Cheapskates and ISPs

This was written a few years ago.  I’ve long since used cable, satellite, cable, satellite and cable again, and always High Speed Internet.  I look for the specials and switch when they’re too good to pass up.  lol

I would love to be able to use DSL or Cable internet service, but being way out here in the boon docks, it isn’t possible. I could easily sign up for satellite internet if I wanted to pay one hundred dollars a month for it. No thank you! I’m cheap and I like it that way! But, that leaves me with dial-up, and everyone knows dial-up is sad. Sad and slow, especially if the phone company haven’t updated the outside wires since 1950. So I must add static noise to sad and slow.

Dial-up isn’t all that bad anymore, though. They’ve added accelerators, boosters, turbos, speedband and all sorts of stuff to make your surfing better, faster, and more enjoyable. And, it works most of the time. Even the cheapest ISP’s include these accelerators for under ten dollars a month.

I don’t want a ‘Home’ page, thank you very much!

I chose one without a ‘Home’ page; that alone makes it a winner for me. It’s neat, clean and fast for less money and no stress. They get me online quickly and that’s all I ask of them. Another ‘must have’ is unlimited hours!

 I’ve used services that force a home page on you. I’ve even used the ‘Big One’ a time or two in emergencies. You know, the one that sends out the free cd’s so crafters can make those neat wind chimes?  (AOL for those who don’t know.)  By the way, I wonder if their subscribers realize they’re actually paying for all those wind chimes?

I don’t mind trying new isp’s, but if I can’t go into Internet Explorer and change the home page to ‘blank], I don’t use the service any longer than necessary to find another one. I don’t like their intrusive way of doing business.

The home page is always so ‘busy’ I can’t find what I’m looking for. I looked for five minutes one time for my account link. The window was full of news, movie stars and sales ads; none of which I’m interested in. It’s so crowded with ‘stuff’ along its borders, it reminds me of my attic. I completely understand needing ads to make money, but I’m paying for the service, it isn’t free!

They usually aren’t user friendly either, at least not to this user. Being forced to do anything causes stress and who needs it? Not me!

I don’t want an intrusive update downloaded every time I log on and off, either, and I don’t want to be ignored when I say no thanks. The ‘Big One’ (AOL)  is bad for doing that. Paying thirty dollars a month for services that are certainly no better than ISP’s charging ten dollars or less is incomprehensible to me. Why would anyone waste their hard-earned cash like that? Especially those paying with their Social Security allowance. Not this cheapskate! When I feel the stress begin to build, I minimize their window and open a new, blank IE window.

There are many, many good, cheap ISP’s worth checking out. Support is always good on those I’ve used, and when they’re new businesses you know they try harder. Give them a chance.

 Search ‘cheap isps’ and save some money; you might even save yourself some stress, and that’s what it’s all about. I’m running a wonderful one I began this month. I was charged only .99 cents for the first month, and that includes the accelerator! I won’t tell you the name though, unless they give me a year’s free service.

 Update

 We are finally going modern out here in the wilds, cable became available and I grabbed it!  TV & internet.  Yes! Now, if I can convince my cheapskate husband it’s worth the extra cost month after month, I’ll be in cheapskate heaven.

Remember When?

 

 

Remember When Double-Dog dare ya’s and water balloons were the ultimate weapon?

Kitchen Doors

Are you a front door or back door person?
I am personally a back door person.
If you don’t know what I mean, you are a front door person.
Are you a living room, sofa type, or a kitchen table type?
I am the kitchen table type.
Again, if you don’t understand what I am talking about, you are the sofa type.
Are you a bottle of beer or champagne drinker?
I am a coffee drinker.  If I drank stronger drink, it would be beer, but I don’t dare,
’cause then I would think I could sing.

Drive-In Movies

Do you remember drive-in movies?

We used to go the Drive-In. Not inside-to.  We would park outside by the fence as close as possible, so we could hear the sound.   Dad would climb over the six or nine-foot wooden fence to turn the speakers up as loud as they would go..

I remember the night my youngest brother, Luke, was born. Mama was in labor. We kids didn’t know that, but she was.  We went to the drive-in that night. The hospital was only a mile or two straight down the road from the drive-in. Our house was maybe ten or fifteen miles away. I know that now. They wanted to be close, and not have to get us up when it was time to go.

Daddy and Mama just said we were going to the show, if they told us anything. So we sat outside the fence and watched the movie. Mama brought quilts because we always went to sleep.

Well, we went to sleep and Mama and Daddy waited until it was time for Mama to go to the hospital. Next day, we had a new brother!

Kids were not allowed in the hospital rooms in those days. I remember standing on the grass and looking up to see Mama in the window. She was waving at us and probably glad to be out of that car. 

I don’t remember being surprised. I think real young children can’t be surprised. Now that I think of it, I’m sure I’m right. Everything that happens in their little world is natural to them.  I remember being sleepy, hungry, happy and scared.  I think that’s all very young children know. They don’t know the difference between being good or being bad. How could they know? They are only good. The bad comes later.

Normal everyday doin’s of country folk who didn’t miss the ‘stuff’ they never knew, and the kids who wondered how city kids ever had fun.

Technorati Tags: family

Procrastination Gets a Bum Rap

Today I will answer a question found on the Discussion Forum.

Help! *`Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’ The first line won’t come and I sit and stare at the blank screen!

Alice: `Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’
Cheshire Cat: ‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to’
Alice: `I don’t much care where–‘
Cheshire Cat:`Then it doesn’t matter which way you go’
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: Lewis Carroll

Now, most would advise this writer to just write anything to get some words up there. Even if it’s ‘I want to write but can’t think of anything!’ about a hundred times. That’s supposed to unblock the imagination so the story hidden deep inside can come out. I’m not going to say that. I’ve tried that logic, but found it got in the way of procrastinating so I don’t advise it anymore. Procrastination is a good thing, and we should learn to appreciate it more. It’s been getting a bum rap for too long.