Off Line

Well, it's been giving us a bit of trouble for a week or so now, and, this afternoon, our DW6000 Satellite Modem finally gave up the ghost.  This is the device that connects us to the internet through our sattelite dish, part of the HughesNet (formerly DirecWay) system.  The consequence is that we are entirely off-line.

I am posting this courtesy of my cell phone, which works here at South Shore Park on Lake Bastrop, in Bastrop, TX (map).  I have a cable and some software to allow me to connect to the internet through the cell phone, albeit at painfully slow speeds.

This is a nice little park, run by the Lower Colorado River Authority (no, the other Colorado river).  We are right on the lake, where we might swim later, and have a 50-amp service here to run all our air conditioners.

I'll be checking email right after posting this, and then we will be away from email until a replacement DW6000 arrives Wednesday via second-day air.  The modem itself is under warranty (we only bought it last August), but they are charging us for the expedited shipping.

I was able to manually aim the dish well enough to get the TV working, so I won't go stir-crazy later or, heaven forbid, have to entertain myself with non-electronic means, such as reading.  (Actually, we were away from the internet and US TV the whole time we were in Mexico, so I am still feeling a bit disconnected).

I will post again from Austin.  I can probably post to the blog from the Red Cross facility, though their firewall prevents us from getting our email that way.

If you need to reach us before Thursday, use the phone.