Muddling about...

I received and returned an urgent translation this morning, all in good order.

Yesterday, by happenstance, I ran across a French web site that addresses the "planchage" of certain early French stamps. From the description, the word means the same as the English term "plating," which describes the study of the position of stamps exhibiting specific image features (perhaps an overly large beard on Napoleon III, or a half-moon shaped irregularity at a certain place in the background) on the plate used to print them.

Out of curiosity, I determined just what kind of MacBook Air Natalie had given to me (a model A1370, from late 2010) and took to searching eBay for a power supply ($13.50 vs. $79 from the Apple Store) and a replacement LCD screen ($58 or so vs. "about $300 to $400" from the folks at "FЯIENDLY COMPUTERS" [sic]). Now, repairing looks preferable to buying a refurbished model—assuming that was ever really in the cards, considering that all I really want to do is take a Mac for an extended "test drive" to see what (if anything) I've been missing out on all these years.

Cheers...

Flying solo...

Alla woke up this morning with some kind of throat issue, which led her to believe she was contagious and to her making sure she stayed as far away from me as possible to keep me from getting sick. My falling ill would be a Bad Thing™ given that chemotherapy has a reputation for hammering the recipient's immune system. (Indeed, I've been instructed to hie myself with all due haste to a hospital for intravenous antibiotic treatment should my temperature rise to 101°F.)

So when Galina went off to her ladies-night-out earlier this evening (to convey something to one of the ladies, I don't know what), I found myself "flying solo" in an attempt to replicate the Olivier salad from the other day. I've had a few spoonfuls of the result, and although I am satisfied, I look forward to the expert opinions of the ladies for any guidance that might be necessary.

Cheers...