Mac Repair - notes from the trenches

Three weeks, one day, and two trips to Tel Aviv after a computer meltdown, I'm happy to report that my computer is once again in my possession and in good repair. You can now look forward to more frequent scintillating blog posts in the near future.

PSA: If anyone ever needs help figuring out Mac repair in Jerusalem, I can especially recommend the services of Jonathan and his colleagues at http://jerusalem-computers.com/. They are pleasant, honest, and capable. DO NOT got to iDigital in Tel Aviv; I had a truly unpleasant experience with them in which they were not only dishonest but also refused to even attempt to restore the data I lost in the crash (which Jonathan was able to do).

Homemade turbo ginger ale for stomach ache

When I was a kid, ginger ale was a common home remedy for a stomach ache. However, ginger ale these days is made with almost no ginger, and the ginger (along with the carbonation) is the primary analgesic. Today I came up with a way to make your own ginger ale with real ginger. Here's the idea:

Ingredients:
1) 3-4 inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped fine or grated.
2) 2 T honey
3) 1 c water
4) Seltzer water

Directions:
Boil the ginger and honey in the water for about 20 min until you have a highly concentrated ginger infusion. You can add a pinch of salt so that your ginger ale will supply electrolytes, which can also help with stomach ache. Allow the mixture to cool, strain out the pieces of ginger, and then pour it into an ice cube tray and freeze. Keep the resulting ice cubes in your freezer; store the seltzer at room temperature in your pantry. When you have  stomach upset, plop a few of those ice cubes into room-temperature seltzer and you will soon have a cool, true ginger ale that may soothe your tummy ache. (I find that to get the best analgesic effect from the ginger, I need to make my drink pretty strong, though not everyone may like that taste.)