I have ordered phone service and will have a land line by this weekend, if not before.
Internet is more complicated for reasons with which I won't bore you and which have to do with the location and wiring of the house. But in a pinch I will be able to use dial-up once I have the phone connection up and running.
Excerpt from a letter to my family:
Had an 18 hour work day yesterday. Nuts. Better today, only one class, went to get hair cut this a.m., called the massage therapist who usually books weeks in advance but miraculously had an opening for tomorrow afternoon, put out a couple of fires (metaphorical, don't worry) re: Saturday's conference, bought a chocolate swirl cheesecake (downtown near hairdresser, famous cheesecake store in Greensboro where I never go but everybody loves) as a thank-you for the Facilities staff here, drove back to campus, dropped off the cheesecake with a thank-you note, dropped by the old house (where there are workers nailing boards on the roof to protect the inside in a more semi-permanent way than the tarpaulin of the past week) and am now hiding behind a closed door at my office catching up. Still trying to figure out how to get high-speed internet at my new place, which has some quirky wiring access issues. Studying Native Americans and Puritans in the 16th and 17th centuries this afternoon in class. Then I get to go home, probably by 6 p.m. Hurrah.
Still really tired (the usual Wednesday longest-day-of-the-work-week stretched out an extra three hours) and sleep-deprived, but hoping for an early to bed night today and/or tomorrow. Certainly will have one after the conference Saturday. +Maya Pavlova still has a worried look in her eyes when she is out and about, except when she watches the new Kitty TV Channels (one channel per window) at the new house, at which point she is entranced. Lots of entertainment for her, most of it with wings. As far as I know she got her sleep yesterday, though I wasn't around to see it.
Must go online and figure out the Evil Time Warner, since I couldn't get a decent or coherent answer out of them yesterday when I reached them on the phone. I ordered phone service online, though, and it was much better. Feh. Who needs TV. Maybe I'll ignore Time Warner Cable for a while.
Note to Earthlink subscribers: the live chat customer-service staff is speedy, helpful, and coherent.
Isn't there someone around in the neighborhood from whom you could (ahem) borrow wireless service?
ReplyDeleteYou naughty dog.
ReplyDeleteAhem, don't think I didn't check out that option! But I am the only house on my side of the street on my block. (It's not a big rich house, it's just the way it is. The developers bought up the other side of the street and the nearest neighbor has a bunch of land and we have a little bit of land, we being the people who own my house. I'm renting from them. Nice folks.)
There are a couple of wirelesses within range but a) they only give out a weak signal and b) they are password locked or protected.
This a.m. I used the free wireless at Panera Bread which is a mile away, but that won't help me at home and it also didn't do something tech-y it needed to do with my files. Too long to explain that one.
Anyway, I just spoke again with the Evil Time Warner and they were a little better and I got one clear answer out of them.
Our address changed within the last year or two so we are not listed in Time Warner's zone and they may have to come and survey (which takes five business days) unless I can locate the old address. My landlady/lord work for the airlines and are flying around right now so I can't talk to them till tomorrow to find out the old address. I ordered the survey just in case and to get the work started.
I have to go read Puritan sermons. :-/ (I'm teaching outside my field... Half an hour left before class...)
How are the grandpups?
The grandpups are wonderful! Mrs. Clumber and I had 2/3 of them for a week, and let me tell you, that is some powerful powerful energy that those little bodies hold! Fueled by Mrs. Clumber's blueberry pancake breakfasts and lovingly tucked in with nighttime stories with a whole lot of fun in between! There were no meltdowns, little behavior needing correction, and just a whole lot of memories for all of us to grow on!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about all your trees and networklessness and such. I think often about the many days that +Maya, +Airedale, +Rowan, and +I wandered the hills and villages of England! Be well, and I hope all comes out fine for you and the FBE, Maya!
Jane---
ReplyDeleteSo glad you and Maya are okay. I've appreciated the updates and been amazed by your resiliency through it all! (By the way, Port City Java on Market St also has free internet and good organic coffee.)
Kathryn