Isn't the Internet Everywhere?

When I left the apartment (and apparently civilization) in mid-May I had no idea it would take so long to find an internet solution. During the 2 1/2 months I was without access, not only did I have Journal withdrawals, but I had to write checks, yes CHECKS to pay bills... no click click you're done, but actually writing and licking of stamps! How last century of me {LOL}

Now there are so many ways for civilized people who live in normal places to access the internet. We have:

Cable
DSL
Dial-up
Air Card
Even the library

Yep, if you live near civilization all of these are options. Heck, some people even have large areas covered by Wi-fi (Think New Orleans).....

Let's see if I live near civilization.....

Cable? Nope. If you want to watch anything except FOX (fuzzily I might add) then you get a sattelite dish. Yep, we have one of those {g}

DSL? Hmmmm..... yes on the south side of our little town they will get it in the next year, but we live on the north side. When questioned they talked about a 5 year plan.... EEEK!

Wide spread Wi-Fi? Well, seems there is a guy doing that here (because of the whole no cable no DSL thing) and it seems that we are line of sight... Oh, except for that pesky grove of trees we have growing right there in front of the property.... But if you want to put up a huge tower at your own expense we could.... Uh.. No!

Air Card? I bought one. Installed it. The signal out here for cell phones is weak and after about 2 hours the tech gave up trying to get it to work. Returned it for a refund.... Oh, did I mention that ONLY one cell phone company gets a signal (weak) out here AND you have to be sure to get the right phone <sigh>

The Library? Well, they only have 3 computers and you have to sign a list to get on. Then you are only allowed 30 minutes before the next person gets on.... It's summer... Schools out... 'Nuff said!

Dial-up? Well, yes.... Except that the phone system here is run by what used to be Sprint and is now Embarq. After talking to them on -3- seperate occasions and getting -3- totally different answers to my questions, I'm afraid that I said bad things to them and I don't think they would install a phone out here even if I asked {LOL} Anyway, it seems that it would cost a quarter each time I called either of the closest 'cities'where local access numbers are, or I could pay $49 a month for unlimited long-distance. Oh, and PLUS there would be seperate charge for a service to connect with (AOL is currently $26 for dial-up)

I was running out of ideas (and hair) when I met a very nice man who came out and set up the contraption you see in the picture below. Yep, I get my internet by beaming an infrared beam -directly- to a satellite and it beams the stuff back.

Yes, there are -2- dishes there. One provides us with TV, the other with internet access....

It's pretty quick, but it is hard to compare to DSL or Cable because it works different.Instead of the page loading as you watch it you kind of count to 6 (3 seconds upload/3 seconds download) and the things just appears... BOOM! Also, like all connections it flies late at night and is slower during the business day when net traffic is high. Buying the equipment and having it installed is usually very expensive, but I caught them with -2- rebates going on.... And, my monthly charge is -less- than the dial-up would cost (remember $49 for unlimited long-distance + $26 for AOL or $10 for one of the others like PeoplePC)

So, there you have the SAGA of my search for internet access..... I thought it would be such simple process.... Who Knew?

Extra Special Edition

Paul (Plittle) has just posted an Extra Special Edition of the CarnivAOL. This journal is normally devoted to people who are 'self-promoting' their own writing... It is what people call a 'Journal of the Vanities'.

But, not for this Edition... For this Edition it becomes a Memorial for Pamela Hilger (His1Desire) and lists as many of the entries about Pam as Paul could find. Pop over there and check out that list.... It's an amazing list and a tribute to how many people Pam's life touched.

And, for this one Special Edition, Paul is waiving the AOL Journals only rule and accepting submissions from any and every source. If you've written an entry dedicated to Pam, check and see if Paul already found it, and if he hasn't, submit it!

Thank you, Paul! This is a wonderful tribute to an amazing woman.

Hey.... What are you doing still here??? Go Already!

Rest in Peace, Pam

I have set down to write something in my blogs about the passing of Pam (his1desire) several times now over the past 24 hours, and each time I have ended up hitting the little x up there and going off to do something else.

I give up. Pam's death has affected me more than I thought it would. I never met her in real life, and yet she touched my life and the lives of so many in J-land. I try to write about how much I admired her, and how she fought her battle with dignity, and bravery.. and humour. About how she never gave up...... And it all just comes out sounding trite... If you want to see what an amazing woman she was and how she never gave up, go here and let her tell you in her own words.

