Computer update and Angel Food
Jun. 26th, 2010 10:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
firefly124So, the guy at Best Buy thinks a) I may be right that it's just a loose wire and b) that regardless, as it shows no evidence of being dropped, it should be covered by the warranty. However, it had to be shipped out, and the estimate he gave me was a month, even though there's a chance it could be less. I guess they can only handle software problems in-store.
But! One of the tutors I work with said her husband had a "little laptop" that they had been going to sell to someone who then didn't buy it, and I could probably borrow it. So I am typing this on a lovely ThinkPad! The compressed keyboard takes some getting used to, but other than that, I really like the compactness of it a lot. W00t!
No writing happened Wednesday or Thursday, as a result, which is kind of ridiculous. I had access to other computers and Google Docs. I'm just that attached to using a laptop to write? No, I've done my daily scribblings in a composition book when we've driven up to Boston. Also, I have no idea how much I exactly wrote Mon or Tues, but I did at least write 500 words, then 600+ yesterday, so I may keep the5_for_five streak going.
In other news, I gave that Angel Food Ministries thing a try, like I said I was going to. I got very mixed reviews between here, FB, and RL. The RL ones were the most positive, so I wonder if it's a regional distribution thing or something. So far I haven't used any of the food, but the picking up and then going through the box left me pretty happy with it so far.
I definitely felt a bit weird when I arrived. I'd never set foot in this particular church before, and I'd heard that it was actually a pretty conservative congregation despite being Episcopal. Never mind that I wasn't going there for church, it still felt weird.
People were very friendly though, and as I checked in and waited for my turn to pick up my order, I sort of looked around (surprisingly, this was all done in the body of the church, not a church hall or something) and was actually rather impressed in spite of myself to see a rainbow flag on the altar. So probably not one of the congregations raising hue and cry over ordination of gay bishops or whatever the latest thing was. Comfort level went up several notches.
I'd ordered the "signature" box and the fruit & veggie box. Everything except the surprise dessert looks pretty good. (Honey buns are a bit sweet even for me.) The mango is the only fruit that seems dangerously ripe, and nothing seems outright unripe. The meats look pretty good, mostly white meat chicken, plus some little steaks, fish nuggets, and sausages. The beef macaroni thing is probably nutritionally horrendous, but that's the only thing that seems so.
We'll see how any of it tastes as we start using it. Which will probably be tomorrow. I think I'll be making egg salad for Philokhoria, because I did still have some eggs from the last time I baked, and now I've got a ton. The shelf-stable-but-not-instant milk is very welcome, because we rarely use cow's milk, so when I need it for something, it tends to be at a very inopportune time to run to the store.
The other concern is whether I'll use up the produce quickly enough. I have a horrible, horrible tendency to completely forget we have fruit and veggies that need to be used until they're past the point of no return. This is largely due to the not cooking, like ever anymore thing. The time/food-management goal for me in this is to get a set of boxes like this and map out what the actual cooked meals for the month are going to be, and then just go with it. And if I can build that rhythm this summer, maybe I can keep it up through the fall. There could even be bag lunches instead of cafeteria food, if I can get organized enough! Okay, got a little crazy there for a minute.
One of the volunteers wheeled my boxes out to my car for me. I took a moment to thank him and to pass on that I had been a little apprehensive, but that the rainbow flag had communicated to me that this was a more open-minded place than I had feared, which he said he would pass along. It's a little thing, but I wanted to make sure they knew that, "Yes, the message you're sending with this matters in a very positive way, and probably to more people than have said anything." Of course, since I'm a polytheistic Pagan, it's not going to get me to come to services or anything, but that's not the point.
The leaflet wasn't bad either. Had the experience of the people and the space been different, I suppose it might've bothered me a bit. But hey, I'm using your service, so if you want to tell me how great your church is and suggest I read the Bible/say such-and-such prayer/whatever, I can deal with that. No Chick-tract-y type fire 'n' brimstone stuff, which would've probably made this my last time there. And there were other flyers included as well, with useful information about deleading services provided by the town, how to make arrangements with the electric company if you have someone who medically needs a/c but you can't afford to run it, and that sort of thing. Hate the large quantity of paper that involves, but the single-sided stuff can come to the tutoring center with me for scrap use, and it's a good way to get that info to people who have a higher-than-average potential for needing it. So I can live with ignoring and reusing/recycling the handouts that are part of the deal.
