Yahoo!BB DSL Modem - Red BoxAfter two weeks without internet, an eternity for many people in the industrialized world, Reiko and I were graced with a friendly knock on the door and a little red box.  Inside, a DSL modem awaited the inevitable bridging of wall-jack to router.  I wish I could say it’s a time for celebration but, after such an unacceptable delay and no reasonable answer for such Canadian-grade service, I’m remarkably underwhelmed with this delivery.

No letter.  No offer of installation (not that I would have accepted it).  Nothing.  Heck, it wasn’t even a person who worked for Yahoo!BB that delivered the modem but a regular delivery company guy.  Why the six week delay?  Why the two week wait after phoning to find out where our modem was?  You can’t tell me it takes 10 business days to enter a DSL modem’s serial number and a phone number into a computer system, then send said modem to a customer.

Way to go, Yahoo!BB.  The moment my Japanese speaking skills are strong enough, you’ll be out of my house, never to return.  However, considering how the net is provided by Softbank, I shouldn’t be surprised with the service.  Softbank’s cellular service is second to everybody, including Thomas Edison’s Electrostatic and Electromagnetic Induction system (also known as the wireless telegraph system) from the mid-1880’s.  It might be a 3 month wait for NTT to install the fiber optic line between the highway and my home, but at least NTT is up front about their expected wait time.

Perhaps a few weeks of reliable service with semi-decent speeds will be enough to change my negative attitude towards the company, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Other Happenings

Since disappearing from the interweb two weeks back, quite a bit has happened.  Reiko and I are 80% moved in to our new home, and there are only a few pieces of furniture missing from the kitchen and living room to make them mostly complete.  From there, we’ll probably outfit the bedroom and office with some furnishings.

On another positive note, we’ve started to see some of the wedding pictures trickle in.  As we get them, I’ll be sure to put some of the best photos online.  Reiko was beyond gorgeous in her dress, and the whole world should have an opportunity to revel in her beauty.  A video of the ceremony and reception will also be made available, but I’m sure the only people that will want to see them will be family members who were unable to make the trek from Canada.

At Work

Work is starting to pick up which, despite the dent it will introduce to my writing projects, is always a good thing.  I’ve earned yet another set of responsibilities and, depending on how I play my cards, it could mean an opportunity to stretch my programming muscles in an area I excel at: data consolidating and process streamlining.

Woo!

Online

It seems that, despite the online drought, I’ve been able to turn a bit of a profit online and get others interested in doing the same.  Despite the failed attempt to get TheCarbonBlog going with a regular contributor, it seems to earn a small amount of cash which will soon be sent off to a charity … once the $100 mark is achieved and Google pays out.  I’ve resolved to post two articles a week starting with Mid-May, so this should help keep the site alive.  However, I’ve also decided to stretch a bit further with yet another project.

Since I was a young boy, model trains have been a passion of mine.  Although I have not had as much time recently to enjoy the hobby, the love and appreciation for the pass time has not faded.  To that end, why not try and earn a few bucks while talking about something I still enjoy?  I’m in the midst of acquiring a decent domain name and will start up this fourth project with a once-a-week posting schedule.  I hope to use the lessons shared by Courtney Tuttle and John Cow to earn a healthy sum every month and perhaps use that as a springboard for bigger and better things.

Of course, if that’s not enough, I’ve managed to get my father interested in the world of online money as well.  He’s approaching retirement age (well … 14 years to go), so he might just have the time to invest in some great sites dealing with his hobbies and interests.  I’ll be sure to post a link or two if he likes what he sees :P
Last, but certainly not least, is an online project that my wonderful wife, Reiko, would like to implement.  Who knows, it might just change the way people learn Japanese online.  I’ll have the opportunity to put the code behind her designs, and I’m looking forward to seeing what she comes up with.

Who’d Have Thought?

Oddly enough, it seems that j2fi.net has received a higher-than-normal amount of traffic since the start of May.  This is thanks to Nick Ramsay submitting my post on MySQL clients to StumbleUpon, and that one article has managed to garner more traffic in one month than this site received in its first five.

I’m also a little happy to report this site’s PageRank has been returned to a healthy PR3.  Hopefully I can increase it to a value of 4 or 5 to beat out some of my online doubles.

So, all things said, I guess it’s time to get back into the swing of things.  Never has this site gone so long without an update and, if it’s up to me, the next content drought will mean I’ve been met with an untimely demise.  There’s still lots to talk about, and less time to do it in.