A few years back, when they first came out, I bought a handful of those colorful Chinese caribiners that everyone is now using for keychains. The people at work liked them, so I bought them some, too. Since then, I've had three or four of them stop working or break and have replaced them.

When I was re-roofing the house, I used them for all kinds of things, but heeding the warning on them, never used them to try to do anything real, such as saving my life. They're cute, but they're decorative and I got tired of replacing them.

So, since my last one broke, I needed another. Full of ego, I decided to give up on those toy caribiners and get a real one to hold my keys. This necessitated a trip to a rock-climbing store since the real caribiners aren't sold at, say, Gerald's Hardware. I found a large display of caribiners in the rock-climbing store, but the real ones are expensive. I finally found the cheapest ones they had, at a shade under ten bucks each, and, in an attempt to disguise my complete disinterest in rock-climbing but needing the clerk to think I was serious about it, I couldn't very well just pick up just one. No, I had to get a few, like I was re-equipping myself for an assault on K2 or something. I came close to buying some rope, too, and a few other necessities to camoflauge the caribiner purchase, but thankfully stopped short.

The clerk, I might add, never paid me any attention at all.

Well, I'm back.

I'm sure you've all been dying to know what I've been up to. You haven't missed a thing.

What's concerning me now is Haiti. I don't like that we're urging an elected president to step down to appease a revolutionary mob. I thought we were on the side of democracy. I'm also a bit saddened that we're giving Haiti no more aid than we did Liberia, who also begged for our help. Iraq, which never asked for any help from us, got it in bucketfulls.

Iraq may have had oil, but Haiti is our source for baseballs!

And it looks as if the grocery strike will soon be over. Not sure if the people fighting to hold their jobs or the whiners won this one. As much as I hate to see the little guy it, I had no sympathy for the strikers. No employer of mine has given me free medical care in the last fifteen years. That shit is expensive, that's why the politicians are all over it. I've understood that, have admitted the necessity of co-pays, and have forked over my share of the insurance money for years. No, I didn't have to do that in the eighties, but this is the 21st century.

Anyway, I expect the markets again to be full of unwilling workers, which hasn't been the case lately.

Finally, this news would worry me if the ones talking about it didn't sound like such an offbeat organization. I just can't trust anyone, any more.

This is a first for me. Guess it happens, though.

This might interest me since my power company is much more reliable than my cable provider.

(More later. Maybe)

I'm sorry, but fuck this shit.

As if we're not having enough troubles with earthquakes, fires, runaway train disasters, and sick birds, we've got hundreds being burned to death in Uganda, Palestinians and Israelis killing each other, riots and coups in Haiti, car-bombings in Kirkuk, the Canadians are suing their own government over the SARS handling.

I often consider getting revenge, and I'm not proud of that, but you don't have to act on it! When is this insanity going to end? Can't people TALK about things any more?

Is there no other way to stop this madness?

No way could I have kept up the frantic pace of yesterday, and I didn't.

Thought some about playing with my website, downloaded the latest FreeBSD operating system, defragged the Windows computers, and moped.

Showed my respect for the striking grocery workers by not crossing the lines and shopping.

Got an unexpected compliment on my writing and realized that vegetarians on the Atkins diet are in real trouble. They can't even eat Ramen, which I never had growing up but am learning to like now. No, things aren't bleak: I'm not having to eat the generic Ramen.

Made some plans for next week, dabbled in the market, and took a nap surrounded by dogs.

Tomorrow I'll go shopping.

This is what passes for productivity for me now.

Today I sought out and found the slipper my dog had stolen from under the bed and hidden in the back yard. He never chews them up, only relocates to what must seem a better, more fitting, place according to his doggy brain. This time, as usual, it was in The Hole.

He dug a hole in the backyard the first week he was here, and it's where he typically drops things. The slipper, however, was buried and not immediately evident.

So I washed it. I don't know if you're supposed to wash those sheepskin and suede (?) slippers, and I'm sure even having those has now put me on the PETA watch list (and they're pissed anyway, after this), but it came out okay. The sheepskin on the one I washed is puffier than its twin and the suede is less smooth, but it still keeps my feet toasty warm.

