Chris Hansen’s blog

In the United States, the day after Thanksgiving is called “Black Friday”, in reference to the onslaught of the Christmas buying season. There have been many words written over the last 50 years about the increasing commercialisation of Christmas, originally only the commemmoration of the birth of Christ, with the gifts coming on Epiphany (when the Three Kings brought some for the infant Jesus). I could not count the number of sermons I’ve heard over the last 50 years which try to get us to “put Christ back in Christmas”. And then, you see what consumerism and the frenzied search for a bargain has wrought in Lond Island. I am nearly physically ill after hearing of this.

I know that none of my (very few) readers are the kind of person who would trample over a defenseless person to save $20 on a vacuum cleaner. I know that. And yet, when a crowd gathers, with one purpose, sometimes courtesy, common sense, and even humanity seem to be absent.

The final paragraph of that NY Daily News story is: “I look at these people’s faces and I keep thinking one of them could have stepped on him,” said one employee. “How could you take a man’s life to save $20 on a TV?”

The simple pleasure of buying something for your kids or your spouse or your friends to signify the great gift that God has given to us, his only Son, has turned into a stampede to buy as much as you can in the hope that you’ll get things before everyone else can get them.

I am ill.

Wake up, everyone! Christmas has turned into something that has nothing to do with the birth and the gifts that inspired the holiday. Time to stop. Think!

…and many happy returns of the day.

There is a group on Live Journal called vintage_ads; it often reproduces ads from a bygone age. Well, this ad from a very bygone age caught my eye today. Men of a certain age, those of us who are still around, that is, might observe a minute’s silence…

I often do searches for my ex-es in Google and other places. Today, I did a search for my most recent ex (admittedly, 11 years ago) and found him in Facebook.

He’s gotten quite chunky.

I am ashamed of myself for peeping.

But, I’ll probably do it again.

I’ll bet he does it too; that’s why this post is friends-locked.

• 07:23 @MrPandaBehr : congratulations! hope you both have a wonderful time. #
• 07:24 morning tweeters. shut the computer down last night and it started up like a dream. perhaps that’s the secret to Vista: turn it off. #
• 07:25 @urbanbohemian : finding a guy who does not throw bullshit is even better…hope it happens for every guy. #
• 17:43 vista just told me it wasn’t genuine. i had fired up my internet radio and asked it to play files on my computer. Vista was not pleased… #
• 21:52 @MrPandaBehr : that is really sweet…make one for me and enjoy it! #
• 22:32 well, tweeters, just pulled a splinter out of my thumb, so i guess it’s time for bed. Fedora 10 is interesting, BTW, but hard to dual-boot. #

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Thanks to for bringing this article of religion to my attention. Vicars who hang curtains should at least wear boxer shorts.

Thanks to BoingBoing for this one.

…and many happy returns of the day!

• 10:07 morning all…watch this guy predict the recession two years+ ago: tinyurl.com/64pbtg #
• 11:56 @dirrtysean : you should put the doll on your Calvins. #
• 22:51 good night tweeters. sleep tight. #

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I got one letter today, from Chase bank. I have two credit cards with them, the only ones left over from my life in the United States. I just paid the annual fee of one, a bit late (as the bill came while I was in Singapore and Cambodia). When I opened the letter, I was startled to read that the other had been cancelled because they “assumed that since you had not used the card in the past 24 months, you no longer had need for it”.

Now, in a way, that is true. I’ve had this card (and its predecessors–I believe it was a GE card before Chase gobbled it up) for 20 years. In addition, there was no annual fee.

Duh! THAT’S why they cancelled it. The other one they get $20 a year out of, so they’ll keep that one going. There was no way on the letter of appealing the bank’s decision, no number to call in case I actually wanted to use the card, no “thanks for the twenty years of your business we have been privileged to have”, just “cut up your card so that you don’t inadvertently try to use it.”

One wonders. If I were ever to have to return to the US to live, I would now have only one card that I could use (which is, in and of itself, not a bad thing, I guess). Perhaps I should just cancel the other Chase card too. I have two cards from UK sources, totalling GBP 5500 in credit, which if we use them we pay off each month, thus incurring no interest charges.

Obviously this is another sign that (1) our financial affairs are not in bad shape, in that I don’t have need of this card to live, (2) the credit crunch is biting on the banks, as they are cancelling cards that have not been in use for a while to limit their own exposure to possible bad debt later on, especially cards that attracted no annual fee, and (3) God doesn’t want me to move back to the United States.

