My triumpant return to the internet

No more will I haunt the local Borders to catch a few minutes of internet time. I am hooked up now, friends. And I have the following observations to share with you that I've saved up over the past couple of weeks:

1. To the influx of new readers from Europe brought here by Sancho: You are wonderful people! I've heard from folks in the Netherlands, France, Austria, all parts of the United Kingdom, and Belgium. And I have been uniformly delighted by your friendliness, your impeccable manners and your deep concern for a giant otter and his human. This makes me want to travel to Europe as soon as possible so I can spend some time with such lovely people. (Of course, this also applies to the one reader from Thailand who was brought here as well by Sancho!) I love how the internet has made the world such a very small place, and I have so enjoyed talking with all of you. I hope at least some of you keep reading and participating.

2. Mr. T and I seem to have a penchant for moving from one state to another in snowstorms. We moved from Florida (yes, Florida! In the winter!) to North Carolina in early January of 1996. We had been told that North Carolina hadn't had significant snow in ten years. The first thing I saw when I turned onto our new street was a snow plow that had become stuck -- in the snow. People in Idaho and eastern Washington seem less concerned about this sort of thing, but one does tend to wonder whether the snow will ever stop.

3. Finally, I am taking a trip this weekend. Mr. T goes to a trade show every year in the winter. Last year it was in Florida, and I happily attended that one, of course. Every other year -- this year included -- the show has been in Las Vegas.

I've always avoided the Las Vegas trips. But this year, since Mr. T is working at a different company, going to Vegas offers the only opportunity we'll have for some time to see old friends from Portland (yes, that means you, Tony) and friends from Asia.

While I know some of my blogging colleagues have enjoyed Vegas, I've always been viscerally repulsed by the prospect of it. (For what it's worth, Rose's descriptions of her trip there were the first crack in my resolve never to step foot in the place.) And really, it goes against my liberal nature to condemn something without ever partaking of it. That's a little too book burn-ish for me.

So off I go to Vegas until Tuesday. But please don't laugh at the idea of me in my jeans, men's sweater and hiking boots, hair yanked back into a sloppy ponytail with five-year old in tow, on the streets of Sin City. Because as they say, what happens in Vegas -- ah, never mind. I can't even bring myself to finish that.

But perhaps there will be pictures.