Cuparius.com

Baking soda is good for cleaning out coffee makers. Run it through once, and run plain water through several more times to flush it out completely, and your coffee maker will be clean as a whistle. I tried it once before with a coffee maker I had bought from an acquaintance. I tried it again with a different coffee maker recently, but I forgot a critical step: dissolve the baking soda with water before pouring it into the coffee maker; do not add the baking soda before adding the water. Now I have to buy a new coffee maker. Thank the gods coffee makers are inexpensive.

Be at work by 8:00 a.m. Tuesday morning. Rise at 5:00 a.m. Rue the day.

According to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary Eleventh Edition, you are now at a Web site. I mention this because some of you may refer to the Cuparium as a "website" -- lowercase w, one word -- and this would be incorrect. As a matter of fact, I spelt the word incorrectly (but consistently) ever since Saint Patrick's Day 1999 when I purchased my first computer with Internet access. The Internet, of course, is exactly the wrong place to learn how to spell anything unless you rely on the Web site of a reputable publisher of dictionaries (more on that next week). Of all the spellings I had seen, "website" seemed to be a reasonable way to spell a new word for a new thing, so "website" it was. In fact, "website" seems to be a fairly common spelling... on the Internet. I was so convinced that "website" was the One True Spelling that when the eagerly anticipated Eleventh Edition was in my hands and I consulted it, I was prepared to acknowledge that Merriam-Webster's had fallen from its pedestal and was no longer the greatest American desk dictionary of the English language. "How could they capitalize it and divide it into two?" I ranted. "Every Internet manual I have ever read spells it with a lowercase w and as one word. How could they be so careless?" As soon as I was home, I reached for the Internet manuals to confirm my contention... and learned that they consistently, without exception, spelled it "Web site." Merriam-Webster's was safely on its pedestal, I was humbled, and my faith was restored. Welcome to my Web site.

I have been indecisive more than once about whether to buy a copy of The Macmillan Visual Dictionary, and it certainly isn't without its shortcomings, but after flipping through its pages at the local public library, I have decided I must find a copy for my own bookshelf. One can never have too many reference books. This might be a good time to pay ABE.com a visit.

I haven't been to the cinema lately, but Susan loaned me her copy of Spirited Away, which I had intended to see on the big screen, but never found the time. Well, I saw it finally and I'm glad I did. Yes, I should have tried harder to see it at the cinema. This is the second movie by Hayao Miyazaki that I've seen. The first was My Neighbor Totoro, which Bryan loaned me. 'Tis a wonderful film and I now own it on DVD thanks to my brother. Akira Kurosawa, one of my favorite directors, was an admirer of this film, and it's easy to understand why. Satisfy your curiosity and watch them both.

I probably ought to mention for the benefit of those unfamiliar with the work of Hayao Miyazaki that they are both animated feature-length films.

On Sunday I missed both the second half of the Coronation Street omni and the second episode of The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Then I went to work for our annual inventory. That's the kind of day it was. When I went to bed that night, I slept until 11:00 a.m. So much for a productive day off.

On Saturday, however, I was lucky enough to catch an episode of Burt Wolf's Local Flavors featuring Wayne County, Ohio. They did not neglect to show the traditional Scottish Highlander marching band of the College of Wooster, for which I am grateful, and as always the sound of pipes and drums brought a "leak to my eye," as they performed Scotland the Brave.

"Loch Mor!"
--Battle cry of Clan Mackintosh and the Clan Chattan confederation