Well, wonders never cease. I just, by myself (well, and with the help of an anonymous HP support person when I got stuck) set up our new printer. It's an "all-in-one" product that came cheap with the laptop. So now we can print stuff again (but we've learned our lesson and will only do that on very very special occasions. Those highway robbers!).

In the books department, in case you wonder what I'm reading these days, well, one I'm into these days is The Seven Story Mountain by Thomas Merton. I knew it was considered a classic and now I know why. Merton was (or is, if he's still alive: the book was written in the late 40s) a Trappist monk who started out as some sort of brilliant academic, if I'm not mistaken (haven't gotten that far in the story). The book basically is Merton telling his story--telling how he got to where he was at the time of writing--and is really well written (easy to understand without writing down to you) and really meaty. One thing I find fascinating is to how Merton is an old-time, committed ("the Catholic church is the one true church") kind of a guy, and yet his spiritual experience, if you break it down, is pretty similar to mine or that of many "born again" believers. He was going along (la de la la la) sinning up a storm, doing bad stuff and without a thought of God in his head until one day...WHAMO: he sees he's really rotten to the core and, circuitously, eventually, finds God in Christ as his answer.

He also, mind you, will be telling his story quite charmingly and with great skill when suddenly he's gone into raptures about the Virgin Mary and writes, in the text, prayers to her, and so forth. (What the....?)Spooky. But hey, there's more to like than not like. After all, he was a man of letters, of culture, yet of faith, and it comes through in every sentence.

Another book I picked up at the library is Alberta: A State of Mind. It was an official kind of book written by a slew of prominent contributers upon the 100th anniversary of Alberta joining Canada. It's quite fascinating, getting the Alberta point of view and mostly I like it, but once in a while I get a jolt. One writer talked about Alberta's "alienation" from the rest of Canada, but went on to say, it's really OK since just about everybody (every political entity, I think she means) in Canada feels alienated (i.e., out of it, on the outside, not part of what's happenin', gettin' no respect from everybody else, as Rodney Dangerfield would put it) except (wait for it) Toronto and Ottawa. "Whaaaaaaa...?" (say I) having lived a considerable time in Toronto. People in Toronto feel alienated BIG TIME since they're struggling to keep the big ol' economic engine going but don't get decent federal help with a public transit system, as most cities in North America do. Also, Toronto has to shell out taking care of all the social misfits who migrate there from the rest of Canada because they can get on welfare and find little corners to sleep in and lose themselves in the Big Smoke. Meanwhile the rest of Canada hates Toronto's guts, as it were, and takes pleasure in its misfortunes. (Yeah I know some folks in Toronto are arrogant and stuck up, but most are just people from all over the world who are just trying to put bread on the table and get a life...)

So there. A couple rant-style book reviews--for any who might find such edifying.