Vancouver is reminding us again that despite the fires that swept through the drought-parched forests, we live in a tropical zone. All the summer rain dances and prayers addressed to thunder deities in a desperate attempt by rural residents to salvage their blaze-endangered homes are finally getting their return, with interest. We have had 20% of our annual rainfall crowded into the last week and a half. Perfectly fine for me, trying to stay on course with this novel dare. A sunny day has the effect of a pro-wrestler barging into house, yanking me off the power ball that serves as a computer chair and throwing me off the balcony into the daylight. (“And don’t come back until it’s dark!”) Beautiful weather cuts into my daily wordage like nothing else—excepting, perhaps, the joys of food poisoning.

So, closed in a café with my cute little ibook and an afternoon freed of other responsibilities and 20,000 words into the inter-galactic outlaw novel.

Now that I have internet access, I’ve been trying to track down a few old friends with no success. All the once free services have been co-opted and now to even approach viable connections, you need a credit card number. *sigh* I found the same problem with updating my math skills. There used to be scads of sites dedicated to the simple education of the interested masses. Now they all funnel you into book purchases.

What is with the search engines nowadays? I type in “discount furniture, Vancouver” and get asites for “A San Diego get away,” a dozen different jewelry stores, and perfume manufacturers. None of my words were included anywhere on the actual site, but it listed in the search results as if they were there. Is this the new wave in advertising and getting your company at the head of search engines? If that’s the case, I will go out of my way to avoid these boisterous irrelevant merchants (as if I’d ever buy perfume or jewelry anyway—but if I ever DID need jewelry or perfume you can be sure I won’t be buying from you, and you know who you are… yeah, that’s right).

Okay, back to Krull-Urbia…