The emotional ups and downs of a Satellite Dish
When we thought about going to live in a remote location in the jungle of Belize, we knew it would be rough, but we consoled ourselves with the knowledge that we would be able to contact friends and family "at a moments notice" through the power of technology of Skype. :>)
.
But then we found out that BTL (Belize Telecommunications Ltd.) had been blocking people from using Skype, because it messed up their greedy monopoly of the phone system. :>(
But then we realized that BTL could only block the internet service that they themselves provided; but not that wonderful little satellite system that serves Jag Creek. :>)
But then, we arrived at Jaguar Creek, and found the system was not working. And even with my 25 years of immersion in the technology of Silicon Valley, a Gerber tool and a blue anodized Mag Lite with fresh batteries, I couldn't fix it. :>(
But then, through the wonder of "click here if you forgot your password" technology, I was able to log into the former owner’s Direcway satellite account, find out that the account was overdue, and pay it online with my credit card. :>)
But that did not fix it. :>(
But then I found out the problem; the server (PC) connected to the satellite dish was not booting properly. So we sent it to the shop and got it fixed with some new RAM, and even a shiny new optical mouse. :>)
But that did not fix it. :>(
But then I called HughesNet (owners of Direcway) on their toll-free number, which luckily for BTL was not free at all from Belize, and spoke to a nice call center man with an East Indian accent who told me what to do. :>)
But that did not fix it. :>(
But then I called again, worked with a second call center man in India and he gave me more, better things to try. :>)
But that did not fix it. :>(
But then I called a third time, and I was promoted to the Holy Grail of call center support – Advanced Technical Support. His name was Robb (with two b’s). He was a little cranky, and said that the other guys made some mistakes when they talked to me, but you could tell that he was really smart. He asked me several important questions, and I think I did a really great job of answering them. In the end he said that he’d send out a service truck :>)
But then, he discovered that I was not in Texas, but in a remote jungle location in Belize. “How can that be?” he said, “This says you are in Texas”, "Why are you in Belize?". I told him, “I don’t know exactly why I’m here, but God told me to go to Belize; He didn’t tell me to go to Texas"
So, the truck never made it here and that did not fix it. :>(
But then my Internet Café manager told me of a place in Spanish Lookout. “It’s either Computer Ranch, or Ranch Computer” he said. (He couldn’t find the number in his 2004 phone book, but we have the latest edition here at JC.) I called and sure enough, the guy told me that he’d take a look at it. He said he’d charge me “an arm and a leg” if I made him drive down to Jag Creek, but I could bring the system to him and he’d check it out :>)
Before we tried that, someone else mentioned that the transmitter/reciever might be dirty. So I took the dish apart and cleaned it with a Q-tip. I did not use a Latin American Q-tip which are hard and scratchy and make you think that you just punctured your ear drum; I used a real Q-tip which is made with 100% pure cotton and has 50% more soft cotton at the tip than any other swab. (I was confident that my careful swab selection would fix the dish. :>)
But that did not fix it. :>(
Then something wonderful happened. My lovely mechanical wife (I'm talking about her aptitude, not her construction) was going to help me dismantle the Satellite to take it to Computer Ranch (or Ranch Computer, whatever the case may be). But first we decided to re-point the transmitter. To do that we had to put in our zip code. That was a bit of a problem since Belize doesn't use zip codes, so we just chose one from Texas. After careful adjusting, we were able to improve the signal strength from 86% to 85% (Oh, wait that’s not an improvement is it....did I mention that we really didn't know what we were doing?). Then, for fun, we started the system up again and a miracle happened – it worked. :>)
Why is it working? She says its becuase we told the software that we are really in Texas. Or maybe Robb sent the truck after all, and we just missed seeing it. But I say it is because there is no softer or safer swab than Q-tips cotton swabs....ideal for a multitude of uses.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Saturday, February 03, 2007
A Day in the Life
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Well at 6:30 AM the first thing that Adie and I saw in the morning was each other, which was nice.
The second thing, unfortunately was this toilet. It’s okay, but doesn’t always have that fresh clean Pine Sol scent, if you know what I mean.
Since it wasn’t raining, we decided to go for a run. So we got dressed (shorts and t-shirts) and then did our morning ritual of applying OFF!.
Adrienne likes to use the “Tropical Fresh” around her face and head, and the “Deep Woods”, on her arms and legs. I normally just use the “Deep Woods” everywhere. As you can see in the photo, we have used ¾ of the bottle already!
The run was lovely. This photo is the road leading into Jaguar Creek. In parts of it there is a canopy of green. The road was a little wet, but not too muddy. We ran out to the main highway, down the highway a bit, and then back for a total of about 30 minutes.
When we got back we hung up our slightly muddy shoes on the rack (set of nails) that Matt made for us yesterday and sat in front of the fan to cool off since it was a little humid.
