Looking back on it, I think I kind of had the best of both worlds with my college environment. It was an arts college in downtown Chicago, and while my friends and I didn't live in dorms (because as I said, they didn't exist at that point), we got a lot of the same benefits because we were all theater majors, which meant that we were at the Theater Building for morning and afternoon classes, and then we usually had rehearsals for shows we were in there in the evenings, so we were basically with each other 12+ hours a day. Then we'd go home to our separate apartments in the city, but we were all paired off in various permutations for roommates for the most part and hung out at each others' places frequently. So there was a lot of the togetherness and camaraderie of dorms, but you still had your own spaces to retreat to when you wanted to. Good times, good times.

I was lucky in my dorm life, and still have huge and valuable memories from it. People I met there are still my good friends, even if we don't always talk that often. They're the people I can see after a few years and pick up as if no time's gone by. Not that there wasn't crazy; my next-door neighbor my first year was a bit, er, unusual (it was a dorm of single rooms, so next door's as close as you get to roomies). And for whatever reason, most of the people I stayed really close with were a year or more ahead of me. I was also ready to move out after two years, but ended up in a six-bedroom apartment with five other former dormmates.

Now I teach at a big state university, with lots of students who're stressed out from working, even full-time, on top of being full-time students (or at least so they claim when they're explaining why they can't always make it to my classes or turn things in on time). I actually feel really sad for them, because I so valued having a "college experience," and they're just not having the chance to sink into these four years (or so) with the same intensity.

Or maybe I'm just unreal and sentimental beyond reality.

And margaritas? Yum. Though following them with a lot of strong, cheap red wine isn't necessarily wise.

Okay, I'm hoping someone might have some clue what I can do, short of putting my computer through a window.

From time to time, while I am surfing sites, my laptop stops working, and I get a message that says, "Common Client Network Proxy Service has encountered an error and needs to close." This ONLY happens when I am browsing, but it can happen in either IE or Firefox. It terminates my internet connection -- I'm kicked off of IM and anything else that's connected, and the entire system has to be rebooted for me to be allowed back on. Sometimes, I go weeks without it happening; other times (like today), it happens and then it happens again almost right away after the reboot.

Googling revealed it to be most likely related to Norton Internet Security, which, irritatingly enough, I really like, aside from this. So I wrote to Norton, and they basically told me to fuck off. I got a form response saying it might be a conflict with another program, and to start my computer in safe mode or some such to minimize conflicts. The fuck? Every time? I hate them.

I really don't want to switch to a different security program, because I have this one working the way that I want, and I have a home network, and configuring it is a pain in the ass, and I'd really rather not do it all over again.

But this cannot continue.

Does anybody have ANY suggestions? Because I will seriously send you something from your wish list or dedicate a recap to you or do your laundry if you can help me solve this, because I am about to lose my damn mind.

Thank you.

Miss Alli, what operating system are you using? And is (if you know) "Common Client Network Proxy Service" part of that operating system software that came with the laptop ? If its a Windows operating system, then you may be able to get assistance from the OEM (if the laptop is a Dell, Gateway, etc.,) or from Microsoft, or whoever is responsible for the "Common Client Network Proxy Service" rather than Norton.
I'm not an expert, but often there's a configuration conflict between software programs that causes that sort of crash, i.e., that proxy service and the "security" software. I have a couple of features with the McAfee that I don't use on my Dell system because it conflicts with other stuff (ie., antivirus, antispam, anti-popups, etc.) that I do use. FWIW, I gave up on Norton a few years back (uninstalled it, in fact) because of the crashes it was causing and its refusal at the time to let WordPerfect run on that computer.
I know this doesn't directly solve the problem, but it's information I know I've been asked when I have had a similar problem.

Miss Alli, you could also try this--I don't know why it works, but it does seem to make some bugs like that go away. Go to Start--> Programs--> Accessories--> System Tools--> Scan Disk. Select your C: drive to check, click that you want to do a "Standard" test, and check the box that says "Automatically fix errors." Hit "Start" and let it do its thing. My computer wizard told me to do this whenever I get a persistant/intermittent error like that.

If you want to pin down what's actually happening, the next time you get the error, click on the "details" button. That'l give you a screen that says something like "<blah> encountered an error in <foo> module," followed by a whole lot of gibberish. If it's always the same module that's being cited, that file may be corrupted. That's also happened to me, and I had my guru send me a clean copy of the file and reloaded it, and the problem went away.

