A quiet day

Miss D. and I had a quiet morning. We went back to the local McDonalds to make use of their free wi-fi, and I discovered anew the risks of using such facilities when some hacker tried to clobber my computer. Fortunately I run anti-virus and anti-spyware software, and lock down my browser with a script-disabling add-on, so he/she didn’t succeed:  but they sure tried!  I ended up with no less than 922 windows open in Firefox, because the attack program (whatever it was) kept on trying to open new ones as each script was stopped cold.  Needless to say, this knocked Firefox completely out of commission – it didn’t know whether it was Arthur or Martha. I had to use Task Manager to shut it down, reboot, and then run Ad-Aware and Spybot to ensure that nothing had sneaked through my defenses. (Fortunately, it hadn’t.)

I also visited the offices of the property management company from whom we’d rented this condo, and gave them merry hell about the lack of Internet service. I insisted on speaking to a manager, not just the nice girl behind the desk, and made it clear that a solution had to be found right now.  The property management troubleshooter and two representatives from the local Internet service provider were at our condo by eleven, and the trouble miraculously disappeared after a critical component in the building’s Internet infrastructure was replaced. We’ve had decent service ever since then.  I hope it continues without further problems for the rest of our stay.

We didn’t do much else today – went to the beach and swam, came home, enjoyed a tasty chicken Alfredo supper made by Miss D., then went back to the beach to watch excited kids with nets and flashlights chasing tiny crabs in the moonlight.  (How is it that little girls can shriek at a tone and decibel level guaranteed to make the top of your head lift off at close range?)  The moon’s full tonight, making a bright, beautiful path on the water . . . although the sight made me remember Mike, and feel sad for him all over again.  Some memories, it seems, never leave.  Anyway, there’s apparently a ‘blood moon’ early tomorrow morning, a total eclipse, so Miss D. and I plan to wake up early to watch it.  We hope to meet up with Borepatch in Pensacola, FL if earlier plans work out (he’s also down this way on holiday);  otherwise, we’ll try to catch him later in the week.

I hope you’re all having a good time too.  I’m sorry I couldn’t bring all my readers down to the coast with me.  I think we’d have a great time, taking over the local neighborhood and eating the restaurants out of all the fish, shrimp and shellfish in their kitchens!  How about a ‘group blog holiday’ next year?

Peter