20 December 2010 Ring in the Saturnalia

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/opinion/20cohen.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a212

There Goes the Sun

us=themBy RICHARD COHEN

Published: December 19, 2010

(There goes the sun, There goes the sun, it’s all right, Cue Harrison solo)

WHAT is the winter solstice, and why bother to celebrate it, as so many people around the world will tomorrow? The word “solstice” derives from the Latin sol (meaning sun) and statum (stand still), and reflects what we see on the first days of summer and winter when, at dawn for two or three days, the sun seems to linger for several minutes in its passage across the sky, before beginning to double back.

Cassi Creek:

Took a cold and breezy hike with Mike this morning. Avoided politics as much as possible.

I left for Johnson City about 1030 and picked up pet food for Gloria. Then it was over to Best Buy to have my older Toshiba notebook put through diagnostics. The tech rep at the service desk kept insisting that I had to purchase a recovery disk from Toshiba before he could look at the computer. Finally, I got through to him and he agreed to accept the computer for diagnosis. The critical factor was to get the complaint into the system before 20 December 2010. After ten minutes of not-quite argument, I accomplished that. But I don’t want to buy anything without a diagnosis. According to the service contract, they owe me a new battery and any repair parts and labor. I won’t back down on this.

Returning home, the Century Link landline bill came after not being sent to us for two months. We became their customers by default and so far, they have not earned any loyalty or appreciation. We had previously negotiated a lower price for their service after pointing out their billing error in not send us a bill. I spent an hour arguing with various levels of business office people in between being put on hold for 15-minute segments of time. Finally, we reached an accommodation but I really would like to replace them. If internet phones were reliable here, we’d drop them instantly. But Mike’s experience with VOIP from

Comcast combined with our dissatisfaction with Comcast in general precluded telling them good-bye for now.

Dinner tonight will be leftovers from last night’s Pot au Feu. It’s nearly time for a cheeseburger. I can feel the craving accumulating.

Enjoy the solstice. I hope you can see the eclipse tonight.