I hate telecommunications companies

We went to Ikea Saturday night, and when we got home, I rushed over to the computer to see if the season 4 finale of Doctor Who had made it up onto the Internet. It had, and had been up long enough that there was a nice large pool of people seeding. Score! I fired up Azureus, sure that we would have the episode within the hour.

However, I hadn't counted on Veriz0n. We would get going at a good clip, only to have everything grind to a halt for a couple minutes as our Internet access blinked off and on. We've had this problem ever since we moved. We've had technicians out on multiple occasions, and the best we've managed is to only have the Internet go out during thunderstorms. Except it was barely sprinkling Saturday night, so even the dubious logic of an electrical storm couldn't explain away our problems. Veriz0n is evil, there's an explanation for you. They've also been overcharging us since we moved, and the combination of paying more money for spotty service is driving us insane.

FIVE hours later, we finally had it, and watched eagerly. Spoilers for season 4 finale of Doctor Who (highlight to reveal): I enjoyed it the same way I've enjoyed all of the season finales of Doctor Who: by turning off my mind and enjoying the spectacle. It was fun to see all of the former companions coming together, and it will be entertaining to see how they manage to bring the Daleks back (oh come on, you don't think they'd get rid of them permanently, do you?). Getting rid of Donna in such a permanent, senseless way really made me sad though. It was great to have a companion who could really stand up to the Doctor, and Catherine Tate had an incredible comedic chemistry with David Tennant. While this season has certainly had its suicidally depressing moments, Catherine Tate's comedic chops have provided a wonderful leavening, and bring out the best in David Tennant.

With my new job, which requires me to perform at a minimum speed, Internet blinking in and out is completely unacceptable. So we're finally allowing ourselves into the sinister clutches of C0mcast. After all, 7 more dollars a month is more than worth reliable service, isn't it? But here's the wrinkle: it's more like 20 more dollars a month if you don't subscribe to cable as well, because apparently they don't want to lure Internet customers away from Veriz0n. We would do it, but we signed a contract with our satellite company and we would pay a substantial penalty to cancel early. We're stuck between the competing evils of telecommunications companies. I finally decided that the extra money for the cable modem was (barely) less than the penalty we would pay for cancelling the satellite, so we're going the obscenely expensive cable modem route as the cheapest of our overpriced options. I'm chalking it up to a business expense, since the money I make working will more than make up for the extra expense.

Of course, I have to make it through training first. I'm about to start the test that will determine whether I get to actually have the job, and I'm feeling slightly panicky because I royally frakked up my last assignment. All will not be lost if I don't pass since apparently I can do some extra training and try to qualify again, but I would still appreciate good thoughts as I start out.

Why I'm wearing my husband's deodorant

(Disclaimer: not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach)

It's not because I didn't like mine (although I wasn't too sure about it - it was a scentless natural kinda thing from Trader Joe's and I wasn't convinced it was doing a great job).

It's not because I've decided to throw off the shackles of conventional societal mores on scent and hygiene and let my stink flag fly.

It does have quite a bit to do with the ticklish operation we had to perform tonight. You see, K has a new habit: taking off her diaper after we put her to bed. I wouldn't mind so much if this new compulsion were accompanied by an interest in potty training, but no such luck. Just a sudden desire for exhibitionism.

So tonight, we went into her room and found her asleep, without pants or a diaper. In her laundry basket. Incredibly cute, but not exactly an ideal sleeping situation. The ticklish operation was getting her into her bed and a diaper on her without waking her up, since the risk in waking her up is that she often can't go back to sleep for two hours. So we had to move her veeerrrrry carefully, but ultimately successfully, as she's now peacefully sawing logs in her bed, safely rediapered.

But back to the deodorant. A few days ago, I went upstairs and discovered K, holding out her poop-covered hands saying "Ewwww." I completely agree with you, kid.

She had woken up early from her nap, pooped and then taken her diaper off. This actually has happened more than once in the past (giving rise to a phrase you never want to have to say, "Where did you put the poop?"), but she's usually pretty neat about leaving everything in the diaper and putting it in a fairly logical place. This time, however, I found the offending diaper in my bedroom. And next to it, smeared with poop, was my deodorant.

I could understand why there was poop on the outside - she had poop on her hands, ergo, there was poop where she picked it up. But there was also some poop on the actual deodorant part as well. Did she try to rub deodorant on her butt?

So I threw that sucker right out, after putting the kid in the tub. I haven't had time to go to the store since to replace it, which is why I'm smelling rather manly these days (because I'm using men's deodorant, that is, not that I'm building up a sweatymanly odor by the end of the day).

*****

We've been downloading Dr Who, so I saw tonight's episode a couple weeks ago. But I had to watch it again (actually, we've been rewatching all of them when they show on American tv, because we're just that geeky) because it was such a delightful episode. And what a joy to see Felicity Kendal, who starred in one of my favorite Britcoms of all time, Good Neighbors, the hilarious series about a couple who decide to quit the rat race and take up farming in their yard in suburbia.