Technological Review

Before going to the Mac Labs at Uni, I never understood the point of buying a Mac. It took me a few weeks to get used to the apple button on the keyboards, let alone the program icons that need to be clicked down for a few seconds and don't close completely. Before you write me off as an ignorant Windows user, I do commend Apple's hyphen shortcut (option-apple key-dash), since I prefer hyphens to semi-colons, colons, and commas in my essay writing. But even in the old days when I would watch second graders (yes, I was one of them) obsessively play Bugdom, I couldn't understand an apple shaped machine anywhere other than in grade schools. I honestly don't see the Mac as being that much more different than a PC to warrent a higher price tag.

I have nothing against Apple, especially since Apple needs to exist in order to prevent the government from filing an anti-trust suit against Microsoft. The iPod Touch was a winner though and surprisingly the best e-reader in my opinion.

On a side note, I was pretty excited to get a Kindle for Christmas, but you know how people pine for something - especially something shiny and blinking - really, really badly and then end up with failed expectations? Well, this was one of them. When I turned it on, the buttons felt more primitive than mashing buttons on a remote or withdrawing cash from an ATM machine. Its screen was monochromic; I can't forgive monochrome screens in the year 2011.

Amazon can't fool me. Although I'm all for environmental sustainability, its screen doesn't need to have the texture of the recyclable cardboard box it came in. But wait, there's more. The books I browsed cost nearly as much as the actual book; nobody I know actually buys e-books *cough* torrent *cough.* I've given up converting and downloading books in the Kindle format (Amazon should at least make the Kindle PDF compatible), especially when I can read them with about twice the area and half the time on my laptop. Its most interesting feature was probably the black and white sketches that appear when I turn the Kindle off. I'll wait and see what Google comes up with.

An appetizer worthy of the name

Red Lobster may have the perfect biscuit, but El Toro has the perfect cheese sauce -- the philosopher's stone among dips. I'm nauseated by the clumpy texture of guacomole, and shun the cold, messy taste of tomato sauce. Cheese sauce should be a staple of Mexican food. El Toro has finally introduced a warm appetizer that actually appetizes, instead of forcing me to casually (or pretend to) down cold salsa over a stimulating conversation. It should be a sin to have nachos and only can-grade salsa, especially if the nachos happen to be tortilla chips gone sour. Don't get me wrong. I would do the same thing if I owned a restaurant.

Not only did the cheese sauce taste like real cheese, but the consistency was nearly perfect. Nothing like the clumps of microwaved Kraft singles I make my cheese sandwiches with. El Toro's low viscosity cheese sauce did drip on my napkins, but clumpy cheese sauce is truly gross. I can handle tap water instead of Fiji springs, but moldy cheese sauce from glass jars is just downright nasty. At least El Toro doesn't skimp on making actual cheese sauce. I gave my compliments to the waitress, who noted the care given to the cheese sauce, the balance between monterrey and a blend of minced jalepenos. Her delineation deserved an extra dollar in tips.

My satisfaction with El Toro's newly introduced cheese sauce could only be dulled by founding out later into the night that the Jets won against the Patriots. I went through denial first, then brooding: maybe the Jets roofied Bellichick or Brady caught deadly dandruff from his golden locks. I mean their record was 14-2...come on. Sure, some people are pissed at Tom Brady's "arrogance" for pointing at the Jets lineup after a touchdown, but I would have shoved the football in Sanchez's face. No team should toss around a second-tier team like the Jets and establish a record that shames the Lakers, only to suffer elimination from the playoffs. Twice in a row.