Three?

They say bad things happen in threes.  These definitely don't qualify as the world's worst but they should at least be int he world's most inconvenient category.

I woke up this morning at abotu 6:15.  My alarm was set for 6:30 so I rolled over to grab a couple minutes more.  When I woke up again I thought that it felt like a long fifteen minutes and I was right. It was 6:40.  My phone was dead. I somehow managed to get to Missoula without a phone charger, or any other cables actually. I'd borrowed a cable from a friend and used it.  The phone was at about 10% last night and this morning it wouldn't do anything.  I didn't know if it was just a dead battery or certifiably dead. Great. No phone. No way for co-workers or family or anyone to reach me.

I was able to get a charger at the Verizon store this evening when they confirmed it was just a dead battery. He gave me 25% off the charger and drastically (12.99 down to 3.74) screen protectors too. Ok! Back as part of the world!

I got back to the hotel and had a voicemail. It was from my neighbor who is taking care of my dog and cat while I'm away. She'd left a message saying that there was a veritable river of water running down my front porch. She couldn't tell what the source was or what the problem was. Damn.  She also knows my mom and called her about the water when she couldn't reach me.  Mom had another neighbor turn the water for the house off at the streets and he's going to monitor. I have no idea what the damage is.  It could be just the spigot, it could be a full pipe burst. With the water off I could repair the former, I can definitely not repair the later.

I won't be home for another nine days and when I do get home, I'm only home for about 42 hours. I can't schedule repairs since I don't know what's wrong and I won't be there to authorize and pay for it.  That may mean my only day home is spent fixing the house and not showering.  For Fucksake.  Is there a worse time this could have happened?

Now. . . What's number three?

Do I generate my own magnetic field?

For this blog, I owe creative inspiration to my mom. It's become a long running joke between us that I ruin technology like no one else. There's been another bout of "Melissa as the technological Bermuda Triangle" over the last couple months.

couresty of superphysics.netfirms.com.  I imagine my magnetic field looks like this.

I roughly estimate that in the last six years I've gone through two laptops (I'm on the third), a hard drive (on the second), two i-pods, several cameras and more headphones than I can remember.   I believe most technology was built with planned obsolescent in mind.  Even if you buy the best digital camera available now, in two months it will quickly be on it's way to the rubbish bin.

My sister is usually quick to hop on to new technology.  She implores why I don't have a _______ yet, and ______ could be anything from a model cell phone to a computer program.  I always wait several versions, waiting for the manufacturers to realize what they screwed up and fix it in the successive models.  Great example was the i-phone that was released last year that couldn't make phone calls.  Seems like that might be a requisite for something called an i-PHONE!!!

As much as I love music,  it wasn't until generation 15 or so that I got an i-pod.  Last week I dropped my beloved 120gb classic i-pod off for a battery replacement.  In Indonesia that mean that you will actually be getting a new i-pod of the same model.  My old one went out after a power surge at the crap hole boarding house I was staying at before. That power surge also blew out my blackberry, of which all the innards have been replaced. My mother very kindly lent me her old i-pod, a skinny one that holds a whopping 125 songs.  I scoff but I would have gone crazy the last month on the back of the ojek without it.

courtesy of methodshop.com  The frown is how I felt. The battery went out on my so I didn't even get this icon.

Now my blackberry is going out again.  I'd been in Indonesia about three months when my first phone went missing.  I replaced it with another cheap brick phone and kept that one when I upgraded to a Blackberry last August.  The blackberry was stolen in October and I bought a used one from a friend.  This is my current phone.  It's at least three models old now,  has had the screen, battery and circuitry replaced once and spent three nights in rice drying out (dessicant is my current favorite word).  I had a leaky water bottle in my purse the first time, the second was a fall into a small amount of water that couldn't even be termed a puddle.  The third time in the rice was Sunday night.  I don't know what happened to my phone so I thought I'd stick it in rice over night anyway.  Monday I had to reinstall several programs and blackberry messenger still isn't working well.  The keys are also sticky.  I either get five i's or none.  Looks like I'll be phone shopping again shortly.

courtesy of bgr.com

When I went home for the Christmas holidays the internet went out.  Actually, within 48 hours of my arrival the router went out.  Not just the internet signal, my mom had to buy a new router.  She swears I caused it.  I think it should be remembered that I was the good luck charm when we went Christmas shopping and found stellar parking spots but I'm not sure if they cancel each other out.  Printing the final copy of the new science book after returning from holidays was nearly impossible, as are many technically related tasks at work. Printing, internet and access to the server are all out of service on an at least twice weekly basis.

courtesy of cabq.com.  Wave of the future?

