The weekend was a long one, or at the very least it seemed that way. Friday night started off fairly normal for me after having a decent day at work. The wife went to the friday night group and I stuck around at home. The UPS guy showed up with my fans and stuff just as I was pulling in so I had the stuff I needed to start working on the computer repairs. Elizabeth wound up her computer stuff and got going while I started the tear-down process. Whomever came up with those plastic plug things which are used to hold things to circuit boards needs to have something violent happen to them. It took me a good thirty minutes, a pair of pliers and a good knife to get the old HSF for the south-bridge removed. Had to have the wife give me a hand for a couple of minutes because there were springs involved as well. Sheesh. Got everything installed pretty quickly after that and had the beast back up and running a short time later. Still have a vidcard I need to do the same to, but it can wait a while yet.

Today is an official bank holiday. Many places are closed excepting my office.

Attn: Bank Holiday Infidels: If and when elected I shall change the law such that any day on which your elected government is not working, neither do the citizens. I think this will either make the legislatures "work" more calendar days or send the economy in to the can -- not sure which. In the meantime, I would appreciate it if you went and created more bank holidays. It would help me get the laws needed passed as well as making the government look even lazier.

Thank you.

Saturday was the worst day. Not just because it was freaking cold outside with a "high" temperature of 14 degrees, but also because my wife's best friend flaked out on her. The two of them were supposed to go to the NIN concert that night. They had planned this two months ago and Elizabeth did the nice thing and bought the tickets for them. She even told her friend on friday how much she was looking forward to going to the concert with her. However, at the last minute, and without any notice she rang up and told Elizabeth that she quote, just wasn't feeling like it anymore, end-quote. To top things off, Elizabeth called her back after we got back to our place (we were coming home from having dinner at Lulu's) and asked about what was going on, re: Not feeling like it. To which she got no answer. The friend floundered with words and grasped at the air for an excuse. Elizabeth ended the conversation by hanging up on her in the middle of the aforementioned floundering.

Now, I don't know about the rest of you but there is a point of no-return in my mind regarding a situation like this and thirty minutes before the previously agreed upon meeting time is well past it. Likewise, I feel that there is a certain amount of commitment one has made in planning such events and purchasing tickets at no small expense. My wife feels much the same way and is currently wondering if this person is worth being friends with anymore.

So I have a question for all of you: How is it you see your friendships? Is this something you would tolerate, and if so, why?

I ask because in comparing this event with those which have occurred in my own life and with my friends, I have no parallel experience. My friendships with others of my same gender have not had this same sort of drama associated with them, so I am at a loss on how to advise and advocate useful resolutions to my wife. And it is not the first time I have seen such behavior with females: My sister and ex's have had to wade through similar emotional swamps with other women they considered "friends". This is not saying that it something which is exclusive to the female of our species. People, in general, are to be considered Jerks. But nonetheless it is something which I do not grasp or seem to have the capacity to grok.

I spent a lot of my saturday evening after we couldn't find anybody to take the tickets (because to Elizabeth it was about getting to spend time with her friend -- the concert was just an excuse to do so) simply listening to her about the frustration and aggravation this caused. Especially with her rethinking future events and possibly even ending her usual friday night gaming (this is the wife of "GM-Boy", of whom I have pontificated on before in confusion).

I finally got a working copy of Civ4 on Saturday. Previous boxes had mixed up disks and refused to install. This last time I was able to secure a store computer and check the dates on the cab files to make sure they were all the same. Installation, once home, went easily and I too have now heard the docile tones of Mr. Nimoy through my computer's speakers.

Changes made from Civ3 have so far impressed me a great deal. I am still getting used to the multi-way society tweaking and to the "Great People" generation. I am finding it a bit disturbing to "invent" people like Moses or Louis Pasteur and still am working on a personal strategy on how to use them most effectively. The zooming from city to state to world is nicely done and they have finally added a clock in the game, with alarms! Quite a wonderful add-on!