And the connection is?

So far this morning I have received four spam* for Viagra. I’m not sure who’s spreading the rumour that I’m having problems keeping it up, but I’d like to go on record as saying that it’s as up as it ever was, given that I don’t have an it.
Which means, by the way, that my it doesn’t need to be any longer or wider.
Two of these spam, interestingly, employ what I assume is a filter-busting method: a long string of unrelated words in the subject line. To whit:
“elizabethan valois thermistor weiss aplomb crisis aileen clash eden quickie tallyho mcleod ogre onion ace proteolysis hollandaise”
Aplomb?
As in ‘he swallowed his Viagra with aplomb’?
And I don’t even want to think about ‘hollandaise’ in that context…
*Is this the correct plural form? There are enough technical writers and their ilk reading this – is it spam? spams? spumati?

The Poisonwood Bible

Barbara Kingsolver
I enjoyed this book much more than I had expected to. It’s the story of a quartet of sisters who are uprooted from their life in Georgia to live in a small village in the Congo with their Baptist missionary father. The story is told in alternating chapters – each “book” of the Bible begins with a chapter told by the mother, then the sisters take turns telling the story.

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Countdown

Two days til Spring Break!!
This morning I feel like I really, really need a week off, believe me. I’m heading home after my afternoon class tomorrow – a class which I suspect will be curiously shorter than usual. Then I’m home for ten and a half days!!
I’m doing my best to wrap things up here, to minimize the homework. I have mid-term papers from all three classes, so there’s a lot of correcting to get through; for two of the classes, part of what I’m correcting is the students’ ability to use APA documentation, which is not particularly exciting, to say the least. Needless to say, I’m engaging in a lot of internal pep talks:
“You can do it, Maggie!”
“Yes, but I don’t want to.”
Thankfully the weather is encouraging – this morning, though still stupidly cold, is bright and sunny, and the forecast looks warmer.
And let’s face it – the world just looks better in widescreen. My new machine is wonderful – I’m impressed, Dr. T (who is, after all, a computer guy) is impressed, and the techie people at school, who took care of my new baby for a couple of hours yesterday, installing network thingies, are impressed.
Suffice it to say that I’m happy – if not for this perpetually growing stack of corrections. Grr.

World’s Best Impulse Buyer

Yesterday, I bought two laptops on e-bay.
I have a friend here in Lennoxville who, now that she’s retired, is getting into the cyberworld. So she asked me to find her a laptop, not too expensive, whose primary functions will be e-mail and surfing.
Yesterday, I found her machine. Nice little HP, reasonably priced, no bells and whistles, and just enough power to avoid d-o-w-n-l-o-a-d-i-n-g frustrations.
Then, since I was in the market for my own new machine, I kept looking…

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The rewards of virtue

As you can see from the column to your left (that’s <—), I have been a very good girl. No smoking for 5 whole days!
I'm going nuts*.
In an effort to convince myself that quitting is the best thing I've ever done, I have calculated my savings and I have pretty much decided that mama's gonna get a brand new laptop.
There are a couple of wide-screen babies out there that I am drooling over…
I am now trying to figure out several things – do I buy on-line or in person? do I need Office Pro, or is the basic version good 'nuff? what are the pros and cons of monthly installment plans? if I go with Dell, should I pay an extra $1/month for the Burlwood snap-on cover? You know, important considerations such as these.
Any advice, recommendations, reviews (pro AND con), etc., are welcome, invited and eagerly anticipated.
* Freudians will get a kick out the fact that I initially typed “I’m going buts.”

Conspiracy theory

Here’s a first – L. Ian MacDonald made me laugh this morning, and not in the usual derisive, cynical way:
Paul Martin said he was unaware, because as finance minister and chief financial officer of the government at the time, he was out of the room when it all happened.
This is, of course, in reference to the so-called Quebec Sponsorship Scandal. What I love about this scandal:

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Brush with reality

Since Becca brings up “Survivor,” I have a confession to make – last night I watched “The Apprentice.” I admit it, I couldn’t look away…
In the end, though, the only thing that stayed with me is the thought that Donald Trump really, really needs to fire his hairdresser. How much money does this guy have? Then why does he look like a tribble died on his head?