Adam's Random Thoughts

Summer Squash Noodles and Tomato Basil Sauce with Capers

2009-08-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

I tend to think of myself as a pretty good cook, and I like to experiment a lot, but never write down what I did. Tonight though, I just made something incredibly good, so I have to write down this recipe. I'm not much of a measure and process cook, more of a throw things together cook, so these measurements and times will be a little off, but should be very close to what I actually did. This recipe is based off one I saw here (via Lifehacker), but I made up my own sauce. The original recipe tells you to make your noodles while the sauce is cooking, but I don't like to feel rushed, so I did that before making sauce. All in all, this took about 15 minutes and should serve two to three.

Summer Squash Noodles and Fresh Tomato Basil Sauce with Capers

2 - 4 Summer Squash

8 - 12 Baby Button Portabella Mushrooms, chopped

2 Cloves Garlic, minced

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

2 large tomatoes

2 Tbsp Fresh Chopped Basil

1-2 Tbsp Capers (depending on how much you like capers)

1/2 Tsp Kosher Salt

1/4 Tsp Black Pepper

Fresh Grated Parmesan Cheese

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

Additional Kosher Salt

Peel squash, then use a vegetable peeler to make "noodles" about the size of fettuccini noodles. Peel until you start to get to the seeds. The video below from the original post can explain better.
Core and remove seeds from tomato. You can take the skin off too if you really want, but it doesn't bother me. Dice up into 1/2 inch cubes.
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan. Add minced garlic and mushrooms. Saute for 2 - 3 minutes, or until garlic begins to brown slightly.
Add diced tomato, basil, salt, and pepper, and cook on medium to medium high until tomatoes start to turn into a sauce, stirring occasionally. About 6 - 8 minutes. Add the capers, then bring the heat on the sauce to low.
In a saute pan, heat up another 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Once oil is heated, add your squash noodles and sprinkle with kosher salt. Saute for 1 - 2 minutes, making sure the noodles don't get too soft.
Serve the sauce on top of noodles, and sprinkle with fresh parmesan.

When you're done, you should get a really tasty and healthy (I think anyway) meal that looks like this:

Homemade Honey

2009-05-21T20:18:00.000-07:00

One of the guys I carpool with's dad has honey bees, and I recently bought some honey off of him. We got to talking on the way home about how my mom used to make honey when I was a kid, and how it tastes pretty close to real honey. He seemed pretty surprised by the recipe, but until I was in my teens, the only honey I ever tasted was what my Mom made. PIcking clover with her and watching her boil it on the stove is one of my earliest memories.

Anyway... here's my family recipe for homemade (non-bee) honey:

6 c. water
10 lb. sugar
80 white clover flowers
50 red clover flowers
8 big red roses
1 tsp. alum

Wash all flowers in a colander. Bring sugar and water to a boil for 2 - 2 1/2 minutes. Remove from heat and add flowers and alum. Let set for 10 minutes. Bring to a boil again for 4 minutes. Remove as much of the flowers as you can, and strain through a cheese cloth, then jar and seal.

Been a while...

2008-11-20T19:49:00.000-08:00

Haven't posted in a while. Things have been a little nuts lately, but I've been learning a lot about javascript, old Apple hardware, and homebrewing.

My latest homebrew is just about ready for drinking. If it's decent, I'll put up my recipe for dark cherry ale.

Sims... horrible deformed Sims

2008-08-03T13:38:00.000-07:00

While I was in on my Skitch page, I found a picture of some Sims I created a while back.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

Baby is just creepy. Mom looks like Scott Bakula in drag. *Shudder*

Exchange OWA premium on a Mac

2008-08-03T09:53:00.000-07:00

Since we're implementing Exchange at work, I've been trying to figure out a way to get Outlook Web Access (OWA) to function in full mode on a Mac. Unfortunately, if you are using anything but IE 6 or higher on Windows 2000 or higher, you're only given the option to run OWA in "light" mode, which has several limitations. I won't go into to much detail on that here, but this page has all the info you could ever want: http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2006/09/13/428901.aspx.

