Friday, August 04, 2006

(Before you get a heart attack, just to let you know that) i have msn

Okay now that i have a little more time on my hands, here's more on what's happened since i've arrived here...

I've been meaning to upload more photos here just to let you all get a better picture of what's been going on with me, but unfortunately my temporary internet connection (to be elaborated upon shortly) is of too low a quality to make the uploading of any more than one photo (the group shot at the airport) possible - maybe once i move to Fresno then...

And why do i have this lousy connection and how did i get it? Well basically the house that i'm staying in now in Gresham, OR (that of some old family friends) does not have internet access by means of either wireless or lan, the only two means i was familiar with up till yesterday to connect my laptop to the internet. So after some testing of the system here and there, i managed to, using the phone line, get a connection through msn, the downside being that i had to give them my card number, although theoratically i am supposed to be on a free three-month trial period, one that i hope to end in a week's time when i move to Fresno. I am still supposed to foot the bill of dial-up charges, which hopefully do not amount too much, or else when my father opens my bill next month he'll get a big shock indeed...

The other downside is that, perhaps to the cheers of many of you who are reading this now, i technically have msn now, and even as i type this annoying little windows keep on popping up on my bottom right-hand corner informing me that so and so has just come online. The strange thing is that almost all of these people are totally unknown to me (a good indicator of that is when their names appear solely in chinese script) - in fact, looking through my contacts list, i can only recognise a handful of people from VCF, probably people who assumed that i had msn and just added my email address to their contacts. Of course, however, i intend to rid myself once and for all from this once u change to a better internet connection next week, and i changed my status to permanently offline till that moment... Sorry folks, if you want to contact me it'll have to be through email, this blog, snail mail or skype (which already is a big step for yours truly)

And speaking of skype, i just got my first call a short while ago from Mark. Unfortunately, i now happen to be without the services of the mic that i rescued from earlier oblivion, as the dear folks at United Airlines happily went and left one of my baggages behind in San Francisco while my famiy, my other bags and myself arrived safely in Portland yesterday, this baggage being the one containing my mic. So the call just now consisted of me hearing his voice and me trying desperately and in vain (and come to think of it, rather stupidly) attempting to shout replies into the socket of my laptop where my mic is supposed to be plugged into. By God's grace, the stray piece of baggage only contains the rest of my collection of footwear, along with some tech gadgets like the mic, as well as an extra bag, so i haven't had to go around wearing the same set of clothes as yesterday or any of that nonsense. The airline promised the bag would get to me this morning, a promise that it obviously did not keep - well actually i have no problem with the delay, since i am informed that not only will the airline give me compensation $, but so will my travel insurance harhar...

One note of interest regarding today: After dinner we spotted a hedge of raspberry bushes along a fence next to an abandoned lot - so we went to pick the fruit - lots of them - enough to prompt the spontaneous decision to make a raspberry cheesecake just now (of course, my contribution did not go beyond plucking a handful of fruit - wouldn't want to poison anyone...)

Tomorrow promises to be an interesting day - a reunion of sorts =)

No comments: