Don't trust online recipe converters

Converting a recipe from 8 serving to 4 servings should in theory be easy. It worked well until I got ready to make the dough. Instead of asking for 1 cup of chicken stock, my printout said the original 2 cups. Sigh. I wish I had double checked that before. Anyway, the dumplings in the chicken and dumplings were still good, if a bit sticky. Too much dough (used way more than the called for flour) and enough water for 4 servings does not make for a good broth. Oh well. Live and learn. 

I'm going to take another crack at the Chicken and Dumpling recipe Friday. Not for myself, this time for my grandmother, so I have to get it right! I hope my grandmother can tolerate 8 days worth of chicken and dumplings. 

I love my Mac

My reliable Sony Vaio died a slow and painful death earlier this year. RIP.
My IBM Thinkpad crapped out of me more times than I can remember mid-program.
I loathe the Windows blue screen.
I don't particularly care for Dells.
I tolerated Microsoft for sometime until I could no longer take the ever-present bugs.
I heard bad reviews of Windows Vista.
I decided to jump ship and join the Mac Brigade.
I don't regret that decision in the slightest.

Does your cat drool?

Before I got my current cat, I had never known a cat to drool. But now, every time my furball is happy to see me after a significant period of separation, the floodgates open and I feel the steady stream of drool running down my back, arm, or neck. My cat's antics surprise me daily, I'm sure today will be no different. 

Working on the job....psssh

There are a few perks that come with working in the library, and one of them is being able to pick up and read books while on the job that catch your eye. I spotted this book, The Bacon Cookbook: More than 150 Recipes from Around the World for Everyone's Favorite Food, from my desk and was imediately intrigued. I love bacon, but because of the obvious health concerns-high sodium, cholesterol, and fat-don't eat it too often. However after quickly glancing through the book, I found a few recipes that piqued my interest. This book will definitely make it on my Amazon queue.

There's no place like home.

Dentist, Spa Day, sales tax, motorcycles, heartburn, and family. Not a bad mini-vacation spent at home.

*%#@%!

There's only one thing worse than construction, that is, haphazard construction. The powers that be decided today just for the hell of it (allow me to be unreasonable) to block my one remaining direct route from home to work. Now, my quick route and even quicker route are marked by mounds of dirt and unpaved road, not exactly hospitable conditions for my 4-cylinder car.

So for now until god knows when, I must take an out of the way route which is inefficient, bothersome, and worst of all burns precious gas. Since the lovely folks at my City government decided to leave me such a wonderful present this Saturday afternoon, I would like to repay the favor.

Mac vs. PC

Off the top of my head, I've had 4 PC Computers since high school and each one of them came with enough instruction manuals to put Tolstoy's War and Peace to shame. But fast-forward to today and this is all that came with my Macbook.

Please forgive the photography. The flash washed the writing out and there was not enough natural light.

And this is all that was inside the box:

The one booklet on the left says, "Everything Mac", which is the instruction manual based on the ....For Dummies series, and the booklet on the right says, "Everything else". Everything else is this:

2 OS installation CDs, a licensing booklet and other legal junk, a dust cloth, and 3 "apple" stickers.

My adventures into Macville will be nothing short of interesting.