After getting off the phone with Qwest, it seems that my ISP was under no technical obligation to run a separate ADSL line to the house, although Qwest notes that the locale is speed-restriced for DSL to 256k, which is a pain and has made clear to me that I was running well over that speed back at the apartment.

Here’s the interesting bit; I think I could cancel my Qwest DSL entirely and just go with the new ISP and save $15 a month, especially if Qwest notes the speed restrictions are hard-wired. The outstanding question in my mind is, “Are there technical advantages to a non-separate DSL line as opposed to the new POTS line they dropped with ADSL on it? Can I get more bandwidth by lighting fewer wires?”

It seems unlikely, actually.

The next question, of course, is “Can I multiplex the lines, especially without paying for the circuit that may or may not be attached to the Qwest line?”

Of course, I should really be doing stuff like unpacking boxes instead of wrestling with ephemera such as bitstreams.

One cord of 2-year seasoned cherry, inbound for afternoon delivery. Now I must prepare a crib!

Getting closer to figuring out the firewood thing, and I hope to have a cord slated for delivery on Friday.

I noticed that after burning the fire very hot for a short period of time, the masonry in the back of the hearth turned white for a while. I’m curious about this, but Googling yields singularly crappy results. Surely the fire is not heating the bricks to the point of glowing.

Overall, I remain in the gloomiest frame of mind, despite reconnecting with my firebug preadolescence. All I can do is wait it out, really; I hate life changes and I also hate the holidays, and I’m reliably unhappy at this time of year. Finding myself entering into a rerun of my adolescent living circumstances, with fewer financial options, would naturally tend to accentuate this frame of mind, I think.

But what the hell! I only stayed that angry for ten or eleven years, right?

a) conventional wisdom hereabouts notes that firewood should be stored away from the mists of our winters. Alas, my home currently mostly lacks such a place.

b) what’s the going rate for a cord of dense wood hereabouts, anyway?

c) no, really. where does you alls keep the good burnin’ wood? Izzit near? ‘Cuz I’m needin’.