It’s a few days late, but it’s the first time I’ve been with my family since my birthday

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Technorati Tags: david, jacob, cute

Patches has an adopted sister now
After trying for years to get one cat, the wife caved like a house of cards and let another into our home.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Pandora, thusly named because we couldn’t decide whether to name her Panda or Oreo.

Cute, isn’t she?

Technorati Tags: vimeo, video, time lapse, stop motion, video

Ya know, I missed a lot of cool shit that went on this weekend with this stupid cold. I mean, I had to go shopping and all, but if you listened to Friday’s podcast, you can hear me coughing up a lung and losing my voice as the show went on…

I know this probably means nothing to any of you, but I felt the need to bitch.

My trip home at 6x normal speed. Music by Beat Control @ Magnatune.com.

Just a quick video I shot while sitting at a stand still on the Bronx River Parkway a few weeks ago.

Today, Patches turns 1! She’s a year old today!

Join me as I take you through her time at our home…

Patches Turns 1 on Vimeo

Technorati Tags: patches, cat, kitten, calico, cute

This is the first digital photo I ever took with my first ever digital camera. Just thought I’d share. It’s lower Manhattan from the Staten Island Ferry.

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Friday’s Episode of Information Salad:

[audio:http://www.ispnmedia.com/podcasts/20070216.InformationSalad.0031.mp3]

And Saturday’s episode of Side Salad:

[audio:http://www.ispnmedia.com/podcasts/20070217.SideSalad.0007.mp3]

Enjoy, and as always, comments are welcome!

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31 is a big one…

Kind of…

Almost…

It’s not really that rare an occasion. I love to cook and I actually think I’m pretty good at it.

While thumbing through a Kraft Food & Family magazine, Beth found a recipe that I absolutely had to try. Here’s the recipe:

Taco Bake

Recipe Rating:
Prep Time: 15 min
Total Time: 35 min
Makes: 6 servings

1 pkg. (14 oz.) KRAFT Deluxe Macaroni & Cheese Dinner
1 lb. ground beef
1 pkg. (1-1/4 oz.) TACO BELL HOME ORIGINALS Taco Seasoning Mix
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup BREAKSTONE’S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream
1-1/2 cups KRAFT Shredded Cheddar Cheese, divided
1 cup TACO BELL HOME ORIGINALS Thick ‘N Chunky Salsa

PREHEAT oven to 400°F. Prepare Dinner as directed on package. While Macaroni is cooking, brown meat; drain. Add taco seasoning mix and water to meat; simmer 5 min.
STIR sour cream into prepared Dinner. Spoon half of the Dinner mixture into 8-inch square baking dish; top with layers of the meat mixture, 1 cup of the cheese and remaining Dinner mixture. Cover.
BAKE 15 min. Top with salsa and remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Bake, uncovered, an additional 5 min. or until cheese is melted.

It was frigging amazing and it was even better reheated than it was fresh.

I highly recommend giving it a try. It’s a bit rich but it’s delicious. Seriously.

Technorati Tags: dinner, kraft, casserole, recipe, delicious

Roughly 7 months ago, I made the infamous AOL call. Since then, AOL has gone to free (I’m not arrogant enough to believe it was my doing, but I’m not naive enough to think I had nothing to do with it either), the story has been all over the place, and people still know me as the “AOL Cancellation” guy.

Since then, lots of good things have happened to me as a result of the call, and it’s hard to deny that it was one of the pivotal moments in my life. Without any further blathering, here’s why the AOL call was one of the greatest things that ever happened.

1. It got me started into podcasting. Slobokan and I have now done 28 episodes of Information Salad. It’s the most fun I’ve had and even though it seems like work sometimes, it’s worth it in the end. When I played an episode for my parents one time, they seemed impressed that their little boy was able to whip together a show that sounded like a radio show. Go figure
2. I got to meet Ben Popken who’s become a good friend. He’s a really cool guy and I’m glad his site got a bit of a bump with the first reporting of the AOL story.

3. I was interviewed on the iLifeZone with Scott Bourne. It was one of the most listened-to episodes of his podcast ever. A few months later, he was looking for a Shownotes writer, something I knew I could do. I volunteered and told him that “if you think of it, you can say you have a celebrity shownotes writer). He let me in, I did a few weeks of notes, and the next thing you know, I’m given the title of Producer. How’s that for some cool stuff?

4. I got to meet Matt Lauer, Becky Quick, Michael Smerconish, and the Fox & Friends crew. Even more fun was talking to my hero on his radio show, Leo Laporte. It was probably the biggest highlight of my year and the one thing I’ll never forget. Leo actually wanted to speak to me. If that isn’t a textbook example of a change in roles, I don’t know what is!

5. I was mentioned in two books, one of which I was given a whole chapter in. I was also mentioned in hundreds of news articles, television news broadcasts, and so on. I was finding my name on websites and TV shows that just blew me away. Imagine tuning into your favorite radio show (Opie and Anthony) and they spend an hour talking about you. I love it!

6. Finally, readership on IT is way way way WAY up. I used to get 320,000 hits a month. At its peak last year, I hit over 3 million in one month. It levelled out to just a bit under 700k and now it’s around 500k but it’s still interesting to see people are still hanging around.

I could go on and on and on, but the truth is that call worked out to be a great moment in my life. It also emboldened a lot of people to stand up to corporations, record their calls, and report being mistreated to sites like Digg and Consumerist. That in itself is a great thing.

I’m going to turn 31 tomorrow, but I can’t imagine it being any more interesting for me than 30…

Technorati Tags: aol, vincent ferrari

Information Salad Episode 28 is live. You can listen to it here:

[audio:http://www.ispnmedia.com/podcasts/20070126.InformationSalad.0028.mp3]

If you like what you can hear, you can subscribe on iTunes or directly at Informationsalad.com.

Technorati Tags: information salad

Yep, that’s right… It’s that time of the week again. Information Salad 26 is now online.

Tune in to hear all kinds of interesting stuff including an interview with Spencer, host of Radio Undone, the latest and greatest podcast on the ISPN Network!

You can listen in the player below or grab it from iTunes…

[audio:http://www.ispnmedia.com/podcasts/20070112.InformationSalad.0026.mp3]

Technorati Tags: information salad

Technorati Tags: patches, cat, kitten, calico, cute, i can’t believe it’s not butter

It’s our New Year’s special! On the cusp of the New Year, I was feeling like crap and chatty at the same time. You won’t want to miss me struggling through a practically lost voice on this one.

[audio:http://www.ispnmedia.com/podcasts/20061229.InformationSalad.0024.mp3]

You can subscribe to Information Salad at ISPNmedia.com or on the iTunes store.