The big ones (for me anyway) are day only view in the calendar, and no access to message rules. Obviously, I could run IE in VMware Fusion, but firing up an entire virtual machine just to get OWA premium doesn't make much sense to me, so I started by seeing if I could trick OWA into thinking I was on IE. My first idea was simply to switch the user agent for Firefox or Safari. Setting the user agent to IE6 or IE7 in Safari wouldn't trick OWA, but on Firefox I was given the option to log in to OWA premium. Unfortunately, what I got was a jumbled mess.

So that's no good. Next up was a project I had heard about a while ago called ies4osx, which uses Darwine to run the Windows native version of IE. A couple quick downloads later, I ran the ies4osx installer, and had a working copy of IE6 fired up. Unfortunately, since Darwine emulates Windows 98 -- OK, not emulates, since everyone knows that WINE stands for WINE Is Not an Emulator -- OWA still only gave me the light option. So I did some quick Google searches for changing IE's user agent and found this page. Where that ~~guy~~ girl is using Linux, I had to modify her instructions somewhat. While I had IE fired up, I used it to navigate to C:\Windows\ and opened up regedit.exe. Once the Registry Editor launched, I closed out of IE and followed her instructions.

In the registry editor window navigate to:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\User Agent\
Select the "Edit" menu -> New -> Key. For the key name enter: Post Platform
With "Post Platform" selected: Edit menu -> New -> String Value. For the name enter: Windows NT 5.1
Click "OK", then double-click the new item named "Windows NT 5.1" and set the value: This String Doesn’t Matter I think
Select "User Agent" key again
Select the "Edit" menu -> New -> Key. For the key name enter: Pre Platform
With "Pre Platform" selected: Edit menu -> New -> String Value. For the name enter: Windows NT 5.1
Click "OK", then double-click the new item named "Windows NT 5.1" and set the value: This String Doesn’t Matter I think
Close regedit
Run IE and test logging into OWA. On the login page it should now allow you to select either premium mode or lite mode.

Bam! It worked. As you can see below, OWA gave me the option to log in to Premium mode.

Once in I had full access to OWA premium as if I was a windows user.

However, if you look at Activity Monitor in that screenshot, you'll see that wineserver and mwine are going completely out of control, together taking up 100% of both CPUs. Not really acceptable performance. So on to something else.

The next idea was to do the same thing in Crossover, another implementation of Wine for OS X. Crossover is a bit more polished/tweaked than Darwine, and can actually run Office 2007 very well. I'm still debating if it was worth the purchase, but since I own it, might as well try. Crossover has IE6 listed as an installable program; you pretty much select that you want to install Internet Explorer and let it do the rest of the work. A few minutes later, I had an IE6 install ready to go. Unfortunately, it had the same problem as Darwine -- reporting that it was running on Windows 98, so I followed the same procedure to edit the registry to change the user agent. Again, I was able to log in to OWA Premium.

So you can see the performance is much, much better, but there are some strange rendering issues. Calendar items are blacked out - that was how it showed up, wasn't done by me. Also new mail counts render weird, and the quicklinks on the bottom left don't show. The calendar rendering is the big killer on this one, and really, it's too bad since otherwise, it performs really well. I'll probably do a little more work on troubleshooting this at some point.

So there you have it. ies4osx/Darwine and Crossover both will let you get in to OWA premium with a bit of tweaking. ies4osx has huge performance issues, but other than that renders everything well. Crossover renders some things poorly, but has excellent performance. Neither seem like a particularly great option, but if you don't care too much about calendar but do want OWA Premium (and have the $40 to spend), Crossover is probably your best option.

Xbox Live Support, Part II

2008-01-04T07:19:00.000-08:00

I actually called them up about my response. I told the guy that I was calling with support feedback only, and that my problem was the same problem everyone else has been seeing. He told me to try in an hour and to visit xbox.com for details of compensation in the form of a free arcade game. Goodie. I hope it's Yaris. Sigh.

