (around 2:08:30).

I’ve been following Merlin Mann for years, because he is a great combination of sarcastic humour, mac geekery, productivity, and insight about what really matters.

Speaking of which, here’s a great post that sums up his overall attitude. A classic read: First, Care

Both Files: Unzip_and_Zip_FTP_folders.zip

Contents:

• Billy’s Unzipper Script [uncompress_zip_file_on_ftp_server.php] (author site)

• Joel’s Compress and Download Script [download_ftp_folder_as_zip.php]

Disclaimer: These scripts work great for me on my 1and1 server, but use the scripts and these instructions at your own risk.

The Problem for Web Nerds: Slow FTP Transfers

As a web designer who primarily builds sites using WordPress, I often find myself having to move a WordPress blog from either one FTP server to another, from my computer to the web, or any combination of those.

The most painful part of this process is that although a WordPress installation doesn’t take up a lot of memory, it does consist of many small files. When transferring this WordPress folder using an FTP client, it can take half an hour or even longer, depending on your connection speed.

I knew that there had to be quicker way, so I spent some time looking around.

Part 1: Zip and Download Entire FTP Folder

I had a theory: If only there was a way I could compress all of those tiny files into one big zip file, I could download them all at once, much quicker.

This was the hardest part.

I found a few possible solutions and php snippets, but none of them worked for me. Keep in mind that I am primarily a designer and am less proficient in programming PHP scripts. Since there was no solution that worked, I decided to hire a coder to write this script for me.

Download File: download_ftp_folder_as_zip.php

What is does:

This file will do exactly as it says: It will zip and download ALL of the files that it finds in the SAME directory you drop it in.

Instructions:

1) upload this php script INTO the /awesome-folder-you-want-to-zip/ folder,

2) navigate to your script in a web browser (www.yourawesomesite.com/awesome-folder-you-want-to-zip/download_ftp_folder_as_zip.php

3) click the zip button, and after a few seconds (depending on how many files there are) a zip file will start to download containing all of the files that were in /awesome-folder-you-want-to-zip/

4) Remember to delete the script when you’re done just in case the public should randomly stumble across it

Video Tutorial:

Limitations:

• In the zip file, this script will include all of the files, folders, and subfolders in the directory. You cannot choose individual files – And if you don’t like it, then no soup for you.

• Probably because of server limitations (I tested this using a 1and1 account), the script seems to time out when zipping folders larger than 60mb. In this case, the script will leave a temporary 60mb file on your server that you’ll have to manually delete using your FTP software. That means that some of your sites, you’ll have to do in parts. If you have large files in your uploads folders, then move that folder first before zipping all the rest. The inconvenience of this may make this script only useful on sites that don’t have large files included within the WordPress installation folder.

Part 2: Upload a Zip File, then Unzip it on your FTP Server

Rather than making your FTP software go through the dirty task of uploading all those individual files, it’s easier to compress everything on your computer, then upload it to your web server as one zip file.

Now that you have that zip file uploaded, you need to somehow unzip it on the server.

Googling around, I came across an excellent script that allows you to unzip an FTP folder on your server. It’s called Billy’s PHP Unzipper, and the author graciously shows the code and explanation on his site.

Download file: Uncompress_zip_file_on_ftp_server.php

Instructions:

1) On your computer, zip the WordPress site (or any other folder) locally on your computer

2) Upload the zip file

3) Upload this script in the same directory as the zip file

4) Navigate to the PHP script in your web browser

5) Wait for the files to unzip.

6) Check out the extracted files in your favorite FTP program to see the results (To see the extracted folder, you will probably have to refresh your FTP software, if you already had it open)

Limitations:

• Using this on a Mac, I sometimes notice a temporary folder being left on the server called _MAC OSX. It doesn’t seem to be a problem, and for all the time it’s saved me, I don’t mind deleting the extra folder (or just leaving it there).

Video Tutorial:

Using my iPod to capture this pic, then importing it into the Photogene app for iPad, I came up with this wallpaper that lived on my home screen for a while. (Click to enlarge)

It’s actually not too bad – it usually doesn’t rain until the early evening.

There were even a few fruits that I didn’t recognize. And with my “pocito español,” I couldn’t understand what they were trying to tell me they were!

This young kid is in the process of learning that right now.

But this is quite amazing – he’s playing the bass notes, plus two notes in his right hand. I can’t imagine the monster player this guy is going to grow up to become. That is, of course, is if he can still bare to look at a pair of mallets in 10 years time.

“A few weeks after learning the news, I went to the midwife’s office. Desperate for some relief from the everwhelming “not-just-morning sickness” I had been having, the midwife took a listen to my tummy.  After a few minutes, she announces, ‘I don’t want to alarm you, but I think I might be hearing two heartbeats in there!’ (The increased hormone levels that come from a twins pregnancy can heighten pregnancy symptoms like morning sickness and swelling.)”

