I just received a cheque covering the warranty work done in Canada and later partially undone in the States.  Most happy.

I shall be sorry to see Saturn go.  Part of the reason Saturn failed was the way GM screwed them over.

If Chevy is smart, but they won’t be, they would pick up the Saturn Sky as a Corvette Light for their line up.  it is such a neat looking car.

A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it. -William Styron, novelist (1925-2006)

It was this way for me when I first read The Lord of the Rings!  Exhausted, been to places new to me, and sad it was over.

I return to Middle-earth once every year or two.

When I travel, I often wonder: Where in Middle-earth am I?

Amtrak is still in the 20th Century.  I was looking into a cross country train trip.  However, Amtrak does NOT support Wi-Fi.  Laptops would be off the net.  They need to deal with this.

ALBACON, www.albacon.org , has its hotel for 2010: Best Western Sovereign Hotel – Albany, 1228 Western Ave., Albany, NY 12203; +1-518-489-2981; http://www.sovereignhotels.com/ .

We hope to have on-line registration up and running real soon now.  Y’all come.  We give good con!  Allen Steele is our Literary Guest of Honor.

For the past couple days I’ve been scanning in papers from the Tolkien conferences I ran in 1969 and 1971: The 1^st & 2^nd Conferences On Middle-earth.  I may add a couple more that I have which are contemporary with them.  It is very interesting to go thru these papers which were based solely on The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings.

These are the papers which didn’t make the cut for “A Tolkien Compass” edited by Jared Lobdell.

One idea is to publish them under the title: “A Tolkien Lodestone.”  They being sort of not quite ready for accurate directions in Middle-earth.

It might be fun to hold another Conference On Middle-earth for fans of Professor Tolkien, the books, music, art, films, etc.  A small get together in the “Green Dragon” for a nosh & a natter.

If it weren’t for the fact that the TV set and the refrigerator are so far apart, some of us wouldn’t get any exercise at all. -Joey Adams, comedian (1911-1999)

To all the service members past, present, and future:  Welcome home and thank you for your service to our wonderful country.

Looking forward to a fun weekend.  I’m heading off to Rochester, NY, for ASTRONOMICON, their local SF con.  All the ones I’ve attended have been fun.

I think, more folk might do well to read this article.

If it’s on the shelves, it’s off the streets byPeter Moskos. [Peter Moskos is an assistant professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the author of "Cop in the Hood: My Year Policing Baltimore's Eastern District."]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/23/AR2009102303457.html

I am bemused by the total lack of any sort of sense of humor when Target is attached for the “Illegal Alien” costume.  Maybe not completely in the best of taste, but no where near as bad as some of the so-called costumes I’ve seen shown for sale.  — Then again, an illegal alien is just that: ILLEGAL.  Go to jail & deport.  –  Yes, they are seeking to better themselves.  However, so are all those folk in line for legal immigration.  –  Hmm, maybe the US should review its immigration policy.  However, being able to speak English is obligatory.  How else can someone from Korea communicate with someone from Russia?  ETC.