Internetus Interruptus
Our Internet connection was down this weekend. Started Saturday and dragged through Sunday.
We use Ashland Home Net. Owned by the city, we want to support our city. The service has been reliable. Like everything, though, there can sometimes be outages.
The net went down Saturday afternoon. We gave it time to come back up. Didn’t. So — reboot system. Still no connectivity.
I called our service provider and left a message. It’s a small organization and they don’t have someone in the office at night and on weekends. But they check their messages and get back to you.
They did get back to us on Sunday. We were out. I had my cell phone with me. “Private number” it said. I ignored it. Later, I listened to the message, which was Ashland Home Net telling me that they couldn’t find a record of our account.
*grumble grumble*
When we were home after our Easter festivities with friends, I pulled our records to call Ashland Home Net and give them our account number. The folder had notes from previous issues and fixes. This included one from 2023: “Netgear router inadvertently reset (button on side — beware).” I had the Netgear instruction pamphlet attached to the folder.
Aha.
I pulled out the pamphlet, followed the instructions, and got us back online.
I also called Ashland Home Net and gave them our account number, just to close that loop. And they called back, apologized for not being able to find us, baffled by that side of it, confirming that we were online again and weren’t experiencing any more interruptus.
Normal online life resumed.
Thirteen
I follow and enjoy Ron, who writes imaginative and frequently humorous poetry.
Today, he had a great piece, “I’m with Elmo”. Its origins go back to Poets and Stories. They offered a challenge: take one of five famous quotes about April, and use it as inspiration.
Here is my piece, “Thirteen”.
Cooperating
I drove down Siskiyou Boulevard under bright sunshine. Traffic was light. We traveled at 30 MPH, just over the speed limit.
The blue Subaru in the left hand’s right turn signal began blinking. The driver started over. Realizing that my car occupied the space, they veered back into their lane.
I dropped back to give them turning space. Seeing that, they completed their turn, and gave a big wave of thanks out the window.
Laughing, I waved back and headed on toward the coffee shop. That simple exchange gave me a shot of happy energy.
Things go so much better when we cooperate and don’t turn everything into a competition.
More WTH Trumpery
Pam Bondi is out as Trump’s Attorney General. I will not miss her, but what new horrible person will replace her?
I also wonder *smile* was Bondi a sacrifice to distract from the Epstein files?
Trump likes to claim how much he loves the military and respects veterans. Per Trump standards, his actions fail to support his words.
The Veteran’s Administration mortgage program had problems during the COVID years. Then the Biden administration killed part of the program that triggered a tsunami of foreclosures on veterans who purchased with VA-back loans. Trying to fix the problem under President Biden, the VA began a new program, VASP, to stem the foreclosures.
Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill of 2025 killed VASP, sending VA foreclosures to new highs.
More than 10,000 veterans lost their homes to foreclosure since May of last year, when the Trump administration shut down a key safety net in the VA home loan program, according to the latest industry data. That is the highest pace of foreclosures for VA loans in a decade.
A bipartisan bill was passed by Congress. Trump signed it into law but it was Democrats working with Republicans in Congress who got it done.
Many are cheering the Artemis II space launch. One of the biggest cheerleaders is Donald Trump.
Trump likes to forget that he’s cheering for an accomplishment which happened despite him.
President Trump’s 2026 budget proposal seeks to significantly slash NASA’s funding, which could bring an end to the Artemis program after Artemis III. The budget plan highlights a shift towards commercial space solutions for lunar missions, with a focus on Mars exploration. Major budget cuts to NASA’s space and Earth science programs are raising alarm within the scientific community, as they could impact the Mars Sample Return mission and other key initiatives. The proposal now awaits Congressional review, sparking heated debates and industry concerns.
Trump also hustled over the Supreme Court building to hear the arguments about his attempt to end birthright via executive order. Then he stormed out and lied about what’s going on.
“We are the only Country in the World STUPID enough to allow ‘Birthright’ Citizenship!” he wrote.
The United States is one of 32 nations who allow birthright citizenship.
As usual, Trump is wrong.
Doggy Thoughts
My neighbor stepped out into her front yard. Cowdog followed her out, tail wagging like mad.
A woman was walking two dogs on a leash out in the street. Both dogs halted, forcing the woman to stop.
The dogs stared at Cowdog. I swear they looked like they were thinking, “Hey, that dog is outside and they’re not on a leash. How come we have to be on a leash?”
Sunday’s Theme Music –
Ashland, Oregon — Sunday, March 29, 2026.
49 F here this morning, we’ll looking for another day where the high temperature is in the low 70s. Yesterday ended with clouds mixing up with sunshine, and that’s where we’re starting today.
