I called Lauren to see how she was. Today was to be her first day of classes but they were cancelled due to Fey. When I talked to her she was walking the campus and I could hear the wind blowing strong. We talked for a few minutes. She is enjoying the campus and finding out its history. Apparently, there are several haunted places about the school. Tomorrow will be her first day of classes. Save for loosing her voice, she sounds good.
Tropical Storm Fey is heading this way. Hey, I just rhymed. So, we have been keeping an eye on the storm all weekend. Early yesterday I was thinking I should at least put up the shutters on the big front window. Dad said he didn’t think we’d need it and I rarely turn down a chance to not do something. By this morning the track had changed yet again so now we are putting up the shutters. But I can’t do it until after work now. And it may be rainning after work now. Oh well, that’s live in the sunshine state. I enjoy a good storm (as long as no one is hurt). There is something about nature kicking up a fuss that I find exhilarating.
I have been looking for a used 2G iPhone for some time now. My plan was to unlock it so I can sign up w/ T-Mobile and talk for free with my children. Yesterday I found one locally on Craigslist.org. I contacted the guy around 8am yesteday and we agreed to meet at the apple store at 1pm. I was excited about jailbreaking and unlocking the phone to use on t-mobile’s network. I picked up the iPhone and then headed to the mall to sign up with T-Mobile. I had already talked to one of the guys at a kiosk (who is a friend of Lauren’s)about my plan. I get there, buy a T-mobile Shadow phone and get my plan.
I get the phone home and try it out. I can’t get a signal! I walk around my house searching for a signal… nothing. I step outside to the street and still nothing. My first troubleshooting step is to pull the battery for a few minutes and then replace it. Still nothing. I had checked the t-mobile website long before to verify I had service in my area. This shouldn’t be happening. Maybe my phone is bad. I called tech support and told them my problem. I had to speak with two different ‘techs’ before I was told to return the phone for a replacement. Crap.
As a last ditch effort I hop in my truck and drive two miles to the grocery store. In the parking lot I fire up my phone and what do you know… I get a signal. I nice signal, too. I’m glad the phone works but a little ticked it won’t work in my house. I swap the SIM card to the iPhone and fire it up. After a few seconds of searching I get a signal indicator that says T-Mobile and three bars. I’m excited to see my jailbreak and unlock worked but now I’m getting even more pissed I didn’t get this signal at home.
After slipping in the store to stock up on soda for the ‘hurricane’ I headed home. Before pulling out of the parking lot I swapped the SIM back to my Shadow and checked the signal again. Nice and strong. I headed home watching the signal meter as I went. From the parking lot with three bars I hit the main road and got full strength. As I neared my subdivision it dropped to three bars. Turning into the subdivision I bounce from three to two bars… not a good sign. By the time I got to my street it was bouncing between one and two bars. In my driveway was one bar. I went in the house and still had one tiny bar hanging on. I swapped the SIM back to the iPhone and was able to get my one bar. At this point I figured I was stuck with one bar at home. As long as I got a signal I would accept it. I put the iPhone in its cradle and downloaded some free apps to play with. After this sync I was unable to get a signal on the phone. I again swapped the SIM to the Shadow and, again, no signal. I never got a signal again until I brought the phones here to work. I in the office the signal bounces from full to two bars for no apparent reason. I think I have to give up on t-mobile and just go with AT&T.
Today is Lauren’s first day of college. I’m sure she is very busy but I will call her tonight to see how it went.
Tonight I am going to take Lauren to a movie and maybe the mall. Her and Syria are giving me the full court press to switch to T-mobile. Syria added Lauren to her family plan so now everyone is T-mobile except me. I understand the reasoning and agree that saving them money is a good enough reason to switch but, I am not sure which phone I want. I will be paying more per month for this phone so I have to like it or I will get extra grumpy when I have to pay the bill each month. I am thinking of unlocking a 2G iPhone. I need to read a little more about it before I decide.
Anyway, I looking forward to hanging out with Lauren. She leaves for college this weekend. I am excited for her but will miss her. I feel we are getting closer each day.
In 1990 I was a senior in High School. I had been dating Syria for about a year when she became pregnant and gave birth to a baby girl. She was adopted by a wonderful family that knew Syria. I won’t go into the details except to say that after meeting and talking with them Syria and I felt certain they were right for . We had to back out of arangements that were already being made through the adoption agency.
Her name is Lauren and throughout the years I have received pictures and progress reports through Syria. Each time I would hear how well she was doing I was reassured we had made the correct decision.
When Lauren turned eighteen she was told about Syria and I by her parents. Lauren contacted Syria and they arranged to meet about a month later. Before that could happen Syria and I had to tell Scott and Aaron.
I flew up for a weekend and we sat the boys down. I was not sure what to expect from the boys. I had played every reaction I could think of over and over in my head. My worry was they would feel lied to or betrayed. I have to say, it went very smoothly. They were, of course, shocked at first, but that quickly gave way to excitement. They both wanted to meet their sister.
A week later the four of them got together. By the end of the visit everyone seemed to have bonded. I got many calls from Syria telling me how well everything was going and talking to the boys I could tell everyone was happy.
Two weeks ago it was my turn to meet her. Lauren had written a very nice letter saying she wanted us to meet. The boys were coming for a long weekend visit along with their mother. Syria was staying with Lauren and her mother while the boys stayed with me.
I picked the three of them up from the Ft. Lauderdale airport Friday evening. On the drive back I got to talk to Lauren a little bit over Syria’s cell phone speaker phone, which was a little awkward for me but did break the ice a bit. I was very nervous about this meeting – I wanted it to go well but knew my limited social skills and shyness could come off the wrong way.
I can not articulate what I felt meeting her for the first time. It was amazing and a bit surreal.
She is beautiful.
She is intelligent.
She is funny.
She is articulate.
She is virtuous.
She is ethical.
She is an accomplished student.
… and more.
