Atropa Belladonna~ Raven (a.k.a. Nightshade)'s Weblog ~
These are the ARCHIVES of SEPT 2004. For more archives, visit the Archives page. For the current Weblog entries, check the Main page.
Atropa Belladonna| Tues, Sept 28, 2004 (8:25pm) I didn't have a chance. The DVD was on pretty loud, so Kalen could hear it over her nebulizer - which itself puts out a loud drone - and Connor was shouting, and Kalen was yelling at him to sit down, and the baby was screaming for his bottle, and then Kalen kicked Connor and he started crying and I was being auditorily assualted from all sides, and then had to dispense maternal justice and get the nebulizer cords untangled and remove Connor's hand from where it got stuck inside the VCR and comfort a crying baby, and in all of it, I simply forgot that I'd turned the tap on to run warm water for the baby's bottle. And because of the noise, I couldn't even hear the sound of the tap running, the sink filling up, or water overflowing onto the kitchen floor. A good quarter of the kitchen was flooded. AAAAAAaaaaaaaaarg. |
| Tues, Sept 28, 2004 (10:00am) Today, I am the mother of a four-year old. Who'd have thought? (Wally, btw, has informed me that my Sims addiction is bad for my weblogging record. I s'pose he's right. So rather than have him make good on his threats of programming my computer so it won't play Sims 'til I post, I'm desperately trying to think of stuff to write, so it won't be an issue.) Hrm.. has anything interesting happened in the last week? Let's see... I came way closer to death than I like, last Thursday. I'd gone out with a friend to a Japanese restaurant to celebrate her birthday. I did explain to the staff about my seafood allergy and they assured me there was no seafood in the Katsu Don, or anything else I ordered. However, a few sips into my delicious Miso soup, I was getting a tingling on my tongue - not unlike the reaction I get when experiencing a mild allergic reaction. So I stopped eating the soup. I enjoyed the rest of the meal with no problems. By the time I got to BP's a couple hours later, I wasn't feeling well. My tongue was itchy, and my intestines were really pissed off about something. I didn't even have dessert at BP's like I'd intended. I said Hi to a few people and went home, where I spent two or three hours in extreme discomfort before I finally managed to fall asleep. In the morning, I woke up sore everywhere, and headachy, and feeling like I'd been poisoned (this is a feeling akin to post-alcohol poisoning, or chemo, for those who have experience with either). Yet, I was happy to be alive. Cori tells me that Miso Soup is often made with fish broth. My reaction could have been much more fatal. Note to self: When people tell you to be adventurous and try something different for a change, sometimes it's okay to be a boring old stick in the mud, and cling to safe routines. What else to say? Ah, yes! Tanja wanted people to know she's coming to town for Davyd's wedding! She even said I could post that on my weblog. So if you know who she is, and care to do so, you can email her: She has a hotmail addy under the name of Toysqueaky (You can do the pasting to assemble that addy yourself. I don't wanna make a link which spiders will find and deluge her with spam). Well, enough posting for now. I'm gonna get a quick Sims fix, and then ponder the deplorably domestic task of running a carpet cleaner through the livingroom. |
| Thurs, Sept 23, 2004 (10:50am) I have just discovered the real reason why the human race propogates. It's not the "biological urge". It's not about love, or romance, or even just plain sex. It's not the desire to see one's genes passed on, or to live forever (vicariously) through your children. The real reason is simply this: Storage Space. I've been going through some old baby things (clothes, bathtubs, strollers, safety devices, whatsomawhoosits, etc.) and discovered that I do not have room to store them all. I considered tossing some, but really, they're too good to throw out. Most of the stuff has been barely touched, 'cuz kids outgrow everything so fast. I'd give it to a second hand store or charity drive, but then who would be wearing that adorable little Baby Gap jacket which Kalen wore for her first walk in the river valley... some fat slimy white-trash baby? It's unthinkable. These are heirlooms! Treasures! Mementos of precious childhood moments, and they take up too much dang space!!! So the only logical thing to do is to box them up and give them to someone that I know, who is having a baby soon. Alas, none of my close friends or relatives are pregnant. So I'm stuck with this stuff. Therefore, it is my duty to apply pressure to those people whom I know and love, to convince them to have babies, so I can pass on loads and loads of precious babyclothes and expensive whatsamawhoosits and let it be their problem. And thus, the species shall survive. |