Okay, the shower may not look like Better Homes and Gardens, but it does have plenty of hot water. And Adrienne made sure that we have lots of good soaps and conditioners. I take a “Navy” shower, that is, I turn the water off while I soap up….(hmmm, maybe that is more detail than you really wanted to know….).
Of course, we also have a sink for brushing the teeth, etc. And you might notice there is even a drinking water filter attached to it. However, like my Dad, we have discovered that maintaining these filters is a pain, and we are probably just going to get rid of them. Most people prefer bottled water anyway.
After showering and dressing, we headed for the main lodge and saw some of the workers like Matt Lavin (left) and Emiliano (right).
Okay, here’s the part where we are NOT roughing it. All of our meals are prepared for us. This morning we got our coffee first, and then later, when the bell rang, we went to breakfast. This morning we had some orange juice, freshly baked muffins, cereal and fruit.
Following breakfast, Matt headed off into the jungle with Steve and Mateo to clear the perimeter. This is accomplished by walking the perimeter of the property with machetes and cutting down bushes, small trees (and occasionally a big fallen one) so that our property boundary is obvious. I haven’t included a photo of that because, well, I just wasn’t there. But Matt tells me it is very difficult, tiring, manly work.
I headed off to what is perhaps not so difficult, tiring or manly; to work in the office.
The commute this morning was pretty nice…nice weather, no traffic. We are so happy to have Internet here now; it is great not to have to drive to town to connect.
Adrienne headed off to the laundry room to take inventory and sort through all of the linens. This turned out to be an all day job, and since some of the blankets and sheets are older than others, trying to determine what to keep or discard was challenging. Anyway, she told me it was difficult, tiring, womanly work.
After a couple of hours in the office, I headed to Spanish Lookout with Tono to buy tools at a hardware store there. It was a 45 minute drive, but worth it, because the prices were lower than in Belmopan, and we were buying $4000 BZ worth of stuff ($2000 US dollars). Included was a gasoline powered pressure washer, lawn mower, gas weed eater, compressor, and various power tools. We returned with the truck full of stuff.
At that time Adrienne was still in the laundry room, then soon headed for the office to shop on line for uniforms for the staff. She found some nice skirts for the ladies at Target that were only $19.99. And she is ordering Jaguar Creek T-shirts.
Somewhere along the way, Matt and Adrienne had lunch. I don’t have a photo of it, because I wasn’t there; I was in Spanish Lookout at the time. I did run into the kitchen and have a piece of cold chicken, bread and butter. Not great, but it got me through the afternoon.
Around 4:30 we quit working, and decided to walk to the Blue Hole. After we re-applied our OFF! we headed out.
The Blue Hole is a 25 foot natural pool, so named for the color of the water. Like Jaguar Creek, the water comes from an underground source flows for awhile and then disappears again in the earth. The water is cool and clear.
The walk took an hour, so when we returned Adrienne went to start dinner. The cook had prepared spaghetti sauce, home baked bread with garlic butter on it, a green salad and muffins (probably from this morning). Adie cooked the noodles and heated
everything up for us.
Sometimes I wonder if the three of us are going to get tired of eating with the three of us, but so far it’s fine. And Matt has been great about setting the table and helping wash dishes every night.
This evening I spent a little more time in the kitchen baking desiccant which I hope will help protect our cameras, the guitar and some other things that we don’t want the humidity to ruin. Now it’s 9:30 and we have settled into our usual evening routine that looks something like this:
Okay, it doesn’t look exactly like that right now, because I’m actually on my computer, and this photo was taken last night. But take my word for it, Adrienne and Matt look pretty much like this every night. Both of them have new books that they are into, and are reading a lot!
As is normal around this time, Adie just looked at her watch to see if it is “an acceptable time” to go to bed. Normally that would be about 9PM or later, so she is ready to go.
We like the new mosquito net that Adrienne brought down here (one for Matt too). It has more than 600 holes per square inch which means “no see-ums” cannot get in. We like that. When we first get in bed the sheets feel sort of damp.
We don’t like that. But I have noticed that later in the night, once we have warmed up the bed, the sheets seem dry. At night we hear lots of insect sounds, and occasionally Howler Monkeys which make a very weird noise I really don’t know how to describe; you need to come down here and hear it. Well, that’s my “photo journal” of today; just so you have an idea of what life is like for us -- Mark.
Well at 6:30 AM the first thing that Adie and I saw in the morning was each other, which was nice.
The second thing, unfortunately was this toilet. It’s okay, but doesn’t always have that fresh clean Pine Sol scent, if you know what I mean.
Since it wasn’t raining, we decided to go for a run. So we got dressed (shorts and t-shirts) and then did our morning ritual of applying OFF!.
Adrienne likes to use the “Tropical Fresh” around her face and head, and the “Deep Woods”, on her arms and legs. I normally just use the “Deep Woods” everywhere. As you can see in the photo, we have used ¾ of the bottle already!