…and many happy returns of the day!

• 13:03 back from the diabetic clinic. need different meds, need to lose weight, argh. #
• 17:08 afternoon mostly wasted, now waiting for HWMBO so that I can start dinner. #
• 20:48 ironing purificators and lavabo towels and listening to electronica on my Ubuntu laptop. What could be finer? #
• 21:42 finished the altar linens, now off to surf and have a Dr Pepper Zero… #

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• 08:12 morning tweeters all. church, then gym. #
• 14:26 @MrPandaBehr : have fun up in the frozen north! #
• 14:27 @stephenfry : thanks for the tip on the BB Storm. Maybe it’ll be finished by April when my current contract is up. If not, it’s iPhone 4 me! #
• 14:37 off to the gym shortly. #
• 14:50 correction: not off to the gym, it’s raining buckets, spades, cats, dogs, almost everything. #
• 16:46 @danvesma : yes, tnx, that what @stephenfry said. i just wish vosafone had the iPhone as I’ll have to change providers to get one. #
• 00:09 night night tweeters mine…i’m off to dreamland. tomorrow will be hard, so i need all the sleep i can get. #

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Yesterday afternoon we went to Tate Modern to see the Unilever exhibition and the Mark Rothko “Late Series”. I was a bit disappointed in both.

The Unilever is a series of futuristic tableaux at the opposite end of the Turbine Hall from the doors, separated by strips of translucent coloured strips hanging from the balcony. When you go through, there are a series of steel bunk beds, two-deep, lacking mattresses, some of which have books laid on the mesh bedsprings. There is a dinosaur skeleton in one corner, a movie loop in another corner (science fiction), and Louise Bourgeois’s giant spider Maman, Alexander Calder’s Flamingo, and some other sculptures scattered around. I found it disconcerting. Others may find it not so disconcerting.

As for Rothko, I guess I’m just a philistine. I don’t see anything useful or beautiful in his canvases. Apparently one is hung upside-down but I couldn’t tell which. Luckily we are Tate members so we didn’t have to pay to get into this one.

The Starbucks in the new office building across the street from Tate was open (every other time we’ve been there it had closed before we got out of the museum) and we had our usuals. Then we walked home and that was about it for the afternoon.

We went to the Indian restaurant in the shopping centre with in the evening and were, yet again, disappointed. The okra (according to all reports; I don’t eat the stuff) was old, my chicken was disappointing (the chunks were too big) and they wouldn’t provide us with a pitcher of water…instead we had to ask for glass-by-glass refills. Teejus in the extreme.

Today is also a pain. Good sermon at St. Matthew’s, but nearly 20 minutes long. We had pasta with red pesto sauce for lunch…very good it was, too. Then I was going to the gym, but it began to bucket down rain and HWMBO told me not to go out–so protective. He’s in the living room watching re-runs of episodes from the first and second seasons of the X-Files. I’m sad, as I’m blogging instead of doing something useful.

• 09:28 @ErnieAtLYD : What to do after a burrito? Burp, of course. #
• 09:33 morning tweeters. it’s clear this morning, no cloud to mar the sky. colder than … well…you fill in the blank. Tate Modern today. #
• 17:13 @chrys : where is this wonderful Post Office. They’ve closed down the only big one near the Elephant. #
• 22:12 @chrys : oh yes, just across from Spaghetti House and the National Portrait Gallery. #
• 22:14 @jmspool : “prius” in Latin is an adverb and thus indeclinable. As a car, I think it would be “Priuses”. #
• 22:18 And, to all tweeters everywhere, the plural of “octopus” is either “octopuses” or “octopodes” (ok-TAW-poh-deez). NOT octopi. You are warned! #

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Spreckels.

That is all.

You may remember that I blogged about justin.tv when it was relatively new. I have stopped watching as it’s descended into something about as chaotic as Grand Central Station in rush hour. However, tipped me off to this story about a teenager committing suicide on the web. Abraham Biggs Jr. took pills laid down on his bed, and died, all in front of his webcam. I was startled to read in the BBC story that it was on justin.tv. Very sad.

There are a host of Singlish vulgarities, many taken from Hokkien or other Chinese dialects. Here’s a short film about them. NSFW, I fear, even if you have headphones as there are subtitles with helpful translations.

