Orkut

Okay, Google is driving me nuts. First I salivate over Gmail, finally
getting in during the third or fourth wave of beta testers, and now I
stumble over a reference to a new in-testing “social networking”
service called Orkut. I’m such a dweeb that I _at once_ want to join
the Borg Collective (blog collective?) but… the way the system is
set up, you have to be invited to join by someone who knows you. Since
I disconnected from my old Pagan world back in ’93 or so, I really
haven’t had many friends. So… I’ll have to depend on someone from
those days who might still remember me fondly (hah) or someone I met
during the years when I was active in HTML discussions… or, finally,
someone from Wachovia. The chance of someone I know _also_ being a
member of Orkut _and_ reading this blog… well… I might as well go
spend some money on the SC lottery. Just about as much of a chance.

Swimming

Moving to this development means that I finally have access to a pool. I went for my first swim today, and had a blast, but the strain on my neck caused a flare-up of my neck pain, and I’m hurting now. A combination of pain meds and my rice-filled neck warmer is keeping me vertical and not too unhappy, but I’m planning to start drinking as soon as we get back from our weekly shopping trip. Ouch.