So just how many PacBell technicians does it take to get a DSL connection working properly? Evidently, the answer is “more than three”, as that’s how many we’ve had here so far and it’s still screwed up. After two months. And still (here’s a surprise), no one at Pac Bell has accepted responsibility for the problem…

Since I’m now convinced that everyone employed by SBC Pacific Bell either is a flaming moron or just doesn’t give a shit, I’m asking online. The symptoms are thus: (1) there’s intermittent data noise on the voice line (sometimes it’s so loud you can barely hear the phone), and (2) intermittent inability to make a data connection unless we simultaneously pick up the phone and make a voice call. The problem seems to be much worse on weekdays during the daytime. Any ideas?

The lstest guess (from a technician who arrived after the end of his appointed time, kept two of my friends waiting an hour for dinner, and didn’t apologize once) is that maybe we need to rewire the line into the apartment. This would, of course, result in a fee, making me wonder why I’ve been paying for that inside wiring maintenance contract all these years…

Ever tried asking a company like Pac Bell a rational question like that? They don’t even try to answer; they just sit there looking (or sounding) befuddled…

Aside from the fact that it’s not particularly funny, the main reason I can’t watch “Everybody Loves Raymond” is that whenever I do, I can’t help but visualize the father as Frankenstein’s monster singing “Puttin’ on the Ritz”…

Yes, that would be my one and only concession to Halloween, aside from the Simpsons episode I’m watching right now and all the candy I ate at work today…

Unrelated: so Bill Simon had no control over this one either, huh? He can’t keep up with ads run in his name, and he doesn’t know which campaign questionaires he’s signed. Heck, he can’t even manage a campaign and he wants to run the whole state?

Quoth Molly Ivins:

…even in proud Texas we have to admit that this year’s palm for nose-holding voting must go to California. Not to overstate, two of the most titanically unattractive candidates in the history of time — Gray Davis and Bill Simon — are vying for the governorship. How we got from the Lincoln-Douglas debates to this — or what we ever did to deserve it — is unclear. The debate between Davis and Simon raised the always-timely question: Is God punishing us?

I wish I could vote for somebody (anybody) next week…

Tip of the hat to Chuck’s list of things he doesn’t care about this morning. I’ll follow with my list of things I’m very weary of:

1. Trying to “understand” and “be tolerant of” terrorists, ghetto kids who kill each other (and innocent bystanders), and homeless people who have “no choice” but to steal and to shit on the streets. Having a “hard life” or a “grievance” is no excuse for making other people miserable.
2. The notion that any violence committed against innocent Americans without warning is probably justified by our warmongering imperialism (or whatever), but that any organized retaliation BY Americans is barbaric. Why are we always the ones who are wrong?
3. The idea that popular opinion is any more sufficient justification for engaging (or not engaging) in a war than it is for denying civil rights or for giving Constitutional protection to a red, white, and blue piece of cloth.

For what it matters, I have not completely formed my own opinion about any impending military action. I am not convinced that attacking Iraq is the most prudent course of action at present, both for economic and political reasons, but I’m also not convinced that it’s an inherently immoral thing…

I can say, though, that most of the arguments expressed in the local paper haven’t swayed me one way or the other. And I can also state with some assurance that trite, simplistic slogans like “no war for oil” are of little more persuasive value to anyone with an IQ above 65 than those “kill ’em all, let God sort ’em out” T-shirts you used to see during the Gulf War..

Unrelated: note the new navigation bar above, which will now take you to the Road Trips and Rants sections, both of which used to be housed at Planet SOMA. This is something I’ve been planning for a long time, and I’m now reducing Planet SOMA to a site largely concerned with San Francisco and the South of Market Area. There will be some new content over there too, but this is where the “action” will be, particularly after my liberation from the Bay Area…

Working on some site changes and restructuring. More later…