In recent months, I’ve grown weary of my satellite internet service. Two years ago, I loved it, but back then it was either satellite or dial-up. No sooner did I sign the two year contract than DSL became available out here in cow country. With satellite, when it rains harder than a drizzle, I lose my signal. If storms approach from the south, I lose my signal. If the dish gets coated with ice or snow in the winter, I lose my signal. If…well, you get the idea. And even when I have a signal, it’s slow. Not as slow as dial up, but close. Last night, I learned that my order for DSL had gone through, and it was ready to be installed. Notice I said “last night.” I’m not a night person. Nor am I a morning person. I’m more of a two-hours-in-the-middle-of-the-afternoon person. I know these things never run smoothly. So why, you may ask, did I even attempt the installation in the evening instead of waiting for morning? AFTER my coffee, of course. The answer has to be impatience. And the eternal...

Is Mars in retrograde? I know Mercury WAS last month. When all my Internet woes began. So I have recently developed a belief in these things. Mercury in retrograde means poor communications. Of course, it went OUT of retrograde weeks ago and I still struggle to access my email. Note to self: call Tech Support AGAIN this morning. But which planet controls household appliances and electronic devices? One by one, my appliances are going belly-up. First, the external hard drive I bought quit after three days. I returned it to the store, got my money back and decided I didn’t really need something else to create stress in my life. The TV is virtually on its last leg. It shuts itself off several times before finally staying on. One day very soon (possible today) it isn’t going to come back on. Saturday, my vacuum cleaner started emitting a burnt-rubbery odor and then stopped. Hubby may have fixed it, but I have my doubts that the repair will last through the holidays. Yesterday morning, the ...

Eating Crow My problems with the Internet have continued. While it seemed for a time, the problem was fixed, another spike in my usage led me to search for other sources and solutions to the problem. Basically, I went over the head of the Techy Guy who had been helping me to speak with Techy Girl. Techy Girl discounted almost everything that Techy Guy had told me. It would appear the problem was NOT with the neighbor’s kid tapping into my wireless router to download movies. (Techy Guy told me the problem was with downloads…NOT anything I’d been putting online.) Techy GIRL informs me just the opposite is the problem. I’m fine with my downloading numbers. It’s UPLOADS that are killing me. Uploads. As in photographs. As in new digital camera with large, sharp, lovely photographs. Photographs that I posted here of Bouchercon. Granted, most of those were posted from the hotel in Baltimore, but not all. Plus I’d posted those same photos at my Facebook page. Then there were the pictures I’d t...

I’m having one of those weeks when I have to make an appointment to take a good breath. How many times have I promised myself that I will NOT overbook my life? And yet, once again, that’s exactly what I’ve done. And just when I need to be able to accomplish things in a speedy fashion, I once more have Internet issues to deal with. If you hear screaming coming from Washington County, Pennsylvania, it’s only me. So this little blog post is simply intended to explain why I have no real blog post today. I did, however, work on my manuscript. A little. Enough to have written myself into a corner. Oh, well. I have a long drive this evening into the city for a Sisters in Crime meeting. Being stuck in traffic is prime plotting time. As for tomorrow…GET OUT TO VOTE. I’m sick to death of all the political crap, so I won’t try to tell you WHO to vote for (even though I have very strong opinions on the matter), but do vote.

Ah, the joys of modern technology. It’s all wonderful when it works. When it crashes and burns? Not so much. All week, I have complained that I have a gremlin in my computer. It’s getting close to Halloween after all. But after three days of sluggish Internet, pages that won’t load or don’t load correctly, then finally having my browser shut down on me completely, I finally decided it was no longer a joking matter. Of course, I had trouble tracking down my techy guy, too. Mercury is in retrograde, I’ve been told. But this morning, I finally pinned him down on the phone. His first comment was that I have a virus. No kidding. My nose has been running and I’ve been sneezing since Monday. But, no, that wasn’t what he meant. He meant COMPUTER virus. Oh. Further investigation has led him to believe that probably isn’t the case. Probably. He asked me a slew of questions. Had I recently downloaded any file sharing programs? Uh. I don’t know. I don’t THINK so. What are they? Apparently, I hadn’...