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