KSG

Zap

2007-05-02T14:57:40Z

I have to leave for the bus stop in about five minutes, so this is going to be pretty short. I just wanted to complain about the Internet being down at my house all day yesterday.

GRRRRR!

Well, at least it freed up some time to go buy seeds and stuff. Later I will probably put up a post I wrote yesterday, but couldn't put up.

Growing Food in Summer

2007-04-30T23:13:24Z

It's nearly May. When I said I wanted to start growing some of my own food, the reaction I got was, "it's a bit late in the year to start a garden."

Why couldn't this happen in February? Then I'd be set!

So my best buddy Mr. Google and I set out specifically to find food you can plant late in the season and still get some return from. I don't promise this all works. It's just what I found, and what I plan on doing.

(Yes, they do have dates and areas printed on the backs of seed packages. But come on, that's no fun! I needed to know what I was buying before I went 20 miles each way in an oil shortage to buy it, not after.)

Lettuce: I found a suggestion to harvest and re-plant leaf lettuce every few weeks, throughout the season. What does that mean? Obviously, it can grow throughout the season -- and quickly at that. So at this point in the year, leaf lettuce varieties beat head lettuce varieties. I'm going to get a few varieties if I can, and just see what works best.

Strawberries: You're supposed to start these really early. I'm going to plant some anyway, because they don't even have fruit until their second year, so maybe there's a chance that it doesn't matter that much when the first year starts. I'm putting them in a big pot (see below), so I can bring them inside if I need to. We'll see how it goes.

Strawberries are nature's way of mocking me.

Get one of these nifty jar things while you're at it.

Potatoes: Apparently, you need to find potatoes specifically approved for planting, and you shouldn't plant next year from your own crop this year. Otherwise you can get crappy, diseased potatoes. Anyway, potatoes like warm weather and can be planted as late as early June. Score! According to eHow.com, "if you live where summer temperatures regularly reach 85 degrees F or above, plant early-maturing and heat-resistant varieties. Good choices include 'Irish Cobbler', 'Anoka' and 'Yukon Gold'."

And just so you know, the biggest reason you shouldn't try planting grocery potatoes is that they're treated with chemicals to stop them from sprouting. I'm sure they make them as harmless as they can to humans, but that doesn't sound that appetizing to me.

So that's most of what I'm going to try to plant. There are a couple other things that I'm trying just because, but which I haven't really read up on. I'll probably also grab a couple packs of seeds of plants I hadn't thought about, but which say they can be planted this late.

Sources:
eHow, above.

National Gardening Association Food Gardening Guide
Really, if I didn't need something to blog about, I'd just tell you all to go look there.

The Garden Helper on potatoes.

I Just Can't Win

2007-04-28T12:18:37Z

First off, hi to the ten or something people that friended me since I last bothered checking my email. My friends page is a much lengthier read now. That was nice to see, but at the same time, a hex upon you and your house for cutting into my Oblivion time. Bastards!

Really though, <3 you all.

It's not like Shivering Isles just came out, and I might only have two days left to play it or anything.

Anyway, one thing I saw on my friends page was this post, about how much use mad graphics skillz aren't going to be in a crisis. My thoughts were something like, "bugger all, I'm a computer science major! Specializing in making video games!" And here I thought I'd hit on the one subject I could not only stand to study for four solid years, but also could actually go and start a lifelong career in. I mean, the Internet's not going anywhere, right? There are only going to be more gamers in the future, right?

...Crap.

Watch my Java homework still be due on Tuesday, but in hand-written-on-paper form. I bet you he'll do it.

I am a Trendwhore :)

2007-04-24T06:27:21Z

One of the 8TSOC posted one of those 'which [singular for a group of people] are you' things. Hey, they're supposed to save the world. I can humor them. I took it.

Well, here's the thing: I couldn't vote in 2000. I checked, and if I put Ralph (like in 2004...yes, okay, I might bother defending my view if you comment about what a waste it was) then I get...Gregory Benford.

You know, I actually don't read much sci-fi. That's time not spent in front of my computer. Why simply cut down trees when you could actively pollute?

I'll just assume he's actually really great and I should read his stuff. Anyway, when I'm honest on a technicality and say I voted for none of the above, I get this:

I am:

H.G. Wells

The first major literary talent to make himself at home in the science fiction field, greatly expanding its popularity.

Which science fiction writer are you?

...I guess sci-fi owes me one.

Mostly, I Just Want an Entry in this Blog

2007-04-24T02:17:10Z

Matenon.

Out of morbid curiousity (okay, I wanted to know if Final Fantasy made the list -- it did), I clicked the "common interests" link it shows new LJ users.

Eyeliner is just slightly more popular than Evanescence.

Good to know one's audience.

One day, when Nik gets his butt online and helps me think up a good domain name and also I have lots of money to throw away, I will have a proper blog.

It will be fictitious.

Every entry will have its own CSS.

Zen Garden: The Blog!

If I didn't have too much free time, would I be here in the first place? I can handle it. It wouldn't be updated on a regular or frequent basis, or anything like that. I can't write fiction anyway. But I mean, here is a factual blog entry:

I got up early. I do that too much. Stupid uni. I slept in, but it was still well within the bounds of "early" when I got up. Then I skipped Math 114: You Should Have Had This In High School Anyway and kept the drawing in my notes to a minimum in physics and programming. Also I'm a real CS major now, yay!

(Cool, I just learned how to use inline CSS in a context that isn't tables on MediaWiki wikis.)

Honestly. If you found that interesting, you are stalking me and used the classes I just listed to confirm my identity.

Please don't do that. It's creepy.

I'm told something big will go down on April 30th. Something so big that it's worth preparing to document. Something involving oil. When it does, I will have something worthwhile to write.

That is, assuming I have a way to write it. I wonder if uni has its own generators. Would they shut down the computer labs if forced to provide their own power? Would they power everything, or just emergency lights and the dorms?

Do I have any friends in the dorms?

How do you tag a post like this?

This is a quick edit to apologize to those of you reading this from your friends page. I just realised that LJ keeps your own style when you do that, so my box probably looks really terrible. I'm probably going to do that again. You've been warned. :Þ