"Things fall apart, the center cannot hold."
And two of those things at the current moment are my high-speed internet connection and my car.
Haven't been on here much because the only good connection we have here in Gravesend has been wireless coming from god-knows-where, and it's been out for four or five days now. A few other, less-powerful, signals come in now and then, just long enough for me to start looking at a page before vanishing and leaving me hanging. So here I am on good old dial-up.
And once again we consider finally biting the bullet and actually paying for a good internet connection of our own here at the home. Any advice on good ones in Brooklyn, NYC? We don't have/want cable TV or a digital phone, just a good, solid high-speed internet connection that doesn't cost much (or it isn't worth it to us).
At some point, the extended post I was writing about Joe Dante as part of a Blog-a-thon at Tim Lucas's Video Watchblog site, now at least a week late, will go up, as soon as the laptop it's saved on gets wireless service long enough to send a post.
The worse news is that my minivan, Petey Plymouth, is basically dead. It started doing some odd shudders about three weeks ago, and it was VERY noticeable (and worrisome) going back and forth to my dad's for Thanksgiving. So I've been taking it easy, and not using it much. Finally took it in to the garage yesterday -- yup, it's the transmission. $1,800 worth.
It's a 1994 Grand Voyager with 205,000 miles on it, and Karl, my usual mechanic, said when he called me, "We like to make money as much as the next guys, but really it's not worth it, man." Personally, I wanted to keep this baby together and working to 500,000 miles, but I guess that was a pipe dream (dammit, a car SHOULD be able to do that!). So, I've got it home in the garage while we figure out what to do next with it, and with our vehicular needs.
Losing Petey means a whole lotta pains-in-the-ass with theatre work, making money, and visiting family as often as we're used to. But we lived without a car for years, and we'll deal (we live about 30 seconds from an F Train stop). I really NEED something that can carry 4x8 pieces of plywood around, though -- I'd come to rely on a minivan for transport and storage of theatre props/sets (especially during Summer festivals, when my shows have LIVED out of the back of the car; hell, Temptation had to store set pieces there between performances when there wasn't enough room at The Brick).
So, we'll see. For a while though, I won't be "the guy with the van," able to help out friends and family, anymore.
The good news is I have tickets to see the new David Lynch film tomorrow afternoon (!!!), and I'm seeing a couple other pieces of theatre this and next week that I'm looking forward to (some of which I can't talk about directly; I'm judging for the New York Innovative Theatre Awards as part of the deal for having Temptation judged -- and I hope some of you remembered to vote for it . . .).
However, it is a sad sign of being "grown-up" (supposedly) when my excitement at a new Lynch film cannot overcome my upset at not having a working car.
And two of those things at the current moment are my high-speed internet connection and my car.
Haven't been on here much because the only good connection we have here in Gravesend has been wireless coming from god-knows-where, and it's been out for four or five days now. A few other, less-powerful, signals come in now and then, just long enough for me to start looking at a page before vanishing and leaving me hanging. So here I am on good old dial-up.
And once again we consider finally biting the bullet and actually paying for a good internet connection of our own here at the home. Any advice on good ones in Brooklyn, NYC? We don't have/want cable TV or a digital phone, just a good, solid high-speed internet connection that doesn't cost much (or it isn't worth it to us).
At some point, the extended post I was writing about Joe Dante as part of a Blog-a-thon at Tim Lucas's Video Watchblog site, now at least a week late, will go up, as soon as the laptop it's saved on gets wireless service long enough to send a post.
The worse news is that my minivan, Petey Plymouth, is basically dead. It started doing some odd shudders about three weeks ago, and it was VERY noticeable (and worrisome) going back and forth to my dad's for Thanksgiving. So I've been taking it easy, and not using it much. Finally took it in to the garage yesterday -- yup, it's the transmission. $1,800 worth.
It's a 1994 Grand Voyager with 205,000 miles on it, and Karl, my usual mechanic, said when he called me, "We like to make money as much as the next guys, but really it's not worth it, man." Personally, I wanted to keep this baby together and working to 500,000 miles, but I guess that was a pipe dream (dammit, a car SHOULD be able to do that!). So, I've got it home in the garage while we figure out what to do next with it, and with our vehicular needs.
Losing Petey means a whole lotta pains-in-the-ass with theatre work, making money, and visiting family as often as we're used to. But we lived without a car for years, and we'll deal (we live about 30 seconds from an F Train stop). I really NEED something that can carry 4x8 pieces of plywood around, though -- I'd come to rely on a minivan for transport and storage of theatre props/sets (especially during Summer festivals, when my shows have LIVED out of the back of the car; hell, Temptation had to store set pieces there between performances when there wasn't enough room at The Brick).
So, we'll see. For a while though, I won't be "the guy with the van," able to help out friends and family, anymore.
The good news is I have tickets to see the new David Lynch film tomorrow afternoon (!!!), and I'm seeing a couple other pieces of theatre this and next week that I'm looking forward to (some of which I can't talk about directly; I'm judging for the New York Innovative Theatre Awards as part of the deal for having Temptation judged -- and I hope some of you remembered to vote for it . . .).
However, it is a sad sign of being "grown-up" (supposedly) when my excitement at a new Lynch film cannot overcome my upset at not having a working car.