Friday, September 18, 2009

Back On the Grid

We now have phone service at the new house, with the same old number as of yesterday. Using the "number for life" feature of Vonage, we can keep that number as long as we use Vonage, even if we move out of the area. Which is weird.

The way the phones are set up is also weird; the cable comes into the basement just above the concrete portion of the wall and ends in the cable modem which is currently sitting on top of a utility cabinet for our tools and various hardware for the house. The Vonage box plugs into the cable modem and is sitting atop the concrete wall (the concrete part of the wall sticks out 1-1/2 inches from the framed part). Another cable runs from the Vonage box to our wireless router so we can connect to the Internet. And a phone cable goes to the base unit of the cordless phone, currently sitting on a chair.

All this will get straightened out in time, of course. The house is thoroughly wired for TV, phone, and computer connections, all terminating in a lovely tangle of blue and black wires suspended from the ceiling over the existing tangle of ethernet and phone wires. When other more pressing matters are taken care of, a small wall cabinet will contain patch bays where I can connect and re-connect the feeds to any room to the Internet, phone, and (eventually) satellite TV signals.

We have been without TV for several weeks now, and frankly much too busy to miss it. The kids have movies to watch that we've rented or checked out of the library, and the rest of us have a house to finish.

That will probably occupy us for some time to come.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Internet In, Phone Coming

We finally have our high-speed Internet connection, so I can start updating the site again, starting tomorrow. Phones will come next week, but it looks like we will keep our existing number.

The house, as anyone who's moved will know, is piled high with boxes and unplaced furniture. We're settling in gradually, trying to get the essentials done first. I just got the washer and dryer hooked up two nights ago, and this weekend I need to finish the installation of the dishwasher.

The most important thing we have to do is sort. The old house, with its kneewalls and sheds, had far too much deep storage to put things into and then forget about them. Can't get away with that now!

And, of course, the house isn't really finished yet. We only have one useable shower, and the attic is still, well, an attic when it supposed to be a bedroom. So there will be a lot of inside construction work going on to keep us warm this winter!

Now that I finally (I've been waiting so long) have a high-speed connection, it will be much easier to post pictures and movies. Before I had to load them on to my laptop (a 7-year-old iBook) and go to the library to use their connection. Now I can do it right from home. There should be a lot more updates in the near future.

Hold me to it!

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Coming Back Soon!

Our Internet connection is scheduled to be installed today, so although we won't have a phone (but that's coming soon!), we will be connected.

It will be the first time in my life I've had a (relatively) high-speed, full-time Internet connection, and we'll have wireless to boot! It will make it possible for us to try out the lower cost Internet telephone options and see if we can keep our communication costs at bay. It's also going to make it much easier to keep up on the family site and blogs.

So, the pictures should be back in a day or two!

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Off the Grid

You may have noticed that the picture of the day is, to be perfectly honest, missing. Glitch on my part which I will fix soon, but right at the moment Internet access is sketchy as we are in the process of moving.

No phone service in the new house yet, and no television (not that we have time to watch). Things are progressingm however, with no more problems than those concerning lack of time, exhaustion, and bruises and sore joints from moving heavy furniture. In other words, just the usual.

Nearly all of the large stuff has been transferred to the new house, and only Thomas is still sleeping in the old house, until this weekend. It's a bit, how can I put this, rustic, but I'm enoying the feeling of being there (though I enjoy it less at 5:00 am when I have to get up for work and discover that I left an important article of clothing on the second floor when I happen to be in the basement).

This is a short entry; I have to get back up to the house and get myself to bed. I will try to do some catch up this weekend if I can get to the library for a connection, because by that time I won't have one at home. Soon, though, and finally a faster one!