These are apropos of nothing in particular, but I thought I’d share them because I have found them useful.

Firstly: I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have been dying to get hold of an oldy-timey actual-mechanical-bells-in-it telephone ring sound file to use as a custom ringtone for my cell phone. It took a while to find this, but I managed to track down a public-domain piece of foley that fits the bill perfectly, and I turned it into an MP3, which most contemporary phones can use as a custom ringtone. Thought I’d make it available for y’all.

Secondly and equally apropos of nothing, I tried a trick this afternoon while looking for something to warm me up and help soothe a tickly throat. I made myself some hot lemonade, added a biggish hunk of ginger as is my normal SOP; then, on a whim, I added an eighth of a teaspoon of habanero pepper powder. Outstanding! Hot but not Kill You Hot, the pepper in no way aggravates the throat but instead helps to soothe the entire mouth. And the fruity flavor of the habanero pepper makes a nice compliment to the lemon and ginger. Add it while heating the water rather than after, for fullest effect.

Okay, that’s all I got. Happy Monday!