I know you're talking because I can see your lips moving

No, really.

I fixed my broadband, which has been broken since the air conditioning went in. You know what was wrong? (No, of course you don't. You didn't just spend hours pulling out your hair while trying to tweak software that didn't need to be tweaked.)Finally, I replaced the phone cable with a spare RJ-11, and now everything is just fine.

Like I said, hooray. The embarrassing part is that it took close to two weeks before I sat down to troubleshoot. I don't really care, all it means is that I haven't spent all that much time online the last few days, and I think that's really not a bad thing. Maybe it's not embarrassing as much as an indicator of my laziness.

The holiday weekend, which seems very distant now, was all righty. I went out to Front Royal and spent time with friends. It's always good to get out of Washington, even if you do run a greater risk of hearing "God Bless the USA" in the more rural parts of Virginia. On Saturday night we piled into the Canyonero and went to Winchester for dinner. Quelle ordeal. They have a steak buffet at the Golden Corral, which is fine, I guess, but no choice to opt out of the steak part. I thought it must suck for the two vegetarians in our party to be paying for steak they weren't going to eat. On the other hand, the mashed potatoes were good, and the meat eaters among us really enjoyed the steak. I'm not entirely sure that "vegetarian" isn't a dirty word in Winchester, Virginia. (Or if one is going to do a fool thing like skipping the meat, why on earth would one be at a barn-like steakhouse?)

The whole purpose of the restaurant choice was that we'd have a chance to observe the locals and be aghast. I know, that's not really something you want to happen during dinner, but we went in there with our eyes open nonetheless. To tell the truth, the locals weren't all that scary, they just semed rather large, especially the children.

Are kids allowed to go outside any more? Most people who know me know how I feel about video games and television for those under 12 (and for those who don't, I consider both to be evil and wrong with a few exceptions), which is yet another reason I'm glad I don't have kids. I'd be the meanest parent ever.

In any event, I'm rambling, which happens when I start writing with nothing to say, plus I have to get ready for dinner. That means finding something to wear and doing something presentable with my hair, and that could take some time.

before - after