I've had my share of nemesises^Wnemesi^Wnemesa^Wnemesen^W [musak plays while a cheap-looking card appears on the video feed saying something vague about technical difficulties while the poor, underpaid schmuck who's left in the control room over lunch runs to http://www.m-w.com/...] nemeses over the years, but I haven't had one in quite a while.

Why? Because I'm old. I've matured enough to realize that   1) the reason that idiot can't get a simple clue through his thick skull is most likely that we aren't communicating effectively, and   B) it isn't a big deal if there is one person in the world who disagrees with me, no matter how vehemently.

So I've had a few minor rows here at the Monastery, but I don't currently have any burning grudges against my previous opponents and I think I've done a pretty good job of just stopping when it becomes clear that communication isn't happening. I'm not perfect, but I haven't posted anything that I regret (other than embarrassing myself -- which just shows that I'm human).

<off topic> I met an old nemesis from high school at a 10-year reunion. Of course, we hated each other violently back then but that was long ago so I smiled and said "Hi" (thinking back on the mayhem was mildly amusing after so long). She ignored me and I could understand that so I just let it go. A short while later she came up (and explained a bit of the back story to my wife) and said that after I'd said "Hi" she thought about why she was still mad and decided to just let it go as well. Then we became the best of friends and I now owe her my life... Oh, okay, I'm lying about that last part. We just exchanged some meaningless niceties, but I think and hope she felt better after being able to let go of (at least a bit of) that old baggage.

        - tye (but my friends call me "Tye")