Possibly not a usual response

It is wonderful to have access to the internet!

Last Friday, in an effort to chase down why my computer has been getting 'stuck' trying to access sites (particularly secure sites like the Uni - grrrr), I contacted the Apple technical support (91 days after purchase - I bet you can't guess when the free support ran out?!?) - went through everything possible with them until they decided it couldn't be the computer - could I check these few things out with my ISP?

Then much time with my ISP, wherein she couldn't work out what was happening, decided to do a factory reset of the modem, and killed it. After the shops were shut.

It seems that it has been dying by inches, flicking in and out of operational status without the lights indicating it at all. Definitely a case of "the lights are on, but nobody's home." This explains why the fault has been intermittent, and also why things that are bigger to load are more likely to fail. It also explains why my computer had been telling me on odd occasions that I wasn't connected to the internet, then reneging and saying that everything was fine, when I hadn't done a thing.

Saturday morning led me to the main street where I bought a new modem, which didn't work. The didn't work part didn't become obvious until after midday, when the shops are shut. (Yes, you big city dwellers, many shops in regional places shut at noon on a Saturday, and don't reopen until Monday morning. I know, it's a hard world, but we survive.)

So Monday morning, took the modem back, got a refund and the sad news that they don't stock ADSL1 modems anymore, so I couldn't get one.

So off to my favourite computer shop, where they told me that ADSL2+ modems SHOULD work for ADSL1 lines, so I bought another modem and headed home to consult the technical support line for my ISP to get it working.

Monday afternoon and evening I had glorious, effortless, and super-speedy access to the web. Ahhhh! Lovely!

Tuesday morning I turned the computer on, only to find that the new modem was giving me a terrible red light that indicated that I WAS NOT CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET!!!!! ARRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!! NOT AGAAAAAIN!?!

After turning everything off, checking all the connections, then restarting it only to find that the red light was still on, I was at the end of patience with anything electrical or technological, and about to join the Amish.

With heart sinking, I rang the number for my ISP, to get a recorded message that, "some customers in Queensland may be experiencing lack of connection at this time, we are working to...."

The chance that my relief was out of proportion with the situation?

A Tad Excessive?

So when you get your new credit card, do you take the old one and

1. Cut it up, making certain to

a. cut the signature into at least three pieces, and

b. cutting the numbers in half across before cutting them into pieces; then

2. Carefully divide the resulting bits into two piles that are each missing key pieces, then

3. Throw out half the pieces in one week's rubbish; and

4. Throw out the other half two weeks later when there is no chance some weirdo can ever put them back together.

The chance that's not a tad excessive?

10 years

Today we are ten.

And so my Beloved has taken two days off work, and we are going to an idyllic cabin beside a creek in the lovely country just to the south of us, where we shall have a real fire, and nothing we need to go and do...

... except for keeping each other from freezing, because it's supposed to get really, really cold on the weekend, and we will be in the surrounding countryside to Stanthorpe, the place in Queensland where it is most likely to snow.

And how much of a problem do I have with keeping each other warm on what is, after all, our wedding anniversary?

Precisely.

Something... Anything

In the writing doldrums. To blog you need two concurrent things:

1. Something to write about

2. Time to write.

These have not been concurrent for me for some time, hence the radio silence.

The main culprit is the end of semester.

Then there was the break between sessions when I sit in front of the TV, loving the HD recorder that enables me to record stuff I'd otherwise have missed and watch it at night when I'm ready.

And so now I'm about to start the new session - New Testament Greek 2, having done pretty well on New Testament Greek 1. I'm looking forward to it because I'll be finishing the textbook and it doesn't look so full-on and hopefully I'll be better equipped to read the NT after I've done all the rest of the tenses and some participles and things.

And how useful will this be?