They say...

... we'll have our dsl connection "early next week." They've said similar things, a lot, and been wrong every time so far. The ISP and Telekomm have to work together on this, and so far our ISP has been great, but Telekomm demonstrates exactly why monopolies are bad - they know you can't go anywhere else, and they treat their customers like crap just because they can.

This is one of those differences that I think is interesting between the U.S. and Europe - a few Europeans have asked me why cel phone service was so patchy and took so long to get going in the States, and the answer is easy - because our regular phone service actually works. In Europe, demand for cel phones was huge from the start because people couldn't WAIT to get away from Telekomm (here) and Telefónica (Spain). A lot of people dropped their land lines straight off and just relied on cel phones all the time - it was more expensive than regular phone service, but not by much (they still don't itemize phone bills here, so they can charge whatever the hell they want and there's no way you can appeal), and "service" is a laughable misnomer for the shameless incompetence that characterizes every Telekomm "worker" (another misnomer) we've ever had the misfortune to speak to. I've heard Telefónica is at least as bad.

Anyway. This is all just to say that I'm still grabbing moments here and there on DrBob's computer, because I still have no regular internet access, so posts tend to be under-edited, overlong, and incoherent. I'm also having lots of cows about my schoolwork, which is being totally neglected and making me hugely nervous because I've always been a total Hermione and this quarter I am a Bad Student. Crises at work? Illness? Moving? Subsequent loss of internet access? No excuse. In 2000, I had a baby mid-semester and didn't miss a single assignment. I don't do this. My teacher is being really understanding, but I still feel like a worm.

All of this ranting is probably a way to avoid talking about our meeting with Ignatz's therapist today. I guess, since some of you actually know who we are, and since my bloggerID is linked from DrBob's class webpage (bad move, honey), I should not do the details, but it was, um, frustrating.

Song du jour of the day: Fortress Around Your Heart, by Sting