I bet you still have to wear a helmet …

Posted on by Ian C.

I received a “VIP invitation” in the mail today – no doubt along with thousands of other folks that have visited Lime Rock; it directs you to this website where you can read:
Become a Member
The Club at Lime Rock Park has only 300 Memberships available … By becoming a Member you will have unprecedented access to the track with others of like mind and interest … Each Membership carries a one-time fee of One Hundred Ten Thousand Dollars ($110,000.00). This includes applicable State of Connecticut Dues Tax of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00)

And yes, I would have to wear a helmet!
We have made an arrangement with our on-premises store Driving Impressions, a high-quality Motorsports supplier, to give you significant discounts on driving gear. In addition, The Club will give you a $1,000 credit at Driving Impressions in case you need to pick up a helmet or driving suit or, if you wish, you may apply the credit to The Club’s annual dues

Hmmm … maybe there’s something else to spend my $110,000 on, instead! Any ideas? 😉

How to repair a DSL connection

Posted on by Ian C.

I thought this might amuse some of you – it made me laugh!
My Verizon DSL connection gets sick sometimes, particularly during and after heavy rain … well it rained last night, and this afternoon the connection is dropping out every few minutes; the modem reverts between steady DSL light, slow flash, fast flash, steady (for a few minutes) then back to flashing, etc.

I thought I’d call Verizon DSL help; silly me!
First, I had to lie about having rebooted my computer, not having a router, etc, etc – all designed to get rid of me quickly and with minimum effort. Only after that was I able to reach a person (in India, apparently).

Next, the lady decided that I should remove the DSL filter and have the DSL modem be the only thing connected – I explained that (a) this would disconnect my phone call with her and (b) it wouldn’t prove anything since the DSL modem fails intermittently anyway. But she was not to be dissuaded, so I did it.
I also pulled out a trump card – I had a different DSL filter (Verizon supply many and I need only one) … so after disconnecting the filter, and confirming the DSL modem was unaffected, I replaced the filter with a brand new one!

She called back (my phone re-connected), and I told her that the brand new DSL filter was fitted but still I lost DSL connectivity – it dropped again right on cue!

But she had a trump card of her own … swap the two ends of the wire between phone connection and DSL modem! What?! She was convinced that this would resolve my issue; there must be “one way” signs inside the wire 😉
So I swapped the plugs over and of course for a while the DSL connection didn’t drop – she concluded her work was done …

Currently, I seem to have “happy electrons”, now my wire is the right way round; can’t understand why there isn’t any “modem this end” labels on the cable if it’s that important 😀

[and look, she must be right, because I was able to post this without the DSL dropping!]