TommyK's Blog

Beef Barley Soup

2008-01-29T07:48:00.000-05:00

1 lb. stew meat-I cut small
2 cloves garlic-minced olive oil

1 16 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 cup sliced or baby carrots
1/2 cup celery
9 cups water- might need to add more
3 large beef bouillon cubes-can use beef broth instead... minus water
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 cups quick barley
1 cup green beans-canned, drained

Brown garlic and onion in olive oil. Add stew meat and brown. Add the
other ingredients except barley. Add barley per cook time on box.
Simmer about one hour or less. Add more or less water or broth to your
liking

Remove bay leaves!

Mac 101: Get rid of that Apple watermark in iDVD - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

2007-07-10T08:22:00.000-04:00

Mac 101: Get rid of that Apple watermark in iDVD - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW): "Simply go into the iDVD preferences and you'll find the option right there in the General section. Uncheck 'Show Apple logo watermark' and you're good to go."

Mac Tip: How to burn an .iso or .dmg file to disc - Lifehacker

2007-04-12T13:57:00.000-04:00

Mac Tip: How to burn an .iso or .dmg file to disc - Lifehacker:

1. Launch Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities).
2. Insert your blank DVD or CD.
3. Drag and drop your .dmg or .iso file to the left pane in Disk Utility. Now both the blank disk and the
.iso/.dmg should be listed.
4. Select the .iso/.dmg file you want to burn to disc, and click on the Burn button. A dialog box confirming the destination (your blank CD/DVD) will appear.
5. Sit back and wait while your new disc gets written!

Mac OS X Tip: Keep Track of Your CPU’s Activity Right in Your Dock

2007-04-04T15:08:00.000-04:00

Mac OS X Tip: Keep Track of Your CPU’s Activity Right in Your Dock:

"This tip is really simple. First, launch your Mac’s activity monitor and select to keep the icon in your dock (if it’s not already there). Then, right click on the activity monitor icon and select “dock icons”."

Disk Images: Create Virtual Disk Images in OS X

2007-04-04T14:01:00.000-04:00

Disk Images: Create Virtual Disk Images in OS X:

"If only there were a way to trick the game into thinking the disk was in the computer. Enter the Disk Utility, a little application that comes in the utilities folder of every Mac. All you have to do is pop your disk in, open Disk Utility, select your disk, and click New Image. Name the disk image and save it somewhere. Now all you have to do is open the disk image, and the disk will appear on your desktop, just like any normal disk. The applications will not know the difference between a virtual disk and the real thing."

Login Items

2007-04-04T13:26:00.000-04:00

TUAW Tips: Login Items - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW):

"Login Items can be your friend, or your foe. Located in System Preferences, under Accounts, you can find 'Login Items' waiting for your attention."

Add the Path button to Finder's toolbar

2007-03-26T13:55:00.000-04:00

Mac Tip: Add the Path button to Finder's toolbar - Lifehacker:

"The Path button isn't included on the Finder toolbar by default, but you can add it by Ctrl-clicking and choosing 'Customize Toolbar.' Then drag and drop the Path button - which kind of looks like a staircase - onto the toolbar. From there, use it to see where you are in the folder tree, and move up to enclosing folders in a click."

Multiple libraries in iTunes 7

2007-03-26T13:52:00.000-04:00

Multiple libraries in iTunes 7 - Lifehacker

Switching libraries is simple; hold down the option key on your Mac (or shift key on Windows) when you launch iTunes et voil , you'll get the option to create a new library or choose the library you want to load. For iPhoto users, this is the same shortcut you would use if you wanted to manage multiple libraries in iPhoto.

Stop Resizing My Firefox Window, $%@*!

2007-03-26T11:17:00.000-04:00

Stop Resizing My Firefox Window, $%@*! « TechPwn

Here is how to prevent sites from resizing your Firefox window…

1. Open Firefox, Preferences (or if you’re on Windows…Tools, Options)

2. Go to the Content Tab

3. To the right of “Enable Javascript” hit “Advanced…”.

4. Uncheck “Move or Resize Existing Windows”

GMail Delete Keyboard ShortCut

2007-03-26T10:45:00.000-04:00

GMail Delete Keyboard ShortCut - Works in IE, Firefox, Opera at Digital Inspiration

If you are reading a message in GMail, press the # key (Shift+3) and that message will instantly move to Trash.

