Pace: Backstretch

Daughter is a junior now. The Small Learning Community to which she belongs had a parents' meeting this evening in advance of the school's "Back to School Night" next week. A good idea - it gave the SLC's administrators a chance to expand on this year's programs, and gave parents a chance to get to meet the core subject teachers.

The talk was all about preparing for the PSAT, SAT, ACT, and AP subject tests. Beginning now, the kids will be getting information daily about how work they do now will affect their chances of getting into a good college, and about the timeline for completing the different parts of the graduation and college application process.

The school librarian was in touch last week, saying they weren't funded this year, and asking how she could tap the public libraries to supplement what the school library can offer students. Well, our funding was cut, as well, but I think it would be politic to work with the school. I'm going to write her back and offer my services as a volunteer on Mondays.

Fan Club

This here's a grey kitty that someone probably abandoned when they moved out. He got down to nothing but skin and bones, even though neighbors say they are feeding him. He's old, and I think he has trouble chewing crunchy food, so we've been putting out canned food and water. He's put on a little weight, and comes to claim his meals now. He's also stone deaf! And he loves to have his ears rubbed. Can't invite him in, because Marty is allergic. But he's been an outdoor cat for years, so I think he'll be ok as long as he gets food and - especially - water.

Windows98 Still Rocks!

I fired up the old Gateway last night because L wanted to use the attached scanner. It's been many moons since I've turned it on, and I was curious to see if anything still works. The power button has been broken for about a year, but I have a power-management platform with a master power switch - not great on graceful shutdowns, so it has to do its "error checking" thing every time I power up. But it all still works! Amazing! And I rediscovered the backgammon program I loved so much - it still beats me about 50% of the time.

I've been postponing decommissioning the Gateway because of all the photos and family history files on it - I guess that will become my winter project - transfer as much as I can to CDs. (I think it has to be CDs, because I've had some trouble making the USB port work with some USB2 devices.) It would be good to reclaim the desk space for the laptop, and then reclaim the dining table for dining ... but as long as it works, I really can't see trashing it! If I could find a wireless card or something, I could even go online again with my wi-fi subscription!