Xbox Live Support

2008-01-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

If you have XBox live, you probably already know that there have been some issues for about the last two weeks. Of course it would happen on my week off. I got so frustrated, I wrote a quick complaint to their customer service a couple of days ago. I wasn't sure of what I would get for a response, but I sure didn't expect this.

My complaint:

Xbox Live over the last week or so has been terrible. I can understand an outage once in a while, but for a paid service, this is unacceptable. I realize you are all working hard to get this issue resolved, but I would appreciate some sort of compensation for this extended outage.

Their response:

Hello Adam,

Thank you for writing Xbox Customer Support!

I’m really sorry that you’re having a problem with your Xbox console. I understand that when you reached the end of the sign up process for Xbox Live, you receive the following error message: “Xbox Live sign up is currently unavailable. Please try again later.” You receive this error message if one of the following conditions is true:

• You are trying to migrate a two-month trial account from an original Xbox console and the account is not yet a paid account.
• The account that you are trying to migrate from an original Xbox console to an Xbox 360 console has been canceled.
• The account that you are trying to migrate from an original Xbox console to an Xbox 360 console is not in good standing. For example, the credit card that you used for the account has expired.
• The account from the original Xbox console requires action. For example, your gamer tag is currently banned or you have not yet complied with an outstanding forced gamer tag.

Things to try:

1. Try the solution that best relates to the issue that you are experiencing. Select one of the following solutions:

a. If you are using a two-month trial account on the original Xbox console, wait until the trial period is over and the account is a paid subscription before you migrate the account.

b. If your account has been canceled on the original Xbox console, create a new account on the Xbox 360 console.

c. If your account on the original Xbox console is not in good standing, you may not be able to play a game on an original Xbox console. Try to use your account on the original Xbox console. If you cannot play a game or if you cannot access account management, you may have to update your credit card information in the Xbox Dashboard.

d. If you have unread system messages because of a banned gamer tag or because of a forced gamer tag change, make sure that you read these messages, and then wait until the gamer tag is changed or until the ban period is over before you migrate your account to Xbox 360.

If you need to reply to this e-mail, please reply 'with history' (include any previous e-mail) so we can expedite our service to you. You may also call Xbox Phone Support at 1-800-4MYXBOX (1-800-469-9269) at your earliest convenience, and we’ll be happy to help you. We are open everyday from 8am to 12mn US Central Time.

To expedite service, please provide Service Request Number XXXXXXXXXX when you call.

Thank you for visiting Xbox.com. If you should have future questions on Xbox products or services, please be sure to revisit our Web site as we are continually adding information to enhance our service.

Sincerely,

Jon
Xbox Customer Care

I know an automated response when I see one, but at least they could have auto-replied back on the right issue. Glad to see the support is as good as the service lately.

Replacing the BSOD PC icon in Leopard

2007-11-03T16:35:00.000-07:00

This post over at Engadget got me thinking. When I first saw the BSOD icon for Windows shares in the Leopard betas, I admit I had a little chuckle. I assumed it would be nixed before the final release, kinda like Bungie did with "Cheneymania" in Halo 3... but that's beside the point. Now the icon lost its appeal to me, and I'm actually slightly annoyed with seeing the PC's (not all Windows either) on my network represented by an old CRT running what appears to be Windows 98 or ME. In case you haven't seen it:

As I said earlier, the Engadget post has instructions for changing this icon, which gave me the idea to replace it with the ~~My Computer~~ Computer icon from Windows Vista. Once I had the icon in PNG format, it was pretty simple to convert it to the icns format OS X uses. The icon now looks like this:Unfortunately, its only 128X128. The tools I used apparently wouldn't grab the 256X256 version of the icon from Windows, but it's good enough for me since I'll never be browsing my network in Coverflow. Surprisingly, it seems to fit very well in Leopard. If you want the same thing, download this file to your Downloads folder, then run these commands in Terminal on your Mac:

cd /System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources/
sudo mv public.generic-pc.icns public.generic-pc-old.icns
[enter your admin password]
sudo cp ~/Downloads/vista.icns public.generic-pc.icns

This will make a backup of the BSOD icon, and replace it with the Vista icon. If you downloaded the Vista icon somewhere else, just replace ~/Downloads with whatever location you saved it in. You might not see it right away, so you'll need to relaunch Finder or reboot.

