Reading

I can stop harping on about the internet and the Mac now. All fixed. It’s time to retire off the old PC and get to love the Mac.

I’ve been reading my first draft. I made the gargantuan mistake of reading Kate Atkinson’s One Good Turn at the same time. Not simultaneously, obviously, because that would be impossible. During the day when I was working I read my draft and then when I’d stopped work I’d read One Good Turn. Talk about inferiority complex. I got quite depressed.

When I finished One Good Turn (particularly loved the opening scenes) I started Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. This is a futuristic, YA novel set in a dystopian US, way out of my genre but one of the blogs I read (I’m sorry I don’t know which one) recommended it as a good example of tension on every page. Son had read it and I like to keep up a bit with what he enjoys so I put it on my pile to read, not really thinking I’d get around to it. Yesterday, I picked it up and started it but it was so… well, not my thing that after a few pages I thought I’d just read a bit to have a look at the way Collins had achieved the tension … and do you know only a few pages later, before I knew it, I couldn’t put it down.

Isn't it funny how a book can creep up on you like that?

Internet fairies fail to show up

I declared yesterday ‘sorting out internet day.’

I’ve scanned the internet and there seem to be a number of Apple Macs falling off the internet but no apparent diagnosis. Because I have a PC sitting next to it, which ISN’T falling off the wifi I know it’s the Mac. Both our January visitors had Macs which did the same thing.

I was home all day for engineers to call so I put the problem in the hands of the management office who have a contract with the service provider – and after all, who we are paying for ‘internet service.’ As a result ‘sorting out internet day’ flew by; nobody called and I still have no internet on my Mac. Lots of lovely wifi airwaves whirling around in the air but none of them attaching themselves to the new computer.

While I was in the management office, I picked up a parcel. It was a garganuan pile of post from our house in the UK and was posted on 9th December! While I waited for the internet fairies to come I got all of that post dealt with. After five years of living in Bangkok, I finally got around to changing my address at the UK bank. I’m a firm believe that if you leave your paperwork in a ‘To Do’ pile for long enough, much of it can be put straight in the bin when you finally get around to dealing with it.

Today I woke and in a Groundhog kind of way, declared the day ‘sorting out internet day.’ Then I had a stroke of genius – they don’t happen often – and googled the name of the wifi repeater we have. Doh; they only work on Window OS. I still don’t have internet, but at least now I know why.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Oh I ♥ my little office so very, very much.

I’ve been camping out in Husband’s office for five weeks (two weeks in England in the middle) because the wifi repeater had broken and the signal no longer reached my room. (It stopped being an oscillating alien disco light and only had one sad, steady blue light.)

Husband was kind and generous with his room, but it’s a bit, you know, male in there. And he would still play world domination computer games even when I was trying to work. If I wanted to print I had to trek down the corridor, carrying my laptop, back to my office…

Anyway, the lovely Simplicity IT people sorted me out. It did take several trips but they did it and it only cost 1000 Baht (£20.) (Their domestic service is now called com2u.com for anyone searching for them.)

And I’m so happy to be back in my office which is really a dressing area that I decided to post a picture of my place of work… it’s not remotely male in here, is it?

Alien Disco

The aliens have landed just outside Daughter's bedroom door. Or is it a disco light? I couldn't capture the oscillations in the photo.

Anyway, the lovely people at Simplicity International have sorted out our wifi problems and I'm giving them a plug because they were very good. When we changed Daughter's bedroom for the office we moved the modem to the new office and my writing place ... which is really a dressing room area, was the only one to suffer.

Husband has tried twice to get some sort of booster in to work with the existing modem but they resolutely refused to speak to each other. He was delighted that Simplicity's engineer had to make several trips because it wasn't straight forward so I have zippy internet service, and Husband has saved face.

Simplicity cover Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket. They came the same day we called. They were very reasonably priced and although the engineers English was basic, they rang their office and someone with excellent English explained the problem to me.

Now, I haven't written today. I'm feeling bad (for not writing and bad tempered - for several reasons). I really should write even if my mood makes me resistant.

Dressing up

I am on new words today but I slipped out to get some money and a Starbucks this morning so that I could pay the IT man that's coming to boost our wifi. I know that not having wifi in my office should be a really good thing that keeps me writing, but unfortunately I've become so cold turkey I can't write unless I get it boosted to reach my little room.

While I was out I saw two promo girls: one in front of the Grammy building and one inside. Both were giving out freebies (a sachet of sugar or a sachet of tissues). This is really Thai and it always makes me chuckle. They seem such an introverted people such a lot of the time and yet they appear to love to dress up in extraordinary outfits to sell things. I still can't quite forgive Husband for telling me about the girls dressed in American tan coloured body stockings who were bathing in a cup of coffee! He saw this downstairs in his office building and didn't have a camera. I don't go anywhere without a camera and haven't done for nearly three years.

No more blah

You know when you can’t really grumble, but still you feel a bit blue because of a couple of crappy things happening over a day or two? And you know it’s ridiculous to feel like that about those things, but you can’t shake yourself out of it…

And then something(s) happens, and your mood turns in an instant?

No? Oh it’s just me then; I am most fickle.

I have gone from a bit blah to ridiculously cheered up.

First: The lovely Laurie, whose blog I discovered quite recently (I think) through Lane (doggie loving writers) and just instantly loved it (three dog blog) has given me an award: A Big E for Excellent. Thank you Laurie: I am posting it with pride. And I can nominate 10 people to receive the Big E.

Then, after a long afternoon at website where the lovely Andrew solved my many computer problems (though not our internet at home, which Husband is rather worryingly trying to fix as I type!) I picked up my post (real post).

And completely gorgeous Helen sent me some articles for research purposes because we’d been emailing about an article I might be trying to write … anyway, slipped betwixt the card were two packets of Galaxy Minstrels. OH MY GOD: thank you Helen, you lovely woman.

(And, I just have to tell you that Husband has been sweating and a cursing in his head, and I gave him one of my packets of Galaxy Minstrels ... and ... they are magic: two minutes later our secure internet wifi thingy was up and running.)

My ten people are:
Hesitant Scribe, Angie, Yvonne, Jen, Pacha, JonM, Leigh, Carol-a Crayon, Liz, and Liane