the big panic of the day was seeing that my USA network channel had disappeared. i could see it fine with the digital to analog converter box in the living room, but the channel had disappeared from my other analog tv. it wouldn't surprise me one bit if comcast decided to delete channels in an attempt to get everyone to go digital (and thereby paying comcast even money that what people pay now). USA network is one of my favorite channels. where else can i going to find monk reruns, or law & order: criminal investigation? what about psyche and the new in plain sight? don't even get me started about the new season of burn notice starting next month! but fortunately by the end of the day the channel came back without me having to call comcast and complain.

to went to the cafe briefly today to set up the public wireless network. so instead of the m0n0wall server that i've been working on, we decided to go with a simpler open access point solution instead. when customers want to use the internet we plug in the access point, and when nobody is using it, we disconnect it (to prevent signal theft). the private network will still remain active 24/7, but of course that's password protected. after i did that i drove to belmont and waited for my parents to come home so we could have dinner (homemade meat buns).

my mother showed me her swollen and bruised foot, a result of a possible spider bite that she's been taking antiobiotics for. she seems to attract arachnids because this is her second spider bite. she also told me that just the other day she saw hailey playing with something in the backyard. when she went out to take a look, turned out it was a baby cardinal, its parents frantically fluttering in the nearby trees, trying to drive hailey away. the baby bird was still alive, but eventually died before my mother could get ahold of it.