{november  – monday – morning}

√  I’m still trying to get used to my iPad.  I got one about 2 months ago, but have yet to really use it for much of anything.  It seems to be a device on which one consumes, not creates, media.  I didn’t realize that when I got it.  I thought it was like a small laptop computer so I planned on using it to write blog posts and do photo editing.  But so far I haven’t seen any way that I could use it for my intended purposes.

And as I don’t have a smart phone, I’m finding all this app crap to be rather tedious to learn about.  How in the world do I know if an app is something that will be useful to me if I don’t know what the thing does/replaces/adds to my life?  And more importantly, if I put an app on the iPad can I get it off/deleted/made to go away forever– not just hidden somewhere out of my sight, like a portrait of Dorian Gray?

√  I started re-decorating our home office about a month ago.  First, Zen-Den and I re-configured the desks and the file cabinets.  We left the 6′ x 4′ bookcase in the same place, but I decided to take out all the books so that I could re-do the shelves in a way that is more user me friendly.  I re-commissioned an older table lamp that was catching dust in the basement because I thought that it’d provide better ambient light in the room.

When I began this project I was all optimistic that I could do it with what we have sitting around, but so far I haven’t been able to get a groovy vibe happening in that room.  Pretty much all that I’ve managed to do is create a big mess that spills out of the office, across the foyer and into the LR.  So much for flying by the seat of my pants.

√  We’re hosting a Holiday Party in a few weeks.  I decided that we’d do what I’d call bar food.  That is, a menu that is more filling than just munchies, but less bother than a buffet supper.  We’ll have trays of small sandwiches & bowls of chips.  Then hot dips & crunchy snacks.  Plus a table of cookies & candy.  We bought all of our beer & wine over the weekend, so that’s out-of-the-way.

Any suggestions for a great dip of some sort?  I’m making Skyline Dip & Jalapeño Popper Dip already, but would like to add something more to the menu.  Also, if I make some hot mulled cider what kind of alcohol would you want available to put in it?  Rum? Red wine? Bourbon? Something else?  [I’m not a fan of mulled cider so what to add to it is kind of a mystery to me.]

… enough babbling for now.  later.