My personal summary of this evening's Geek Meet at the Town Ballroom.

What a wonderful collection of talent at this event. Programmers, designers, and entrepreneurs coming together to geek out for a few hours - I've had dreams like this.
I wasn't taking notes, so this is all from memory, and I'll be restricting myself to general impressions that are constructive and instructive.
1) Shawn Rider and GamesFirst! : I'm not really into online games at all, but I appreciated how Shawn has taken a massively popular technology genre and capitalized on it. Drawing from local new media talent is something to be applauded (::applause::).
2) Artvoice/Dave K : this publication is moving in the way that all media will have to go. They recognize that cell phone/mobile delivery is truly the wave of the future, and I am looking forward to how they'll scale their multimedia content and mobile versions.
3) (e:paul) and (e:strip) : We are privileged to have such a talented and creative programmer in our midst. The AJAX, javascript and general usability solutions that Paul is implementing are beyond cutting edge. I can't say enough good things about the content of this presentation.
4) Buffaloresearch.com : I could have gone for less "reading from the screen" and more "this is a site with invaluable resources for historical, social and geneological research." I like to explore web sites on my own, and to watch someone read a web site outloud makes my mind go numb in a painful way. That's just my thing; I was happy to hear that the Central Library branch has wifi access, and I'll be delving into the buffaloresearch.com content throughout the week.
5) schneiderdigital.com : Just as (e:paul) produces innovative social software, Schneider Digital's communications, marketing and programming projects are outstanding. When Zach said "ruby on rails" and "mambo" I think I actually swooned. When I look into my crystal ball to see the future of the web, Schneider Digital has the skills and attitude for being a leader in whatever the web turns into. I'm not talking about Web 2.0 - SD is already there. I'm thinking for whatever comes after what's coming now.
6) 3 created : I'm not linking to them. This was a commercial pitch masquerading as a commercial pitch. I learned nothing new, and the blatant sales talk made me fidgety.
7) Me. Ronald McDonald House of Buffalo . I think I could have been more complete and descriptive in what I was trying to say. Not having notes is a blessing and a curse, since I left out a whole bunch of stuff, but was able to speak more naturally and spontaneously. My main point: use your geek skills for good and help out local non-profit groups that need it. There are dozens of cheap/free software programs out there that can dramatically change the way that non-profits communicate - they just need a little geekery to make it work. Email me if you want to know where to start, whether you're a potential volunteer or someone from a nonprofit. I've got two nonprofits on my plate right now, but may have the potential to take on more.
8) Buffalo Politics with (e:dcoffee) : I skedaddled at this point, since my puppy was alone in the dark, but I wish I could have heard the entire presentation. Bottom line: the political climate in Buffalo inspires and enrages. Whichever side you fall on, and whatever your politics, site like wnymedia.net Buffalo Rising , and other media exist as emerging outlets for discussion, growth and change.

The Ronald McDonald House of Buffalo was established over twenty years ago as a home away from home for the families of children who receive medical treatment in Western New York. When a child from out of the area requires surgery or specialized care in a Buffalo hospital, their families can look to the House to provide a warm, comforting environment for families to stay.
So - what does the RMH have to do with a geek meet?
A lot, actually.
Last month, I worked with the RMH Staff (wonderful people, but definitely not geeks) to convert their Web site to use Wordpress . This software works as a content management system, allowing their staff (and me) to easily update their site with news, images and information that shows the people on the internets the wonderful work this place does.
Plans for the next few months include:
- train the staff to post regular updates and images
- generate profiles about the staff, volunteers and families of the house
- increase the House's visibility in the Buffalo region as a leader in using technology for communications
- demonstrate how nonprofits can use blogs to communicate to their respective audiences
- encourage fellow geeks to apply their programming skills to those who need it.

I have a few other tricks up my sleeve too, but I won't give them away here.

This is a simple treat requiring four ingredients:
vanilla ice cream
chocolate syrup
triple sec liquer
sprinkles.

Take a microwavable bowl and add as much chocolate sauce as you can stand to the bottom. I didn't measure mine, but I squeezed on the bottle for a good 8-10 seconds.
Add a splash of triple sec - less if you're driving, more if you're not.
Microwave for 30-40 seconds.
Add your ice cream to the bowl.
Top with sprinkles.

