Good Going, Penn.
The first thought I had this morning wasn't the primary in Pennsylvania. Shortly after coming upstairs, though, I suddenly remembered in a rush and did some time-change calculations. They were still voting, so I pushed the little button on my beautiful laptop, which I love so very much due to the fact that it is one important part of my unadulterated access to the Internet.
I started clicking on my usual sites to follow the goods, including MSNBC, which I discovered would let me watch the primary action live! I was still a little sleepy and took my attention off my computer and turned it toward some morning show with the word "sunrise" in it that was giving a woman a complete makeover, replete with two-hour psychology session (!), a botox treatment, microdermobrasion (What?! Is that one word or three?) and all kinds of other things. Bored, I looked back at my computer.
White screens. All my tabs. Blank, white screens.
I looked in panic at the modem. No red lights. I clicked other sites to make sure it wasn't me. Perhaps the traffic on these sites is high? Politics in the U.S. is
thatsignificant now that all the sites I visit are unable to allow me access to their content.
Nope. Not even the video was working. No little clips from Huffington Post. And every couple of minutes, I'd get a blip of voice from one of MSNBC's commentators -- including Rachel Maddow, my new hero -- on the slow-to-never-loading video.
I pouted. I steamed. Then I remembered: Australia broadband schemes allot users lanes on the band based on upload and download traffic. Use too much, you're fucked. Well, that's what I was today. Fucked. Just like the outcome in Pennsylvania. Fucked. I plan on retiring my Pirates hat temporarily. (It's a good fit.)
The only good thing about today was that the Spurs beat Phoenix to take a 2-0 lead in the first round of the playoffs. I watched ESPN's gamecast thingy, a pop-up window that lists each play of the game line by line with cute little graphics. It's not fun to "watch" that way, but it's all I had. If I ever get a decent Internet connection, I will go in search of NBA games broadcast in Brisbane. I'm not feeling hopeful.