The balance of the day was wasted until an hour ago, when a rat or mouse set off a trap, but wasn't caught. My guess is he or she is lying down somewhere, nursing a broken back. I should note that Minardi, mighty hunter that he is, ignores these visitors.

I don't know why, but the karma thing started working with this post. Now that I'm editing it to include this bit of news, it will probably turn back off.

Oh, speaking of PETA: Sexiests Vegans. I'd think they could do better than that. Not much of an advertisement if you ask me.

Here are some websites you might enjoy. I wish I could get the linking thing to work without having to manually code all the HTML. It's supposed to work, but doesn't.

You got 10 out of 20 correct because I rock!

HeartMaker a few days too late...

Optical Illusions drive me nuts.

It hardly felt like a holiday at all. That's another problem with not working. The cable station Bravo had a West Wing marathon, so that's kind of Presidenty, but that was about it. Even the neighbors who always fly flags didn't.

Speaking of neighbors...across the street two out of the three homes have roll-offs in front of them, with much construction going on. I can feel the wind of everyone passing me by. It's a good thing I'm not competitive.

Found another blog that's better than mine. That brings the total up to "all of them."

I've developed a disturbing, but understandable, habit. I take long naps in the afternoon which make it difficult for me to fall asleep at night. I take these naps as a way of hiding, and that's the disturbing part. I find sleep life much more enjoyable than being awake, alive, and suffering through my thoughts.

I'd like to stop doing that, but it feels so nice to lay down and nap.

This napping is new to me, I've never done it before in life, and I think it's another pleasure that's destroying me.

I use to enjoy going to bed early and waking early.Then, I started taking a nap to increase my sleeping hours from six, and now this. Wonder if I can get back...if I want to.

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So, a few years ago I bought a TiVo and have yet to hack it. That may be coming soon, given my current level of boredom with all things that work in life.

Anyway, TiVo, if you didn't know, records two types of programs: those you tell it to record for you and others it thinks you might enjoy, based on past viewing. What it finds on its own is usually just other versions of things I watch, but it occasionally discovers some real gems. One thing it does is record Spanish shows, but I don't mind. Their soap operas are much better looking than ours.

My particular TiVo (for now -- see hacking comment above) holds about fifteen hours of programs. One thing TiVo is adamant about is being full at all times. Earlier this week I recorded the Westminster Dog Show for my sister and that chewed up some six hours of programming. When she'd watched and deleted them, TiVo found a huge hole that it had to fill.

What TiVo felt I would want to watch, and what it recorded for me, made me bless its little electronic heart.

I had four hours of Tuesday's weather channel.

I visited a friend's blog and she was talking about the TV show Bewitched.

This is an important show.

First, I'm glad it's back on so later generations can weigh in on the thorny issue of which Darren was the better. I liked the first one, the one who isn't Dick York (I think). I remember feeling cheated and shocked at a young age when they just changed the actor who played the leading character on me, without ever acknowledging it.

Two, I had a crush on Elizabeth Montgomery, as I did on every woman on a TV show I liked.

Three, I remember feeling pretty smug when I discovered that she didn't wiggle her nose, but her mouth and it just looked like her nose.

Four, in one episode (or maybe it was Jeannie) she froze everyone around her, stopping time. That, rather than invisibility or flying, became the one magical power I've always wanted.

Fifth, a precocious child, I noticed Elizabeth Montgomery's husband was the producer for the show. I reasoned that he developed the whole show as a showcase for his wife's one talent, that nose wiggling thing. Well, that and stirring the loins of young men such as myself. I think this is when my distaste for Hollwyood first began.

Okay, I did a little a research and solved my e-mail problem. Yes, you can find just about everything on the Internet, including the occasional correct answer. Oddly, others were experiencing the same thing (a pacbell quirk) last year, but I only started seeing it a week ago. I think it has to do with their "upgrade" thing, which they keep hounding me about. For the record, their upgrade is nothing but adding marketing to an otherwise working configuration.

But that's not the point.