Alternatively, select one or more email messages in the GMail list view, press the same # hash key and all the selected GMail conversations will be deleted in one batch.

Medicine-Cabinet MacGyver | Tools Gallery: Smooth Caulk - This Old House Photo Gallery

2007-03-07T15:24:00.000-05:00

Medicine-Cabinet MacGyver | Tools Gallery: Smooth Caulk - This Old House Photo Gallery

Run a finger moistened with sudsy water along a bead of caulk to even out the line and keep the sticky silicone from clinging to your skin.

Medicine-Cabinet MacGyver | Tools Gallery: Recharge - This Old House Photo Gallery

2007-03-07T15:23:00.000-05:00

Medicine-Cabinet MacGyver | Tools Gallery: Recharge - This Old House Photo Gallery

Wipe the metal contacts on cordless tool battery packs with a Q-tip dipped in isopropyl alcohol to help maintain a clean connection between the battery and its charger.

Daily Cup of Tech » 14 Windows Command Line Tricks

2007-03-05T14:15:00.000-05:00

Daily Cup of Tech » 14 Windows Command Line Tricks: "Get Installed Driver Information"

driverquery

It can be very useful when troubleshooting to know what drivers are installed on a system. This command will give you a complete listing of the drivers and when they were installed."

Daily Cup of Tech » HowTo Create Hidden Windows Shares

2007-02-08T14:40:00.000-05:00

Daily Cup of Tech » HowTo Create Hidden Windows Shares

So to hide a share you just add a $ to the end of the name.

Tile Windows

2007-01-23T07:55:00.000-05:00

http://www.lifehacker.com/software/windows/windows-tip-tile-two-windows-with-just-two-clicks-229612.php

"With the first window open, press and hold Ctrl, then right-click the second window's button in the taskbar and choose Tile Horizontally or Tile Vertically in the pop-up that appears."

Create Application Alias to the Finder Window

2006-09-24T07:22:00.000-04:00

To drag an application alias to the toolbar, hold down the Command key and drag your applications up one at a time. It works much like adding icons to your dock, the other items will slide out of the way, and a small green plus sign will appear on your cursor.

http://www.creativetechs.com/iq/add_application_aliases_to_finder_windows.html

Copy and Delete at the Same Time

2006-08-14T13:54:00.000-04:00

If you’re archiving a file to disk (let’s say to an external FireWire drive for example), you can drag the icon of the file you want to archive directly to that drive and the Mac will write a copy to that drive. However, your original file still lives on your current hard drive. If you want to have that file deleted from your drive as soon as it’s copied to another drive, just hold the Command key as you drag your icon, and the Mac will do two tasks for you — copy the file to the new drive and delete the original from your drive.

http://www.apple.com/pro/tips/copydelete.html

Excel in-cell graphing

2006-08-14T11:08:00.000-04:00

Found this at: http://www.juiceanalytics.com/weblog/?p=236

The bar graphs are built using the Excel REPT function which lets you repeat text a certain number of times. REPT looks like this:

=REPT(text,number_of_times)

For instance, REPT(”X”,10) gives you “XXXXXXXXXX”. REPT can also repeat a phrase; REPT(”Oh my goodness! “,3) gives “Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! ” (my daughter’s an Annie fan).

For in-cell bar charts, the trick is to repeat a single bar “|”. When formatted in 8 point Arial font, single bars look like bar graphs. Here’s the formula behind the bars:

Also, they followed with this http://www.juiceanalytics.com/weblog/?p=239

Henk was first out of the gate with a great suggestion that two columns could be used to show positive and negative values. What he’s thinking of looks like this:

How to burn ISO disc images

2006-08-14T11:04:00.000-04:00

Insert a blank disc.
Start Disk Utility.
From the File menu, choose Open Disk Image and select the ISO to be burned.
In the list of volumes, you will now see an item representing the ISO file. Select it.
Click the Burn button and follow the instructions.

Delete Files Forever

2006-08-14T10:54:00.000-04:00

Choose “Secure Empty Trash” from the Finder menu.