After finding out they were going to have twins, Vera and Trevor’s lives were completely turned upside down, with their goals and priorities immediately altered.

Apparently, an ever-growing number of couples are experiencing precisely the same thing, as multiple births are becoming increasingly common throughout the world. Some say this is partially due to women waiting longer to have children (every year over 35 puts a woman at increased risk of multiples apparently), or using assisted fertility (ART).

Taking everything she learned from having twins, Vera has spent the last 5 years running a prenatal consulting business in Toronto, ON. She has been driving around the city, helping countless other parents who are finding themselves in the same overwhelming position she once was.

On her spare time, Vera has been writing in magazines, and has been an influential voice in the multiple births community.

I can remember when Vera hired me to build her website 4 years ago. During one of our meetings, we had to make a quick stop to drop off some clothes and toys to a family… a huge family. First, the parents had twin boys. Then in an attempt to have a girl, they had 3 more boys – triplets! I guess that was when they learnt realize that the likelihood of having multiple multiple births is very high.

A couple months ago, after 5 years of prenatal consulting, Vera took another careful look at her priorities. Not only are she and Trevor raising twin 6 year old boys, they are also full time educators. (During the day, Vera teaches a grade 3/4 class in a high needs school in southern Ontario, and in the evenings, she delivers part of Tyndale University’s Faculty of Ed program to teacher candidates in the city’s north end.

She also volunteers with TPOMBA and Multiple Births Canada.)  With all this going on, Vera was struggling to meet the growing need for twins-specific prenatal courses. Her course has been in high demand in the GTA (General Toronto Area), and beyond.

With all of the responsibilities piling up, Vera felt that it was time to retire her local prenatal consulting business.

When I heard this, I was actually feeling excited rather than nostalgic. Why? Because I had an idea: Rather than Vera completely retiring from prenatal consulting and therefore wasting all of her expertise, it was time for us to take her business to the next level – the Internet.

It didn’t take much convincing. Vera and I sent a couple emails back and forth, and before we knew it, we had embarked on the new adventure that is BabiesinBelly.com. With my web design expertise and our eagerness to learn about Internet marketing, we have spent the last couple of months bringing Vera’s course to the masses.

We’ve invested hundreds of hours perfecting the content of this course, and it’s finally ready for primetime. Now we have to spread to word, and continue building this online experience that will enable Vera to share her specialized knowledge with the masses.

Check out BabiesInBelly.com to watch how our business unfolds over the next few months. This is definitely an exciting time for both of us, and we’re grateful for the excellent support and feedback we are receiving.

When I finished drinking the water, I asked the waitress to whack open the coconut so I could eat the meat inside. Coconut flesh is a great source of raw fat, which can be challenging for a raw vegan to get on a ship. Surprisingly, she wasn’t going to charge me to cut open the coconut, but I gave her two more dollars anyway.

Coconut flesh doesn’t appeal to me too much when it is fresh, because it is still pretty slimy from having the water inside. Ideally, I’d let it sit in the sun for a couple hours to dry out.

Since we are not allowed to have food (nor Magic Bullet blenders) in our cabins, it would be wrong for me to make a Coconut smoothie. But using my black-belt Photoshop skills, I have constructed a photo (left) to show you what this scenario might have looked like.

Also shown is a bottle of real vanilla extract, which I paid $8 US for. I had to look in a few different shops to find vanilla that was in a glass bottle. I made sure I got a glass bottle, because in the hot (caliente) weather, I’m sure that some serious toxins would be expelled from the plastic bottles. I’m told it’s cheaper for them to use plastic bottles, and t’s also easier for tourists to get through the airport with plastic bottles.

I put the pit in a glass, then poured the club soda on it. I put it in the fridge with a plate on top (since the bottle was a room temperature).

A few minutes later, I was drinking Mango Pop! It was better than I recall actual soda tasting, and your teeth don’t hate you for it, either.

You can reuse the same mango pit for several glasses. I intend to experiment with different fruit scraps to create different flavours.

I was sending a Facebook reply to someone at 2:09 in the morning (don’t judge my sleep habits – I just woke up a few hours ago), and the below screenshot is what I saw.

The logic behind this hurts my brain… maybe I need to go watch Back To The Future again and take notes.

A few weeks ago, I tried a trial of a Mac program called Hazel.

I was tired of looking at a desktop full of random downloaded files, and other pieces of information that I thought I might need, but have no place to file it.

Hazel lets me automatically move files from one folder to another, according to my custom conditions. I set one up that moves all Desktop files that are 24hrs old, to another folder out of sight, called “Desktop Files,” predictably enough.

You can also have it sort files according to file type, which I use for archiving my TV shows after I have watched them.

