Yeah, good suggestion, Bee. I am footnoting and endnoting a lot in the first draft and it's getting a little chaotic. I'm thinking that the thing is going to have to have an index and possibly even an appendix. I've even flirted with the idea of including a CD.

Sometimes I have disturbing dreams about trying to play the guitar, juggle, and type on my computer all at the same time. I wake up exhausted!

Movies:   A few weeks ago, I got the Platinum Series Special Extended Edition set of all three "Lord of the Rings" movies, complete with all kinds of extra features (sitting across the room, still in its shrink-wrap), and I'm waiting for a time when I can lock the doors, board up the windows, take the phone off the hook, then stoke up the computer and poke the first DVD into the drive, and not emerge until I've watched all three of them, along with the special features.

####

I haven't stayed in touch with Jerry all that much since that evening at Ivar's Salmon House that I described above, but I do check into his web site (Chaos Manor) from time to time. I just did this morning and read the rather disturbing news that he is undergoing radiation therapy for some manner of brain tumor. It doesn't stop him from taking long walks, and he seems to be writing a lot despite this.

Jerry has been into computers for a long time, has written a couple of books on the subject, and was a regular columnist in Byte magazine for years. Right now, he seems to be having computer problems—missing .dll files. I'm having the same problems and my computer is currently running at the pace of continental drift—click on something, then pick up a crossword puzzle book to amuse myself until the computer decides to respond. I'm still using Windows XP. Jerry is using Vista and is considering switching to a Mac. He makes the following comment:

"Vista really sucks!"

On the health issue, let's keep a good thought for Jerry, okay?

Don Firth