 

Rest in Peace, Pam

You are Missed

 

Missing Blogger...

Where oh where has Astaryth gone....
Oh where oh where could she be???

 

Well, the short answer is that I've been VERY busy in the real world.

 

The long answer?

 

Let's start with my work schedule. Now, I'm one who LIKES to work 10 hour days. You do four 10 hour days and then get a long weekend! I like long weekends. But, when you work for a company that does 8 hour days five days a week and they get a bunch of work.... Well, we have been going in at 6 am and getting off at 4:30 pm five days a week and then doing some work on Saturday also. (53 hours last week and 54 this week total!) Add to that the Sunday feeding of the horses at my boarding barn and you have quite a full week.

 

But Wait!! That's not all! G went and got a different job. We have been doing the whole visiting, interviewing, filling out paper work for that. It took us about 6 weeks to go from "Hey that might be fun" to "O.K. I've got the job". It is requiring us to move, and because we are in a lease, he went up there last weekend, and I am staying down here with all of the animals till the end of May, when I too will move. Now, the move isn't far, just 3 hours north, and we are still in Florida, but we ARE going to be crossing that line into the part of Florida that actually gets things like freeze warnings! Brrrrrr! I wanted to know why, if he was going to get a different job, it couldn't be farther SOUTH, but apparently I was ignored. We first thought about 'breaking' our lease and paying the penalty, but it turns out the penalty is2 months rent.... and our lease is up in 2 months. We decided economically it would be better if I stayed here and kept my job till the lease was actually up.

 

So, in addition to having already worked 53 hours that week, I also had to make 2, yes -2- trips to the new place to get him settled in... followed by 54 hours of work this week. Needless to say, I have been working, sleeping, taking care of the pets and if I'm lucky, reading my e-mail and maybe a couple of journals.

 

Now, I know the next question... What is he doing? He has returned to working for the company that owns the show we worked for while we were traveling on the road. They have a retirement facility for their animals that are too old to work anymore where they go and live out the rest of their natural lives being cared for by some really nice people. I know a lot of people have the idea that animals that 'work' for a living are just discarded when they are injured or too old to work, but not by this organization. They consider their obligation to that animal to be from the time it enters their care till it has passed away, and they go out of their way to make their retirement years a pleasant experience.

 

Some cool aspects of this: When we toured the facility the day G was offered the job, we found that he knew all of the elephants there from working on both units of the show. He also had 'met' the other animals at one time or another. Most of the animals at the retirement facility are elephants because they have such long lives in captivity. So, G's new job is to feed, care for, and find ways to entertain these older elephants. Pretty Cool, huh?

 

Now, for the good parts! Once we are moved, I'm not going to have to work as much! I will probably pick up a couple of things part time to stay busy, but I won't be doing the 40 hours a week thing anymore (unless I want too!) G. wants me to look into going back to school, and I am considering the options. I'm thinking a combination of online and traditional would work best for me. Also, I am looking forward to having more free time to really play with my camera and do some other fun things I've been putting off due to lack of time/energy.

 

And, you will probably be seeing more, not less, animal pictures as I still have lots of friends at the Zoo where G was working, and the area we are moving in to puts me centrally located for 2 -other- zoos! Plus, I am moving into a more rural area with all of the animals THAT implies! So, I am pretty excited about the opportunities for animal photography I am going to have. In addition, I would like to try some macro stuff with flowers and butterflies and the like. All in all, I think the move is going to turn out to be a good one for both of us.

 

I have spoken with G this last week.... Now, I left him up there with NO phone, NO cell, and NO computer access.... He still manages to call me every evening to "make sure I am doing o.k." {snort} The first time he called I was sitting on the couch with my chinese take-out, holding the remote and watching a movie I had been wanting to see..... I wonder who we have to worry about "doing o.k." by themselves {LOL} ... anyway, I have spoken to him, and so far he LOVES it.

 

Oh, and the picture at the top of this entry is one of my favorites of G. and one of his 'girls' out on the unit. Since it is a favorite of mine, I'm sure some of you have seen it. Don't worry.... I have a few new pictures sitting on the hard drive that I plan on posting as soon as work let's up and I can do the required cropping, fixing, and finding appropriatte links for them.

