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As time permits, in-depth musings on myriad subjects will be posted. Abbreviated adages will be announced via Twitter.

Thursday, January 03, 2008

To Infinity, and Beyond

Today is the third day of the year 2008. It is the first day this week I have had Internet access at home.

When school let out for the holidays, I thought about signing on with this local ISP that provides a wireless solution for connectivity. Pretty ingenious, but pretty expensive, too -- at least for the startup. This ISP (which shall remain nameless, just in case they've any spiders out there, scouring the Web for people badmouthing them, regardless of how deserved such badmouthing may be) let me know they would be shutting down for the weekend and the ensuing holidays, but they would reopen on Wednesday, December 26th. I could then get signed up for wireless Internet service and be online in no time. No problem, and off I went to have a very merry Christmas.

Come Boxing Day, I called AT&T to cancel my service with them, disconnecting gramma's old telephone number in the process. I then trotted across the street to be greeted by a sign indicating they (the wireless ISP [shall I call them WISP?]) would be closed through the 26th, reopening on the 27th. No problem, thought I, as my AT&T service was to be active until the 27th. Goodness, was I ever mistaken.

On the morning of the 27th, my service was off-line, as promised. I made for the WISP when they opened at the early hour of 10:00, and had my contract & credit card ready for service, with the exception of one question on the contract: They wanted my mummy's maiden name. The WISP agreed to an alternate security question (after erroneously informing me that mother's maiden name was required by the DHS), so I signed on the dotted line and was promptly told it would be Monday (12/31) before my service could be connected: A technician needed to go on-site to plug in the access numbers into their proprietary piece of wireless hardware. When the lady behind the counter was queried for the reasoning, she had no real answer to speak of, stating there was not an ISP out there that would provide IP addresses for its servers. I retorted that every ISP I've ever dealt with did, she suggested I go sign up with them. I snatched my credit card and contract, told her I would, and left.

Five minutes later, I'm on the phone with AT&T, letting them know that I had made a grave mistake and wished to come home. They were more than forgiving, but could not return the old phone number to me; something to do with order processing time. Fine, no problem...new starting point for me in the house, or something. By 2:00 that afternoon, telephone and DSL service were back online. Life was again good. At least, until Monday.

Monday morning, I get up to go ride with J--- and a few other guys from Spectrum to Castroville (75-mile recovery-type ride out near Castroville). Trouble was, the Internet service was down, so I couldn't check weather temperature in SA-town, wind chill, and so on. What ever; I'd check it when I got home. And I did. Nobody at AT&T had an answer for me. The order that was put in the preceding Thursday (12/27) for service, could be open as late as eight o'clock that evening, and I should call back if need-be. I did, and continued to do so through this afternoon. For what ever reason, the physical line in the house went south on me and needed to be serviced. After two visits from a tech and three phone calls to the phone company, my service appears to be back up & running at 100%. I'm almost there, myself.

Today was my first bit of real, physical exercise for the new year. Yeah, I took the Felt out for an 18-mile jaunt yesterday, but that wasn't all too tough, despite the strong cross winds and frigid wind chill. Today, I ran the Parkway, feeling the effects of too much food and not enough exercise over the holidays. I had got to get back in the habit of eating healthily and making use of the gym when the weather outside is not cooperating with what I want to do. Guess that's a good enough resolution to tack on to the one of taking better care of myself. Cool.

Also, there has been some interesting developments in the eyewear & helmet department(s), but I'll report on that some time down the road. For now, I need to write my portion of the junior's midterm and tend to some house chores before bed time. I plan on hitting the gym tomorrow morning before HSM practice at 8:30. Yes, I am a glutton for punishment. Happy New Year, and thanks for reading.

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