I read somewhere, sometime, that the "knock on wood" was something to do with alerting or placating the spirits that live in wood ... so pagan, pre-Christrian.

So, I was just sitting in my chair, leaning back, when the chair just continued to lean further and further back. Sorta' like I was falling backwards, but a little slower than falling. It leaned all the way back (more than 90 degrees) until the headrest hit the floor.

Diagnosis: Metal fatigue led to the metal that holds the chair up to tear away, allowing the remaining metal to fold over....

the "knock on wood" was something to do with alerting or placating the spirits that live in wood ... so pagan, pre-Christrian.

Thanks! That's interesting.

tom, so you didn't fall down or anything, right?

Good heavens I'm looking forward to Happy Hour already.

You deserve an extra-special-fun weekend.

Animals that begin with "n"?

Nilly. What? I'm neither a vegetable nor a mineral.

tom, so you didn't fall down or anything, right?

Nope. It was slow enough that I could reach over and try to stop it. Which didn't work anyway. So I ended up on the floor on my back, on top of a broken chair....

Nilly, is your computer treating you any better?

The stupid. It burns (scroll down - you'll know it when you see it). sigh.

is your computer treating you any better?

Better than your chair, thanks for asking.

I managed to convince it that all the files there are actually, you know, there. It only took half the night.

Then I left that and went to writing the abstract. It's technologically-easier in the sense that *I* am the one who needs to provide all the content in that part of the work - actual writing, what-I-wanna-say, with real thoughts and structure and the like. In this part, I myself am the only one I can whine about.

I'll probably let the computer think long and hard about the way he behaved, for the whole shabbat, so that then I get back to it after it ends, I hope it behaves. Then again, I already supplied myself with some more of the best chocolate chips cookies in the world, because, well, I can't say I trust it any more. I'll definitely work really slowly and try to not-wake-up-the-inner-demon once I try to convince it to compile again.

Well, I can't smell it now. Perhaps people were burning stuff? (I swear, this town - people don't just have grills - they also sometimes just burn stuff in their backyards.)

Tea is steeping and I have eaten yoghurt. Also - I've ordered yarn and beads for an upcoming knitting project. AND I got notice that another yarn order shipped yesterday.

It's my last Friday off - next week: Welcome Week and Students Move-In Day. The week after - classes start.

I loved the way they showed Bela Karolyi's reaction to Liukin's floor routine. Poor Bob Kosta's looked like he was going to slide right under the desk to get away from him.

Was Bela giving that "I'm very nearly a pedophile" vibe he gives sometimes? That man annoys the crap out of me, I've been skipping past him.

We get it, Bela, the Chinese women ain't women. It's wrong. I don't like it either. But I don't have a couple of decades worth of transforming the sport from young women to pre-pubescent girls under my belt to answer for now do I?

It's very upsetting. I feel for them. They work so hard and have so much riding on them at such a young age. And their joints are being ripped apart so they won't be able to compete when they're older ::cough:: Dominique Moscianu ::cough:: And I'm pretty sure it verges on child abuse. And I'm pretty sure NONE OF THE ABOVE BOTHERS BELA KAROLY, he just doesn't like to lose.