Real life happens

It's June.  That means it's raining here.  When it rains, our telephone doesn't work.  That means our DSL internet doesn't work, either.  The Telephone Company Which Shall Not Be Named says the line is fine.  Of course, they have to tell us this over our cell phones, because the telephone line is dead.  They say the problems are inside our house.  Fine, the wiring here is a bit iffy, especially after the pet rabbit peed directly into one of the phone jacks.  (Not sure how he managed that angle, but they are agile creatures.)

I have yet to figure out how 'it's raining' affects the wiring inside the house.  One of the nice things about this house, is that it keeps the rain on the outside.  Now, the telephone pedestal for the neighborhood is next to my house.  It's corroded, rusted, and has holes in it.  Wasps keep trying to build nests in it.  (Yes, I'm a killer.  It's me and my kids, or them.)  I found a snake coming out of it once.  (OK, it was a rather small snake.)  But obviously, the problem is inside my house.  That's why the internet and phone service drop quality are reduced in direct proportion to how wet it is outside my nice, dry house.

After all, who am I going to believe?  TTCWSNBN, or my lying eyes?

So, no blogging for me for a few weeks.

And then the motherboard on the computer died.  To be fair, it had a good run.  The house was hit by lightning a few years ago, resulting in havoc upon the more delicate electronic equipment therein.  Like the TV, the kids' game player, and portions of the motherboard.  Specifically, the network jack and the firmware Linux system.  Yet, the computer continued to soldier on for a few more years before finally giving up the ghost to a heating issue.  (It would turn on for a (decreasing) few minutes, then lock up.  Something, somewhere is heating up and causing a terminal fault.)

Fortunately, it is now only raining every other day, so the telephone works most of the time, and I at least have dial-up quality from my 3Mbps DSL connection.  The kids' homework computer (an all-in-one touchscreen) has been given the spot of honor on the desk.  The old computer has been disassembled for parts.  The three internal hard drives are still good, and still have some important data on them.  I can't install them in the all-in-one, but I can probably obtain a SATA external housing.  I need at least one to retrieve the data from the old computer.

The question then remains - do I try to get cable internet with the Provider of Doom?  It's a bit more money (for, admittedly, faster average service), but the fine print seems to involve souls.  I don't read Latin.  At least, I think it's Latin.  That last bit might be the Dark Tongue.