| Wed, Sept 22, 2004 (4:35pm) Since a couple of my weblogging friends have seen fit to share bizarre email sent their way by the stranger denizens of the 'Net, I'll toss something up for viewing, too. I don't get a lot of wacko-mail, but every now and then my Vampire page generates a gem. From: RoibenI've had 3 or 4 Real Vampires offer to come visit me - one threatening to show me WHAT VAMPIRES ARE REALLY ALL ABOUT YOU STUPID MORON THINK YOUR GAMES MAKE YOU ONE OF US - and the others hinting at a more cordial visit, or perhaps a taste of eternal (un)life. Yeah. Whatever. |
| Wed, Sept 22, 2004 (9:50am) This is where I talk about me... Life is good. I woke up yesterday just before the crack of dawn. Literally. I got dressed, came into the kitchen, and stood looking out over the field behind our house. The horizon was grey and cloudy and dull... and all of a sudden, while I watched, the sun edged over the horizon, and the world went from black&white to full-color. It was pretty. And then the kids started waking up, and crying for attention. It reminded me of that song, "Morning has broken...." - Crack! (Yeah, I imagine sound effects for the breaking of morning. Loud, obnoxious sound effects.) Anyway, the day went well. Today looks to be more of the same. Jasen has more teeth, by the way. He's got both top teeth in, now, as well as the bottom two. Critter gives nasty little bites if you're foolish enough to put your finger in his mouth. Kalen has gone over a full week with no accidents! This is good, 'cuz kids who aren't fully potty-trained get kicked out of playschool, and Kalen is really enjoying her French Immersion Playschool. She comes home and asks how to say various things: "Mommy? How do you speak 'Computer' in French? And 'Chair'? And 'Baby'? and 'Phone'?. Mommy, what does 'Je m'appel' mean? Mommy, what is 'Sims' in French??" Connor continues to do well. Monday he was in fine form, saying nearly a dozen words. Yesterday, we got only a couple out of him. But that's okay. He's showing a lot of other improvements, too: the other day I was putting his shoes on him and he shouted and grabbed them out of my hand - and tried to put them on himself! He puts his own arms through his shirts, and when I got him ready for his bath yesterday, he tried to help pulling his pants down. It's little things like that which are so good to see: he's not just a passive creature anymore. He wants to be part of things, and do stuff on his own, and be in control. Good toddler stuff. And this is where I talk about my Sims... Mmm, Sims. I like. I could blather ad nauseum about the cool things in this new version of Sims, but I don't have the time, and I suspect I'd lose much of my audience, so I'll just mention one neat thing which I discovered. In the older version, there's a telescope which your Sims can use to stargaze and increase their logic skill. For some reason, it doesn't matter if they use it at night, or in the day. I guess they've got those solar-lenses, for.. ya know.. looking at sunspots and stuff. In this version, the telescope still exists. But when I sent my Sim (named September, 'cuz I couldn't think of a better name offhand) to use it during the daytime, she didn't point it at the heavens - she leveled it parallel to the ground and began looking around the neighbourhood. In the thought-bubble above her head, you could see various things, like a garbage can, or a car, or a person. I imagine she was thinking, "Hey, I sure can see a long ways with this. There's one of those new sports cars driving along Pentameter Parkway! Cool! Oh, and it looks like Mrs. Smith has a lot of garbage today... That bitch - she's always throwing out stuff that could be repaired so easily. Hrm... I can see some old guy down the street. Is that Mr. Capp? I think so! What's he doing? He's watering his flowers... and he keeps holding his back. Hah - I bet his arthritis is really bothering him after that fight he got into with Juliet." She spent a lot of time watching Mr. Capp. She'd around, then back to him, and at the garbage, and then at him again. I wondered if she was getting obsessed - or maybe she was just haoping to see another fight. Anyway, once she'd increased her logic skill by a point, I sent her in to make herself some breakfast. She'd just put the pancakes on the stove when Mr. Capp wandered into view. (I thought it was kinda neat that he was actually outside when September was using the telescope - it wasn't just random thought bubbles above her head.) Mr Capp walked up to the door, and instead of ringing the bell, barged right in. He shouted at September, shoved her away from the stove, and started poking her in the chest while bitching her out. All the while, he's got this thought-bubble above his head with a telescope in it! September burst into tears. Mr Capp said a couple more things, harumphed with his arms crossed, and marched out. The pancakes on the stove burnt to a smokey mess. September pulled herself together enough to dispose of her burnt breakfast, and went off to work still sniffing. Sims 2 has such neat stuff in it. |