Who else (besides (e:paul)) is going to the Geek Meet this Sunday? I'll be promoting the heck out of the new, improved Ronald McDonald House Web site ; I can't wait to meet other, technologically-motivated people from the area.

Ingredients
1/2 stick butter
3/4 c sugar, any kind
3-4 overripe bananas
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 c ap flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
several shakes of the cinnamon jar
a dash of nutmeg
Steps
Mash together the butter and sugar; mash in the bananas and yogurt.
Add the dry ingredients until combined.
Bake in a 9x5 baking pan (though I'm trying an 8x8 pan - we'll see how it turns out) at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test.

We don't have cable, and on the whole I don't miss it. Sometimes I just need a few minutes of mindless entertainment, so now I go to Google Video.
The Ask a Ninja series is phenomenally good

Yesterday could have gone better. My computer at work died a quick yet painful death in the middle of the afternoon. When you hear a grinding noise, followed by a "Disk Read Error, Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to Restart" on a black screen, you are SOL. Goodbye, my 2-pound Portege, you served me well for the past 8 months.
Fortunately, the guys in IT may be able to recover some of my files, and all the important web files are on the server, so the Web site is safe. My email is on Outlook, so i only lost older files that I wasn't ever going to look at again. They had extra laptops, so in truth I was without a working computer for a total of 90 minutes, and for half of that I was in a meeting, anyway.
My programs, utilities, settings and other files, unfortunately, have perished.
All my bookmarks are stored in del.icio.us, so I didn't lose those. That would have been a tragedy.
I was able to reconstruct most of the programs and utilities I use in about an hour, but itmay be weeks before I get back to where I was just 24 hours ago.
Here's my list of essential (and non-essential) tools for doing my job and otherwise getting through the day.
Dreamweaver (I ordered Studio 8, but it's MX for now)
Adobe Photoshop 7
Adobe Acrobat
Firefox and related extensions, mainly the developer's toolbar
WinSCP
Textpad
Winamp and Streamripper
Google Toolbar
Adaware
Spybot
SmartFTP
Freemonitor for Google
Trillian

This will be useful for the next time a computer around me dies.

The moral of this story: back up your data often.

This recipe is published in honor of my puppy, Abby, who is just as happy crunching on ice cubes as she is chewing on these gourmet treats.

Ingredients
3 cups AP flour
2 tbsp. baking powder
2 tbsp. carob powder
1/2 tsp. salt
several large dashes of cinnamon
1/2 cup veg. oil
2 large eggs
3/4 cup (several largish scoops) of unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup honey
Steps
Combine dry ingredients, add wet ingredients. Spoon into mini muffin tins (2/3 full) that have been lightly sprayed with butter spray. Sprinkle the tops with carob chips if you're feeling sprinkly. This should make 24 mini muffins. If the batter is stiff enough (mine was), you could spoon this onto a lightly greased cookie sheet into small treats. For treats that will be consumed by smaller dogs, this would be the way to go.
Bake in a preheated oven at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
Though perfectly safe for human consumption, leave these for the puppies.
Carob powder can be found at your local hippie store. I think Weggies has the chips.
Though these can be stored at room temperature for a few days, I refrigerate mine. Freeze any that will not be eaten soon; unfreeze before serving.

What I'm listening to
Coast to Coast AM - usually on Shoutcast during the day.
Korn's Twisted Transistor. I like Korn.
KT Tunstall's Black Horse and a Cherry Tree. We heard her on NPR last weekend, and I found her myspace page . This is a song that makes me want to buy her CD and that's a rare thing. She is a one woman band and truly makes that work.
Air America in Buffalo on WHLD 1270AM the local crew was decent this morning, I caught a bit of Mr. Franken and friends over lunch, but I can't stand Randi Rhodes. It's not that her ideas are bad; her voice is just too shrill for me.
What I'm reading
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Latin
Mother Earth News (magazine)
Home Education Magazine
What I'm creating the kitchen this week
More focaccia
Yogurt
Dog treats
Something with steak
Something with eggplant

I want to plan a honeymoon. Right now we only have the general idea that "it'd be cool to go to Ireland ... sometime ... and do ... things, and stuff." We have friends who have gone there, but they had family to stay with throughout the country.
Has anyone travelled there? Do you have suggestions on getting there and getting around? Anything we should know before we buy tickets to the Emerald Isle?