Life has been frustrating and challenging enough this past week that it is worthy of note.  Tuesday, day before my first homework was due for my Java 143 (killer class at North Seattle Communitiy College), for no apparent reason, my internet connection stopped working.  I should mention that I have a terrible setup, with Verizon as my DSL service, but I'm using a different ISP.  Repeat:  Verizon supplies my DSL but another company is my ISP.  Verizon has a monopoly on phone lines where I live, so I don't really have a choice....

I phoned my ISP first, which is what I'm supposed to do, and they quickly determined that the problem was with Verizon.  Here's the beginning of things going from bad to worse.  Verizon has a subdivision called "Advanced Data" or something like that, which handles some special accounts.  And the situation in which someone has DSL provided through Verizon but uses a different company as an ISP falls into that special category.

My ISP phoned Verizon, using the contact number they had, and found that phone number was disconnected and no longer in use.  So, they phoned another phone number they found for Verizon Internet Tech Support, and were told in no uncertain terms (by Verizon tech support) that I am definitely not a customer of Verizon Internet.  Of course, I am.  The problem is that no one in Verizon outside of Verizon Advanced Data, even knows that division exists and they are all too stupid to realize that there is something they don't know.

I finally tracked down a contact phone number for Verizon Advanced Data (by insisting to speak to a Verizon Customer Support supervisor after spending 15 minutes on hold) and phoned my ISP and they spent the hour on hold necessary to get through to Verizon tech support.

Just before my first homework was due, I lost an entire day of coding (I was unable to make BlueJay or DrJava work without internet even though I have the Java engine files loaded onto my computer).  You can bet Verizon will bill me for a full month of service just the same.  Apparently Verizon needed to sync my connection.  I've noticed that my connection speed is much faster now.  It almost approaches what they say I'm supposed to be getting.

Yesterday my Windows desktop died a nasty death.  At first I thought it was the hard drive with the OS on it.  As it was dying, I did some backups.  I know I didn't backup everything, but at least I didn't lose everything.  After purchasing and installing a new hard drive, I discovered I had the same problem and realized that I couldn't even boot to the bios.  I bought a new motherboard.  This is probably the 3rd or 4th motherboard I've installed but I don't especially like installing motherboards because of all the tiny little delicate connectors that are hard to reach and easy to break.  After installing the motherboard and hooking up all the tiny little connectors (and the bigger connectors), I turned the computer on and got a siren.

I spent hours guessing what it could be, disconnecting various combinations of things and spending lots of time on Google support.  Many hours.  An entire day.  Today I took the motherboard back to PCClub, where I was treated very well.  They flashed the bios (I didn't feel too foolish because the manual didn't mention anything about doing that) and confirmed that my video card and RAM were compatible with the motherboard.  The computer was running a little hot so I purchased a new fan and powersupply just in case.

Unfortunately, I still can't access my original hard drive and Windows XP would not format the new hard drive with various errors:  including UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME and Stop:  C000021a {fatal system error}.

The computer is running hot so I'm installing Windows98, messing with the BIOS settings and then I'll try installing WindowsXP again.

What I had in mind for this last weekend was spending the weekend doing two pleasant things:  planting in my garden and immersing myself in my Java 143 studies.  What I actually did this weekend was much more expensive and time consuming, less productive, and less fun.

Nothing, I've had other priorities.

At work I've completed the Whittier server (I'll send it off Wednesday), three laptops, three desktops (two shipped to Anchorage Friday) and I have two more computers and various other emergencies to handle this week.

I finished taxes last Sunday (a week ago).  The rest is all on the top of this page.  Tom bought a lawn mower with a stronger motor (this one can cut long wet grass and the sweet little electric one we had could not) and mowed the lawn.  Thank you, Tom!

A little more about Tom here.  Tom is practicing for the STP.  That's two hundred miles on a bicycle in two days.  He's been doing a 30 mile round trip commute to work, he bought a new bicyle, he uses high tech bike shoes with a clip system, he finished the chilly hilly in good time, and he is taking 50 plus mile pleasure jaunts on weekends.  I'm not sure if this is either his mid-life crisis or nostalgia for the adrenaline rushes he got while driving in Turkey.  Either way, I suppose there are worse things.  He makes my little half mile running sprints pale by comparison.

Our earliest blooming azalea is still blooming fragrant yellow.  I've seen a rufous hummingbird visit our back feeder a couple of times.  I was able to get some planting done this weekend and the red flowering current tree is beautiful.  I've done my best to plant my gardens with at least two thirds native plants.  The naked rhodie (rhododendron desquamosa) is just barely past her peak and her electric magenta blossoms are beginning to color the grass below.