Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - Oliver Lee Memorial State Park, Alamogordo NM
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Dog Canyon Sunset, Oliver Lee Memorial State Park, Alamogordo NM, January 7, 2009
We had a nice long talk
I had a nice long talk with a Verizon tech support guy who worked with me diagnose my lack of Verizon Broadband Access access. As a rule if I have any reception at all on my cell phone (also Verizon) I have access to the internet via my Broadband Access account using my USB720 card plugged into my KR-1 router, boosted by my Wilson antenna and amplifier, at least at dial-up speed. It's been a good setup.
Since I arrived here yesterday I've had no internet access at all except for a few fleeting connections. All the while I've had 2 or 3 EV and 1X bars on my cell phone, and an excellent connection for this call to the service tech. I've never experienced this situation before and looked in vain for hardware and software glitches in my setup. Everything seems fine - but it won't connect.
The very helpful tech guy confirmed what he could about my setup and finally went into his system looking for trouble tickets in my area that might indicate a network problem and found there are 60 open tickets for the Alamogordo area. Suspecting network problems we left it that he would call Alamogordo when the office opens (I called him about 7 am local time) and get back to me.
He didn't call back.
Now what?
I'm going to have to make some decisions soon. I've got a couple of bills to pay online this week and really really need internet access. If I can't get online soon I'll have to go into town and find a way to get on line. Or I might move to another location if I could be sure my setup is working and the problem here is a network glitch.
Night camp
Site 7 - Oliver Lee Memorial State Park, Alamogordo NM
- Verizon cell phone service - good signal
- Verizon EVDO service - very good signal and access speed ( I have to qualify this - during my January 2008 visit the signal and access speed was excellent - in January 2009 it was practically non-existent during the day and slow at night with unpredictable short periods of excellent access)
- Go to Oliver Lee Memorial State Park website
- Go to Oliver Lee Memorial State Park on my Nightcamps map
- Check the weather here
It's Time to Go Home
The truth about nature is that she is inside us, all around us, just waiting for us to ask her what to do. The truth about civilization is that it was an honest mistake, an invention that was necessary at the time, a mere 30,000 years ago, when nature appeared to be letting us down and we thought we could do better. But now it has outlived its usefulness, and is out of control, and threatens the survival of all life on our planet, so it's time to let it go. It's time to move forward and imagine and invent a new culture, a sustainable one that works for all creatures on Earth, drawing on the best learnings from nature and the best innovations from civilization.
It's time to go home.