! from Brian Koh on Vimeo.

As a person with many Singaporean connections (HWMBO and his predecessor, my ex-, as well as many friends), I have an interest in Singlish. Well, one of my lj friends seems to be starting a weekly Singlish “lesson”.

This is actually here for …a picture is worth 1000 words…

• 08:57 @RobertFischer : “City” or not? Depends. Postal address: “New York, NY”. Differentiate from the state? New York City. #
• 08:59 morning, ye tweeters. got an email from a former colleague asking for tips as s/he’s about to be made redundant…sad. #
• 21:43 @chrys : I pay a few pounds each quarter for “reliablehosting” which is a US based VPN, have had good results on various restricted sites. #
• 21:47 @helenroper : i thought his replacement, whoever he was, wasn’t too bad. jack dee was strangely inarticulate, though. #

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Get your swaps here!

• 11:36 morning tweeters. had a great lodge meeting last night with a Grand Officer present…nothing on today though… #
• 14:54 @helenroper : my friends @fj and spwebdesign (on lj) swear by it–say it’s the best broadband ever and fj lived in the US for a while… #
• 16:09 off to do some memorisation… #
• 23:12 @MrPandaBehr : i would avoid giving blowjobs if i had a canker sore, and would hope that anyone who gave me one would be sore-less…YMMV #
• 23:14 goodnight, tweeters all. memorised another paragraph, went to a diocesan meeting, and watched Animal Planet tonight. Very productive… #

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I have been drinking decaf for a while, but every so often, I want some caffeine. I hadn’t seen this cautionary tale.

We were doing a Raising last night–that is the third and final degree in Freemasonry. We have been rehearsing for two months (4 Lodges of Instruction) and were pretty confident that we could do it well. Our visiting officer was also going to be there, so we thought we should be extra-prepared. In addition, we were doing the formal closing of the Third Degree working, which is quite intricate. As Junior Warden, I have a part in that.

We started off on time, and just as we had opened in the first degree, there was a knock at the door. The visiting officer was a bit late and wished admission. However, when he came in, he asked for an escort for the Metropolitan Grand Inspector, who is a Grand Officer and responsible for all the Visiting Officers in the London Area. So, the deacons and directors of ceremonies lined up, went out of the lodge, and returned with the Grand Inspector, who politely refused the gavel (he is entitled to take over running the meeting from the Worshipful Master if he likes, but rarely if ever does). We then went on with the meeting. We were totally surprised, as he had not informed us that he was going to be present. However, we could but continue and hope for the best.

The Third Degree went on without any major hitches. We all played our parts to perfection, and our Brother was raised in splendid form. After the raising, the Metropolitan Grand Inspector presented long service certificates to two brethren who had in total been Freemasons in Goliath Lodge for nearly 100 years.

At dinner (the dreaded Christmas dinner, complete with Christmas crackers and a slab of dead Christmas pudding) we all were very satisfied with a job well-done and we think that the quality of the ritual shown to the Visiting Officer and the Metropolitan Grand Inspector was impressive enough so that our Lodge will be remembered when opportunities for honours arise.

Our next meeting is February, when we will be raising my friend and former colleague. I shall be delivering the Charge to the Initiate: 8 pages of a very intricate lecture. I have about 2 pages memorised already.

• 08:06 @MikeonTV : i start with 3 desktops, 3 laptops, and 50 cases of books. i would go bankrupt if i had to move now… #
• 08:08 @jallen285 : nothing worse than going to a movie alone… #
• 08:24 morning tweeters mine…looks a bit brighter today. feeding the squirrels at the command of HWMBO. #
• 15:31 @besskeloid : so are our squirrels #
• 15:31 @legalmoose : they are cute, mind you, and they all have different personalities. #
• 15:32 @soveren : what kind of consel do u need? #
• 15:32 about to get ready for lodge meeting…hope the food is better than it was last week…supposed to be “Christmas dinner”…sigh… #

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I got a SPAM[tm] email today headlined: “Treat as Urgent”. In this email, a “Sir Richard Lane” says:

Please note that I have in the past few weeks written you of this intention of allowing me to advice Citibank of United Kingdom to wire the sum of US$16,800,000 into your account. And I feel like reminding you once again.

I’m glad that Sir Richard feels like reminding me once again. I’d feel like answering him except that I’ve got the hiccups.

