RE: the extra bottle of vodka. Got it. Stoli is fine, Absolute is better and Belvedere is great (but different). I'm not crazy about that Vox stuff.
I think a tiny bit of vermouth is critical. I'm ok with Martini & Rossi and find it better than Gallo but seem to have missed something as I've not been exposed to exotic vermouth. Yet. Somehow I feel it coming soon now that I know there is such a thing. I'm also not familiar with Luksusowa.
But on this stirring thing, I just can't go along. I like the vodka areated and ice cold. Preferably the glass is frozen as well. Just coat the inside of the glass with vermouth and pour in the vigourously shaken vodka. Drop in a couple onion stuffed olives and you have the perfect Martini. I know that introducing the onion in th eolives introduces the possibility that this is really a gibson with olives, but I like to live on the edge. If you've really done it right, there are tiny ice crystals in the drink and the olives are sort of flash frozen. Very refreshing, until about the third one, then the serious relaxing sets in.
Perhaps the cold treatment would bruise the high end vermouth, I don't know, but this works for my friends and I.
KBR: Get a clue. For what you'd probably spend on your next knife, you can probably get a computer for your wife and a hub to share your connection. Computers can be had cheaply today. Once you get your wife her own computer, it no longer becomes an issue if you're on yours a lot or heaven forbid have it apart all the time trying to overclock/upgrade/generally hot rod it. Just trust me on this one. The one key issue is that her monitor has to be as big as yours, even if the machine is not quite as fast overall. Again, trust me here.
Hopefully this whole upgrade thing won't take the max Spark stated (72 hours!).
jmx
