Hi, James!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:   
      
   JB>  I *still* need to swap fridges here, but I lost my keys   
   JB>  while trying to affect that. Now I have something *else*   
   JB>  to fret about.    
      
   AH>  Hmm.  In that regard, your loss is our gain....  :-Q   
      
   JB>  NOT!!! I still need to find my keys!    
      
      
             I'm not unsympathetic... but when you can't find your keys, you have   
   more time to write.  For selfish reasons I enjoy that.  OTOH, I'm just as slow   
   to answer.  Mea culpa!  If you just put them down somewhere & forgot where you   
   put them I trust you'll have found them by now.  If the cat found them first &   
   decided they'd be fun to play with I hope you have spare keys in reserve.  ;-)   
      
      
      
   JB>  My aunt who had just retired as a librarian asked me,   
   JB>  "What IT department?"   
      
      
             I was teacher-librarian in a small school which couldn't afford even   
   one computer until the parents had raised the money via bake sales etc.  There   
   was no chance of getting my hands on it, because classroom teachers always had   
   first dibs.  But as a volunteer in the library at Nora's elementary school and   
   as a user of the Vancouver Public Library card catalogue I must confess that I   
   still prefer the old-fashioned methods of record keeping in many ways....  :-)   
      
      
      
   AH>  ... anybody who's interested in finding out more about me   
   AH>  has to know where & how to look.  :-)   
      
   JB>  Like I told an x-fighter jockey for the RCAF, "Take an   
   JB>  internal modem and network interface card to your corner   
   JB>  store to ask the first ten people you meet to identify each.   
      
      
             In my experience, you'd be lucky to find anybody who has a clue what   
   you mean when you refer to a modem buddy!  Twenty years ago people were asking   
   me what the Internet was.  Nowadays people don't know what a modem is....  :-Q   
      
      
      
   JB>  It's not impossible to get "nasty", just SO much more work   
   JB>  for the malcontents for so little "gain".    
      
      
             Yup....  :-)   
      
      
      
   JB>  Dad was a GREAT assessor of popular culture and intra-   
   JB>  personal relations.   
      
      
             Nature or nurture?  At any rate, I like the way you do it.  :-)   
      
      
      
   JB>  My Vancouver sister and I just exchanged a volley of   
   JB>  HILARIOUS reminiscent emails about Dad and our upbringing   
   JB>  in his honor. He had some bad traits, but MANY more good.   
      
      
             My father & I didn't always get along, but I'm grateful now for what   
   he taught me.  I reckon most people are probably a mixture of good & bad.  :-)   
      
      
      
   JB>  Knowing what I know about you, I'm secure in calling your   
   JB>  husband a "keeper".   
      
      
             In a word... yes.  :-))   
      
      
      
   JB>  I should toss you [the Vancouver sister's] contact info,   
   JB>  if I remember to mention you to her in August.   
      
      
             Sounds to me like a good idea.  It would give us another way to keep   
   in touch if some disaster occurred computerwise.  Meanwhile, I read my netmail   
   almost daily.  I read my e-mail when the spirit moves....  :-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)