Hard stuff, morons and broken education

I have to do something really hard tomorrow. It makes me sad, but I know it's the right thing.

I spent two hours, mostly on hold, with morons that work for Time-Warner Cable. My connection has been dropping on and off over the course of the last day, and I haven't been able to isolate why. I finally got someone to transfer me to a "tier 3" tech who actually understood how the Internet works (the "tier 2" asked me what "operations system" I used). Obviously it's hard to troubleshoot an intermittent problem, but someone who understands the technology makes it easier for both of us to find a happy place. The guy explained what they were able to see at any given moment and he checked the network on their end. He theorized that my router, a Linksys known for crapping out, may be dying a slow death. That makes sense, since that's why I bought the Apple router because the wireless was dying. The problem now is, that's my land line phone connection to Vonage. It might be time to kill that service, as I only use it for the podcast once or twice a year.

Stephanie sent me a link to this video. It borders on being whiny (I'd know), but it makes a pretty strong point about how broken education is. There was one thing in there that struck me as, well, striking: "When I graduate I'll probably have a job that doesn't exist today." That's me. I can't imagine telling college me that I'd be doing a job that didn't exist at the time.

The world can be a fascinating place.