Five Things on Thursday

[lagilman]

1. My life, apparently, centers around being A Lap for Eldest Cat.

Y'know, I'm kind of okay with that.


2. Progress on both the New Words (1,500 yesterday) and the e-copyedit proceed proceedingly. I have been venting about e-copyedits over on Facebook, no need to revisit that crankiness. Still waiting for Y/N on various projects. Argh.


3. Dinner last night was my first attempt at whiting. I lightly oiled a frying pan, and browned two cloves of garlic in it, then added a large handful of fresh sugar snap beans, covering the pan and letting the beans cook until softened. Meanwhile, I made an egg-and-spice mixture and dipped the fillet in, letting the excess drip off, then laid the fish in over the garlic (the beans were pushed to the side of the pan). I let it cook, turning once, until the fish was done, and served up to much yum. Whiting is inexpensive, healthy, and pretty easy to cook, so long as you don't overdo it (the flesh is delicate, and could turn to mush easily.)

4. Reminder: The Closet-Clearing Book Sale is still going on, although we're running down on stock, yay!

5. Dear Mac users: Don't quote the virus stats at me -- it's not that your machines are better, it's that they haven't been as market-dominating, and so hackers and worm-coders didn't target you. That's all. Also? Practicing safe computing, no matter what your tech, its the only way to avoid viruses. [no, this isn't an invite for you to tell me how much better Macs are. I made an informed decision, having used both, and I'm quite happy with what I use, thanks] [Also: Mac is still overpriced for those of us who use no-frills tech to make a word-processing living. I'd rather spend the money on rent/health insurance.]


And now I must Away! (dumps Eldest Cat, who glares at me reproachfully)

Comments

[squirrel-monkey.livejournal.com]

One of my favorite white fish recipes: pan-sear on one side w/olive oil and turn over; meanwhile, simmer a cup of broth with a pinch of saffron. Add halfed artichoke hearts (canned are fine) to the fish skillet, and our the saffron broth over it.

[elektra.livejournal.com]

I emailed a book order and a question, but got no reply. Did you receive it?

[lagilman]

Ah, found it, sorry! Have responded.

[barbhendee.livejournal.com]

Oh, the Apple versus PC discussion is so interesting to me. I too am a "no frills" type of user. I just want to be able to write our books, do my email, read CNN, and pay my bills online. I worked on a Toshiba PC (notebook) for years, and I loved it. I was very comfortable with Windows software.

But JC and I have a household server, and the Noble Dead novels are stored there. We have a wireless connection to the server, and that way, he can call up chapter fifteen of Child of Dead God, work on it, save his changes, and close it. The minute he closes it, I can open it from my computer, and go to work reading his revisions. This is a nice, easy way to work when two people are writing the same novel.

But . . . we tried to upgrade to new PCs after Windows Vista was released, and we could no longer function as we had before. No matter how many security walls JC took down, every time one of us tried to access a file on the server, it thought it was being attacked and locked us out.

We ended up switching to Macs, and it was a little scary for me (and as you mentioned, they were expensive). But now I like my machine very much. It's a solid little computer, and I adjusted to the new software faster than I expected. Again . . . as long as I can do word processing and I have Internet access, I'm happy.

[difrancis.livejournal.com]

After Bad Fish Experience when a kid, I don't eat it. But you make me want to . . .

[g33kboi.livejournal.com]

On the topic of Mac viruses (or lack thereof), I offer this interesting and informative article (http://www.silvermac.com/2008/why-there-are-no-viruses-for-osx/) on the subject. Not trying to change your mind. Just adding to the pool of information for interested parties. :-)

Oh, and Happy Hanukkah!