May 19, 2005

• Coming to you from the public library again….

  
  

  We still don’t have a computer at home yet.  We also have not been able to make use of this downtime to get the roof fixed.  Either it was wet weather or physical fatigue or one thing or another keeping us off the roof.  We have, however, put together three big jigsaw puzzles, read uncounted books and watched a few good DVDs from the library.  Best of the DVDs were some Brother Cadfael mysteries with Derek Jacobi, and Bowling for Columbine.  Greyfox laughed at my reaction to seeing how frail and how utterly LAME and shallow Charlton Heston is.  He’s always been so impressive, carrying those tablets down off the mountain and standing there with his fist in the air at the podium, growling, “…from my cold dead hands!”  The Old Fart pointed out that he’s an actor.  Indeed.

  
  

  It’s not my week to drive the van, but Jennifer, the alternate driver, has something to attend tonight at her daughter’s school so I’m driving for her.  I saw it as an opportunity to get to town again, as if I have to have a valid excuse to drive to Wasilla.  Is that Virgo, or what?

  
  

  Thanks for all the validation on my choice of the LCD monitor.  Since Doug will be paying for it, I didn’t have the ultimate clout to make the decision, but your combined voices helped me overcome his indecision/mild opposition.  The LCD does cost a bit more, but I think it’s a better value.  Doug can probably figure out a way to tilt the screen so it is visible from his seat in Couch Potato Heaven.  To correct the misstatement the Old Fart made about the Kid’s motives, it’s not pure laziness.  He sometimes plays the PS2 while “working” at the computer, for example when there’s something going on in a chat that he wants to follow, or when he’s looking up cheats online for a game he’s playing.  That’s what those long cables on keyboards are for, right?  There’s also a long cord on the PS2 controller, but why sit in the ergonomic office chair when you can recline in Couch Potato Heaven?

  
  

  fibermom asked why I’d want to get detective fiction out of my system.  I’d been reading it addictively, to the exclusion of any other genre, for weeks.  It had begun to invade my dreams.  Two or three murder dreams were enough to make me want something a little different for a change.  When I’m done here, I’ll browse the library shelves.  Greyfox mentioned a new book in the Dune series that’s less egregious than the preceding prequels by the son who’s cashing in on his father’s genius.  I think he said the title is Battle of Corinn.  He also mentioned a new James Lee Burke novel in the supernatural-tinged series about the former Texas ranger and his dead-but-not-gone former partner.  Forgot that title… had to look it up with Xangazon search.  According to Amazon, it won’t be released until next month.  Amazon also says that there’s a new Burke book in the Dave Robichaux series due in July.  Can’t wait for that!

  
  

  I guess I’m one of the good guys, according to Scriveling, anyway– I think I can still use a slide rule.  Isn’t that sorta like riding a bike or having sex, something you don’t forget how to do?  I still have one, anyway, among my relics.

  
  

   Cinnamongirl78 left me a virtual hug in comments.  This has motivated me to try and express how I feel about you guys.  (((Xanga)))  I really miss you.  It will be so great to get home access to Xanga and Google and such again, and to get around and catch up on the lives of some of my favorite people. 

  
  

  Greyfox blogged about my reaction to the insecticide release in my neighborhood, and got some of the story askew, as usual.  I have no idea how widespread the spraying was.  It might have been just a neighbor spraying his own yard.  It blew in on the wind as I sat by an open window listening to the birdsong and frog chirps.  I smelled insecticide briefly before my sense of smell shut down completely.  Then my arms and legs started twitching.  Within minutes I had a headache and blurred vision.   Then I noticed that the only sound outside was the drone of mosquitoes.  That’s when I started crying.  When will the imbeciles learn that they’ve already made most insects resistant to their poisons?  I’ve lived in this valley for 22 years.  One reason I prefer being up here is that I have multiple chemical sensitivities.  I am very selective about the household chemicals and toiletries I use, use no cosmetics, and can get serious reactions just walking through the detergent aisle at the supermarket.  We use mosquito nets over our beds in summer rather than poison, both for environmental reasons and for personal health.  I’m still having a little more shortness of breath than usual, following that experience.

  
  

  Spring is here, truly and fully, finally.  It’s not full dark at midnight and soon won’t get dark at all.  No more dirty snow piled up in shady places… green trees… fireweed shoots coming up everywhere, and the flowers are almost open on my pigsqueak plants.  I got pics of the flooded muskeg the day after the comp crash, and this week I took a few of Doug down at the spring on a water run.  I’ll post them when I can.  I have the camera with me and Greyfox wants me to take shots of him with his new minivan at the stand so he can post them on those BBS sites where he spends most of his online time.

  
  

  There’s a chance I’ll get back on here later today from the comp at the Wasilla library, if I have enough time.  We’re going shopping… I brought Doug along.  He needs new shoes and we’ll get the monitor today, and he’s going to check Waldenbooks for a book on Red Hat Linux, which is what we’ll be running on the new machine when it gets here.

  
  

  Doug just walked up and laid his chin on my shoulder, his usual signal that in his opinion I’ve been at the keyboard too long.  He had enough time to finish reading one of the library books he had picked out.  Now he has talked me into checking it out to read at home.  I’m also going to see what’s of interest on the shelves before I head on down the road.  Later, luvs.

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

   

  • 4:36 pm
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