Day: January 5, 2005

I’ve disabled trackbacks and pingbacks due to receiving truly vile spam. I learned about it via PhotoMatt and immediately checked comments and trackbacks, finding some stomach turning entries which I immediately deleted. Evidently, Spam Karma has been updated to deal with trackback spam, so I installed it on both my weblog and Jack’s weblog. The trackback spam was sufficiently upsetting that I will just leave it turned off for a while, until I see if the Spam Karma fix works for other people.

Just in time for another cold snap, our furnace quit working again yesterday morning. The furnace guys worked on it an hour or so yesterday, consulting extensively on the cell phone, and when they left it was working. They are testing something for the next week or so, to see what the underlying problem might be.

I had planned on making Hot and Sour Soup last night before the furnace quit working, and it really hit the spot since the house was still warming up. I used a recipe that the NeonNurse provided in response to my request. I had always been intimidated by traditional Hot and Sour Soup recipes, but hers uses ingredients from standard American style grocery stores. Jack and I both enjoyed the results. I did skip putting in the shrimp, and will use less vinegar next time.

I am glad we didn’t put the space heaters away, though we haven’t had to resort to them again. It was two degrees Fahrenheit when I woke up this morning.