Gah, I'm almost out of time, I start driving to Utah tomorrow morning. I still need to do one last bit of shopping for stocking stuffers, I need to write up the instructions for the cat sitter, I still need to pack, and I *know* I've forgotten something or two. Dad called, it's going to snow a couple of inches in the Salt Lake Valley this evening. Wonderful.

And amsu2 died this morning. Cuss cuss cuss. I was afraid that I was going to be offline for the week, but then a coworker looked it over, then squeezed down on one corner. The frame popped and reseated, and now it works. I suspect a loose screw, which means that when I get back, I'm going to print out the IBM technician's manual for the IBM 2167-4MU, take it apart, reseat and reset everything and put it all back together again.

I finally got my postal mail. I had lost my mailbox key at the Cirque du Noc, a week and a half ago, and have been bugging my property manager every couple of days since for a replacement. Today I parked myself in front of their desk and told them I needed it today. The maintenance guy came out with his toolbox to rekey it. I was expecting him to use a copy of the mailman's key, or a skeleton key, to open my box to get to the locking cylinder. But instead, he used a specially shaped piece of cut sheet metal that he pried behind the door, and then hooked and pulled, and it yanked off the locking mechanism. I expressed my concern, and he said that after he learned of this trick, he moved over to a Post Office Box..

A week and a half of pmail is a thick bundle. Two of my Christmas cards were returned as not-at-address-no-forward. The one to the Foggs, and the one to the Forreys. That's... disconcerting. I did get a card from Earl. When I see him in Utah, I will get the new addresses from him, I hope.

Last night I went down to omahas. She had wanted to see A Beautiful Mind, so after I enjoyed a bowl of their delicious risotto we watched it before I sent it back.

I have a huge stack of receipts to enter into my registers. I think I will just bring them down to Utah with me.

judyg called me last night. For the past couple of years, I've spent New Year's Eve in Boston with her, but will not be doing so this year. Her cat, Alex, has been suffering from various old age ailments for almost a year, and has taken a turn for the worse. :(