For those of you who follow my health, the fungus has returned; this time, it’s on the other foot. It’s been back for a couple months already. I just kept putting off seeing the doctor in the US because I know it would be a lot cheaper here. Plus, I could buy the anti-fungal, Nizoral, over the counter, whereas it is by prescription in the US. The upswing is that the collection of fungi is getting smaller, but it’s not ‘going away.’ I may have to step up to some oral anti-fungal soon.
Lately, the computer has been having its problems playing avi files and other files. I broke down and bought a DVD player today that would play these files and all the other stuff that I have. The mission accomplished was succeeded only after a failed attempt yesterday. I went to Carrefour (the big French megamarket) first. I found one I liked and asked to buy it. The salesperson went to the back to check on stock. None available. I do this three times and kindly tell them that, perhaps, they should put a little card out there for consumers about empty stock. The friendly salesgirl shows me that there are ‘out of stock’ cards behind the price cards. I gave up after that. Next stop, Hypermart. There were some players there but they had much out of stock also (nicely noted for the customer).
Finally, I purchased a DSL modem from the Australian linguist who I met in Manado (see blogroll). I went and registered to have the service turned out. That went fine. I was told it would be turned on in two hours. Several hours later I turned on the modem and there was no link to the DSL. It wasn’t active. I call the next morning; they check. It comes on ten minutes later. Then, they never gave me any documentation on username or passwords. I call again. The saleswoman gives me instructions. The instructions fail. I end up going to the office and get into the help center. They check my modem and then they figure out the saleswoman neglected to tell me the correct information. Great. Now, I’m finally using the DSL, but the predicted high speeds are less than or equal to dial-up. The only positive thing is that I may come out a little cheaper in the monthly phone bill.
Classes should start next week, but I go back to Jakarta on Wednesday for orientation.
One Comment
That’s weird that it is so slow. In Tomohon it was OK - not exactly blistering but about 4-5 times faster than dial-up.