Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Happy Chanukka & Everything for a reason....

Firstly let me say Happy Chanukka to all of my fellow scrappers out there who are celebrating this wonderful Holiday. According to my little Poll on the right, there aren't very many of you but that makes it no less important.

Everything for a reason is an expression I have come to use more and more frequently as I have gotten "Older" I use older because physically I am degenerating but mentally I am still in High School lol. Of course it could be that my mind degenerated first and I am just not aware of it lol. ANYWAY, I have never considered myself a "Religious" person. I don't go to church every weekend for mass, I hardly even go on the holidays and unfortunately I have taken the Lord's name in vain to the point that I have lost count. We did, however, make sure that both of my children were baptised and that they know Bible stories, they know who most of the people were and we even use them as reference on occasion. I believe children should have a solid base on which to stand and where they go from there is their own choice - free will if you will. But I am going off on a tangent, back to the topic at hand.

Everything for a reason - there is a reason we were made to move now - to pack up the kids from the home and friends they have known for more than 7 years. To move 1,000 miles away and to so easily find a cute little home we could all enjoy. To move to an area where people are genuinely nice and caring and where the local bank - even though it is a part of a huge national bank - sends you a HANDWRITTEN THANK YOU NOTE!!! I believe that. What I have been having a hard time believing in - until now - was that there was a reason for us to NOT be able to get DSL or some other quick internet service at this time. mean, we NEED it, literally. I can't do any uploads or downloads unless they are under 1 meg. 5 megs takes about 3 hours and slows my 26.4 kpbs connection to an unbelievably annoying pace. Today I logged into my DAZ3D account and saw that they had re-issued my Bryce 6 downloads. That means that they have upgrades and fixes and stuff in it and I need to download the new files to make the most of my Bryce program. Wonderful right? Pfftt - all of the files for Bryce combined total OVER 650 MEGS!!! Yeah sure, on my connection it will only take about 4 months to get it all ROFLMBO. Sigh. Then I tried to actually LOOK at my blog rather than just post and move on. After more than 20 minutes, it still wasn't loaded. I must admit also, that only a few short weeks ago Alex and I had been talking about how my blog was so resource intensive and I specifically said (I am ashamed to admit) "People should have fast connections, in this day and age there is no reason not to." This statement is not only incorrect and bordering on conceit - it has reminded me to watch what you say because you never know when it's going to turn around and bite you in the butt. Currently it has not only bitten me but taken quite a huge chunk of flesh. So, yes, to the "Powers that be" I say "I hear you, message received loud and clear" And to those of you - who are now my FELLOW Dial-Up users - I apologize whole heartedly. I will most definitely keep you all in mind when redoing my blog and any downloads etc from now on. On a slight tangent - what's say we all rally together and petition a new bill that says that if these monopolizing self-indulgent, over-charging bureaucratic morons want to charge us all an arm and a leg for internet service, they HAVE TO offer a service which provides Modern Day technology? That they are NOT allowed to be so far behind in keeping their equipment up-to-date that they cannot provide the newest services within say 1 year? And they can't charge us extra because they have to install new fiber optics etc etc.... bla bla, yada yada TOO BAD, so sad. If you want to offer us your overpriced service then it's your responsibility to pay for the set-up not ours. I mean if I opened up a store and added new things and I wanted to be your sole provider for these particular items, I shouldn't expect you to pay for them. That's the cost of doing business. Should there be a general cost of living increase ( I forget the actual term, but you know what I mean) yes, there should be - within reason. if a product goes from $70 a month to $100 I say NO WAY but increase by $5 per year and that's reasonable. By the time you add the stupid franchise taxes and everything to that $5 it has become $10 anyway. I think that's fair, let's face it, these bozos make a fortune off of us as it is, the least they can do is give us modern advantages and not leave us feeling like we are in the stone ages. One of the reasons why we moved here is because it did have fast service. Of course you have to pay anywhere from $200 - $600 deposit if your credit isn't at least 700 or better. Personally my credit has gone up 40 points in the last week because I disputed stuff that was paid years ago and that already expired but was being resubmitted as new. But that's another post lol.

So, here I sit, a DUU (dial-up user), left with no current choice but to drive 30 minutes from home and spend $10 in a coffee shop and hope that I have enough time to upload and download everything I need before I have to get back home for the boys.