In an atypical display of agility sbc had someone out to replace our dsl modem today. Not bad. The biggest hurdle I faced was getting past tier 1 support. It's really odd trying to deal with phone support when you genuinely have a fair idea of what's wrong.
Round one went sort of like this:
Marisol: Thank you for calling... blah blah, this is Marisol. How can I help you?
Me: Well, uh... the ethernet light on my dsl modem won't come on (this is how I decided to say it rather than the more technical "The ethernet receiver in my dsl modem is dead.") I've tried changing the ethernet cable and I've hooked it to a different windows pc.
Marisol: Ok. Let me see if there are any outages in your area. One moment.
Me: Well, the DSL light is on. I think the DSL connection is ok... but the ethernet light won't come on.
Marisol: And you said you already changed the cable? What version of windows are you using?
Me: uh. Windows XP. (What I always say. Explaining that the modem is plugged in to a linksys router that runs linux is a lost cause)
Marisol: Ok. I want you to turn the modem and your pc off and back on. Make sure you close all the windows first.
Me: Well, I'm not at home. (as I was thinking "What!?! What the hell difference is that going to make?")
Marisol: Well, sir, I can't help you right now, then. Please call back when you're at home.
Fortunately round 2 went significantly better... which is to say that it got my call escalated. Once I talked to somebody in tier 2 support (or backline, or whatever) they were able to understand that I knew enough to know that I needed a new modem and send someone out with one (overkill, but, who am I to complain).
Working as someone in backline support, I understand the need for a tiered support model. I just wish that frontline support could generally be better. Ah well. Classic problem.
...
In addition to Eat, Drink, and be Healthy I am reading The New Laurel's Kitchen. The latter comes as a recommendation from a coworker. My copy arrived yesterday. I haven't had an opportunity to read it in detail yet but a casual glance through impressed me. I think if I can really read and understand these two books I'll have a MUCH better understanding of nutrition. Of course, the real trick is changing my lifestyle based on what I've learned. One step at a time.
More out of curiosity than anything else, I've started keeping track of what I eat and how many calories it contains. In the grand blog tradition of posting shit no one cares about but the author, here's what I had yesterday.
| Calories | Item |
|---|---|
| 150 | Oatmeal - .5c when dry |
| 85 | Unsalted Peanuts - .5oz |
| 81 | An Apple (a beautiful fuji.. it kicked ass) |
| 23 | 2 sour gummi worms |
| 800? | A regular tuna sub from Quiznos (estimated) |
| 118 | Quinoa - .5c (I wanted to know what it tastes like) |
| 200? | Grilled Salmon - slightly less than 4oz |
| 100? | Mixed Veges - probably had something on them |
| 85? | Black Beans - ~.5c |
| 500? | Southwest Eggrolls - 1.5 |
It's amazing how many calories you can eat without really realizing it.
I had never heard of quinoa until recently. Now it seems like I read about it everywhere... and every time there's the seemingly obligatory pronunciation guide ("It's pronounced Keen-WAH"). I think that's probably the best description of the texture I've read. The taste is also unique... kind of like bulgur wheat and blood. It tasted really good with black beeans, though.
Now that I've gotten past the experimental taste-testing phase I'm kind of at a loss for what to do with it. Searching the internet for quinoa recipes hasnt yielded much that I'm too impressed with yet. We'll see.