And there was much rejoicing

: Happy Windows Sounds
: Groovy

1. I got my state pay today, so Cerys and the cats have food, the car has gas, and I might be able to swing some of my medicine, although not all.
   
2. After an hour of tinkering, downloading a new driver, etc., I finally got the sound back on my computer. Haven't any idea why it suddenly dropped away, although the only software I'd added was Microsoft Reader, which has a speech component, so that might have contributed to the glitch, though it was working fine at first. I put it down to gremlins.
   

It is quite muggy, and it's hard to believe that just a couple of days ago it was 73°F as a high! If anything, the rain seems to have made it more muggy than less.

On the flip side, I came across a couple of...well, disturbing things today, which I won't explain fully due to privacy issues--and no, neither really have to do with work or with friends, so any of you reading this, don't get paranoid. It has to do with people on the periphery of my acquaintance. One involves a document I stumbled over that had some surprising, public information about someone, and I'm not exactly sure how to take it, or whether to share that information with another person who knows him better. In the past, I'd just disseminate information (look what I found!) without considering the consequences. I'm not sure that's necessary in this case. However, I respect both enough to think the truth wouldn't damage the relationship. The other issue has to do with a business that, in the name of reorganisation, seems to be using tactics worthy of Ashcroft or even Torquemada. I don't know the whole story--it was based on hearsay, after all, and those in the know seem to have been gagged. I can see why things are being shaken up so thoroughly, but at the same time, it's putting a lot of good people who have devoted years of service under stress and the stability they were promised may have just flown out the window. As you can imagine, I can relate. And for now anyway--given my lack of knowledge--I'm going to watch and wait, and see how it goes, no matter how much I could see it as a cause to rally around. Ironically enough, it could cause job openings in a market that's almost impossible to gain entry into, hopefully without anyone actually losing a job but perhaps new positions could be created as sometimes happens with 'retoolling'--but then there are questions over whether to take advantage of the chaos others are undergoing or, for that matter, whether to become part of such a system at all. I don't know; maybe I'm thinking too much, but the ethics of the situation seem sticky.