Ellen Beldner

This recipe is courtesy of one of my dearest friends, D. Penner, via his parents. His dad is a senior official in the U.S. State Department, which apparently relies on this punch to inspire camaraderie and improved diplomatic relations the world over. -- Ellen

The Ambassador: State Department recipe for champagne punch

1. 3 bottles champagne
2. 3 bottles white wine (pinot grigio or something like it. NOT chardonnay.)
3. 0.5 liters of Cointreau
4. 0.25 liters of brandy
5. 12 oz of club soda
6. 1 cup sugar
7. 2 or 3 cans of whatever fruit you like (pineapple, mandarin oranges, cherries, etc.)

1) mix everything together.
2) party proof house.
3) prepare for a longer night than you think.

Posted by Ellen Beldner at 1:54 PM | Permalink

In every other rich text editor, Shift+ENTER = a manual linebreak*. In Outlook Mac 2011, of course, this doesn't work.

If I wanted a neutered email application, I'd use Mac Mail. I got Outlook because I *need* power: Expert use accelerators; ability to customize for my workflows & particular environment and style; automation of repetitive tasks that result from working at a 1,000-person company and receiving hundreds of emails (mostly useless) per day.

Expert efficiency is ground zero of HCI and interaction design, folks. If you don't remember this from your intro to HCI course, you shouldn't be allowed near an interface.

Bah!

* Context: I often have to email out lists of mockups / comps; I format them as a list (so people can refer to the comps by number in their responses) and find it more readable & courteous to my recipients to do something like this:

1. Default state for a new user:
   http://intranet.linkedin.com/~ellenb/someproject/01_somemockup.png
2. Default state for a high-usage user:
   http://intranet.linkedin.com/~ellenb/someproject/01_somemockup.png
3. Hover state:
   http://intranet.linkedin.com/~ellenb/someproject/01_somemockup.png
4. Error state:
   http://intranet.linkedin.com/~ellenb/someproject/01_somemockup.png

Posted by Ellen Beldner at 11:33 AM | Permalink

I hate you, Outlook.

Posted by Ellen Beldner at 2:19 PM | Permalink