Today my sister would have been 35. So not only is it Fitzmas.

I paid my first gas bill today; I can already tell that I dislike the utility company, which is clearly untrustworthy – a six dollar ‘convenience charge’ to pay via card, an online billpaying option that cancels the paper bill: the unmistakable spoor of evil.

My mail backup service plan appears to be working quite well, thank you, and I was pleasantly surprised by the professionalism and responsiveness this far on the part of my ISP. I initiated my DSL service with a mom-and-pop out of Olympia years ago, and my account has been acquired by a succession of pump-and-dump providers that really did a pretty poor job of providing support – a year or so ago when Qwest altered some technical details of the connection, I had to act as the ombudsman between Qwest and the acquiring party.

Saturday morning we’re meeting our contractor at the house. He says two to three weeks. I sure hope so. Maybe this weekend I will be able to mow the lawn.