I'm in Salinas taking care of my parents since driving is verboten for my dad until he's fully recovered, and my mom can't drive anymore. They're pretty much on their own out here without someone to taxi them around and after my sister did her week and a half here, it's my turn. My dad had something of a scare this weekend that landed him in the hospital for a night so the need for someone to be around in case there's another trip to the emergency room is imperative.
I don't mind hanging out and parent-sitting. The problem is that there's no broadband access at my parent's house. They have satellite TV and a phone and that's it. And you all know I'm recovering from a TV addiction so television for me is verboten as well. (Hi my name is Fel and I'm a Full House addict.) Thinking that I could get a PC Card broadband modem through Verizon and update all my crap online that way proved to be futile. I walked in to the nearest Verizon store after work, and perusing the modems I saw that they were all on sale. Oh how they teased me with their promise of anywhere access and high speed surfing. The model I chose was marked down 50% and there was a 30-day return policy where all would be taken back, and my precious money refunded. I figured I would use the modem for the few days while I was in Salinas and upon my return, I would go back to the Verizon store and dump the modem and two-year contract. Moments before whipping out my card to complete the deal, I asked the sales rep about broadband coverage in Salinas. A quick check of the service area map confirmed that as far as wireless access is concerned, Salinas is as broadband-free as when Steinbeck was alive and roaming the streets. Dial up and it's glacial download and upload speeds for the next few days, then. It took damn near 3 minutes to upload the picture of the phone. Forget loading a new website until the end of the week, unless I lose my mind and think that watching the upload status bar move one pixel an hour is preferable to hanging out at the local mall.
So this blog is being brought to you through the damn phone line, something that I haven't done since the last millennium.
