Watch Your Speed Ma'am!

A friend of mine was having tremendous difficulty with his internet provider here in Vallarta. He also has the same VOIP service as me so he was very frustrated at not being able to use his phone effectively. Someone told him about a website where you can check your speed. He did so and found out that he was running at the LOWEST speed (192 kbps) instead of the HIGHEST speed (512 kbps) even though he had been paying for the faster service all along. He finally contacted the President of the corporation and arranged to meet him at the local office and demanded they show him the speed. He was right; they were wrong. They offered him one month free and he's had no problems since. Anyway, if you want to check your own speed, pick the city closest to you at this website: Speedtest. And if you've still having problems, call your ISP ASAP!

I called yesterday to check on my speed and to complain about the crappy service on the weekend (pages loading slowly, unable to get online at all, the phone was going dead, etc.). Five minutes after I called to ask for help, I lost my internet entirely so my afternoon was spent wasting precious cell phone minutes on hold with CosmoRed. The situation was so bad, the tech, Ernesto, came by my house last night to check my modem. It was no coincidence that I lost my service five minutes after speaking to him and reiterated again this morning that I thought "the problem is at your end". Anyway, after much back and forth with him, he finally admitted he found the problem and it was not (1) my modem (2) the cable (3) my VOIP router and/or (4) the full moon.

INSERT ONE BIG FAT HEAVY SIGH HERE PLEASE!

Anyway, on to more delicious things ... Kathy, Colleen and I had our usual lunch on Monday but as we approached the cash register to pay, Hank told us that lunch was on him! We've been faithfully showing up there every Monday for months now and he rewarded us today with a free lunch. How about that for customer appreciation? I can't say enough about these guys (Hank and Conrad) and their wonderful restaurant. I will miss them so much when I leave here ... :(

I've been going to a lot of movies lately. Most recently, I've seen Syriana (too complicated with half the Arabic dialogue being translated into Spanish subtitles only); Rumour Has It (cute flick with Jenn Anniston and Mark Ruffalo -- Kevin Costner is a dud, as usual, and Shirley McLean's face is contorted from too much plastic surgery); Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (excellent chemistry between the two males leads, Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer) and Pride and Prejudice. P&P was a delight for the senses. Colleen and I came out of movie theatre swooning, believing in love, romance and men in knee high boots with tight britches.