internet

I’m logged in at the library

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Skimming through my LJ and checking emails. I didn’t make the trip to Best Buy to swap modems because guess what?? When I got home from work, the supposedly-broken modem was working!

I know. You’re shocked.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t working working. It took ten minutes and multiple tries before Thunderbird could download an email or newsgroup post. Yet another call to Qwest got me a conversation with someone who was willing to admit that they’d been having outages in my area for the last 48 hours. The engineers said it would be fixed in 8-12 hours.

This morning, I still didn’t have internet. This morning, I called tech support again. The helpdesk guy told me that the problem was fixed, but of course it wasn’t. He went consulted with the engineers again and reported that the server had failed again.

You know what? I wasn’t angry. He’d told me the truth, instead of a lie that cost me 90+ dollars and wasted several hours of my time. If the first person I spoke with had told me the truth, I would have been much happier than I am now.

Current plan: See if they can get this fixed by Monday morning. Then hook up my old modem again. If it still works, return new modem and use the 2hr commute time wisely (if possible).

Here is my sad face

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I must go home to an internet-less apartment. It will be beer, books, and maybe a DVD.

God! How do people live this way?!?!

Amazing coincidences!

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So, Wednesday after work I discovered I couldn’t connect to the internet at home. This was annoying, because I have writer-type crap that needs doing, but hey, it happens. I called Qwest tech support and after nearly an hour and a half I was told they’d traced the problem to my modem. I was entering the username and password correctly to connect to the ISP, but the modem wasn’t retaining the info (or something). They could access my modem, but I couldn’t get the internet.

Obviously the solution was to buy a new one, which I did. It wasted an hour and a half (notice the trend) of my evening, but I went out and bought a new Qwest-compatible wireless modem. ($90!)

When I brought it home to install it, guess what? Same. Exact. Problem.

After another long call to tech support (you know how long it took) the guy informed me that, by amazing coincidence, my brand new modem had the exact same problem as my old one. AMAZING! Go back to Best Buy, I was told, and exchange it for another one. And see if you can get them to test it right there in the store.

And… fine. I don’t believe them, but fine. I’m not going after work today (because I have a life[1]) but I will be going first thing tomorrow. So long, most productive writing time of the week! I will have to reschedule you, because I have to fix my fucking internet connection.

And if this doesn’t work, Qwest is out. I’d hate to lose the email address I’ve had for years but I may not have a choice. The main problem is that I don’t have any other really good options. The cable ISP in my area is Comcast, and those bastards are the ones pursuing the lawsuit against the FCC about packet-slowing. To hell with them. What other choices do I have?

::Shakes fist at corporate tech support::

Best Buy provides the email address for the manager of the store I’ll be visiting tomorrow. I’m going to drop him a line to let him know what’s going on and why I’ll be there. I’m sure Gary Mylie will be overjoyed.

[1] Not really

This doesn’t work

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This is one of those complaining posts, because sometimes shit just doesn’t work out. There will be one positive note included at the end, just so you don’t think everything in my life is petty annoyance. People who hate to read griping should skip to the end.

First: My modem at home has died. I emailed a link to myself from work at 5pm. When I got home at six, the email was there, but I couldn’t connect with the web. After more than an hour with tech support, they decided that I just need to buy a new modem.

I’m counting that time as my “cleaning” time for yesterday. Grrr. Today I need to take a bus clear across town to buy a replacement. Maybe that will be my… I don’t know. Maybe I can’t follow my guidelines today.

Second, after a night of leg cramps and nightmares, I completely overslept. I hate oversleeping, especially on day-job days, because that’s my writing time. So not only was I nearly an hour late for work, but I have written nothing today.

Third, (just to bury the lede) I may be losing my day job. It’s not an ideal job, but I need to be part time on these particular days, or I can’t work here. The company is “reorganizing” (iow, trying to drive out a union for a different dept) by combining all its call centers into one. I will go from being employed by a non-profit to a state employee, which means I’ll be doing the same job, but starting over as a new employee.

That means: new benefits, six-month probation, loss of accrued sick time, an end to my retirement plan, new bosses, new office, new co-workers, etc. Will I still be part-time? Will I keep my same shift? That “hasn’t been decided yet.” They still have to “examine the work flow.”

Did I leave my wife alone in upstate NY to deal with all this family crap because I didn’t want to lose a job I was going to lose in two months anyway? Shit.

Anyway, here’s the upbeat news. I’ve received permission to post Chapters 2 and 3 of GAME OF CAGES online. Chapter 1 is already here, of course, but the next two won’t go onto the internet until closer to completion date (especially considering the work I have to do to get them ready).

