Friday, July 6
Turns out fireworks are so ephemeral that it's not so easy to get good photos. Here's one from our 4th of July celebration along the Charles that did turn out alright. And I heartily concur with the Globe's assessment of the music performed by the Pops and celebrity guests before the fireworks began. For me, it was simply off the track of what's appealing and appropriate for a patriotic holiday. Much of the pre-fireworks show was stuff I wouldn't even bother to watch on TV and I would prefer that next year's concert follow the Globe's suggestion and reflect American values as represented in our music. Actually the music choreographed to accompany the display of fireworks did do that a little bit. My favorite was watching the skies light up to the sounds of 'Great Balls of Fire'.
posted by Judy at 2:33 PM|link
Wednesday, July 4
I'm celebrating the 4th of July with a battle of my own - getting my Verizon DSL installed after more than two years of promises. My service ready date was actually yesterday, anytime after 6 pm, so I eagerly began Step 1 of the installation process about 6:20. There was no problem plugging in the line filters for each of our four phones, so it was on to Step 2, plugging in the DSL modem. The lights were flashing and my hopes were high but alas, while the link and power lights showed a steady green, the ready light continued to blink. There was no synchronization with the Verizon central office. A call to technical support revealed that my service had not been activated and I was assured it could happen at any moment. However, if the ready light was still unready in the morning I should call customer care. Nothing was mentioned about the holiday, so I figured who knows, perhaps Verizon cares for its customers 24 x 7 x 365 and I called. Apparently they don't care on the 4th and of course, I can't begrudge them their patriotic due. Oddly though, the phone message said nothing about the holiday, only that 'Our normal hours of operation are 8 am to 8 pm EST'. This was repeated twice and then I heard, 'I'm sorry, you have entered too many invalid selections', a click and I was disconnected. I hope that my choice of Verizon DSL does not turn out to be an invalid selection. Stay tuned for further exciting developments.
posted by Judy at 3:50 PM|link
Tuesday, July 3
Sometimes it just feels so good to be arbitrary, and it doesn't really matter how young or old you are. Of course I'm speaking from the woman's point of view after reading today's column by Donald Murray in the Boston Globe. I started reading his column when it was called 'Over 60', but now that he and his wife are well beyond that, it's been renamed to 'Now and Then'. Though his commentary often provides insightful views of aging, today's article delivers a universal, any age scenario. When this arbitrariness hits me, I hope I can say, 'I'm having one of my salad days', trust that it will be understood, and then we can get on with other things.
posted by Judy at 9:57 AM|link
Monday, July 2
Every morning when I drive Peter to work aross the bridge from Charlestown into Boston, I'm cheered by the happy face on the upper left corner of this building. And these days it's important to start my day with a cheerful happy face since a week ago I was laid off after 10-years at Sybase. It's not all bad though, since I'd been taking some classes at Bentley College in their Information Design Program, and now I'll have a chance to try and find a position that will let me focus on the usability and user-centered design I've been learning about. It's either that or open a shop like the small ones I saw everywhere in Paris. I really couldn't figure out how their owners survived, between the large number of shops and small number of customers actually making purchases, but their days of sitting behind a counter making handcrafted items for sale and chatting with whoever entered, seemed like quite an enjoyable change from the usual work lifestyle. Well so much for the dreaming, I'm off to work on my resume instead.
posted by Judy at 7:21 PM|link