Tenley Turns 4!

A couple of weeks ago, the Tenster celebrated her 4th birthday. Being the award winning parents that we are, we’re just now getting around to telling you about it!

Having just recently discovered that starting next year in Kindergarten I will no longer be able to bring cupcakes to class for my little girl’s birthday, I went all out and made ice cream cone cupcakes this year. The reason this is “all out” is that you really can’t make these things a day ahead of time- the cone gets disgusting. So this necessitated me getting up at 4:30 in the morning to bake-cool- and frost with the star tip in the pastry bag so they look like real ice cream and we could take them to school at 8:30. They were a hit.

The big day began with opening presents from Mom & Dad while waiting for Grandma & Grandpa to come over so we could go to breakfast. She was underwhelmed with her Sonya Lee doll, liked her Map of the United States puzzle, very excited about the Barbie watch (she’s been asking for a watch for a couple of months- and no, she can’t read it accurately or tell time), and over the moon with joy about the plastic knight’s sword with sheath I bought for her at the $.99 Only store. Go figure. Grandma and Grandpa arrived, and were greeted at the door by the birthday girl clad only in Tinkerbell underwear with a sword stuck in the side of them. We eventually managed to get the sword out of her undies and get clothes on her so we could go to Ruby’s for breakfast.

We returned home and Ten went outside to play on the swing set that Grandma & Grandpa had given her as a present. It had arrived before her birthday (actually it arrived the day after we left on vacation, and the giant 150 lb. box lived on our porch the whole time we were in Atlanta) so it was already set up and in daily use. Then Grandma Suzie arrived with her present…and we all trouped out to the front yard for the presentation & to see how it was received.

From the moment my Mother saw that Tenley sized Formula 1 car, she knew she was going to get it for Ten- just as soon as they had the Team Ferrari red one back in stock. And now here it was (it had been in it’s box in our garage for 3 months) all put together, charged up, and absolutely adorable. We were a little worried about her reaction, because best bud Jaxon has a Power Wheels 4x4 Jeep that she’s afraid of. Turns out that we had nothing to worry about. She jumped right in and with minimal instruction she was on her way up the street. She spent the better part of an hour going back and forth and doing donuts in the neighbor’s driveways. The thought of her 16th birthday causes me to shudder. The only way we actually got her out of the car was to remind her that we were going to the fair. That was sufficient motivation to step out of the vehicle – but only after reassuring her that it was staying at her house and she could drive it again when she got home.

It was a very tired and already over stimulated Tenley that arrived at the LA County Fair. She actually handled it pretty well, but the were several times that I kicked myself for not bringing the little stroller so that she might have been able to sneak in a cat nap. Her unlimited ride wristband let her hit all her favorites – although she was very put out that she couldn’t ride the Tilt-a-Whirl (not even with an adult) and that she was still too short for some of the more thrilling kids rides. There was also the annual trip to the cows (and drinking of the world’s greatest chocolate milk), she got a henna tattoo just like Mommy’s (ruining her shirt in the process), and we took her to the Winter Wonderland building where she played in the “snow box” and went sledding with her Dad. I foresee a trip to the snow this winter.

Eventually everyone was exhausted and we decided to call it a birthday. Ten ended her special day by blowing out the candles and feasting on the giant chocolate cupcake we bought her. She collapsed into bed not an hour later, and the first thing she wanted to know when she woke up was if it was still her birthday.

Happy Birthday little Warrior Princess!

Dragon Con

My favourite author in the world is Anne McCaffrey. She has more than 100 books to her credit, is now 82- lives in Ireland- and has broken both hips- had a heart attack and a stroke. So when I found out that she was “crossing the pond” to attend Dragon*Con, there was no way I was going to miss what might be my last chance to meet this woman and get her to sign my books.
Dragon*Con is a 4 day sci-fi/fantasy/pop-culture freak fest that takes place over Labor Day in Atlanta. I actually went to DC back in ’94 (for the same reason, but Anne fell and broke her hip and didn’t get to come) – and my has it changed! It is now the second largest convention of its type in the US (right after ComiCon), and it focuses on science fiction and fantasy, science, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film. It is attended by all manner of fans. Some who are merely interested and some who live the life! Can I just say that the people watching was amazing. People dressed up as their favourite characters, authors, actors, aliens and even some original ideas (DO see the pix below).

