To Hell and Back

I can't even begin to tell you what a week and a half I had with this silly web site at the end of November, beginning of December. Just when you thought it was safe to work on your web page...the server your ISP uses to host the nutty thing explodes into a million pieces.  I apologize for anyone who was trying to get here to use my Amazon.com links to do some serious Christmas shopping.

Apparently some critical part of a server died a slow and painful death, screwing up all the backups in the process so that when it did finally die on a Sunday night, there was no hope of restoring my site on a new server. Remind me to never have a computer go down Thanksgiving week. It's a hellish time to get someone at the support end to actually fix a computer, apparently. It was well after Thanksgiving before the ISP got the unit back. And here we are. I will be trying to have better backups, but some things are out of my control.

p.s. I DO appreciate everyone who uses my search engine to buy their stuff. Or to at least look things up. I look forward to my weekly reports that summarize the items people searched for via my site. It's fascinating to me to see people checking out "A Charlie Brown Christmas" all year long. (I don't understand it, but it happens.) And don't worry, I never ever ever see "who" is looking things up. Only a summary of the titles/items.

More Open Letters...

I will be putting up more Open Letters now. I am working on a book proposal and at the time I thought it would be a good idea to not put any new ones up but now I see that having new ones just increases the general interest in them. So my Christmas present to all of you will be one new one in December, and then even more in the year 2000!

Television Nirvana

I am in teevee heaven. Man oh man oh man, you can swing a remote control without hitting a Christmas special! Isn't it the best!

I suppose it's not the best if, say, you don't celebrate Christmas. I am not going to apologize for the Entertainment industry as a whole. However, this year was the first year I actually noticed more than one Hanukkah special. I know it isn't a huge improvement, but it's slightly better than 5 years ago, and 100x better than 20 years ago.

Mookie enjoyed Rudolf, of all the shows he's seen. We thought he'd like Cinderelmo, but Elmo had a dirty face and to an almost-two year old a dirty face = different person.

Y2K

Got my Y2K peanut butter. Got my Y2K silverware. Now all I need to do is make sure I get a new loaf of break on December 31st and I should be able to ride out the first week of Y2K, no problem.

Cooking Tip of the Week

The holidays are upon us and as you curl up in front of the 32" Sony, I know you'll be hankering for something from the dairy portion of the food pyramids. Don't panic. Buy some of my new favorite cheese, Danish Havarti. It is, as the package reads, "mild and flavorful." I can't believe I lived this long without knowing the joy that is Havarti. Think of it as a cross between Land 'O Lakes American cheese and cheddar. I know I do.

Okay, but you need a real "tip". Sticking with our dairy theme, I have taken the time to fix myself a Tupperware cup of chocolate milk, and I have taken a picture so you will know what the proper color of chocolate milk is. No more chocolate milk emergencies. And for goodness sake, don't use the powdered stuff unless you are planning to lick it off your wet fingers. Buy the chocolate syrup in the squeeze bottle and use that. For all our sakes.

Best Of The Web

If I had to pick one web page to keep with me forever, it would have to be this page. Enjoy the photos, but stay for the descriptions. I have been warning people not to read this page at work, simply because you will not be able to stifle your laughter without sounding like you are having some sort of asthma attack. You do not want the paramedics arriving only to find you wiping tears from your eyes.

Join Big DumpTruck!

So this is a link to my Amazon.com wish list.   Don't feel obligated to buy anything. I'm not begging.  I created this list in case Bill Gates wants to thank me for continuing to use FrontPage even though I dislike it.

Please Support the Big DumpTruck by using this link when you purchase books from AMAZON.COM. Email me if you want me to tell you how to build your Amazon links so that I'll get Maximum Credit!

Search: All Products Books Popular Music Classical Music Video Toys Consumer Electronics Keywords:

Amazon Picks of the Week:

  17 episodes! Wooo!

If my sister is reading this, remember, my birthday is coming up so you click on the link or just go to my Amazon.com Wish List.

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