Engines and alcohol

  Engines and alcohol

I went out and bought a laptop today - right off the floor of a big-box office supply store. Now what?

I’m not sure I know. I’ll have to set it up; but, though these days that’s pretty much an answer-a-few-questions-and-push-the-buttons-we-tell-you-to-when-we-tell-to you deal, I’m hesitant. It will likely sit in the box for a day or two, while I “gin up” the nerve. I use “gin up,” so I can look it up - what slope of what mountain in what state, province, or shire in what country did it come from? - and, looking it up, put off thinking about the computer sitting in the box for another several minutes.

     I’m using "gin up" in the sense of “generate,” “create,” or “stir up,” which apparently comes from gin as short for either engine or generate + up. This from Wiktionary, which also gives a second definition, “to drink or become drunk, especially on gin." That comes then from gin (+ up), the beverage that can be distilled from any kind of alcohol but is then flavored with juniper - all gins include juniper, which gives gin its distinctive flavor. But “botanicals” are also added to enhance that flavor: coriander, angelica,* orange peel, lemon peel, cardamom, cinnamon, grains of paradise,* cubeb berries,* and nutmeg - six to ten of those, according to www.ginvodka.org.

     I happen to have some gin in the house, Pinnacle, which according to the bottle is “distilled 4 times and infused with botanicals” (though it doesn’t say which ones) also “handcrafted in small batches.” How it gets here - or to Portfield Bottlers in Deerfield, Illinois, where, as the name of the firm indicates, the gin is put in bottles - my bottle doesn’t say. I imagine a tanker.

I bought the computer because Roz and I are going on vacation for more than a week, and I wanted to continue blogging and tweeting and hanging stuff about the blogs and tweets on Facebook. I could do that, I’m told, from my phone, but the person that told me has much smaller fingers than I do.** So maybe he could do it from his phone, but I’m not confident I could do it from mine, especially after a couple of Pinnacles and tonics, which I’m planning as soon as I finish this post.

     Those should “gin me up,” but they’ll also render me unable to set up the new laptop, so it will be safer sitting in the box at least overnight.

We leave Sunday.

07.07.17

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  * angelica is an herb also known as wild celery. grains of paradise is a spice commonly known as commonly known as ossame but also as alligator pepper; and cubeb berries from the cubeb plant are a savory, that when cooked, one source says, have a “warm and pleasant” taste, “reminiscent of allspice.”

 ** mostly because he’s six.