Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

Since sometime around 8:00 this morning, I've been off the net.
The modem can't connect to my ISP; I get a telco wooWEEdoot and
a horribly garbled message, "mumblemumblemumthis timmumblemumble
noise noise try again later try again later try again later try
again later ..." I tried calling time and got through, so it's
not my local switch that's the problem -- maybe there was a
backhoe error between my ISP's local POP and their nearest telco
office? Dunno. Argh. If I get desperate, I'll make a brief
long-distance connection to their DC-area dialup; for now I'm
looking at mailing lists I hadn't gotten to in a while, and some
of the web pages I've got on my screen (trying to remember not
to click on any interesting links right now).

But the inclination to complain about the situation remains, and
since I can't very well post about it while I'm disconnected, I'll
take advantage of the post-by-email function and drop this into
the sendmail queue to be delivered sometime after I have a net
connection again. And if the urge to whine gets overwhelming
despite that, I'll post from my cell phone. For now I'm just
trying to take this as a sign to make today a lazy day, or to
make it a productive day away from the computers. I'm not sure
which yet.

It's definitely a "bitterbright" morning in Baltimore. The very
air seems to sparkle, except for a touch of haze over the north
part of downtown as seen from my house. (The skyline near the
Inner Harbor is clear and sharp; looking in other directions
likewise but less dramatic 'cause the sun is still throwing
delicious angles over downtown ... I'm guessing the temperature
over the buildings north of the harbour is right around the
dew point and they'll sparkle too in another half hour.) When
I got up, the smokestack of the recycling plant was dramatically
backlit, and the plume from that was spectacular.