Ignore the email, Hil.

I sold my copy of How To Cook Everything to the Strand. Bittman's writing style just gets up my nose. (Yes, I mainly read cookbooks for pleasure. The recipes are bonus material.)

My favorite all-purpose cookbook is probably either The Best Recipe or Gourmet. (And while New Joy of Cooking made some blasphemous changes to the original, I have to grudgingly admit that it is a much more useful cookbook in its current incarnation.)

askye, that sounds overwhelming. I hope you get into a routine and it's no big deal.

My arm is really cold because of the treatment. I need an armwarmer.

Not sure if you were asking for suggestions or not, but one can be improvised from an old sock or pair of tights.

Feliway plug-in has been deployed. So far no spraying. It's likely we will still trade him out to a refuge. I'm leaving it up to my roommate how to proceed. The cat we would get in trade has IBS, but is older and mellow and much less needy in terms of play and such. It is currently in a foster situation where it can't stay. So we'll see what happens.

I am a big fan of How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. I had a basic cookbook from Rodale's that I never used much, but the Bittman we use all the time.

smonster, fingers crossed for no more spraying!

Feeling kind of homesick tonight. Blah. It's coming, at least in part, from looking at friends' photo albums on Facebook. It's lovely to see everyone having a good time, but at the same time, it's hard to look at the pictures and not think "I should be there!"

O_a, I'd take in a nice looking folder and stick some resumes and a pen in there. Because the should have everythingbut I agree about wanting to have something in hand.

Omnis, do you have a portfolio? Or a "soundfolio" of things you have done?

Kate, understandable! And I am kinda surprised that you haven't had the pangs, hard, already. It's so hard to leave places behind even when the next place is spectacular.

Askye, I keep meaning to comment on how in awe I am of how you're handling everything. I hope the next few weeks are as smooth as can be and that it really fixes all that's wrong.

I asked for, and received, Joy of Cooking for Christmas but have yet to open it.

In order to get the kitchen somewhat unpacked, I unboxed all of my cookbooks, but haven't organized them yet. (Y'all can feel me twitching, right?) My go to basic cookbook is Fannie Farmer, has been for years. I'm like Jessica, though, in that I read a lot of my cookbooks for the anecdotes and to get a feel for an area.

I can't get my arm wet but I have a hand held shower so that may be okay.

The umbrella bags they give away at the supermarket are great for keeping your arm wet dry.

Omnis, it's always good to have copies of your resume, particularly with a "panel," since inevitably at least one person will have forgotten to bring a copy.

I don't know if it's possible to have one basic cookbook. I lean on Joy of Cooking, two different editions of Betty Crocker's Cookbook and the Doubleday Cookbook. I have about 12 linear feet of cookbooks, though.

thanks for the tips. I'll print out some resumes and pack them with me. I made an impulse buy for the trip. I got a cheap-o laptop so I don't have to haul the work macbook with me. I'm paranoid that it will get lost/stolen, and since it's not mine, then I'd have to replace it. So I got a $300 Compaq. Aside from Windows t Mac snob (that tag never closes), it doesn't seem like a bad laptop. DVD burner, Win7, 7200 RPM drive. And I just imported my bookmarks from my iMac. Now to load up some music into iTunes... well, first I need to download iTunes.