My "office."

I signed up for the SETI@home project. In April, I will be invited to download a screen saver, and then the first time I'm on the Internet, the program will grab a hunk of SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, I think) data. Then when the screen saver kicks in (two minutes, at the moment, and a T-Rex chases a Jeep) my computer will be analyzing the data. When it's done and I get back on the 'Net, it swaps the finished hunk for another raw chunk-o-data. I have a few privacy concerns, but have to believe the program is written with decent security. It sounds to me like what the Internet was made for, in fact. I read an analogy of people looking for a diamond on the beach. Instead of just starting in at one end, they're giving everyone a bucket of sand to sift. It sounds like fun.

Of course, it's possible I will have no downtime at all, since I finally found "Eleventh Hour". (I also found I must disable the screensaver to play it, since it's a DOS game and goes all crazy if the screensaver kicks in.) I heard about an Office Depot grand opening on the radio so Rich and I went out there to eat lunch and see what was there, and I saw "The Eleventh Hour" right away. For only $13 (I've seen it elsewhere for $25 now, so I'm chuffed), and not bundled with "The Seventh Guest." They had a lot of other interesting things. I love stationery stores anyway. You get the feeling that with this particular set of files, or stickers, or paper, or pens, you would be organized! Never mind that you still have to do the work: the empty notebooks and file folders convey limitless opportunity.

In the interests of my sore (better, though) shoulder, I was only carrying the Godbook. So when I wanted to break into the box, once I'd bought the game, I really missed my Swiss Army knife. Today I went to lunch and took the laptop to show my friend. I really tried to carry the purse on the right shoulder, but it's really hard.

Coming home Rich didn't hear a siren, so made a red-light right turn right into an ambulance's path. I begin to realize that his loss of hearing could be more serious than comic. (He has a whole world of his own, interpreting what he thinks was said to him, which is the "comic" part.)

It was raining for the meteor shower last night, but maybe tonight I'll get a chance to see them! Before the rain it was cloudy and the sky, reflecting the light, was nearly white. I stayed in the "office", the place ET will phone, trying to reconstruct my links. I'd changed expiration to 22 days, so I have a chance to catch up with my favorite journals before the links blink out. Somehow, the next day, Netscape cleared them all, so I'm trying to get back to these journals and at least pull up the last entry I read so I'll have a clue next time. Argh.

The slugs and snails were having a high old time in the wildflowers coming up in Gummitch's garden, but Rich has now put an end to that. ET better not look like a slug!