I apologize to all who are waiting for responses to emails from me. My computer woes continue. I've been without my documents and address book for close to three weeks now. I do believe my computer is now working and that I will have it back in a couple of days with all of the data restored.

I've learned two things from this ordeal:

Don't buy Dell. I would like to endorse Dell products. I purchased some stock in the company several years ago and I'd love for them to be successful to protect my investment. Unfortunately, my experience says their customer support is just awful. I've also heard this from others.

Second, I've learned that Vista can only fix problems by wiping the hard drive and beginning again from scratch. The lesson here, if you have any data you value, is to back up all of your data on a very frequent basis.

I'm now off the soapbox. Here's today's chili news:

"Another great wintry weekend in Bastrop and we had so muchfun huddling all under the Eaves of the building and visiting andcooking. On Friday night, we had a big feed initiated by Mike,Joe, Keith and Michael. Collectively they cooked a huge pot ofShrimp, cobbed corn,potatoes,sausage, and Farmer and I made a huges pot of his chicken and dumplings. Others added salads, both fruit, and green. There was hot bread, cakes and cookies.Contributed by Crystal. No one left hungry. In factvery few left at all. Most stayed and played games. A good time was had by all and after eating, Mike took a huge amount of SeafoodBoil to the EMS crew. He said they were so appreciative as they had been to busy to cook or even get something to eat. Next morning we got up slowly and made our way to the building toget all registered. 34 cooks came and we were so happy.

The winners were:
1. Earl Gorhum Montgomery Q'd
2. Alan Dean Johnson City ( Mr. Susan)
3. Sue Caffey Rockdale
4. Leslie Stratton Marble Falls 2nd time to cook 2nd Pt.
5. Jessie Waguespack Austin
6. Steve Ashman (Formerly Mr. Debbie)
7. Mike Zaccaro lst pt. (Part of the Pfamous Pflugerville Pfive or Pfifteen AKA The Schueler Group)
8. Jana Daily Valley Mills
9. Debbie Ashman Bastrop
10. Ray Daily Valley Mills

Show
1. Joe Trigo Bastrop
2. Kelly Talavera Kyle
3. Leslie Stratton Marble Falls

Saturday evening was eating Crystal's wonderful stew andcornbread along with many desserts we had won at the CakeWalk, some of us left but most stayed to play games andsing Kaoroke. A great evening was had by all and I understandthat some of our younger folks closed down the bar both nights. Sunday we awakened to a less windy day, ate tacos, and gotthe show on the road. I was happy because I knew we already had 17 pre-registered. Then another 13 came and we had a great Sunday cook off.

The winners:
1. Brandi Page-Smith Round Rock (Schueler Group)
2. Earl Gorhum Montgomery
3. Jana Daily Valley Mills
4. Ray Daily Valley Mills
5. Susan Dean Johnson City 2008 TICC Champ
6. Johnny Campbell Meadowlakes
7. B. B. Hughes Lockhart
8. Alan Dean Johnson City
9. Kelly Talavera Kyle
10.Terry Wright Lockhart

Show
1. Kelly Talavera Kyle
2. Mike Park Bastrop
3. Sue Caffey Rockdale

We all had a great time one more time. We were happy to see so many of our new cooks and they are winning. They are sohappy to be with us and have stated we are so friendly and nice. etc. and so welcoming. Thank you for this. If you want usto grow, you have to let folks know you want them there. We are helping the new cooks, giving them recipes, etc. And yes, they are beating us. But that is alright, too. Thanks go to ourCurrent Champ Susan Dean for being there with us and Mr. Susan, our Monitors, our Judges, James and Billy and their TallyTeams, our referee Steve Ashman, Head Judge Jeannette and Mary, assisting, Crystal for all she does and did, John Caffey,my driver, and all he does, our Casi Director Bucky for being there. A special thanks to our Central Texas Tolbert Group thatcame over 4 strong on Sunday to support us and CASI. GOD Bless Us All and GOD Bless America." (Mama Sue Caffey)