Wednesday, January 31, 2007

what I did without internet


reversible cotton dining chair seat covers

Well, actually, I didnt make these because I didnt have the internet. I made them because when we were away on holiday, Taufik had the dining chairs cleaned and I didnt want to get them dirty again. So I decided to make the seat covers for the dining chairs, so that I don't have to worry about my kids spilling stuff on them. Not having internet connection gave me the opportunity to finish them within a week.
They are made from 100% American cotton and the ties are satin ribbons. All materials bought at the saudi art and crafter's heaven on earth, also know as Zamil Store. Looking at the range of choices available at Zamil, I can understand how Kimmi and Sunflora could become such avid quilters. The patterns were all so pretty and the material oh-my-god so nice.. i nearly went crazy trying to make a decision on which to buy. I finally settled for butterflies on one side and flowers on the other.
What made me so proud of myself is that I made them all by hand!! It made me feel like Martha Stewart, it did, but without the jail time.
I am now thinking up of other projects, just as an excuse to go to Zamil again. tee hee.
But now I am in the midst of doing some beadwork, one that you can rest assured that I will show you when it's done. So till then, I will try to restrain myself from stepping into Zamil.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

axe, plane, nation

*takes a deep breath*
oh. my. god.
okay here goes:

I came back on Jan 11th. My 3a.m. Jan 10th flight was cancelled coz there was a problem with the engine. Though I was pissed off for having to be at the airport at midnight, I was glad that they discovered the problem while we were still on the ground. We got confirmed for the Jan11th flight and was compensated for taxi fare and 'grievences'. (Not badly compensated, I might add).
I didnt have internet connection straight away when I got home. I didn't pay for my dial-up internet connection coz Taufik said our new lease included free VDSL connection. The catch was it would only be activated on Jan 15th, when our new lease starts.
Jan 14th I got a call from the internet guy asking me to pay a deposit for the modem. Jan 15th I went to pay the deposit and was told another guy (henceforth will be refered to as 'the tech' ) would come to install the modem that evening.
The Tech came, and had problems. Dont know what problems lah. problems. it didnt work.
Oh yeah now I remember. Our computer didnt have a network card, so we paid him SR60 to buy us a network card. The Tech came back the next day with a network card but still couldnt get it to work.
He came again the next day with another tech (henceforth will be refered to as 'The tech2') (You know this is going to be complicated and long, don't you?) and they managed to get the modem to work, but they said my computer was extremely, extremely , extremely slow. We agreed, coz the computer is older than Anis, and I think we may have picked up some viruses and nasty files thruout the years. So The Tech said, get a new computer then call us.
So we went shopping for a few days and finally got ourselves a spiffy new Dell Dimension 9200 that made our old computer looked like a lame turtle on crutches that kept breaking apart and it had to wait for new crutches before it could walk again. You get the picture. Dayuuummm i never had a computer that could boot up in under a minute.
So we called the internet guy and told him about our new computer and could he call The Tech to come install our modem now. The internet guy said they discovered there was a conflict between the VDSL and the house phone line and they would have to fix that first.
It took them a week to fix that problem. In the mean time I not only did not have internet, sometimes people can't even call me coz the phone lines were messed up.
So yesterday The Tech came again with the modem and he tested it downstairs in the kitchen then upstairs in the room where the computer is, then in the living room, then he went off. Half an hour later, The Tech2 came and he tested it again, downstairs, upstairs, here and there. We finally got it to work and he connected it to my computer and he set-up stuff (the ip adddresses, proxy addresses and what not) and I finally got internet connection!! yay!!! (The Tech2 said something about downloading java or something. What does the error "Javalang null" mean??)
But then...
When I went to efx2, I couldnt log in! :( :( I tried leaving comments as guest, and couldnt. I couldnt reply or delete my emails. I gave up and just chatted on YM instead.

Okay so this morning I decided to play with the proxy toggle and voila!! I can now log in.
*BIG GRIN* *pat self on the back*

So what have I been doing these last few weeks without internet connection?
I'll show you tomorrow :)