interweb. and washers.
so yesterday, the guy that lives in one of the rooms upstairs in my apartment knocked on my door and asked me if i wanted internet.
"why yes. yes i do." i told him.
i had just bought an ethernet cable earlier in the day because when i was in his room talking about how to operate the washer¹ (which is not only all in dutch, but also european... which means all the knobs and settings are more numerous and completely different), i saw that he was online with his desktop. i thought maybe the ethernet jacks i found in my room might be active too.
they were not.
but he had it. and he had just bought a wireless router. so he told me to hop on if i'd like. no encryption or anything. and no payment required.
so now i have a pretty decent wireless signal. that i'm not stealing it. which is nice.
¹so when i was in london, checking out my boy scottie's new pad, er flat, he told me a great story. and here it is:
it seems that weekend he had his washer delivered. european washers are pretty tiny, compared to US washers. they usually stick them in the kitchen, like a dishwasher. in the corner, as mine is here, or underneath the countertop, as joe's brother's and scott's are.
so after the delivery, scott had to head out to the hardware store to buy the hot and cold water connectors.
so logically, when he got there he told the employees this. and they became... confused.
"i just had my washer delivered, and i need the connectors."
confusion.
"you know. the hot and cold water connectors? for a washer?"
confusion.
"the connectors? that go from the washer to the water supply?"
and now random customers are jumping in to the fray.
...and yet everyone remains confused.
i'm not sure how it was resolved, exactly. but at some point someone realized that scott was referring to what the british, who believe they have the monopoly on what is correct english, call a washing machine.
this, from the people that abbreviate everything. including calling linoleum, "lino".
and yet, "washer" confounds them.
i still say they need to learn to pronounce Rs where they put them and leave them out where they do not put them, and then we can talk about who uses english correctly.
"would you like a glass of soder, or a glass of watah?"
no.
"why yes. yes i do." i told him.
i had just bought an ethernet cable earlier in the day because when i was in his room talking about how to operate the washer¹ (which is not only all in dutch, but also european... which means all the knobs and settings are more numerous and completely different), i saw that he was online with his desktop. i thought maybe the ethernet jacks i found in my room might be active too.
they were not.
but he had it. and he had just bought a wireless router. so he told me to hop on if i'd like. no encryption or anything. and no payment required.
so now i have a pretty decent wireless signal. that i'm not stealing it. which is nice.
¹so when i was in london, checking out my boy scottie's new pad, er flat, he told me a great story. and here it is:
it seems that weekend he had his washer delivered. european washers are pretty tiny, compared to US washers. they usually stick them in the kitchen, like a dishwasher. in the corner, as mine is here, or underneath the countertop, as joe's brother's and scott's are.
so after the delivery, scott had to head out to the hardware store to buy the hot and cold water connectors.
so logically, when he got there he told the employees this. and they became... confused.
"i just had my washer delivered, and i need the connectors."
confusion.
"you know. the hot and cold water connectors? for a washer?"
confusion.
"the connectors? that go from the washer to the water supply?"
and now random customers are jumping in to the fray.
...and yet everyone remains confused.
i'm not sure how it was resolved, exactly. but at some point someone realized that scott was referring to what the british, who believe they have the monopoly on what is correct english, call a washing machine.
this, from the people that abbreviate everything. including calling linoleum, "lino".
and yet, "washer" confounds them.
i still say they need to learn to pronounce Rs where they put them and leave them out where they do not put them, and then we can talk about who uses english correctly.
"would you like a glass of soder, or a glass of watah?"
no.