Done With Orientation

[debka_notion]

Well, I'm now done with orientation, and in minor limbo before beginning classes. The end of orientation was pretty reasonable, there were some actual interesting parts, and a good helping of requisite nonsense. (We're graduate students, one would think that we'd know a. what harassment is, and b. what an archive is.)

gimmelgirl was incredibly wonderful and did in fact loan me a computer- but for the moment I can't seem to persuade it to access the internet, so I'm still computer-labbing it for now. Marvin has been deemed (after a brief spurt of overdone optimism by the repair people) not to be worth repairing. So a new computer will be acquired soon (it'll need a name. Not sure what to go with). Dad's doing a little more research, and then hopefully either hte parents will buy it, or we'll order it online ASAP. So- hopefully I'll be set up on my own in a week or so, give or take.

Today's goals are to clean up and finish setting up the stuff I have in my room currently, to produce a dessert for Shabbos lunch, and maybe even to finish my orientation evaluation. Goal #2 will involve procuring baking powder, either butter or muffin cups (or getting creative with oil), and perhaps vanilla extract, or a conversion for what I need to add to baking soda to make it work in my recipe. Either all that, or plain oatmeal. It's weird not having a set-up kitchen with all the requisite supplies. Very weird.

Comments

[naomichana.livejournal.com]

Well, cream of tartar plus baking soda equals baking powder, but that only works if you happen to have cream of tartar on hand -- I think it might be simpler to acquire baking powder.

As for greasing muffin tins, I find that a standard can of sprayable canola oil (or similar) works just dandy, and makes it easier to extricate low-fat muffins than muffin liners do.

Or you could always make a really easy cake recipe -- I take it you're going for pareve? There are a lot of variations on a very easy chocolate cake made with baking soda, cocoa, and a little vinegar out there. But I can see not wanting to experiment with something you're serving to others.

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Hmm- I played around with my usual recipe, usign baking powder and a touch of vinegar, and the muffins rose just fine- but the taste was off: they tingled a little, and they weren't sweet enough. And yet shirei_shibolim was somehow good enough at hiding this that he had a second muffin. I am quite bewildered.

[jessebeller.livejournal.com]

i say you wait till you get your new computer before you decide on a name.

sally came out of the box and i knew thats what i needed to name her.

just yesterday i quintupled her ram, and boy is she humming along.
on that note, i know a lot of university mac dealerships have been selling off their stock of powerbook g4s at extreme discounts ($700?) and the mac mini comes in around there, too. students can also enjoy considerable deals when purchasing a mac. buying a computer like that and spending another couple bucks to soup it up (ram upgrade, external hard drive, 3-year extended warranty) can keep you set for years.

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Of course, thanks to the lack of computer, I am only reading this once my assorted relatives have picked out, ordered and paid for a Toshiba- which may well suit my needs dandily for quite a while. I am Very Much behind the extended warranty. That said, I had the previous computer for 4 1/2 years without running out of storage space on the hard drive, so not sure the need for an external hard drive- unless there's some other use for those?

[jessebeller.livejournal.com]

no, externals are pretty much used for storing things. this can come in handy if you have lots of media files (images, mp3s, movies, etc), but if all you ever have is text docs, youll probably be set.

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

I have a good chunk of music, but apparently not enough to tax my computer- or if it was, I never knew that it was. Presumably it tells you when it runs out of room?

[theshrewd.livejournal.com]

I never realized your last computer was named Marvin. That was my grandfather's name.

Mine is Lappy. I love him, even though he's a piece of shit. ::pets::

What happened to Marvin?

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Marvin-the-computer's screen failed in some way, and as the CD drive had been wonky for quite a while, and it was oddly slow of late, it was deemed that it owuldn't be worth it to fix the poor thing. So now my unnamed Baby Computer is currently in transit to me.

Lappy is a very cute name for a laptop, it just Sounds cute and pet-able.

[jessebeller.livejournal.com]

the proper adjectival form of wonk is wonkish, and it denotes a fascination with and expertise in policy details, rather than unpreliability or quirkiness.

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Eep- and here I thought I was grabbing a silly syllable that wasn't, as far as I knew, actually a word. What has happened to my vocabulary?