Write while the writing is good...

We had, as is customary in the Lower Drainland this time of year, a fierce windstorm last night. We awoke this morning feeling fortunate, as the City Faeries only had to hack up one of the trees out front, and the only cable that came loose from the house was a 2-wire AC line that had been used by former tenants for...Christmas Lights, I think.

BUT...we did not escape entirely un-scathed, for we discovered to our horror that our Internet Connection was no longer with us.

For those who aren't aware of my current living arrangements: Kath and Grant were evicted from their old place last summer. Not their fault; their Landlord wanted to retire and had sold the property to a new owner who wanted to put a new house up on the lot. There was a concentrated search to find a rental property in the same neighborhood, suitable for a family of seven. At about the same time, my divorce was being finalized and I too was looking around for new accommodations. The suggestion was made that perhaps Grant and Kathy and myself could combine forces (and rental funds) to lease a place that would be more amenable to our needs than we could afford separately. We wound up in a much-storied former duplex just off 75Ave on the Delta border. The place has pluses and minuses, but on the whole it is livable and the Landlord has been mostly diligent in keeping up repairs and maintaining the place.

We have only the one internet connection.

Grant and Kath pay for the TELUS DSL line that provides access. They've also got a D-Link wireless router that provides a "meh" signal to most of the house. The signal is weak enough that it was next to useless down here at the other end of the house where I am. I didn't want to pay to have a second DSL line run in, so I came up with an ingenious solution: a pair of D-Link PowerLine adapter nodes. Grant and Kath have two systems upstairs, one wired to the router and one on a Cisco USB wireless adapter, and I have a CAT 5 connection to my system downstairs via the PowerLine node.

None of which was working this morning after the 2Wire Advanced DSL modem TELUS sent with the account decided to pack it in. TELUS was nice enough to provide a new modem...which will arrive next Wednesday...

SO: what can we do, uncle Brian?

I had a look down in my "trunk o' junk" downstairs and lo and behold...I found a Siemens TELUS modem. The kind TELUS used about five years ago...Didn't know if it would work, of course.

It didn't.

That was that, of course...I couldn't possibly have anything else in my Vast Tickle Trunk of Obsolete Computer Hardware, could I?

Well, yes, yes I could. After several more minutes of digging, I dredged up an old D-Link 300G DSL modem. With adapter.

Not fancy, not "high-tech", no wireless broadcast or built in multi-port LAN switch...just one socket for the DSL line going in, one socket for the Ethernet line going out, and a plug for the power supply. In short, the bare minimum requirements to serve the purpose. If it worked, which it did. I literally had only to hook it up and plug it in and BAM! - we were online again.

I've no clue at ALL where that modem came from, much less why it works so well. It's kind of old and decrepit, and it isn't as robust as the 2Wire unit. I expect that it will also fail sometime in the next two weeks or so, but since we only need it for the next six days...that shouldn't be a problem. If it is still functional when its replacement arrives, I am SO keeping that sucker.

My 200TH POST!  I suppose it looked for a time as if I wouldn't make it this far, eh?

In keeping with previously established tradition, I'm going to make this here "post-Christmas" post a thing of weirdness and wonderment.

Let's talk "magnetizing".

I served a two year mission for the LDS church in the Arkansas Little Rock Mission. Much of the time spent in the Memphis, Tennessee area.

In one area (Tupelo, Mississippi I believe), we had an investigator who was really into "new age" reading and study. When we shared the Gospel with her she gave up a lot of her "new age" books.  That was how I got to read "Illusions" by Richard Bach.  A book which introduced me to the concept of "magnetizing". Briefly: the way to bring anything into your life is to (vividly) imagine that it is already there. There are a few other details involved ("imagine the object surrounded by golden light"), but as I already mentioned, it is a New Age book.

Sounds like a lot of Hokum, right?

I've already used this technique, 'tho perhaps not for its intended purpose. I use it to find things that I've lost track of. Also, it has been some time since I last used it.

