1. Renew my GCFW and renew my GCIA certificates
2. Go camping in Wisconsin, either Sidie Hollow County Park or Wyalusing or both!
3. Complete my Biannual Flight Review
4. Visit Austin, TX
5. Travel to Argentina, specifically Buenos Aires, and possibly Chile too
6. And I really want to stay at the Elysian in Chicago, it is so dope

Airplane Flying Handbook from the FAA

Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge from the FAA

Learning Center Courses from the FAA which includes a Flight Review Prep Guide.

AOPA Air Safety Foundation

Happy flying!

Deb adapted this recipe from Martha Stewart’s Original Classics Cookbook. Martha yielded 9 6-inchers, Deb yielded 16 4-inchers, and I yielded 8 6-inchers.

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 cups buttermilk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus 1 tablespoon extra for brushing griddle

1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen and thawed (optional)

1. Preheat an electric griddle to 375°F, or place a griddle pan or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl. Add the eggs, buttermilk, and 4 tablespoons melted butter, and whisk to combine. The batter should have small to medium lumps.

2. Test the griddle by sprinkling a few drops of water on it. If the water bounces and spatters, the griddle is hot enough. Using a pastry brush, brush the remaining 1/2 teaspoon butter onto the griddle. Wipe off the excess with a folded paper towel.

3. Using a 4-oz. ladle, about 1/2 cup (for a 6-inch pancake), pour the batter in pools 2 inches apart. If you wish to make blueberry pancakes, arrange a handful over the cooking pancake, pressing them in slightly. When the pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around the edges, about 2 1/2 minutes, flip over. If any batter oozes or blueberries roll out, push them back under with your spatula. Cook until golden on bottom, about 1 minute.

4. Repeat with the remaining batter. You can keep the finished pancakes on a heat-proof plate in the oven at 175°F. Serve warm.

Recipe via Smitten Kitchen.

Sometime in the third month being subscription television free I thought I should be utilizing that plasma hanging over the fireplace for other entertainment besides the one or maybe two DVDs I watch per week from Netflix. This thought coincided with a recent purchase of mine, a new MacBook Pro to replace my five year old Macbook. With this new MacBook Pro I knew I could easily drive that plasma. There were only two things I needed to decide – what exactly did I need my MacBook Pro to do and how would I do it? Well, I figured that I would need these functions at a minimum:

-Ability to play DVD/Blu-ray discs. I could get rid of my standalone DVD player then! I’m a minimalist…
-Hulu support in order to watch The Daily Show
-Netflix support for streaming movies and television shows
-Native Apple Remote support so I didn’t have to have a keyboard and mouse

And these things would be nice to have:

-iTunes integration for music
-iPhoto integration for photos
-Ability to stream music from Pandora

Now how would I do all this? I had no idea what HTPC software was out there let alone written to run on Mac. Researching this I quickly found out that HTPC users were primarily using three things – XBMC (the original), Plex (an XBMC fork) or Boxee (also an XBMC fork). XBMC I didn’t look at because it doesn’t support Hulu or Netflix natively. Boxee I didn’t look at because I got the impression most users didn’t like it compared to Plex, which seemed to provide all the things I needed, plus the nice to haves and ran on Mac.

Now that I had to decided to run Plex on my MacBook Pro I needed to order a couple things to connect it to my plasma and receiver. I went to MonoPrice and ordered a 3ft Toslink to Mini M/M 5.0mm OD Molded Cable and a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter for about $10 total. The cable is to provide digital audio to my receiver. The MacBook Pro analog headphone jack can output digital 5.1 audio using the S/PDIF protocol if you plug in a Toslink to Mini cable which is pretty neat. The adapter is to provide video to my plasma via HDMI by simply plugging one end into the Thunderbolt port (it doubles as the Mini DisplayPort) and the other to the HDMI cable that was already run to the plasma.

I had already installed Plex on my MacBook Pro and had been playing around with it but I was excited to try it on the plasma. Once I got my order from MonoPrice I got everything hooked up and made sure my MacBook was in clamshell mode. That means it can be closed on my shelf but stays powered on and usable. A really nice behavior is that by using the Apple Remote – from the couch of course – I can go from having the MacBook Pro sleeping on the shelf to waking it and launching Plex. I am really happy with the way Plex looks on the plasma, the interface is gorgeous and watching content via Hulu or Netflix or Youtube is the same quality as DirecTV was.

Plex is a great application. It can have quite a bit of tweaking – I enjoy doing that though – and I’ve run into various bugs but overall it has done everything I have wanted it to do. I could warrant writing a whole post on my Plex configuration and perhaps I will do that next. I can watch DVDs, use Hulu, Netflix, Youtube, Pandora, iPhoto, iTunes plus there are literally hundreds of other plugins that can be installed.

Right now this set up works for me. In the future though I could see making two improvements. One, purchasing a separate system to use as a HTPC like a Mac Mini. Two, the Apple Remote works okay but using programs like Remote Buddy or Sofa Control offer a lot more functionality and flexibility.

