Disrupted. Again.

Well, this time it isn't just us against AT&T, it's the whole DCN network. Early this afternoon, Walt came downstairs to ask if I had internet connection. I had been working on the computer, but not on the internet, so I didn't know. I checked and found that I didn't.

I called DCN and got a recorded message that there was a problem, they were trying to connect with AT&T and that they expected service to be back by 2 p.m. I scoffed.

Shortly before 2, I called again (since we still had no service) and got an updated message saying that service was now expected to be restored by 6 or 7.

Seemed like a good time to go to the movies, so we did. I sent a text message to Twitter (which rolls over to Facebook) that we were again without internet access.

When we got home from the movies (at 6), I called again and learned that there were AT&T people working to repair the >150 pairs of fibers that had been cut by an AT&T subcontractor and that they expected service, now, to resume between 9 and 10.

It is now after 9 and there is still no service, nor any updated message.

I was going to go to Mishka's to post this entry, but decided to give them overnight to get the thing going again. If it's not up by the time I wake up, well, I could always use an excuse for coffee and a croissant at Mishka's anyway!

We went to the Varsity Theater, which shows more oddball movies. I decided this is my favorite place to see movies in Davis. For one thing you only have three previews of coming attraction rather than a half an hour worth. For another, the ambience is just...nice. More like the movie theatres of my youth. And, of course, we are quite familiar with the place since first Jeri and then Paul managed it for several years.

The movie we went to see was Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, which Char had raved about and which she highly recommended seeing on a large screen rather than waiting until it came out on video.

I can understand why. The sweeping vistas of Paris, even the small streets and back alleys...well, you just have to see it on the large screen.

Owen Wilson is obviously playing the role that Woody Allen would have played if he had been younger and he is a perfect substitute for Woody Allen. In fact, almost better because while he delivers the lines the way Allen would, love scenes are more believable with the better looking Wilson in them (though they lack the absurd humor of Woody Allen being irresistible to women).

The story is a time travel story. When the clock chimes midnight, a car arrives for Wilson and transports him back to Paris of the 1920s, his favorite era, to allow him to interact with his heroes Hemmingway, Fitzgerald, Cole Porter, and some of the famous artists of the day, primarily Picasso, with whose girlfriend Wilson falls in love.

In the meantime, Wilson's girlfriend, who is obviously all wrong for him can't understand why he doesn't want to go sightseeing with her, her parents and their friends,

The story progresses in logical, if fantasy-like, manner and the conclusion is absolutely perfect, especially what happens to the detective hired to follow Wilson's character and report back about what he does on his midnight walks around Paris.

This is a highly recommended (by me!) movie, especially if you have been to Paris, want to go to Paris, or have a great love for the writers and artists of the 1920s.

* * *

Oh my goodness! 9:15 and service is back! Be still my heart!

Now that it's over, I do need to say, once again, how much I appreciate being with a local internet provider. When service went out, I just had to call DCN and there was a report of what went wrong and when they expected it to be fixed. As the day progressed, reports were updated. And service was restored in a fairly reasonable time, considering that the problem did not lie with DCN, but with AT&T. I compare that with being without a land line for two weeks, unable to reach any living person at AT&T, then three missed AT&T appointments and then when someone finally showed up, it only took 10 minutes to repair. I may grouse when things go wrong because, well, I'm used to instant gratification, but bottom line is that I suspect you won't get better service anywhere than the Davis Community Network gives its customers.

Damn AT&T...they got it repaired in timely manner. There goes my chocolate croissant!