A Little of This and That
Exasperating Internet
Remember dial-up speed? No? You’re lucky, because I do. I’m having a trip down memory lane with erratic and intermittent internet service at my house. One minute I’m blazing along only to crash, time-out and then service disappears for a few hours.
I barely have enough up-time to get posts scheduled, mail answered and important things like banking taken care of before – poof – it’s gone again. I tried to write this post this morning but internet vanished before I could get it finished.
If I appeared to be AWOL the past week or so, I was! I still am. I am hoping that this problem will be resolved soon and I can get back to normal but after nine days I’m not optimistic.
On the positive side, I called my cable company and asked for a better rate for my patience and loyalty. The price is going up on January 1st. It worked, I got a credit for this week and I’m locked in at lower monthly rate for another year. Unless I finally lose patience and switch to a different service provider, that is.
Hiking in Eight Inches of Snow
[For the international folks I’ll save you the conversion, that’s 20cm of snow.] I didn’t think it would be a big deal, but no amount of hiking on dry trails prepares you for a day of sliding around in snow on non-existent paths.
Why was I out in the snow? Saturday was the Audubon Christmas Bird Count, an event I participate in every year. From December 14 through January 5, tens of thousands of volunteers count birds. The data collected allows researchers to study the long-term health and status of bird populations across North America.
My team was scheduled to count yesterday. A snow storm moved in the night before and it continued snowing all day. We searched long and hard for birds that were a little smarter than we were and mostly stayed hidden. Every year we seem to pick a day where we have to brave snow, wind, sub-freezing temperatures or rain, but it’s always a fun time.
Book Givers Needed
Applications are open until January 5th for World Book Night givers. There are so many good book choices this year that I haven’t decided which one to sign up for yet.
Calling all science fiction fans
The 2014 Sci-Fi Experience hosted by Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings is already underway. It started a month earlier this year and will run from December through January 31, 2014. I’m getting a late start but intend to read a couple of sci-fi books in January.
The month of January is also Vintage Science Fiction Month and is hosted by the Little Red Reviewer. I have plenty of vintage stuff on my shelves just waiting for me to choose from.
How was your week?
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Under My Apple Tree 
Ugh, hate when the internet is having troubles!!!
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We have iffy internet here too… drives me nuts! Thanks for the reminder of World Book Night! I need to do that yet.
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It’s frustrating because they’ve been so reliable for years, hardly any downtime, and now they can’t fix the outages. The latest explanation is “ice somewhere in the lines that melts when the sun comes”. Yikes! That could take all winter to find. My husband said, well it will ok in the summer. I hope he was kidding!.
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We struggled with internet like that when we lived in Auburn and calling them and asking for a refund for downtime seemed to do the trick in getting it all straightened out. Sorry that didn’t work for you. I’m glad we got rain instead of snow.
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I would have preferred rain too. Now it’s so cold were going to be stuck with snow and ice for weeks.
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My first ever Internet was a dial-up system…suffered with that for a couple of years before my house in the foothills got broadband Internet. That still wasn’t great…which is why I’m grateful to be back in the city, with (mostly) great speed. Wishing you the best!
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Thanks. We usually have great service. They’re real nice every time I call, I just wish they could figure out the problem already.
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I am surprised by all the snow you are getting! Hopefully, the condition of your internet will improve soon!
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Oh internet…it’s changed out lives so much – last week we went over our download limit and everything was so slow! Snow sounds good to me in hot Australia, but I bet so much is frustrating.
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I still haven’t signed up for world book giver night.
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Sorry to hear about your internet troubles. Hope it’s sorted soon, because, who can live without internet these days?
The snow looks awful – I’m glad to say it’s around 10 celsius here at the moment after we had a colder spell. It almost feels warm. 🙂
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Internet troubles are the worst! I think it is way easier to go cold turkey than to have persistent problems. Wishing you a high speed 2014!
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