 

And, THAT is the long answer to the question of the missing Blogger known as Astaryth!

MMMMmmmmmMMMM!!

One more strawberry picture.

Last Wednesday I decided that I would dip some Strawberries in Chocolate... MMMMMMmmmmmmmMMMMM!

It's Winter Time in Florida...

What does that mean? Well, winter time in the rest of the country brings you pictures of snow, children sledding, trees covered with ice, the world dressed in white..... But, not down here. Here, at least the part of here that I wander thru on a daily basis, winter consists of fields and fields of... Green!

The picture above is of the same field that I took a picture of when everyone was showing pictures of fall. Then, it was a bleak field of black plastic... what a difference a couple of months make!

I live in the center of what is called 'The Strawberry Capital of the World'. And these fields are full of beautiful, red, luscious strawberries. The place I live in is even called Plant City! This weekend begins our annual Strawberry Festival. It will run for 12 days... 12 days of carnival rides, musical entertainment, and.........

Strawberry Milk shakes
Strawberry Shortcake
Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Elephant Ears... with Strawberry topping
Funnel Cakes... with Strawberry topping
Fresh strawberries in a cup with whipped cream

Good thing I Love Strawberries!

The Rest of the Story...

Several people have asked for the 'rest of the story' on Hungry Henry. Soooooo......

The story starts on Thursday when I leave work to find a flat tire on my pickup. Grrrrrrr.... Grumble... Grumble..... Get a lift home and wait for G. to get off work, which he finally does THREE hours after his normal coming home time. By this time it is dark and we make the decision to wait till the next morning to fix the tire. G. is off and can run me to work and then fix the tire at his leisure. No problem. I literally live 4 minutes from work.

Friday dawns and G begins to change the tire only to find that the lug wrench is missing. Sigh! But, no problem, a quick trip to an auto supply store takes care of that and now I have a four way lug wrench with is a waaaaay better lug thingy anyway. Bad tire is taken off, small screw is found to be the culprit, and the spare is removed from its bracket to take it's place on the truck. I'm all happy because I have a full sized spare, not one of those 'donuts' and will be able to jet down, and drop the bad tire off and we can still make our appointment on Saturday.... Except for one problem.... Seems the spare (which I haven't needed for over 2 years) has gone flat! Sigh! Grumble, Grumble. Another trip by G. to auto store and a can of fix-a-flat puts enough air in the tire to get to a station. Air is added and spare is good... YEAH! Oh, and why didn't we just take the spare to a station and air it up? Well, our second vehicle is a motorcycle! LOL!

Saturday we wake up to a beautiful sunny day..... Until time to drive 2 hours to get to our appointment. Now it is raining and icky and we are driving into it. Yuch!

Finally Sunday comes and I am ready to relax, spend some time with my favorite horses, and I head to the barn. It is a little chilly, so I grab my heavy coat and head out. When I get to the barn, I see Hungry Henry. I don't know it is Hungry Henry yet, but I do know he is a cutie. I feed the horses and am patting myself on the back for having grabbed the camera on my way out the door that morning. I go to the car, grab said camera, and snap several shots of said cutie, along with a couple of my favorite wooly bear (my furry horse), and go to take the camera back to the pickup for safe keeping while I let the horses back out into the pasture....... to find.... that my heavy coat apparently brushed against the door hard enough to push the lock down and the door, although not completely closed, IS closed enough to latch... with my keys, wallet, etc, all inside the pickup! GRRRRRRR! A call to G. turns up that he can't find the spare key, but he will come out and pick me up... with the motorcycle... on one of the coldest days we've had all winter... Grrrrrrr!

Well, I have an auto club. Which has a card. That I carry. In my billfold. That's in the pickup. With the key. GRRRRRR! So, we call the police dept. to find out who they use for a locksmith, call him, give him directions (which is fun because he isn't familiar with the area we are talking about... out in the boonies!), and then go back out on the motorcycle, on one of the coldest days of the winter, to meet said locksmith and get my keys out of the pickup......

So, that is the 'Rest of the Story'! I'm hoping for a better week this week. ROFL!

Now that you've read my sad story, I'll leave you with a cute picture. This is what you get when you let your Corgi do the 'Corgi run' and you actually lay down on the ground and take pictures of said Corgi running like a maniac!