I'm back!!!!

AWESOME!!! :)

Other providers are nice, but "home's" always best, I think! :)

Pfft. When I was experiencing problems logging on (Knology service hiccup), I was told by a TS person that (and I quote) Macs can't connect to newsgroups!!

(Ummm ... then what the heck was going on in the year prior to the hiccups when I was happily posting away????)

Every single time I talk to TS, they always tell me that Macs have to be restarted in order to "save" server settings. Which is utter bull-doody - Macs make and save changes "real-time." No restarting necessary (I have Mac friends who haven't shut down their Macs for YEARS).

Finally, I got one honest TS who told me that Knology doesn't train their TS personnel at all on Macs/Mac situations. They literally have no clue unless they themselves own Macs.

One TS person I spoke to said they (Knology) don't even offer NGs.

So I'm not one bit surprised. Not one teeny-tiny bit. :)

Oh, and BTW, I once worked for a gov contracting firm that outsourced government TS services (FEMA, if you want to know the truth - scary, huh?). The training session needed to dispatch and coordinate emergency service? 2 hours. Anyone really surprised??? :/

Course, that was about 10 years ago, so I have no idea how it's done now. But back then ... I was scared to death and utterly shocked.

That's exactly the sort of thing I was dealing with, Connie. Sheesh. You'd think -- especially now, when Macs are becoming more and more popular because of the ease of using both OS X and Windows on the same machine -- that people would climb out of their dark holes. :S

Wasn't it fun to find out that Dena Crain uses a Mac? And, BTW, I giggle every time I think of her name. I'm a fan of Boston Legal, and Dennie Crain is a hoot.

Pfft. I have several friends (not colleagues) who are PC people - to the point WE'RE Mac people - and they refuse to see Macs as anything other than either a status symbol (and nothing else) or a "kid's machine."

One of my friends went so far as to make a T-shirt with the picture of the PC guy (from the Mac commercials) saying "PC, Grown-up and PROUD!"

About 5 years ago, I "converted" a friend of ours ... it was the tenth time he'd called me over in a WEEK to help with a virus on his PC when he finally asked "If Macs are so *&^% great, how do you know so much about getting rid of viruses?!" I told him, "Cause I used to be PC. Now that I have a Mac, I don't get viruses anymore." He ordered a Mac the same night! :)

Same here!! Only, for some reason, we haven't seen it in about 2 months. Every time we look for it on TV it isn't there!! Our TV guide says it's on Tuesdays at 9 - but EVERY single time we tune in to the right channel at the right time, it's been preempted by something else!! :<

Well, I won't be going back to EL, because we are dropping it. We were only keeping it as a mail/news server, not as an ISP. Our ISP is Covad, which, as I understand it, is the ISP that some other ISPs use????? But it doesn't have a mail server service and now doesn't have a news server service either. So we have switched to g-mail and now that I am using Aioe we don't need to pay EL for the news server. (and we really don't have the money for it anyway. sigh)

Sorry you weren't able to go with your DH on the trip. that would have been a great vacation. But I understand about the not able to go at the moment. Hope you are getting better.

Thanks again.

Pati, in Phx

C>

Who does? I mean, why pay for something (wasting good, hard-earned money) when you don't have to? And especially internet ... I mean, access is expensive enough as it is - and you're talking about (as I understand it) needing several services to do what ONE service usually offers!

Believe me, I feel for you!!!

Aw, it's nothing, really. I've got DVT so I can't travel for extended periods of time for about another 6 months - so obviously, I can't hop on a plane for 12 hours! I was disappointed, but AFAIK, he'll be going again in about a year (maybe next time I'll go with - hate to say this, but everything would be paid for either by the gov (hotel room, his meals) or our frequent flyer miles. Gotta have some compensation for how often hubby travels, I figure. And thankfully, I don't eat much (diet!). :) And if he doesn't end up going or for some reason I can't go - I've still got you guys to talk to! Trust me, that's just as good! :) 'Specially if I imagine all of ya'll with English accents! I LOVE those accents!!

Of course it's a "kid's machine" -- that why it's used to make big-budget movies, music, graphic arts, etc. :S Not to mention all of us "regular people" who use them because they work so well.

I don't mind when someone prefers a PC; my DT won't use anything else -- poor-benighted soul. ;) But some people -- on both sides -- go too far.

Smart man.

LOL! That's kind of what I thought! :)

Yep ... I know Mac people who are so obnoxious about their babies that they make mean, rude jokes about PC and PC people - I hope I didn't imply that only PC-heads are jerks. :/

I worry about coming off as a elitist (for lack of a better term) when it comes to Macs. Its just that I do have so many "better to de-virus a PC than turn on a Mac" kind of people that I have become a bit defensive about it. :/

Both systems have their points. Good AND bad. It's a matter of choice - just like SMs! :)

I thought so! :) But it might have a tiny bit to do with the fact that I was getting a bit tired of going over and de-virusing his machine after each internet session (the little "secure" lock and site certificates were completely unknown to him! He also opened EVERY single piece of e-mail - and attachments!!) ... and he WAS the obnoxious PC kind of person ... used to make fun of me all the time. Said constantly that the only reason Macs didn't viruses was because since there's only 25 users in the entire world, there wasn't a point in writing a virus for the platform (totally untrue - it's the OS of course - Unix is WAY harder to hack than the PC OS).

Aren't they supposed to be coming out with new episodes soon?? I heard that they will in September ... but I could be wrong. I'm just glad it hasn't gone the way of all good shows and been cancelled - you know, there's no real-life celebrity trying to find "true love" or anyone eating maggots on that show!! LOL!

Ironically, John Hodgman, who plays the PC, is a dyed-in-the-wool Mac user. (Make sure you remind your friend of that next time he wears the shirt.)

I heard a piece John did once on the experience of walking into an Apple store after the commercials started playing. He said it was like being a rock star.

LOL! I didn't know that! I knew he was a commentator or something ... but not that he was a Mac-head! :)

I think I'll reserve that little tidbit for the next time he's bashing my baby in a crowd (which will probably be tomorrow, LOL). I think the more witnesses, the more fun it'll be!

Oh!! Too funny!! I will have to send this off to some of my buds!! :)

Thank you, Kathy!!! :)