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Nothing much beyond just still staying stuck in this apartment, still trying to finish the final bits of soundfile editing (the remaining half-dozen or so being especially problematic) and trying to stave off bouts of lethargy, depression and despair.
Also, with one exception (a deliberate ''impulse buy'' a couple of weeks ago) I've given up entirely on purchasing bottled/canned beverages now that 2-litre bottles, initially exempt from the ''recycling tax'', have since been included to carry the extra fees.
And even though it has already been a couple of weeks after the supposed ''switch-over,'' I still haven't noticed very much difference between my supposedly ''older'' internet connection and this so-called ''upgraded'' version.
Unmentioned Highlights From Previous Quarter
March 1, 2008 (Saturday)
Lost Internet connectivity after a couple of hours of use yesterday, after having everything working just fine since the previous day when I'd switched over to the upgraded modem. After all sorts of shutdowns & resets & wire swaps & alternating modems & router bypasses & what-all, off and on for about an hour and a half, I finally decided to give the phone company a call to try to understand what was going on. I was given a DSL tech support number to call, and the person on the other line, after doing some asking of her own, explained that the problem was probably due to my service upgrade being in the processing phase (I forgot the exact term she'd used) and that my service would be down for about 5 days, which sounded absolutely ludicrous to me. After more inquiring about why I simply could not use my existing service until the actual switch-over takes place, I was told that someone would call back later to address the problem and troubleshoot through the situation.
I thought ''later'' would mean something like within the next few minutes: turns out that ''later'' actually meant later that evening, just as the sun had nearly set. Anyway, we went through all of the standard motions again, including trying to operate from a ''safe mode'' start-up & what-not, all with no results -- he said that there should've been no reason why I should not have been able to connect.
Since all previous attempt to connect had been conducted by way of using the ''Windows'' PC as the primary hub, the tech guy suggested I try hooking directly to the ''Macintosh'' instead, and surprisingly everything was up and running. Because of this it was suggested that the problem might lie with the WinPC itself, since it was not responding. Because the Mac was now operational I simply had to try again with the PC tower, again with the same (non-) results, so I decided to put it off until later.
Went back to trying to figure it all out again this morning, trying any number of the ''Help & Support'' tutorials to see if I could successfully troubleshoot the problem, again all with no results. As a final step I decided to refocus on the fact that the Mac was still functioning all this time, and since we'd found that this appeared to offer a bit of a solution last night I surmised that perhaps this would also be the key to getting everything else back on line, though I wasn't very hopeful. So once again I tried to get it to where all traffic would flow through the router, only this time instead of attempting to establish the connection via the WinPC I tried to see if the connection could be made through the Macintosh, and when I saw that the Mac as the lone computer connection was functioning through the router I then proceeded to establish a connection with the PC which, finally, was able to re-establish online communication. How it happened or why I can only toss out a couple possible explanations, but whatever the reason(s), I'm just satisfied that I was able to get back online.
23:35, Hawaii Standard Time.
March 14 - 16, 2008 (Friday-Sunday)
Finally spoke with my sister for the first time in nearly a decade Friday night, after having ''accidentally'' called her number about a week earlier (I had originally planned on, and thought I had been, calling my other ''sister,'' Vikki in Virginia, but had apparently inadvertently discarded her phone number)... I was unable to do little else than leave a voice message that time. I figured it'd probably wind up being a lengthy conversation, knowing how much I run my mouth about anything and everything, but we ended up on the line from somewhere after 17:00 (Hawaii time) to about a quarter-after 03:00 the next morning. I really did not know what all to expect from the conversation, because I was still holding on to a considerable degree of resentment, but listening to her recite our family exploits from her perspective and relate the many things she was ''privileged'' to observe helped to clarify and reconcile a LOT of issues I had with the dynamics of my immediate family -- I had already known we were quite screwed-up, but I had no idea of half of what was going on, especially because my mother had always been so deceptive and my father was always so apologetically evasive.
Two of the most surprising things for me from our conversation was the drastic change in her regional accent (her voice & pacing sounded absolutely nothing like the woman I'd remembered) and that somewhere down the long bumpy road of her life she had ''got religion.''
''Weekend in Review''
March 21, 2008 (Friday)
The first day of Spring, also, unbeknownst to me until later, the Hawaii state holiday, ''Kuhio Day,'' which probably helped explain the relatively light traffic. Got out on the road in order to fuel up on the motorcycle and to finally ship off the deep fryer I'd been promising my mother since late-December. Withdrew $40 for both purposes, and the expenses for both left me with only $3 and some change, not even snack money.
Been working on a single audio file for the past three days, thanks primarily to the ''Macintrash'' based editing program constantly crashing and wiping all my efforts. Hopefully, the remaining half-dozen or so will not be quite so problematic, but despite Macintosh's hand in all of these headaches the main fault really lies with the fact that these remaining files were all recorded in ''Microsoft Windows'' OS in the first place, which has been constituting itself as my bitterest enemy whenever my activities there have anything to do with anything relating to sound. (A classic situation of ''Heads, I'm fucked; Tails, I'm screwed.'')
