shellylh

The blackest of black!

OK, I'll send some pics by PM. Also, does anyone know what these are going for nowadays? I have the NEX5 + 18-55.

Nate, If you are interested in a Nex 5, I am plannng to sell mine. FWIW, I bought a 5N at some point and sent it back and went for 5 instead (mostly becuase of some weird noise that the 5N made with video... I assume they fixed this). I bought mine from Jeff a little over a year ago I think.

Welcome Noah!

I am going to wait until her mom says that it is ok before buying unless I see a really good deal from some place like amazon with a good/easy return policy. My budget can be stretched to over $300 too. Thanks Santa.

Ugh, hubby wants me to go to sleep now... seems like a good deal (even though it does have Windows .. I don't have the ok from the niece's mother yet so I should probably wait anyway.

I wanted to just give her my Mac mini from a few years ago. It is still plenty fast. The problem is that she spends M-F at her grandmother's house (her mom moved and wanted her to attend the same school she went to when they lived with the grandmother) and the weekend at her mom's house. So she needs/wants something that she can take back and forth.

I have 5 concerns with the chromebooks: 1) How long the OS is going to be around since they don't seem so popular. Will android tablets take over the market? 2) How easy is is going to be for non computer savy people to do things like print, etc. her mom and grandmother don't know much about computers. 3) How useful is the computer when not in range of wifi. I guess it is just a browser so you can't install programs to be run offline, right? I guess you can use google docs. 4). She has an old camera of mine. I assume she would want to use the computer to view the pictures. The small harddrive worries me (yes, I know about cloud storage...) 5). Netflix doesn't seem to be supported! I think I can install Chrome OS via Parallels. I will try that out.

Happy Birthday Jeff!!!

Please slice and fax Al!

I'll keep a watch on the refurbs at the apple store. I may want to go with a windows machine because that is what her mom knows. I'll stick with Windows 7. Any brands that are better than others? Should I try to stick with Intel processors or is any processor nowadays going to be fast enough (except an Atom processor)?

I am thinking of possibly getting my niece a budget laptop (that depends on whether I can find something cheap and decent enough to justify it). She basically goes to sites like barbie.com (flash based), plays the Sims, and types some homework for her classes. She is 10 years old but fairly mature for her age. My budget is optimally around $300. Is there any decent around that price? With Windows 8? I know there are a bunch of Android tablets and portable laptops and maybe this would be ok but she wouldn't be able to do barbie.com. Since I am basically an Apple person, I don't know where to begin. Also, I know there some differences between different Windows 8 (like there is some version, RT I think, that only allows one to use an app store). Any versions to avoid?

^this!

Pumpkin pie and apple tart were great! (although I burnt the crust a little bit on the edge of the tart... I'll have to work on that)

Al, that looks awesome. I think I will try something like that next on the smoker!!! Unfortunately, I got the ribs from a good grocery/specialty store (and not a butcher shop). I ended just getting my money back. I didn't want to risk making everyone sick on Thanksgiving (although it might have been ok). We had too much food without the ribs (including a small rotisserie turkey I made) but it would have been nice to have some ribs.

THIS! I haven't been well enough to have a really good workout in over a year. My hip has mostly healed, then it was my shoulder. Now, my shoulder is almost better and I have had this aweful cold. I am thankful that I will eventually be better though. (crosses fingers)

Sigh... the ribs we bought have a bit of a not so great smell to them. It was from the butcher but I know that this place takes them out of the cryo-vac and puts them in the butcher case. I would have taken them back and got my money back but hubby wants to cook them. I am terrified of food poisioning. Now, we have 4 rack of ribs on the smoker that I am afraid to eat. Any thoughts rib masters?

Wrong thread.

You better wait to find out how they turn out before you say that.

Not cooking but baking. Apple tart Pecan Pie

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

You haven't decided yet??

I've decided to smoke ribs for Thanksgiving instead of turkey. Ribs are better (and I decided that I should probably not experiment on Thanksgiving). I may stick a turkey breast in the rotisserie oven.

I would but I am still sick. Maybe I can travel back in time in a couple of days and have some scotch.

Meyer lemon butter cookies - yum.