I've been quite forgetful lately. (Which reminds me, I've got to go retrieve that Xmas card Kathy and Grant gave me on Sunday last - I think it's still stuck in their couch.) One of the things I recently misplaced was the key to my new(ish) VW Passat.  I last remembered having it in hand on or about December 12th.  I first noticed it missing on December 20th. Way to maintain that mental acuity, eh? After fruitlessly searching for it in all the places I thought it could be, it dawned on me that I could have, in a moment of paranoia, hidden the key...and forgot all about where I had hidden it. It looked like I would be paying my local VW dealer to have a new key cut for the Passat.

As I have used the "magnetizing" technique to find lost objects before, and as I was at a loss for what else to do (apart from giving up and calling the VW dealer), I decided to use the technique once again to see if I could make the key "magically" show up. The key is a familiar object, as is the Teamsters key fob it's attached to. I know the size, shape, heft, texture and surfaces of that key so well I would know it even in total darkness.  So I sat down a couple days ago and spent a few minutes meditating on it, as if it were already in my hand. I spent a little time yesterday focusing my thoughts in like manner.  Then this morning, as I was waking up, I spent a few moments on the exercise...and I got the distinct impression that I had left the key (paranoia, remember?) in a jar on top of the fridge.

And there it was. On top of my fridge. In a glass jar. In plain view. I had probably been looking directly at it at least a dozen times in the past two weeks and simply had not seen it...until then.

If I'm this good with "lost" items, I wonder how effective this would be in finding a new career?

...or a slimmer, healthier body?

...or a new companion?

...or anything, really?

December 7th...a date "which will live in infamy".

Or not.

I'm getting a jump start on my New Year's resolutions.  I'm going to be writing a lot more on this 'blog.  Whether or not I'll have anything noteworthy to write remains to be seen.

So...it's been several months; what's up?

I joined the Ward Choir.  Then I joined the Stake Choir.  It's Xmas time!  Time to get my Cantata on!

We perform the night of the 11th.  Should be a good program.  It's not actually a Cantata as such...that's just what we've been calling it these past few years.  Our Choir Mistress, sister Ashton, has selected an interesting and even challenging  repertoire.  I do hope my voice will be fully recovered by then, because I've been sick with a chest cold these past two weeks.

Our Ward Choir will also be performing, although I'm not sure exactly when.  I've also been invited into a quartet to sing "With Wondering Awe".  I'm supposed to be learning the Tenor part for it.  With my voice in its present condition, this has been a little difficult.

In other news, Mom and Dad are not coming to BC for Xmas.  I was really hoping my kids would get some "bonding time" with their Sanderson Grandparents.  They have elected to stay home in Cardston to be near Karen and her kids; who may be needing a little extra support this year as Chad's health issues have come to a head of sorts and it's causing problems for Karen and their kids.

I should still be able to see my kids and get some good "Daddy" times in.  I'm spoiling those two rotten, and it's showing in my finances.  Of course, if I weren't spending my largesse (such as it is) on my kids, I'd probably just spend it on myself.

Speaking of which; I've decided to sell Max come the spring.  The VW Passat is a fun car to drive, but this particular example is just plain annoying.  Cosmetically and Mechanically the car is fine.  Electrically, however, it has revealed numerous bugs and glitches that mean I will need to spend some cash and time getting the car up to par.  I'm also selling the little Golf - still not dead yet - and Lord knows what I'll be driving next.  I'm even starting to get nostalgic about that Caravan!  Despite its age, it was a solid, mechanically reliable and easily-maintained vehicle.

I am slowly - oh so slowly - taking care of the numerous loose ends still left after the divorce.  Selling off items of property I don't need, banking, bonds, taxes, etc.  I really hate dealing with ANY sort of bureaucracy.  I should have everything wrapped up by the time Kath and Grant's lease on this place expires at the beginning of April.  No idea what they/we are going to do/move into next.  We'll see what happens.