*yawn*

Well, I spent my first night in the house last night. Here's what I've learned thus far, in no particular order:

It absolutely rocks to have a garage -- my truck had no snow upon it this morning. Actually, there was something sort of neat to see when I came out to the garage: little rivlets of water were snaking their way across the garage floor where some of the slush had melted out of the wheelwells.

The road noise from behind the back yard that I was concerned about isn't at all bad, and can almost be soothing when I'm trying to get to sleep and am jittery.

I need to replace the leaky bypass valve on the water softener. That has now been elevated to Chore Priority Alpha because I cannot stand the sound of water dripping into the bucket all night and day. I also don't like paying for water that's going to go to waste in such a fashion.

It is rather odd having a water softener again after 8 years of service with lake water that has been pre-conditioned by the city. I could feel the difference in the shower this morning.

62 degrees F (about 16.5 degrees Celcius) is pretty much the ideal setting for my thermostat. I may tinker with it a little more to see if I can't coax it down to 61 or 60. 60 degrees would be ideal in my mind so long as I wear a fleece or something around the house. A few degrees saved is a few dollars I won't have to hand over to Nicor at the end of the month, and with all the labor I'm doing (unpacking, installing, repairing, etc) around the place I exert myself plenty enough to stay warm.

Shoveling the driveway and sidewalk takes me about 30 minutes.

Shoveling the driveway and the sidewalk is an excellent source of exercise in the morning

Nothing feels better than a shower after being outside in the snow and the cold to shovel a sidewalk and driveway.

I love the showerhead in my shower.

I love having the master bathroom off the master bedroom.

With a "snow emergency" like the one we're experiencing today I can make my 20 mile commute in 60 minutes,. That's not too bad, all considered.

People in Illinois have no concept of what a snowstorm really is. If they're freaking out over this trivial coating of powder (OOooOOoooh, a whole THREE INCHES) then they'd never survive a real storm in Minnesota. I'm sure Canadians laugh at all of us.

More thoughts as they come.

bound by wild desire

*yawn*

Well, I spent my first night in the house last night. Here's what I've learned thus far, in no particular order:

It absolutely rocks to have a garage -- my truck had no snow upon it this morning. Actually, there was something sort of neat to see when I came out to the garage: little rivlets of water were snaking their way across the garage floor where some of the slush had melted out of the wheelwells.

The road noise from behind the back yard that I was concerned about isn't at all bad, and can almost be soothing when I'm trying to get to sleep and am jittery.

I need to replace the leaky bypass valve on the water softener. That has now been elevated to Chore Priority Alpha because I cannot stand the sound of water dripping into the bucket all night and day. I also don't like paying for water that's going to go to waste in such a fashion.

It is rather odd having a water softener again after 8 years of service with lake water that has been pre-conditioned by the city. I could feel the difference in the shower this morning.

62 degrees F (about 16.5 degrees Celcius) is pretty much the ideal setting for my thermostat. I may tinker with it a little more to see if I can't coax it down to 61 or 60. 60 degrees would be ideal in my mind so long as I wear a fleece or something around the house. A few degrees saved is a few dollars I won't have to hand over to Nicor at the end of the month, and with all the labor I'm doing (unpacking, installing, repairing, etc) around the place I exert myself plenty enough to stay warm.

Shoveling the driveway and sidewalk takes me about 30 minutes.

Shoveling the driveway and the sidewalk is an excellent source of exercise in the morning

Nothing feels better than a shower after being outside in the snow and the cold to shovel a sidewalk and driveway.

I love the showerhead in my shower.

I love having the master bathroom off the master bedroom.

With a "snow emergency" like the one we're experiencing today I can make my 20 mile commute in 60 minutes,. That's not too bad, all considered.

People in Illinois have no concept of what a snowstorm really is. If they're freaking out over this trivial coating of powder (OOooOOoooh, a whole THREE INCHES) then they'd never survive a real storm in Minnesota. I'm sure Canadians laugh at all of us.