Also, since it only happens while you are browsing, have you done a spyware scan? You can download software like Ad-aware from www.lavasoftusa.com for free, and have it search for spyware. It is possible the spyware is kicking off the conflict.

ETA Nevermind, This thread and this one states that the problem is with Norton. WTG, miri!

I have done spyware scans, yes. Actually, miri helped me track down a little more info, and specifically helped me figure out how to just restart the service instead of rebooting the damn machine, and if I can do that, then it won't be quite the ginormous disruption it is right now.

I'm so excited. TiVo's here. He's so cute. But I'm usually very technologically confident, yet I'm feeling a bit intimidated (how can I be with that happy orange box?). Still, I'm sure by tomorrow we'll be thick as thieves.

Congrats, BoDiva. I, however, don't get TiVo. As in I don't understand the obvious joy that TiVo brings to people. Friends have tried to convert me. Them: Skip commercials! Me: Then when do I go to the bathroom? Them: Tape an entire season at once! Me: My vcrs and recordable dvd players do that! Them: It holds 4 gazillion hours of stuff! Me: Then it feels like homework, and I won't watch it! Them: You're missing out! Me: So what else is new?

Maybe after I break down and get a cell phone I'll be able to handle a TiVo, an iPod (hate headphones), a George Foreman Grill (I cook just fine without it), the remote control thingy for my car's locks (at least this car has power locks) and digital cable (too many channels most of which seem to be sports related).

That stinks, Miss Alli. If you do decide to switch, I reccomend Panda Antivirus. I used to have Norton and had similar problems, except not only would it kick me off of IE but it would also shut down my computer. I switched to Panda a few months ago and have had no problems.

binkbink, for me it is the limitations of the other machines in my house. My television has to be on for my VCR to record something that my cable box is feeding it. Therefore I have to set up all three of them any time I want to record something. And the TV only allows me to set one timed on/off at a time, so if I'm away for a week and want to record more than one thing (or night) I have to leave the TV on for the entire time I'm gone. I hate that. And I hate having to program the vcr and the cable box and I hate that their times are never really synchronized. TiVo will solve this, I hope.

But right now I wonder, why did they ask me when I ordered if I had cable or DirecTV if they weren't planning to send two Composite A/V cables when I answered cable? Already I'm annoyed because I can't hook it up until I go buy a stinkin' cable.

ETA: AHA!!! My VCR has such cables. We're saved for now.

Oh yes, you most certainly will. It'll bring a tear to your eye when it learns you better than some of your friends do. I love coming home and finding that Tivo has taped something it thought I would like, and I really do like it. It's like getting unexpected mail that isn't bills or junk. I haven't even had mine for a month and I'm completely addicted to it. I even got a Tivo antenna ball this week, thanks Mom!



Whenever you want! The pause button is my new best friend. It, along with its friend the fast forward button mean that you can pee when you want and then catch up with what you missed during commercials. And if the phone rings during a show you don't have to miss anything, just hit pause or leave it running and rewind it to the part you missed.

And by the way, you're totally missing out on the George Foreman grill thing too. Even the tiny little $20 one is enough, you don't have to get the honkin ones to enjoy the low-fat, great-taste delights.

And I've now officially jumped off both the Tivo and George Foreman soapboxes/bandwagons (whatever) for the evening.

binkbink, we held out for a couple of years against a friend's impassioned pro-TiVo arguments. It became a matter of honor. Finally, we decided we'd had it with missing favorite shows because we'd forgotten to load a fresh tape, or to even program the doggone VCR. So finally, we caved and got a TiVo. The set-up was somewhat of a challenge for Mr. Targetter, but that was because he wanted to get all fancy-like with a wireless phone link and hidden wiring.

Now we're so used to the replay or fast forward that we find ourselves automatically reaching for a non-existent FF button on other devices, such as car radios and non-TiVo TVS in hotel rooms.

I have yet to join the TiVo revolution. Eventually, I'll get DVR, which is Time Warner Cable's version of TiVo. It sounds like a lot of fun, though. I can see myself becoming so addicted to the new toy that I won't want to leave the house. Which would be really pathetic.



Sadly, my George Foreman broke. **sniff** I loved that thing.

