If you’re reading this, it can only mean one thing: I have the Internet once again. It didn’t happen without a struggle, though. After a very smooth washer/dryer delivery, I waited (and waited, and waited) for the cable guy. I was kind of hoping it would get taken care of early so I could go and buy some of the High Efficiency laundry detergent (have you ever heard of such a thing?) that my new washing machine supposedly requires. My appointment “window” was between noon and 5:00. At about 4:20, they called and said the dude was running late, wouldn’t be there by 5, and could I hang out? Well, duh. So, they (supposedly) were crediting me $20 for my trouble (which doesn’t cover the wasted vacation day, but twenty bucks is twenty bucks). The poor kid (who I’m pretty sure was Lt. Dan Choi, but I figured I shouldn’t ask, and he didn’t tell) didn’t get to my place until almost 6:30. I then helped him trace out the cable and all that (no easy task with the rat’s nest of happy homeowner wiring here), and, as predicted, the work order didn’t include the Internet (nor did it include HD). Lt. Dan was cool, though, and got things straightened out. Then of course there was the hassle with my TV. As I learned about three years ago, my TV requires that the output resolution of a component be set specifically for one it supports. On my DirecTV box, this could be done with a hardware button, but on the cable box, it’s software. So I had to get an old TV, hook the box to that, set the resolution, and then we were good to go. By the time the guy left, it was almost 9:00, and, therefore, I was up too damn late (new remote to figure out, new channel numbers…. Oh, what a pain).

Otherwise, I didn’t follow much on the elections, but here in NYS Chuck, Kirsten, and Andy all won big (but Howie and the Greens got over 50,000 votes, and therefore secured their ballot spot). My Congresscritter is only a couple thousand votes ahead of his teabagger opponent (please, God, no!). Nationally, the Republicans took the House (oh boy, a minimum 2 years of John Boehner), but not the Senate. Russ Feingold lost, but so did Meg Whitman. Prop 19 lost, too (damn you, California! I thought I could count on you).

It occurs to me that it was on this same day back in 2004 that we suffered through the “day after” John Kerry “lost” to the monkey man (Kerry, as you no doubt painfully recall, conceding rather prematurely later on that day). As on that day, I shall now be entering several months of self-imposed news blackout. I’m just gonna hang out and watch my cable TV and surf mindless, innocuous websites.

And go to work, of course, to pay for it all. Which I suppose I ought to get ready to do.