January 9, 2004

• Ok... so I now have DSL... sorta (I ordered it a month ago!). In the midst of setting up my account, Verizon's site went offline for maintenance. I already had an issue with the installation CD not running through the final step. Had to call tech help & reset the LAN settings to auto find the IP. It was set for a router, according to the tech, who initially thought that they hadn't turned on my DSL, even though we got a call about 3:30 PM saying it was on. (It was after 7 PM when I called.)

  
  

  I got my initial account name set up & was setting up one for my son (basically email addys). I still don't have MSN8 set up (although I'll probably just reestablish my MSN8 account I used to have when I got this newer computer as a free 6 months (of which I actually only got 5, since they go by the computer's build date, when the software was installed... how dumb is that?).

  
  

  Next project with the DSL was to install the wireless router so my son can access the DSL. Hmmm... it looks like someone may have forgotten to tell us something with that. Along with buying the router, for $99, we probably needed to buy a wireless network interface card for my son's computer (another $90!)? Why don't the salespeople tell you stuff like that, when it's obvious the customer has never had this stuff before by their quasi-intelligent questions?

  
  

  Another thing with this only halfway set up... I don't know how to disconnect the DSL connection. The normal method would be through the little computers in the systray, which don't show up while connected on DSL. The other method that's supposed to be there through the software that connects up on DSL isn't yet installed. Gack! Ok, I think I found it.

  
  

  My son, grabbing my keyboard, decided to run some tests to check out the speed of my connection. He hunted for skateboading videos to download, but they ended up queued. So next, he looks for a mega-sized game to download, ending up at Microsoft & started the download of 'Age of Mythology,' at 374 meg. Within 3 seconds, we had 1 meg of the program! It indicated that we would have the entire program within an hour! Cool! after grabbing about 11 meg, we cancelled... my son already has the program on CD. I'm going to love having DSL!

  
  

  
  

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  With the constant issues with my catchment, culminating in its total rupture, I've had to invest in a new one. Fortunately, some of the money from my aunt's estate, in the form of stocks & mutuals came through last month. They weren't much, especially considering that the stocks' report showed that company's stocks showed a considerable loss over the past 3 years (AMEX). They were probably worth less when I cashed them than when my aunt bought them in our joint names.

  
  

  So I bought a new galvanized 3300 gallon tank, liner & cover, at a cost of $805. It wasn't what I wanted, but considering the delivery & set-up charges for what I did want, for a smaller capacity one, the former was what I could afford reasonably. The other, a fiberglass one, at 2500 gallons, would have cost me over $2000! The galvanized one was delivered at no charge, except the guy brought the wrong liner & forgot the overflow pipe, which I will pick up today, when I take my son for another knee surgery follow-up.

  
  

  Of course, the old one was still in the way, so I had a 'friend' come to help tear it apart. I made sure that he'd bring his torch in case some of the bolts wouldn't undo. For 2 hours' work, at $25/hour, he did a half-assed job, while slugging a 6-pack of beer. Those bolts he couldn't undo with the wrench, he left in place, shoving the ring sections into the semi-wild forest on my property, folded, crushing some of the plants that were near the catchment, including an anthurium. A mess.

  
  

  I have yet to call him to come back to assemble the new tank. I'm not thrilled with the half-assed work he did. While he was taking it apart, I had to run to the hardware store for some fittings to be able to use a 100 gallon plastic tank I had acquired a few years back. This is what we've been using since tearing the old one down. It's worked wonderfully! I had filled it with water left in the old tank & it was also still raining & quickly filled. But for the last 3 days, it's been sunny, so I've had to supplement it's supply with a few jugs from the community center.

  
  

  Another friend has a couple friends hungry for work she says helped her friend from Oahu get her stuff from the docks in Hilo to her new home here for $10/hour. They amazingly did the job in 1 ¹/2 hours. The woman paid them more than they set, especially since on the other end, the work took an exhorbitant amount of time at a higher rate.

  
  

  Sometimes, people price themselves out of work. They just don't get it. Isn't it better to get a nominal amount of money for one's time, doing a good job, ensuring references & further work than pricing a job so high few will hire them, severely limiting the number of jobs they get & hindering any sort of reliable income? In these days of high unemployment (forget the stats, they're way off, knowing how many give up trying, so fall out of the statistic's sources), wouldn't they just be grateful for the work & reasonable income, to help pay their bills?

  
  

  As it is, I have the catchment tank to put up, hoping it rains to fill up, or buy another tanker of water. I also have a new pressure tank, bought at Sears for about $135, about $55 less than at the catchment place, manufactured by the same company, with the same 5-year waranty. THAT is going to be fun!  

  
  

  It was recommended that I leave the old tank in place (the pump is mounted on top of it), cut the lines to/from the old tank & reroute them to the new tank. Ok... dyslexia takes over, trying to visualize how to run the pipes & what all fittings I'll need. I need to draw a diagram as I currently have the system run & then one with the modifications I need to make to accomodate the new tank.

  
  

  Get this... I installed all of the plumbing from the pump into my bathtub, with connections available for the kitchen & bathroom sinks ready for hook-up BY MYSELF! The only thing I didn't do was install my on-demand Paloma® propane water heater. That was done by my drunk friend, since he was a welder in the Navy & it needed soldered copper fittings. The rest of my plumbing is PVC & CPVC, & looks professional & doesn't leak!

  
  

  As my email signature states, 'The more one confronts, the more one learns.' It's my motto, since I've often been stuck having to do almost everything myself, including working on my cars. I'm just tired of having to, because of my health issues with the fibromyalgia & the cost & sometimes inadequate work by others (I'm a perfectionist... Virgo!). Bah! I've also been confronted with the issue that if I don't do it, it doesn't get done. *SIGH*

  • 5:22 pm
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