Suburban neighborhoods give themselves leave to put up the silliest decorations, which is amusing and sometimes very pretty. A house a couple of doors down has a massive 8-foot teddy bear sitting on the lawn, with some mice and tiny snowmen singing to him from sheet music. A 6-foot Santa hovers on the side, and illuminated candy canes form a fence at the edge of the lawn. Another house had a complex light system that changes colors every few minutes on the roof and front of the house, and one side of the house looks like a kaleidoscope. That was pretty.

Last night a bunch of outdoor lights were turned off, for some reason. I hope they're back on tonight, because it was sad to see that 8-foot teddy bear and Santa deflated and lying in plastic puddles on the lawn.

Otherwise, what a mixed bag things have been lately. Just got a sale started on a domain I forgot I had — but the price stated is lower than I meant it to be — but we might have a 2nd sale to the same buyer. Then an old debt was suddenly called in, swallowing up a huge amount I thought I could use for current expenses. Ouch. And lastly, I remembered a gift card a relative gave me to the grocery store, and it was more generous than usual birthday gifts. What good timing for that.

At least I don't have Korean parasites and no one shot at me. So I can't complain when I think about that man. That news story made me so happy to hear he's recovering faster than they believed he would, and companies are giving him lifetime chocolate pies and things.

Nicholas Kristof in the NYTimes just posted a column about charities, and if I find a few dollars I might send it to EvidenceAction.org, where they have a Deworm The World initiative. They can deworm a child for 50 cents for an entire year, which is pretty incredible.