After the 30 day trial expired, I remember it being pretty cheap to buy – between $15 and $20 (don’t quote me on it). They are obviously a small software company, so it feels good to be supporting them, rather than the big, expensive developers who charge outragous amounts of money (Adobe, cough cough!).

I prefer Mac, but at Joel’s blog, we’re non-OS-denominational, so I’ll Google around for some non-Mac alternatives:

Linux: Ok, I take it back – there aren’t any obvious Linux programs, other than getting geeky with scripting. If anyone with Linux can help (hi Steffi), let me know. Update: Check out Plasma Dashboard, for a solution to keeping your Kubuntu desktop clean. See Steff’s blog post for this, along with additional linux geekery.

Windows: Apparently there’s a built-in desktop cleaner. But if Windows holds true to their reputation, it could be irritating. Try watching this video.

Here is what I had for lunch today – A salad with spinach, sprouts, strawberries, and an improvised salad dressing.

Salad dressing:

- Strawberries

- Balsamic Vinegar, Olive Oil

- Carrot

- Garlic

- Italian Spices

Okay, I guess with a couple of those ingredients, it’s more like 99% raw. Sue me

To make raw soup, the friction from the high-powered blender heats up the mixture so it can be eaten warm, without cooking it and murdering all the enzymes and nutrition in the process.

The blender did it’s job, but unfortunately, I wasn’t nearly as reliable. It’s hard to find good help these days…

First of all, you’ll notice the goop spattered across the wall. That’s from opening the lid too quickly.

But the biggest problem was that the final product didn’t taste great. I’m lying – it was gag-worthy. No amount of dried parsley can save this disaster.

In case you want the recipe: I added random vegetables from the fridge, garlic, spices, and water. I also added too much jalapeno, so while I thought I was adding a clever zing, I ended up further reducing the edibility of the already questionable soup.

But my penny-pinching instincts tells me to eat it anyway. And I even have leftovers for tomorrow – yay.

As a reward for injecting mass amounts of this theoretically healthy concoction, I washed it down with some fresh applesauce made from a couple red delicious apples, raw cashews, and cinnamon. Yum. It was almost worth it. Almost.

So the lesson I learned today was…  learn to make better soup, or stop trying.

I heard somewhere that dehydrating eggplant is a good idea. I had it at Live, a raw restaurant in Toronto, and it was presented as a raw “bacon” strip on top of a raw burger. I decided to try cutting it as circles, rather than strips. I marinated the slices for about an hour in olive oil, sea salt, garlic and some spices.

Then I put it in the dehydrator. It came out with a texture that reminded me of pizza crust. Hmmmm…

I topped it with a diced tomato and some onion (above).

Then I made a spicy jalapeno sauce with a bunch of other vegis and random spices, and drizzled it over the pizzas, and the asparagus. (below)

Apologies for the poor quality of the photos. Apparently I still don’t have the camera flash figured out.

This was so delicious. I think this is one of the best things I have eaten for the last couple months, and it was a fun mess to eat.

So there you go – raw mini pizzas. Time for me to get a cookbook deal!

ps. Look again at the photo on the right. An old trick I learned while working at a restaurant, is that if you want to make something look more appetizing, especially when the plate is a mess, springle parsely flakes on it, and it will look 10x better.

I went to Rawlicious with some beautiful people last night (well, mostly , and had the meatloaf. So I was inspired to make my own.

I looked at some recipes on the internet. They all varied in ingredients enough, that I decided to just improvise my own recipe, rather than following one. You see, cooking from recipe is work; bullshitting is fun!

I put in a bunch of unsalted, unroasted nuts: sunflower seeds, brazil nuts, cashews, and almonds.

I added sundried tomatos, a fresh tomato, half a small onion, a handful of sprouts, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, seaweed (for saltiness), 2 cloves of garlic, 3 stalks of celery… and probably a few other things I’m forgetting.

I didn’t do anything, except throw all this stuff into the Vitamix. I set it at about the 30% power setting. I used the black pushy rod that came with the blender to stir the mixture around as I blended. If I had set it on too high of a setting, it would have pulverized the whole thing into a soup. This way, there were chunks of stuff all throughout the mixture, making it more fun to eat.

I used my hands to spread the thick mixture out onto the dehydrator sheet. Then I used a knife to shape the mud pile, into something that resembled a square loaf. Then I cut it into 5 smaller portions. I stuck it in the dehydrator, waited impatiently for a couple hours, put it on a bed of spinach and sprouts… and now my stomach is filled to the brim.

I had no idea if this was going to turn out. I knew no matter what happened, I’d eat it. But I was pleasantly surprised when this meal ended up tasting amazing.

No matter what you prepare, dehydrate, cook, or even deep-fry (gag), the moral of the story is to be play with your food and not be too concerned about following a recipe.