No Internet Connection

I had an internet connection when I woke up this morning and right in the middle of working on something, Zap! It was gone. I spent at least 30 minutes trying to fix it myself, took the modem apart and everything. Nothing. So I called my ISP and we spent another half hour on the phone trying to get it working. Nada.

Talk about feeling cut off from the world. Did I mention that I have Vonage, so the home phone doesn’t work either, it relies on…shall we say it together: an internet connection. So, I’m at my sister’s house, but it’s hard for me to blog in “unfamiliar” surroundings, it’s like using a friend’s bathroom. You do just enough to relieve yourself but you never really do get comfortable.

Comcast said they would be able to send someone out on Tuesday, July 1 to fix my connection between 7 and 9 a.m.

“Don’t you have anything earlier than that, I’m up at 5:30.”

“No ma’am.”

“Is there anything else we can help you with?”

“Heeeck no, you didn’t fix the first problem, what makes you think you’re qualified to help me with anything else?” No, I didn’t say that, but I sure thought it.

A computer without internet access is a typewriter and I stopped using those a long time ago. If I can’t use it in its intended purpose, then I shouldn’t have to look at it either.

Yep, that’s my “typewriter”.

They better not charge me for that modem I took apart either, I was trying to save them a trip out to my place by fixing it. I need to go find some Verizon FIOS advertisements and leave them “laying around” the house, just in case.

Dumb Down

Has the advancement of technology contributed to the decrease of intellect or in other words, are you “dumber” than you were 10 years ago because of spell check?

What prompts my question is a book I’m reading, okay skimming, entitled Dumbing Down. The authors have concluded that:

National intelligence is plummeting and our society is essentially a consumer’s society where leisure time is used, no longer for self-perfection or acquisition of more social status, but for more consumption and more entertainment.

The results? We have been dumb downed and the effects can be seen in every aspect of our lives, but not limited to, such as in education, politics, journalism, literature, film and religion.

From my every other chapter understanding of this book we are a people no longer challenged or required to think. We don’t read and we live in a simple, user-friendly, push button society. We spend an exhaustible amount of time engaging in or watching asinine, bizarre and third rate entertainment while being spoon fed deficient information.

I thought the book was a little harsh, but it did communicate some valid points.

Has spell check ruined my life? You’re darn right it has, I can’t spell worth a darn anymore and I refuse to learn another phone number when I can just program it into my phone. Whose fault is it? Mine. We all have to assume personal responsibility when it comes to the choices we make and how we choose to spend our time. If we are “dumb” as a result, we have no one to blame, but ourselves. Maybe.

Are being duped by “some deliberate commercial strategy, an active procedure with goals of its own rather than a passive experience?” What do you think?

What most people don’t seem to realize is that there is just as much money to be made out of the wreckage of a civilization as from the upbuilding of one. Rhett Butler

If I Only Had A Brain

Why do I feel sleepy after watching this video?  This is good. I love it and the site too!

Too Successful For A Mate

If you are new here, every Monday I blog about a money related topic. Nothing should be considered as financial advice, but for informational and discussion purposes only.

Is there a such thing as being too successful for a mate? In this case I’m talking about a successful woman.

Of course. women have no problem dating a successful man and when I say successful, I mean doing well financially.

“Typically” the man is thought of as the breadwinner or the financial provider in the relationship.

That’s not so much the case today, women have their “stuff” together. We are smart, driven, we have careers, we own homes, we’re educated and may not be financially dependent on a man.

However being successful and dating doesn’t always go together. Some men are intimated and insecure about a woman who has achieved a measure of success that out weighs his own. He may feel that if she has all these “things” then why is he needed.

I came across this quote from a guy on this topic and he said: I’m not intimidated by successful women, but I’m not exactly comfortable with them in the long-term, neither.

Is the thought of being too successful an “issue” that women create or is it time for the men to get over their insecurities and learn to embrace her success?

Photo by LongHairBroad

The First Pancake

Why does my passport and driver’s license picture always come out like the first pancake, messed tore beat *&^%$@ up!

There must be some sadistic handbook circulating that says make ‘em ugly. Let them stand there long enough before you take the picture and wait until they have to scratch or have an involuntary muscle spasm, whichever comes first. Take the picture!

I had my passport photo taken earlier this week and I look ghastly. My glasses are crooked, my hair is flattened on one side, only one side of my mouth smiled, I look like I had a stroke!

I can just imagine that there is some wall of fame for the ugliest passport or driver’s license photo at their company picnics. Top prize goes to the institution that submits the “I’m Not Too Sexy” photograph of the year. Now when people tell me I look so familiar, I just might start getting offended.

I wonder if it’s called a passport because they look at our photo and give us a pass into the country anyway. I didn’t feel or look like road kill when I went to have my picture taken. Sorry.

Photo by FirstPancake.com