cleolinda | Nov. 25th, 2007

On the upside, my keyboard pulled itself together and works again. Mostly. On the downside, I broke down and bought a wireless keyboard/mouse combo... and the software won't load because it claims I don't have enough free space on my hard drive. You know, where "not enough" equals "64 gigs." (That, or it's "some other error." THANKS, MICROSOFT WIRELESS LASER DESKTOP.) Thirty seconds out of the box, and already I want to kick it. This does not bode well.

By the way: yes, JournalFen is being exceptionally robust this week, it's not just you.

Alabama soldiers at war watch the Iron Bowl. Full disclosure: My family is Alabama (rather than Auburn), much the way one might be Hatfield or McCoy. The Hatfields didn't do too well ~~six years in a row~~ yesterday, and most of my friends are strongly McCoy, is all I'm saying. Fortunately all I think when I hear the word "football" is "those assholes in high school," so I'm not crying myself to sleep or anything. ~~My mother might be, though.~~

In other Alabama news, the story that will never, ever go away: 3 charged in Natalee Holloway's death; Judge orders 2 held in Holloway case; Van der Sloot's lawyer discusses Holloway case; Holloway’s family surprised by arrests; Natalee Holloway's father to search for body.

Penny Arcade/Child's Play charity update. (Main site.)

Note on charity links: my primary concerns when posting links is that they're 1) for legitimate charities and 2) non-partisan. And I do feel that you should choose to donate, if you choose at all, to something you feel connected to. Child's Play was started, as I understand it, as a way for gamers to give back to the community (it's "a game industry charity dedicated to improving the lives of children with toys and games in our network of over 40 hospitals worldwide"). If you feel like world hunger or breast cancer or endangered whales or [fill in the blank] is more important, then go for it--help out with those instead. I just feel like any effort to help someone is laudable, and each effort may speak to someone in a way that other efforts don't. Sometimes I do try to circle the wagons for specific reasons, but mostly? I'm just putting the information out there: Hey, look, someone's doing something nice; if it calls to you, here's how to help out. Which is a more delicate way of saying, don't bitch me out like someone did last year because "games for kids aren't important when people are starving."