It still ticks me off that:

A. the good Ol U.S. of A. was being difficult at Bali

B. idiots are killing their daughters because they’re not dressing the way they want them to and

C. that I lost the original version of this blog.

Okay yes, I realize that that’s nowhere as serious as A and B, but unlike A and B it is something I can do something about.

Now, I thought I had the blog all backed up, but it looks like all I had backed up was the structure and look of the thing.  Because I’ve changed providers, all my tables have become inaccessible to me, and although I could be wrong, it seems I can’t reproduce my original posts and comments without those original tables.

But it turns out it may not matter after all.  I’ve been able to retrieve some material via google searches and finding cached versions of my posts.  And just today I remembered about the brilliant Wayback Machine archival site.Turns out a good portion of Assorted Nonsense has been archived there.  They’re missing the first four months, there’s some weird duplication and inexplicable absences, but they’ve got a good portion of the thing.

So I’m a fair bit happier about the loss of my blog than I was.  

And now, just because I can, here’s yet another glimpse of the original version of Assorted Nonsense, lost lo these last two months.  This was a post called Taxi Radio (hey, I never claimed any of the blog was actually WORTH preserving):

I just took a taxi home. The cab driver was listening to 680 on the AM dial, which used to be CFTR in Toronto. Maybe it still is.

Do people still listen to AM, I wondered? Obviously they do.

I said, “What is that you’re listening to?”

He said, “Dunno. News and stuff. I like to hear the news.”

“Do you ever listen to CBC Radio?” I asked, just for fun.

He said, “What’s that?”

“99.1 on the FM,” I said. I didn’t tell him that’s where I worked.

He switched to 99.1. It was ten to eleven on a Saturday morning. We heard some strange kid’s music.

The cab driver laughed. “Good one, buddy!” he said, and switched right back to what he’d been listening to before.