Austin, TEXAS, January 6, 2006 — Today I noticed that Microsoft seemed to have a fix for the widely publicized flaw in graphics rendering. So it was a day when I tried to update four different computers with the fix. Which meant I bumped into a problem that I seem to have with my NIC on my main machine (the one I use most of the time). Sometimes when I boot it doesn't come up. The machine does but the NIC doesn't connect to the router. Try renewing, no dice. Boot. Boot again. Ooh..it's magic, works now. (Only today it took about five or six tries.)

But things like that only matter because we are so dependent on our computers. And, I realized as I sat there staring at

my computer, which was working fine, that what I'm dependent on is the Internet. Only it wasn't connected to the Internet. (Or to my LAN either for that matter.) It seemed useless. There were many things I couldn't do. I couldn't check my brokerage account to see if they did something I asked. The backups from FFP's machine to mine that go off in the middle of the night over the LAN couldn't occur until I fixed it. I couldn't update my journal. Not out to cyberland for you to see. And I couldn't satisfy my Holidailies addiction. And here it was the very last day of it. It started working again. And I could have moved my activities to my laptop, reluctantly. But it made me realize how much I depend on the box being connected to make things worthwhile.

So I did get a Holidailies post up and now this one, too, to complete my Holidailies 'pledge.'

I loved the portal and the panel did a great job of giving us some selected reads. I also just wandered through other people's journals. And, I admit it, I was inordinately proud that this one was listed in the 'best of.' I admit that although I made a resolution not to I was trying my best to amuse that reader's panel. What's that all about? Why don't I care about my regular readers like that. Well, I do. I'm going to keep up this style. The more focused topic. Less how much cheese I consumed, how much I drank, how long I spend on the recumbent bike.

So, yeah. Holidailies. I loved it this year, doing the full portal thing. Thanks, Jette. Thanks, Chip. It was quite an entertainment. And if you dropped in through the portal, feel free to stick around. Something interesting may happen once in a while.