After many tried and failed attempts I managed to successfully figure out how to freeze and then thaw out mashed potato without resulting in watery and icky mash.

The process is rather simple:

1. When you freeze the mash add a dollop of butter in when the mash is cool (so that it does not melt)
2. When you wish to thaw it out, put it on defrost in the microwave for approx 5 minutes
3. Take out and stir, repeat for 2 minutes until there are no remaining frozen bits
4. Even if the mash looks watery don’t pour away any water
5. Once the mash is thawed put it on for about 1-1.5 mins on high in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds.

Once done you will have mash that is as good as before it was frozen and won’t be watery.

Do you have any other tips?

Stuart

(also available on my Personal Wiki)

Everyone has their favourite iPhone and iPad apps, the 10 apps that they consider the best apps for their iPhone or iPad, so I thought today I would share the top 10 apps that I can no longer function without in the hope that they might be of help to others and to support the developers as well.

The top 10 iOS apps that I can’t live without are:

1. 1Password: Useful for storing passwords securely. Using dropbox can sync with Macs, PCs and other iOS devices as well.
2. Amazon Kindle: As a student I am a big fan of eBooks and the Kindle app makes it extremely easy to load up books I have purchased. The feature that syncs the most recent page to all your devices is a godsend for switching between devices.
3. iSSH: SSH app which is perfect for system administrators. The ability to SSH into all my servers quickly and easily is one that appeals to the sysadmin in me.
4. Evernote: If you take notes, any notes then you should already be using Evernote. Available to install on PC, Mac, iOS and more the notes sync everywhere and the iOS App makes it easy to create, edit and read notes while on the run.
5. Sonic 1: Technically a game and a very recent edition, but still an app it takes me back to my youth when I owned a Sega Megadrive. If you remember this original Sonic the Hedgehog game you will enjoy the trip down memory lane.
6. Quota: Great little app which lets you keep an eye on things such as download limits for your phone and home internet, call credit remaining and so on.
7. Omnifocus iPhone/Omnifocus iPad: While expensive, Omnifocus is great for task management and synchronises with the OSX Omnifocus application. Unfortunately for PC users no Omni products work on Windows.
8. DocsToGo: After having used Pages, Keynote and Numbers and playing around with Office2 HD, I settled on DocsToGo, it is the best office app I have used so far and I have found generally displays formatting quite well.
9. i-Clickr: This is a nifty little utility that can be used in line with your computer for controlling Powerpoint presentations. Works really well on both iPad and iPhones and is a definite must for students.
10. Twitter: Hey even with the new changes I still find it the most straightforward app to use for Twitter, it will be interesting to see how things change for the competition in coming months.

Recently I decided to take on @ProBlogger’s challenge of 31 Days to Building a Better Blog (A.K.A. 31DBBB), unfortunately this first day has taken me several days as I had to make some clear decisions about where I wanted the directions of my two blogs to go.

So today I give you my first attempt at an Elevator Pitch for my personal blog. An Elevator Pitch in short is a short 30 second pitch that essentially you could tell someone in an elevator, and while this isn’t quite perfect yet it is a good start.

Elevator Pitch for StuartRyan.com:
“What do you get when you take a recipe for life, with a dash of humour and and sprinkle of geek? Life lessons can include anything from cooking and eating right to developing ourselves professionally. My blog provides a cheeky and humorous look at social interactions, society, work and to sum it up, life the universe and everything. I aim to give tips and tricks for getting through each day with a positive outlook and some brownie points as well where possible.”

What are your thoughts, good or bad, I certainly welcome constructive feedback. If you have a blog and are interested check out the 31DBBB eBook that Darren sells which is the one I am following.
Stuart

Follow Friday has been a big thing on Twitter for as long as I can remember. Today I introduce to you #FF’s awesome little sister, #IFollowedFriday (or #IFF for short). A few weeks ago, I was finding new people to follow each Friday but really didn’t have a way to reach out and say “Hey, someone recommended you and I chose to follow”.

#IFollowedFriday or #IFF has since bridged that gap for me, since I have been using it as a hashtag I have noticed far more reciprocal follows than I was getting previously and numerous people have expressed interest in the concept.