So, hopefully Microsoft will appreciate that I am trying to give them a better name on the Mac side of things and won't send me a takedown notice. If I make a better one, I'll post it up here.

Well I guess that was pointless...

2007-10-23T19:34:00.000-07:00

Funny. I just figured out how to get access to my GMail through AIM mail, and Google introduces IMAP to email.

Gmail IMAP via AIM mail

2007-10-20T13:46:00.000-07:00

I was about to break down and pay for some mail service that has IMAP so I could use the instructions on downloadSquad for accessing GMail through IMAP when I noticed that apparently the free AIM Mail account that everyone who has a AIM screenname gets supports IMAP, and apparently has no space limit (or that I could find anyway), so that solves all my problems right there. Finally, I'll be able to access my GMail in a client on my iMac, laptop, and my ~~iPhone~~ jailbroken iPod Touch. So here's how I did it:

You'll need an AIM account that you don't already use for mail. If you don't already have one, sign up for one.
Follow steps 1 - 6 of the instructions at downloadSquad to get your AIM account set up in your mail client. You'll need to know a little about how to set up an email account in your client. The important parts are:
- The AIM IMAP server is imap.aim.com
- Use your GMail address as the email address (not your AIM one)
- Use your AIM login and password for the IMAP server
- Make sure to use GMail's smtp server with your GMail address as your username and your GMail password.
In Apple Mail and on iPhoney I had to set the correct folders for Sent, Drafts, and Trash.

That's pretty much it. I haven't come across any problems so far, but I'm surprised I hadn't seen that anyone else has done this before.

Jailbreaking iPhoney, my iPod Touch

2007-10-20T13:08:00.000-07:00

I love my iPod Touch "iPhoney". I like pretending I'm super cool and making fake phone calls on it in Hannaford. But I love it a lot more now that I've bitten the bullet and jailbroken it using iJailbreak. The process took a while, but was really simple. All I had to do was start it up, tell it if I wanted to install the iPhone apps (yes!), and restart it a few times when told to. Any doubts about doing it are completely gone, and my iPod screen is full of cool stuff now, including the iPhone Mail and Notes applications.

The BSOD Wave

2007-03-20T08:12:00.000-07:00

We've had some trouble with pushing our Ghost image to the new Lenovo T60s we got in at work, but at least it looked cool!

We did end up fixing it thanks to a comment on digg that helped us track down where the issue was. Too bad though, there was so much potential for fun here.

YouTube link

I'm stupid (how I ruined my TV)

2007-03-17T22:19:00.000-07:00

Those shake to charge flashlights use a magnet to generate electricity to charge the battery that powers the light. I know this.

Magnets mess up TVs. I know this.

Yet, without thinking, I left one of these flashlights next to my TV. Now everything is purple.

Sirius and XM Merger

2007-02-20T02:39:00.000-08:00

I got this email last night. I'm definitely looking forward to MLB games on my satellite radio.

February 19, 2007

To: SIRIUS Subscribers

Today is a very exciting day for SIRIUS customers. As you may have heard, SIRIUS Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio are merging to form the nation's premier audio entertainment provider.

This combination of our two offerings will benefit you - our loyal listeners. As a single company, we'll provide superior programming to you every day with the best of both SIRIUS and XM. Currently, XM and SIRIUS broadcast a wide range of commercial-free music channels, exclusive sports coverage, news, talk, and entertainment programming. Howard Stern. Oprah and Friends. The NFL. MLB. NBA. ESPN. CNBC. Fox News. Additionally, the combined company will be able to improve existing services such as real-time traffic information and rear-seat video as well as introduce new ones.

After shareholder and regulatory approvals, we anticipate that the combination will be finalized by the end of 2007. Until then, both companies will continue to operate independently. We will continue to provide you with the uninterrupted service - as well as the outstanding customer support - that you have come to expect and enjoy from SIRIUS. We do not anticipate any changes in your service during the merger process, however, please call our customer care team on 1- 888-539-7474 should you have any questions.

