LaurenandLloyd.com

where our wasted time becomes your wasted time

Lloyd

No world wide web

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The internet was (actually still is) down at Lincoln Lutheran for most of the day today. I told Windstream of our woes around 10:30 and bothered them every hour for an update on what they had found. Finally, at about 3:00, the 7th guy I talked to said that they had been, “really busy” and no one had actually even looked at my problem yet. Thanks Windstream.

Being without internet is more of a thing than it was even two years ago. Our teachers and students use it for getting assignments, working on them and turning them in. I spent most of the day in conversations like this:

everyone at school: When is the wi-fi going to be working?
me: The wi-fi is working.
everyone at school: Did it just come back?
me: No, it’s been working all day.
everyone at school: huh?

At this point I generally just walk off. Usually –here I’m just assuming– they figure out the difference between the wi-fi and the Internet. But if they don’t, I don’t really care at this point.

Eventually Jim from Windstream came by (I told the last Windstream guy I talked to to change our business hours to 8:00am to 8:00pm, because today was Awards Night, and I would be here anyway.) He couldn’t figure out why they had dispatched him without first doing some off-site diagnostics. I theorized with him that it was done mostly in an attempt to slow down the rate at which I was calling them.

Jim was nice, and seemed to know what he was doing, but a series of unfortunate coincidences (including, but not limited to a tornado warning) kept him from actually fixing the problem. He did, however, diagnose the problem.  There was evidently a light that won’t light on one side*. He took it back to his workshop to fix it up there and bring it back here. He’s actually going to try to bring it back tonight.

I’ve arranged a secret knock between Jim and our custodian Todd, so Todd can, at least theoretically, let Jim in. Jim says that best case scenario is that our internet might be back up in about two hours. Worst case scenario is, in his words, “a while”.

 

 

 

*It is actually quite surprising how accurate a description of the problem this turns out to be. The SFP that converts the light in the fiber optic cable from light to electrical impulses is receiving light correctly, but is failing to turn the corresponding electrical impulses back to light for the return trip.

In case you were wondering

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All of the information for the 2016 Sommerer Family Reunion is up on the Sommerer Family Website. I know you’ve all been wondering when it would be up. We’ve tried to scale it back s little bit, so this year there is only 6 pages of information.

But don’t let that fool you. We’re really very laid back. So I would like to invite you all to come. You’ll have to some bring beer. And some food. And by “some” I mean, like, a lot.

I’d type more, but I just added 6 pages of information to s website.

At the Meyers

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From Lauren: Happy Birthday to Deborah! I made a back-up post because apparently I have no faith in Lloyd. Deborah and Brad responded, but it took away from the awesomeness of this post. Sorry, Lloyd.

Back to Lloyd’s post:
We were over at the Meyers house a while ago, and I saw this on an end table.  What I really wanted to ask, but it didn’t come up at the time, and I can never remember to ask when I see them is this: Is that an actual Lego set, or did you (or someone you know) put it together?

However they answer, it is an awesome answer. Either it’s from Lego, in which case, I can think about all of the other sets they might have that I don’t know about. I don’t know if they would limit to just New Testament sets, or if they might do Old Testament sets as well. Maybe a transfiguration set? Or a Pentecost set? If the O.T. is an option, then I’m hoping they skipped Noah and went right on to the Battle of Jericho. A truly epic set.

Or, maybe someone pieced it together. That would be cool too. I’m sure Sam knows the answer. But until he does, what sets would you like to see?

Will & Grace’s Wedding Reception

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It was a really amazing wedding reception. It was at an amazing venue. They had a (series of) amazing bands. The food and drink was wonderful. They looked adorable together.

I told Lauren that there was just one thing that they had that I wanted. Cheese. They had the most amazing cheeses. There was so much of it, and it was so delicious. They were like cheeses I’d never had before (probably because they were cheeses that I’d never had before).

And I told Lauren another thing too. I wanted to know what those cheeses were without having to actually do anything to get the cheese information. She really came through for me. A few days later I had this list:

cheese

I haven’t actually done anything with the list yet, because every time (how come anytime is one word, but every time isn’t?)I was somewhere with cheeses, the list of cheeses was on the refrigerator. But someday soon, those cheeses will be mine. Oh, yes, they will be mine. Please note that cheese mails particularly well this time of year.

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies

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Everyone’s second choice for Bad Movie Night was Pride & Prejudice and Zombies.

Don’t tell anyone, but I’m as big a Jane Austin fan as the next guy.  Okay, I’m probably a little bigger Jane Austin fan than the next guy. I think all of us agreed that if you haven’t seen Pride and Prejudice, you shouldn’t see this movie. And if you don’t particularly like Pride and Prejudice, you’d better be (a) a big fan of zombies and (b) fairly open minded about your zombies.

I actually really enjoyed it. It was amazing to me how closely all of the major plot elements of Pride & Prejudice were incorporated. I don’t know if I was more impressed when the dialog was exactly the same or when it was changed cleverly to reflect the, um, new circumstances.

Samith was surprised at how long the movie was. Curt, who had no prior Pride and Prejudice experience, thought it was a very bad movie indeed.

Very Little Remains

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When we last went back to Missouri to see my folks, my brother Aaron and I made a little bit of an archaeological side trip. There’s an odd outcropping of rocks in the middle of one of the fields on the farm. Actually, it’s more of an outcropping of rock. I would guess it’s about 30 feet by 30 feet, but it’s more roundish than square.

Surrounding the rock are a dozen or so trees. So it looks like a little oasis in the middle of the field. I always called it, “The Secret Zone” when I was growing up. Well, I still call it that today, but I’m a little more self conscious about it now. I don’t know if that’s the name I gave it, or if it’s the name that someone else told me. In my mind, I always associate it with The Phantom, but I’m not at all sure about that.

When I was a kid and I would play at the Secret Zone, there were a series of white tracks that ran over the rock. Straight sections, curves, ramps were all –at least to little Lloyd– readily visible. And, more importantly, just the right size to run Matchbox™ cars over. It wasn’t a complete roadway. There were many sections that were missing or washed out or under construction.

Once I was talking to my dad about them and he said, “I know about them. I made them.” Back when he was little Lloyd, he had (found, come across, absconded with –it was never quite clear) a quantity of plaster and built a network of roads to drive his cars on. 25ish years later they were still around. A little worse for wear, but still around. I imagine the biggest factor in their deterioration was cows walking on them. They were clearly engineered for less weight.

Fast forward 35ish more years… Anyway, Aaron and I set out for the Secret Zone with shovels and rakes and implements of destruction. We found a lot of leaves and dead trees, but we set about cleaning the area where I vaguely remembered the track to be. Then we set about cleaning a wider area (it was a long time ago).

zone1

There wasn’t much left. We found traces here and there, but there were no long sections left. We might have removed some of the evidence with our somewhat vigorous raking. But it brought back fond memories just the same, and it was nice to visit with Aaron while we were tidying up the place.

zone15zone2 zone3