AlmondEyes the TWCable DVR (or as I call it, Devo) is the bomb. You can record two programs at once, and save a bunch of crap for a nasty day (like yesterday). You can pause, rewind, stop, lick it...it's a gift from above.

I'm half in love already, and I've only recorded so far, not actually watched (or, honestly, figured out how to--I was busy watching Lance and the blue train). When I get home from the game, there'll be even more Lance awaiting me with just four pushes of a button. Heee.

If only I'd known about the "pause" button when the watermelon kicked in on the last lap on the Champs Elysses! But at least I have it TiVo'ed, so I'll rewatch later. Double Heee.

Just wanted to mention that we saw The Bourne Supremacy last night, and not only was it a good action flick, it plays like a particularly violent episode of TAR. Instead of taxi races, it had taxi chases.

Then today, I ran across a link for a Thai kickboxing movie trailer in Quicktime. It features fists of doom, feets of fire, and then a tuk-tuk gets blown up real good. Then in the middle of a fight sequence, the Japanese announcer suddenly says "Aku-shon speedo!" - word perfect Desperanto! And there again, some chase scenes somewhere in Asia (including a fist-fight conducted all over a speeding tuk-tuk) look like some old Amazing Race footage got spliced into a martial arts flick.

There's no TiVo where I live, so I'll just sit here patiently and wait until the DVD recorders with built-on hard drives prices come down from their cloud. I mean, very pretty but... 700 US Dollars? Yikes!

Wow, that brought back memories of having to tell cabbies in Japan "Right-o" and "Reft-o" to instruct them on turns -- the Japanese add a stray vowel to the end of every English word ending in a consonant other than N, usually an O, and if you say an L they often don't understand you, so it actually was quite normal and not Desperanto-ish at all to mangle English that way.

Trying to imagine Mirna in Japan? Hilarious!

Ok, so remember the other day when we were discussing marriage proposals?

Well I now have a proposal story. My bf proposed on Friday night!! And he wrote a wonderful poem about all the things he loved about me and read it to me before he popped the question. He said it started as a list of the 10 Things he loved about me but he had too many (awww!) so he just wrote the free-form poem. He gave me exactly the ring I wanted, of course he had asked for some guidance as to what I would want but the ring just looks like it belongs.

Ok, I'll shut up before people want to start throwing things at my lovey-dovey self!

Congrats Suzikins! That's great.

And I have to agree that Bourne was a good movie (definately worth seeing) outside of the fact that there is not one single steady shot in the entire thing. The car chase was one of the best I've ever seen.

The best part of the movie (outside of Julia Stiles - what you expect me not to splash around the shallow end a bit???!!?) was the fact that when Bourne got hurt, say fell and twisted his ankle, he then limped through the rest of the movie - just like a real person would. Non of this, next day I'm fine BS.

This is going to be long, because I had several pages to catch up on.

Congrats, Suzikins.

I don't have TiVo because I don't have the money, so I'll live with the VCR for now.

I'm loving hearing all these great dorm stories, but I still think I can't do it. When I was on a two week trip in Europe I just about went insane and broke down because I didn't have any alone time, except for when I was in the crapper. Just like someone (sorry, don't remember who) posted earlier, I need days to lounge around in my pjs and eat ice cream and basically not do anything alone. I am kind of worried about having a harder time than most making new friends, but I truly have had an amazing time in high school. My best friend now is my best friend from kindergaren. I don't see us drifting apart either because we aren't that far away, plus our bfs are best friends as well, so we make group efforts alot.

Heh, I got home from work last night at 10:30, and I got to my bf's house at about 11:15. When I got there, the three other guys in his band were there with him, and they handed me a beer, but then I asked if they wanted to go to a party (about 15 mins away). By the time I got there they were all on about their 10th beer (except for Nick, he's on Percocet for back pain, the poor guy). So I got to be the DD for the evening, and I just have to say that drunk people aren't as amusing when you're sober. Boy, did I want a drink. After we got home I did get a Malibu and Coke, so I at least got the taste.

I'm looking forward to seeing The Bourne Supremacy. I really liked the first one, so hopefully I'll get out to see it soon.

I didn't stay in residence in university and I found I didn't have trouble making friends. You'll see the same people in your classes (even the really large ones) and if you make friends with the people in residence they'll give you a heads up about the tutorials and stuff.

mel42024, I understand. For the longest time I couldn't afford it either. But the cable company had made this gigundo billing error over the years I've been here, and by the time they discovered it they owed me over $600. So I won't have a cable bill until next year. What better way to redirect a little of that dough than to TiVo?

