Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Dial-up update: the bishop gets her toys back

It is a joyous evening for the Right Rev. and Right Hon. Maya Pavlova, FBE. A former student of mine came to finish unpacking the kitchen while I attended to other tasks, and in one of the boxes with kitchen and other household things was a little basket full of the Maya Pavlova toys -- a couple from the shelter which came with her when she joined the household, and some newer ones which she had pushed under the couch and which surfaced during the move. (The movers laughed sympathetically; there are always kitty toys and other goodies behind people's sofas. We also found at least three of my pens and one ethics book. Stop laughing. It is a very good book by Margaret Farley.) So now there is a toy mouse at my feet and periodically the house resounds with the bell of a plastic rolling ball. There is also the matter of the little catnip-stuffed ball; oh, we do love that one.

Your feline bishop has also increased the nap time and I have been giving her extra food every day. She is still skinny but less skittish.

Me, I am working long hours. There are colleagues in my classes observing my teaching because the dreaded fourth-year evaluation is in process; I have to get up early tomorrow and work on my self-evaluation. I am of course behind on correcting student work and since we still don't have broadband at home, I can only work on the course websites at the office, though I am attempting a blog post here. The broadband saga continues. The Adorable Godson, who is a techie, and who has been in the middle of a move himself, helped me with something for which I need broadband but not the broadband itself, though he may be able to help with that or at the very least commiserate. He understands some of the mysteries of techitude, or at least some of the ones that elude me. I just want to know why it is so damn complicated for me to keep my former e-mail address AND get a high-speed connection. The Evil Time Warner is, however, installing the cable tv box on Friday. I will have a million useless channels along with the all-important C-span so I can watch election coverage straight up with no seltzer and no obnoxious anchorpeople. But I still won't have my internet connection. Soon, soon, we hope.

And then there's Sarah Palin.

10 comments:

Algernon said...

Sarah Palin was THERE? Among your things? So that's where she's been hiding...

Kitten said...

I CAN'T WAIT to hear more of your thoughts on Sarah Palin.

Unknown said...

Well, keeping your email address and getting high-speed connection gets into history, where in the good old days your single ISP provided both. You must work to insure that your ISP does not do your email service as well by using some other email service, perhaps gmail or yahoo or some-such.

Glad to hear that +maya is growing more comfy in your new abode. The Diocese of Pittsburgh sends a virtual cat toy her way!

Sarah Who?

Fran said...

I am glad to hear that +Maya is improving by the day, and a basketful of toys always helps!

And good thoughts to you dear Jane... the evaluations. Prayers and more prayers and then some more after that.

June Butler said...

Jane, I'm pleased to hear that you and Maya are settling in. Your what's-under-the sofa? saga is like my daughter's what's-under-the-sofa-cushions? saga.

I don't know how you juggle all the balls and keep them in the air. It makes me appreciate all the more the time you took with me after Gustav. I'll raise a glass to less busy times ahead for you.

I'm waiting for help in person to connect my laptop, because after three tries with help by phone, I am still not connected. But, by some miracle, Charter cable came back pretty quickly, so I'm in business again.

Jane R said...

Mimi! So good to hear from you! Bless your heart. I haven't even checked your blog - or anyone's blog for that matter - as I have been at the office since 7 a.m. and now have a break and am about to call the Evil Tech Companies again. Lord, have mercy.

I wanna go home and nap and play with cat toys.

Anonymous said...

Don't get me started about HP dial-up. After all the stuff and getting the crap in the mail, oops, we can't get it because we aren't wired for it out here in the boonies. Of course, they said we were. Best of luck on this move and the teaching. Hope things calm down in a few and you can relax.

Ken said...

The Evil Tech Companies are no better or worse than any other large enterprise in These Untied (that's deliberate, not dyslexia) States. Comcast (mine) is a giant nanny and pseudo-cop that slows download times on most material because they assume you are stealing via a BitTorrent. Sometimes they are right (ahem) but when it comes to your own email, their vigilance is a bit extreme. Time Warner employed my older son productively for two years as an on-air anchorman. This kid with an MA from Emerson (vu den) came to hate the business he'd chosen. Hating your career choice is a family tradition, you understand. So calling it the Evil Time Warner is a waste of syllables. They are all into social control and regulated monopoly.

Why in Heaven's name would you want to read about ethics during an election year? And you gotta problem with the greatest thing to come out of Alaska since Yukon Jack?:-)

My mood is not helped by having lost my cell phone. Thank God for insurance. Of course I will find it next week sometime....

Jane R said...

Yeah but it makes me feel better to call them evil. (I know, I know. I've worked for my share of screwed-up nonprofits, evil structures and structural evil lurk everywhere. Indulge me.)

I wasn't reading about ethics, the book was under the couch and I didn't miss it. Oops. It was on Christian sexual ethics, too. But really, a fine book. As for Alaska, I have nothing witty to say on that one, but I'm working on it.

Insurance covers your cell phone?! Wow.

Well, the other maybe not so evil corporation claims I will have broadband sometime in the next week. Stay tuned. I dare not speak the company's name lest I hex the whole thing.

pj said...

So wait, you found both Sarah Palin and a book on Christian sexual ethics behind your couch?

Was she banning it?

(Oh, I do amuse myself.)

Hey, I'm glad life is getting back to semi-normal for you, Jane.