It's been a month...

Posted at (or attempts to post started at) 12:49 pm local time

It's been a month, and I honestly haven't been able to post due to a few reasons.  Warning, this is a bit of a venting.  Otherwise,  I can't say that too much has changed, but here's reasons+ news. lol

Reason 1: Laptop trouble.
My laptop somehow managed to take more of a beating in South Africa than it's taken during five years of use in the US.  I really don't know how, as I had been using it as normal for a few weeks until it somehow managed to suffer two major maladies.  The first is a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) problem that is due to a design flaw that allows the motherboard to flex enough to make the chip which constitutes the GPU to separate from its mount, causing a critical error resulting in a black screen for me. Long sentence, but bear with me-- it's taken me an hour to load the interface which allows me to post; more about that later.  Basically, I have to use my laptop on a flat surface, and type with exceptional care so as not to jiggle the GPU enough to cause the blackout.

The second reason involves a titanium alloy hinge that broke.  I REALLY have no idea how that happened.  It's the least of my worries, seeing as I can still use the screen, but coupled with the GPU problem, I'm screwed.  Sigh.  That's life!  Time for a new laptop!

Reason 2: Lightning and electronic equipment do not like each other.
A few weeks ago, there was a terrific electrical storm, which saw lightning strike the ground near my aunt's house at least twice.  I was in the kitchen for both of them, and one struck across the street, sending what I thought was electricity cascading across the sink.  The second one was accompanied by a pop somewhere in the vicinity of my aunt's office, and I later discovered that it hit a phone line, traveled through the router/modem, and fried the ethernet port on my aunt's computer.  I'm pretty sure it totaled the router/modem too, because though I can connect to the wireless, I have no internet when I try to use it.  After logging into the router config utility, everything looks fine and the ADSL diagnostics indicate no real fault. Considering I can't connect to anything, I beg to differ.  Everyone goes away in December for the holidays, so it's been a real bother trying to get anyone to come out and fix it.  Alas, screwed again.

Reason 3: Slow internet at work.
When I started my internship, we were in a building that had internet trouble. I posted my last entry while there, and although I still had internet at my aunt's house during that time, the trouble with my laptop was prohibitive.  We moved into a stunning new building last week, but the internet is worse than it was at the other building because the provider couldn't coordinate in time.  We have one ADSL line feeding everyone again, but this time there are networking hurdles that are complicating things.  It took me over 20 reload attempts (and almost 2 hours) to get to the interface to type this entry.  I'm really not excited to find out how many attempts it will take me to actually post it.  Facebook won't load.  Yahoo.com won't load. The only thing that seems to be working without flaws is skype, but no one is ever on it so that's a bit useless.  Oh well.

All of this goes to show how dependent we are upon technology.  I wouldn't change anything about it, but I can just only hope that things get sorted in the near future.  It's driving me crazy!  All of the aforementioned are reasons why no one has seen any pictures from me.  It's really not easy when this combination of events creates the perfect storm.  Cross your fingers for me, and my apologies yet again.  End venting.

NEWS!

Well, my mom left on December 7th. Since then, I've still been out and about as much as before.  My cousin jetted off to Thailand, and from what I've heard, he's having a good time.  I plan to begin my vacation this week, and will probably take off work tomorrow (Tuesday) or Wednesday.  This weekend I took some time off of having drinks.  Last Wednesday night I had a bit of a rough time, but the night was fantastic and I won't complain about that!  I've been loving the social atmosphere and been enjoying all of my time out.

Yesterday, I went to a braai with my aunt and met a few of her tennis friends.  It became a bit of a headhunting endeavor- something I can't complain about because now I've got all these headhunters looking out for girls to introduce me to! Haha, how ideal!  Too funny.  They say the best way to meet people is through people you already know. I know it's impossible to meet people at clubs because it's far too loud to have a conversation with them and get to know them.  That- coupled with the different South African dialects I've encountered- has been making that bit a bit difficult. I've had my successes, however!

One encounters negatives and positives everywhere he/she goes.  We all know this, and sometimes I feel that I know it especially well.  I've been having more of a good time than bad and I'm very happy about that.  There have been a few down moments, but for each bad moment I have, there are 3 good ones.  These, above all, are what defines this trip and has resulted in its overall success.

I would like to be in contact with my friends at home in Los Angeles more.  When I am online, I always have skype open, but the only people who are ever on are my mom, my aunt, and my friend Natalie. Yes Natalie, you got a shout out :) I know that there is a crazy time difference, and I know that everyone has their own lives, so I deal.  But for those of you who are out there reading this, I hope to get in contact with you soon.  Obviously I'd rather skype because then we can talk, but I'll try to get emails out to you guys.  The fact that the slow internet at work is my only option at the moment doesn't help.  I really hope that the internet at home is up and running again soon.

If I could say one sentence to all you guys at home, it would be this: I'm having an amazing time and keeping very busy, but when it comes time to return home, I'll be ready for it.

Alright, time to go get some lunch!  And to see how long it takes to publish this update.  That's not counting how long it takes to announce it on Facebook too.  Argh!!!!!!!!  Cheers guys, enjoy your week!

Adam