First off, congratulations to Jan (Fossil Freak) Yarnot for tripping the Nilknarf counter over the 1000 mark! She won the BIG PRIZE and is enjoying it at this very minute! Or maybe not...

The counter is a constant frustration for me. It is a mark of vanity. Or is it, really? In actuality, a webpage is a mark of vanity. A journal is a mark of vanity. Simple existence is a mark of vanity. I know, I'm veering away from the subject quite markedly. I'll quit that.

My counter recently got reset, it kinda pissed me off. My ISP changed their software (they actually bought software! No more of this public domain stuff, huh-uh!) and BAM! my counter went from 7800 or so down to zeros. I also have an additional counter that I signed up for in February (?) that gives me a lot of information, such as what system/browser hits the site, how many times that hitter has been there, date and time of hits, etc. Fun stuff, but not very useful. Except that I did start paying more attention to how my site looks in Netscape, since 60% of the hits are using that browser...

Is the value of something on the web measured only by how many times it's looked at? That seems to be the common assessment. And if you're selling something, that makes perfect sense. But if you're not... if you're not... what's the point? Just for fun?

What am I selling? Myself? Am I trying to get everybody in the world to like me? Why would I do that? On the other hand, why not? If I have the means and the will to do that, why not?

Incidentally, and I do believe that I have mentioned this before, just because someone does not have a counter evident on their pages does not mean that they can't find out how many people have visited them. If you have a site, your ISP can provide you with a lot of data on who visits and when, etc. So don't believe people who say, "I have no vanity; I'm just doing this for myself." Well, OK, you can believe them if you want to. They don't have to look at the data, but it's there...

Bullshit.We were NOT safe in the cellar. There were SPIDERS in that friggin' cellar.

OK, I can't get everybody in the world to like me. Everybody isn't on the net, yet. And even if everyone was, everyone still wouldn't like me. That's just the way the world is. And having people like you does not necessarily mean that you will profit from that, financially or philosophically.

Speaking of philosophy, enough of that. On with the real world!

My brother wrote a brief note yesterday regarding my entry on hiding in the cellar while my dad watched the storm: Bullshit. We were NOT safe in the cellar. There were SPIDERS in that friggin' cellar.

Karen and Kim left for Wichita yesterday about noon, leaving me with both kids 'til Steve got off at 17:00. Yesterday was a cool, cloudy day, so the kids stayed in. And Lacee wanted... her mother. Or her grandma. She definitely did not want anything to do with grandpa! But we made it through the afternoon anyway.

Last night I spent catching up on every journal on open pages. Some of them make me so weary...

Sometimes when I am reading the journals, I come across a word or phrase that I don't understand, and I file it in a place in my mind while I try to find the definition. Usually, these things don't stay in my mind in that place very long, because it drives me batty to not know something. Well, I'm getting driven batty by SKA as in "a SKA band" or "SKA music". What the hell is it? Will someone please enlighten me? Everyone else knows but me...

Besides the Often webring, of which I am now a part, and the Archipelago ring, we have the Geek ring, and A Ring of Her Own ring. There is talk of a Mom ring and a Gen-X ring in the works. There will also be a Procrastinator's ring when I get around to it, and the Depression ring is having a tough time getting started due to the high suicide rate. The Atheist ring is having trouble finding a high priest, and the Manly Man ring (vaginally-impaired) is getting so much crap from the A Ring of Her Own feminists that it will probably never get off the ground. The Journalers About Journaling ring is redundant, since it is comprised of every site on Open Pages. Coming up soon: The Smoker's ring, the Xians ring, the Alcoholic's ring and the Coffee-drinker's ring (Sage, where are you?). Also in the works: The Anti-Christ ring and the Tee-totaler's ring. I don't think there will be a Bass-Fishing ring, but y' never know... O'yeah, and the Pedestrian ring (Thanx to Mike Morris for reminding me of this one!)

Gee, I'm goin' around in circles here, it's time to quit. Besides, I have work to do, places to go, things to fix...

I just got a call from Karen in Wichita... her dad died early this morning. She left a message on the machine earlier, but I didn't hear it, I think that I was still asleep. I generally can ignore the phone when I'm sleeping, especially if I have it turned off.

She seems to be doing fairly well, but I know that it's very hard on her and Deb to lose their father. Even when a death is expected, it is still very hard. But the death-watch is over; that is probably the hardest part. All of the arrangements are made, and there will be a memorial service in Parsons on Saturday. Unfortunately, that is the day that Tyler graduates, so I will be in Texas then. If there is a choice, celebrate the living...

I will miss Charlie, too. I never really got to know him as well as I wanted to, for the last ten years he was not really able to hear, and it was really hard to carry on a conversation with him. I do believe that we respected each other, though. He had a good deal to do with raising the woman that I love, making her into the woman that I love.

That's enough for today.