What am I doing up at this hour?

That's a damned-good question! And I have a good answer: I'm 76, going on 110, and my system just won't let me avoid bathrooms for more than two or three hours at a stretch, these days. Call that 'the joys of old age'. So here I am, having once again escaped from the bathroom alive, and sitting here drinking coffee, and reflecting on my past sins and yesterday's events of note.

One of those was another visit to the urologist, which happens to be another routine of our old age that we're not warned about in advance when we're younger. Obviously, that's so we won't get too discouraged about life and its future before we've enjoyed a goodly slice of it.

My urologist is a younger man, naturally, and a rather cheerful chap, considering the kinds of things he has to routinely do to practice his trade. I certainly wouldn't trade jobs with him! As visits to urologists go, this one went very well. I didn't require a physical exam, and the results of the latest test of my PSA Level came back a couple of points lower than the previous one of a few months ago. The good doctor and I had a rather pleasant visit, talking mostly about our computers, and the programs on them, and the soon-to-be-available new Windows 7, which I've been testing since January.

The doctor, like most people in business, is still using XP Professional, and he was quite surprised when I told him that even yet, if we want a fresh copy of that full program from an office supplier like Staples, it will cost us over $400.00. Personally, I think that's outrageous for an operating system that's what? - eight years old? Would you pay full new-car price for one that was eight years old? Of course not! So now you know why Bill Gates became one of the richest guys in the world. And also why some of us would like to fry his ass for sticking us with the kinds of crap found in Windows Vista Home Premium! We will, however, at least partially forgive him and his Mighty Microsoft if they make sure Windows 7 doesn't ever get as bloated and awkward to use as that damned Vista did. So far, Windows 7 is a smooth-running program that contains a lot of crafty improvising around Vista's most notorious faults, and it's a lot more user-friendly - as I've said repeatedly in this blog.

But getting back to the doctor's office, he hasn't any urgent plans to change over his system yet to anything newer - which may explain why they can still ask $400.00 a slice for that old XP Pro disk. The doc says I don't need to return until half-past January for my next check-up, and by then, we may all be using Windows 7 on our computers. I will, for sure.