One of my phone numbers had been acting kind of weird lately....this morning I decided to investigate. It was my BroadVoice VoIP line which I have configured for simulring to my landline. I also have my Vonage number set for simulring to my landline. This was largely for historical reasons.

When I was using the D-Link DPH-540 WiFi phone with BroadVoice, I wanted my landline to get the calls....because the phone was kind of iffy. So iffy, that I have shelved the $250 piece of junk and gotten a different adapter to do phone with the service at home. Though that isn't without its problems.

Later in trying to resolve DSL issues, I had moved the cordless phone from my Vonage adapter to my landline....so I could be calling from the problem landline while talking to phone repair. So because that meant there was no phone attached to the Vonage box at all....

Well, those calls were completing because the landline seemed to be sucking those calls into a blackhole.

So, I tried calling myself.....one ring and then noise. Tried again...same thing. One more time....same thing. Then I looked at the VoIP activity logs and found that I was paying for calls that were being routed to the landline (I only get 100 minutes a month, and I do more than that just talking to my mom...so I should probably upgrade to unlimited, but it currently isn't over that threshold). But, the landline never rang or anything.

So, I walked over to the landline phone (a basic AT&T line powered phone...since the main reason I have landline, is so I will have something in the event of a power outage....or something 'reliable' to call 911 on). No dial-tone...just noise. Though the DSL is working fine.

So, I log a trouble report...which wasn't easy. I first went online to do it...and at the last step it said it couldn't process my request online and that I would need to call.

Calling the repair number....routed me to a hold queue....where they kept telling me in the recording that I should be using their website to log my trouble report. Umm, that's what I tried first!

Finally got through to somebody....quickly rattled off that I not an idiot....but left out that I'm a Professional (Electrical) Engineer and I already did numerous internal wiring checks (though I couldn't find my buttset, which probably gives me the excuse to get a DSL safe one to replace it ;) And, they said somebody would be out by 6pm to look into things...but since I'm not paying them their special service fee to cover my inside wiring, there would be a charge for the service call if the problem is on my end. Didn't I just tell them that I already know the problem is on their side.

Well, I wasn't gonna wait around to see them show up....I already missed half a day on Monday, when they finally responded to my DSL trouble ticket. Where they knocked and said they were here and would look around outside and get back to me. Later I noticed they were gone and I didn't hear from them ever again. If it weren't for the 12-month contract, I'd cancel the DSL....and I'd strongly be thinking of going landline free again. (Hopefully, my new Sprint phone will appear soon and it'll have a local number, etc.....unlike my T-Mobile line where I asked to have the number changed to a local number...and they only got as close as being in the same area code.... for a small city of population ~3300... But, T-Mobile was glad to charge me for changing my number....and my old number was gone forever and any additional changes would result in the same change fee again....oh they finally said, that they are currently out of local numbers.)

Anyways....I came home, eventually remembered to check for dial tone....and went about my evening....

Until the phone rang. I answered it....though I guess I was kind of expecting an automated message from AT&T telling me that they had completed the repair (sometimes I get one, sometimes I don't....though I'm supposed to get some kind of work completion indication...and there were times I got the message even though they didn't actually complete anything. Like when I first got service...they turned it on, but didn't feel it necessary to connect my home to their system...and it took a major effort to convince them that they needed to send somebody to connect the wires, instead of assuming that a remote circuit test was sufficient and any lack of service at my end was a problem on my side....even though I told them that there was nothing connected to the wires sticking out of the side of the building.) I guess this is what happens when the phone company turns into a monopoly again. They broke up AT&T so that one of the pieces spawned from it could buy up all the pieces and eventually buy up AT&T and become AT&T again?

Anyways....it wasn't an automated message...but somebody looking for a Brian. I told him he had a wrong number....and then it was just silence....no apology or acknowledgement. Some people.

At least it wasn't a Sunday 6am call for somebody looking for some hotel....or some 3am call, because some girl is giving out my phone number at bars. The last ones are worse, because the guys won't accept that they have a bad number...

The rest of the time...its people calling for money....while they are worthwhile causes....it does make me wonder how they got my name, address and phone number...I don't want incoming calls on the line (I'm thinking of turning the ringer off again). Obviously the answer is that the phone company sold my personal information to them.

Not sure who I'm angrier at in this case.....

I might seem strange, but I'm looking forward to having Shake 'n Bake chicken right now.

It has been like 6 years since I last had this.  Largely due to the demise of Peapod in the area where I was living, which ended my access to fresh stuff.

But, now that I'm living in Manhattan, KS and there's a grocery store 30 minutes walk from here....I can once again buy fresh things like fruit, vegetables and meat.

There's other things that I can do now due to my change of circumstances...and I intend to explore them in due course....but first there's something about a man eating chicken....

Well, I'm at least a step closer to getting moved to Manhattan, Kansas....I've charged my deposit on the move.

Now, I'm waiting to hear back when my actual move out date will be and the window of when my move in date is.

