Technical difficulties

I had agreed to bring my old Toshiba laptop to the Registration meeting tonight, where it would be plugged into a spare monitor and actualy be useful. This morning when I went to unplug it and stuff it into the bag with Cowzilla, though, I discovered that the part of the power cord that goes from the transformer to the wall was missing. Weird. I don't remember unplugging it, and can't imagine where the cord might have wandered off to. So I'll have to go over to Radio Shack with the remaining half of the power cord and see if their generic cord fits it, or whether I'm going to have to spend $100 of the convention's money on a universal laptop AC adapter.

Update They had a generic power cord that fit. Hoorah! I was so pleased to be informed of this that I indulged myself in a CD player with skip protection. I haven't used the one I have now for quite a while since the bus ride can be pretty rough and it was constantly skipping all over the CD. Very bad. No more of that, though.

Technical difficulties

I had agreed to bring my old Toshiba laptop to the Registration meeting tonight, where it would be plugged into a spare monitor and actualy be useful. This morning when I went to unplug it and stuff it into the bag with Cowzilla, though, I discovered that the part of the power cord that goes from the transformer to the wall was missing. Weird. I don't remember unplugging it, and can't imagine where the cord might have wandered off to. So I'll have to go over to Radio Shack with the remaining half of the power cord and see if their generic cord fits it, or whether I'm going to have to spend $100 of the convention's money on a universal laptop AC adapter.

Update They had a generic power cord that fit. Hoorah! I was so pleased to be informed of this that I indulged myself in a CD player with skip protection. I haven't used the one I have now for quite a while since the bus ride can be pretty rough and it was constantly skipping all over the CD. Very bad. No more of that, though.

Positive bleeding

My ex-girlfriend the oceanographer once said that being in New Orleans for Mardi Gras was something everyone should experience once in their life. I don't know that the idea still has the appeal it did back when I was still drinking and we were planning on doing Mardi Gras together, but it was one of the things that came to mind this morning as I was listening to the news on the radio and getting ready for work.

What didn't come to mind is that today is Ash Wednesday, which is a holy day of obligation when I should be abstaining from meat, fasting, and getting my ass in to church. (Well, I still have a shot at two of those, anyway.) I didn't even think about it until I saw con_dar's post on the subject, and then saw somebody in the elevator with the ashes on their forehead. So I'm going to go after work. I won't take communion, because it's been way too long since I was in a confessional, but at least I'll go to Mass. One step at a time.

As far as giving something up for Lent goes, well, I think I'm going to try and start something instead. The whole point of giving something up for Lent is to concentrate your mind and get you thinking about the season of Lent and what it means. I think I'd be better off if I got up off my lazy ass and started going to Mass again. I really have no excuse. St. Edward's is only thirteen blocks from the apartment, and yet I've only been there once, when I stopped in to pray on the anniversary of my father's death back in December. I need to get going again and get right with God. We have some unfinished business to take care of.

Positive bleeding

My ex-girlfriend the oceanographer once said that being in New Orleans for Mardi Gras was something everyone should experience once in their life. I don't know that the idea still has the appeal it did back when I was still drinking and we were planning on doing Mardi Gras together, but it was one of the things that came to mind this morning as I was listening to the news on the radio and getting ready for work.

What didn't come to mind is that today is Ash Wednesday, which is a holy day of obligation when I should be abstaining from meat, fasting, and getting my ass in to church. (Well, I still have a shot at two of those, anyway.) I didn't even think about it until I saw con_dar's post on the subject, and then saw somebody in the elevator with the ashes on their forehead. So I'm going to go after work. I won't take communion, because it's been way too long since I was in a confessional, but at least I'll go to Mass. One step at a time.

As far as giving something up for Lent goes, well, I think I'm going to try and start something instead. The whole point of giving something up for Lent is to concentrate your mind and get you thinking about the season of Lent and what it means. I think I'd be better off if I got up off my lazy ass and started going to Mass again. I really have no excuse. St. Edward's is only thirteen blocks from the apartment, and yet I've only been there once, when I stopped in to pray on the anniversary of my father's death back in December. I need to get going again and get right with God. We have some unfinished business to take care of.