Overall the concept is very simple, when someone recommends new people for you to follow using the #FollowFriday or #FF hashtags, after following the ones you like you tweet them all with #IFollowedFriday or #IFF to let them know that you have followed them as a result of a recommendation. Until people know what on earth it is, I would recommend the #IFollowedFriday hashtag as it is somewhat more descriptive.

I am also toying with the idea of a format similar to “#IFollowedFriday @user1 @user2 @user 3 via @recommender” but that one is open for discussion.

I am certainly open to thoughts, in the mean time to get the word around if you have thoughts connect with me @StuartCRyan or tweet with the #Tag #IFollowedFriday, tell me your thoughts, do you like it and might you use it?

Stuart

Yesterday I received a very unusual SMS out of the blue. To give you an idea as to just where this story stars we have to go back to somewhere in 2006. Unfortunately for me at this stage I had been hospitalised for food poisoning from chicken (which I won’t need to tell you was particularly severe).

Following a painful weekend, I ended up in hospital for a week. During my time in hospital I had the pleasure of being tended to by a lovely young nurse (who on reading this will find out she has always been known as the “really cute” nurse).

She took great care of me during my stay and regardless of the late hours, long shifts, and constantly being on her feet never ceased to come to me with a warm smile and a friendly voice. I will admit that she was (and is) gorgeous, but in all honesty just having the friendly smile in such an otherwise morbid place made every day seem that much brighter.

On a little side note I also recall that after being nil-by-mouth for three days she was awesome enough to get me extra soup and green jelly (jello) on the night that I was able to consume liquids again, and I can tell you that is something to this day that meant more to me than solid gold after being on IV fluids for three days straight.

Anyhoo I digress, as she had been so nice and taken such good care of me I decided to leave her a little letter upon leaving. Contained in this note was a bit of a thank you, and a handwritten copy of “Choices” (Author Unknown). I had a feeling that it might be something that would be a really good read for her to help her when times got tough at work, which as a Nurse can happen often. I handed her the note and never heard from her again assuming that the note had been read once and then forgotten… Yet, this brings us to the present day.

As mentioned yesterday an SMS came out of the blue asking if “this number still belonged to Stuart”… Obviously I was hesitant before replying as I could not find any record of the number anywhere, however I took the plunge and said that yes indeed I still owned the number. Little did I know that the next reply would floor me. She replied, “You may or may not remember me but I am the nurse you gave a thank you letter too back when you were in hospital, I just re-read that letter and thought it would be nice to see how you are”.

I was floored, gobsmacked and tickled all shades of pink, to know that she had kept my thank you letter and said that it still always makes her smile. To know that even after all these years what I wrote still put a smile on her face just makes me jump with joy. It is also really nice to know that what I wrote had an impact on her and has been something that she has been able to read since… for me that is a big thing.

So to the “cute nurse” I say thank you kindly for not only looking after me back then but out of the blue giving me the best christmas pressie of the year, a simple SMS and and the knowledge that what I wrote all those years ago still puts a smile on your face to this day.

Stuart

Having a blog is a great thing, it lets you write, get things off your chest and most of all share your knowledge with the world. However having a blog also runs the risk of using it to vent on occasion. One thing I have always been very careful not to do is write a venting post while enraged then regret posting it later.

This is one of the key reasons I have not been around on either of my blogs in recent times, university this last semester had me up in arms almost daily and to remain professional I decided to steer well clear of writing anything on my blogs. I am still pondering with the idea of actually posting about it all however at this stage I choose to wait until marks are released prior to taking that plunge.

Soon I will be getting back into things now that my life is returning to some level of normality.

Stuart

Today I had the wonderful pleasure of getting a slice of Pecan Pie… delivered to my workplace… by courier… I kid you not

Thanks to a message from the lovely @RosemarySlade from Twitter (which I have to admit I originally thought was a joke) and a donation I made to her Pink Ribbon Breast Cancer Research breakfast I was lucky enough to get a beautifully packaged slice of Pecan Pie to have for breakfast at work today.

It was the first time I had ever enjoyed Pecan Pie, however I can happily say it won’t be the last. If you can spare a few dollars I would also say, if you can donate to the cause for breast cancer research you can do so at the official Pink Ribbon Breakfast site –> http://fundraise.pinkribbonbreakfast.org.au/modern_wedding_.

