Odds and Ends

[hrj]

My customer service luck is looking up -- just had a very pleasant experience with Earthlink regarding my DSL. (Intermittent connection interruptions -- it turned out to be the phone cord gone bad but it took us a while to get there.) *** When I was in Lacis a couple weeks ago, I asked if they were planning to carry copies of Thor Ewing's book on Viking Costume and strongly suggested that they consider it. Well, yesterday the downstairs tenant gloatingly waved a copy at me saying, "Look what I found at Lacis!" So I popped up to the store on my lunch hour today and managed to buy the last copy they had. (Memo to self: When convincing a store to carry a book you want to buy, make sure to request them to hold a copy for you!) *** I was being annoyed enough by sleep issues earlier in the week that I'm doing one of my periodic caffeine-detox sessions. Three days with no coffee. I'm definitely feeling more rested -- the only problem is I like my coffee. I like the taste and I like the ritual. And if I want decaf at work I'm going to have to brew it up a cup at a time for myself. *** The fog was lovely this evening biking to the gym and then home -- drifting through the streets at eye-level. But I think it's time to put the bicycle away for the winter now that it's full dark when I leave work. The route is just a little too hairy in the dark, despite lights and reflectors.