I had 3 overripe bananas so decided to make this banana bread. It turned out so delicious it’s one that I’ll be sure to make more of in the future!

Recipe:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Recipe via Allrecipes.

1. If staying in a hotel that has a loyalty program, join it! Besides a better chance at an upgrade you usually get some free stuff or vouchers.
2. Book directly with the hotel. There is little chance for an upgrade on that $35 Priceline bid you won.
3. Contact the hotel before you arrive with a nice friendly email that explains how much you are looking forward to your stay. If you are celebrating a special occasion – birthday, anniversary, engagement – mention that. It does not guarantee an upgrade but it helps. This should be sent to the Guest Service Manager or Front Office Manager.
4. If you get a reply with a promise of an upgrade reply immediately with a thank you. Follow up a few days before your stay with an email that casually mentions the upgrade and how much you are looking forward to your stay. Done!
5. If you are asking for an upgrade at the hotel desk keep these things in mind. Be nice. Smile. Be genuine. Mention the special occasion if it applies. Appearance matters – do not wear a velour track suit or other trashy+tacky outfit. It helps to check in late, say 7:00PM or 8:00PM because there is little chance of a walk-in that is going to want a special suite later that night.
6. Last, complain. Go to the room and check it out. Call the front desk and tell them that the room was definitely not what you were expecting from a (insert hotel brand) hotel and why. If your room does not meet the description then it is reasonable to request an upgrade free of charge.

Remember, an upgrade is not guaranteed. The only sure way is to fork over the money.

• Camp at Sidie Hollow County Park nope, no camping but the following was close!
• Trip to Alaska, Anchorage to Denali yes! a wildlife bonanaza
• Travel to Argentina no, Paris instead!
• Fly fly fly (a trip to Washington Island is in order) unfortunately, no
• Learn about investment real estate yes, REITs or MLPs are what I would pursue

Besides those things I also traveled to Cleveland, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and the Turks and Caicos. It was a busy year. I think over the course of year 2010 I lived in the present more and I am happy about that change. It is really exhausting to always be looking ahead rather than just being. My old self did that. I have become a lot more relaxed and happy by making a conscious change to not obsess over what needs to be done tomorrow or next week or next month. I am, like anybody, going to spend time on those things I enjoy doing but I don’t plan them as much. I will go camping, flying, I will travel abroad; I will pursue whatever my passions are. However, I am only making one goal this year and I want to truly honor it throughout the year. I think if I do this everything will fall into place. That goal is (drum roll please):

• Start each and every day with surrender

If I truly remember and honor it throughout the year then everything should fall into place. Now I can’t just say I’m going to stick to it and that’s that. I’m going to do a simple morning meditation focused on my willingness to surrender and asking a higher power for the strength to follow that through. During this meditation I will envision a river that I call my life rushing past me and I make a conscious decision to stop swimming upstream, turning to face wherever it takes me and letting go of the foothold that keeps me stuck in frustration. I lift my feet and float freely with the current, instead of swimming and struggling against it; allowing the current of something greater than myself to carry me where it will.

I loved, loved, loved Buckeyes as a little kid. My mom and aunt both made them and I remember going wild when I got my hands on them. The chocolate yin to the peanut butter yang. I tried my hand at making them this year and they turned out spectacular! I think they will become the thing I make every holiday season.

1/4 cup (2 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups smooth salted peanut butter
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
12 ounces dark chocolate (60 to 72%) coarsely chopped

Make the filling: In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and peanut butter together until combined. Add the graham cracker crumbs and beat for 10 seconds. Add the sugar and butter, and mix on the lowest speed until it stops floating off everywhere, then increase the speed until the ingredients are combined. Scrape down the whole bowl well, then mix again. The mixture will be quite sturdy and a little dry — perfect for shaping. Set it aside while you prepare the coating.

Make the coating: Melt the chocolate either over a double boiler, stirring until it is completely smooth or in a microwave in 30 then 10 second increments, stirring before you start it again until it is completely smooth. Let it cool to tepid (about 100 degrees) while you shape the peanut butter centers.

Assemble the candies: Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Scoop out slightly more than one tablespoon’s worth of filling and use your hands to form it into a ball. Place the ball on the prepared sheet and repeat the process until all of the candies have been shaped. They can sit close to each other but make sure they are not touching. Using a fork or large skewer, dip each ball into the chocolate and roll it about so that almost the entire candy is coating, leaving a small circle uncoated.

Chill the buckeyes until they are set, about 30 minutes.

Recipe via Smitten Kitchen.

It’s fall and that means I make my pie for the year – an apple pie with Granny Smiths. These sour apples go perfect with sugar.

Recipe:
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 lbs Granny Smith apples – peeled, cored and sliced

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Drizzle the sugar and butter liquid over the apples and save a small amount for the top crust. Cover with top crust and make 4 or 5 slits to allow heat to escape during baking. Pour the remaining sugar and butter liquid over the top crust.
3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees. Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes until apples are soft.

Recipe, slightly modified, via Allrecipes.
Recipe, for a 9 inch double crust pie, via Simply Recipes. If in a pinch, Trader Joe’s sells decent ready-made.