Three men died on Christmas Eve and were met by Saint Peter at the pearly gates.

‘In honor of this holy season’ Saint Peter said, ‘You must each possess something that symbolizes Christmas to get into heaven.’

The first man fumbled through his pockets and pulled out a lighter.

He flicked it on. ‘It represents a candle’, he said.

‘You may pass through the pearly gates’ Saint Peter said.

The second man reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys.

He shook them and said, ‘They’re bells.’

Saint Peter said ‘You may pass through the pearly gates’.

The third man started searching desperately through his pocket and finally pulled out a pair of women’s panties.

St. Peter looked at the man with a raised eyebrow and asked, ‘And just what do those symbolize?’

The man replied, ‘These are Carol’s.’

Thanks to suellen from the Shep list for this…

Like, um, politicians in the past couple o’ years, well, they go “Duh!” whenever they have to answer, like. A hard question. Well, hey, look! Here’s a shocker! One politicians, like, goes “Hey! I’m grammatical!”

If you have a neighbour who is, well, not your kind of person and you want to give him or her a Christmas gift that s/he’ll remember for years to come, give this Christmas decoration. (White sheet and hood not included). Thanks to towleroad for the tipoff.

• 10:29 morning tweeters. grey day in London. #
• 12:12 @besskeloid : we have it down here too, oddly enough. was very grey this morning. #
• 15:42 anyone got recommendations for a media player for ubuntu that doesn’t need constant codec downloads and works reasonably well?? #

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A Torontonian (hi, !) becomes an exchange student in Singapore, and his wickedly funny take on life there is most interesting and broadly on-target.

Woke up about 5:30 to make a rest stop, and no sooner had I gotten back to bed than the burglar alarm at St. Matthew’s went off. As with everything at 5:30 am, it took a few moments for me to realise that it was the burglar alarm. I got up, took my keys, and went over to investigate.

After looking through the building and finding no intruders, I looked at the alarm panel and discovered that there was a “Fault”, nature unspecified. I thought that it might be the fuse, so came back home and got a new one. Replacing the fuse did nothing, though. I then got the bright idea that the circuit breaker might have popped, and went around to the boiler room, where the circuit breakers live. Sure enough, the circuit breaker had popped, and resetting it stopped the alarm, doubtless to the eternal gratitude of the neighbours.

Of course, sleep was now impossible, even though I tried.

• 08:56 morning, tweeters all. i can’t tell whether my terrible heartburn comes from Ma Po Tofu or flucoxicillin. I suppose it doesn’t much matter. #
• 22:43 well, tweeters mine, time for bed. i haven’t tweeted much today. went to the gym. #

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• 12:41 @MrPandaBehr : what is a “preacher curl”? #
• 12:43 @MrPandaBehr : see Naked Boy Chronicles (google for the address) for his story of going in for routine surgery and leving minus one testicle #
• 12:44 afternoon, tweeters. installed ubuntu on my old laptop tonight…just what old laptops were made for. impressed so far. #
• 12:46 @MrPandaBehr : tinyurl.com/56mmmu #

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I was about to complain about trying to install drivel on the Ubuntu computer. I shoulda read the documentation. I just typed one line into the terminal, and it downloaded drivel and installed it, and that’s what I’m blogging on now. It would be nice if you could add tags to your post, but otherwise, it’s great.

I am liking Ubuntu more and more.

I haven’t blogged much since I got back from Southeast Asia. I apologise.

The blister on my foot from Singapore turns out to not be infected. They gave me scads of antibiotics anyway. One good thing: at least they didn’t give me the one you can’t drink alcohol with. I asked the foot clinic for advice on how to prevent such blisters when I visit hot climates. They said that well-fitting lace-up shoes/trainers are probably best and that slip-ons like crocs may cause rubbing that can end up in a blister. Taking along a supply of antibiotics to take if I do get a blister is also a good idea. I go to the Diabetic Clinic at St. Thomas’s a week from tomorrow. I expect that some change in my medication will happen then.

I have not yet been able to connect my Skype Wireless Phone from Belkin to our router. This seriously pisses me off. I don’t know whether it’s the router, the phone, or a combination of both. When I try to update the firmware in the phone, the computer complains that the phone isn’t connected to it (by USB). Nothing I do gets it to connect. The firmware upgrade doesn’t work with Apple (I tried, believe me). I may try with Ubuntu (see later item).

