The personals
Monday Mission 2.29:
1. Do you remember your first encounter with computers? Tell me about that.
I was the Meridies Kingdom Chronicler (that is to say, the editor of the southeast regional newsletter for the Society for Creative Anachronism), and I was using a friend's Apple II to maintain the Officers' Address List as it appeared in that publication. How primitive that seems now.

2. How late can you stay up and still be functional the next day? Do you do that very often?
That depends on the reason I'm staying up. I've done all-nighters, but not frequently. I work until 1:00 am, rarely get to bed before 2:00 am. Often I'm not even home yet.

3. When was the last really good hug you got from another adult? Who was it and what was the situation?
Having been recently released from the hospital after a week's stay following a mild heart attack, I'm getting more than my quota of hugs at present -- although each and every one of them is well appreciated.

4. One thing about children is that they all like to draw. We all shared the same ability and skill level at one time. Do you still like to draw? (Not do you think you draw well, or do others, but do you like to?) If not, how come? Did you get discouraged at some point?
I like to. I'm not particularly good at it. I indulge myself with PhotoShop.

5. I way overslept today. I had to head to work with no shower (don't get too close), and I am not in the best of moods. Have you ever overslept on a day you had something important going on? What's the story there?
Sleep is a precious commodity around here. However, in the name of changing personal habits for health reasons, I'm trying to stabilize that. There is no "story" to oversleeping. If I don't wake up when the alarm rings, there's no telling when I will.

6. Ever go shopping for something you know you can't afford? You look at it and even think about how it will look when you get it home, somehow you justify the cost and believe it can happen? And just before you get to the counter come to your senses? What was the last thing you almost bought, but thought better of it? And why the heck do we do that to ourselves?
Because every medium we subject ourselves to tells us in all capitals that we won't be happy unless we BUY SOMETHING! At the moment, the thing it takes me all my will power not to buy is a portable combination CD/MP3 player. I'm not all that interested in a pure MP3 player, but I am interested in having a unit that will play a CD full of MP3s. I don't have time (or enough CDs) to convert every MP3 I have into audio CD format so that I can listen to it in the car.

7. (It begins again...) It's all such a blur now. I'd asked you to help me wake up but the alarm didn't go off. It was 10 till and just I knew I'd be late. Somehow you got me here on time. How did you do that?
I didn't. You must be thinking of some other guy.

BONUS: Can't you see, you belong to me?
No, but I do, for the record, feel the pain of the scars that won't heal.

Thursday Threesome:
Onesome. all - all the world's a stage... So what types of issues put you on your soapbox?
Look, if you don't want to read the blog, you don't have to, but don't ask me for the Reader's Digest version. Media bias is obviously a biggie, as is self-important tripe, and let's not forget all those people spending my money for my own good (government) and all those other people begging me for what money the government doesn't take at gunpoint...

Twosome. things - what sort of things are you most likely to purchase "spur of the moment" when shopping?
Books, comic books and DVDs.

Threesome. girl - sugar and spice and everything nice? Come now, what are YOU really made of?
Do you get many men answering these things? A rag, a bone, and a hank of (ever-receding) hair.

The Friday Five:
1. How long have you had a weblog?
Since October 2001. It was my birthday present to me.

2. What was your first post about?
It was about the irony of recording an audio adaptation of Robert A Heinlein's "Solution Unsatisfactory" in the days immediately following September 11.

33. How many changes (name, location, etc.) of your weblog have there been, if more than one?
Minor changes in the template layout and color scheme, nothing dramatic.

4. What CMS (content management system) do you use? Do you like it or do you want to try something else?
I'm still on Blogger / BlogSpot. It's the best there is for the price -- but I am weighing my options. Unfortunately, most of 'em involve purchasing my own domain, which I'm not prepared to do right now. I'm also not looking forward to retooling my template to work with a different system.

5. Do you read people who have both a journal and a weblog? Or do you prefer to read people who have all of their writing in one central place?
If it's good writing, I'll read it.