The day was too lovely to bury myself in the dark for 'Kaena' after all, but she'll still be round the corner tomorrow.
Instead, I had something that needed getting to the Marais in the heart of town, an easy stone's throw from this delightful old house. I haven't (yet) asked permission from Alan "Z" Zeleznikar to pinch his picture, but he does say "my life is an open book"; it illustrates the good, "possibly true travel stories" at his site.
Since la Poste is currently unreliable (I'm still getting mine from a cheery postal lass, but near neighbours say their post-people are being erratic), urgency warranted the detour. Especially a stroll much of the way back under a storm-laden sky which never quite broke.
The murky Seine and its old bridges looked gorgeous and the brooding clouds lightened up. And there are many more Americans back in town than a few weeks ago, behaving and being treated perfectly well as far as eye could tell, so I'll lighten up too!
When it came to checking back online, I went to a book-marked "blogtree" and decided that it would be fun to join in. Hence the novelty on the right-hand side of the home page. Figuring out which "parents" directly inspired me to start logging was easy enough (for a first three anyway -- discounting "Strangelove" Rumsfeld). Finding out who your "siblings" are proves amusing!
zzz
The Marais, or "marsh", takes it name from flooding by the Seine and has nothing to do with the sentiment I expressed yesterday. Moreover, I don't know why "j'en ai marre", which means "I'm fed up" or "I of it have (had enough)" appears to have the same root as the verb "se marrer" (pronounced almost like the marsh, "marr-eh" and "mar-eh", with those "r"s I still can't do right). "Je me suis bien marré" means "I had a really good laugh" -- yet "tu me fais marrer" means "you make me laugh" in a pejorative, unkind way. "Il est marrant" means "he's very amusing". "Marraine" means "godmother".
Since I'm aware of no common root, this is a poser to be put to André B., whose explanation will be more marrant, if equally accurate, to any furnished by Littré, the 19th-century lexicographer (here portrayed by his longtime foes in the Roman Catholic Church.
The G5 François was teasing about is the new Power Mac (I chose the UK Apple Store because I've been comparing the "official" price in different countries). It's a lot of money to lay out anywhere! And a waste of power for any needs of mine.
As ever, Apple is offering a measly 128 MB of installed RAM, which is nowhere near enough memory to drive a monster like that. So bringing it up to speed for the new operating systems will cost even more from the outset. The video memory is much better though, and also at last on a par outside North America with what's being offered on "home ground".
Before any change, I try to be sensible comparing day-to-day working practices and needs with the cost and hidden extra charges entailed in the "latest, greatest and fastest" machine. For my current and predicted requirements, a mid-range eMac is perfect, if not one of Apple's most elegant computers.
The "tilt-and-swivel" stand was a ferociously expensive "extra" when I got mine, which is very secure but has a slight wobble to it when the desk gets bumped hard. This should count as a defect, but I regard it as inbuilt suspension.
zzz
On another technical front, Tom at 'plasticbag' has done some superb writing on how to make your website and links "accessible, clearly laid-out and fundamentally honest" for readers and search engines (linked to the article with its comments). For me, this kind of thing is indispensable reading.
For this entry, like it's predecessor, I'm using a tool called HTML Creator, developed by Finnish-American computer science student Aram Kudurshian. He is asking just 15 dollars for a shareware gift to people like me. It has won awards, as well as being slapped down by real geeks on the VT info page.
Apart from one or two things I've yet to sort out, I agree with somebody called 'The Mac Manger', who gave it five stars and said:
"I'm not very knowledgable in HTML so the built in Reference is very helpful and the assistants speed up many of the monotonous tasks. HTML Creator might not be for the advanced user but it's great for new users and intermediate webmasters."
It's also a fine learning tool, along with the O'Reilly tome I once mentioned, half a dozen websites, and a few other pieces of carefully selected shareware which I'm discovering how to use.
All told, for less than 100 euros ($115/£80), I'm finding you can sift Version Tracker OS X (or Mac OS or Windows) and build up a neat collection of page-creation time-savers. These, unlike the big commercial products, fit well into my computer budget over two months.
When I'm more proficient, I'll mention what else strikes me as outstanding.
zzz
The magic 26th.
Monthly start-again date across France for budgeting, the unexpected or otherwise, with Visa. Now Tristam gets a proper birthday present, instead of a time travel entry and confusion with others, and a few software developers get their rightful dues.
11:10:57 PM link 
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