| Mon, Sept 20, 2004 (11:55pm) Yeah, I got the desk. On Friday, I went out (kids in tow) to hit half a dozen furniture stores. Many had special roll-top desks made just for computers (they're extra tall, and have one set of drawers replaced with a cupboard to hold a tower, and some even have built in powerbars!) I saw some I liked, and some I didn't. One of the ones I liked was even on sale, for less than I had pretend-earmarked for the desk. And as it turns out, one of my old friends worked at the Solid Oak Superstore, where I happened to find this desk on sale. He said it was a good manufacturer, and an excellent price for that particular style. Plus, he could arrange delivery to Sh. Pk. free of charge. So, Friday evening, Wally and I spent some quality geek time moving lots of computery-bits into the new desk, running wires, cables, and powercords, and making it all work. On Saturday, I tried to bring up the games machine from the basement and make it fit into the desk, next to the iMac. Bah - it didn't quite fit!!! Or, rather, it could be shoved in, but in order for the roll-top to clear it when closed, the monitor had to butt up against the answering machine and pushes the buttons down. So when I close my desk, I hear, "Mmm mm MmHhmble fommimbow, mibbew wibbuw mummble amber muh meeb. BEEP." and other such strangeness emenating from within. Not good. The obvious solution to the problem of a too-big monitor, of course, is to spend more money and buy one of those lovely new flat-screen babies. But I have overspent my gaming budget for the next couple years. So Shades, sweetie that he is, bought one for me. Which means, in case ya hadn't guessed, that I may be updating my weblog infrequently over the next few weeks/days, due to a bad case of the Sims. - - - Oh, and for those who aren't aware: The Lego guys won First Place with their train layout! Woohoo! Also: Hello to Dancing Bear! And thanks to the various people who sent advice re: desk hunting & computers & childproofing. |
| Fri, Sept 17, 2004 (3:05pm) Do I Want to Spend 3 Grand on Sims 2? I wants Sims 2. Yestereve at BP's, I grilled Dave about the game, and it sounds very much like something I want to play. Alas, it's not yet available for Mac. So, if I want Sims 2, I'll need a PC to play it on. Luckily, Shades and I spent $1500+ on an IBM to be our "games machine" a couple years back - it's got a fast processor, lots of memory, a good video card, and all that great stuff - but then we turned the computer room into our son's bedroom, and the machine went into the basement. It's still there... down in the non-childproofed basement. So, if I want to use the PC downstairs, I'll need to completely childproof the basement, or I can't use the computer AND mind the kids at the same time. But our basement is "adult territory" nowadays. It's where we game, where we can leave dice strewn about, where breakables sit on shelves, and where books are all within reach. I don't want to lose that space. I'd rather take the PC upstairs into the childproofed area of the house. So, if I want the computer upstairs, I have to make room for it in the livingroom. Right now, my Mac is in the livingroom, a semi-childproofed area. Well, less 'childproof' and more 'child-deterrent'... They can still get at the computer desk, but it takes some doing and I can usually catch them before major damage is done. Usually. Except when I'm cooking supper, or changing a diaper, or in the washroom, or flipping laundry loads in the basement, or any number of things which I do regularly throughout the day. Yeah. Basically, the livingroom computer area is less than ideal as it is. Adding another computer would make the situtation worse. So, if I want room for the PC upstairs, I need to make a childproofed place for it. Not just an area barricaded with bookshelves and furniture. I need walls and a gate, or a bubbledome, or even a giant lid to put over the entire computer desk. Preferably something heavy, with a key, so kids don't open it when my back is turned. Something like a computer cabinet/armoire, or a big-ass old-fashioned roll-top desk. Mmmmm, I've always loved the look of those old roll-top desks. So, how much do those desks cost? $2000-$5000! Gak! But, but, they're so cool! And they'd be perfect for what I want! They lock and everything. They've got a big back panel which would conveniently hide any cords, cables, extension cords, outlets, etc. I looked at some of them today, and there's a few models which can easily fit two computers on the desktop (assuming the tower sits underneath in a special place - which, BTW, can be locked). The desk would fit well with the kind of look I want for the livingroom, too. (The look I want is something out of Victoriana, or maybe a Bombay Company catalog. Unlike the current look of "Oh, help, we have