I don't think, however that I generate my own gravitational pull.  On the day I do, someone must say something!

Electrical vortex; or the terrible horrible no good very bad day

"I went to bed with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair".  That's the opening line to a book called Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst.  As a child my mom would read a book to my sister and I most nights at bedtime.  This became a standard especially when either of us were having that kind of day.  Now, twenty some years later, I still use that line to describe my day and my mom knows it was a rougher-than-usual one. He is the only of the three brothers who doesn't get a toy in his cereal box, has cavities at the dentist and doesn't get the color shoes he wants. His best friend leaves, he accidentally causes a mess and life is a wreck. *SIGH* I might trade for those problems.

courtesy of wikipedia.com

 Sometimes terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days run together.  I seem to have had one (or one +) lately.  On Sunday night I arrived home from dinner and plugged everything in to charge-my ipod, my phone, my other phone, my laptop. I hopped in for a quick and COLD shower.  When I got out my phone screen was all white.  I couldn't revive it by removing the battery.  It lived at the repair shop last night. They'd said they could fix it in an hour. They told me it would be today after I'd waited around for an hour.

Hopefully it's not this bad but I've got my fingers crossed. Courtesy of pileofphotos.com

My ipod has refused to charge for 3 days. The battery has just hit the red level critical stage.  A co-worker said I may be able to trade it in at a local mall.  There isn't a place to have the battery replaced in Indonesia. This place will supposedly take it in, mail it to Singapore and I'll get a new one all for about 800,000 RP ($90). In the meantime the ojek rides will feel very long.  Did I get magnetized overnight?  My electronics all died about the same time. This is not the first time this has happened, don't even ask about my track record with laptops or external hard drives.

Whaaa happened?  courtesy of consumerist.com

 Last night after the phone debacle, I headed home and hopped in the shower.  Mid shower, with shampoo in hair and soap on body, the water stopped.  Just ran out. After waiting three or four minutes I was able to rinse off in cold water.

courtesy of countryliving.com

I checked out Thanksgiving dinners online a couple weeks ago.  I wanted turkey in Indonesia.  I found the American Club was hosting dinner.  On their website it said Friday at 6pm.  I just called and it's Thursday at 6pm.  Now I have to scramble to see if people are still interested and all without the aid of my phone.

I'm waiting to hear from someone who isn't calling.  I've missed an opportunity for a job, and it's end of the school year stress at the one I have.  After being told by random people that I look slimmer/fitter, I was told point blank to my face last night that I've put on weight. Lose crowns, massive bug bite (I'm guessing a spider but really unsure)I feel I'm missing something I was moaning about yesterday.

Sometimes a rant is necessary. Thanks and apologies.

adendum to transportation

             Today was day 5 of riding with my new ojek and he didn't show to pick me up from school.  I sms'd. I called. He said he was on his way but there was traffic.  I waited 40 minutes (45 if you count the 5 minutes I was out there early). then I gave up and got another ojek.  Ojeks are usually faster and cheaper than taxis. They do subject you to the elements and pollution. Perhaps the biggest drawback of ojeks is that they are generally used for a certain area.  Therefore an ojek from Ceger (East Jakarta) where my school is doesn't necessarily know Kuningan (Central/South Jakarta) where my place is. In fact I find this more and more often to be the case.  After waiting 10 minutes for a security guard (very sweet of him actually) to get a local ojek willing to make the trek, i sat on the bike through rain and traffic only to have him totally blow not one but two turns, have to turn around northbound where the traffic was even worse and go back.  My original destination was Plaza Indonesia mall. I gave up.  I got off the bike and walked 10 minutes home. From here I will have to take another ojek to the mall.
               I have tomorrow off work and have to do a bunch of errands.  When my ojek Sokardi comes in the morning to drop my helmet off I'll offer him the work tomorrow. If not then at least we should be set for Thursday to work again.  It's sad that even after a crash and being late once in 5 days, he's still better than the last guy.  And to my estimation about par for the ojek course. All in all about two and half irretrievable hours of my life gone between the wait and the ride. Not to mention the aching back and worn patience. 
               As an aside, I think I have a new mission.  The buses and angkots here have names on the back, everything from Barcelona to Marie.  I am going to attempt to document as many of them as I can from the back of my ojek to and from school, especially the bizarre ones. They remind me of chicken buses in Guatemala, almost as colorful too.
               I just realized that in my intial catalog of transportation I forgot one.  It's not transportation in that it doesn't move people from one place to another, but it does hold up traffic.  These are the push carts.  They can be a "restaurant" on wheels or just a vendor but they find a place on the road too.