I thought I had seen it all ... that is, until I saw a four gigabyte text file. Yes, you read that right ... a text file (yes, a text file) that is FOUR GIGABYTES IN SIZE. If that's not a signal of wrongdoing or Bad Things, I don't know what is.

On with the update ... my ISP is pretty much up and running again, though I'm looking longingly at Speakeasy DSL, which would give me static IP addresses and free reign over the line itself. From what I've heard after speaking to their tech support, I can even resell the line. Not like I'd do that or anything because I like being greedy and selfish with bandwidth ... but you know what I mean.

Half-Life 2 is a great game. I'm at the "Follow Freeman!" mission right now, and am enjoying every minute of it. Seriously, the graphics look and run well on my Radeon 9700 Pro, the sound is fantastic (I hate playing it on my headphones, it does no justice), and I actually find the story engaging. I played NFSU 2 for a while too, I should start posting some pictures of my riced-up rides. You know I'm having a good ol' time when I take a Toyota Corolla (which just so happens to be an AE86), paint it white, put a carbon fiber hood on it, and make it fast as hell :-)

Merry Christmas.

First of all, Comcast support can suck it. They have been no help at all these past few days. When the problems with the Internet connection first started (and through the days it was occurring) they said that it was a problem at our location and that nobody else in the area reported any problems. Then, all of a sudden, the day the field technician comes out to the house, the problem was areawide. How the hell does this happen? And, if the problem is areawide, why did the tech change our cable modem? Furthermore, when did Comcast amend their TOS to disallow router boxes? I mean, the @Home and ATTBI techs didn't seem to mind when they saw the Linksys router sitting there, and neither did other Comcast reps, but the last guy complained about it. Can you believe this -- he disabled the NIC in my dad's computer and connected the cable modem via USB? That solved no problems. At that point, not only did the cable modem not work, but the other computers in the house could not connect to the Internet if it did. I don't own a house, but my computer and my network are my castle ... and NOBODY f*cks with my castle. So, my Christmas gift to Comcast support is a big fat middle finger.

Anyway, on with the good stuff ... first, what I gave to Julie. Ready? Here we go ... a pink sherpa robe, purple penguin pajamas (and a red penguin pajama top for use with the purple penguin pajama pants), a 3.4 oz bottle of Curve, a Samsung E715 camera phone, and a white gold ring with 11 (pretty small, but hella shiny) E-F color and IF clarity diamonds set in it. I may have left a couple things out, but that's basically what was under the tree for her. She got me ... woah ... an Xbox, Xbox Communicator (includes 1 free year of Xbox Live), Halo, Halo 2 Limited Collector's Edition, Half-Life 2, and Need For Speed Underground 2. We both went a bit over the top (taking the ring to get resized tomorrow, but it's funny seeing Julie stare at it ... that f*cker's shiny). My hands are now full ... I don't know when I'll be able to play all these awesome games :-)

So, now that I'm back at 0% packet loss (I was between 20% and 80% for a while, when the connection actually worked), I shall catch up on forums and email ... I suspect that there's a lot to catch up on :-)

Internet connection is slow ... this update is short because it has to be, not because I want it to be.

Christmas is near. One week left until the Big Day. Of course, my family has always celebrated Christmas on the 24th, so it's only six days until the big day.

On that note, Julie and her brother came over today and we made some freakin' gingerbread houses while watching Elf. They're awesome. Julie and my sister made the best ones ... mine was the most simplistic. It didn't have windows or anything. Then again, I live in a basement, what do I know about windows? ;-)

Throat is still a little sore. Cepacol keeps it in check, which is a good thing. I've been drinking water like nobody's business, and that helps as well.

Still, the fact that I feel a bit under the weather means that bedtime comes earlier now ... so, good night.

My throat hurts.

Furthermore, I have seen the Light, and the Light is a 97cm long, 4.5kg Toblerone bar. I want one. (Note: The link is dead. Last checked on 16 May 2005.)

That is all.