In The Cucina With Seamas

Nothing like changing an ingredient when making hummus that works out great. Instead of cutting up the lemons and putting them with the other ingredients, I peeled the skin off and put them in the food processor. After a few seconds, it was a lot easier to pick the seeds out with a spoon.

Then I added in the chickpeas, spices, and canola oil for another spin of the blades and got a much creamier mix.

Last night was the Westchester Geeks Halloween Party, I brought the hummus dip and my world famous guacamole (using the new process of the lemon). People liked it so much, it's been demanded at all future WG events.

Hey Meetup, Here's A Notification!

At this time I would like to make several suggestions to Meetup that might make it more user friendly.

Please make it a setting that users can change for notices. As an event organizer, when I’m checking the site or mobile app and see several notices that have nothing to do with an event I’m not going to, or haven’t organized is a waste of time.

I think a lot of people are going to agree with this one, ONLY the creator of an event, or the group’s organizer should have the ability to make changes to an event. I have had comments of mine that relay information deleted by other event organizers. Also I have the ability to delete other people's events. If a person had malicious intent they could delete the event of another organizer and there is no way to see who did it.

The organizer for Westchester Geeks hosted a Halloween party last year and set the attendance limit since they were inviting friends outside of the group. A few days before the event, someone went in and changed the limit, this made them mad. They had their suspicions, but no way to confirm it.

Another request is to set the default of which groups displayed on the home page. If I’d like suggestions based on my interest, then I’ll look for meetup groups. Sometimes people like to check only what their current groups are doing.

Meetup is trying to be like Facebook and they’re forgetting that they’re not.

If you have any suggestions, please post them in the comments, and I’ll send meetup support an email.

Fun Filled Friday, Slacker Saturday

I didn't regret waking up at 5 A.M. this past Friday, it gave me time to do a load of laundry. One of the benefits of my apartment building is 24/7 laundry. While my clothes dried I made a black bean and sundried tomato omelette to give me energy for my hike later.

I guess it gave me more energy than I needed because as I was folding my laundry, I wanted to check the time and temperature. It was an undeniable urge which made me anxious. I told myself to finish this task and then I could check.

Since it was 10 A.M. and 2 hours before my hike, I decided to get my food shopping done. I timed it well and got home at 11:15, put away the groceries, washed dishes, and then made lunch. 11:40, and out the door for a relaxing hike with Westchester Geeks.

Saturday was a change of pace which started with me sleeping till 8 A.M. followed by another omelette (I made 2 cups of black beans earlier in the week and didn't want them going to waste). I relaxed with my coffee while binge-watching 'Chuck' (which made me think of another blog to do).

After lunch, it was time for 'Aliens' one of the great sequels in my opinion. I remember when I saw it at the theater, back in 1986, how people cheered when Ripley came out with the power loader and told the Alien Queen to get away from Newt. My favorite line actually is 'Somebody wake up Hicks'.

All in all a good 3 day weekend.

Hiking In The Rain

Yesterday, me and several Westchester Geeks went for a hike at Westmoreland Sanctuary. Originally, the plan was to hike at Arthur Butler Sanctuary but Sean, the event host, explained that the parking lot was filled with police and fireman.

As I drove up it was drizzling, but with the unreliable weather prediction all week, the event was a go.

It was four of us in total which was nice since we all knew what we were capable of hiking the trails. The tree cover kept us dry from the rain, but the humidity made us sweaty and lunch for the mosquitoes.

The nicest part of the hike was watching the rain fall on the Lost Pond.