We look forward to the many benefits this combination will offer and continuing to make your listening experience an enjoyable one - offering more of the Very Best Radio on Radio.

Stay tuned,

Mel Karmazin, CEO

Forward Looking Statements
This letter contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the benefits of the business combination transaction involving Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., including potential synergies and cost savings and the timing thereof, future financial and operating results, the combined company's plans, objectives, expectations and intentions with respect to future operations, products and services; and other statements identified by words such as "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "will," "should," "may," or words of similar meaning. Such forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of SIRIUS' and XM's management and are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of SIRIUS and XM. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements.

The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in the forward-looking statement: general business and economic conditions; the performance of financial markets and interest rates; the ability to obtain governmental approvals of the transaction on a timely basis; the failure of SIRIUS and XM shareholders to approve the transaction; the failure to realize synergies and cost-savings from the transaction or delay in realization thereof; the businesses of SIRIUS and XM may not be combined successfully, or such combination may take longer, be more difficult, time-consuming or costly to accomplish than expected; and operating costs and business disruption following the merger, including adverse effects on employee retention and on our business relationships with third parties, including manufacturers of radios, retailers, automakers and programming providers. Additional factors that could cause SIRIUS' and XM's results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in SIRIUS' and XM's Annual Reports on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005, and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2006, June 30, 2006 and September 30, 2006 which are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and available at the SEC's Internet site http://www.sec.gov The information set forth herein speaks only as of the date hereof, and Sirius and XM disclaim any intention or obligation to update any forward looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this press release.

Important Additional Information Will be Filed with the SEC
This communication is being made in respect of the proposed business combination involving SIRIUS and XM. In connection with the proposed transaction, SIRIUS plans to file with the SEC a Registration Statement on Form S-4 containing a Joint Proxy Statement/Prospectus and each of SIRIUS and XM plan to file with the SEC other documents regarding the proposed transaction. The definitive Joint Proxy Statement/Prospectus will be mailed to stockholders of SIRIUS and XM. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF SIRIUS AND XM ARE URGED TO READ THE JOINT PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION.

Investors and security holders will be able to obtain free copies of the Registration Statement and the Joint Proxy Statement/Prospectus (when available) and other documents filed with the SEC by SIRIUS and XM through the web site maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov. Free copies of the Registration Statement and the Joint Proxy Statement/Prospectus (when available) and other documents filed with the SEC can also be obtained by directing a request to Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020, Attention: Investor Relations or by directing a request to XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., 1500 Eckington Place, NE Washington, DC 20002, Attention: Investor Relations.

SIRIUS, XM and their respective directors and executive officers and other persons may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies in respect of the proposed transaction. Information regarding SIRIUS' directors and executive officers is available in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005, which was filed with the SEC on March 13, 2006, and its proxy statement for its 2006 annual meeting of stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on April 21, 2006, and information regarding XM's directors and executive officers is available in XM's Annual Report on Form 10-K, for the year ended December 31, 2005, which was filed with the SEC on March 3, 2006 and its proxy statement for its 2006 annual meeting of shareholders, which was filed with the SEC on April 25, 2006. Other information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be contained in the Joint Proxy Statement/Prospectus and other relevant materials to be filed with the SEC when they become available.

Please note: this is not a promotional e-mail. As a SIRIUS subscriber, you will periodically receive service notices via e-mail. These service notices are intended to provide you with helpful information that will facilitate and enhance your SIRIUS listening experience.

Motorola v323i and iSync

2007-02-10T07:50:00.000-08:00

Last week I got a new Motorola v323i phone from US Cellular (which blows my old LG out of the water). I wanted just a basic phone with bluetooth and decent reception so I could sync it with my iMac. Unfortunately, it doesn't just work out of the box since iSync doesn't support the phone.

After a little research, I found this reference on how to write your own phone plugin. I also found this guy's site where he had already written a plugin for a v325 (basically the same phone).