23:25, Hawaii Standard Time.
April 10, 2008 (Thursday)
''Air America Radio'' is now officially dead to me! With their suspension of Randi Rhodes all since last week (supposedly because of her scathing, albeit less-than inspiring, ''stand-up'' comedy routine at a nightclub event/fundraiser for San Francisco's ''Air America'' affiliate, wherein she referred to Geraldine Ferarro and Hillary Clinton as ''Big F*cking Whore[s]'' -- NEARLY TWO WHOLE WEEKS prior to their decision to suspend her from the air!) and just today with the news that Randi has decided to part company with the (regrettably) crashing & burning network, I am no longer left with any reason to listen to any of the network's remaining programs.
In answer to the sh*tty hand ''AAR'' dealt to Ms. Rhodes, I'd assumed that she'd be taking back up with her old gig at her home station, ''WJNO'' in West Palm Beach (Florida), since her original contract with ''AAR'' allowed her the option to return if syndication via ''AAR'' failed. Instead, it was reported just today that she was quickly signed on with the original founders of ''AAR'' (before that slimebag, Evan Cohen, caused them to get pushed aside and damn-near buried the entire operation before it even got off the ground) who now operate the ''novaM'' Radio Network. So now ''novaM'' will be home to BOTH heavy hitters in ''Lefty-Talk'' -- Randi Rhodes and Mike Malloy... and it just *MAY* be enough to motivate me to join their network's ''paid subscription'' service (or, as they refer to it, their ''Founders Club''), and if so, it would be the very first time I've subscribed to any internet-based service outside of basic web access service. So screw ''Air America Radio'' -- that fish is already dead and floating downstream.
(It'll be a little time before I devote any attention to revising my ''talk-left'' page to reflect these recent developments and to perhaps make a few other adjustements to be more accurately reflective. I'll also try to find the time & space to post the audio of the entire performance which [supposedly] led to Randi's suspension from ''AAR.'')
21:40, Hawaii Standard Time.
May 2, 2008 (@day)
Yesterday was ''May Day,'' and I used it as the start-off point for my return to the workforce. This comes two weeks later beyond my originally intended ''return date'' of April 15 (''Tax-Time Deadline''), because just as I was also in the process of saving all of my personal files to 'hard copy' I was hit with the infuriating reality that required me to go back into my ''Mac'' system and rename virtually all of my personal files and folders to assure that they'd be ''readable''/''openable'' in ''Windows'' OS -- so now I'm wondering, after having spent all this time renaming everything, how things are going to behave in ''Linux,'' as during this period I'd also decided to download (but not yet install) two ''Linux OS'' platforms, ''PCLinuxOS'' and ''Ubuntu.''
Noteworthy, it was also during this time frame that I made direct efforts to reconnect with my father in New Jersey, where the conversation revolved largely around clearing up past misconceptions and misinformation relating to the tragedy that was my childhood due to the bad and unfortunate life decisions my mother had made where I was directly involved; I had called my sister in Missouri right after I had hung up the phone with him. There is so much that needs to be aired and exposed to the light that I am now worriful that my father may not have much more time left in this life before we can clear the muddied waters.
Regarding yesterday's job hunt, I limited my search to one specific place, only to feel as if all of the efforts & preparations I had made to actually ''put myself out there'' were all wasted when I was informed that all applications were now being accepted only ''online'' (and I had deliberately gotten myself out of the apartment in large part to pull myself away from the computer!). I then decided to ride out to the ''Kapiolani Community College'' (the very first time since the final day I'd chosen to ''work'' there some four and a half months ago) to review the ''job postings'' bulletin board listing the various positions available for a number of Waikiki hotels, but not finding anything ''compatible''; all of the available postings were likewise a couple of months old.
I had intended to head back to the apartment after dropping off a young man from Canada (who was here visiting his brother) at the rental shop in Waikiki where he rented his 50cc scooter because it had seemed that the battery had drained: it was not until he was on the back of my scoot and watched me start-up that he realized that he had forgotten to pull the braking lever before pressing the starter button. Now that there was no longer any need to head back in the direction of ''Town,'' I proceeded to follow my original intention of tootling around in the Diamond Head / Kahala areas, spending a little bit of time at one of the beach areas I had not previously been familiar with interacting with a new type of crab I had not encountered before and picking about a half-dozen baby blackfoot opihi from shoreline rocks before continuing on. In Town I picked up my mail then spent some time at the tourist docks by Aloha Tower Marketplace where I spent a considerable amount of time ''feeding the fish'' (and kicking away a flock of slumming zebra doves) from one of the several ''fish food'' gumball dispensers that I discovered to have been defective, thereby allowing me to circumvent the 25-cents per crank charge.
21:15, Hawaii Standard Time.
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