Cruftbox: My Box of Cruft

The 2011 SxSW Interactive conference was the ninth time I’ve
made the journey to Austin.  I have mixed feelings about it but haven’t been able to put it into words exactly.  After staring at a blank page for a while I finally drew this diagram that about sums it up.

  

SxSW starts March 11th in Austin. This is my NINTH year and these are my helpful tips for the novice. I’ve tried to revise the info over the years as things change.

ABC – Always Be Charging – If you bring a laptop, you need to be charging it every single chance you get. No battery lasts long enough. Try to sit near an outlet in the session rooms. Share power outlets with others. Phone coverage is hard, meaning it will be in ‘Searching…’ mode often. This drains batteries, so you might consider a specialty phone charger. My friend Brad says “throw a simple 3×1 plug adapter or short multi-outlet extension cord in your laptop bag, you can use this to cadge access from people who are already using outlets.”

Secure connections – Wifi traffic is in the clear and people are sniffing packets all the time. Arrange for secure email, FTP, and if possible, secure browsing while at SXSW. HTTPS: should be in the browser bar of any site you are perusing that utilizes a login. It’s unlikely that a malicious hacker is gunna do bad things, but it’s best to be prepared.

Go play at Kick – Kick is a game of kickball for SxSW attendees on Saturday morning at 10AM. It’s a ton of fun and a great way to meet people. Thanks to Anil Dash, the event is once again sponsored by SB Nation and their will be food & coffee!

Don’t hog bandwidth – There is good wifi, but a limited amount of bandwidth at SxSW and everyone there is highly connected. That means don’t be a bandwidth hog. Don’t run bittorrent, for anything, at any time. Don’t download large operating system patches at the conference. Don’t try to live broadcast anything. Don’t upload all your photos from your 10MB DSLR camera during sessions. Don’t update your podcast downloads. Don’t download fresh builds of linux distros. Do not backup your laptop to Amazon S3 at the conference. Am I getting through here? Your actions can affect the experience for others. Nothing you are doing is that important that it is worth preventing others from having net access. Beat the hell out the hotel broadband in the evening, but do everyone a favor and show some restraint so everyone can do simple web surfing, IM, and email at the convention center.

Introduce Yourself – People are at SXSW because they want to meet people and see new things. Strangely, many of the blogger types that go are introverted types that are a bit shy. Do yourself a favor and say “Hello, I’m So-and-so” to that person you are sitting next to. (Don’t say So-and-so, use your name…) I guarantee that they will be happy to talk to you.

Personal cards – Make up business cards with your name, email, and website info on them to hand out. Bring your regular business cards if you want, but what people really want is a card that ties you to your online persona so they can find you after SxSW.

When asking a question in a session, don’t make a sales pitch – From time to time, people use the question time during sessions to pitch their own projects. No one cares. You look stupid if you do. Ask questions that the rest of the audience might care about. If you make a sales pitch during question time and I’m in the room, I will throw a brick at your head.

Session Info – When you arrive on Friday go to the Convention Center and pick up your badge. They will give you a large canvas bag of swag. You don’t want to haul this around, so you need to figure a way to drop this off at your hotel before a long night of partying. In the bag are two crucial items. First is the program which has detailed session descriptions. Second is a small pocket card with the session schedule on it. You want these to be in your daily walk around bag, not in your hotel room.

Don’t sleep in – Many of you are not parents (meaning not used to getting up at the crack of dawn), but sleeping in past Noon means you are missing plenty of good stuff you paid a lot to see. Get up so you can grab breakfast and be at the 10AM sessions. If it’s more important to you to stay up till dawn and sleep in until 2PM, you probably shouldn’t be coming to Austin. You can do that at home.

Shiner Bock – Shiner Bock is a local Texas beer that you find everywhere. Often referred to as simply ‘Shiner’.

Badge Surf – Badge surfing is a perfectly acceptable behavior at SxSW, but don’t use it to fake knowing someone. If you want to talk to someone, say “I see from your badge…”. Don’t make them think that they should know you or that you’ve met previously.

Fray Cafe – Go to the Fray Cafe on Sunday night. Fray is people telling truthful stories about their life. It’s one of the best things about SxSW. Kevin Smokler is the host and is longtime SxSW veteran. Get there early for a good seat, otherwise you will be standing for the whole thing.

