A small rant. About an inconsequential matter. But … well, “it’s my blog and I’ll cry if I want to.” CenturyLink. The company formerly known as CenturyTel. CenturyTel was a very good company. OTOH, if you attempt to deal with CenturyLink (a metastasized version of C’Tel and something called Embarq) you may be taking your brains into your own hands. If you have any left after listening to the screaching music and shouted sales messages they have on their (I use the term lightly) customer service line. The short version: On Monday I signed up for DSL Internet. No telephone.…
17 CommentsAuthor: Claire
Wisdom.
6 CommentsA week without blogging! I’m sorry, guys. Between unpacking, scrubbing, trash hauling, and exhaustion (not to mention the library’s limited hours, which limit my wifi), I haven’t had it in me. I thought about blogging several times. But I figured you really wouldn’t be interested in my observations on greasy kitchen lamps or the incredibly strange mechanisms that open (or actually don’t open) old-fashioned garage doors. That’s about all that’s been on my mind the last week. I’m starting to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel now. But this week is all about article deadlines, so…
7 CommentsGreetings from the Pacific North(very)Wet! And thanks for being patient. As Joel has been posting, I made it to my destination, but am currently sans Internet. So what little blogging I can do (between hauling trash, unpacking, and painting the insides of kitchen cabinets before putting my stuff away) will be sporadic for a while. Stick with me, please … Thanks for all the good wishes and offers of help. You have no idea how great it felt, after the crappy start of my journey, to know I had friends waiting along the road. As it turned out, the final…
18 CommentsHave I mentioned that I dislike travel? Yes, I do believe I’ve said that I dislike all forms of travel. Or at least all forms available to people who don’t flit around in private jets and have mechanics on call for their fleet of vintage Bentleys. I may have even used words like “hate” and “loathe,” even though, properly, terms like those should be reserved for politicians, puppy-torturers, and people who dump truckloads of litter in the woods. To wit: Here I am, a whole, whopping 150 miles from my departure point. The last last 40 of it my truck…
25 CommentsWell, tomorrow’s the day I hit the road. Friday the 13th. That should be auspicious. Boy, from all the comments on yesterday’s “Stuff!” post, this topic of moving possessions really resonates. And some of you put my little trailer-stuff problem in perspective. Man … all that talk of 55-foot semis and reducing a life-long heritage to a few square feet of keepers. That’s depressing. Makes me glad I don’t have much more than one small trailer’s worth. As you can see, we loaded that puppy and then some. Neighbor Joel was invaluable, both in helping me shift stuff and in…
7 CommentsYou guys are making me nervous. No, not you guys who’ve wished me well on my upcoming move to the Northwest. Not you guys who’ve given much-appreciated advice on pellet stoves and wood stoves. Not you guys (this means you, Jake MacGregor) who’ve even offered unloading assistance, hammer swinging, or spare furniture. Not you who’ve commiserated about fatal rattlesnakes, near-fatal winds, and death-defying doggies. Not you who’ve offered tips on cool NW bookstores and other places to go. You … I thank you all. But you guys (and wimmins) — you know who you are — you who’ve warned me…
17 CommentsThings I’m looking forward to in a house in a small town in the Northwest. Rooms. This will be the first time in 10 years I’ll be able to walk through a doorway and not end up outside (or in a bathroom). Room. Being able to move through my living space without bumping into things, knocking objects over, or having to leapfrog assorted dogs. Tap water that doesn’t destroy everything it touches. Filling a glass of water right from the spigot and being able to drink it (instead of hauling 55-gallon barrels of drinkable water from town and 5-gallon jugs…
10 CommentsLong time back, I proposed that “creative disregard” was more important (and better for personal happiness) than “civil disobedience.” Civil disobedience can be a powerful political tool. But its inherent flaw is that it assumes that government is both necessary and potentially good. Civil disobedience merely aims to change certain actions or forms of government. Creative disregard, on the other hand, gives government a big “ho hum” (or in some cases, a big “eff off”). Creative disregard says, “I’m going to live as I please among fellow peaceable human beings.” It acknowledges government (if at all) as a potential nuisance…
11 CommentsYou know you have waaaaay too much government at every level when you repeatedly read stories like this one. And remember those no-down, 1-percent interest mortgages I goggled about a couple of weeks ago? Well, the USDA isn’t the only government outfit that has a darned weird idea of how mortgages should be handled in the post-bubble world. Sheesh! Via LRC.com: Project Vigilant. Do you get the feeling that the patriotic rhetoric — and the allegedly private financing — are just a smoke-screen? Via Joel and a whole lot of other places as the news spreads: Such a surprise! The…
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