More thoughts as they come.

bound by wild desire

State of the Phoneline Address

I spoke with AT&T today and got some happy news. Since they're my local service provider I thought they might be able to offer me a package deal on DSL, and I was right. I can get 768k/128k service with dynamic IP for $39 a month, or 1.5M/128k service with dynamic IP for $49 a month. I'm opting for the slower speed right now because I need to save up cash. While ten dollars a month may not sound like a lot when my average sales total in the checkout line has been pushing the $150 mark ... well, every little bit helps. Think about it: that ten dollars I save every month amounts to a not-insignificant total of $120 every year. I need to keep my regular utilities low if I want to prevent a situation from occuring where my monthly utilities prevent me from making overpayments on the mortgages and revolving debt. Despite the 30 years of house payments that are hanging over my head I plan to stay as close to solvency as possible. Yes, the costs of the move have been considerable (and they're not done accruing yet) so I'm focusing on ways to keep my budget trim through the rest of the year so I can remain "above the waterline." I've become rather fond of not seeing outlandish credit card bills in my mailbox, and I want things to stay that way. I adore not owing people (aside from the mortgage lenders) large sums of money. In fact, after talking to my dad again last night, I'm starting to take a lot of pride in my financial standing. I am living the American dream of homeownership and I don't have piles of debt stacking up around me. I don't have creditors calling me demanding payments or threatening to garnish my wages. I've held my job with this company for six years and it pays the bills most admirably. I own my truck free and clear. All told... I'm really well situated for a fellow my age. Not many people in my age bracket can say these things. Not many people who are ten years older than me can say these things! I should be proud of myself, and dammit I'm going to take set aside a minute for gloating.

There, my minute of basking is over.

As I wrote on Saturday Speakeasy could not complete provisioning for my line because Covad wouldn't work with AT&T. I cancelled the order right then, but apparently the deprovisioning process is still running. Until that's complete I cannot place an order for my AT&T DSL, so all I can do at this point is wait. The technician I spoke with today suggested waiting 3 business days and trying back then -- so I will wait until Thursday morning and give it another shot to see if I can get the ball rolling. The sooner I can submit this new order the sooner I can, with luck, have connectivity at Z'ha'dum. Until then I'll be on dial-up service through work, which while tolerable is not my idea of a good time. Connectivity makes me happy. Come to think of it, work should pay to run some single-mode fiber into my house so that I can experiment with the ATM MAN model on a local basis. Fat pipes make me happy.

So, until Thursday I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that this all works out. If all goes well I won't have to resort to my fall-back plan, and that would make me happy as well because I very much want to avoid cable modem and the ridiculous cable company costs if at all possible. In the mean time, roho provided me a chuckle by reminding me about a Penny Arcade cartoon that may indeed accurately depict the debacle I am involved in trying to get DSL service.

No, no, no, no, no, no

State of the Phoneline Address

I spoke with AT&T today and got some happy news. Since they're my local service provider I thought they might be able to offer me a package deal on DSL, and I was right. I can get 768k/128k service with dynamic IP for $39 a month, or 1.5M/128k service with dynamic IP for $49 a month. I'm opting for the slower speed right now because I need to save up cash. While ten dollars a month may not sound like a lot when my average sales total in the checkout line has been pushing the $150 mark ... well, every little bit helps. Think about it: that ten dollars I save every month amounts to a not-insignificant total of $120 every year. I need to keep my regular utilities low if I want to prevent a situation from occuring where my monthly utilities prevent me from making overpayments on the mortgages and revolving debt. Despite the 30 years of house payments that are hanging over my head I plan to stay as close to solvency as possible. Yes, the costs of the move have been considerable (and they're not done accruing yet) so I'm focusing on ways to keep my budget trim through the rest of the year so I can remain "above the waterline." I've become rather fond of not seeing outlandish credit card bills in my mailbox, and I want things to stay that way. I adore not owing people (aside from the mortgage lenders) large sums of money. In fact, after talking to my dad again last night, I'm starting to take a lot of pride in my financial standing. I am living the American dream of homeownership and I don't have piles of debt stacking up around me. I don't have creditors calling me demanding payments or threatening to garnish my wages. I've held my job with this company for six years and it pays the bills most admirably. I own my truck free and clear. All told... I'm really well situated for a fellow my age. Not many people in my age bracket can say these things. Not many people who are ten years older than me can say these things! I should be proud of myself, and dammit I'm going to take set aside a minute for gloating.

