Two entries in three days? Wow, it must be a new millenium.

Okay, now I have to go on a rant. And, I will apologize to Ron Collins in advance, since it was partly the problems I have with reading his website that finally set me off, but I do have to say that it is not just him, that I have been seeing the problem for quite some time, and he was merely unfortunate enough to have a site that I enjoy going to.

My rant is about the use of too much whiz-bang java or perl or DHTML or whatever on a website to the point that the average user who does not have the latest and greatest browser gets loaded down with errors every time they go to that website. Why does every site have to have so many friggin bells and whistles?? Okay, it's nifty and cool and neato to have gee-whiz features on your website, but what ever happened to readability and usability? A novel printed in an ultra-fancy calligraphy artsy font sure looks pretty, but it's impossible to read. And the toaster that has solar power nuclear functions complete with organizer, clock, and defibrillator is a cool way to use lots of current technology, but if it's too complicated to use, what's the point? We've all seen this in the corporeal world, with VCRs only 6-year old geniuses know how to program. Instead of using technological advances simply for the sake of saying, "Hey, this uses the latest technological advance!" why don't we step back and see whether the same thing can't be done with a technology that everyone can use.

You see, I have a somewhat older computer, and right now I'm using the most updated browser that I can have given my available memory and drive space. I'm tired of having to click through a dozen or so java error messages just to access a site. I can't afford to buy a newer computer simply for the luxury of being able to avoid those errors. My mother recently bought a new computer, simply so that she could put a newer browser on and thus avoid the hassle of java hell.

Technology is great. Advances are terrific. I think the world is a cooler place than it was pre-internet. But please let's remember that the average joe is not a programmer or computer engineer. Once upon a time I used to be on the cutting edge of computer and programming technology. However, I haven't worked in that type of industry in many years, and now I admit that I know enough to do what I need to do, and not a whole lot more. I have not kept up on the latest gee-whiz stuff, simply because I have not needed to. To me a registry is the grate in my house that the heat comes out of. I have a feeling that there are far more people like me using the internet than there are people who know the inner workings of java esoterica. Please have pity on us poor, ignorant, uneducated, simple folk with slightly outdated browsers. Kill the java unless it's utterly vital.

Again, I apologize to Ron for my rant. He has a terrific site with some incredible content, and I enjoy reading it thoroughly. If I did not find it so enjoyable, I would never have become so upset when it became impossible for me to read. I simply stopped going to most of the other sites that gave me errors.

Okay, end of rant.

In other news, my virus-imposed purge of my digestive track was a fortuitous way to begin my return to my diet and exercise regime. I kinda (read: totally) went off of the diet during the holidays, and my workouts fell somewhat (read: totally) by the wayside while I concentrated on other important things like painting the interior of my house, picking out border wallpaper, shopping for christmas, and sitting on the couch like a big giant slug with a pint of Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream. The miraculous thing is that in the almost 6 weeks of doing essentially nothing and eating essentially everything, I managed to only gain back about half an inch on the hips. I guess I can credit that to the fact that the increased muscle I've put on has given my metabolism a bit of a boost.

But, the Academy is back in swing with a new class, so I'll be out running with them again. Today was their first PT session, and it was seriously friggin cold at 0730 hours this morning. We're talking temps below freezing. (Please remember that this is South Lousisiana.) I layered up with my usual spandex keep-the-hooters-in-place unitard, along with spandex tights over that, then a t-shirt, a long sleeved shirt, black sweat pants, and a black hooded sweat shirt. Then the black balaclava on the head with only my eyes showing and the black socks on the hands. I looked like an over-stuffed ninja. But it turned out to be the right amount of layering, because although I was still freezing during the class's intro to close order drill and calisthenics, once we started running I was quite comfy and not overheated. Admittedly we only did about a mile, but it felt good. I've actually found that I like running in the cold if you're properly dressed--once you get going, you feel like you could go forever.

And finally, I'd like to welcome Tamela back from that little purple planet in the Alpha Centauri system to which the aliens took her after they rudely kidnapped her back in late September. She has assured me that the experiments they performed on her were not too painful or dastardly, and were mostly just tedious and ticklish. The only part she minded was having to wear that silly outift made up of the three-dozen or so little brass beads. (Apparently the aliens saw Barbarella a few too many times.) And while our Tamela certainly has the figure to pull that sort of outfit off, there was that problem with the thermostat that made brass beads on bare flesh... well, you get the idea. Anyway, she assures me that she is well and fine and recovering from some isolated cases of frostbite in inconvenient areas, and I'm sure (ahem!) that she will soon post an entry to let the rest of the world know that she is well and fine and all that stuff.