The iPhone line in Central Square

Pictures taken about 4:00 PM or so in Central Square. All waiting for the chance to buy an iPhone.

I wonder what the backstory is?

Was someone digging through their backpack, desperately searching for a few more coins to cover the bus fare, discovering this ancient cassette, and deciding then and there to toss it, after not even having a cassette player for a few years?

Maybe someone was rummaging through the glove box or under the seats, and, finding this, furtively flicked it out the window, lest they lose face in front of their other hipster friends?

More likely, though, it was a case of finding it in the backpack or car, wondering "why the heck do I still have this", and just tossing it away.

In any event, someone decided that despite the heartfelt lyrics of pretty much their only mainstream hit, they just didn't want Cheap Trick in their life anymore.

Can't say as I blame them.

An old friend is now on the web

Toni Lay, whom I've known since 1976, has finally gotten her Society for Creative Anachronism webpage online.

She would have had it done much sooner, but as her ISP is AOL, their tools for uploading text and images to external web servers are amazingly annoying and overly complex!

This is her website. Save for a minor hint or two I gave her, and my manipulating the graphics for her, everything you see, save for the graphics, is her own work. Pretty darn good for an HTML novice's first effort, I think.

And, as with all websites, it is a work in progress. She will be adding a page or two of photographs from The Pennsic War (the annual SCA "convention"), as well as a guide she's written for the Pennsic Wars novice.

I'm very impressed with how well she did on what is, essentially, her first ever web page. I've seen pages from so-called professionals that were not as well done as this first effort of hers.

The Verizon DSL saga concludes.

Verizon FINALLY replaced the faulty DSL router at the Hyde Park central office (local switching center) and the DSL line is, at LONG last, back to normal.

The DSL connection is now continuous. As opposed to the working for a random period of time then just stopping dead. Requiring a power recycling of the modem/router here to force a reconnect.

Still and all, Verizon DSL is better than Comcast's cable modem service.

Supposedly, Verizon FiOS (fiber optic to the home) service is coming to this part of Boston by the end of the year.

US$99 a month for two years. I am SO signing up for this! 5 megabits per second Internet access, vs. the 3 mbps DSL service, cable TV with more channels than I'm getting now for US$40.00 a month LESS than what I'm paying Comcast, and unlimited long distance phone service.

Yeah. I am SO going to geek out when the glass is installed!

And we're back in the 21st Century!

Spent almost an hour on the phone with a Verizon engineer, and with no little futzing with hardware on his end and mine, the DSL line is back up and running.

I think Ren and Stimpy most accurately reflect how I feel right now: