The Gaming Outpost

As the examination of temporal anomalies continues we come to the problem posed when a squirrel interferes with a pass receiver so that Lou Dorchen loses a bet.  The issues at hand, discussed in Hot Tub Time Machine part 12:  a squirrely butterfly, or pass on this, are whether that was accidental or intentional–does the squirrel know that by interfering with the pass receiver he ruins Lou’s day, or is this simply a disruption in squirrel migration patterns, a butterfly effect, an unpredicted consequence of the time traveler’s arrival?

Meanwhile, I have the new mail client working well enough that I am receiving mail from all boxes and able to send it in reply, although I am not certain of what names and headers appear on those replies. I might have to send some mail to myself to figure out the next steps.  I also will want to see what kind of folder rules I can create to sort mail as it arrives, instead of having it all pour into one box.

The day progresses.  Progress has been made.

–M. J. Young

My brain is foggy, and I’m not sure I know why.  It’s been a rough weekend, I guess.  I finally have managed to get one computer mailbox working in the new e-mail client, which downloaded hundreds of backlogged letters; but it seems that the SMTP settings aren’t working right, because my efforts to reply have all been blocked.  I have spent hours reading mail and writing replies, but the replies are stacking up in my box waiting to be sent (and I’m not quite sure where Pegasus hides these or why they aren’t being sent) and I’m sure there are people wondering why I’m not responding.  I should probably post explanations to the social networking sites, so at least some people will get word of the problem.

Meanwhile, I uploaded the latest installment in the Examiner temporal anomalies series, Hot Tub Time Machine part 11:  Lougle, or search me.

The weird thing is that some time this morning, when I was up at an unreasonable hour killing time between taking someone to work at eight and taking someone to work at ten, I knew that there was something I had to include in today’s post, and I even knew what the title of the post would be–and at this point I’m clueless as to what it might have been.  Ah, well.  As my father said to my mother before they were married, “you’ll think of something else”.  I usually do.

Again let me thank John Walker for making our Thanksgiving dinner possible and delicious.  He vanished without saying good bye to me, but then, I’m probably not the person he most comes to visit when he comes, and I’m good with that.

–M. J. Young

I want to thank Adam Keller for the link to Pegasus; hopefully once I download and install that e-mail client it will resolve my continuing computer problems.  It has been strange, feeling as if I have a lot more time in my days, arriving here earlier than usual three days a week, all because somewhere the e-mail that wasn’t lost to aborted downloads has been collecting on a server awaiting my long-overdue attention.  Since it’s also the only way several important people have to contact me, I probably should fix that; I’m just enjoying being unavailable.  I could do with more of that.

Meanwhile, I have posted a new temporal anomalies article to The Examiner, Hot Tub Time Machine part 9:  Lou and Kelly, or don’t, stop.  This one tackles the problem arising when Jacob interferes with the one event in the past he most wants to have happen without complication:  his own conception.  The silliness of his vanishing act is addressed, and an alternative resolution to the problem presented.

In other temporal news, I have completed a fifteen-part draft for Premonition.  It probably needs a lot of tweaking–I’ve only viewed the film once, and I have detail questions–but it was a nightmare to unravel without having it come unraveled, and while there are still problems with it and unanswered issues, in the main I think I’ve managed it.

Thanksgiving looms, and company is coming, and although I do not yet have a head count I am forming a shopping list.  Today I hope to stock the pantry in anticipation of the holiday, and if any of my anticipated or surprise guests wish to contribute requests to the menu, find my cell number quickly or you’ll miss the chance.

–M. J. Young

It seems that the good used computers available at my local shop (they prefer the description off-lease, but it comes to the same thing) are not actually at my local shop, but somewhere in Florida.  They arrive in “two to three days” which are of course what they call in the trade business days.  That means since I placed the order early Wednesday it will arrive on Friday, or else the next day which is not Saturday nor Sunday but Monday.  For an extra twenty dollars I could have guaranteed that it would be in the store Friday instead of simply hoping so; for an extra forty I could have had it there today.  I’m already spending more than I’d hoped (though less than I’d feared), and was not certain I would be able to get to the shop today anyway (and I knew that the guy who would have to install my old drives in the new machine doesn’t work Thursday, so there would be little point), so the difference between “probably here Friday” and “definitely here Friday” was not worth twenty more dollars.  At least, it wasn’t on Wednesday–if it’s not here tomorrow, maybe it will prove to have been worth a bit more.

Meanwhile, I’ve continued in my Examiner temporal anomalies articles to explore Adam’s relationships, in Hot Tub Time Machine part 6:  Adam and April, or planned spontaneity.  The articles in this series remain relatively popular, which is an encouragement; I’ve been a bit too sick to work on much else.

I’ve also given up attempting to keep up on the e-mail this week.  Installing and reconfiguring all the mailboxes only to have to do it all again on the new computer does not seem worth the time, so I’m only doing the main box (mjyoung) and that rather spottily, as the computer keeps crashing when I try to set my preferences to match my preferences.  So I’ll have some catch-up work to do once the new system is in place, but hopefully it won’t be too bad.

Speaking of bad, it occurs to me that my day is all out of sequence, I have morning meds to take (and even given that my morning never starts before about one in the afternoon, I’m behind on them already), and things I should have done already.  But I wanted to let you all know that the article had posted, and with that I’ll see to the forums later, Lord willing.

–M. J. Young

The instability of the computer continues to vex my efforts to get through a day’s work in a day.  I left a message for the guy who has been trying to fix it, but have not been able to get back to him during business hours because of other disruptions.

I did upload the latest Examiner temporal anomalies article earlier today.  It gives us a starting point in terms of selecting a theory–which is the same theory I usually use, but at least it justifies doing so.  I invite you to read Hot Tub Time Machine part 2:  the big issue, or theory? what theory?

Now let’s see how far I can get with other posts before the computer takes another nosedive.

–M. J. Young

I was rushing earlier, partly because I had not planned to watch the Back to the Future anniversary showing and my plans had changed on very short notice after I announced it with my temporal anomalies Examiner articles, and partly because my computer is getting worse, sometimes not functioning for more than ten minutes (it’s about due to cr

Well, those were famous last words, weren’t they?  Anyway, having seen the film and enjoyed it, and finding that my computer will work for about an hour and then wants an hour off, I think I’m calling it a night about now.  I will hope for a more stable platform tomorrow.

I did get Hot Tub Time Machine part 1:  not as expected, or warming up to press, so you can enjoy that in the spare time gained by the fact that I’m not answering e-mail or forum posts tonight.

–M. J. Young