In my sister's quest to rid her house of all unnecessary objects that would become so much dead weight as she's packing to move to her new home, she came across my original Thumbelina doll from the early 60s. This was a doll that had a knob surgically implanted in her back which, when wound up, would make her writhe like a real baby with severe gas pains. I was fairly attached to this doll, along with Chatty Cathy (she had a loop-and-string mechanism which, when pulled, caused her to issue forth a variety of pithy phrases), Tressy (she had a pony tail on the top of her head which, when a key was inserted into her back, would allow you to pull on her hair to make it "grow" - I think there was a button of some sort that caused it to retract - sort of a reverse Rogaine)and various Barbies, Skippers, and Midges. It's clear I had a thing for action dolls. My sister informed me that Thumbelina had been unceremoniously dumped, so much childhood detritus.

Today's adventure with technology:
1. Try to reach the local Cable Monopoly office to make sure I really can return the broken cable box and get a new one. Apparently, the local office is not allowed to have phones because there is no way to reach them from the outside. Am informed by the surly customer care representative (who was probably in Hoboken) that I should not return it, but should schedule a technician visit, in direct contradiction of what the friendly customer care representative (who was probably in India) told me two days ago. I go with the friendly advice
2. The Cable Monopoly local office does indeed have replacement boxes, no questions asked, which they supplied with a smile.
3. I set the box up at home (this is after cleaning up the books that had wedged themselves behind the TV when they fell off the shelf that got knocked about when I was removing the defective box last night) and called the Cable Monopoly to have them activate it. They informed me to leave the box on for about 45 minutes and the programming should all be downloaded (why this cannot be done at the local office is beyond my limited technical abilities).
4. I wait the 45 minutes, expecting full programming to be available. The "0" remains on the box and static remains on the TV. I call the Cable Monopoly back and they do more sending of signals and downloading and tell me to wait 2 hours for it to take effect. Perhaps they are shoving more good stuff into my cable box and that's why it will really take 2 hours and not 45 minutes.
5. I wait the 2 hours, feeling as if I can't really get started on any projects, because it will be time to check the cable before too long. A minor miracle occurs and after 2 hours the box displays channel numbers and the TV displays moving pictures. There is a slight problem with the other cable boxes now - Showtime has disappeared. I phone back one more time and am informed that in one of the many calls I've made today someone (out of spite, I'm sure) has removed Showtime from our account, for no apparent reason. They ask if I had any promotional offers for Showtime and I respond that I get it free for life. They seem not to believe this and reinstate it at the standard rate. Showtime reappears in a matter of minutes.
6. I check my cable connection and not only is Showtime still gone, but now HBO has evaporated as well. Yet again another call and now the magic time has shrunk to 15 minutes to receive these channels. I'm threatened with a service call if it doesn't resolve itself this time. Both channels materialize from the ether.

Total time investment - the better part of a day.

Movies: Miranda - a surreal, disjointed, mostly incomprehensible set of marginally related images. Beautiful sets with extraordinary use of the color red. Shrek - it was on HBO when it finally was incarnated this afternoon. I had forgotten how wonderful the story is and what a great soundtrack it has.

Cats: Tabitha ate about half a package of Cat Catch-ems tuna flavored treats.

Dreams: I was standing on a promontory overlooking a massive volcano that had an opening at its base that looked like the entry to a mine shaft. The volcano was effervescing and the colors were seventh-circle-of-hell-like There was someone menacing standing next to me (ready to pitch me in?). Perhaps a little work anxiety?