It’s with a mixture of glee and nostalgia that I delete my “Treasurer of Community Council” email signature. I’m pleased to see the back of the work but sad that I didn’t get further towards streamlining procedures (such as producing my reports in html that the secretary won’t sneer at) and reducing the amount of time it takes to process a transaction:

1. enter item in spreadsheet of all transactions
2. enter item in spreadsheet of appropriate sub-account’s transactions
3. check that the two new running totals match
4. write cheque
5. fill in manual transaction record
6. if necessary, write covering letter and envelope
7. get another signatory to counter-sign the cheque
8. post the cheque
9. file the paper documentation.

However, I have trained my Padme and am happy to pass my glowing and buzzing baton to her. However, I’m happy to continue to guide her in the ways of the market-Force for a while yet.

Also, that’s one more step on the road to leaving…

However, my financial duties aren’t quite over:

1. I still have to chair the first meeting of a “what-are-we-going-to-do-with-our-obscene-amount-of-cash” committee.
2. Until the new bank-account signatories can meet me at the bank to be vetted by them, I still have to sign the cheques prepared by my successor.
3. I’m still treasurer and web-weaver for Fairtrade

Reports that the Brighton conference was a cocaine-filled orgy have been played doewn by organisers, despite a newspaper investigation discovering traces of the drug in toilets at the conference hotels, just yards way from where ministers, hacks and delegates “networked” into the wee hours. Asked about the cocaine allegations,a Labour source said: “We don’t have a line on that”.

Deliberate or unfortunate? I guess your answer depends on how cynical you are.

I received a very pleasant email today:

Bruce,

I am still in the ‘stone’ age operating a Mac IIci offline (since 1989) and a Mac 7300 online (since 2002). I am writing not because I am interested in what you have to sell but to inform you of how appreciative I am to at last read writing from someone who has at least a modicum of style in writing for such a prosaic task as selling used computer equipment.

My day is made.

Thanks.

Mel

PS: I wish you well in being able to sell your equipment.

This has made my day too – thanks Mel.

In case you’re wondering, here’s my original

To: lem-swap@mail.maclaunch.com
From: Bruce Ryan <apba32@dsl.pipex.com>
Subject: clearing out
Cc:
Bcc:
X-Attachments:

Hi folks

The following are taking up too much space in St Andrews, Scotland (KY16 8YW) and are yours for shipping plus a few pounds towards my retirement fund or some of my desirables listed below. If you live in Edinburgh, Dundee or Fife, I can deliver.

• 8600/250. 288 MB RAM and 4GB hard disk with built-in 100MB zip drive and Asantefast 690 10/100 ethernet card, Apple extended keyboard and ADB mouse II (the teardrop shape) and adaptor from old-style mac monitor port to sVGA monitors
• CoStar LabelWriter: runs under Classic OS, plugs into printer/modem port
• D2 external 2X SCSI CR-RW drive, complete with caddy
• SyQuest EZ Flyer 230 MB drive and 13 230 MB disks
• two ADB extended keyboards. (one is branded PowerUser, the other isn’t branded at all). I only have one keyboard to mac cable and a two-button black mini-mouse to go with these
• Wacom A5 ADB graphics tablet complete with stylus and Griffin iMate to attach it to USB macs
• Wacom A3 ADB graphics tablet (no stylus but I do have the mouse) and Griffin iMate to attach it to USB macs
• belkin 2 x1 USB peripheral switch. Allows you to connect a USB device to 2 computers rather than all that tedious swapping of cables. (It’s brand-new but I don’t have the original packaging). Claims to work under any flavour of Windows and Mac OS up to 10·. (I didn’t see this small print until after I’d opened the packaging and the Panther-unfriendliness wasn’t mentioned on belkin’s website – GRRR)
• 5·-inch USB 2 enclosure. (will also take 3.5-inch devices)
• 5·-inch Firewire/USB 2 enclosure. (will also take 3.5-inch devices)
• SONY CD-RW drive model CRX170E (pulled from 800MHZ Quicksilver)
• 3 ten-metre cat5 ethernet cables
• 1 twenty-metre cat5 ethernet cable

================

I’d like some real money for the following which have been used and loved since 1999.

• Powermac G4/400 (sawtooth). Original (but far from pristine) packaging, original 10GB HD and DVD-ROM drive, Original OS 9.02 installer CDs, 384 MB PC100 RAM. I have an Apple no-button mouse for this but no keyboard. Also Belkin SurgeCube surge protector and “slave power cable” (takes power from the back of the mac to another device so you only need one socket for both mac and monitor.

The following are currently in the G4/400 but can be parted out

• 4-port USB2 PCI card
• Adaptec 2906 SCSI card
• Mitsubishi DiamondPro91TXM 21-inch CRT monitor in original (but not pristine) packaging.

================

Instead of money, send me toys:

• PC133 RAM or a speed-bump for my quicksilver (800MHZ is so pedestrian!)
• a palm with colour screen and more than 2MB RAM. My ideal is a Treo 650 (cellphone, camera and pal all in one!)
• a life

thanks for wading through this

Bruce

You scored as Frigg. Freyr 80% Frigg 80% Balder 80% Odin 80% Bragi 60% Loki 50% Thor 50% Njord 50% Skadi 40% Hel 40% Freya 30% Sif 30% Tyr 30% Heimdall 20%

Which Pagan God or Goddess are you most like?
created with QuizFarm.com

Oh bloody hell! I answer truthfully and I find out I’m the patron god of sprog-production. I suppose the Norse didn’t go in for vasectomy.

• Spent most of the day trying not to respond violently to a colleague’s overbearing bullshit.
• It appears our server now no longer speaks to pure MacOS9.
• Bad feeling that I upset someone I really care about last night.

I was tagged by :

List 5 fictional communities in which you would like to live, list the sources, and then tag 3 random friends.

1. Interzone (The Naked Lunch)
2. Marsport (Isaac Asimov’s I’m in Marsport without Hilda)
3. Known Space (Larry Niven) because I really want to meet Pierson’s Puppeteers – but not so sure about encountering Kzinti.
4. Brentford (as described by Robert Rankin)
5. The Village (The Prisoner)

I tag , , and, if he’ll answer, .

… appears to have been a successful day. Read all about it! Once again, I’m embarrassed by my turgid prose.