How not to be lonely.

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No, this isn’t actually a plan for avoiding loneliness.

As I mentioned before, my wife and son are in upstate NY for the rest of the month, dealing with the death of my m-i-l. That means I’m home alone for that time.

Normally, I’m a complete ass when it comes to productively using private time, especially when I have a lot of it. For these two-plus weeks, I have to be better. Therefore! I have made these resolutions:

1. No fancy cooking. I can’t be spending hours and hours prepping foods that I eat in 15 minutes. Sandwiches, salads, pastas, etc. Simple stuff.

2. Exercise every day. I have time for it, therefore I have no excuses.

3. Clean kitchen at the end of every day. No going to bed with dirty plates in the sink or crumbs on the table.

4. Spend half an hour each day cleaning the apartment. The kitchen doesn’t count toward this goal. Vacuuming doesn’t take long. Neither does a quick sweep/wipe down of the bathroom. Making bed: 15 seconds, tops. If I set aside this time and try to rush through it, it should be a huge burden or time sink.

5. All writing goals will be increased by 500 words a day. That doubles the quota for day-job days, and increases the day-off day quotas to 2K. I’d like to try for 3K, but that’s a lot of story for me. This isn’t listed fifth because it’s the fifth most important, but because it’ll be an easy goal to meet.

6. Only drink beer on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. Moderation is the key.

7. Watch grown-up movies. Because of the boy’s screwed-up sleep schedule, the only time I have to watch movies for adults is the morning, and morning is writing time. As a result, I pretty much haven’t seen any R-rated movies for a couple of years. At this point, I don’t even care if they’re all that good, I just want to watch some. I may even go to (gasp!) a theater.

Of course, none of this works without:

8. Sensible amounts of internet time! Like many people, my time online expands to fill the amount of time I have. I can’t keep doing that. Therefore, I resolve to follow fewer links, join fewer discussions and let my email program chime to let me know new messages have come in, rather than check over and over.

Hmm. Maybe I should add: Write shorter blog posts.

edited to add: Oops! I forgot one: 9. Eat fruit and vegetables every day.

Brief notes, briefly

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My post analyzing THE NIGHT STRANGLER, the second of the Carl Kolchak tv movies and the lead-in to the series, doesn’t seem to have posted to my LiveJournal friends list. I wonder if it came up as backdated, which prevents it from appearing on the list. It’s on LJ right here. Warning, it’s a long post.

Also, the back cover copy for Game of Cages has appeared on Amazon.com. Here it is:

A SECRET HIGH-STAKES AUCTION

As a wealthy few gather to bid on a predator capable of destroying all life on earth, the sorcerers of the Twenty Palace Society mobilize to stop them. Caught up in the scramble is Ray Lilly, the lowest of the low in the society—an ex–car thief and the expendable assistant of a powerful sorcerer. Ray possesses exactly one spell to his name, along with a strong left hook. But when he arrives in the small town in the North Cascades where the bidding is to take place, the predator has escaped and the society’s most powerful enemies are desperate to recapture it. All Ray has to do is survive until help arrives. But it may already be too late.

I like that.

Also, I have to put up a complete first chapter for GoC soon, along with revamping my website a bit. I haven’t done it yet, because Life keeps getting in the way. Soon, though. Soon.

This is not complicated.

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I’m going to make one of my obligatory posts about spoilers and spoiler warnings. If you’ve been here before, skim on by.

It’s prompted by this quote by Catherynne M. Valente:

It hamstrings the review to not be able to directly discuss any of the actual events that take place in the movie. How can you engage with the text without acknowledging anything within it? It’s infuriating.

Full context here.

Essentially, she puts a spoileriffic review of the movie SPLICE behind a cut because of the “howls” from people complaining about spoilers.

Look, let’s make this clear and simple for people who like to pretend their being harassed or censored somehow: If you’re going to write about a book or movie in a way that includes spoilers, just say so up front[1]. It’s a courtesy for people who haven’t seen the movie yet. Is that so challenging? Eight little letters? No one wants to “hamstring” anyone. No one wants prevent discussion. Just let us know what you’re about to do so we can make an informed decision about it.

Why is that even mildly controversial?

But what really annoys me is this assertion:

Especially because it implies that the only worth of a movie or book is the shock value in a turn of plot, nothing else. If you know the ending of The Sixth Sense going in, it’s somehow a failure as a film.

Ms. Valente has always seemed pretty sharp to me so I’m not sure what to make of this. Is it hyperbole that missed its mark? I don’t even know.

