I came home from work today to find Phillip frustrated with our computer. For reasons unknown, neither Opera nor Firefox could load a web page. No matter what the URL - Google.com, Geocaching.com, Neopets.com, or whatever - we would get a "page not found" error. Phillip had tried disconnecting and reconnecting, shutting down then booting up, but the problem persisted.

We both agreed that the problem had to be with Earthlink. I tried listening on the phone for modem activity - the modem was indeed doing something. I tried picking a different dial-up number - no effect. I checked our virus scanner, to see if something bad had happened and McAfee had shut off all internet activity - there were no alerts. Then I discovered something curious: I told AdAware SE to check for updates, and it was able to connect to its remote site and download the latest update with no problem. Then I discovered something even more curious: I started Internet Explorer, and it loaded Flexcar.com (which I'd set as its homepage) just fine, if rather slowly. I tried Firefox and Opera again - and got the "page not found" errors. I then suspected our firewall, since it appeared that only those two browsers were being blocked. Our firewall seemed to be working OK, but when I ran the test program, the ping failed.

Phillip decided to call Earthlink. He was greeted with a recording acknowledging that there was a "problem" (no other details), and that they were working on it. Phillip decided against waiting to talk to Technical Support. I was out of ideas, and it was time to leave for yoga class.

I drove to class silently cursing the complexity of computers, with their hundreds of little programs doing who-knows-what together, hoping that we hadn't picked up a virus, but somehow knowing that the problem would go away all by itself.

Before class started, a fellow student asked me how I was. I told her that we were having computer problems, but that I going to spend the next hour and a half not thinking about it. We talked about computers for awhile, and then she said, "Now, I want you to know that I don't really believe this, but..." She went on to explain that astrologers believe that Mercury governs communication, and that whenever Mercury is rising (or descending, or something - I don't remember), electronic devices tend to go crazy.

We have been doing The Crane every class this session, so far. It's getting easier.

I had a craving for a Slurpee after class, but when I drove to the 7-11, there were two police cars in the middle of the parking lot, with their lights flashing, and a whole lot of cops inside the store. I decided against going in for a Slurpee, and drove home, forgetting that there is another 7-11 not too far up 15th.

I got home to find Phillip on Neopets. The problem, whatever it was, had gone away all by itself.

Patient points to the Registration telephone that's next to the front desk. "Is this phone only for the hospital?" she asks me. "Yes, that's right," I answer, not wishing to get into a detailed explanation.

Patient wanders down the lobby, peering into empty cubicles. She eventually makes her way back to the Registration telephone. "My friend's here in the hospital," she says to me, "So, can I use this phone?" I give her the detailed explanation: "That phone's connected directly to the Registration office. You can't dial any other number on it." Then I add: "There's a courtesy phone over there on the wall that you can use."

"I can't use that one," responds Patient, then, without waiting for me to ask why, explains: "It won't let me make a long distance call."

A non-Spanish-speaking coworker of mine keeps asking me why I'm not using what I've learned of the language to speak to our Spanish-speaking patients. I point out that I have, on several occasions. Oh yeah, replies my coworker, sarcastically - only if the patient has an interpreter, or if it's a young child that I'm talking to. That, however, is where my skill level is at present. If I were try to get into a conversation with an adult who speaks no English, I would very likely get in over my head.

Today, I had the perfect situation presented to me. The patient spoke English pretty well, had not requested an interpreter, but she was obviously a lot more comfortable with her native Spanish. Rather than constructing a conversation, I was merely trying to clarify. It worked out quite well, I thought. The patient needed a followup appointment in November.

Me: "We have an opening on Wednesday, November the first."
Patient: "First?"
Me: "Yes, the first of November. La primera de noviembre."
Patient: "No, no. Later. Twenty four, maybe?"
Me: "No, I'm sorry. Your doctor isn't here on the twenty-fourth. Lo siento. How about the twenty-second?"
Patient: "Twenty" (pause) "two?" (Holding up two fingers.)
Me: "Yes, twenty two. Veinte y dos. Es un miércoles."
Patient: "Yes, please. Twenty two November."
Then we worked on the appointment time.

After the patient left, I asked my non-Spanish-speaking coworker if she'd heard me using my Spanish. She had, and she was glad to hear it. "But," she added, "I notice you only speak it to women."

I was up late last night, writing a lengthy email to my friends in Adelaide, Ken and Rondel and Katie, while waiting for my laundry to finish. They were friends of Phillip's who came into my life when I came into his. They call my their "friend-in-law" - I like that a lot. They left the USA just as I was getting to know them. I miss them.

Yesterday, Phillip and I watched the last two episodes of the first season of Lost - him for the first time, me for the second time. Immediately afterwards, Phillip wondered if Broadway Video had any copies of season two. I, however, had already wondered that. I walked up to the store. They had the second disc and the seventh disc on the shelves, but not the first.

Last night, I watched some of the first season DVD extras. This morning, in the pool, I gave Phillip the highlights of those extras. When we returned to our apartment, Phillip called Broadway Video. They had disc one in, so Phillip asked them to hold it for us. I walked up and rented it. We watched all four episodes on the disc this afternoon. We are hooked.

After watching Lost, I started watching the movie K-Pax, which was in progress on network TV. I'd never seen that movie before. After awhile, Phillip suggested that I not watch the end until I can watch it from the beginning. So, I drove up to the UW campus to look for those two puzzle caches I didn't get to yesterday. I found one and DNFed the other.