Chiming in on a variety of issues:
--That's terrific news, Suzikins. I'm very happy for you. Your fiance sounds like a wonderful guy.
--I love my Tivo. The other day I thought it had stopped working for a few seconds and I about had a panic attack. Initially, when I first got it, I was getting a little frustrated because it was recording so many things for me (things I told it to record, not the Tivo Suggestions it recorded) that I was feeling compelled to watch way more television than I ordinarily would. But I got myself into the mindset that it's okay to have Tivo record something and never get around to watching it -- it's just nice to have the "Now Playing List" available with something I might want to watch, if I ever get around to it. I have Tivo via DirecTV, which is only $5 per month. It was also very satisfying, when I ordered the DirecTV and Tivo, to call up the people at Comcast Cable and tell them to basically go fuck themselves. And I love DirecTV on its own as well - the service is extraordinarily good (YMMV).
--Dorm life: meh. Wasn't crazy about it. Luckily, for almost all my four years at college, I was able to avoid having any sort of roommate. I think that one thing that separated me from the other people in the various dorms I lived in was that I had absolutely no interested in getting shitfaced drunk or dealing with relationship drama. I was basically a raving alcoholic at the age of 14, and by the time I got to college I had decided it wasn't a good life choice for me. My idea of a good time was going home (my parents lived a mile away) to play Trivial Pursuit with my family. I'm not saying that people who loved the typical dorm life were wrong or immature -- it was just not the right thing for me. So ... I have no lasting friendships from dorm life. Most of my friendships of serious duration either started in nursery school or earlier (I am still friends with lots of my parents' friends offspring ... and now just with my parents' friends as well) or in law school or library school. Dorm life was something I got through rather than enjoyed.

Congrats on your exciting news, Susikins!

Kate on Dorm Life - My freshman year I got assigned to one of the only 2 rooms on the entire campus of the great school of UNC-Chapel Hill where they expected not two, not three, not even four, but five women to coexist with one room and one closet (two phone lines, but dial up internet). Yikes. Oh no thank you very much. Sophomore year I tried rooming with a friend from HS, but what I didn't know is she was like Miss Alli's blue-screen crazy roommate. Mine thought the light buzz of a TV being on was too loud, let alone typing (I even bought one of those "silent" keyboards, but to no avail). It didn't help she went to bed at 9:30 every night. I was just starting homework! Halfway through the year we found another dorm room open on campus, and we both ended up with singles. We can now still be friends. I had a single for the rest of my college career, but lived on campus because I was a computer geek that they paid to live on campus and help with networking. Biggest problem in my dorms? Girls plugging telephone cords into the ethernet cable jack, or insisting they could connect without wires b/c they had a wireless card. Right. But the dorm doesn't have a wireless hub. Jeez.

Kate on Margarita's - On the rocks. With salt. In a big glass. With good tequila and triple sec. Only good mix if you're going to use that, but lime juice is preferred. And strong. I practically like it as a big shot of tequila with a splash of triple sec and twist of lime. Practically. Which is why one of my margaritas is my limit.

Kate on fun Digital Gadgets - I'm actually trying to convince Mr.Kate we don't really need cable at all, just antennae (or basic cable since we live pretty far from the stations). But he is addicted to his History Channel. I think TiVo would turn me TV evil.

But the fun gadget-with-still-falling-prices-and-increasing-capabilities that Mr.Kate and I both want is a Digital Camcord with DVD making abilities (or perhaps we want a digital camcord and a DVD-R drive). Any suggestions? With littleKate on the way, and grandmas aplenty, a camcord of some variety seems inevitable, and digital seems the way to go. But there are so many prices, options, qualities. I'm sure fellow MM's have had experiences (good and bad) with several, right?

Anyone else have TAR forum withdrawal symptoms?

I just got a PVR (living in TIVO-free Canada) and I love it. How did I ever live without it?

Forum withdrawal symptoms? Oh, God, yes! I kept checking back every few minutes at home and at work. I think my co-workers thought I was nuts because I kept muttering "Where is it?" Anyway, isn't it wonderful that the forums are back in time for TAR tonight? Yay! Oh, and Happy Tarsday!

