Poor Mandy had a devil of a time picking up her house guest from the bus station yesterday. Fortunately, it all worked out in the end.

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They upgraded Second life.. light effects are much better.

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26 letters about me... today's installment, A, B, C, & D

A - atari 400 - first telecomm 'puter/ bbs /fidonet I actually had a couple of programmable computers before the atari, but that was the one that got me into telecommunications - a stack 6-high of 5 1/4 floppy drives kept messages on the "halls of gladsheim"... Brent had a regular column that'd be considered an 'opinion blog' now. every week he'd type up something a little controversial, and invite comments and debate. more activity came from folks playing turn-based trade wars or star web. back in the day, I only had one phone line, and the first modem was110 bps, soon upgraded to 300/1200/2400 and a phone line for each as I collected a paycheck. (rollover lines meant first open line went to the speediest connection available.... 110 was rough for folks trying to game, even text based. in the time you'd complete one turn, mr 2400 could do 23. perfectly fine for the message boards, though. We tracked old D&D game notes and ran a simple dice server for the heck of it. Brent's Alias there was Loki, mine was Heimdall, Chad was Fenris, and the rest of the crew had fairly non-Norse names. Even my pop had a login as Allfather. 5 way text chat was possible, but usually any chat was just me at the console, warning folks that the bbs was going down for "maintenance", which usually meant I had friends over that wanted to play 4-player M.U.L.E.

The internet has made a lot of things simpler and cheaper, but there is a lot of nostalgia tied up in those times and 8-bit technologies.

B - Books - I love to read, and it shocks me when I hear folks say that they can't stand to do the same. It surprises me even more when someone says 'I like to read, but haven't read a book in years. '

How sad is that? a simple pleasure, easily fulfilled, not done in *years*. Not even a few pages at lunch or before bed? different folks, different priorities, I suppose.

C - Charity - I feel that it's important to help folks that can't help themselves, especially children and animals. so many out there in need, and I can afford to invest a reasonable percentage of time or thought to help make the world a bit better. it makes me more than a little sick to see someone buy a $8000 purse rather than getting a similar one for $50, and giving 7000 healthy meals to the hungry, instead. again, priorities differ.

D - Derek, my brother - I love him, but I don't much like him these days. He can't seem to break out of self-destructive habits, and is willing to take others down into that pit with him. I fear that he's a lost cause, but hope springs eternal.

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Building still abandoned, long since last hurricane season. Silence and desolation, windows like the eye pits in bone picked skulls. There are even some small patches of vegetation rooted and growing in pockets wind and rain had carved in the walls. Looks dead.. worse, synthetic, and never lived in.

Note all screens are ripped out, or gone completely, and roofing remnants on the balcony. Class in the windows have been replaced, but that's about it. roof still has a blue tarp... this hurrican season starts in about a week.

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"There's Poo-Poo In Your Ice" - A Local 10 Problem Solvers undercover investigation into the cleanliness of ice at various South Florida eating establishments revealed that 70% of those establishments tested were serving ice that was unfit for human consumption and 40% had fecal contamination.

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Nifty C-64 emulator - runs in flash

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Moment of Lyric - mp3

When you find yourself in danger,
When you're threatened by a stranger,
When it looks like you will take a lickin', (puk, puk, puk)
There is someone waiting who
will hurry up and rescue you,
Just Call for Super Chicken! (puk, ack!)

Fred, if you're afraid you'll have to overlook it,
Besides you knew the job was dangerous when you took it (puk, ack!)

He will drink his super sauce
And throw the bad guys for a loss
And he will bring them in alive and kickin' (puk, puk, puk)
There is one thing you should learn
When there is no one else to turn to
Call for Super Chicken! (puk, puk, puk)
Call for Super Chicken! (puk, ack!)

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1 year ago - slack, WEP cracking in 10 min, forget me not panties, sithy meme, wiktrivia, Nosferatu download, writing assignment, how to fake fingerprints, sat maps make me think of people as ants

2 years ago - put motion detection on newtcam, last done meme, life on venus, AFMBE - Zombie Smackdown, FL Drugs, hummus

3 years ago - Memorial Day, freaky wind, There, superhero factoid, castrati, Skeletor and Gang, Chipotle, Joan Cusack crush

4 years ago - Gargoyle, </a></b></a>menstrualhut troll, comparison poll, memory from DC (my evil twin), yeti @ home, monster's inc good

5 years ago - monad of John Dee, Morikami, Shrek good, Pearl Harbor bad, lj-death hoax, icky stuff, good stuff, o Mousewheel event, flash ponderings

6 years ago - subject lines, Hunter thinks that my first icon looks like I'm in the phantom zone, age difference, I have done all but the car on that list, 125 things about me