My system goes back up, my internet service goes down. I've really had enough of it. Today it's the cable modem. Or rather, the cable modem service for my entire city, which appears to have gone down for "maintenance." Why would any self-respecting ISP company would do maintenance on a Tuesday morning during business hours? Shouldn't those things happen at 3am?

I had to call my manager and tell her I couldn't get into the network. Oh, she was pleased with that. Then I had to call my hated team leader to get the conference call number for her meeting this morning. The meeting that I thought was at 10, but was really at 9. Good thing I called.

Everything worked out ok. I did stuff offline, called into my meeting, and at some point my internet connection came back. Later, a colleague pointed out that I could have dialed in to check my email (not during the conference call, of course). It was funny to me that I had absolutely not made that leap. I am so over dial-up. Evidently I'm so over it I don't even regard it as an acceptable alternative when no other access is available. No dial-up for me. Granted, it would have been a pain in my ass to disconnect my phone, connect the modem, reconfigure my dial-up access, etc. But you'd think I would have at least considered the option. Broadband all the way, baby.

I like my apartment today. Yesterday I hated it because it had no heat. No heat and the low was 34F Sunday night. I bundled up in fleece pants, enormous socks, a long-sleeved shirt, and a huge wool sweater, but I was still so cold I had a hard time typing. I was AIM-ing with The Scientist and making typos on almost every word. Icy fingers would not respond to brain's commands. The Scientist called our landlord first thing in the morning but by the end of the work day we still didn't have heat. Obviously they did not consider it a priority. He called again, this time invoking his patented polite-but-firm manner. This is the take-no-bullshit-but-don't-alienate-the-other-person manner that usually quickly solves problems with various service providers. When I try it, I just end up sounding pissed off and mean, but maybe that's because I have less patience.

A few minutes later the maintenance guy called and said that the people in apartment #1 on the first floor have the only thermostat in the building and that someone would have to go down there and tell them to turn it on (we're in apartment #3, third floor). The Scientist knocked on their door, but they weren't home, so the maintenance guy had to come over and get into their apartment. Of course, when he arrived they were home so it was no big deal.

I took a silly quiz today. How indie are you? My results were pretty accurate. That's a good description of my music taste.

I am open-minded!

How indie are you? test by ridethefader
You're pretty knowledgeable about music in general. You like indie music, sure, but that's only part of it. You'll listen to any old shit as long as it sounds good to you. You're not snobby about music at all, you just like what you like. How boring. Curiously, this makes you popular with the opposite sex.

The Scientist's results said he was an indie rock snob. That made me laugh. He's always trying to deny his music snob status, but even an online quiz picks up on it!