* * *

Thanks to El Nino, we've had a rather mild winter until this week. Tuesday, we got covered in half an inch of ice. They closed the schools here -- I sure am glad that I didn't have to go out there.

Being unemployed is almost as much work as working, but at least in the '90s we no longer have to go to the unemployment office. Not if you live in Wisconsin and have access to the internet. All Unemployment Compensation (UC) claims are handled over the telephone, and in many cases, you don't even have to talk to a real person. I do, however, have to conduct an active job search to be eligible for benefits. Also fortunate: I can conduct that search from here, right down to the county, as easily as if I were sitting at the unemployment office. And I didn't even need any cleats.

I did have to leave the house on Thursday for an appointment at the Social Security Office, though. And I'm waiting for a phone-call from the state Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) office . . . I'm still waiting to make an appointment to go there. Following the guidelines of three different government programs at once is like playing Simon Says, Captain May I?, and Twister(R) all at once.

By Friday, I was ready for some recreation. It's been over a year since I played StarMud. StarMud is a Multi-User Dungeon (MUD). A text-based Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) type role- playing game, it is a virtual reality world where anyone with internet access can play. It's also a great way to waste a lot of time -- but it makes a chat-room look like a teletype. I'm not going to get into the specifics of how it works, but if you are interested just email me and I'll get you started.

I just finished reading Charles Dickens's "Great Expectations" The central character in that book is Pip. My name in StarMud is Pip. Granted, not a strong sounding name, but I don't intend to put in the time to make him strong. I'm just going to take it slow and chat a lot.

And with temperatures dipping below zero on the Fahrenheit scale, I end the week at a barbecue. Too cold for a barbecue? Not in Wisconsin!