kids. Quick - cover all the outlets, move all the breakables, and pile heavy things in front of the fragile stuff so the kids won't destroy it all!") So. Do I really wanna spend something like $3000 for a roll-top desk? Sims 2 isn't worth that. But having a games machine upstairs is worth a lot... it annoys me that we spent $1500+ on the machine and can't use it. Plus, not having to shout at the kids constantly for getting into the computer area would be nice. And with a roll-top desk, I could also hide the phone from Connor, and the scanner from Kalen. I could make sure the kids don't spill hot chocolate on my keyboard again! The kids wouldn't be able to poke the lens of my digital camera while it was sitting on the computer desk uploading the contents of the memory stick to my Mac! I could store disks in the computer desk and not have to pick them up off the floor a dozen times per day, tossing out a couple every month because of scratches. Wally could leave his laptop in the desk overnight using our DSL connection for his downloads, and we wouldn't wake up to Kalen trying to pull all the buttons off his keyboard! Ya know... 3 grand is a pretty low price for peace of mind, and protection for the other electronics in our house. I'm sure the kids would appreciate being yelled at less, too. And I could also play Sims 2. |
| Wed, Sept 15, 2004 (3:45pm) Many Days of Weblog Crammed Into One Did you know that Van's is one of the best stores in the whole world? Besides selling dropjes (Yes, salted licorice - the "icky black tar candy" which Davyd despises) the store also has a great owner/manager. When I went to buy $30+ of candy right before the Quest, I brought it all to the front till before realizing that I'd forgetten my wallet at home. I apologized, but Mr. Van said, "Don't worry about it. You can pay later." He rang it through, noted the total, and handed me the bag of purchases, just like that. I told him I'd be out of town for the long weekend, and he said "that's okay - don't make a special trip to pay for it. Just bring the money next time you come.". I explained that might not be for another month, and he assured me it would be fine. He didn't even write my number down to phone me if I forgot, or anything. Oh - and he gave me 3 candy suckers to take home for my kids, ta boot. That's a cool store. (BTW, I did return to pay for my goods the same weekend. It's been dealt with.) - Kalen is in Playschool now! Despite my decision to not worry about it this year (it'd be too much trouble running her to Playschool in the Park - or Edmonton - and running Connor out to Ardrossan for his school) I ended up finding one which works perfectly: Kale is going to French Immersion Playschool in Ardrossan. Her playschool is in the same building as Connor's classroom, even! It's only 2 days/week, but that's okay. She's also going to DayHome 2 days/week, and then one day/week is our special Mom & Daughter day. She's very excited about it, because her best friend has also started Playschool this year. She had been kinda grumpy about being left out - all her friends were going to School, her little brother's going to school, but she wasn't? Oh, the unfairness of life! Luckily, that's all better now. Except that I've got to buy another set of school supplies, indoor sneakers, and stuff, by tomorrow! - Browsers.... I've got both FireFox and Safari installed, now. I prefer Firefox, except that it won't read my forums properly. And, because of that, I don't use it so much. So I'm using Safari (curse you, Wally!). I miss my IE for Mac, but don't seem to be suffering too much for lack of it. And I can read Dooce's blog again, which is good. - Speaking of Dooce (and the pretty pics she takes), I want a Nikon D70 digital camera. (sigh). - - - The Connor Report - Month 4 in Review Lots to say. As I mentioned earlier, Connor has started school. As of Sept 1st, he's been going to the REACH class in Ardrossan Elementary. The first day I dropped him off, my stomach was full of butterflies which were being devoured alive by tequila worms, I was so nervous. You'd think that dropping a kid off for his first day of school would be a simple, painless thing, right? But no. Even with my formidable denial of maternal instincts, I was loathe to leave my little boy - my helpless two-and-a-half-year-old boy, flesh of my flesh and blood of my blood - in the hands of strangers. Qualified, School-Board-screened, caring strangers, but strangers none-the-less. It was gruelling. Somehow, I made it through. Oh, and Connor made it through, too. When I came to pick him up, he was all excited and happy, and didn't really want to go home. The next day, when I brought him back to school, he recognized where he was and started bouncing up and down so fast it was like someone had set him to 'vibrate'. All last week went really well, too. He's doing great in school. Not talking or anything, but being interested in activities, participating