This is utterly bizarre. I almost regret enjoying the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer.
Broadband is back
Incredibly, our cable modem service returned around midnight last night. I had heard, from three different sources, that it would take 5/7/14 days to restore service. AT&T Broadband Internet did it in under two. When was the last time you heard of a technology project completing in less than half the projected time?
IT
It’s a bunch of hype… I mean a scooter! Although, if you’ve ever seen Kegan’s wheelchair in action (climbing stairs, etc), you know that the guy can put gyroscopes to good use. Here’s the problem. The scooter is being sold as an auto replacement. But to focus on getting from point A to point B as the only value of autos, and then design an alternative around that analysis is very short-sighted. Autos don’t simply get you there, they get you there comfortably in all sorts of weather. They allow for contingencies, such as taking on passengers, or carrying a bag with a change of clothes.
Kegan’s scooter looks fantastic, but they should be marketing the thing explicitly for the market it is obviously designed to reach, city pedestrians. And even then, at 65 pounds for the consumer model, it won’t be altogether easy to load it in the taxi when it starts to rain.
No cable modem!
I woke up on Saturday morning to a world that had been thrown into turmoil… my cable modem had ceased. Apparently, the judge’s ruling in the Excite@home case on Friday had entailed something along the lines of the whole network being shut down. Of course, I don’t really know much of what happened, since I haven’t had access to the online news on which I depend! Apparently, AT&T Broadband is supposed to restore service in the next couple weeks. I hope to sort out the whole mess tomorrow at work. For now, in desperation, I have dialed into work using my laptop since I don’t even have a modem in my home desktop.
I have a feeling that my entries on c.e.b. may be a bit thinner until this is all resolved.
Public Enemy
I recently put my new CD burner to use and slapped together a CD with tunes that, well, I probably shouldn’t admit I like and that I certainly won’t ever own the full albums from which they were lifted. Anyway, I had to drive over to the hospital last night where a friend was having an emergency appendectomy, and I had the CD playing… man, Public Enemy could jam. Fight the Power is like nothing else. The music, the agenda, the lyrics, the attitude, it all gels into this incredible groove of anger and pride. Now, I’m not saying that everyone out there should like the lyrics/agenda/attitude/music, but it is incredible to behold.
Electronic abacus
What a fun blast from the past. The Economist has posted a 1954 article they published titled Electronic abacus, which examines the possible business uses for these strange new creatures called “computors.” They have some great quotes like, “There are those who do not believe in the desirability of introducing anything as esoteric as electronics into business routine at all,” but they generally demonstrate real insight into the coming revolution.
Russia on the ground
The Russians are now acting like a staunch ally? This is rather incredible, yet I’ve seen nothing in the press admitting bias or error in the early assessments that Bush was stirring up all sorts of trouble with Russia and was doomed on the foreign policy front. Here’s a quote that captures the flavor of what is going on:
Labeling himself “an old Cold Warrior,” one U.S. intelligence source said the transformation of U.S.-Russian cooperation from initial wariness to trusting cooperation “is the most mind-boggling change I’ve seen in my career.”
Earthly tents
I have lots of questions about II Corinthians, but here’s a brief one. Is there some corollary between the earthly tent => eternal house and the tabernacle => temple? As Jesus tabernacled among us, do we ‘tabernacle’ in some sense?
Back from Flagstaff
We had a wonderful time with my folks in Flagstaff for a few days, then on Monday we left the children with them and headed down to Sedona, AZ for a night away. This was a rather momentous trip given that it was only the second night we had ever been without the children, and we were staying at the bed & breakfast in which we had stayed on our honeymoon. We had a wonderful time.
Sadly, we received a call early the next morning informing us my wife’s grandfather had passed away. We immediately began changing plans and headed back to Flagstaff, where we celebrated Thanksgiving early the following day (Wednesday) with my parents. We then got up at 3:45 a.m. Thanksgiving morning and drove back to Dallas, arriving at 11:30 pm. All this to allow my wife and daughter to catch a plane this morning bound for Atlanta for the funeral.
Jonathan (my 11 month old son) and I actually had a great day together, which was surprising given all the travel he’s had to do recently and the nasty cold he’s been fighting. Oddly enough, this is the first time Jonathan and I have spent more than a few hours together alone. I found it very gratifying. He’s a great little guy.
For those of you who were wondering, the minivan performed admirably… once we were coming back to Dallas and it was proving its worth, my wife and I began questioning the prudence of using a used vehicle for a 2000 mile road trip a couple weeks after acquiring it and were thankful it held up.
Drive to Flagstaff
Here’s the basic shape of our trip to Flagstaff this past Thursday.
The Plan: Get to bed by 10:30 pm Wednesday night so we can get several hours of sound sleep before getting up at 4 am
Reality: Up until 12:30 am. Asleep by 1. Awaken by Jonathan bellowing twice during the night. Get up a bit after 4 am, having gotten 2 hours of sleep.
The Plan: Leave at 5 am for long stretch before breakfast with the kids sleeping.
Reality: Got everyone in the minivan by 5:15 am. Turned the ignition. Nothing happens. Turns out I had managed to kill the battery while testing the portable TV/VCR I had set up in the van. Struggle with numerous godly virtues (or lack thereof). Get the jumper cables and hook up the minivan to the other car’s battery. After 15 minutes of trying finally get the minivan started. Leave around 5:40 am with two disgruntled, most definitely not sleeping, children.
The Plan: Zip in and out of McDonald’s for breakfast.
Reality: 90 minutes of food and numerous bathroom visits with disgruntled children.
The Plan: Long stretch to lunch.
Reality: 140 miles into the trip, several minutes after the children had finally fallen asleep, missed the reduced speed limit sign in Wichita Falls, TX. Got a speeding ticket.
The Plan: More humerous goals and aspirations leading to the timely arrival in Flagstaff, AZ, around 10 or 11 pm.
Reality: 500 miles of continuous rain. A couple more very long stops along with a couple shorter ones. Attempting to stay awake by consuming bags of candy and animal crackers, numerous cokes and root beers. Singing along with U2’s The Joshua Tree late at night (answering the question, “What would U2 sound like if Bono stank?”). And finally, amazingly, only around 19 hours later, safe arrival in Flagstaff.