Word Verification Option

Okay, so I finally broke down and switched from No to Yes in my settings. This means that if you choose to leave a comment, you'll be required to complete a word verification step.

"What this does is to prevent automated systems from adding comments to your blog, since it takes a human being to read the word and pass this step. If you've ever received a comment that looked like an advertisement or a random link to an unrelated site, then you've encountered comment spam. A lot of this is done automatically by software which can't pass the word verification, so enabling this option is a good way to prevent many such unwanted comments."

Hopefully this will eliminate the spam I keep getting (and eliminating) and will not deter you from leaving a comment if ever you're so inclined! Try it; you'll like it.

The Learning Curve

Remember the trouble we had figuring out our European windows last spring? Talk about feeling dumb! Well, this time it's the radiators. It didn't matter how I finagled the knobs or thermostat when I arrived on Monday, no water started gurgling through the pipes.

After nearly freezing to death that night, yesterday morning I finally broke down and went to our landlord's apartment below ours to ask. Both Uschi and Wolfgang came upstairs to show me what to do. Still no heat. So I took a nice hour's walk and warmed up a bit, which definitely helped. Maybe I didn't need the heat after all, I thought, even though it is in the 40's at night and high 50's during the day.

But by last night I decided "This is ridiculous!" So down I went again with all my apologies to disturb them yet again (though Uschi always tells me she wants to help whenever!) and GUESS WHAT! Wolfgang, obviously mystified, went to the landing closet and flipped a switch. Voila! The water started gurgling immediately.

I wasn't that dumb after all! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!

BTW, I grew up on big, fat steam radiators in Michigan. These are the slimline version, I guess, and since there's no steam, I'm guessing they're simply called radiators. The ever-s0-often gurgles remind me they're working, which is quite calming, to say the least.