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.