August 29

Earthlink sucks.

Well, not all the time, but I get tired if ISPs thinking they can do whatever they want whenever they want.

I pay for a mailstation account for my mother-in-law. A mailstation is just an email machine. It dials into the earthlink server, downloads the email, and the person reads it. My 83 year old mother-in-law is at that age when new technology just doesn't interest her or even pique her curiosity anymore. We all get that way eventually as we grow older, where we don't want to learn new stuff or want things as simple as possible. My mother-in-law is at that stage. She doesn't want a computer, has no need to surf the Internet for new recipes or chat with friends or siblings. Heck most of her friends or siblings are dead or dying.

But she loves her mailstation. It's simple. At midnight when she is sleeping, it dials out and retrieves her mail. She gets up in the morning and presses one button to read them. It's simple. And she gets to keep in touch with the comings and goings of her children and grandchildren. She doesn't send emails. She just reads what we all have to say to each other, the usual family jibes and information. It keeps her laughing and filled with joy.

So Earthlink a couple of months ago, changed her access number. They didn't tell anybody. So somebody has to go to the mother-in-law's house and physically has to change the machine to now dial the phone number the machine uses.. Then last week or so, they did it again.

I live two and a half hours away if I am driving my usual amount over the speed limit. Her children live about 45 minutes away and have to work, too.

So Earthlnk sucks today.

***

If you want a cheap thrill and a bad case of vertigo, head to the Grand Canyon in the near future. Soem Indians own some reservation land along one of the rim areas and are building a viewing area to die for. I'f been on glass bottom boats in Cypress Gardens in Florida. It is a terrific experience, but a glass bottom viewing walk way a mile above the floor of the Grand Canyon is making me dizzy just thinking about it:

September 3

The rest of the world is seeing the best and worst of the United States in the aftermath of the hurricane that hit the coastal south areas this past week. Images of looting and muggings filled the television screens around the globe as some people, mostly black as shown on TV, gave way to the baser human drives, not of survival but of greed. And, yet, images of bravery and human selflessness, too, have found their way to our television screens. The Coast Guard choppers from almost the time the levy broke until even today, they have lifted out nearly 10000 stranded residents. Doctors and nurses at the risk of their own lives and safety staying behind in hospitals to care for patients. *** I saw today a guy wading through the streets of New Orleans. He was, like that old Pete Seeger song, waste deep in the Big Muddy. And here he was keeping his arms above water, strolling along, wading as if without a care in the world. He was smoking a cigarette. I couldn't help but wonder where he got a cigarette in the middle of a flood, and how the hell he got it lit and kept it dry.