Overall, then, I'd give it pretty good marks so far. We'll see how it goes as I get around to actually using the food.
Now, time to get some sleep. Have a lovely Saturday, all!
But! One of the tutors I work with said her husband had a "little laptop" that they had been going to sell to someone who then didn't buy it, and I could probably borrow it. So I am typing this on a lovely ThinkPad! The compressed keyboard takes some getting used to, but other than that, I really like the compactness of it a lot. W00t!
No writing happened Wednesday or Thursday, as a result, which is kind of ridiculous. I had access to other computers and Google Docs. I'm just that attached to using a laptop to write? No, I've done my daily scribblings in a composition book when we've driven up to Boston. Also, I have no idea how much I exactly wrote Mon or Tues, but I did at least write 500 words, then 600+ yesterday, so I may keep the
5_for_five streak going.In other news, I gave that Angel Food Ministries thing a try, like I said I was going to. I got very mixed reviews between here, FB, and RL. The RL ones were the most positive, so I wonder if it's a regional distribution thing or something. So far I haven't used any of the food, but the picking up and then going through the box left me pretty happy with it so far.
I definitely felt a bit weird when I arrived. I'd never set foot in this particular church before, and I'd heard that it was actually a pretty conservative congregation despite being Episcopal. Never mind that I wasn't going there for church, it still felt weird.
People were very friendly though, and as I checked in and waited for my turn to pick up my order, I sort of looked around (surprisingly, this was all done in the body of the church, not a church hall or something) and was actually rather impressed in spite of myself to see a rainbow flag on the altar. So probably not one of the congregations raising hue and cry over ordination of gay bishops or whatever the latest thing was. Comfort level went up several notches.
I'd ordered the "signature" box and the fruit & veggie box. Everything except the surprise dessert looks pretty good. (Honey buns are a bit sweet even for me.) The mango is the only fruit that seems dangerously ripe, and nothing seems outright unripe. The meats look pretty good, mostly white meat chicken, plus some little steaks, fish nuggets, and sausages. The beef macaroni thing is probably nutritionally horrendous, but that's the only thing that seems so.
We'll see how any of it tastes as we start using it. Which will probably be tomorrow. I think I'll be making egg salad for Philokhoria, because I did still have some eggs from the last time I baked, and now I've got a ton. The shelf-stable-but-not-instant milk is very welcome, because we rarely use cow's milk, so when I need it for something, it tends to be at a very inopportune time to run to the store.
The other concern is whether I'll use up the produce quickly enough. I have a horrible, horrible tendency to completely forget we have fruit and veggies that need to be used until they're past the point of no return. This is largely due to the not cooking, like ever anymore thing. The time/food-management goal for me in this is to get a set of boxes like this and map out what the actual cooked meals for the month are going to be, and then just go with it. And if I can build that rhythm this summer, maybe I can keep it up through the fall. There could even be bag lunches instead of cafeteria food, if I can get organized enough! Okay, got a little crazy there for a minute.
One of the volunteers wheeled my boxes out to my car for me. I took a moment to thank him and to pass on that I had been a little apprehensive, but that the rainbow flag had communicated to me that this was a more open-minded place than I had feared, which he said he would pass along. It's a little thing, but I wanted to make sure they knew that, "Yes, the message you're sending with this matters in a very positive way, and probably to more people than have said anything." Of course, since I'm a polytheistic Pagan, it's not going to get me to come to services or anything, but that's not the point.
The leaflet wasn't bad either. Had the experience of the people and the space been different, I suppose it might've bothered me a bit. But hey, I'm using your service, so if you want to tell me how great your church is and suggest I read the Bible/say such-and-such prayer/whatever, I can deal with that. No Chick-tract-y type fire 'n' brimstone stuff, which would've probably made this my last time there. And there were other flyers included as well, with useful information about deleading services provided by the town, how to make arrangements with the electric company if you have someone who medically needs a/c but you can't afford to run it, and that sort of thing. Hate the large quantity of paper that involves, but the single-sided stuff can come to the tutoring center with me for scrap use, and it's a good way to get that info to people who have a higher-than-average potential for needing it. So I can live with ignoring and reusing/recycling the handouts that are part of the deal.
Overall, then, I'd give it pretty good marks so far. We'll see how it goes as I get around to actually using the food.
Now, time to get some sleep. Have a lovely Saturday, all!
