[Edit: skipping lots and lots, of course. I'm not even a skipper anymore. I'm not even a skip. A ski, maybe]

So, the network seems to be alive now. It was only mostly dead (though it took less than a miracle to revive it, but according to the expression on the system administrator's face, not by much). Not everything is working, yet, and I still need to check how much data I've lost. If I can have two posts in the same day, however, I think it means things are on the right track.

So, um, nice new thread, hi, everybody, how are you, and now it's possible that I may get to actually read the answer.

Yes! It was so funny -- on my initial visit the membership director said to valet my car and they'd comp it -- I didn't think twice until I was waiting to get it back. Every. Single. Car that came back before mine cost twice what mine cost. New. And undinged. It took them forever to get my car -- I believe it's because they kept looking at it and thinking "No, this can't be it."

this is so true. I used to valet park my Geo Prizm occasionnally when I was in a hard to park area, used to take forever to get back. Now, with the shiny new Saab, it takes seconds. It's often parked on the street!

So, um, nice new thread, hi, everybody, how are you, and now it's possible that I may get to actually read the answer.

Hi Nilly! Things are fine h*****-------UNIDENTIFIED NETWORK FAILURE!!!--------

Gack. The train that was supposed to take me to Ventura this weekend seems like it's not going to happen. Last minute travel plan changes! Whee!

[link]

Gorilla Foundation rocked by breast display lawsuit
Former employees say they were told to expose chests

Two former employees of the Gorilla Foundation, home to Koko the "talking" ape, have filed a lawsuit contending that they were ordered to bond with the 33-year-old female simian by displaying their breasts.

I've lived in 205, 215, and 206. Old-school area codes all the way.

What bugs me around here is that some calls to the same suburban area codes require you to dial a 1 first and others don't. Eventually you learn that the 425 for the hotel in Bellevue where your writers conference will be is local, while the 425 for the conference chair's house is long distance, but it's still annoying.

Medford? 781. Somerville, right nextdoor? 617? Boston 617? Quincy, on the other side of Boston, and further from Medford than from either Boston, or Somerville? 781. Goofy.

Of course, this is the state where Norfolk County is partly south of Suffolk County. Traditions make people do weird things.

I don't think I have ever valet parked in my life. I have disabused a couple of lifelong Angelenos that you can always get valet parking in, e.g., Washington, DC (where it is sometimes available, but more likely not), so apparently it varies widely.

Hi Nilly!

Ugh. I have no energy, at all. And I also had some very weird dreams, including one that had some Buffistas in it, but I can't remember what was going on in the dream except that we were all in a parking lot and I was trying to see if someone would give me a ride home.

When I lived in Birmingham, MI they had valet parking at the supermarket. Free. Not something I ended up making use of, because it was just weird.

Oh, and the cover of the Seattle Times today is about LA and Seattle swapping weather: [link] The website doesn't have the same visual oomph as the paper, which gives you cherry blossoms and sunshine in Seattle right beside clouds of doom over the LA skyline.

We're under a burn ban. In February. Granted, it's for pollution rather than fire risk, but still.