There’s so much to see and do- and now that the Con is so big and so crowded there’s very little time to do it. I had no trouble getting a 3rd row seat for the reading that Anne did on Friday, but I had to get in line 2.5 hours before her book signing session on Sunday (and I was still #67). Lines meant we had to make some choices about events. Since I was in line for the book signing, I missed getting to attend the Miss Klingon Empire beauty pageant (www.trektrak.com/2008/08pageant.htm) because the line to get into the pageant started at about the same time. Jeff, however, used the 2 hours of down time as an opportunity to do something good: he hit the blood drive and opened up a vein for the Red Cross- netting a t-shirt and winning a lightsaber in a donor raffle in the process. We also had to divide and conquer: on Sat. morning Jeff went and watched (and photographed) the parade, while I went and got in line (1.5 hrs early) to get seats for the Torchwood panel (apparently there are A LOT of women out there who are warm for James Marsters form).

We did make it to the Mr.Star Wars contest, the MST3K panel and viewing, the Ghost Hunters panel, a random reading of a script by an author who commandeered actors from the audience, the art show, the build-your-own-droid demo and contest, all three dealers rooms and a concert by a “darkwave” band called The Cruxshadows and found that we really liked the Goth/NewWave/Sudo Vampire music. We even bought the current CD. Most of our time was spent happily wandering around with large drinks in our hands taking pictures of the various costumed freaks.

The weekend was made more interesting by the fact that we weren’t the only people in town. Chick-Fil-A decided to hold a pre-season bowl game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and Clemson University. So the town was awash in 70,000 normal unsuspecting people swathed in red or orange circulating among the various fairies, cylons, jedi, etc. These poor people had no idea about the Con, and clearly didn’t know what to make of it. It was also Black Gay Pride weekend. Need I say more?? Clearly, this was the city to be in if you were looking for a photo-op.

Jeff had a great time and says he’s totally willing to go back. I’d love to go again and do the Writer’s Track…we’ll see how this year goes. Watch the slideshow below to see some pix we snapped during our weekend. Enjoy!

1st Loss

Beeps McNutt

Sept. 3, 2003- Sept. 11, 2008

We came home from vacation (which is a post & Flickr album all by itself) on the 2nd, and noticed that something was seriously wrong with Beeps. She was always a skinny, dainty little thing; but she was incredibly thin, her eyes were gooey and looked sunken, and she was obviously really really dehydrated- despite the fact that she was drooling and vomiting

As soon as the vet opened on the 3rd- her 5th birthday- we rushed her in. She was indeed dehydrated... and jaundiced. They admitted her and began administering sub q fluids, antibiotics and tube feeding. A blood panel revealed that she was experiencing liver disease/failure an an alarming rate. Unable to get her re-hydrated and to keep any food down, they began IV fluids on Friday the 5th.

A new blood panel on Monday the 8th showed that we had arrested the liver deterioration, but she was still drooling and vomiting. She would not eat or drink on her own.

On Wed Sept. 10, our vet explained the full situation: liver disease in kitties is a tricky thing. It can take weeks (sometimes more than 10) to get it under control -if it can be controlled and managed at all. Beeps was now beyond the ability of his clinic- she needed a specialist, a little kitty internist.

The practical problem with this is that the nearest internist is 35 miles away, is $100 just to examine her, $1000 for a sonogram of her liver, and God knows how much per day as a hospital inpatient...we were already trying to figure out how on earth we were going to pay her $100ish a day bill at this clinic. The emotional problem is that even if we won the lottery, we could put her through all the things the internist would try...and still be in the same place. Her prognosis was not good to begin with, and we could do weeks and weeks of treatment and still get nowhere. We were really left with no choice. I was up until 2am Wed night crying, and the tears started as soon as I left Ten at school on Thurs. morning.

She was happy to see me as usual, and for the first time in a week she "spoke". We had a nice long scratching and ear rubbing session- and when I would stop, she would stretch out the paw that didn't have the IV and rest it on my hand and gently hold my hand with her claws and purr as loud as she could manage without choking. I just stood there sobbing and petting, telling her I was sorry.

When the doctor came I asked if there wasn't anything else we could try. No, there really wasn't- and he wasn't at all convinced that an internist could save her either. I told him that I felt as though I was just giving up on her, and that I had failed her as an owner. He tried to make me feel better, and assured me that this was hardly giving up- and that were this his pet, he would be doing the same thing- it came down to the poor prognosis and the quality of her life.

Jeff came from work to say goodbye, and after they had a nice little lovefest we moved her to a place where I could hold her... as hard as it is for me, I refuse to let anyone cross The Rainbow Bridge alone. The IV made it easy, and it was only a matter of moments before I felt her go limp and her heart beat ceased beneath my hand. I just held her and sobbed until even her light little body got heavy for me.

