Failure to connect - part 2

The Pre-cellphonial Era

So back to the question: What did we do before cell phones were so commonplace?

Before I had a cell phone, I had a purple pager clipped into the pocket of my overalls. (Which I may have sometimes worn with one strap undone, hanging down the back.) (C'mon! It was the 90's, people!)

Back then - and even before my pager days - you always kept a quarter with you for the pay phone. When you called a friend, you called a land line (although you never thought of it that way - it was just a phone) that went to their family's house. If your friend wasn't home, you might have to leave a message on the family's answering machine or with her little brother, or you might get a busy signal and have to try again later.


Phonelessness

I left my cell phone at home went to Spain for my study abroad program in 2003, since I knew it wouldn't work in Europe. Some of my friends made the same choice, and not having a phone at the ready was definitely an adjustment.

Plans were not so fluid. None of this "just call me when you're on the way" stuff. You set a time and place in advance and had to stick to it. We made a bigger effort to be early or on time, since there was no updating a waiting friend on your status, if the bus was running late or something. And if you were the one waiting...you just waited. There was no contacting the person directly to find out where they were. You just stuck around, wondering where they were, wondering if they'd come, second guessing whether you and the meeting place right or if they could be waiting for you at that other cafe.


Phondependence

T-Mobile's outage at a superinconvenient time on Tuesday made me think some more about the way we use - and rely on - cell phones. I'm not saying we should stop. But maybe it's a good idea to not assume we'll be able to get in contact with someone at any moment. Think about the chaos that follows when a company's email is out of commission. Or how users of Twitter/Facebook/etc. are at a loss when their service of choice goes down.

The other night, I wanted to keep things flexible, because there were a number of unknowns - how long the train ride would take, when others would arrive, how ticketing would work, if I was going to do a contest for my unused tickets, if and when I was going to get something to eat beforehand. But I could've made a decision. I could've said I'll be in this place at this time. And here's the backup plan, if something doesn't work.

It's always good to have a backup plan.


Phontingency plans

Maybe I should be more firm in my commitments as a general rule. Maybe I should make sure that I have other contact information for the people I usually connect with via Twitter. Maybe I should double check that the important emails I sent are received.

Maybe I should do less assuming and more backup planning. Or maybe the cell phone should be the backup and not the plan. Any thoughts?

*****

Photos:
1) by sean dreilinger
2) by John Fraissinet
3) by Scott Ableman
4) by artolog

When not to breastfeed

Lots of us have eaten while driving. Some have reached around to hand a child a snack or a bottle while (maybe) at a stoplight.



Here's what you should not do: breastfeed a child while driving.

Did that even need to be said? Apparently. According to the New York Times, an Ohio woman breastfed her youngest child while driving her kids to school.

There are so many things wrong with this incident that I don't even know where to start.

My biggest problem with the whole deal? Taking the girl out of her car seat while they were still on the road and holding her in the front seat. Didn't we just talk about car seats?? (I like pretending that everyone reads my blog.)


In case anyone still isn't clear on this, if your child gets crazy hungry while you're driving to school and you can't just give her a bottle or some Cheerios, here are your options:

1. Wait until you get to the school to feed her.
2. Pull over into a parking lot along the way and feed her (with the car stopped).
   

She will not die of starvation during the drive. And the older kids will not die from being late to school. But think what could happen if you got into a car accident (which is more likely when you're distracted).

The woman, who is charged with a first-degree misdemeanor because her daughter was not in a car seat, said she would do it again.


*****

Photos by me.

How (not) to freeze things

So the thing about the frozen chicken. I wanted to try out what I learned about flash freezing from the Meal Planning workshop. I put some chicken on a baking sheet (same one you've seen before.) and put them in the freezer a couple hours. So far, so good.

The problem came when I went to pull them off. Little metal pieces from my well-loved baking sheet actually flaked off and stuck to the chicken! Gross!


My mom (who I called in a panic and then had to call again an hour later in a different panic) said to rinse them off really well in tepid water and call it good.

And to put something (wax paper, parchment paper, etc.) down on the baking sheet next time before I stick raw poultry on it and attempt to freeze it.


Probably good advice.

****

Photos by me.

Cake-to-brownie conversion chart?

Sometimes you just want a brownie. Friday night, for example. (Which you may have guessed if you saw my Twitter.) I was trying to suppress my brownie urge when the Hubs said "Do we have anything sweet around here?"

I said, "we've got some chocolate and some other random candy. Or were you thinking something more like a brownie?"

"Ummm...maybe more like a brownie." (Jackpot.)




I thought, hey, I'm tired, but I'm not too tired to whip up a batch of brownies from a box.

Problem #1: As it turns out, there was no brownie mix in the cupboard.

What I did have was a devil's food cake mix. I remember reading a brownie mix box one time that said something like "for more cake-like brownies, add another egg." Ergo, wouldn't it stand to reason that for a more brownie-like cake, you could just use one less egg than the box called for? Worth a shot, right?


I dumped the cake mix, water and oil into a bowl, then went to the fridge for the eggs.

Problem #2: There weren't any (usable) eggs.

How did that happen? We came back from Indiana, I realized that we need to use up our eggs ASAP, so I made scrambled eggs for dinner and hard boiled the rest. Then I forgot about it and didn't buy more. You can't make brownies with hard boiled eggs.


Hubs: Isn't there something you can substitute for eggs?
Me: No.
Hubs: I saw something in one of your cookbooks.
Cookbook: Egg, 1 whole - substitute 2 egg whites; 2 egg yolks; or 1/4 cup frozen egg product thawed.*
Hubs: Do you want me to go to the store?

I really didn't. We were supposed to be chillin' (like villains). Not running errands. If I was wanting one of us to go to the store, we could've picked up actual brownie mix in the first place. Or brownies that someone else made. (Hey, desperate times....) But I already added the other liquid ingredients to the cake mix. At that point, there's no turning back. Is there?

Me: ...yeah.
Hubs: Call your mom first. If she doesn't know of anything you can substitute, I'll go.

The thing is, I had already called my mom about an hour before about an incident involving some frozen chicken. (Yeah, you'll be hearing that story soon too.) But I called again.

Mom: ...you're having quite a day aren't you?
Me: Yep.
Mom: Well, your cake's not going to rise much without eggs. I guess you could try adding some extra water and a little bit of baking soda.
Me: Will it turn out more like fudge?
Mom: I really have no idea what it'll do.

I asked the Hubs if he felt like living dangerously.

He went to the store for eggs.

Once he got back, I beat it all together.



And stuck it in the oven.


29 minutes later, we had...



cake.

Maybe slightly less fluffy cake. Not brownies. But it did the trick.

*****

The Hubs and I are out of town today. But still feel free to comment - substitution suggestions, baking advice and guesses as to where we might be are all welcome. :)

*Brought to you by the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.


Photos by me.

Need to feed

Well, here I go again. Talking about my blog on my blog. But I wanted to update you on the weirdness going on with my feed, because I know some of you are missing it. (Others of you aren't sure what a feed is. Click here if you're interested.)

The good news is I went to this site last night and found out my feed is, in fact, valid. (I don't really know what that means. But somehow I still feel validated.)

The bad news is that Feed Validator (very helpfully) suggested some fixes - which are buried pretty deep in a whole pile of code. Just looking at it made me think, "It's time for bed!"

So I do plan on attacking that soon. But not right now.

Fear not, loyal feed readers! Someday you will again peruse the Little Stuff of Life effortlessly with your reader of choice. Until then, do not lose hope! Reminisce on the days of yore, ere you had discovered the feed - and return often, lest I indeed become lonely!