Stay Warm – It can get cold and rain in Austin this time of year. Bring a good jacket or coat just in case.

Sharpeners – There are no pencil sharpeners at SXSW. People think writing on a pad of paper with a wooden pencil is a bit strange.

Street Signs – For some reason, downtown Austin has few street signs. Get a map and study it before venturing out.

Food – Eat food. Austin has a great bar scene. You will be drinking. Don’t drink on an empty stomach. It also would be a good idea to keep a couple energy bars in your bag during sessions.

Drink – Drink smart. If you start drinking early in the day, be sure to employ the “full glass of water between drinks method” to avoid overindulgence and a hangover. Or consider not drinking at all.

Texas BBQ – IMHO, Texas BBQ pales in comparison to BBQ in other areas like Kansas City and Carolina. That chopped beef sandwich stuff just doesn’t cut it, but people will want to eat it for lunch. That said, Stubbs makes a great brisket.

Say Hello to Me – I would love to meet Loyal Cruft Readers. On Twitter I’m @cruftbox or email me or IM at pusateri AT gmail.com and I promise to respond.

Any questions?

When Intelligentsia Coffee opened in Pasadena recently, I was intrigued the lasagna cupcakes they served. The cupcakes are made by Heirloom LA, a catering business. About the size of a muffin, a single lasagna cupcake was a delicious meal.
After seeing how much my daughter enjoyed them (she ate my entire cupcake and I had to order a second one), I decided I had to try making them at home.
After a bit of research, here is my method. The girls love them and take them to school as lunch.

The ingredients are fairly simple. Mozzarella, Ricotta, and Parmesan cheese, marinara sauce, meat (if you so desire), and wonton/gyoza wrappers. The key item here is the wrappers. The Asian wrappers are used for making wontons and potstickers most of the time, but here they replace the lasagna noodle. The difference between the wonton and gyzoa wrappers is that the wonton ones are square and the gyoza ones are round. I highly suggest the gyoza wrappers.

Spray or wipe the cupcake tin with olive oil for prevent sticking and add a little flavor. Put the wrapper in the tin and form it into a cup shape. Then a small dollop of pasta sauce. Ricotta cheese is next to add the traditional lasagna taste and texture. I then add a little Parmesan to bring out the flavor. One daughter doesn’t like meat, so her’s are cheese only. The other daughter gets a sprinkling of browned Italian sausage.

Once you filled in the first layer, gently press another wrapper in, forming another cup.

Once you’ve placed the second wrapper, repeat the filling as you see fit. Mine are split between cheese and sausage versions.

A bit of Mozzarella cheese on top of it all. I put a sprinkle of Parmesan on as well, as the saltiness brings out the flavor in the Mozzarella and I love Parmesan cheese.

I baked them for 20 minutes at 375° F and then come out perfectly browned.

If you remembered to use olive oil, they should slide out easily with top crispy and the wrapper moist and tender.
You can do pretty much anything you want as filling from more meats to a vegan version. The key is using the wonton/gyoza wrappers as they make it simple and quick to do the prep.
The small cupcake size works well for us. A larger muffin size would make them almost too big for the kids and not as easy to reheat.
I hope you enjoy them if you give this a try.