My wife and I were zonked out from attending the No Kings protests. Standing there, holding letters spelling out “No War”, blasted by sunshine, car exhaust, and noise, just undone us. We ate at Ruby’s Grill, a local favorite afterwards, and then did some errands. Back home, I read myself into a thirty-minute nap.
Still, it lifted our spirits to be among so many protesting Trump and his policies. I was pleased by how many young people participated this time. The responses from motorists going by also pleased me, especially when I say cars full of young children go by, the driver honking their horns while the children waved, gave thumbs up, or flashed peace signs.
Seems like ICE isn’t popular. Nor is the Trump Iran War. Nor is Trump’s grifting, tariffs, lies, and pardons, or his connections to Epstein.
My sisters and I received a good Mom report today. Karin — daughter of Mom’s late partner, Frank — visited Mom yesterday. She reported that Mom was happy and healthy. Using her walker, Mom showed Karin around the assisted living facility, pointing out her friends and their names. Mom said she could live alone at home except she struggles to get out of bed.
My sisters and I pointed out to one another that Mom is doing well because she’s more active. Part of that is her vanity: other women are using their walkers there, so Mom will, too. She doesn’t want to be known as the ‘old woman in the wheelchair’.
Mom is also eating better there, and probably sleeping better. Her desire to be home stems from her fixation on finances: she has a home that she owns and doesn’t want to be paying a small fortune for a place to lay her head. Mom also knows her finances will only go so far — and then what?
Yes, it’s an aging riddle wrapped up in a social enigma. We’re happy that Mom is reported to be doing well.
Today’s morning mental music stream inhabitant is “Only A Fool Would Say That”. This is a 1972 Steely Dan tune. It came to mind yesterday during the No Kings protest in Medford. A young white woman stopped at a traffic light rolled her window down and shouted “God bless Trump” five times.
People around me laughed and said, “What a fool.” The Neurons picked it up and rushed to the music memory module to find the Steely Dan song.
I hope your Sunday proceeds with grace and peace.
Cheers
First World Blues — We Crashing
I bought a new computer in August 2025.
Although sold under Dell, I believe it is actually a Crash Laptop. It runs a Microsoft Crash 11 OS on which I run Microsoft Crash Edge, FireCrash, and Google Crash Chrome.
They’re always telling me empty and clean the cache. My cache is shiny and clean with emptiness.
They tell me turn off graphic accelerators and extensions. I would but they’ve already been turned off months ago.
I’m told to uninstall, reinstall, and update drivers and browsers.
Helpful sites suggest closing tabs or blame sites that are ‘video heavy’. You know, like Gmail, WordPress (and every blog site), Facebook, Google, Bing, YouTube, NYTimes, NextDoor, Animal Rescue Site, LoveMeow, ground.news, SFGate, Mock Paper Scissors, Daily Kos, The Hill, MS Now, APNews, WaPo, LitHub, MilitaryTimes, Seattle Times, LA Times, Daily Times, Guardian, the Mirror, and any game.
Dell says it can’t help me. My problem is beyond its warranty.
I am so happy with my Crash Dell.
On the bright side, every browser has an AI which I can use until it crashes.
My old computer using to crash once in a while. Had it for almost eight years. MS and others said, “Oh, you’re using Windows 10. Bad Juju. Change to 11 and all will be well.”
Snort. Chuckle.
What a sucker I am.
A Traveling Dream – with Pie!
I was packing all my personal goods up. Part of that was a lot of money, which I and arranged in boxes, cases, bags, and scheduled it to be picked up and taken east.
That done, I sought transportation for myself. I found a bus and bought tickets. Inside were blue seats. I found an open seat and sat. The bus’s seating reminded me more of a widebody jet, except, I saw, it was arranged in a star pattern. Either way, I thought it unusual for a bus and too big.
A crotchety woman was managing the passengers. She announced our itinerary. We were in Maine, heading for New York!
That was wrong! I was supposed to be on the west coast, going east. That’s where I packed my stuff.
Now I worried about my stuff. Had I sent it in the wrong direction?
Then I worried about all that money I’d packed away, fretting that somebody might steal it. I shouldn’t have left it like that, and I should have brought more with me.
A young dark-haired woman in red clothing was in the seat next to me. I recognized her but she apparently didn’t remember me. I played a sly little game, ‘guessing’ things about her because I knew her. She was amazed by how I correctly guessed.
They announced we were in New York and would have a rest stop. The crotchety woman came around serving us slices of pie. I took two pieces and passed them on to other passengers, then ate the third piece. It seemed like some kind of runny custard pie. I didn’t care much for the filling so I only ate the crust.
We arrived at our destination. I don’t know where it was but began looking for my stuff, anxious about how much of it I’d find there. Several of my bags were discovered. Inside them were bundles of cash. I gave some to another traveler because they needed help.
The dream ended as I was walking toward a building, finding and picking up more of my bags.