So I would like to give a huge shout out to @RosemarySlade and say a big, BIG thank you, she is a gem and YAY for the awesomeness of Twitter.

If you don’t follow her you should and also if you don’t follow me, give me a shout out as well @StuartCRyan

Now for the pics:

OK So we all know of the iPhone 4S and the wonderful humor that Siri has been providing the world. Thus far I have had quite a few humerous interactions, therefore I thought I would share a little gallery with you with my current favourites I have encountered.
The gallery includes some Siri Star Trek, Siri Star Wars and general banter with Apple’s latest invention. I look forward to seeing how Siri progresses in the future.

Twitter is often referred to as the place of peoples mindless thoughts in 140 characters or less… However it does in fact have strong benefits over more traditional mediums of communication. Therefore today I thought I would look at a couple of the positives of Twitter and the two key changes in means of communication that I myself have recently experienced. These include the use of Twitter by companies as a customer service medium and also the ability for Twitter to enable groups of people to discuss a common topic in realtime (more on this later).

In recent months I have found myself turning to Twitter more and more often as a means of communicating and engaging with companies both large and small. The short nature of messages has allowed me as a consumer to provide quick and easy feedback to large companies. This in turn has allowed companies to get my feedback in realtime and manage it more effectively due to the nature of the short 140 character medium rather than a five page long email.

Lets take the first case I had which was with @Telstra, I was experiencing issues with my account and had become fed up with waiting on hold. A simple tweet to the Telstra customer service team and my problem was being worked on. Rather than having to use the phone I was able to discuss the issue over a period of several days with DMs (private messages) directly to the Telstra customer service team. The greatest thing was that there was no waiting on hold, and I could do things in my time and on my terms. I can say that Telstra actually has an entire team dedicated to managing the Telstra twitter account and they do a smashing job of this (so kudos to Telstra for a solid Twitter based customer service implementation).

The second way in which Twitter has changed the way we communicate is something we are seeing in increasing numbers of TV shows at the moment. TV shows such as @CanOfWormsTV have begun embracing the medium as a way for viewers at home to interact with the show as it is airing on TV. Never before has the viewer been able to sit back in the comfort of their own home and join in the debate and provide input and feedback to the show as it goes on. I have found myself actively being more engaged in a TV show such as Can Of Worms through my ability to join in the debate on Twitter and and more importantly engaging with other viewers at the same time.

Lastly the use of Twitter hashtags such as #Masterchef or #canOfWorms has enabled viewers to discuss a show as it goes to air. Just two nights ago I was voicing my strong opinion about theories about a certain TV show as I was watching it live. Twitter provided me a platform to voice my opinions and to hear and discuss others opinions regarding the same topic, it has provided a simple easy and flexible platform for anyone around the world to discuss any topic they wish and this doesn’t just extend to TV this includes events, performances, movie releases, holidays and the list just goes on.

So while some may view Twitter as 100% junk when used correctly it can be a very powerful tool both personally and professionally. I have some more stories of great twitter companies on my Technical Notebook blog if you are interested in a few more kudos as well.

So next time you look at Twitter and think “Oh really not this again” perhaps take a look outside the square and see how it might be useful for you too and if you aren’t already following me on Twitter you can give me feedback right now, shout out a hello or flame away on @StuartCRyan

Stuart

This is what happened to me on Friday night, I took a long walk off a short pier *literally* speaking rather than figuratively

To cut a long story short, I walked out of the Visitor’s Centre at the Manly Quarantine Station and due to insufficient lighting, lack of fencing, lack of any warnings whatsoever I walked a few paces forward and ended up in the harbour . I have safely learned that seawater and electronics don’t go together and unfortunately learned this the hard way (although I will happily admit that I did know this before hand).

Luckily for me I could stand up as it was only up to my chest but I can safely say the following:

• iPhone – dead (thanks to Apple for replacing it for free as it was a first offence and I was a nice guy)
• Bluetooth Headset – dead
• HTC Magic – dead
• 16GB SD card – dead was in my wallet, just found it now
• iPhone battery case – dead
• Leather Jacket – pretty much ruined
• Boots – pretty much ruined
• White Shirt – now a shade of icky grey from the leather jacket
• Garage Door Opener – Still working that is one plus I guess

So here are some photos, enjoy (and let me know if you have had any similar experiences)