I have not heard anything from work since I got back. People tell me that I shouldn’t worry, but should be pleased that I have nothing to do but get paid for it. This is quite scary, actually, as my job may at any time just be eliminated (me not having anything to do makes that more likely, in my view). I will be starting to study for my ISEB Practitioner’s exam (scheduled for Dec. 12) this week, so that, in a way, is work. We will be OK even if I lose my job, and I think I would be able to get contract work in training and consulting. But, no one wants to lose their job; more importantly, having something to do helps to keep one sane.

I have more than 500 pictures of the temples around Angkor Wat. I need seriously to get them categorised and put up on Flickr.

I have been bitching about Vista for quite a while. Thus, when someone suggested Ubuntu 8.10, I decided to give it a try, but on my older laptop. My immediate verdict is: apart from the fact that it wouldn’t partition the (60 GB) hard disk to dual boot with XP, everything else was a dream. Installation was easy (once I conceded that I would have to give up the hard disk entirely to Ubuntu–I didn’t keep any data on it anyway) and, more importantly, Ubuntu runs like greased lightning on this rather elderly (probably around 4 years old) laptop. It was a gaming laptop, so it’s got memory to spare, but I was surprised at how fast it was. For example, downloading this .pdf newsletter from St. Michael’s Church in Marblehead took about 6-7 seconds on Vista. The download on Ubuntu was almost unmeasurably fast.

Also to note is this fact: when this laptop was running XP, it was almost impossible to get the Netgear PCMCIA WiFi card to work correctly and connect up to our wireless router. Now that it’s running Ubuntu, not only did the installation not need a separate driver, but it connected up first try (with the WPA key and SSID) and has continued to connect up seamlessly ever since. While downloading the aforementioned newsletter, I was also listening to a Hearts of Space radio program, and doing both over the wireless connection, not Ethernet. There were no dropouts on the music, and the newsletters continued to download quickly.

I still haven’t tried all the features of Ubuntu, but I’m thinking that it might actually be a viable alternative to Vista and Windows generally. The price (free) is also right. The Register review was generally favourable. If you want to try it, the download site I used is here.

• 10:27 @seashellseller : I will, thanks. #
• 10:28 @MrPandaBehr : what version of Ubuntu did u load?? #
• 10:29 @MrPandaBehr : does he have three, or have u lost one?? (balls, that is)? #
• 10:30 good morning, ye tweeters! we’re off to the Serpentine and White Cube Hoxton today to resume our art gallery visiting… #
• 11:19 no other tweets for 45 minutes?? where are you all? is something going on that i should be attending?? #
• 14:34 @MrPandaBehr : oh, ok, but it was funnier when i thot it referred to testicles… #
• 19:03 @chrys : you up for lunch tomorrow at the Well?? #
• 20:13 @chrys : 1 pm at st matthew’s court for a manhattan, then on to the well?? will get derek too. #

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…and thanks to Ashton Cruz for posting it.

• 08:10 morning tweeters all…TGIF. hope to go out to dinner with HWMBO tonight…we haven’t eaten dinner together since Tuesday… 🙁 #
• 15:19 plumber came and we think fixed the pipes leading to the washing machine. very reasonable price too. #
• 15:27 have i tweeted to everyone how much i hate Vista? Now I hate Belkin too. #
• 22:35 well, tweeters all, went out to dinner with HWMBO–had a burger. Shopped at Fopp for a while and came home £45 poorer…nighty night all! #

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I am starting to get myself ready for changing broadband providers. O2 (thanks, and ) seems to provide a better service than BT, and I would hope to be able to change before the end of the year. One thing that I need to do is change email addresses on the scads of emailed newsletters and other lists that I receive (and there are plenty of them). I am unsure whether cancelling BT Broadband will also automatically remove my current email address. In any event, btinternet.com seems to be bouncing lots of emails for me, saying that I am not a subscriber. So, I will make that reality as soon as I can.

I have discovered that sometimes changing addresses on these lists is well-nigh impossible. I have had all manner of interactions with websites. Some allow an easy change, others allow it, but bury the menus needed to accomplish it so deeply that you end up establishing a new account and then unsubscribing from the old one. This is all most annoying.

It will take at least until the end of the month to be certain that I’ve changed all email addresses that I care about to the new one. Then I will monitor during December to ensure that I’ve gotten all of them. Only then will I try switching over.

