F 1 D 0 -- 2001 11 26 at 02 50 Where do I begin? Backwards I suppose. My room mates here consider television and ramen totally living. They have adopted my television upstairs so that I cannot watch it, ever, without telling someone to go away. This is hard for me, because watching is not a priority, but I like to watch my way. What way is that? I like to watch the next 30-45 minutes of the movie I left off. I don't watch broadcast television, since I loathe the way it keeps going when I have run out of watching time. And I don't want it pressuring me in that way. Today, all around here were delighted by Superstation. It looks American. But like so many good things from USA, the Canadian CRTC (Cdn Radio Television Commission) have a system where they install CANADIAN ads over the US ones. So most of the ads during each break are for the network itself. Rogers Cable. Most ads from Rogers go like this: please update your computers! We are changing our service from At Home (@home) to Rogers dot com. And if you can do this before November 30th, we'll enter you into a draw to win something big! Do it now. Well, I've been getting calls for computer updates each day. Such changes are not trivial. They still don't have a functional news server. Also, my friend Bryan (the one who provides me with Samurai email) tells me they'll be adding stuff so that you cannot send mail except Rogers mail. Gawd, I hate SMTP. I used to use POPSEND, which is another standard for sending mail. An unofficial one. But Bryan has taken Popsend off of Samurai, and so I've been sending through SMTP using @home's server. Now I see it will only be time before it fails. Oh, I suppose I should explain the awful codes I just used. SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, but that's not what it means. It is how most personal computers send their email to the nearest server at the Service Provider. POP3 is another mail protocol, which stands for Post Office Protocol. More nonsense, huh? But this is primarily for receiving messages. It was Qualcomm, the people who made Eudora, and also some Cel Phones, who added an Extended command for Sending mail! What makes POP3 special is the password. You see, SMTP doesn't use passwords. Or anything. It just looks to see if you are calling it from inside the network that it is on. Yes? Ok, it takes your mail. Rogers added another test: does the sender call themselves ____@rogers.com? Yes, send it. No, then reject it. POP3 is used to retrieve your messages, so it has to know who you are, and your password. Adding an extra command for sending seemed so reasonable to me, but nobody else I know thinks so. Bryan is adding some kind of Password Authorized SMTP thing to Samurai. I'll tell you what I learn. I suppose I hate television for all of the awful ads. I remember most of them. Even if I dislike them, I also remember them. Advertisers and Marketers must love people like me. I show up in their Neilson ratings as an ideal human. But companies don't love me. I rarely buy on the basis of an advertisement. Hey, I've not even upgraded my computer from @home to Rogers. Why should I? All of the customers and friends who have done this are already experiencing mild to moderate regrets. So me? I'll wait until my computer freezes over. I know it will. Someone will unplug the server @home and then nothing will work right. THEN I will convert over. I'm waiting for the Christmas ads to start. I've not seen many yet. I'm thinking this: why should anyone want to decorate or buy Christmas things? If I'm buying stuff for the season, I just want to buy NICE things. Pretty things. Good things. Things which will be timeless, and in particular, welcome in my home after the holidays. I wonder why stores get so much holiday junk. They just have to reduce it at the end of the season. THAT is when I'll buy it. I don't mind paying less. http://www.setdanceteacher.co.uk This is the URL where I'm trying to learn the Irish dances we do on Mondays, Wednesday, and many Friday nights. If you choose to print, be sure to reduce the font size if you don't want to go through too much paper. I've printed out the Clare Lancers and the Cashel sets. Now I just want to re-write them onto note cards, and have these safely in a pocket so I can read them just prior to dancing. Maybe then I'll have it in my head. I came home from Kevin's Place. He's our leader for Eastern Euro band practice. We're getting so very good at this. Many are not really musicians, and so seeing the progress is excellent. Some may argue that I'm not a musician, but I think I am. I've been doing this for many years, and I'm good with my ear, and read well too. I'm just a muddy player: so I make lots of rough sounds during a first and second (and many subsequent) readings. This dance is such a stretch for me. The music is from Rumania, Poland, Greece, Macedonia, Turkey, and other crazy lands. The music only underscores this crazed genius. The timing and music break rules. This makes a nice interesting sound for the circle dancers. The stuff is so lively, it just makes you want to move to the sound. Afterwards, we all consume snack foods. This is where we do the traditional bonding between us all. I like it. I stayed late with Bill, Walter and Kevin where we made fun of sports people. You see, none of us really know where the game is tonight, who is playing, what they're playing, and most importantly, who is winning now. But what do four tired musical gents talk about after the women go home? Not too much. It was easier when they were with us. I managed leaving my recorder there, as well as my fiddle. The recorder was forgotten, but the fiddle was left intentionally. I usually buy some groceries at the Fiesta Farms as I go to Kevin's. I only spent 35.00 but got four heavy bags os stuff, including two fresh bags of sugar. We'll see how long they use it! I got sliced meat, sliced cheese, sliced mushrooms, and an avocado. I've been craving sliced avocado on something for so long. Like so many Italian supermarkets, this one is busy. It is also entirely well stocked with fresh vegetation. This is not to be understated. I love that! Knowing the fruits will not be rotten in the core. Prior to going shopping I spent an hour at Internet Plaza, just a couple of blocks away. As long as I'm not near home, I may as well see if anyone has written to me. I didn't get much, so I browsed just a bit before getting Kevin's call saying we had a practice! Christine decided to visit her mom Judy tonight. Christine works in Richmond Hill, near Major McKenzie drive. Trust me, this is far north. She started the day at 6am, so she was driving at 5am. That is her worst time for driving. She has to fight to keep her eyes open, and not experience any drift. I asked around the house to see if anyone knew where my small 9 inch slicer with a rosewood handle is. It is a serrated knife, and has been with me since I lived in Massachusetts. Well, Mike found it. Yay! Now I still want to see my cheese mill, and three small Ikea bowls I have. I'll keep you posted. I must be tired. I cannot remember what I was doing prior to this. That's all I know.