Counting down
Day 7 of no home internet.
My fingers were twitching, but I’ve mostly reverted back to mid-80s mode. I’ve read a couple of books, doubled the NYer/week rate, and watched the Netflix that were sitting on the mantle. I think the methadone that is the iPhone 4S has kept me from getting an iPad or Clear or switching to Verizon. Though the latter was probably affected by their FIOS website not working and putting me on hold for 10 minutes before I hung up.
Charter claims they’re going to come out on December 14 and “bury” a cable. I am sure that this will end in tears. But hey, I can haz a $25 credit. Hint: that won’t even cover what I have to bribe Peet’s, Starbucks, and McDs to give me “free” internet.
Update: If the Verizon FIOS availability function says, “I’m sorry, I can’t find that address. Call 1-800-xxx-xxxx to find out if your area is served by FIOS.”, that means, no, it’s not served by FIOS. Straight from the Verizon rep’s mouth. That’s right. It won’t tell simply tell you that your area is not covered, it’ll give what looks like an error and have you call Verizon on the phone to find out that “can’t find your address” means “not available.”
Seasons
People speak of LA not having seasons, but it does. It’s just subtler. The pups and I ran up to the top of the trail on Lake this morning, and Pasadena is ablaze in changing leaves. Not that much different than Kentucky looked a few weeks ago. Most of the color comes from the native sugar maple (I think it’s native, there’s a lot of it in the mountains). The live oak will stay green all the winter. If barrenness speaks winter, we don’t get that here.
You can drive up to the Sierra if you want some truly stunning foliage, but that’s true of most any other major city. If you live in NYC, you have to drive up to the Gunks or Dacks to see it.
The days are sunny, warm, but with that touch of crispness, and nights are cool. There was snow on the mountains before Thanksgiving, right above the house, and there will be again. In a month or two, I’ll be able to drive 45 minutes and going skiing before work.
Subtle seasons, and I don’t have to shovel snow. Works for me.
And I confess, I still get spring fever here almost every day. Fall fever, I guess, today.