Day 2970

Wow. Fiber optic Internet is really, really fast. Back when I got my first DSL line, people talked about fiber to the home the same way they talked about flying cars. It was kind of the holy grail of connectivity, but nobody really thought it would happen. I guess the future is here.

The first thing the installer did when he arrived was step in dog poop. I was embarrassed, but the guy liked dogs, so all was well. I try my best to keep the yard clean,  but in the Winter it is virtually impossible. If you don't clean up the poop immediately, it just disappears in the leaves.

It always takes longer to upgrade a network than I expect. There are holes to be drilled, mysterious boxes to be installed, and things that need to be configured. I was glad that I got to keep my old router, so I won't have to reconnect everything to the WiFi network again with a different password. It took a while, but the network works just like it did before. It's just faster.

It's amazing that the actual fiber optic cable is so small. How can so much information travel through such a tiny wire? I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that upload speeds are just as fast as download speeds. This was never true with U-Verse or DSL. I could have really used this feature back when I was spending my days uploading websites and sending huge video files to clients.

The fiber optic network is a success, but I wasn't quite as lucky with my refrigerator search. There are apparently no special President's Day deals on the model I've been considering. I saw hundreds of great deals in the store, but the salesperson said specialty appliances, like the odd size refrigerator I need seldom go on sale. "They know you need this one," she said. "They don't have to sweeten the pot with a deal." I know this is true, but it is still depressing. I get very few special deals.

The weather has been almost as erratic as the stock market this year. It's driving me crazy. One day it's seventy degrees and the next day it's twenty degrees. I bet the AT&T technician wished he'd installed the fiber optic cables yesterday. It was forty degrees warmer. It kept getting colder and colder as the day progressed. Another arctic cold front has arrived and I can't wait for it to move out of the area. I think the temperature could be in the teens by morning.

The cold doesn't seem to bother Dash. We took two very icy walks today and he was having a lot more fun than I was. I worry that the cold might make his shivering episodes worse, but they don't seem to be related to the temperature. The shivering and tremors Dash has been experiencing lately appear to be neurological in nature. I hope the tremors don't get worse because there is nothing I can do to stop them.

We had Chili for dinner tonight, which appears to be the prefect cold weather meal. I'm wearing my down booties around the house all the time now. Strangely, my foot doesn't hurt as much when I wear these things. They must improve my circulation. Now, all I need are some down gloves for my hands.  I still don't understand how Northerners deal with ice and snow. All it takes to shut me down is for the temperature to dip below freezing.

Landry is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day