…and many happy returns of the day. You share a birthday with the Prince of Wales…we were awoken to the National Anthem on BBC Radio 4 this morning in honour of his 60th birthday.

• 08:04 @MrPandaBehr : i’m tired already just reading about your workout. #
• 08:04 @soveren : “wot dreams”…you just KNOW that I misread that the first time I saw it… #
• 08:07 @stephenfry : don’t believe everything you hear on the BBC…the license fee doesn’t buy the truth, the whole truth, & nothing but the truth #
• 08:09 @MikeonTV : if u like bugs wait until Cambodia. Did I mention bringing mosquito repellant and sun screen? #
• 08:11 morning tweeters. grey skies in the morning mean sodding rain all day…no word from employer about possible postings just yet… #
• 11:45 off to my neighbour mark’s place to have lunch…chicken soup. #
• 13:08 back from lunch…very nice chicken soup. now to iron a shirt for Chapter this evening. #
• 14:14 having ironed my shirt for this evening, will get dressed and leave shortly… #
• 22:52 @danbjorn : probably the most exciting thing to happen in Plymouth since the Pilgrims set out for America. #
• 22:53 shoulda stayed at home; naff chapter meeting, then horrid dinner (turkey escalope that was like a shingle, and that was the high point…) #
• 22:54 night-night tweeters, must neck my pills and retire… #

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• 09:06 @MikeonTV bring lots of US $ in small bills (1, 5, 10, 20). Spend money to help alleviate their grinding poverty in Cambodia. Take pictures. #
• 09:07 @MikeonTV …I just got back from there a couple of weeks ago and it’s beautiful. Siem Reap is interesting too…Angkor Wat is very holy. #
• 13:04 back from foot clinic…on antibiotics again as a precaution but foot seems to be ok after excursion to Southeast Asia. #
• 16:14 @MikeonTV : no public transit in Siem Reap…you get a tuk-tuk from your hotel or a van, and arrange it beforehand. #
• 16:15 @MikeonTV : …but very cheap ($12 round trip from our guesthouse to Siem Reap and back for two tuk-tuks). #
• 16:49 @MikeonTV : what is “midnight day”? you should prebook…there are lots of tourists there. #
• 19:11 made the Grauniad’s Notes and Queries column in G2 today with an answer about why queue are so long to vote in US elections. #

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MadPriest has it right, as usual: the US Roman Catholic Bishops seem to be discussing the wrong thing.

From MadPriest, and many thanks for giving me a laugh today…

One sunny day in January, 2009 an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Avenue, where he’d been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the U.S. Marine standing guard and said, “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”

The Marine looked at the man and said, “Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.”

The old man said, “Okay”, and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”

The Marine again told the man, “Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.”

The man thanked him and, again, just walked away.

The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same U.S. Marine, saying “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”

The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, “Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Bush. I’ve told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the president and no longer resides here. Don’t you understand?”

The old man looked at the Marine and said, “Oh, I understand. I just love hearing it.”

The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, “See you tomorrow, Sir.”

• 09:26 morning tweeters. partly cloudy and windy in London today. formatting yet another hard drive in my SATA cradle. #
• 09:27 @tug What in your opinion is the best broadband provider around? My BT contract is coming up and I would like to consider a change… #
• 11:26 @fj : you could do it anonymously…universities do it for courses. #
• 11:27 @tug : thanks, i need something that is more than just OK, I think…i’m tired of BT silliness. #
• 21:53 well, tweeters, a very frustrating day comes to an end. my workfriend S is getting severance pay, w00t! #

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• 06:59 morning tweeters. another dull week begins. #
• 07:02 @MrPandaBehr : gay-friendly online church? I will put out a query on a list I frequent that might know… #
• 07:08 @tug : those monks have been brawling for more than a millennium–why stop now? #
• 07:09 @soveren : your Christmas list? #
• 13:32 struggling with the desktop computer all morning…really annoying. #
• 16:42 i would like to strangle the person who masterminded Windows Vista, as s/he has complicated my life today quite a bit… #

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You often hear stories of people who borrowed a book from a library and forgot about it making amends and paying their fines decades later. This story, about a gentleman who restored something he stole many years ago, makes me feel good about being human. The money is going to a drugs charity.

• 07:10 morning, tweeters all. the sermon is finished (Friday!) and will be off in a couple of hours to deliver it. #

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