So this time it was Michael who was talking to himself in the chatroom - in fact, he was singing from Tannhaueser, so melodiously that both Rachel and Ranjana waltzed in on waves of sonorous ecstasy!
Rachel said she liked music but didn't like her voice, but Ranjana reassured her that all can sing with a little training. Michael then explained how the neighbours felt about his singing. Rachel then revealed that she knows how to play the cello! However, we didn't get to hear much about this because her computer started experiencing difficulties as Kirksey came on to explain.
Fortunately, I arrived just at this moment.
Rachel taught us that the word 'luters' means websurfers. We discussed the successful outcome of the Bacon incident. Two other pigs as well as a lamb were rescued thanks to the courageous efforts of some very brave girls at that school. The pictures of the animals, safe in their sanctuaries can be found here:
http://towardsfreedom.com/veggiechess/crhs.htm
It turns out that Sangeeta, who couldn't attend the chat because she was at a conference, there met Frank Cobo, one of the primary individuals responsible for freeing Bacon, now renamed Daisy.
Rachel asked me if I watched MTV so I said no and that I hardly watched tv at all except at dinner. Michael wondered if that interfered with concentrating on eating, but when I pointed out what the alternative to not watching tv durinng dinner was, he understood completely.
Both Kirksey and Ray arrived then while Ranjana started wondering whether she missed anything while she was gone. Ray revealed that he and Marsha were contemplating moving out west because they were tired of the cold weather. However, Ray explained that he would need to find a job programming in Clarion which there aren't too many of.
Then Ranjana suddenly exclaimed that she had found it, but fortunately, before she could do anything about it, Bear entered. Kirksey told us that his computer wasn't working too well and that brought on some suggestions including getting another computer.
Michael left to make food and that got Ray inspired to eat his lunch. Ulli put in a brief appearance that brought Michael back for a bit but then they both left.
Bear was saddened because his uncle had recently died and we send him our regrets. However, be assured, Bear, that you will always have friends beyond the 100 acre woods.
Ray thought that the system was missing lines so we explored some of the ways we could bring the lines back. This investigation led to the discovery by Ray of the emoticons and soon he was brightening up the chatroom with colorful faces!
There followed a few moments of consternation as I legitimately questioned the honey consuming technique of Winnie the Pooh - you know, dipping the paw into it and all that - and we all hoped that Bear did not resort to the same. We did wonder about this somewhat though, because Bear made mention of his keyboard's sticky keys.
Kyron entered at this point and an inevitable Linux discussion started. I joined this one because I was so pleased with Gentoo Linux. It turned out that Fjord and Sangeeta had been right last week when they said that Gentoo sounded like a bird, because Ray discovered that this was a type of penguin. Kyron and I started arguing about the merits of Gentoo vs SourceMage which is rather strange considering both of us prefer the former, but Kyron was determined that I not malign the latter unduly. Both Ray and Bear seemed very interested in visiting the Gentoo site and Ranjana thought it might be a party so she figured she would go there too.
Then Ray mentioned that he hates to lose his code, but Bear said he loves to lose his. They didn't argue about it though.
Kyron and I finally figured out that we didn't need to type to each other in order to have our argument since we were sitting beside each other. This amused Ray greatly and he sent 3 huge smiley grins to me. I immediately sent 3 of the same to Kyron who promptly sent another 3 right back to Ray! Bear found this circular exchange especially funny and added a huge smiley grin himself before proceeding to discuss whether alter egos have alterior motives with Ray.
We asked if Kirksey was still with us but no answer came - however, Fjord did. He didn't say anything for a long time and when he did, it was to type only a single question mark. The profundity of Fjord's gesture brought gasps of admiration first from Ranjana, then from Bear who expressed it in the form of 2 exclaimation marks! The rest of us had no idea what was happening.
Suddenly Fjord told us he was 'kaughing' but didn't know why, but since we didn't know whether he meant 'laughing' or 'coughing' we couldn't help him.
Fortunately, Doug flashed into the discussion at this time and we talked about the Bacon story and eating in general. Then Doug mentioned oranges in Florida and that got us inspired to plant fruit trees (but after the chat). Michael suddenly appeared wanting a fruit smoothie and Ranjana indicated she would put up a recipe for it on the website. Michael will also put up his tofu technique there.
Michael, Ranjana and Flash left at this point and Fjord told me about Pericles and her eating habits. The chat came to a very happy ending as he told me that Pericles was doing just fine these past few days.