Where Did That Bing Toolbar Come From? Windows Updates — That’s Where

"Bing" is the sound it makes when it hits the side of the recycle bin. That and every other toolbar they try to unload on me.
Where Did That Bing Toolbar Come From? Windows Updates — That’s Where

It looks like

It looks like we will be keeping Verizon Internet...at least until our contract runs out or it screws up again. We do not mind as long as it works. And it seems to be. Although neighbors to the south A. J. and Megan, really great kids, have offered to share. I would like to see them stick around a while. But they are in a rental so as their situation gets better I look for them to move onward and upward.

Jefferson is in a big construction project. Actually more than one but the pictures below are looking north on Elm street otherwise known as highway 4. An overpass is being built over the railroad track. We have many, many trains per day and at times it is very difficult to get across the track. And our one and only grocery store in the county is on the least populated side of town, north of the tracks.

Pondering

Butch and I were in the house today and we measured and discussed and decided and made a list. We call it progress.
Later this afternoon we are headed for Boone to help Jason and Laura with an electrical problem. What they do not know just yet is that I have a potroast I am bringing with me. It is bubbling away in the crockpot as I write.
It is a good day....

Stop, Look, Listen and be grateful

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gXDMoiEkyuQ#!

Thank You!

Discombobulated

I am all discombobulated and do not know what to do first. I have a fast Internet connection and it is with Verizon and if it stays working as it is we will be happy with it.

I have a routine in the morning with the Internet and it has been long enough without it that I cannot remember what it is I do first.  But this morning I felt it should be email and so I did. I go through the messages and take care of personal ones first and I have done that...so if you have been waiting for a personal message from me and I haven't answered you I may need a nudge because you could have become lost in there!!  I was selecting and deleting pretty fast sometimes just to get it pared down to where it wasn't so overwhelming.
I am still in shock over how well this Internet is working. Of course, it will not be long before I will take it for granted. One thing is for sure, I will have far less patience with them in the future if I am getting poor service.

We now have a lawn chair bungeed to the ladder so that should keep our little neighbor off the roof. She is definitely the mini Evil Knievel of the neighborhood. She is very near the age of the little girl who lives to the north of her. Aubry is her name. I have often wondered why they didn't play together. But she too is a little daredevil. I think if the two of them were together one of them would die. Geez, I am glad we raised boys.

On with my day now...but know that I am thinking about you....I always do!

Like a new Internet Experience!

This squirrel looks like he is ready to do some dirt work for us. You go, squirrel!

And here we have Fat Mama. I think she is preggers. What do you think? I hope she brings her babes around for a photo shoot.

So it is several hours later and Butch and I have both been on the Internet giving everything a good workout. So far so good. At first Butch thought it was faster than Roadrunner even but I would never go that far. I just experienced a slow down but it didn't last long and it was not as severe has it had been. I really had pessimistic expectations but it looks like I may have been wrong.

Earthquake Cake from Jan Foster

The latest

Had the Internet for a very short time this morning. It would come in and out for 5 minute intervals but it would take nearly 5 minutes for a page to load. So getting anything constructive done was a real crap shoot.
So I plan to get on with something more constructive...like laundry and/or cleaning.
I did the above and then...I received the new sim card about noon. So I called them and got it activated so I could see if it would work. At first it was worse than the other one! Stacey was supposed to call me at 3:00PM...she didn't. So I was getting ready to call person number 7 when I decided to try one of the things Stacey had me do yesterday which was to take the sim card out and rub the shiny part with my shirt tail and then reinsert it. As odd as it may sound it is now working. Not sure for how long but it seems to not only be working it is staying steady. So I plan to give it a good workout and see how it goes.
Gary sent me a video this morning and I haven't tried to run it yet but it seems like that should be a good test. And I have quite  a bunch of emails to get caught up on. So now the test begins!!!

Update

Internet update: Sunday
Butch and I have both been on the Internet this morning. It seemed to work okay for awhile but you cannot rely on it. About the time you are in the middle of something it will either go away or become unworkable. This is pretty much the way it was all last summer. This summer I have decided I will not pay for such bad service. It is looking more and more like we will be doing something different. I went back to the diagnostic page they led me to the other day. I am sure they do not expect you to remember how to get there and what to look for when you do. But I remember. I noticed we had been switched to 3G. It did not say 4G the other day but now it says very clearly ...3G. And they had me check modem speed on two different tech calls. On one call it was 94 and another 109. The tech told me that 80 is the best you can get and 125 is no signal at all. A few minutes ago it was 93. Not much improvement. When it was 94 he told me that was a very iffy situation and that indeed is what we have. I can see the end of the road but it is taking a long time to get there.
Monday morning ...
The end of the road is nearer still. Last night the internet went away and did not come back. Same story this morning . I checked our signal again and it is 98. Today is when I tell them our Internet relationship is finished...kapoot...done! No more contract. 3G, 4G doesn't matter it will not work in this area.