in group play-time, helping with clean-up, and everything. And at home, he's much more alive, and alert, and interested in everything, too. Connor has been more receptive to playing with other kids. He'll let Kalen drag him around and play "elevator" and "museum" and "running games" with him. When we go to the Millenium Place Play Park, he tries to do what other kids are doing (going down the slide, chasing a ball, whatever). Today at Star's, he sat next to Kid G and did some parallel play. It was cute. He still doesn't initiate play, nor does he try to communicate with other kids, or hold toys out to them, or anything... but he's not pulling away the way he used to, and that's good! What's better: today at the Audiologist, as we were waiting for the elevator, Connor was actively watching the world around him, and when the elevator arrived - with a DING and lighting the UP arrow - he smiled and POINTED at the elevator and LOOKED AT ME! This wasn't just pointing at a discovery (which would have been great on its own) but trying to share his discovery with me. He wanted to see my reaction. That's leaps ahead of where he was 4 months ago. He's doing so well, and even though I find the work frustrating sometimes, I'm thrilled to see the changes in him from month to month. Over the last month, he: - Began pointing at many things.. sometimes when he sees others pointing, sometimes just on his own. - Said fewer words per week (0 - 4, instead of 2 - 5) but he's saying them quite unprompted, now. (i.e, he won't say the words when you prompt him to, but he'll regularly say things randomly and without prompting) - His eye contact is even better. He's also look at people more with his full eye contact, not out of the corner of his eyes. - Doesn't use signs at all, any more. (I wish he would, but he's just... stopped. (sigh)) - Smiles more frequently. - Often (1/3 of the time, maybe?) he comes when I call his name and hold my arms out to him. - Hangs up his jacket by himself, if you put it into his hands and point him to the hooks. - Started wanting to draw on paper with pencils & pencil-crayons. Connor also went for his Audiology test today. They couldn't test the ears independantly (he wouldn't wear the headphones) but testing both ears together, he scored normally. That means that he can hear normally in at least one ear, and that's all kids need for normal speech development. Which means: "Yay, he's not deaf!", and "Okay - so then why can't he talk?" I heard back from the Glenrose Hospital, BTW, regarding the Pediatric Assessment referral: There's a 8 - 12 month wait. Well then, I guess I wait. And until they can see him, I keep doing what I'm doing: bringing Connor to REACH, keeping him on a Gluten & Dairy free diet, and working with him 1-on-1 whenever I can (which is less often now because of school, but I still get Connor-time in about 4 days/week). |
| Wed, Sept 8, 2004 (1:05pm) Hrm. I'm having trouble reading one of my favorite weblogs, Dooce.com. The CSS isn't working, and the colors are wrong, and I have to highlight the text to be able to read it. Here's a snippet of what I managed to read: There are still some bugs to be worked out in this design, and we'll get to them this week when we have more time between naps and after dinner. This design should work in most browsers, including the latest version of Internet Explorer on the PC. I cannot guarantee that this design will work on older browsers of IE, or for IE on the Mac. IE for the Mac is a dead browser, and so Jon did not design the code to work in that browser. That browser is evil and corrupts innocent souls that would otherwise make it into the Mormon Celestial Kingdom of Heaven. We recommend that you download Firefox or Safari for the Mac. I personally use Safari. It is warm and cute.But... but...! I like IE for Mac! It's not evil! It's... it's... nice, and predictable, and does acronym roll-overs, and I like it! How could anyone say it's evil? Well, okay, Wally says it's evil, too, but he's not as cool as Dooce so I never listened to him. Only, now, if Dooce says so, then... it's... Oh, Bloody blades. Okay, fine. Maybe IE for Mac is evil. Maybe I can change browsers. Safari, hm? Or perhaps Firefox, 'cuz I hate warm and cute. Grr. I hate change. I miss my IE already. (Whimper). |
| Tues, Sept 7, 2004 (12:05pm) Oh my freaking goodness. Someone just tossed this link my way: Dance Dance Ressurection Oh yeah.. please note that there is no information on that page about how to order the advertised product. That means it's a spoof, kay? You'd think that with such features as "Alpha Wave Stimulation" and the "Christian Backmasking" messages, that people would figure this out for a spoof pretty quick... but no, their forum board is full of people who think the game is for real (both from Christians who want to order it for their local arcade, and anti-religious types who want to point out how hypocritical the game is. Some people ain't got two brain cells to rub together, methinks.) |