I miss her. She was only 5- far too young for her little life to be over. I still look for her on the end of my bed, in the bathroom window sunning herself every morning, and I still check to make sure she isn't asleep in Tenley's bathtub before I close the bathroom door.

She was Mr.Smudge's (our 11 yr. old male) favourite. He adopted her, and gave her a thorough bath every day and cleaned her ears at least once a week. Sadly, this probably explains why he has it too. We think one of them got it, and shared with the other. So despite my grief over losing my soft spotty girl, this isn't over yet- I'm still medicating my old kitty and trying anything and everything to get him to eat.

We didn't explain all of this to Ten- she doesn't understand. We explained that Beeps died, and Ten says she misses her...and wants to know when she's coming home. I wish she was.

Rest in peace my sweet friend.
We will miss you always.

Bowl-A-Rama

Weeks ago, during the great Internet Crisis of '08, we got a bee up our butts on a Saturday afternoon and decided to take Tenley bowling. As random activities go, bowling is pretty Tenley friendly: minimal down time, minimal parental assistance, special Tenley type devices like a ramp and bumpers, and instant results of her actions.

We secured a lane, had the bumpers raised, got a ramp, a Ten sized 4lb. ball, and some shoes and heavier balls for Mom & Dad. Tenley was extremely bitter that there weren't any shoes small enough for her- she really wanted those, and we heard about them for all 3 games. I predict that I will find stolen bowling shoes in her closet by high-school (not that her father or I would ever have done that...)

We let her go first (of course). She insisted on carrying the ball herself, and her dad lined up the ramp for her.

We taught her to give it a good shove...which she did with greater and greater flourish as the game went on.

Thanks to the handy-dandy bumpers, she usually knocked down several pins- and even got a couple of strikes!

Despite the fact that there were only 3 of us playing, and she got to go first, it was apparently (in her mind) still too long between her turns as during her Dad's turn she would always climb into my lap and complain "Daddy's not being nice. He's not sharing. He's not taking turns." I would patiently correct her and explain that he was taking turns: it was her turn, then mine, then Daddy's- and it was her turn again next. My explanation fell on deaf ears.

Now, we had the bumpers up and Tenley is only 3...and we - the adults who have gone bowling since childhood- LOST TO THE 3 YEAR OLD!!! Not once, mind you, but twice!!!

Oh, the shame......

Questions of a Three Year Old

Last Saturday morning I was watching TV. An old James Garner movie "Support Your local Sheriff" was on so I thought I would watch. About 15 minutes into the movie Tenley got up and came out to see me. She jumped up on the couch and sat next to me to watch the movie.

Then the questions started. They came fast with not time to answer...

Why does that man have a gun?

Is he going to shoot someone?

Hey look daddy a horse!

What is the horsey’s name?

Is he a bad horse?

Why is that man riding the horse?

Where is he going?

Does the horse like the man?

Does the horse eat donuts?

Why is that lady running in the mud?

Oh look, another horsey.

Does that horse like the mud?

How come that horse is stopped by that fence?

The questions continued like this for another 5 mins or so. Finally she had to take a breath and I tried to answer one or two of the questions which obviously led to more questions. The movie was ruined.

I can't remember the last time I watched something all the way through without stopping for questions, snacks, potty breaks or stopping her from killing the dog. It was probably 4 years ago but that is like 15 years in toddler years.

Miss America

After the car drama, we arrived in Clovis for a long weekend to celebrate the 4th. Grandma & Grandpa’s house is always a good destination because it has several of Ten’s favourite things:

1) A swingset
2) A large blow-up kiddie pool
3) A big grassy lawn to run and play on
4) Toys you don’t have at home
5) Plastic eggs filled with candy hidden throughout the house
6) A dog to terrorize
7) Next door neighbor’s dogs to terrorize
8) Next door neighbors to stalk
9) A park & a grocery store within walking distance
10) Grandparents who have an endless supply of cookies, and will let you do/watch almost anything you want whenever you want.

You can see the appeal of this pre-schooler Nirvana, yes? Daddy & Mommy like it because it comes with lots of wear-the-kid-out activities, and 2 responsible adults who are delighted to watch and assist the child.

