On the way home from work yesterday I stopped by the comic shop. After parking a fair distance away, as the area was packed with cars, I began walking to the shop. As I got closer, someone said, "Hey, Jon!" and appeared to be looking at me.
The person - someone tall wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses, and a cap and standing next to a woman I didn't recognize - didn't match up with the(extremely short) list of people I know that immediately sprang to mind, so I began to assume that there was someone behind me named Jon (or, more likely, John).
As I got closer, I figured out who it was just before he identified himself; it was David, my Realtor.
In answer to his question, I explained that I was stopping by the comic shop. He introduced me to his wife, and pointed out that they live just down the street from the town center where the comic shop is located.
We talked a little about how things are going to go on Monday with the home inspection, and then we began to go our separate ways. I told his wife that it was nice meeting her, and then added as an afterthought, after taking note of her belly, my congratulations on the son they're expecting. Because of the way I just sort of blurted it out, I'm sure it came off as a perfect example of my social awkwardness.
In any case, David responded, somberly, "She's not pregnant Jon."
I might have been flustered by this if I had added my awkward congratulations solely based on the evidence of her belly, but I knew that she was pregnant from previous conversations with David, so I said, "Nice try; I know she's pregnant," and we all laughed, which helped to erase some of the evidence of just how socially inept I really am (especially when taken by surprise).
Then I went into the comic shop, had a comic geek conversation about comic book movies, and was soon home, where I found that having the whole day to work on it wasn't enough time for my cable company to fix the problem with my Internet connection.
I don't imagine they did any work on it today, so it will be Monday at the absolute soonest before I have it up and running again.
As mentioned, tonight after work I'm going to catch a showing of Stardust with Scott.
(And you should be going to see it, too. In fact, what are you doing sitting there reading this? Go see Stardust! Now!)
Earlier today Brian IMed me saying, "haha, we just had to page Scott for something."
I responded, "lol, he's been bitching about being on-call all week."
With all the compassion he could muster, Brian said, "well, he's got something more to bitch about now."
I added that they needed to make sure to be done with him before 7.
Unless my Internet connection gets fixed soon, I probably won't be doing much blogging this week. Sure, I can post stuff over dial up, but it's a pain, and even with my QWERTY keyboard on my phone, I just can't see myself engaging in mobile blogging or "MoBlo."
(More like "MoBlo Me").
I know that a lack of regular updates will be pretty rough on you, but I think you'll survive.
I have faith in you.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
Already Have Plans For The Weekend? Change Them!
Stardust opens in theaters today. It was a great book by Neil Gaiman, who insists that it's now a great movie, and I believe him.
Unfortunately it's opening against the latest piece of dreck in the Rush Hour franchise, and given that people lack taste, sense, and any sort of critical faculties, I'm afraid that Stardust will not earn the kind of money that it deserves to.
So I'm appealing to everyone who stumbles across this blog to see Stardust this weekend.
Even I am going to see it this weekend, and I never go to movies on opening weekend.
Unfortunately it's opening against the latest piece of dreck in the Rush Hour franchise, and given that people lack taste, sense, and any sort of critical faculties, I'm afraid that Stardust will not earn the kind of money that it deserves to.
So I'm appealing to everyone who stumbles across this blog to see Stardust this weekend.
Even I am going to see it this weekend, and I never go to movies on opening weekend.
The Saga Continues
Yesterday, rather than calling in first thing in the morning to complain to my shitty cable company that the tech had been a no-show on Wednesday, I decided to wait until I got home to see if, by chance, the problem had been fixed.
Of course it hadn’t, so I called in to complain.
I was informed that a tech had been on-site, though he didn’t actually come to see me, and had determined that the outage wasn’t only affecting me. I had assumed as much when it went out in the first place, but my shitty cable company assured me that I was the only one calling in to complain. Turns out that was not true; pretty much everyone had called in to complain.
The problem, apparently, is a lack of sufficient bandwidth to support the number of users they have.
I’m willing to bet that this also explains the 75% drop in speed I experienced which coincided, I think, with some new people moving in. Even more people have moved in recently, which clearly exacerbated the problem.
