It´s Not All Tea Parties and Roses

Just so you know that I´m keeping it really real here in B.A., I am writing this from a grimy little ¨internet cafe¨ in the back of a convenience store. What´s this --> ç ? I know, I know, but it doesn´t need its own key on my keyboard.

Our modem died on Friday, and the roller coaster ride that is one way to describe dealing with FiberTel began (and you know how I feel about roller coasters.) Oh, they said they´d come on Monday (yesterday) between 8-4 p.m.

Or, rather, between 8-16:00 because they insist on using military time here (yes, sometimes the honeymoon clears for a minute and I see the dog crap all over the sidewalk -- no, really, that´s another big, bad, nasty problem here). Side note, that whole 24 hr. clock thing is odd and annoying.

Anyway, so after a long internet-less weekend, they said they´d show up Monday, and what happens? Neil stays home ALL day so he will be there when they call; he gets two calls that are dial tones when he picks them up. He calls at 2 p.m. to see when they´re coming and they said they called earlier and no one had answered. ARRRGHHHhhhh!! So they rescheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday).

Another side note, FiberTel is so difficult to deal with, that it´s recommended to leave your bill in the name of the previous tenant and just continue to pay it. It confuses them too much to think that a different person with a different name might want internet in the same apartment where someone with a different name used to live. So we pay the bill under the last name ¨Ailfkod,¨ which, as we found out from my co-workers, is phonetically close to being similar to the name of the people who lived in our place before us.

Hopefully the FiberTel people actually show up tomorrow, because it´s kind of hard to do an online Master´s program when you don´t have the internet. Hence, I have spent the past 2 hours and 58 minutes here doing research and h.w. (there´s a counter on my screen -- the cost so far is 9 pesos, and with an exchange rate of $3.70/1, that´s not bad -- but the secondhand smoke, bad reggae music and staphylococcus-laced keyboard kind of make me the loser here). Wait, I think what makes me the bigger loser is that I don´t have internet at my house!

OK, so there´s my gripe. Back to structural realism, hegemony and international relations. Which is another gripe altogether when it´s a perfectly gorgeous, sunny HOLIDAY (Argentina´s Memorial Day -- wait, there´s a bright side, double holidays off work!) and I´m stuck inside doing homework allllll day. Boo hoo!

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UPDATE: As soon as I pressed ¨publish post,¨I got a little Valentine from fate -- Fidel Nadal´s ¨International Love¨ came up in the otherwise and heretofore described as ¨bad¨reggae mix. YouTube this song, it´s great; I first heard it a couple weeks ago but that´s another story.
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