As you may (or may not) have noticed, I've upgraded this blog by adding the IntenseDebate plugin. However, it seems to have terrible problems with Webkit/Safari; I can't login to my IntenseDebate account using Safari, which kind of makes it difficult for me to comment on my own blog. Any suggestions? I'd love to know why they don't support Safari.

This blog is now equipped with Google Friend Connect, a MyBlogLog clone from our friends up in Mountain View. Somewhat unsurprisingly, my first new member is a spammer.

Last June, when gas prices were still in the midst of their long climb upwards, I placed a reservation for a Smart Fortwo. I'm currently driving a Jeep Wrangler that gets about 17 MPG; when the price of gas was $4.00 per gallon or higher, I was spending a lot of money each week on my 70 mile-per-day commute. The Smart seems like a robust little commuter vehicle, and that's what I'm intending it for. 99% of all the driving I do is to and from work with only me in the car; the Smart should save a bundle of money, even considering the fact that I'll have a new (very small) car payment. The reservation system is interesting; I paid $99 for the privilege (fully refundable), and they originally told me that my delivery date was Oct-Dec, 2009. Since then, however, it's been steadily retreating, and now it stands at Jan-Mar, 2009. I have no definitive answers, of course, as to why the date has been changing. Perhaps SmartUSA has added additional manufacturing capacity. Perhaps the general economic climate has made it unfeasible for many people to purchase a new car, even one as inexpensive as that. In any case, I'll (hopefully) soon be in possession of one. Red. I've always wanted a red car.

The church I attend has a ministry where we feed the homeless at a local shelter. The following recipe is for a dish that we often serve, called "John's Glop."

If, like me, you find money tight right now, here is a convenient way to provide a delicious, filling and ample dish to be served. It is basically “chicken noodle soup on steroids” which I have nicknamed “glop.” It is easy and inexpensive to make, and [people] tell me that the folks enjoy it.

I take one of those large cans of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup (I think they’re called family sized). and dump it into a large pot and add the requisite can of water. I then take a large package of any kind of dry noodles and empty it into the pot. I then take one or two small cans of chunk chicken and empty them into the pot, juice and all. I then heat the whole thing on the stove until the noodles absorb the soup and are soft. I stir the mixture a lot, while heating. Once it is done, I let it cool for a bit, then ladle it into large, disposable plastic containers, which I place in the freezer in the fellowship hall. Hope this helps.

Merry Christmas!

I've moved this blog to Wordpress 2.7; this is mostly a test post to see how things come out (especially using the MediaRSS plugin).