| Tues, Sept 7, 2004 (11:00am) Quest was good. I'm still sore from a weekend of running up and down hills. Spent half of yesterday being tired and sore, and the other half trying to avoid a migraine which was slowly creeping up on my tired and sore body. Somewhere around 9 or 10 pm, while I was watching dead people, the migraine mamnaged to get a firm hold on me. ("Watching dead people???" - Yes. Dead people. On TV. Wally brought his 'Dead Like Me' first season DVDs over and we - meaning the various people who came to hang out the day after the quest and complain about being tired and sore together - all sat around lazily and watched it.) Luckily I have a pretty high pain tolerance, and since I'm not pregnant anymore I can take my meds, so the migraine was not too debilitating, but still it was past 2am before I managed to fall asleep. Today, the entire right side of my body is tender, but I can see in a 180 degree arc again, I can shoulder-check, I can keep down food, and I no longer want to stab myself in the eye with a spoon. Life is good. - - - The Connor Report My little guy is off to school again this morning. It still feels weird to have a 2yr old in school. He seems to be enjoying it, though. The teachers say he's very involved in activities, watches what's going on, and participates in action songs and various games. He also is adamant about putting things back where they belong, and likes to do clean-up when activities are over. I wonder if that's an autistic thing (autistic kids are also very big on everything being in the right place) or if he's just anal-retentive like his mommy. Who knows? Yesterday, I took Connor to the playground for his play therapy hour. We had lots of fun running around the structures, climbing (he's getting really good at that!), and playing peek-a-boo. Once, I was calling, "Where's my Connor? Where's my little Con-Man?" and he jumped out from where he was hiding, and pointed at himself!! Wow - he was listening to me, he processed what I was saying, figured out his answer, and communicated using gestures! He's really come a long ways from just sitting in a corner and glazing out. |
| Sat, Sept 4, 2004 (3:00pm) Dreamtime... Perhaps it was all the excitement at BP's last Thurs concerning the next Purgatory game. Perhaps it was something I read on Dave's blog. Perhaps it was just something I ate. I don't know. This, however, is what spawned from the twisted recesses of my mind: The scene was set in greys and blacks, with wisps of fog curling around corners and clinging to shadowed recesses. A crowd of Purgatory players huddled in the corner, ready to face whatever awaited within the dark cavern ahead. Out of Character, we knew it was the Settite's lair - Aaron and Iain had been preparing this event for months - but our Vampires only knew this was a raid on some insipid nest of evil. We waited with bated breath as the Brujah forced the doors open. Swords were clenched tightly, and eyes opened wide. I woke up shortly after, still pissed at Dave for letting my Vampire Character get cacked, and for not telling me what Anna had whispered to make him blush. Evil Settites. Getting into my dreams! Bah. |
| Thurs, Sept 2, 2004 (12:35pm) Mechanical Aptitude! Connor just assembled a 4-piece nebulizer unit by himself. Correctly. Admittedly, he's seen the nebulizer in properly assembled form often enough - we use it for Kalen's meds regularly - but I don't believe anyone ever taught him how it goes together. Today I took it apart to wash it (prior to storing it away for her next run of asthma treatments). I put the mask, the canister (where the meds go), the insert (a red molded peice which is essential for turning those meds into mist when air is blown through), and the cap, all onto the counter to dry. And when I walked into the kitchen after dealing with the baby for a few minutes, Connor was sitting in the middle of the floor with the nebulizer, assembled, in his hands. He'd gotten the mask on upside-down, but was in the process of turning it the right way (or at least turning it around and around on its axis, so it was the right was sometimes, and upside-down at others). There are nurses who still haven't figured out how to assemble these units properly. In other, non-kid-related news, I've rearranged my blog listings at the top to include Scritch's current endeavor: All but Malice. This necessitated moving something to the Lollyblogger department to make some room, but there were plenty to choose from for that honour. Anna's blog lost the coin toss (sorry, Anna - I love you, and like knowing that you may still be alive, but if you aren't blogging while you're in the country, I'll just be content to see you in person, and move the blog back to active status the next time you go overseas to update it, kay?)Lazarus was in a pretty precarious position there too, for a while. |