For some reason, that reminds me of my favorite tech support request ever. A woman called in on the helpline, claiming that she'd lost her desktop and couldn't find it. Not the desktop computer itself (not that I could help with that either), but the Windows desktop. Turns out she didn't realize you could minimize windows.

Dorms: positive experiences for the most part. I was assigned a triple my freshman year (I got top bunk) and we stayed together the whole year even though one of us could have transferred out after the first semester. Loved the blue glow story. Did she ever try a sleep mask?

Capturing the Freedmans: I am so glad I waited for DVD to watch this. There were so many unanswered questions at the end of the film, and the DVD has some of the answers - Q&A by the director at screenings that had some of the Freedmans and the police/judge/lawyers involved with the case at them, updates on what's happened since the movie came out, etc.

I was driving in Portland this weekend... well my friend was driving and I was reading the map and we kept missing this bridge we wanted to take... I got really frustrated and angry at myself... he told me "chill out! it's no big deal, we could take another route!" which was all true - I just couldn't explain to him what was going on in my head, which was "this is a lot easier than the navigating on TAR and I can't even do this!!! Arrrgh!"

*running around waving arms* Yaaaaay the forums are back! Yaaaaay!

Although, the past 24 hours or so have been amazingly productive. Heh.

Whine alert:

I now have poison ivy for the first time in my life, at the tender age of no-one's-business. It's a tiny little patch on my ankle and isn't bothering me that much, except it oozes a lot. And I'm doing all the calamine-lotion/sanitation stuff so that it doesn't spread.

But my ankle is really badly swollen, from the top of my foot to right below my calf. Is that normal? I visited a couple of websites that sort of referred to swelling in passing, but this is freaking me out. I don't know if there's something I should be doing that I'm not. I also over-react to swelling, so if you tell me it's normal I might calm down. Thanks. [/whine]

iMissEthan, anything of significance in those DVD extras? I'm probably most curious about whether David is still working as a birthday clown. The guy was majorly creepy to begin with, and I have a hard time imagining that anyone would continue to hire him (not so much for being the son of an admitted pedophile, but the fact that he was such a freak about defending his father). I swear, you can take Wil, Colin, Flo and Mirna from TAR (and Survivor's Matthew) and you are still way short on Birthday Clown David. "Can't sleep, clown will eat me," indeed.

Poison ivy's a bitch, Daria, but it should be okay. Some people do get swelling like you described. Some people are just more sensitive to it than others. I'm lucky -- I'm not very sensitive to it and it doesn't effect me that much. You should probably just keep an eye on the swelling. If it doesn't go down in a couple of days, you might want to call the doctor.

DariaG, its all about the oatmeal bath (or in your case, footbath), it'll help with the oozing. I reccomend Aveno Ivy lotion as well. Last year I was weeding at my Grandmothers and got it all over my hands, not recognizing it, I then wiped the sweat of my face....majorly bad idea. and all this a week before I was to appear in the Sound of Music....No amount of make-up in the world covers ugly ugly Poison ivy. good luck though!

I thought I was going crazy, my computer was hacked, the site had been blocked (people at work got smart!), Glark had killed me where I stood, and about 57 million other paranoid thoughts. Call me selfish, but I'm glad forums were down for everyone and not just me.


Word! Oh my gosh, I always try to pace myself anyway, but I have been struggling this past day!

Of course, now I have to leave because it is four and my doctor says 8 hours at a time is the maximum I can work (to protect me from 14 hour days and 7 day weeks). How bad is it that I am really getting used to and liking this?

Happy TARsday, all!

Hey karatekate, the boards went down the VERY SECOND I submitted an edit to a post. I sat there for a minute thinking "I killed TWoP!"

DariaG, I have gotten cortisone shots for poison ivy before when the swelling was really out of the ordinary. Summertime tip: do not rub your face in your cat's fur if it gets to spend any time in the woods! I learned that one the really hard way.

karatekate, you have got to get out of my head because I had the exact same thoughts. I couldn't wait to get home to check and see if I could access the boards from there. I breathed a sigh a relief when I couldn't!

To the TiVo discussion, I just got TiVo a few months ago and I'm amazed at how it's changed my life. I do watch way more TV which I guess is bad, but zipping through my favorite shows without commercials is a godsend. I can't even watch "Live TV" anymore. If something is on that I want to watch, I record it, turn the TV off, read a little or do a chore, and then come back 20 minutes later so that I can start watching the recorded version. It's the best invention, ever.