We spent Independence Day morning at the Rotary Playland in Roeding Park in Fresno. http://www.storylandplayland.com/default.asp The Fresno Rotary built this little carnival ride type amusement park in 1955. As an adult, I looked at it and thought “this place needs a serious coat of paint and some landscaping services”; but kids like Ten are just delighted to hop on the rides and run through the water play area. We even took the pirate ship pedal boats out for a cruise on the lake.

After a nice nap & some yummy bbq, Ten & Grandpa played a round of “golf” in the backyard (I think Ten has a future in hockey) while we waited for it to get dark. Then we moved to the driveway broke open the red, white& blue glowsticks, and began setting off the fireworks. At 9:30, the high school around the corner started setting off the big ones, so we walked to the corner with everyone else in the neighborhood and watched from there. The booming and high pitched whistling of piccolo petes’ stopped around midnight, signaling an end to this year’s celebration.

Ten spent Saturday swimming, swinging and asking for more fireworks. The guys taped up my car and I knit & napped. We left before church on Sunday morning in an effort to beat the traffic…but we’ll be back at the end of August. Well, one of us will anyway…

Why You Should Rotate Your Tires

The Culprit

So! There we were, on our way to Jeff’s parents house in Clovis for the 4th of July, 3 hrs into the trip- just outside of McFarland- when the road started making a very strange sound…which was followed by a small bang and loud thumping. It sounded as though someone were hitting my car with a baseball bat, and I looked out of my window to see black chunks of something flying past the window. The old woman in the car next to us practically veered into a tree trying to move away. Something was WAY wrong. We pulled off the road into the gravel and got out to see what it was. Holy crap- my right rear tire had disintegrated…all the tread had completely separated, and all that was left was the interior with steel belts exposed and starting to snap. Not only was the tire obliterated, but it destroyed my car when it happened. My bumper was ripped through and hanging by a thread, one running light was completely gone – just a hole and wires, the entire fender was missing, the running board was missing clips and hanging half off, and the whole rear quarter panel was covered in dents and black marks.

The bad news: no spare. Nope, my spare is actually on my car (and might have been the disintegrating tire for all I know) and the tire riding in the spare position is one I had to replace a couple months ago. Great. The good news: every year for Christmas I have my Dad get us a AAA membership- for just this very reason!

We limped off Hwy 99, navigated around some corn fields, found a small truck stop, and discovered we were in Delano. The nice AAA girl told us it would be about 30 minutes. I called my mom and had her get on the internet to see if there was a Costco, Wal-Mart or some other cheap tire emporium nearby. Nope, we were s.o.l. Fortunately, when the large, sweaty, stained t-shirt and missing teeth tow truck driver showed up, he loaded the car right up on the flat bed and said not to worry- he knew a very reasonably priced shop right down the road.

We get there, and as the driver is unloading the CRV from his truck, Jeff starts looking at my other 3 tires. Tire #1 has the little “time to replace me” nubs sticking up from the declining tread. Tire #2 is completely bald on the inside (hmmm…maybe I should add “rotate tires” to my calendar). Tire #3 is just dandy- obviously the one I recently replaced. So it turns out that we didn’t really need 1 new tire…we needed 4. Well, let me tell ‘ya: if you need to buy tires, Delano is the place to do it. The guys at Pacific Tire hooked us up with 4 Yokohama’s w/ an 80,000mi guarantee for $320- installed. Then, like a pit crew 4 Mexican guys with jacks ran out, jacked up the car and had the tires changed with the 1 good one on the back as the spare and had us back on the road in 20 minutes. Brilliant.

The damage was considerable. Jeff’s dad and next door neighbor used the shiniest duct tape I have ever seen to tape my bumper and running board up so we could drive it without fear that we were leaving a trail of debris. We filed a claim on-line and on the 14th it went to the body shop for evaluation and estimate. The total? $1500. It went back to the body shop on the 21st to begin the repairs, and on the 24th we found out that the estimate had gone up another $2100. Yikes….thank God we only have to pay the deductable!

The body shop posts pictures online through our insurance web site, so we can watch the progress. I know the windshield (which was cracked by debris) has been replaced, but I have no idea where they’re at with the rest- hopefully I’ll have it back before August!

Sent from the body shop on 7-30

Gotcha Day #3

6-27-05

10 months

Size 3-6 month

6-27-06

1 year, 10 months

Size 6-12 months

6-27-07

2 years, 10 months

Size 12-18 months top, 9-12 month shorts, 2t pants

6-27-08

3 years, 10 months

Size 2T top, 18-24 month shorts, 3t pants

Despite the delay in posting due to issues we’re experiencing with our internet access, Anniversary #3 of Gotcha Day happened right on schedule on June 27.