One of my dental implants in my bottom plate needs some attention so we will be making a trip to Atlantic. We have not been there for awhile so it will be a day of visiting with old friends if we can happen to catch them at home. Having lived in Cumberland for nearly 20 years we are very familiar with the area in and around Atlantic. And we like it. We like to have lunch at The Farmer's Kitchen. They have had national attention for their pies but all their other food is mighty tasty as well. We also like the Chinese restaurant downtown but I know they are not open on Mondays. It is actually our favorite Chinese restaurant of all the places we have ever tried anywhere. A Chinese family owns it and you do not get the factory stuff you do in other Chinese restaurants. The Mr. and Mrs. prepare all the food themselves.
We had a cold and rainy weekend so did not do much. The promise is for better stuff to come although stormy. In the midwest we are always treated to a variety of weather.
We did get to Atlantic and back. Butch wanted to do a quick trip so he could get the ladder secured and I needed to get my Internet debaucle resolved so we did not visit with friends as I had planned. We did run into Bob and Sandy Sheilds and enjoyed a nice visit with them.
Connie Jones called while I was in Atlantic telling me they were headed for Jefferson!! So we passed somewhere on the road as they live south of Atalantic. We will be in Atlantic next Monday and plan to meet Connie for lunch since we missed her today. Darn it anyway!!
Next chapter on the internet... The gal I talked to today said the only thing she can see that no one had tried yet was a new simm card. It is a tiny little card that fits in the device that identifies us from all the other devices. She said it was very, very rare for them to go bad but she wanted to rule it out. So how long will this take ,I ask. She said 2 to 3 working days unless I want to overnight it for $12.99. I said no because I refuse to put one more red dime into this situation. She talked to a supervisor and they are overnighting it at their cost. Will have it by 3 tomorrow afternoon...and she will call me back. I said you are now the 6th person to tell me they will call me back and 5 of them have not but we will pretend you will for now. She said no one has called you back because no one had a resolution to the problem. I said I know but that isn't making me feel any better. And that is why I want out of my contract.

So Butch now has the ladder secured. It looks like crap but if she tries to get up the ladder two things could happen. One being her weight would break the boards and she would fall 4-5 feet onto rock and the second being if she actually makes it onto the board to go higher there are screws coming through that could feel very bad on bare knees. It is a pain in the butt but we can not have her on our roof doing God knows what.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
I had to check the Internet of course and we still did not have it...and then for some unknown reason it let me in for about 5 minutes. I was even able to read one message and send a reply. Thanks Barb Wilson for the suggestion of bungeeing a lawn chair to the ladder. I do believe that is a good suggestion and I do not know why we didn't think of it.
I have to sit tight until I get the new simm card because we have to be here for delivery so you will not see this until it gets here and works or I leave Butch in charge and go out to the other Brooker's.

I received another 5 minute window of Internet so I am quickly trying to get this posted...more later!

And we continue...

Internet with Verizon...continued.April 28, 2012
A Verizon tech engineer called me this afternoon and said they had sent someone to the tower to investigate and they should soon have an answer for me later today. Hmmmm I am writing this at 8:12 PM and I do not have an answer. We have speculated that he got lost trying to find this non existing tower. I said he is probably stuck on top. Butch said he doesn't have to go on top. I said but he does have to find the damn thing. We have had great fun speculating on the possibilities.

We have another and different problem that came to light the last few days. We have a young girl who lives behind our place. I am guessing her age to be somewhere between 5-7. The neighbors told us she was on top of our motorhome a couple of days ago. Yes, on top! Climbed the ladder on the back. Her mother yelled at her and she got down. The mother knows how to yell and it has been our experience that is what she does best. This girl is a handful. Last summer she was driving a 4 wheeler by herself and going at top speed full out all the time in circles around their house and through the alley. I do not think her mother is up to the challenge. Bert and Everett also told us that she had opened our water hydrant...fortunately we had the water completely shut off. We would padlock it if we had not done that. But she had also opened a compartment on Gary and Susan's RV. Butch thought he had locked them all but apparently he had missed one. I do not think we can trust this youngster to leave our property alone. We plan on informing the police what she has been up to in case we need that on record for any future mishaps. Butch is also going to come up with a solution to make the back ladder inacessible. Any ideas? I thought maybe barbed wire...

You all remember Everett Beebe and his wife Bert. He is the fellow who had the heart attack while driving down our street. Everett is doing fine and he stops by to visit when he takes their dog Hunter for a walk. I know many of you have asked  how he  has been getting along. The answer is great!!


Sunday, April 29, 2012
The little hellion who lives behind continued. I told Butch I was going to come up with something to tell her when she comes over again. I am thinking about  telling her we have hidden cameras and we know everything she has done and that she is not allowed over here because she can not be trusted. And that if we see her over here again she could be arrested. Harsh, you say? Why not be friends with the child instead?
I could consider that...things usually work out as they are supposed to so we will see how this one goes.

Oh yes, I have a working internet...it works for 5-10 minutes and then quits...slower than 1996 dial up. The engineer must be up a pole with a screwdriver tuning us up. It is a baby step and still no phone call.