Living Virii?

So... there's an
article arguing that new research 'proves' that viruses are alive. I'm
less than convinced. I mean, it all depends on what you want to define as
'alive,' really -- though, I think something like "carries out metabolic
processes" would be higher on the list than, "can be compromised by a
virus." What the research found was that a "giant" virus that infects
amoebae has been found itself to be playing host to a smaller virus. Except
the article seems unclear as to what's really going on -- my understanding
is that the smaller virus is itself infecting the same already-compromised
amoeba, not the 'giant virus' itself. Regardless, my point is simply that,
as the article says, viruses are just "glorified scraps of DNA." A shard of
glass may cut my finger and a small stone may get into the cut, but this
fact doesn't make the glass or the stone any more "alive."

Staving Off The Night

So, my computer is broken. I reinstalled Windows without making sure I had all driver CDs, so it can't get to the Internet, which makes it pretty useless to me. It can't even recognize a Cat5 cable. And part of me thinks that maybe I didn't need to reinstall Windows... But that's neither here nor there.

Part of why I blog is to feel like I'm still connected. It's pretty hard for me sometimes (like now) to live by myself. I get lonely if I go too long (a few hours) without vocalizing.

I have a girlfriend now. That's pretty common knowledge now. I'm crazy about her, and it's all going really well. We get along great, and I love her family... Some of my friends have expressed concern because we're moving really fast, or because of the difficult past me and Meghan have had. I don't need help doubting, really -- my doubts have no basis but you should all know that I'm prone to despair as it is. I'm not going to rush into anything without thinking it through.

It is moving fast, but that's because anything we needed to discuss we took care of years ago. The biggest difficulties we had wee that I was busy with school out in California (and not comfortable with a distance relationship) and she felt threatened by my (many, lovely) lady friends. I'm not in school any more and she's grown over the years (she's not as insecure as she was), so none of that's an issue anymore. And we're very in love with each other.

So. Yes. Anyways. I guess there's only a couple if my friends that this is addressed to, and I've probably already cleared this up with them... I'm just lonely and this was the only topic I could come up with to talk about. I don't like being alone.