Ten went to pre-school in the morning (didn’t want to miss “water day”), and Jeff and I went and saw Wall-E. I know, it sounds like something we all should have done together: but given our Kung-Fu Panda experience, Jeff and I opted for a tribute to our former child free moments. After school we met up with Aunty Kim & Jaxon for our weekly lunch date at Chick-fil-A, and then headed for home to get in a quick nap before we went to Castle Park.

Castle Park has become one of Ten’s favourite places because it has lots of rides she can go on by herself with little to no waiting in line. Our Gotcha Day outing there provided Ten with 2 unexpected bonuses: 1) Jaxon & family came along to help celebrate, so she had a buddy to run amok with; 2) the nice guy who sold us Ten’s combo ticket made an oops and thought it was part of the “buy a day, get the summer free” promo, so she ended up with a season pass! A fine time was had by all, except for the adults realizing that we’re not 16 anymore and only good for 1 or 2 spinning rides each.

SO! We’ve now been riding the Tenley roller-coaster for 3 YEARS! And let me tell ‘ya, this year has produced A LOT of hills!!

School Girl: Ten has been going to pre-school for 3 half days a week for 10 months now. I think it’s been really good for her, her attention span has improved a little and she spouts off all the time with things that I know I haven’t taught her like the Pledge of Allegiance and how to swing on the big girl swings. She always says “I had fun at pre-school” when you pick her up, and is always happy to see her friends when she gets there. Bonus: her class next year has 3 other cute little Asian girls in it too!

Gotta Go: Potty training began in earnest this year, and our big girl is really good at using the potty now. She’s also good at holding it, so when she tells you she needs to go, you don’t have to pick her up and run. Accidents are pretty rare, but she still has to wear pull-ups at night and for nap, but the nap pull-up is almost always dry. Hopefully we’ll be done with all of that by next year!

It’s in the Jeans: This child is a bean pole. She continues to just grow up and up and up. Buying pants for her is a nightmare- she’s all leg- by the time we hit shorts season, the length of her pants was right for her age, but the waist size was so 2 years ago. At least her feet seem to have slowed down for the moment, but she’ll still need new tennis shoes by Fall. Her hair is getting longer too- a few months ago she surprised us by deciding she wants long hair like Mommy, and we can now get a pony tail or two in it again.

What ‘chu talkin’ ‘bout: Everything. Constantly. This is payback- I know it- it’s the Mother’s Curse (“I hope you grow up to have a child just like you!”) in action. I know I never shut up, and now neither does Tenley. The good news is that her manners are pretty good- she usually remembers “please”, “thank you” and “excuse me”. She remains the living incarnation of Transformers’ Bumblebee by frequently speaking in quotes from various movies and TV shows…that often make no sense or relate to anything else.

3 Sucks: Seriously, the so called “terrible two’s” are nothing- I’d go back to that any day. Three has been awful: any little thing that doesn’t go her way and she goes into full meltdown. Crying, wailing, kicking, screaming, pulling her hair, growling- the works- and it can last for hours because she refuses to calm down and just keeps working herself up. It’s worse if she’s tired or hungry. The kid spends so much time in time-out these days, I think she thinks it’s a scheduled activity. I take comfort in the fact that 90% of the other 3 year olds mother’s that I talk to say the same thing, and other parents assure me that by 5 they’re like real people.

You Are Not Alone: With Tenley, you are never alone. Ever. I think this is one of those weird personality shapers from her orphanage days- she still wants your complete and undivided attention at all times. If she’s watching tv, she wants you watching her watching tv. She can’t just ride in the car and sing a song or stare out the window- she wants continuous interaction whether it’s conversation, requests/demands for drinks or toys, etc. No one in this house has peed by themselves or showered uninterrupted in 3 years.

My Obsession: Ten continues to become obsessed with random things. There’s always a movie and/or tv show- currently it’s 101 Dalmations II- Patch’s London Adventure and Curious George. I’ll take the animated monkey over Little Bear any time, any day. The kid also loves cars, and is obsessed with VW Bugs & PT Cruisers. She points them out constantly- everywhere, wants you to look for them too, and you must acknowledge when she shouts out that she’s seen one. We’re trying to broaden her horizons with Cooper Minis and Honda Elements.

The next year will bring some big changes: pre-school 5 half days a week, and Mommy is probably going to go back to work. Can’t wait to see how Miss Ten rolls with the punches!!

