Planned DW price increase

denise has announced that, after 15 years, they will be raising prices for paid Dreamwidth time, rename tokens, etc.

They haven't figured out what the new prices will be, but the amount will be based on catching up with 15 years' inflation, to keep the site self-sustaining. They don't know yet when this will happen, but it will be in 2025, and they'll give people at least one month's notice.

Free accounts will continue to exist, with the same features they have now. Also, the site is having the usual December sale, of a 10% bonus on any points bought this month.

visit from old friends

We had company yesterday: Alan and Jeanne, who are visiting from California, and Elly, who they are staying with. Alan is one of my oldest friends; I met him at a party in roadnotes' apartment in 1983 (so, more than 40 years ago). I've known Elly almost as long, and she lived next door to us for several years; I've "only" known Jeanne for about half that long.

We had the party with food, and without masks: everyone took covid tests Saturday morning, and we opened one kitchen and one living room window for ventilation with a bit of a cross-breeze, and ran two air purifiers. (Normally, one of them sits in Adrian's room.)

Good conversation, about a variety of topics, some more serious than others--some life catch-up, which included both health and health health insurance, and random other topics including travel, cats, memorably bad weather, and geography, both natural and the built environment (mostly streets and street names, not fanous or unusual buildings).

Molly was delighted by the open window, and by attention from more people.

We had pizza delivered for dinner, from Veggie Crust. At Elly's suggestion, we tried the portobello mushroom pizza with pistachio pesto. The pesto tasted mostly of basil, but it's a good combination, which we may get again.

Adrian baked chocolate chip pumpkin bread, and Elly made a custard pie. The pie is very rich, and I realized a few minutes after our friends left that the pie was still in our fridge. I'm not even going to try to finish it, because it's very rich (neither Cattitude nor Adrian can eat it, because there's a lot of cream in the custard).

[We have spent today quietly at home, by ourselves, because even the best socializing can be tiring.]