Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Weird

Boy, this feels weird. I finally converted the Journal over to Blogger. The change should be fairly transparent, except that there is no longer any journal index page that lists the entries by date. Oh, it's possible I could figure out how to do it, but Blogger doesn't do it automatically anymore, and I haven't had time to look at it. There will be a list of "Recent Entries" in the sidebar that will list, I believe, the previous ten entries. If you want to go back and look at a list of entries, there's always the Archives.

Okay, though, now that I think about it, I'm going to have to figure out the entry list thing, since I have no idea what happens to the old entries once they drop off the "Recent Entries" list. I mean, of course they aren't deleted or anything, but I don't know how to get to them.

There also won't be "next" and "previous" links in each entry; I don't think there's any way to do that. If anyone knows, let me know, but as far as I can tell, that's not a supported feature. And Blogger works just fine for me, I'm not going to go to the trouble of installing any other tool on my server, or paying for anything -- let's not go crazy here!

I'll figure it out, I'm sure.

In any event, as always, if you notice anything weird or wonky, feel free to let me know.

In other news, well, there really isn't any. Bob got home yesterday, and we were all delighted to see him. It's always so weird when he isn't here. We're all cranky.

I loved my new little teapot so much that I ordered another one this morning so I could have one at work and at home. Other than that excitement, it's been pretty quiet.

Oh, since I finished The Memory of Running, I've been listening to the audio version of Terry Pratchett's Hogfather. It's sort of a Christmas book ("Hogwatch," actually), so I meant to listen to it during the Christmas season, but I didn't get to it. So I thought maybe I'd save it for next Christmas, but I ran out of stuff to listen to, and thought I'd try it, and it's wonderful.

I had read the book a few years ago and enjoyed it, so I knew I would like listening to it, and it really lends itself to audio. The narrator (Nigel Planer) is great.

I'm guessing that people either love Terry Pratchett or hate him. I find he does wear a bit thin sometimes, but I'm really enjoying this one.

The Hogfather is the Discworld's version of Santa Claus, and the ominous "Auditors" have decided that he needs to be eliminated ("inhumed" in Assassins Guild-speak). Of course, a mythic creature can't exactly be killed, except by ensuring that no one believes in him any longer . . .

So Death decides to take the Hogfather's place on Hogwatch Night, and, sticking a pillow underneath a new red robe, he takes off in the Hogfather's sledge (pulled by four giant pigs) and, with his assistant Albert, delivers Hogswatch cheer to all the good little boys and girls. ("Ho. Hoho.") Meanwhile, Death's adopted granddaughter, Susan, is working as a governess to two little children named Gawain and Twyla, whose previous governess was always telling them to be good or the monsters would get them, and she was so good at convincing them that the monsters were real, that they are real.

I especially loved Susan's discovery of the new catflap at Death's house, and the ever-refilling bowl of cream, along with Death's notes on how to effectively take the Hogfather's place. Never having been human, his efforts to come to grips with humanity are, actually, touching.

Quite a fun book. You know, if you like that sort of thing.

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