Watch YouTube on Your iPod

2006-08-14T10:50:00.000-04:00

1. Go to a YouTube video page, wait for it to load, and open Safari’s Activity window.

2. Double-click the URL of the video file – it’s the largest one – to download it.

3. Rename the file something better than QaQw9V4Upj4 – say, Skateboarding Bulldog.

4. Drag and drop it into the free iSquint converter (www.isquint.org) and – presto! – an iPod-optimized video file for your iTunes library.

Screen Capture

2006-05-12T10:43:00.000-04:00

Got this tip from My Journey to Macintosh:

I knew that I could take a screenshot of the whole screen with Shift + Command + 3 and that I could grab a lasso with Shift + Command + 4 but I didn’t know how to just grab the contents of one window. Anyway, it turns out if you press Shift + Command + 4 and then hit Space, your cursor turns to a camera icon and you can grab just the contents of one window.

Fix iTunes tracks with low volume

2006-04-04T10:14:00.000-04:00

Got this from a site:

http://www.ofzenandcomputing.com/zanswers/39

"I have some tracks in iTunes that may have been recorded incorrectly. Their sound is extremely low and soft, requiring me to turn up my speakers whenever the tracks play. Is there something I can do?

Yes there is something you can do - iTunes has a feature built just for this very situation. Click on the offending track and press Ctrl+I (or Cmd+I if you’re on a Mac). When the song properties window appears, click on the “Options” tab and then slide the volume adjustment to the right. Test out your track’s new volume level and if necessary, go back and re-adjust the slider. When you click OK, iTunes will save the volume adjustment level and your previously troublesome track will playback at a more acceptabe volume."

OSX Tips

2006-03-19T21:30:00.000-05:00

To close applications:
Hold down the command button and press Q (only works with the open application)
or
hold down the command button, press TAB to the application you want to close and hit Q

For those coming from Windows,
CTRL + ALT + DEL is command button + option + esc
right click on the keyboard is ctrl

To get a lot on information on your Mac
apple > About This Mac > More Info...

To set desktop shortcuts using Expose
apple > System Preferences > Dashboard & Expose

To see what items are starting during login (Login Items)
apple > System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items

Mac Keyboard Shortcuts

2005-12-05T12:52:00.000-05:00

Saw this great Mac post:

10 Things Every New Mac Owner Should Know

Copied the keyboard shortcuts out of it:

Command-? Mac Help
Command-A Select All
Command-C Copy
Command-D Duplicates current item
Command-E Ejects selected volume, media, or server
Command-F Find
Command-H Hide current application
Command-I Opens Get Info dialog for selected item
Command-J Toggles View Options Open & Closed
Command-K Connect to server
Command-L Creates Alias for selected item
Command-M Minimize a Finder-folder to Dock
Command-Option-M Save as above but minimizes all open Finder-folders
Command-N Opens up new Finder window
Command-O Opens selected item
Command-Q Quits active application
Command-V Paste
Command-W Closes Finder-folder window
Command-Option-W Same as above but closes all Finder-folders
Command-X Cut
Command-Z Undo
Command-Del Moves selected item to Trash
Command-Shift-A Opens the applications folder
Command-Shift-N Creates a new folder in the selected workspace
Command-Shift-Del Empty Trash
Command-Tab Rotate through open applications and switch to highlighted app
Command-~ Same as above but only flips through open windows in the selected application

Set Firefox as Default Browser - OSX

2005-11-01T11:55:00.000-05:00

In Safari, choose "Preferences" from the menu.
Click the "General" icon, and choose Mozilla from the default web browser pop-up menu. If you dont see Mozilla in the list, make sure it is in the "Applications" folder.

Happy Halloween! II

2005-10-31T14:31:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween!

2005-10-31T14:23:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween!

Protecting the Gray Whale

2005-10-31T08:19:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple links to articles about protecting 120,000 acres along the shores of Laguna San Ignacio in Baja California Sur.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051026/news_1n26save.html

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051022/news_1n22save.html

It is nice to see that a Third-World country, like Mexico, is doing something to protect the World.

And we want to drill in the Arctic Refugee.

Here I Go!

2005-10-24T15:24:00.000-04:00

Well, this is it.

I have decided to start blogging.

God help you all!