2013 in Review

This has not really been a good year. But then again …

• After years of working on Macs at work, I have bought Macs for myself: A MacBook Air in January, and a Mac Mini in December. Both are now slightly out-of-date (I got the latter at half price), but both can run Mauve fine. (Mauve is my word for Mac OS X Mavericks, the name of which I found pretentious.)
• My local telephone company gave me a new ADSL bridge and a very good deal on digital telephone/Internet service (which I find I have to renew yearly).
• My drains were finally fixed when a plumber used a rooter to clear the sewer outlet of wads and wads of "flushable wipes", which should never by flushed as they do not biodegrade, and which previous owners of the house have flushed in ignorance.
• The ants were not a problem this year, but I was plagued by swarms of boxelder beetles. Later I was visited by my first mouse, which I caught under my kitchen sink and released in a field outside of town. (Boy, that critter can poop!)
• My sister the editor moved out of Fairmount for Escanaba, on the east coast of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, due to the overly costly condition of her house and the intolerability of Indiana's politics.
• I was nicely entertained during the early part of this year by the Web reality show Strip Search from the Penny Arcade site. It is so hard not to fall in love with the pretty, productive but vulgar Web cartoonist Monica Ray. I am still waiting for Penny Arcade to issue Strip Search on DVD, as it is unlikely to be a second season. The television division of the PA Web site is now closed.