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i had this long list of things to do for today and i only managed to get a few done. i tried setting up the test machine but got sidetracked when my father came over for a visit. he took the tv card i ordered for him. while making lunch (leftover spaghetti) and researching a recipe for tonight, renee rang my doorbell asking for computer help again. i copied her personal files onto a flash drive and installed a fresh copy of windows XP. renee told me how the last time her computer died, she took it to a repair shop who charged her $150 to re-install her system. good thing you have a neighbor who will do it for free but i won't be answering the door the next time you ring my doorbell. while the computer was installing, i went to market basket to pick up a few ingredients. coming back, i finished the installation, adding the ethernet and audio drivers before her machine was as good as new.

i was making some thai-style burgers for dinner. instead of beef it asked for ground pork, which i couldn't find at the supermarket so i used ground sweet italian sausage meat instead. what makes it thai is the combination of scallions, cilantro, fish sauce, lemon grass, chili pepper, mushrooms, and garlic that gets mixed with the pork. on paper it seemed delicious but it tasted too sausagey and i went heavy on the salt (kind of rare, since i normally don't add any salt to my cooking). julie, despite confessing to being dizzyingly hungry after not eating the whole day, wanted nothing to do with the burger and barely ate half, putting the rest on my plate (so much for culinary civility). good thing i made some sweet potato fries as well, and i had butter pecan ice cream for dessert. we watched dick on dvd (the richard nixon comedy) before julie went home.