As I do more computer work, I'm discovering that there are certain tasks that I perform repeatedly. Tasks without obvious solutions.

For example, Internet Explorer automatically installs a Links toolbar item and menu item. This item serves no use to me, and I would like it to be gone permanently. Several times now, I've figured out how to remove this. It's not intuitive, though, and I always have to figure it out from scratch whenever I install a new OS or new version of Internet Explorer.

Wouldn't it be nice if I had a centralized location for tips such as this, tips that I could use whenever I wanted them, but that others could find by searching the Internet? Well, I'm going to create a page, or a subsite, just for this. It'll save me a lot of time, and I hope it will help others. I'll have info on Linux stuff, info on how to perform calendar sharing with Microsoft Outlook under Windows 2000 without Microsoft Exchange (not an easy task), and other various tricks I pick up along the way. I'll see if Dane wants to help. Maybe this would be a good use for the web log that I wanted to start with him.

Oh. To get rid of that confounded Links item in Internet Explorer, right-click on the Links folder in your Favorites menu. Select Properties. Select the "hidden" check box". When you are asked if you want to hide all subfolders and files, answer yes. Voila! The Links item is gone! (If it doesn't disappear from the toolbar, right-click on the toolbar item and select delete.)

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Toto and Satchel continue to adjust to each other's presence. Satchel is much more accepting of Toto than she is of him. In fact, I think that he longs for her to play with him. She's beginning to warm to his presence, but generally just pretends that he doesn't exist. However, on occasion, she hisses at him or growls or even lunges and attacks. In all, she's coping with a new cat much better than Kris and I had anticipated.

I was thinking of Tintin (the cat) this morning, and it reminded me of Tintin (the comic character). I haven't read the Tintin adventures in several years now, and I think I may be ready to do so again. I did a search for Tintin info on the Internet and discovered that many of the sites that I used to love are now gone. However, I did find the following:

• tintin.com: The official home page for all things Tintin. Contains lots of Tintin information that is new to me.
• The official site includes a Tintin store, filled with Tintin merchandise. There was a store in San Francisco that specialized in Tintin (and Asterix) items at one time. Kris ordered several Tintin things for me from their catalog, which was sweet. We haven't received their catalog in years, though, and I cannot remember the company's name. They may no longer be in business.
• An article about the origins of many of the Tintin characters. The article references a book, Tintin: The Complete Companion by Michael Farr, which is unavailable in the U.S. but may be ordered from Amazon UK. I'll have to hint that I want that for Christmas, eh? (I also want a harmonica and a nice mortar and pestel, both of which may seem odd. I really want them, though.)
• Marlinspike Hall, a Tintin fansite that has been around since the early days of the web. It's not the best possible site, but it is nice to see. I once started my own Tintin fan site but didn't get far with it. I received a couple e-mail messages a month from people writing to Tintin, which always amazed me. I may have to revisit the idea of a fan site, as there don't seem to be many good ones left.
• Another, better, site from the "olden days" is The Cult of Tintin. If you go to the site's home page, though, it says it has been shut down. Despite this, many of the back pages remain (and, in fact, I link to them below when I discuss individual Tintin albums).
• A Tintin webring exists, though I haven't visited any of the sites yet. I'm sure there are some good ones, so I'll have to find some time to explore the list thoroughly.
• A page filled with Tintin links. Mostly in French.
  
• Il etait une fois..., another place to buy Tintin stuff. (And Lucky Luke stuff!)
  
• Best of all is this site, which contains on-line versions of new Tintin adventures (as well as adaptations of various movies, etc.)

When Kris and I started using eBay, I sold some of my Tintin stuff. To be specific, I sold my copy of Tintin in the Land of the Soviets. (Here's a list of the Tintin stuff currently for auction on eBay. When I first started using eBay, there were fewer than 50 Tintin items at a time up for auction; now there are 1507!) The person to whom I sold the book asked if I happened to have an English edition of the rarest Tintin book (the book Herge left uncompleted at his death), Tintin and the Alph-Art. I did. I had spent years hunting for this book before finding it for $18 at the University of Washington bookstore quite by chance. I had no intention of selling it to this buyer, but he offered me $200 for it and I could not refuse. I sent him Soviets, Alph-Art, and through in an English version of Tintin in the Congo. I now lack all three books (though I can get Soviets and Congo for about $25/each whenever I desire) and I miss them. I'll have to bring my collection back up to full force sometime soon. Finding Alph-Art in English again may be tricky, though.

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Have I mentioned that I still have not finished Wuthering Heights? I did happen upon the following passage yesterday, which I thought quite well-written. Young Catherine is speaking of her illicit meetings with Linton:

One time [...] we were near quarreling. He said the pleasantest manner of spending a hot July day was lying from morning til evening on a bank of heath in the middle of the moors, with the bees humming dreamily about among the bloom, and the larks singing high up over head, and the blue sky and bright sun shining steadily and cloudlessly. That was his most perfect idea of heaven's happiness — mine was rocking in a rustling green tree, with a west wind blowing, and bright, white clouds flitting rapidly above; and not only larks, but throstles, and blackbirds, and linnets, and cuckoos pouring out music on every side, and the moors seen at a distance, broken into cool dusky dells; but close by great swells of long grass undulating in waves to the breeze; and woods and sounding water, and the whole world awake and wild with joy. He wanted all to lie in an ecstasy of peace; I wanted all to sparkle, to dance in a glorious jubilee.

I said his heaven would be only half alive, and he said mine would be drunk; I said I should fall asleep in his, and he said he could not breathe in mine...

Beautifully written, much more so than the rest of the book. Unfortunately, I still find this the least compelling classic I've ever attempted to read.

sigh

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Satchel is playful.

Toto, when she stalks him or charges him, thinks that she is fighting. Satchel believed the same thing intitially, and he behaved deferentially toward her, but he has come to believe that they are playing instead. Because of this, he's an eager participant in the combat. This makes Toto less enthused about the whole thing because what's the point of being aggressive if her opponent isn't properly submissive?

Satchel's favorite game (and mine, too, because it involves no effort on my part) is for me to tie a piece of rafia (think "string") on my rear belt loop. He can then follow me from room to room, attacking the rafia and having a generally jolly time. In fact, the entire time I've been typing this entry, he's been sitting behind the chair, skillfully subduing the rafia. Go Satchel!

On this day at foldedspace.org

2003 — Exquisite Corpse   In which I share the second draft of my second story. In which the writing class participates in an exquisite corpse.

2002 — Sunrise   I was almost late for work this morning because I stopped on Goods Bridge to photograph the sunrise.

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