But let’s be clear: Spoiling a movie for someone changes their experience of it. I’m not going to go through the whole thing again about how it affects me to know, for instance, that a particular character is going to die, but it changes the way I experience a movie. It takes away the pleasure of a clever plot twist. In some movies, that matters. A lot.

Using spoiler warnings doesn’t imply that the only worth in a story is in the shock value of a plot, it simply acknowledges that shocking plot twists have value. It doesn’t imply that a spoiled movie is a failure, it accepts that the pleasure of seeing a spoiled movie is reduced.

All of which could have been avoided with a little basic courtesy.

In other news, yeah, there is some stressful shit going on. It doesn’t show, does it?

[1] Yeah, I realize there are people out there who don’t want spoilers on the net in any form, even after there’s been a warning. Fuck those people for being idiots. There has to be a place where people can discuss plots in full detail, and that place is anywhere they please. I’m not asking for an end to spoilers, only for a little labeling.

Randomness for 5/31

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1) Never plan a crime through unsolicited queries.

2) The next step in the development of our robotic overlords is complete.

3) How many companies think to put ASCII art in their html codes? Warning: using View Source on that site is probably NSFW.

4) This one is for Hannah Wolf Bowen (and everyone else, too): A Batman costume… for your horse.

5) Forced perspective, using Legos. Really amazing.

6) The scale of celestial bodies.

7) A unique promotional idea. I don’t think it’s such a terrible idea, mainly because the idea is going to get her more attention than the actual actors she hired. Still, promoting your book based on pretend enjoyment doesn’t really work for me. I’d be more swayed by honest responses.

America Speaks Out

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The GOP has put up a site (for now) asking regular folks to suggest ideas for their agenda. Of course, everyone who contributed did so in a serious and respectful manner…

“I should have the right to name my children using numbers. If I want to name my child l33t, I should be able to name him that, darsh gone it. Who is the guberment to say that I can’t name my children using numbers?”

“we should make english the official language of the US and stop spending tax dollars on translations for mexicans! if english is good enough for baby jesus, its good enough for americans. ”

“Give a pair of truck nutz to all americans! Because there’s nothing more manly and american than a pair of balls hanging from your pickup truck. Take THAT Al Qaeda!”

“Please put an end to the liberal elite trampling my rights to be free in a country founded on freedom. This only applies to me and other white people who were born here, though, nobody else.”

“Build a wall along our borders. Not a wimpy fence. China did it and the toursim dollars the wall brings in will more than pay for the cost. I’m thinking a 1000 feet high and a 100 feet or more thick. A man made mountain range. That’ll keep people out! P.S. Canadians are a bigger threat to our security than we realize. Did you realize the late Peter Jennings’ Canadian, yet hosted an American news program? They can blend in unnoticed into our society and our border with them is totally demilitarized!!! They can just sneak across and pretend to be Americans, with their stinkin’ European-wannabe socialism. P.P.S. Maybe anchor some mines along our coastal waterways so no one sneaks in on boats. ”

“let’s take away all of the guns from everyone and build a giant robot that has thousands and thousands of guns that will be fired and reloaded automatically by mechanical parts ”

“I think we should free Xenu from the electric mountain trap. Xenu would be able to get rid of two of America’s major problems: Bin Laden and Tom Cruise. All praise XENU! ”

“I think all americans should bathe in Nuclear Waste. This has been shown to be an effective tactic in the past of transforming the human body into something more powerful and superhuman. With a nation of powerful mutants, not only would we prevent ourselves from being invaded, we would have a wildly powerful offense with millions able to fly, shoot lasers from their eyes and take bullets. Ninja Cats would still prove to be a problem.”

“I would like to see a river of fire built between the US and Mexico. I would also like level 12 mages to guard the border just in case. ”

“Stop listening to so-called “scientists” with their “facts” and “knowledge”. Jesus didnt need science and neither do we! ”

“Force the Grand Ole Opry to reinstate Hank Williams, Sr. “

This is not a post about fanfiction

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On my LiveJournal friends list, which is where I do most of my internet reading, yet another fanfic (definition) discussion has exploded. No link, because it’s just like all the others: a pro writer said the usual dismissive things about fanfic. People who’d never even heard of this writer before swoop in to berate her/patiently explain she’s wrong/inform her they’ll never buy her work/tell her they’re laughing at her/etc to the tune of 300 comments.

Jesus, it’s like that old joke about the community where everyone’s known each other so long that they don’t even bother telling the same jokes anymore. They gave each joke a number and shout those instead.

Pro: Fanfic 6! Also 4 and 2!
Fanficcers: 12! 22! 19!

Anyway, I would like to offer a little expertise (not my own, ‘natch) on conducting an argument of any kind. Dale Carnegie, take it away!