I got a call from Verizon this afternoon telling me that the wonders of bureaucracy had struck again and that I was DSL-less, but that they’d try to get it fixed.

And then, as I was typing this note, the phone rang, and they say I’m supposed to be back on the air.

I can’t tell — I’m sitting in my office at work, and pings don’t get through my firewall — but if I have service when I get home, I’ll be amazed and pleased.

And if I don’t, I can do other things with my life than be on the Web, and that’s OK, too!

Shabbat Shalom!

This is the 25th Valentine’s Day of my married life, and each one has been better than the previous year’s.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Diane!

If it ain’t one thing, it’s another….

Earlier this afternoon, I was writing a posting about trying to get back into the Weblog habit. I’d gotten to the point at which I was ready to post, so I hit the button…and nothing happened.

I wasn’t actually surprised about this, because I was at home waiting for Verizon to come and look at my DSL line. I’d finally gotten around to calling them yesterday to complain because, even with multiple microfilters in place, I couldn’t use the phone and data parts of the line simultaneously, and I knew that wasn’t right.

So, when I lost connectivity around 1:30, I figured they were testing the line. And sure enough, Verizon called a few minutes later and said they’d tested the line and would be out to look and listen at it. But they were surprised that I had lost service and that it still wasn’t back up.

The service guy came out, saw that I had a spare jack in the office, and went out to the demark box to install a splitter. That solved the noise problem, as I expected…but I still didn’t have service. Three green lights on the modem, but no service.

So the service guy brought in his laptop to make sure it wasn’t a problem in my network; it wasn’t. Then he called home base, and we waited a while. Eventually, he got a call back telling him to go on to the next customer, since the physical layer was all OK, but he assured me that I’d be called back soon with an update.

And I was. The guy from Verizon said he’d talked with my ISP, and that somehow Verizon had issued a disconnect order for my service! But he was going to try to get it fixed.

I had my doubts, and I dialed up on the other line to get a little work done. The phone rang again. It was Verizon. He’d traced the order; it was supposed to have only been a “records update”, but somehow it turned into a disconnect. So he was going to try to send in a reversal and hoped it would work.

So I kept using the dialup connection. And the phone rang again. Yup, Verizon. He asked me to see if I had connectivity again via DSL…and I did! He said he’d never been able to get this kind of screwup fixed so quickly (I’m not sure whether to be happy about this or upset because they have problems fairly often!), but then said that it might not all be over — because the records update still has to be done.

So we’ll see what tomorrow brings (probably at least one more call from Verizon!), but I’m back on the air now. I hope.

Not on Google? Surely you jest!

Scriptin’ Dave writes:

Hey I had lunch with Doc on his way back to Southern California. I promised that by the time he got home I would have the name of the founder of Creative Computing magazine. I looked on Google, but the data is not there. Help me please. I don’t want to provoke the Wrath of Doc.

Not on Google? Let’s see…how about a search on:

“Creative Computing” magazine

and the ninth hit sez:

… People I’ve Worked with, Known, or Just Met. David Ahl — The man who started Creative
Computing Magazine. He was the first person who ever gave me a job. The …

To verify, search on:

“Creative Computing” “David Ahl”

and get lots of hits with confirming text.

It’s all in the wrist!

Lately, it seems that every time I try to flip my page, ETP is down. I guess it really is time to install Radio Userland and start blogging that way.

Let’s see, what’s happened since 2/2? I’ve been to the East Coast again, this time for my ex-boss’s e-tirement party and my team’s annual kickoff meeting; we’ve filled the tank in the Prius once (it gets great mileage, but a 11-gallon tank will take you only so long); Jeffrey got the Student of the Month award(along with two dozen other kids); and undoubtedly many other things worth noting.

But I’m going to post this update now while the posting’s good.

See you later.

Early Retirement – not today

I meant to invest $5 in the California Early Retirement Program today, but I forgot. Oh, well — I enjoy what I’m doing at work anyway.

I tried to flip my page yesterday evening after Jeffrey’s birthday party, but ETP wasn’t cooperating and I gave up.

The party went well, I think — especially since I hardly had to do anything! Nor did Diane, I hasten to add. Instead, the nice folks at SCORE hosted the party, decorating the center and running a murder mystery for the guests. The kids enjoyed it, and some of them really got into their characters, too.

Next year, it’s the Bar Mitzvah. Oy!

Diane’s new car is fun to drive — it’s not as peppy as my Saab, but it is a very weird experience to sit in nearly complete silence at a stop sign, since the engine turns itself off when it’s not necessary.

We drove her car downtown today to see The Mandrake Root at San Jose Rep. The play was very good and the cast was excellent. The audience gave a standing ovation, but it didn’t start until Lynn Redgrave came out for her curtain call, and I thought that was unfair to the actress who played Sally; I thought she actually carried the play (though Ms. Redgrave was awfully good!).