While playing around, I began using a variety of e-mail clients. Now I don't know which one to use as my permanent one. For years I'd used Eudora, but it lacks a linux version. Now I've narrowed down my choice to either Thunderbird, which I also played with in Windows, or Ximian Evolution. Evolution looks and acts like Outlook, which I used at work, and is quite attractive. Thunderbird, however, has great spam-handling capability. I haven't seen where Evolution learns on its own what is and isn't spam, something I think of as a pretty cool feature. Thunderbird does that, and more, but doesn't have the built-in tasks things, like Evolution and Outlook. But I already have a stand alone task thing, which I rarely use because it's much easier to assign myself tasks then it is to complete them. Seeing the list of things I have to do just depresses me.

I think, for the time being, I'll stick with the Mozilla suite. Their new browser (Firefox) rocks, even the Windows version!

Found this on the Internet: "At Helm's Deep, Aragorn commands the men to launch the first volley of arrows over the wall with the cry of "Fire!" The use of this word in relation to shooting did not occur until guns were invented, when a fire source such as a burning fuse was applied to powder and literally "fire" the weapon. Not knowing guns, Aragorn should use the traditional archers command "Loose!" instead."

Maybe I have more of a life than I thought. He's probably right, though.

I did nothing today, none of the things I was supposed to, none of the things that seemed to be a good idea in the morning when I was having my first coffee. Then, the day felt full of promise and opportunity but I was too afraid of making more mistakes, of making anything worse, of getting any more rejection to do anything. so I moped. Watched everyone make money on the stock market, shuffled the index cards containing my novel, and wished I were someone else, someone more capable.

I'm just listening to the Who because I just finished watching a documentary on them. I hate how much emotion I have invested in music, how many memories that old stuff brings back. I squandered a bright and beautiful future when I was young, not having any idea what would come and not caring about it. I don't know as I regret that, my never having any idea what I wanted out of life, but I don't think it makes for a very successful one. It hasn't for me.

Shit. Fuck. Piss.

A few years back a trashed-out old white truck used to roam our neighborhood on Sundays, looking to pick up things. Julio was written on the driver's door, under a decal of a cowboy hat, and he'd stop and pick up things. I wasn't sure if he still came around since not as much stuff is put out anymore, not with the recycling efforts picking up steam.

Today he picked our old TV.

Yay for Julio!

(I'm just guessing it was Julio, but have to admit I'm using the name generically now, probably in violation of some copyright law).

This is a test and confidence is mediocre

Very crisp and windy today. I thought March was supposed to be the windy one.

There are no groundhogs that I know of in my backyard, but a rat (or mouse) that's been hanging around darted off quite quickly the other day when the light came on. The response, I feel, is what the groundhog does so I should be able to assume that his (or her) hiding means another six weeks of winter.

Do vegans insist their pets not eat meat? How weird would that be? How much weirder would it be to be a vegan and have to buy meat for your cat?

I would buy many more things if I had any trust at all in advertisers. No, I'm not talking about getting a bigger penis (even if she'll love me for it), I mean any of these things. Those additives that make the metal in your car engine smooth, for one. Great idea, but I don't feel I'm getting the truth. Swiffer mops and storage bags, all kinds of things look great in the ads but I know there's things they're not telling me.

I also know for a fact that never in my life have I gotten as much Shark Cartiledge or Bee Pollen in my diet as some would like me to have. Why do these vitamin people only say their results have been published in a "scientific journal" but not tell us which ones? I hate that all these clowns are taken advantage of a gullible, naive public.

Gads! I haven't updated this in days. I also notice that everyone else responds to comments made on their blogs, and I should do that, too.

Speaking of...I got an email about my attitude, not a comment. In my defense, I am not crotchety and, as an example, I wish to go on record as saying that many things are much better than they were when I was growing up. I recently suffered a bug bite and, after letting the wound fester for a couple weeks, I received some sage advice to use an antibiotic on it. Cortizone was cheaper, so I bought some of that, which did nothing for the infection but it didn't itch.

Then I got some antibiotic (triple antibiotic, because everything is better nowadays). That's not the thing that's better than it was when I was growing up (I think Neosporin was prescribed back in those days and mom needed to get me lots), but adhesive bandages sure are! I bought the cheapest ones possible--they're clear--and they stick so much better than the Band-Aids of my youth. They're really making better bandages in the 21st century. I hope the ones with the planes and boats are better.

On other news, my future is so frightening and dismal that I've stopped thinking about it.