On chains, and some weather hijinks

That's the beauty of -12º F. Within thirty seconds, the air was clear again, and the next shot is the same stern five minutes later.

I love getting boat shots from my father, and I applaud any email interaction from my mother; my parents, like so many I know, were charmingly late to set about with "the email." So it's just plain cute to get emails from them, especially when I see they've mustered the exuberance necessary to fire off a couple forwards. I only get chain forwards from people related to me; it's an acceptable familial tariff, and how else would I keep abreast of colloquial humor, pet fashion, and urban legends?

I remember a time (antes de email & circa Christopher Pike's Chain Letter 1 & 2) when I took the onus of chains as seriously as I took all my grade school friends' sworn secrets (wasn't discretion--or its semblance--the major prereq of young friendships?): I would not tell, and I would absolutely not break the chain. Now I blithely read them and move on with my life. Maybe I'm a cynic and no fun, but I just don't do chain emails or chain myspace posts other chained correspondence. Ok maybe the caveat would be a missing child alert, but that's about it. We've touch on chains before (including rehab resources), but do you have chain-addicts in your life, or are you an active or recovering chain-keeper?