Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Still Kickin'

Whew! Can't believe it's been a month since my last post. I'm still here, I promise. I get great ideas for new posts, but I just don't seem to make it downstairs to the computer to get started.

You can blame the propane company for my lack of computer time. I just spent a undisclosed but obscene sum for one month of fuel for my home. I already had the thermostat down to 65, now it's set at 63. The downstairs being the natural cold spot of my home (what with the down location, the cement outside walls, and the tile floors), it can be just a little too brisk to spend much time here in the winter. It's pretty nice in the summer, though.

Not to worry, I have plans for the future! I'm looking at woodstoves, coal stoves and pellet stoves as alternatives for supplemental heat. Should make it nice and toasty down here next winter, and the heat should rise to help out upstairs,too! And then there's the plan (OK, it's more of a hope at this point in time) to buy a laptop and go wireless.

I know, moving the computer upstairs sounds like a bright idea, too. I'd still have to go wireless to do it because of phone jack locations (since I'm stuck with Verizon DSL and Verizon phone service, and with DirecTV). Since my PC gives me occasional warnings on bootup about the status of the hard drive, it hardly seems worthwhile to invest in serious upgrades to this system.

I'd give anything to have Comcast back (I never thought I'd say those words), but they are not available here. Comcast's customer service is FAR superior to Verizon's, and, frankly, so is their product. DirecTV is the incredible shrinking product, with an ever decreasing number of stations available on my plan.

Oh well. How about all of you? How are you weathering the economic and climate conditions in the US these days?