They couldn’t provide an estimate as to when the problem will be resolved, though I will say that my face won’t be turning blue from me holding my breath waiting
Of course it hadn’t, so I called in to complain.
I was informed that a tech had been on-site, though he didn’t actually come to see me, and had determined that the outage wasn’t only affecting me. I had assumed as much when it went out in the first place, but my shitty cable company assured me that I was the only one calling in to complain. Turns out that was not true; pretty much everyone had called in to complain.
The problem, apparently, is a lack of sufficient bandwidth to support the number of users they have.
I’m willing to bet that this also explains the 75% drop in speed I experienced which coincided, I think, with some new people moving in. Even more people have moved in recently, which clearly exacerbated the problem.
They couldn’t provide an estimate as to when the problem will be resolved, though I will say that my face won’t be turning blue from me holding my breath waiting
Thursday, August 09, 2007
I Guess I Could Live Like That...If You Call That Living
When I don't have Internet connectivity I tend not to spend much time at my computer, even though the majority of the time I spend at the computer isn't devoted to making use of the Internet.
However, no matter what I'm doing at the computer, there's always a good chance that I might need to make quick use of the Internet. Say, for example, I'm working on a picture and I decide to include, oh, a jungle background. Not having a reference on hand, I'll do a quick Google image search and (theoretically, at least), voila!
Knowing that I won't have the ability to do something along those lines should I need to in the course of whatever non-Internet tasks I'm engaging in makes me feel less inclined to engage in any task.
And because my dial up-enabled computer is Munin, which is in the kitchen, where I have to stand to use it, I really didn't spend much time at the computer during the week (until yesterday when I spent most of the day working on a picture that did not, of course, benefit from any additional elements found via a Google image search).
At this point, so far as I know, I still don't have an Internet connection at home.
After waiting 8 of the 10 hours at home (and turning down a lunch invitation from Kathleen and not meeting Scott at the comic shop) I called my shitty, shitty cable company and said, "Given that he hasn't shown up at all in the past 8 hours, what are the odds that the tech will show up in the next 2?'
I was assured that he would arrive by 6, skeptically said, "Okayyy..." and hung up.
By 6 I still had a blinking cable light and had not been visited by a tech.
At 7 I called and said that the tech was, at the latest, supposed to have arrived an hour earlier.
I was assured that even though the tech may have been too busy to make it by 6, he would not end his day until he had fulfilled all of his duties (evidently they have so many problems to fix that they can't all be addressed in a 10 hour window). I was told that dispatch would be contacted and would call me to give me the tech's ETA.
No such call ever came, and my cable light was still flashing this morning.
What's most frustrating about this is not that I don't have Internet - though that does infuriate me - it's that I have no real recourse. All I can do is keep calling and complaining and getting blown off.
I could cancel my service, I suppose, and if they're never going to get around to fixing it, it could be argued that I might as well do so, but while I could live for a month+ without Internet at home, I really don't want to.
And I shouldn't have to, dammit.
However, no matter what I'm doing at the computer, there's always a good chance that I might need to make quick use of the Internet. Say, for example, I'm working on a picture and I decide to include, oh, a jungle background. Not having a reference on hand, I'll do a quick Google image search and (theoretically, at least), voila!
Knowing that I won't have the ability to do something along those lines should I need to in the course of whatever non-Internet tasks I'm engaging in makes me feel less inclined to engage in any task.
And because my dial up-enabled computer is Munin, which is in the kitchen, where I have to stand to use it, I really didn't spend much time at the computer during the week (until yesterday when I spent most of the day working on a picture that did not, of course, benefit from any additional elements found via a Google image search).
At this point, so far as I know, I still don't have an Internet connection at home.
After waiting 8 of the 10 hours at home (and turning down a lunch invitation from Kathleen and not meeting Scott at the comic shop) I called my shitty, shitty cable company and said, "Given that he hasn't shown up at all in the past 8 hours, what are the odds that the tech will show up in the next 2?'
I was assured that he would arrive by 6, skeptically said, "Okayyy..." and hung up.
By 6 I still had a blinking cable light and had not been visited by a tech.
At 7 I called and said that the tech was, at the latest, supposed to have arrived an hour earlier.
