It was a good day...

Jacksonville Beach
1May13

My mother has been feeling lonely and alone lately ("You never come. You never call."), so when I woke up this morning feeling pretty good, I decided to give her a call and see if she wanted to indulge in some retail therapy.

We started our day with Starbucks, of course, and then hit TJ Maxx, Marshall's, TJ Maxx, Kohl's, Panera Bread (for lunch), Home Goods, and yet another Marshall's.   What was left after that but a walk on the beach?

It was kind of cool and windy but beautiful all the same.   Neither of us was in any shape to walk very far but we spent quite a while watching some wind surfers struggle to get their kites/parachutes (?) down in the strong winds.   I was pretty impressed by the strength and agility these guys showed.

She arrived home, tired and happy.   It was a good day.

One step forward, three back...

What you see here is the almost completed first section of Knit, Purl, Hunter's April KAL.   I would love to be able to tell you that it is mine, but that would be untrue.   This is Kerri's.   Hers is bigger than mine because she has actually put some time into knitting it.   I, on the other hand, have alternating between "I will get to it later" and "Poop!  What do you mean I have to rip it out again" (except that I don't usually say "poop").     At this point, mine looks only slightly bigger than it did this time last week.   Of the nineteen, repeats (at 12 rows each), I have only successfully knit one and a half.    For some reason, I can't really get into the Zen of knitting this pattern, but I will persevere (at least that is what I have told Kerri).

Romance for the Soul....

Friday afternoon, I was planning to get some work done at my second office (aka Panera Bread).   To my delight, the last person to use the table I chose left behind a tiny origami crane made from a receipt.  It was the sweetest thing and really brought a smile to my face.    When my favorite spot opened up, I moved all of my stuff but left behind the crane.   I just knew that the next person to claim that table would be just as happy to find that crane as I was.   Imagine my horror when the next person to notice the crane was an employee who snatched it up as she whizzed past and tossed it in the trash.   Wow, in my mind that went differently.

Our sad internet story...

Absolutely no knitting content....

Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I frequently blog from my local Panera Bread.   Why, you my well wonder, don't I just write, in my pretty PJs, from my lovely office, in my comfy home?   Here is our sad internet story.

As you may remember, we rented a townhouse for the first six months that we lived in FL.   We were so happy with our neighborhood that in Mar '09 we bought a single family house in the same subdivision.   When we called Comcast (with whom we were very satisfied), to transfer our service, we were told that Comcast does not offer service to the single family homes.   We were not happy, but called Direct TV and AT&T (DSL).   On the appointed day, Direct TV arrived but AT&T did not.   After several calls to AT&T, (notable for unreturned calls and unkept promises), we were finally told that there are a limited number of openings in our neighborhood for DSL and they were all full.   We would have to get on the waiting list (which we did).    When comparing notes with a neighbor, we were told that when the cables were run for DSL they were not run to the end of our cul de sac (where we live).  So, short of running more cable, DSL is not going to happen.   More calls to AT&T revealed this to be true.   However, we were told that those cables would be extended "soon".    A year later, we have yet to get either DSL or a definition of "soon".

As for cable, the reason we can not have Comcast (our local cable company) is that our builder signed a 20 year contract with another cable company (Live Stream?).   Why they did this for the single families but not the townhouses, I do not know.   According to our neighbors, their service was so unsatisfactory, and so many people dropped their service in favor of Direct TV, that they stopped offering it altogether.  Still, they have the contract which precludes other cable companies from providing us the service we need.  

Where does that leave us?   Dial-up is not really an option (too slow).    Mobile hotspots and internet cards all have caps which make them either too limited or too expensive (When Jax gets 4G, Sprint will offer a truly unlimited mobile hotspot.   We remain hopeful, but that is also in the realm of "soon").    We ended up going with a satellite internet provider (ClearWire).   Their service is execrable.   We rarely, see the speeds that we were promised.  Just to get the poor service we get, we have to reset their box several times a day.   Tech support is laughable.   We actually have line of sight to their tower.  It really should not be this bad.

Now, I work from home, and Hubby works long hours (much of which could be worked from home, if we had a decent connection).   Just the boys homework is a challenge.  It is not unusual for me to have to run one or both of them out to Panera so that they can download their assignments.  

Other than waiting for the Sprint option, there does not seem to be anything we can do.   Is the situation hopeless?    Do you have a suggestion?   If you do, please share.   In the mean time, thank goodness for Panera!