---

Apologies for missing Christmas Eve and not posting the customary chess match with Sunsirae this year. Alas the universe has conspired against me and Christmas has been bumpier than usual. I do not want anyone to think that I had a bad Christmas - indeed had a very nice one. But suffice it to say, this Christmas brought with it a number of technological challenges for which I had to overcome. For starters, most of my light strings were dead this year. Those of you who have read my previous post will know how important Christmas lights and trees are to me. So this was a big issue that had to be completely set right. I suppose I should have expected this given the harsh cold of last winter, the ice storms and the fact most of my strings were past their prime - seven (7) years. Still, it came to replacing nine (9) 70 LED, outdoor strings - the sexy deep blue kind mind you. But in truth, that was in November. Next, my car failed its (Ontario) drive clean test. Now, it's not like my car was spewing black soot out of its tail pipe. But the sensor which my car's electric brain (I'm using that expression this season) used for detecting gas line pressure gave up the ghost. There was also a degraded seal in my gas cap. The biggest problem though was that I could not renew my license plates without passing the test. And, I found that I could not get my car in for maintenance until a week after my plates expired - big problem there. After much gnashing, whining and cash on my part, I did get a temporary renewal sticker for my plates. That gave me time for the maintenance work to be done. But then I discovered you must wait two days to retest. That would have been Christmas day, also the same day my temporary renewal expired - there is no justice! I did get a second and final temporary renewal but my plate is marked with a big red 'T' for all to see. Talk about being labeled with a scarlet letter. Then, a few days before Christmas, I lost remote access to the electric brain that performs my Poser rendering. Not at home, I relied upon RDP to access Poser to create Sunsirae's chess game. This normally works well but something in one render iteration caused the electric brain to hang. Without access to the console, I was stuck. It was like the Alpha 2 crisis all over again! I returned home this Tuesday, but this pretty much killed a Christmas Eve posting. And once home, we discovered that our water heater was, well, not heating any water. This was most aggravating as its electric starter was replaced about a month ago. I spent half the following day - couldn't get immediate service this time of year - waiting for a repair man to stop by and finally fix it. I can have my shower now but what else could possibly go wrong. Don't ask! So, I think I understand Sunsirae's impatience tonight. Though, these delays did give her the opportunity to show off the new dress and opera gloves she received this Christmas. And she wore them to tonight's New Years celebrations. But now Sunsirae is anxious to have her long delayed chess match. So much for my New Years tradition of watching 'Blade Runner'. Oh! And not to worry about Simon and Sebastian, I saw to it that they both got their tuna this Christmas. Chunky, not flaked. Happy New Year to all of you my friends. Sorry, no nudity.

---

And now, a rare treat for all you 'B' class sci-fi film buffs. From way back in 1960, 'Assignment: Outer Space' - on YouTube. As I've said to a few of my friends here and elsewhere, they don't make them like this anymore. Nevertheless the eight year old boy who I used to be really enjoyed it at the time. Even that business with the "electric brains". I saw it on Citytv, channel 79, cable 7, in Toronto one Sunday morning long, long ago. And I never saw it again until I found on YouTube this past holidays. Enjoy!

---