31 October 1998: Hallowe'en

Saturday, 31 October 1998:

Hallowe'en

I don't think I mentioned that I finally got the free 32 Mb of RAM for my Macintosh that I was entitled to through Apple's More Power/More Compatibility promotion back when I bought my G3. You may recall that first I didn't send them the actual UPC label, so they made me try again. Well, what happened after that, as far as I can tell, is that they shipped the memory to me via UPS, which I hadn't known. UPS is a problem for me in my apartment building because they can't get through the locked front door to the mailboxes, so they usually leave me a yellow slip. Since the UPS depot in town is wa-a-ay on the far side of town, I usually call them to have them re-route it to my work address. I do remember getting a yellow slip a month or so ago, and calling them to do this, but the package never showed up.

I finally got around to calling Apple, and asked what's up. They said the package had been returned as undeliverable, so I had them try again, and this time had it sent directly to my work address, where I did finally arrive. Phew!

So this morning I installed the new RAM, and I expect to be much happier with my machine, which was laboring a bit under all the software I tend to run on it simultaneously when dialed up to my ISP.

Diane Patterson is writing about being summoned for jury duty, and is regarding the events with her usual wry wit. She solicited stories from people about efforts (successful and not) to get out of jury duty, and wrote about it in a recent entry. I've never been summoned for jury duty, but I know a number of people who have been, although none of them have ever had to actually serve on a jury, that I know of.

Another link worth checking out: If you're a comic book fan, comics scripter and Comics Buyer's Guide columnist Tony Isabella has his own page, including a daily column entitled "Tony's Online Tips". It's sorta-kinda-almost like an on-line journal.

Tonight I actually got dressed up and went to a Hallowe'en party. I think this is the first time I've worn a costume since, oh, maybe sixth grade? And actually it wasn't really a costume: I wore my black turtleneck, some black jeans I bought, black socks, my loafers, and I put on face paint to make me look like the comic book character Grendel. I even slicked my (normally-parted) hair back since the paint worked better if my forehead was in full view.

It turned out pretty well, although no one really recognized my look (very few comic book fans in the local SF group, astonishingly enough). The paint took about an hour to put on and get right, and it didn't smudge too much during the evening, although I did have to exercise real self-control and not scratch itches on my face all evening. Overall I was pleased.

The party was pretty good, although I have felt sort of dazed - I'm not sure why - all day, so I don't think I enjoyed it to its fullest. However, somehow I did end up having the fact that I turn 30 in January announced at the party. I got 'em back, though, by moaning that I was leaving because I was getting too old to stay up too late (most of the people there were about ten years older than me)!

Michael Rawdon (Contact)