So with a little tweaking, I made my own v323i plugin. To use this, unzip to your Library\PhonePlugins folder. You might have to create the PhonePlugins folder if it doesn't exist. Then add your phone as a bluetooth device, and if all goes well, you should then be able to add it in iSync.

Right now, I haven't built in USB support so it's bluetooth only. Also, for some reason the phone icon doesn't work, but it will sync your contacts and calendar. Feel free to shoot any questions or problems my way...or if you know of a better place for file hosting.

Get it here...

Back to Blogger

2007-02-10T07:49:00.000-08:00

I've got to admit, I like the new Blogger. So much so I've moved back from Wordpress. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way to import my Wordpress blog, so I'll be only moving over the good posts I liked.

If anyone knows of a way I can bring the whole thing over, I'd like to know.

X11 on Tiger

2006-11-16T18:07:00.000-08:00

I’ve been getting a lot of comments on my Darwine How To about how to install X11. I think the big problem, is that some people are installing the X11 SDK and not X11 itself. Well instead of me writing it up, check this out for instructions.

Potential Fix for Halo Connection Problems

2006-06-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

I used to always have problems connecting to other people on Halo. I could connect fine to Matchmaking games by myself, but I very rarely could join Tom or anyone else on Adelphia. If either of us tried to connect to the other person’s party, we’d see the same error message:

You aren’t able to join this party because we’re having network problems. Sorry about that.

I used to see that phrase in my nightmares. Microsoft even has a KB article on it. Last week, through my endless scouring of the net, I finally found the solution. I’d give credit where credit is due, but I can’t find the forum posting that I found this on (if I do, I’ll add it here), but here is the simple quick solution:

Turn off UPnP on your router.

That’s it. For my Linksys WRT54G router, UPnP is on the Administration tab, and since I turned it off, I have been able to connect without any problems. In case you’re curious UPnP is “used by certain programs to automatically open ports for communication.” (According to my router’s help). I haven’t had any problems with anything since I set it up, so I would say it isn’t too important.

Edit (06-26-06): After I moved, the problems came back. Making my XBox the DMZ host and turning off UPnP seems to have worked…for now.

Edit (11-03-07): I no longer care about this. Halo 3 fixed whatever the issue was, and I doubt I'll be playing much Halo 2 on Live anymore :)

Darwine on an Intel Mac

2006-05-26T11:21:00.000-07:00

I wrote this a while ago, and since stopped playing with Darwine. If you are looking for help with Darwine, look here: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Darwine

Here's my original post:

If you don't have an Intel Mac, this won't work. Period.

Since I've been all about Darwine lately, and I had a request for help, here's a quick how to for getting set up with Darwine. Keep in mind you need an Intel Mac for this.

Install X11. It's located on your Tiger install DVD. If you're not running Tiger, you should stop here because you don't have an Intel Mac.
Download the latest version of Darwine from http://darwine.opendarwin.org/download.php. Make sure you grab the x86 version. You probably could use the Universal too, but I haven't tried that.
Open the disk image you just downloaded, and copy the entire Darwine folder to Applications.
Go to Applications and open the Darwine folder, then open the WineHelper application.
Go to the WineHelper menu, and pick "Configure Wine". It might look frozen up for a bit, but let it do its thing. Once it loads up, you don't have to do anything except click "Save". This is where I messed up first, and if you don't do this step, it just doesn't work. Close the window after hitting "Save".
Back in the Applications/Darwine folder, open the Sample WinLib Applications, and then open winemine.exe.
Play some Minesweeper.
If that worked, you should be able to open any exe with Darwine. Keep in mind, most everything won't run, but you can at least try to open it.

For a list of known compatible applications, check the Darwine Compatibility Wiki.

That being said, keep in mind that if you happen to find something that runs in Darwine, consider yourself lucky. It is seriously limited, and should just be viewed as something just to play with. Don't blame me or the Darwine developers if this completely destroys your system. Have fun. Anything I missed, or anything you want more help on, add it to the comments.