There, my minute of basking is over.

As I wrote on Saturday Speakeasy could not complete provisioning for my line because Covad wouldn't work with AT&T. I cancelled the order right then, but apparently the deprovisioning process is still running. Until that's complete I cannot place an order for my AT&T DSL, so all I can do at this point is wait. The technician I spoke with today suggested waiting 3 business days and trying back then -- so I will wait until Thursday morning and give it another shot to see if I can get the ball rolling. The sooner I can submit this new order the sooner I can, with luck, have connectivity at Z'ha'dum. Until then I'll be on dial-up service through work, which while tolerable is not my idea of a good time. Connectivity makes me happy. Come to think of it, work should pay to run some single-mode fiber into my house so that I can experiment with the ATM MAN model on a local basis. Fat pipes make me happy.

So, until Thursday I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that this all works out. If all goes well I won't have to resort to my fall-back plan, and that would make me happy as well because I very much want to avoid cable modem and the ridiculous cable company costs if at all possible. In the mean time, roho provided me a chuckle by reminding me about a Penny Arcade cartoon that may indeed accurately depict the debacle I am involved in trying to get DSL service.

No, no, no, no, no, no

(no subject)

Second night at the house tonight. Ra's been opening cabinet doors in the kitchen and evidences a real curiousity about the entryway closet.

After work today I drove up to the apartment to pick up some more of my belongings such as my desk, computer chair, floor mat, UPS, speakers, computer and clothes. I had apparently been in such a rush last night that I forgot most of my bathroom supplies (toothbrush, comb, razor, etc), something genet noticed this morning, it would seem. I am told I got a sympathetic wince for my oversight.

Once those were loaded to my satisfaction I gave my key to the apartment mailbox back to Genet and drove home. I got in around 7:20, having made fairly good time. I got things unloaded by about 7:45, and then spent another 20 minutes shoveling the driveway. When I was done clearing the snow I came inside and discovered that my fingers were all quite frostbitten - damn those cheap gloves! I gave them a bit of time to warm up, then made a quick and easy dinner for myself. Once I had eaten my fill I packed away the leftovers in the fridge and threw a load of laundry into the washer. Its an ornery old thing but it gets the job done. While it bumped, shimmied and clanked its way through the cycle I filled a sink with water and detergent and proceeded to wash dishes. I got the five-piece beer set washed and on the drying rack along with anumber of glasses from storage. Tomorrow I'll put away what was on the drying rack and move on to the next box, which will hopefully contain dishes and flatware.

It's getting late and all the shoveling has made me a little tired. I'm going to let the dryer run unattended and go to bed -- I'll rescue a pair of dress socks in the morning and fold clothes when I get home tomorrow night.

in the jungle

(no subject)

Second night at the house tonight. Ra's been opening cabinet doors in the kitchen and evidences a real curiousity about the entryway closet.

After work today I drove up to the apartment to pick up some more of my belongings such as my desk, computer chair, floor mat, UPS, speakers, computer and clothes. I had apparently been in such a rush last night that I forgot most of my bathroom supplies (toothbrush, comb, razor, etc), something genet noticed this morning, it would seem. I am told I got a sympathetic wince for my oversight.

Once those were loaded to my satisfaction I gave my key to the apartment mailbox back to Genet and drove home. I got in around 7:20, having made fairly good time. I got things unloaded by about 7:45, and then spent another 20 minutes shoveling the driveway. When I was done clearing the snow I came inside and discovered that my fingers were all quite frostbitten - damn those cheap gloves! I gave them a bit of time to warm up, then made a quick and easy dinner for myself. Once I had eaten my fill I packed away the leftovers in the fridge and threw a load of laundry into the washer. Its an ornery old thing but it gets the job done. While it bumped, shimmied and clanked its way through the cycle I filled a sink with water and detergent and proceeded to wash dishes. I got the five-piece beer set washed and on the drying rack along with anumber of glasses from storage. Tomorrow I'll put away what was on the drying rack and move on to the next box, which will hopefully contain dishes and flatware.

It's getting late and all the shoveling has made me a little tired. I'm going to let the dryer run unattended and go to bed -- I'll rescue a pair of dress socks in the morning and fold clothes when I get home tomorrow night.

in the jungle