LJ: Catching up! (RL)

Old computer is still chugging away, running perfect. I've been camping my door all morning waiting for the UPS man to bring the new one. Wish he'd hurry up!

Happy birthday, fealubryne! To echo firebyrd, you sure are getting old! ;) All the <3s to you! I hope you have a great birthday!

Book 4 of 2012: Am I really only up to four? I guess it just feels like a lot more. Book 4 wasn't really a book, though I wish it had been. Five stories by GRRM. I had been looking forward to reading these, but my hopes had been too high. ( Details on the five stories here, might be minor spoilers. )

I really wish it had been a book, so it would have cost me less. I spent $2-$4 per story, and most of them weren't worth it. I slogged through the reading, it was so slow to get through them all.

Book #5 is Marque and Reprisal by Elizabeth Moon. The first book of this series was book #1 for this year. Usually I like reading a book series one right after another, but for some reason I felt like I needed a palate cleanser before starting the next one.

Cooking: lokyst suggest I try Garam Masala on my chicken, so I bought Shan Zafrani Garam Masala Mix to try. The box that arrived had different packaging (it said "Hot/Spicy Powder!" on it, which worried me a lot). But I tried it (using just a little bit, worrying it would be hot/spicy) and I liked it a lot. I'm not sure I gave it a fair tasting though, because all I tasted was cinnamon. Maybe it settled? Next time I use it, I'm going to empty the foil pack into a ziplock bag so I can mix it up and make sure I'm getting the full mix of spices.

Who would have thought that cinnamon on chicken would be good? Speaking of, I still need to order the book nicenewra recommended, The Flavor Bible. I hate buying a physical book, but I think I will in this case. Cooking + iPad = messy screen. Ordering it now...

Edit: What the heck? Hardcover version of the Flavor Bible is $20.49. Paperback is $51.20. o.O

If I were unscrupulous, I'd have two laptops (RL)

So of course UPS tried to deliver my laptop while I was at the dentist. Or rather, they did deliver it, no matter if I was home or not. They didn't need a signature, they just left it on my doorstep. c.c What would have stopped anyone from walking off with it? What would stop me from saying it never arrived?

Anyway, laptop is good. Surprisingly it's housed in plastic, which was unexpected. I guess they did it for weight, but I'd rather have the better protection of metal. (Feels kind of cheap, too.)

Same issue I run into when buying things online, it's a lot bigger than I expected:

Lighting sucks, but I marked where my normal keyboard begins and ends with a red line. The laptop is as wide as a normal keyboard! The footprint of it is actually bigger than my desktop machine (behind it), but that's okay since it'll be flat instead of blocking the light.

The sound is amazing, it's better than my TV even. Picture is really nice. The monitor is nearly as big as my desktop one (wider but shorter). Not a bad thing, just surprising. (I know the Amazon page gives the measurements, but unless I pull out a ruler and map it out, I can't really picture it.)

So many things to reinstall! But at least I have both machines, so I can check one against the other and copy things over. So much less traumatic!