Hopefully, enough notice so I can find a one-way airplane ticket to get me there in between the two processes. And, start living in an empty place. Though I expect it to be better living in the empty place there than the empty place here.

Still lots of do in packing and other preparations....and maybe start looking at change of address notification.

Also need to sort out some time to say some good-byes 

Turns out it is rather hard to find stuff to do when you're intentionally staying up past midnight.

But, I'm killing time until a taxi shows up at 3:30 am to take me to the airport....

TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF - The Survey
Name	Lawrence Chen
Birthday	October 28, 1968
Birthplace	Lawrence, KS
Current Location	Dublin, OH
Eye Color	Brown
Hair Color	Black
Height	6'3"
Right Handed or Left Handed	Right
Your Heritage	Taiwanese American
The Shoes You Wore Today	Sandals
Your Weakness	Addiction to Technology and the Internet
Your Fears	That I've forgotten something important
Your Perfect Pizza	Hawaiian
Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year	Take a personal vacation
Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger	cul8r
Thoughts First Waking Up	What time is it?
Your Best Physical Feature	Eyes
Your Bedtime	Somewhere after midnight
Your Most Missed Memory	The name of that girl....
Pepsi or Coke	Coke, but Diet Pepsi
MacDonalds or Burger King	McDonalds, got food poisoning at a BK once.
Single or Group Dates	Single
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea	I brew my own
Chocolate or Vanilla	Vanilla
Cappuccino or Coffee	Coffee
Do you Smoke	No
Do you Swear	Only at the computer
Do you Sing	Only to myself when listening to a good song
Do you Shower Daily	At least twice
Have you Been in Love	Yes
Do you want to go to College	Been there, and its D for Degree.  Now I'm going to work at one....
Do you want to get Married	Yes
Do you believe in yourself	Yes
Do you get Motion Sickness	Yes, even on solid dry land.
Do you think you are Attractive	Yes
Are you a Health Freak	No, but I should probably try to be more healthy
Do you get along with your Parents	50/50, but I try to call them once a week...
Do you like Thunderstorms	Lightning is cool, providing it doesn't hit me or something close to me (the latter happened to me once)
Do you play an Instrument	Used to play the piano and in jr. high I did the trumpet, someday I would like to again.
In the past month have you Drank Alcohol	No
In the past month have you Smoked	No
In the past month have you been on Drugs	No
In the past month have you gone on a Date	No
In the past month have you gone to a Mall	Yes
In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos	No
In the past month have you eaten Sushi	No
In the past month have you been on Stage	No
In the past month have you been Dumped	No
In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping	No
In the past month have you Stolen Anything	No
Ever been Drunk	Yes
Ever been called a Tease	No
Ever been Beaten up	Yes
Ever Shoplifted	Yes, when I was little and didn't know better.
How do youwant to Die	Never?
What do you want to be when you Grow Up	Comfortably wealthy, so I can focus on doing what I love (including work).
What country would you most like to Visit	Australia, because I met this girl on my last cruise....
In a Boy/Girl..
Favourite Eye Color	Blue/Green
Favourte Hair Color	Red
Short or Long Hair	Long
Best Clothing Style	Doesn't matter
Number of Drugs I have taken	None
Number of CDs I own	Too many to keep track of, and ever more since I got my iPod
Number of Piercings	None
Number of Tattoos	None
Number of things in my Past I Regret	None, that I would admit to.
CREATE YOUR OWN! - or - GET PAID TO TAKE SURVEYS!

I was just watching this old episode of Mythbusters, having not seen it originally.....due to problems getting it to record around conflicting shows.... which is pretty unusual for a person that has 7 ReplayTVs

I'm really getting into watching them again, largely perhaps because of Kari Byron....after all I guess I have this thing about red heads

Anyways...I though the cell phone versus drunk test was interesting....because it reminded me of a bar argument I remember being  around back in the early 90's when the goverment was trying to make 0.08  the legal standard for the whole country....rather than where lots of places which had higher limits (and I seem to recall one place had 0.05).....

It was interesting in Mythbusters, because they used a 0.08 legal limit...and they had Adam and Kari be legal(ly drunk). And, they both failed. Which means they've not only proven that talking on your cellphone while driving is just as bad as driving while impaired....

But, they proved that the 0.08 legal limit is too high (and perhaps equally arbitrary to any other legal limit). And, that the legal limit needs to be lowered....

Since lately them seem to enjoy drinking on the show so much....maybe in a future episode (when's the episode where Kari, and company, need to be 12th stepped?), they could experiment to see how drunk they can get and still pass the test.  And, use that evidence as the new basis for a legal limit for everybody else to use.

Of course, what do I know....I did all my drinking before I got a driver's license....but had no problems getting into accidents and nearly getting myself killed while driving 100% sober. Now I get to live life where I neither drink nor drive....

....where sometimes the way I walk, I might as well be drunk....

Well, I finally got around to it....and signed up to MySpace.

Now what am I going to do?