I was assured that even though the tech may have been too busy to make it by 6, he would not end his day until he had fulfilled all of his duties (evidently they have so many problems to fix that they can't all be addressed in a 10 hour window). I was told that dispatch would be contacted and would call me to give me the tech's ETA.
No such call ever came, and my cable light was still flashing this morning.
What's most frustrating about this is not that I don't have Internet - though that does infuriate me - it's that I have no real recourse. All I can do is keep calling and complaining and getting blown off.
I could cancel my service, I suppose, and if they're never going to get around to fixing it, it could be argued that I might as well do so, but while I could live for a month+ without Internet at home, I really don't want to.
And I shouldn't have to, dammit.
Monday, August 06, 2007
What's So "Up" About Dial Up?
My cable Internet access has been out since I got home Friday night.
I didn't call in to complain about it until today, as they offer no support on weekends.
They don't really offer much on weekdays, either.
A tech is supposed to come out Wednesday...between 8 and 6.
That's a 10 hour window, for those of you keeping score. I have to, potentially, sit at home for 2 hours longer than a standard workday.
(That it's 2 and a half hours shorter than my workday is irrelevant.)
In the meantime, I must resort to dial up, which saddens (and angers) me.
I can't wait until I'm out of here and have access to FiOS.
Speaking of which, I signed a contract on the house tonight. My settlement date is September 19th.
We'll be doing a home inspection next Monday.
But anyway, yay me, I guess, and yay massive debt!
They seem to have worked out some other coverage at work so that I haven't had to go in (though the OT would be nice, especially now).
I did pick up a little more OT today by taking a really boring training class (preceded by having lunch with Scott).
Speaking of lunch, I haven't really eaten anything since then, so I suppose I should attend to that.
I didn't call in to complain about it until today, as they offer no support on weekends.
They don't really offer much on weekdays, either.
A tech is supposed to come out Wednesday...between 8 and 6.
That's a 10 hour window, for those of you keeping score. I have to, potentially, sit at home for 2 hours longer than a standard workday.
(That it's 2 and a half hours shorter than my workday is irrelevant.)
In the meantime, I must resort to dial up, which saddens (and angers) me.
I can't wait until I'm out of here and have access to FiOS.
Speaking of which, I signed a contract on the house tonight. My settlement date is September 19th.
We'll be doing a home inspection next Monday.
But anyway, yay me, I guess, and yay massive debt!
They seem to have worked out some other coverage at work so that I haven't had to go in (though the OT would be nice, especially now).
I did pick up a little more OT today by taking a really boring training class (preceded by having lunch with Scott).
Speaking of lunch, I haven't really eaten anything since then, so I suppose I should attend to that.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Emergency Coverage
Being dead to the world early this morning I was totally oblivious to the fact that I'd been paged (three times).
The person scheduled to work the day shift today was not going to be in and someone was needed to cover the desk. I was selected.
Unfortunately, I didn't actually find that out until after I'd been awoken by a phone call from my mother, talked to my mother, ended the call, and noticed that I had some text messages.
So I called in, found that no one else had been found to fill the slot, which is hardly surprising considering how short-staffed we are, and so I quickly got ready and drove in to fill-in until the afternoon shift arrives.
As it's Sunday, not much happened in the time between the overnight shift leaving and me arriving.
Not sure what's going to happen tomorrow - the person who works the shift is out for a death in the family, for which I extend my condolences - but I'm suspecting that my long weekend is gong to be short or even non-existent.
The person scheduled to work the day shift today was not going to be in and someone was needed to cover the desk. I was selected.
Unfortunately, I didn't actually find that out until after I'd been awoken by a phone call from my mother, talked to my mother, ended the call, and noticed that I had some text messages.
So I called in, found that no one else had been found to fill the slot, which is hardly surprising considering how short-staffed we are, and so I quickly got ready and drove in to fill-in until the afternoon shift arrives.
As it's Sunday, not much happened in the time between the overnight shift leaving and me arriving.
Not sure what's going to happen tomorrow - the person who works the shift is out for a death in the family, for which I extend my condolences - but I'm suspecting that my long weekend is gong to be short or even non-existent.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
