Shit! I Just Spilled Wine on My Computer!

by Brandon Wainscott

So it finally happened. I spilled wine on my laptop. Well, so far, so good. A bit sticky, but given it was that sticky, cough medicine like port, I suppose that is to be expected, even with the cleaning. I'll give it another good wipe after this. But assuming your computer has not already fried out, in which case you are screwed, some ways to save your computer.

1. Shut it down. 
2. With a towel quickly get all the liquid off. This needs to be done as quickly as possible of course.
3.  Once you have gotten all the actual wine of get a dry paper dowel and wipe down the keyboard and in between the keys. Get any wine or wine residue that you see. 
4. Turn the computer upside down for a moment. 
5. This step is made with a disclaimer. You do this at your own risk. With a baby wipe or wet wipe, wipe down the computer, including the keyboard. On the keyboard be extra gentle of course, as well as on the mouse. You may have to do this a few times. Try wiping in circular motions. Then dry with a paper towel.
6. Then turn your computer back on and hope there are no problems. 

Of course if something does go wrong, and you have warranty that covers such accidents, you're good, except for the trouble of the lost files and having to wait for a replacement. But hopefully this helped.  That's why it is good to always back up your files. If you're nervous like me about someone reading them, or seeing certain photos (wink, wink), you can encrypt files, even folders, and they will remain encrypted when they are backed up. Word files, Excel files, etc. allow you to encrypt in the software, and there are programs you can buy to add even better encrypt them. A simple, free method of encrypting whole folders can be found here, though it is easy to get through the encrypted file if you have some very basic knowledge of these things. I actually mention the encryption, not so you can hide bad things (though you can!), but your important files, such as for business, that great novel you plan on publishing, etc. Backing them up, or putting them on a jump drive, exposes them to being opened by whoever might find or use the jump drive. Just think identity theft is some of them are business files. Decent encryption is a good idea, as is backing up files in general. Then if you spill wine on your computer, you are good if the above methods fail. Cheers!

Finally Tried Escargot

by Brandon Wainscott

Actually had escargot once in Wisconsin when I was up there considering the Catholic clergy. That went pretty well. I became fond of a couple girls in the parish, one being the girl all the guys fell in love with, including the guys considering the priesthood. Not so much that they necessarily gave up their clerical aspirations, though I think it did for those not called to the life of celibacy. Now that I am considering Eastern Orthodoxy, which has married clergy, that's not a problem. Except I do not want to be a priest. Maybe a deacon or something of the lower clergy, but I don't feel I have the capabilities to be a priest--it's a lot of devotion, and a great duty. In any case one of the priests up in Wisconsin and I were taken to a nice restaurant by the rich patron of the parish who pretty much helped with the beautiful restoration, shown here for all my self-proclaimed sophisticated readers who love the church art I am sure:

In any case we had escargot a la bourguignonne, which I remember to have liked. Actually, from what I remember there did not seem to be much of a taste, other than the butter, which perhaps masked the underlying flavour of the actual snails. Which is what my problem was with my recipe last night. I had no shells, so escargot a la bourguignonne was out of the question. So I cooked them with some sausage in a spicy red sauce, my own concoction. And I am afraid I did not like the escargot.

They were small snails, from Burgundy, as opposed to the large ones. They had a rather fishy taste, which is something I always found hard as a Catholic on Fridays. Technically I am still a Catholic, but I am strongly considering Orthodoxy, so it's a bit of confusing time. Of course I usually just ate vegetables. I hate the fishy taste. It makes me gag, a reflex. I think part of it is genetic, and part of it that I never grew up eating fish. I was pick. My diet was mostly McDonald's chicken nuggets with the skin pilled off, and biscuits and gravy. In any case the taste of the snails was musky and fishy. So I ask my more cultured readers: Are large escargots less musky or fishy? And does the escargot a la bourguignonne recipe allow that to be drowned out by the butter? The escargot a la bourguignonne seems really good with a glass of wine. But without the butter, at least the small ones, seem way too fishy for my uncultured tongue. Almost like anchovies. Perhaps someone can enlighten me. It would really be nice to enjoy this wine lover's delight.

In any case, I have not had much to write about of late. I might start doing to recipes to make up for the lack of material. I am making goose for Christmas. Not sure exactly how I am going to do it though--Port and plums are involved. I guess the recipe will come after Christmas--so much for the Christmas goose.
: