Tonight's movie..

Probably one of my favorites.. Dances with Wolves.

I deeply respect and admire cultures like the Sioux indians, and it makes me ashamed of this nation's "heritage"--that came in and in the name of manifest destiny, killed, destroyed, and imprisoned the established culture of this continent. Ours is a culture that does not respect nature, does not respect the planet on which we live, does not respect its elders and does not respect life.. and quite frankly, I doubt we deserve to be here. It makes me sad, sometimes.

I was just thinking that of all the trails in this life there is one that matters most. It is the trail of a true human being. I think you are on this trail and it is good to see.

So that package I'd been desperately awaiting..

Got a rather large, rather light package in the mail yesterday, from one Ellen Tornell, who was told in no uncertain terms by the post office that it would arrive a week earlier..
Opened it carefully (with a knife, bad me, but it had large closing flaps and it was a small knife ;) and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a miniature sleigh and--no, wait, not those.
A mylar balloon, proudly proclaiming, "Happy 16^th Birthday!" floated into my room, despite its long trek through the USPS.
Whee! =)

(Yes, off by more than a few years. Not so many choices at the balloon shop, apparently. :)

To Visioneer customer service:

(After attempting to call and futzing through several levels of "Do you have this model?" and "Did you hear about our new services?")

My father ([contact info]) ordered me a scanner (OneTouch 8700 USB) for my birthday. It arrived in early December (to the address attached to this case) in a clean, dry UPS box. However, the scanner box inside was wet, as were the scanner's protective bag, power supply box, and power supply. What this says to me is that the scanner was wet when it was boxed to be shipped (from APL/Visioneer, Bedford Park, IL). I'd like to request that a new, dry scanner be sent to me, and the one I have on hand (now returned to the UPS box in which it came) be picked up to be shipped back to you.
If you need any more information, feel free to contact me.
Thank you,
Scott Kreidler

Music?

Tom Waits has produced some really good music.. very chill.

(And some very soft-jazzy that doesn't float my boat, but that's ok.)

(The funny thing is that I first learned of Waits because I came across a live cover of this song by Hootie and the Blowfish at work, and decided to fetch the original.. and today, lots more by him. :)