Before the season ended I was directed by the RockComp Executive Committee to purchase a new laptop for the club. After much research I decided on the HP as listed below. It is a new model introduced in July of this year. A high speed hard drive greatly improves performance and HP is one of the few to offer it. Also it has the latest 802.11N wireless standard which improves wireless range and power. Now for the best part. While searching for the best price I ran across a web site sodeal.net that list all of the current best deals available for lots of products. In there I found a coupon for 30% off on HP laptops. It also explained how you could redeem the coupon. You must go all the way through the purchase and at the end enter the coupon code which resulted in a $319 discount. I could not find this coupon mentioned anywhere else, not even on the HP web site. Check out the sodeal.net site. Looks like delivery will be mid September.

Recipe of the Week
by Chuck Rickard
Shepherd's Pie

My turn again.
I am sure that you have all made Shepherd's Pie at one time or the other. I made it last week and it really came out good. It is very easy to make.

Use any vegetables you like such as peas, corn, carrots etc.
I used just thin sliced carrots, onion, celery and some red bell pepper we had on hand.
Brown the hamburger and sauté the onions then add a can of Campbell's Beef Broth to the hamburger and onions. Add the carrots and what ever else you like then a couple of dashes of Worcestershire sauce. Cook until veggies are done and the broth is almost gone.
Spread the mixture in a glass baking dish and cover with mashed potatoes about 1 1/2 inches deep. Rough up with a fork so that there are peaks that will brown nicely. You can use the fork to make some designs in the potatoes as well. I used packaged mashed potatoes from Costco. Bake at 400° for about 30 minutes. Then sprinkle grated cheddar cheese on top and place under broiler until cheese melts and the top of the potatoes are done.
I used about 3/4 pound of ground beef and about 2 1/2 cups of potatoes in a 9" X 9" dish. Us a much veggies and onion as you like.

An Italian grandmother is giving directions to her grown grandson who is coming to visit with his wife.

'You comma to de front door of the apartmenta. I am inna apartmenta 301 .

There issa bigga panel at the front door. With you elbow, pusha button 301.
I will buzza you in. Come inside, the elevator is on the right. Get in, and
with you elbow, pusha 3.

When you get out, I'mma on the left.
With you elbow, hit my doorbell.'

'Grandma, that sounds easy, but, why am I hitting all these buttons with my elbow?

What . . . .. .. You coming empty handed?'

The Diamondbacks won two out of three games against the powerful St. Louis team this week. We got home from Flagstaff Wednesday afternoon just in time to catch the last of the ninth inning and what an end it was. The Cardinals were ahead 3 to 2 when a triple and a double put us ahead to win the game. Click here to see a video of the final action and celebration. The big test comes today, Friday, when a three game series against the second place Los Angeles Dodgers begins.

The Diamondbacks are still in first place, a position they have held all season, three games ahead of second place Los Angeles, in the Western Division and are at .511, still above .500.

Send me news from your home area. Send all news to Chuck.  Just click on Chuck or send to chuck@rockcomp.org. When you include pictures send them as an attachment rather than inserting them in the body of the message. It makes life much easier for me.

Chuck