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random bits
We are having weird modem luck. I thought all DSL modems were basically the same, but apparently not. Our old (bought in 1999) modem has started dropping signal -- it's eratic, but when it happens it lasts for a few hours. My DSL provider mailed me a new one (a level of service I did not expect) and it's reliable but universally slow. So our current mode of operation is to use the old one until it drops and then switch to the new one for a few hours. Weird. So I think we need to buy a new modem that is both reliable and fast, but since I thought they were all the same I now don't know what to look for. (We have basic DSL. Someday I hope they well run FIOS to our neighborhood and we'll switch.)
Recent conversation:
Dani: We're out of (book)shelf space in the library again.
Me: Maybe we should assemble that last bookcase we bought.
Dani: We're out of shelf space in the library again.
Me: You built it and filled it already? So we need to buy more?
Dani: We're out of wall space to put bookcases...
(I assert that he is incorrect on that last point, but it hinges on a dispute between practicality and purity. Or something like that.)
We bought some CFLs (in two different color-tones) to try again, and installed some in the ceiling fixture in the living room (the packaging contained no dire warnings about that, unlike the last one). Freaky white and bright, so some tuning is called for, but there might be a bigger problem: flicker. The switch is a dimmer, but we know CFLs don't dim so the switch is at max. (Truth to tell, we don't dim regular bulbs in that fixture, either.) Does the mere presence of a dimmer switch doom CFLs? That would be annoying.
A couple links:
A few nights ago I made these lamb chops, which I've made before and which are amazingly good.
The ten plagues, done in peeps (from someone on my subscription list, but I've lost track of who). Twisted! Funny!
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It would be nice to have a small amount of wallspace, though.
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There's supposed to be something wrong with that?
When Dani and I were house-hunting, we had trouble getting through to the realtor that "room for bookcases" was a significant factor. We saw lots of otherwise-lovely places where the walls were too broken up by doors/windows, or baseboard heaters were consistently in bad places, and stuff like that. One time, as we were walking into a place, she said "I researched this for you; you're going to love it". We walked into the living room with the built-in shelves to either side of the fireplace and she said "ta-da!" as if that would scratch the surface. :-)
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All I could think of was "dang, I could have gotten two bookshelves in there! wonder if I could just store books in the fireplace...".
One interesting thing a nearby bookstore did was to mount thin shelves for paperbacks along the staircase. For a store it is a real pain, because people want to use the stairs, but for a house it would only decrease the stairwell width by five inches or so.
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