The Ballad of Jeff, Michelle & the AT&T U-Verse

AKA: why we haven’t posted in a fortnight, even though we have pictures & stuff to say.

Like most everyone else in the US, we are feeling the pinch of the economy. So a couple of months ago we decided to take stock of our expenditures and see where we could lighten the load. We had satellite tv for $56 a month, and cable internet which we were paying $60 a month for. We felt that surely we could do better, and sure enough, Jeff found that AT& T had DSL for half that. Great.

So I called AT&T and told the nice lady what I wanted. She proceeded to ask me some questions and then began extolling the virtues of AT&T U-Verse: a fiber optic connection that could provide our tv, phone and internet all in one for $69 a month with a $200 cash back bonus, free installation, and no contract. We signed right up.

Here’s how this works: AT&T contracted with outside vendors to have fiber optic cable run to most neighborhoods, and then the service rides plain old copper wire into your home. There’s a “gateway” – sort of a super modem- that everything runs through. If you lose service you lose both tv & internet. The install tech explained that if your service drops, you have to unplug the gateway & then plug back in, then you re-boot the tv…but this was not something we were going to have to worry about.

Two weeks into our new service, it was dropping at least once a day; and it was when it dropped & refused to come back up at 9:30 at night (right in the middle of a movie) that Jeff lost his ever-lovin’mind. At that point, he ripped the tv box out of the wall, put the dish receiver back, and was up on a ladder with a flashlight in his mouth un-doing the fiber optic connection and re-attaching the satellite. I was then told to get rid of the U-verse tv, get the satellite people out to fix their connection, and get a AT&T tech out to fix the internet connection. Truthfully, I wasn’t sorry to see the U-verse tv go: I didn’t like the DVR nearly as well as the satellite DVR, and it turned out that we did have a satellite contract, so that $200 cash back would have to have gone to get us out of our contract early.

Here we begin the long parade of AT&T techs:

Tech #1 checked our wires, checked the speed, and discovered that the modem was set to Samoa time.

It still dropped 2-3 times a day for 1-2 hours each time. Place service call

Tech #2& 3 (they’re a matching set) discovered we were still using cable that had likely been around since the Eisenhower era, and switched us to Cat 5 cable.

Dropped daily 2-3 times for a couple hours each time. Place service call

Tech #4 removed and replaced a little gray box at the MPOE that was fried, and checked for interference on the line.

Now drops once a day…for 6-8 hours. Place yet another service call.

Tech #5 – Mario. Now I have nothing but nice things to say about Mario, because God bless him, he bent over backwards and tried valiantly to do everything to make this piece of $h!t work. Mario began by reviewing what everyone else had done. Turns out fixing the fried gray box is a temp fix at best- if there’s something else wrong on the line it’ll fry it again. So Mario begins running lots of tests, and calls out a line tech (one of the guys who climbs up the poles) to start testing the pairs. This takes 2 days.

Fixed! Runs great 24/7…for 3 days. I call Mario who made the mistake of giving me his card.

Tech #5-Mario. Mario wonders if the dial tone from the phone line is causing interference, and arranges to take our dial tone down for 24 hours to see if the internet works then.

It doesn’t. It still drops randomly for 2-3 hours at a time at all hours of the day & night. Then it falls into a pattern: it drops everyday between 10:45a & 11:30a…and doesn’t bother to come back until after 6pm. I call Mario. Mario calls the line tech. We play phone tag for a week.

Tech #5- Mario. Mario shows up at 6p on Friday having finally gotten permission from dispatch to come back out. He starts testing the jack in the house and looking at the modem configuration and calls in another line tech to re-rest the pairs. Jeff starts teaching them about computer/modem configuration. Line tech #3 informs us that Cat 5 cable is only good for 100 ft at a time, so we have a problem. They decide to have us go wireless– just as well because techs #2&3 actually stapled through the Cat 5 that they ran in several places. A hole is drilled into our bedroom wall and the wireless router is installed. Hurrah hurrah- it works!!

For 2 hours. Jeff invents new swear words while ripping the router cable back out of the wall. Then he called the cable provider to arrange for us to have cable internet installed again on Wed.

I called and cancelled the U-verse today. It would have been great if it had worked, although not as good a deal as we hoped because it turns out that phone was not included in the price. Also turns out that a lot of people thought phone was included; and a lot of people are having the same problems we are. So, 2 months later, we’re right back where we started.

I’ll blog more on Wed …when I have internet that works again.

No Internet - STILL