The run was lovely. This photo is the road leading into Jaguar Creek. In parts of it there is a canopy of green. The road was a little wet, but not too muddy. We ran out to the main highway, down the highway a bit, and then back for a total of about 30 minutes.
When we got back we hung up our slightly muddy shoes on the rack (set of nails) that Matt made for us yesterday and sat in front of the fan to cool off since it was a little humid.
Okay, the shower may not look like Better Homes and Gardens, but it does have plenty of hot water. And Adrienne made sure that we have lots of good soaps and conditioners. I take a “Navy” shower, that is, I turn the water off while I soap up….(hmmm, maybe that is more detail than you really wanted to know….).
Of course, we also have a sink for brushing the teeth, etc. And you might notice there is even a drinking water filter attached to it. However, like my Dad, we have discovered that maintaining these filters is a pain, and we are probably just going to get rid of them. Most people prefer bottled water anyway.
After showering and dressing, we headed for the main lodge and saw some of the workers like Matt Lavin (left) and Emiliano (right).
Okay, here’s the part where we are NOT roughing it. All of our meals are prepared for us. This morning we got our coffee first, and then later, when the bell rang, we went to breakfast. This morning we had some orange juice, freshly baked muffins, cereal and fruit.
Following breakfast, Matt headed off into the jungle with Steve and Mateo to clear the perimeter. This is accomplished by walking the perimeter of the property with machetes and cutting down bushes, small trees (and occasionally a big fallen one) so that our property boundary is obvious. I haven’t included a photo of that because, well, I just wasn’t there. But Matt tells me it is very difficult, tiring, manly work.
I headed off to what is perhaps not so difficult, tiring or manly; to work in the office.
The commute this morning was pretty nice…nice weather, no traffic. We are so happy to have Internet here now; it is great not to have to drive to town to connect.
Adrienne headed off to the laundry room to take inventory and sort through all of the linens. This turned out to be an all day job, and since some of the blankets and sheets are older than others, trying to determine what to keep or discard was challenging. Anyway, she told me it was difficult, tiring, womanly work.
After a couple of hours in the office, I headed to Spanish Lookout with Tono to buy tools at a hardware store there. It was a 45 minute drive, but worth it, because the prices were lower than in Belmopan, and we were buying $4000 BZ worth of stuff ($2000 US dollars). Included was a gasoline powered pressure washer, lawn mower, gas weed eater, compressor, and various power tools. We returned with the truck full of stuff.
At that time Adrienne was still in the laundry room, then soon headed for the office to shop on line for uniforms for the staff. She found some nice skirts for the ladies at Target that were only $19.99. And she is ordering Jaguar Creek T-shirts.
Somewhere along the way, Matt and Adrienne had lunch. I don’t have a photo of it, because I wasn’t there; I was in Spanish Lookout at the time. I did run into the kitchen and have a piece of cold chicken, bread and butter. Not great, but it got me through the afternoon.
Around 4:30 we quit working, and decided to walk to the Blue Hole. After we re-applied our OFF! we headed out.
The Blue Hole is a 25 foot natural pool, so named for the color of the water. Like Jaguar Creek, the water comes from an underground source flows for awhile and then disappears again in the earth. The water is cool and clear.
The walk took an hour, so when we returned Adrienne went to start dinner. The cook had prepared spaghetti sauce, home baked bread with garlic butter on it, a green salad and muffins (probably from this morning). Adie cooked the noodles and heated
everything up for us.
Sometimes I wonder if the three of us are going to get tired of eating with the three of us, but so far it’s fine. And Matt has been great about setting the table and helping wash dishes every night.
This evening I spent a little more time in the kitchen baking desiccant which I hope will help protect our cameras, the guitar and some other things that we don’t want the humidity to ruin. Now it’s 9:30 and we have settled into our usual evening routine that looks something like this:
Okay, it doesn’t look exactly like that right now, because I’m actually on my computer, and this photo was taken last night. But take my word for it, Adrienne and Matt look pretty much like this every night. Both of them have new books that they are into, and are reading a lot!
As is normal around this time, Adie just looked at her watch to see if it is “an acceptable time” to go to bed. Normally that would be about 9PM or later, so she is ready to go.
We like the new mosquito net that Adrienne brought down here (one for Matt too). It has more than 600 holes per square inch which means “no see-ums” cannot get in. We like that. When we first get in bed the sheets feel sort of damp.
We don’t like that. But I have noticed that later in the night, once we have warmed up the bed, the sheets seem dry. At night we hear lots of insect sounds, and occasionally Howler Monkeys which make a very weird noise I really don’t know how to describe; you need to come down here and hear it. Well, that’s my “photo journal” of today; just so you have an idea of what life is like for us -- Mark.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)