Friday, March 16

Madness in March

Wednesday's Bulls game with Nate was perfect--we had $55 seats for FREE (but decided to upgrade to the lower level for only $10). The Bulls won 88-87 with a shot by Kirk Hinrich with 26 seconds to go! It was fun to get on a subway, ride to the game, and leave without having to worry about parking, money, or large bulky items. If I were to title that approach, it would be "simply sports". Way fun.

Yesterday was a long, rewarding day at school. I've been trying to get DSL working in the rectory for almost a month now. At first, it didn't work because Verizon thought we needed to get our ADT security system filtered off of the phone line. We ordered a filter from ADT, which I installed a few days ago. After trying some things on the phone for Verizon, they determined that we needed support tech people to come out again. A tech and a supervisor came out, and after inspecting the premises, they determined that the issue was our phone system's age. (it looked really old to me when I saw it, but then again, I've never worked with a phone system before)

Their proposed solution was to run a line from the NID (telephone's network interface device)--which is the telephone company's little box on the outside of the house--straight up to the DSL modem on the second floor in order to completely bypass the phone system. They said they could send a tech person for $200, or I could get someone in the church who knows wiring to do it. I asked them how hard it was, and they said it wasn't too bad. One thing led to another, and pretty soon they were outside giving me instructions for how to do it myself! It was kind of exciting to take apart a wire, sheer the plastic off the copper and connect wires in the NID, run a cable along with the electricity wires into an office and through a few rooms, then install my own jack in a room! The best part was it all worked when I finished! Verizon wasn't allowed to help me due to contact issues (the lady said they would get fired if they did it), but they're allowed to tell me exactly what I needed to do for it. By the time we were done, I felt pretty accomplished.

The weather has taken a turn for the worse here this weekend. After 60s/70s and sunny the whole week, we have sleet and slippery roads right now with 30 degrees. Not exactly great weather to celebrate the weekend with! But, I'm grateful that the days we did Kids Run Philly Style were wonderful.

Yesterday Stephanie (gym teacher) and I left school during our prep time to grab free Starbucks coffee. After getting there, I realized that I couldn't substitute hot chocolate, so I wound up holding a cup of free coffee I didn't have any desire to drink! I asked Stephanie, who is from Seattle--home of Starbucks, if she was willing to go bring it to Sarah as she studied, and she readily agreed. We had fun surprising Sarah, and Sarah was VERY delighted for the surprise as well. =)

March Madness makes me a little disappointed in the University of Michigan...again. For the umpteenth year in a row, they missed the NCAA tournament. Maybe next year.

I read a strange story about a guy who jumped the White House fence and falsely claimed to have a bomb. What was strange about the story was that the security guards used a WATER CANNON to destroy the package! Talk about grownups with super soakers! I'd love to have seen that in action.

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