The Hobbit Hole V - Where Many Paths and Errands Meet...

ecurbh

[ecurbh]

Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!

Where Many Paths and Errands Meet...

• First thread: New Zealander builds Hobbit hole
• Second thread: The New Hobbit Hole
• Third thread: The Hobbit Hole III - Journey to the Cross-roads! (Congratulations, we filled it up!)
• Fourth Thread: The Hobbit Hole IV - The Road Goes Ever On...

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

[Wneighbor]

Goodnight Trini! Check back in when you have a few more minutes! :-)

[RMDupree]

My house is over 20 years old, so I doubt that they have fiber optic in the walls. What I think they mean is that the whole neighborhood has been rewired with fiber optic lines.

BellSouth did a whole lot of work in my neighborhood this past year, but they never touched the connections IN the house.

[Ramius]

Actually, Ruthy... the hundred bucks is mainly for the cost of the router (modem) that they will install. They probably want one of their techs to do it because there are too many setup items that too many customers get wrong and foul it.

If you can scrape up the C-note, it would absolutely be worth it in the long run.

[RMDupree]

Nighty night, trin!

[RMDupree]

Nighty night, trin!

[Wneighbor]

Wow.... clean desks every day!!! That's nuts!!! I would never make it. I'd be fired!

[Wneighbor]

Yeah. But, you've got a Baskin Robbins!

[RMDupree]

Is this modem a special kind of modem or something? I installed DSL at my boss's home office with the modem and install disk they ship to you.

[2Jedismom]

I really gotta latch in the chickens for the night.

21 degrees...and dropping. I gotta do it now...it's not gonna warm up.

[Ramius]

The fiber doesn't change anything installation-wise. They are simply being the lying b@stards that they are are, being a telco/cable company after all.

Those routers that they install cost them about $300 to $500 each. They count on recouping that with the installation fee and several months of service.

Don't they periodically run a "free installation" promo??

[RMDupree]

It's trivial and stupid, no doubt about it. But I heard rumors that some cleaning people have stolen social security numbers from desks and obtained credit cards.

That may be the whole reason behind the madness.

[JenB]

Hi-speed internet is another reason I haven't moved out yet...

[Wneighbor]

Okay. Go take care of your girls! Make sure they're warm and cozy for the night. Tuck 'em in nice.

[Ramius]

It's available in lots of places, you know... :-)

[RMDupree]

YES! They have a promotion for free installation, free modem (after rebate), a $50 cash back offer if you order DSL online and two free months of service once you're hooked up.

I went for it, and that's when the CSR said that I can have that special but only if I pay the extra $100 since my neighborhood has fiber optic lines and I MUST have professional installation because of it.

[Graybeard58]

Thought you might find this article from the local paper interesting:


LINCOLN - Tazewell County State's Attorney Stewart Umholtz says he now believes a knife taken from a Lincoln man on the Par-A-Dice is legal and not the illegal switchblade police charged him with possessing.

Umholtz said Ryan Sisk can have the knife back. "It's right here in the drawer, and if he wants it, give me a call."

Sisk, 29, went to the Par-A-Dice with his mother Jan. 10. As he entered the boat, a security guard spotted a folding knife clipped to his belt - a Kershaw Ken Onion "Chive" - and offered to hold it for him while he was onboard. Sisk agreed.

He later was paged by security. A state trooper arrested him for having a switchblade knife, illegal in Illinois, and he was hauled off in handcuffs.

After examining the knife, Umholtz had backed up the trooper, who had charged Sisk with unlawful use of a weapon, a misdemeanor.

Sisk was to appear in Tazewell Circuit Court in March to argue his case or, admit his guilt, pay a $250 fine and attend rehabilitation classes. Sisk was resigned to pay the fine, figuring it was cheaper than hiring an attorney and missing work.

But then Umholtz went beyond Illinois law and did a little checking. Kershaw, the manufacturer, Umholtz said, maintains on its Web site that its knives are legal in all 50 states.

He decided to drop the charges against Sisk - but that's not the end of the story.

Sisk and his knife have become something of a media sensation. The article, which first appeared in the Lincoln Courier, was reprinted in the Journal Star and picked up by other media. That's how an exotic-knife dealer in Hanna City heard about it.

The knife dealer, whose day job is to crew on boats, swears by the knife's safety and legality. He argued it is legal because it is opened by pressing on the blade, not a button, as specified by Illinois law.

That led Umholtz to do some additional research, after which he decided the knife did indeed fall outside the definition of a switchblade and was therefore legal. Kershaw, of Wilsonville, Ore., attempts to answer the switchblade question on its Web site.

Meanwhile, the "Chive" is back on the shelf at the Lincoln Wal-Mart after being yanked following inquiries about the knife at the retail chain's headquarters in Benton, Ark.

[Wneighbor]

Well, that part makes sense. We're required to keep our offices locked at all times for reasons like that. And with school the way it is I'd keep my office locked for personal reasons too even if it weren't "the rools."

[Ramius]

The corporate weenies

That's all you need to know, right there. This is madness.

[Wneighbor]

Rip off artists. Orcs they are!

[Ramius]

That was a dirty lie.

Thieves. Filty little thieves. We hates them.