Miss Alli: if you're still having trouble with your computer, try this. The services might be in a slightly different place if you're not on XP, though.

Daria, definitely try the Aveeno bath stuff. And yes, the swelling is common.

I never even tried logging in from home yesterday morning because I was too busy trying to read Miss Alli's marvelous recap before rushing off late to work (hey, what's important?), so when I got to work and couldn't log on, I called my daughter at home and made sure she couldn't log on, either. Only then was I able to persuade myself I hadn't been locked out -- although since our computer guy comes once a week, on Wednesday morning, it was nothing but pure paranoia speaking to me. But the voice of Paranoia in my head is often a loud one. Hee!

Happy TARSday!

I got an e-mail at work about a chance to buy food products at work that cracked my ass up today.

The headline?

Men's Club Nut Sale.

I'm glad I'm getting to mention this before the show aired tonight and the day came to an end. It's my first Happy TARsbirthday to me. What a wonderful birthday present!

Yay! Happy TARbirthday indeed, theschnauzers!

Hello all. Forgive me for the rude interuption but I'm not sure where to go and I know I won't get smacked in here. Does anyone know of confirmed or semi-confirmed TARcon (NYC) info? I'm new to this TAR world, my reality lust is more of the tasteless/talentless type, but I've started watching this season and I'm hooked.

Congrats on your engagement, Suziekins. And have a great birthday, Theschnauzers. With any luck, you're not in NY, where it's raining - again.

I want to catch Bourne Supremacy. I loved the first movie. I saw a Japanese horror movie this weekend titled Ju-On: The Grudge. Heard a lot about it and thought it would be good. Apparently this was the third movie in a series.

They were clearly going for a The Ring vibe, but just didn't get there. It's about a haunted house and the consequences it holds for whoever goes inside. It was non-linear like Memento, which I don't mind as long as there's some coherence there. What do I mean? Well, when one character appears to die on two separate occasions, under completely different circumstances, coherence is seriously lacking. I don't know whether the series started before or after Ring, but I probably should have checked out Supremacy instead.

Can't wait to see The Village this weekend.

TAR Con?!! Whachu talkin 'bout, Miss Mousie? Aaaah, now that the forums are back, I can check for myself.

No, miss Mousie nothing yet. When the planning begins in earnest and the planners are ready to go public, there will be a thread for it. Almond Eyes TARcon is a big "watch the finale and party with other TARflies" rowdieness that will happen in NYC.

Argh. Out in cottage country, looking at a very beautiful lake, listening to the trill of thrushes calling, and wondering if my damn VCR is taping properly.

Margaritas. Weird. I brought my immersion blender here, because although I like my margaritas with lime (fresh squeezed only, please), tequila, Grand Marnier (because we're out of Triple Sec), and salt, over ice in a margarita glass, Mr delta's parents (in particular his mother, who prefers drinks sweeter) prefer it with fruit (peaches, strawberries, etc.) and --ptui-- sugar.

We stopped in Ottawa to pick up a few groceries to bring up, and Mr delta phoned his parents at the cottage to ask if we could get anything for them at the same time. He then proceeds to say something like, Oh, and we're bringing rather a lot of fruit because [delta888] seems to think that you don't like limes.

I shoot him the Look of Death, and then he says, And she's sort of looking at me funny now.

A couple of days ago we were in a rowboat, trying to take some panoramic photos of the shoreline (note for future posterity: this is impossible in a boat, which you'd think would have been obvious). Mr delta was taking some shots, and the boat began drifting, because, no, I don't row.

Hmmm, I murmured. Perhaps I should learn to do this in case there's ever a task like this on the Amazing Race.

Yeah, need to acquire those real life skills, he replied.

Hmph. He is so not my partner.

On to fireworks.... I'll have to keep away from the boards now....

Thanks, Rabrab; I know what TAR Con is; I just didn't know where and when. What kind of TWoP'er am I if I can't even crack a joke right? Been watching TAR for ages but never went to a Con, so I'm looking forward to it.

Now,can you swear to the rowdiness? Because I like that. A lot.

Man, I haven't been able to get in here in days, either from home or work. It's like quitting heroin cold turkey. At least it appears to be working again! Congratulations everyone who needs congratulations, and I'm off to read the episode thread.