The latest rumours are that AltaVista is now on the auction block. CMGI, their major investor, insists that's not the case, but it's an empty argument. At some point a beggar on the street (a real one) gets hungry enough that he'll trade one of his shoes for a sandwich. CMGI needs some capital infusion right away, and AltaVista is about the only asset they own that's worth anything. And it won't be worth something for long. I for one recently switched to Google. It's come a long way, and didn't used to be very good. It certainly is now. AltaVista has been going the other way, still trying to figure out whether they're a portal or search engine. As recently as 2 months ago I think the AV indexes were more exhaustive, but I doubt that's the case now. Google is crawling all over the web, more often than AV, so they're catching the latest changes. Google is certainly more clever at figuring out what links should be at the top of the page. That's the real piece de resistance. Now as for all those other search-engine/portals out there, I won't even waste my time commenting on them.

The back yard is still pretty muddy from the storm yesterday, so not much is going to get done out there probably until after Easter. Also time to toss this phenolic wheelbarrow and get a real one. It served me well, but couldn't stand up to ton after ton of concrete rubble. So a quick eulogy and then toss it as well on top of the rubble pile. Should be hearing in the next few days about the next stage of the kitchen work - it's been sitting idle and empty for a long time now. Once the floor is done I can start putting the rest of the house back in order. Should be able to get that and the stove+hood installed in the next two weeks. Then it's only a couple weeks until the cabinets are scheduled. Only thing after that is the counter top. Then it's PARTY TIME! Ok, one thing at a time. But I'm starting to get quite frustrated that I get to go out to my garage every day and drool over this five thousand dollar stove. And I have to keep waiting until it's hooked up. Shoulda' done it myself - it would be done by now.

Anybody seen any "corner paint rollers"? Yes, I know about these corner spongy things that slide, but I need a roller, preferably full sized. This is going on a telescoping rod to paint a corner that's 10 feet beyond human reach. The sliding spongy thing won't cut it because it insists on being applied at a fixed angle. I require a bit more flexibility. If you have any leads send me a note. If worst comes to worst, I think I'll just buy a new rag mop and dip the end in paint.

A friend at work already warned me about this so I was prepared. He got a call on his cell phone at something like 2AM a week or two ago. On answering, he received a recorded message to reset the power on his cell phone - all so it would now say "Cingular" instead of "PACBELL". Needless to say he wasn't happy about this intrusion and considered dropping the service that day. Got my call today - at least it was during daylight hours. But I'm still trying to figure out this rate plan thing. I think it's generally a recipe for screwing the customer. I used to have the "basic rate" which was 19.95/month and I never got charged for roaming at my daughter's house (in another state) or long distance or anything. My monthly bill was always 19.95 plus tax. Period. Now I have the "regional 150" or something like that (at 29.95/month) which is specifically designed to allow roaming and long distance free within the western region. As opposed to the "local 150" which isn't. So anyway, my bill is now full of roaming and long distance charges and is like $45-60/month... And I use the phone maybe half as much as previously and haven't once been out of the western region. Once again, in this day and age, do not trust anybody. There is nobody on your side. Everybody is out to screw you out of as much money as they can get. Do not assume that just because this is a large corporation that they will do the right thing. In fact, trust large corporations the least.