More Recent Events...

1. Quimby's Bookstore in Chicago just ordered 5 issues of Translucent Vol. 1 bookstores typically give you 60% of cover price --- http://quimbys.com/ cool, huh? - marc calvary
2. i discovered, chiefly by accident, since i never make or receive any phone calls, that my cell phone ( which i use principally for playing Bounce ) was off-line...??? Even though Cingular extracted their blood oath from my checking account, they failed to credit me with any minutes for this month...!!! So i went over to the service center at the mall, and after some considerable pathetic whining, they refused to help me...!!! So-- Then-- After i'd recovered a little bit, i managed to call their Service Number, and although the connection was AWFUL, and their Horrible Menu System tried very hard to drive me to suicide...!!! i somehow ( ??? ) managed to get it fixed...??? ( or maybe i didn't... maybe those evil girls at the service center did something after i left in tears...??? ) So anyways... it was apparently somehow fixed... But then:
3. The next day, i noticed that my Mmode ( Internet service ) was out...!!! and i tried calling Customer Service again, but this time they put me on hold for 20 minutes, and then cut me off... So i ended up waiting an hour, and going over to a different Service Center, where this time i found a very nice lady that helped me Alot, even though they never actually figured out what was wrong with it...!!! What it was doing was that when i tried to log on, it would say that i was an Unknown User... or somesuch... ( ??? - i forget already ! ) and then it brought up a 4 page notice with all sorts of crypto-hash-codes...??? and it asked if i was willing to Accept these terms ( ??? ) or not... When the lady at the Service Center saw this, she thought that maybe it was a Virus (!) of somekind, since she'd never seen anything like this before...!!! So she called up the Cingular Technical Service Center, and Surprise, Surprise, the Technician Did NOT have an Indian Accent...!!! He suggested many remedies, including pulling out and reseating the SIM Card, Turning the phone off, and back On, sending me a magic program and checking some other things... None of which Worked...!!! It was still denying me access to the Internet...! Then i finally said; 'Maybe i should try Accepting the Terms...' So i hit the Accept button, and it allowed me to go on the web...!!! But it had never done this before...!!! So i was still miffed...!!! Then; With nothing better to do, i left and sat outside the Service Center and continued to read the manual, to see what i could make of this little 'Lock' icon that was appearing on the Screen ( that was New! ) and i found that it was a Personal Encryption Icon...! So this sounded vaguely familiar... Then i looked through all the Menu Options i could find... and there are SO MANY...!!! and finally i found one under The Services/Security/Security Levels/Documents(?) or whatever, and it had an Encryption Template that had a name that was in The Notification that came up after it denied me access to the web... Learning this; i went back into the Service Center, and asked them about this apparent connection, but they Knew Nothing About Any of It...!!! They were merely SALES Representatives, so this guy, ( the lady was busy with another customer ) gave me the number of a technical representative, and i went back outside... Where i continued to play around with the phone, and i DidN't call the Technical Representative...!!! ( They are Useless...! ) THEN-- i found another menu hidden in another subdirectory that allowed me to TURN OFF my Security Level Interface...!!! Which i did, ( After Resetting Everything to Factory Specifications, which didn't help at all...!!! ) and Just Resetting this Security Level Interface CURED IT...!!! What is so very Surprising about all this-- Is that Neither the Sales Representatives OR THE TECHNICIAN that we talked to was able to suggest turning this off...!!! What Freaking Morons...!!! i certainly hope this is The Last bit of Craziness i have to Endure from Cingular... a few months ago i tried a Cell phone with Sprint, and it was a Fawking Nightmare...!!! i had these kinds of problems ( and more ) with Sprint Every Stinking Day for the 3 weeks i tried their Service... Is Technology Intrinsically Evil or just The Humanimals that administer to the fetid desires of their Computer Overlords...???
4. Another thing that i've had to deal with recently is that my Guest Library Card was up for Renewal, and when i tried to update it at The Main Branch, they noticed that my Washington ID Address was different from The Address that i'd given them for my Permanent Address... ( Because i'm homeless... ) ...so they wouldn't ReNew it...!!! EEEEEEEK...!!! i could do without the books i've been reading Lately... Mostly The Cthulhu Mytho's Collections...! But i also NEED to use the Computers, and i need a Library Card to do that... So i've been Fretting Terribly for the last couple of days, and finally i got together a bunch of highly questionable documentation and came over to the Library at Kapolei and they simply renewed it without even looking at all the stuff i printed up from my bank & phone records. ( i'm still winding down from it all...! )