Today is the day that many people choose to complain or be dismissive of the Superbowl.
I get it. The rise of microblogging, texting, and social media have given everyone the ability to publish their thoughts for others to read and that is a good thing. The Superbowl is a huge athletic, commercial and social event in America and will be the target of much commentary today.
There are people that go out of their way to make sure we all know how much they dislike the Superbowl and try to be as dismissive of it as possible. Usually their critique breaks down into one of the three main lines:
1) There’s more important things to worry about…
2) People shouldn’t like watching sports…
3) It’s too commercial and corporate…
And they are probably right, but it doesn’t make complaining about the Superbowl a good thing to do.
This post is for those of you that can’t wait for your harsh Superbowl commentary to begin.
When you are dismissive and mocking of something you disapprove of on a cultural basis, such as the Superbowl, you aren’t changing anyone’s mind, you are just being a jerk and raining on someone else’s fun. Don’t be a jerk.
That band you like? Yeah, a lot of people hate it, but they don’t mock you. The pictures of your kids/pets? Most pictures only appeal to a small number of people, but others don’t say they look average or make fun on them do they? What you like for dinner? What TV show or movie you liked? What you think is a good deal to buy? Most people disagree with you, but are kind enough not to mock you publicly.
We get it. You don’t like the Superbowl, for your perfectly justifiable position. Great. Don’t watch it. But don’t be a jerk to those that want to enjoy it.
Go do what you enjoy. Tweet about what you are doing for fun, not about what you are NOT doing.
Personally, I like the Superbowl as a celebration of what people can do in sport and their commitment to working hard as opposed to traditional holidays that celebrate a myth or the achievements of a dead person. Other holidays have their place, but the Superbowl is a celebration of active human endeavor.
Please consider what you say/post not just on Superbowl Sunday, but everyday. Are you being harsh in your comments because it will have some positive effect, or simply to make yourself look better and seem cool? You have every right to be a jerk, but that doesn’t mean you have to be a jerk to many people that are doing nothing wrong but enjoying their life in a way you don’t.
“If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them.” – Dalai Lama

Today is the last day of Movember. The Mo is in full bloom.

Please consider donating to help fight prostate cancer.

These things are worth your time to read:
Dogs Don’t Understand Basic Concepts Like Moving – This literally brought tears to my eyes as I read it and laughed so hard I snorted. Be sure to catch this one about Simple Dog as well.
20 Things I Learned About Browsers and the Web – An amazing example of HTML5 and good explanations of the current internet to less tech savvy people. If only the whole web worked this way…
Color names if you are a man or a woman – Even made Michele laugh.
Two Hipsters and a Bong – Youtube clip 1:46 long, worth it
I made a fun poster.
The Great Cyberheist – A superb NY Times article on criminal hacking.

Why is November a hard month at Cruft Manor? Because it’s Movember, the month when I grow a mustache for charity.
This is the third year I’ve grow a mustache to help raise money to fight prostate cancer. Prostate cancer hits 1 on 3 men. Most people know a man in their family that’s been affected by this terrible disease. The Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG use the money to help men with cancer and fund research.
I’m asking you to donate to the cause.
As you can see from the pictures on the Movember site and below, facial hair comes on strong with me. As my brother Matt says “Pusateri facial hair is an relentless force of nature. You can’t stop it; you can only hope to contain it.”

So far I’ve been asked if I’m an Air Marshal when checking into a flight at the airport, and as you can see above, I’m rocking the school principal look now. As usual, Michele and the girls eagerly await the end of the month when they can shave it off, like in previous years: 2009 & 2008.
I know money’s tighter for many than it’s been in the past, but if you can spare a donation, I’d be grateful. Thanks in advance.

For the month of October, I’ve been playing Healthmonth, a site set up to help you meet health goals in a game like way. I learned of Healthmonth from Matt Haughey’s post about it. Matt’s right, it’s a good site.
I’ve really enjoyed playing Healthmonth, even though it adds a little stress to my life. Amazingly, I am quite motivated to meet my Healthmonth goals even though all failure means is losing virtual points. I’ve found myself out for a run or eating fruit at 9PM just to meet my Healthmonth goals.

You can view my profile here and see what I was trying to do. I learned that I needed to think out my month before setting goals. Initially I had put in riding my bike 80 miles a week. This means 3 good rides, at least, to meet this per week. In reality, rain, triathlon training, travel factored in and I could only meet this goal one week out of the month. For November, I’m going to make my goals a bit more flexible to match up with the fact that I’ll be traveling and the holidays.
If you want to improve your health or even just do more blogging, you might consider playing Healthmonth. It might just be the small push you need to stick with it during the week and make the changes you want. You can make any kind of custom goal you want and the site will track it for you. Since I paid for a membership, I think I can sponsor people if they want to play.
The guy behind the site, Buster Benson is sharp and always improving the way things work in response to that players want. I’d love to see more interaction between players the idea of group & team challenges beyond personal goals. Imagine a team goal to run 200 miles as a group or have 30 vegan days per month. Accountability to a group is a strong motivator. So go sign up for Healthmonth now.