Well, I'm back after three days of vacation, and of course, I lost all my outstanding eBay auctions (oh well). Just before I left, I was shocked to receive a call from my DSL provider (assuming it ever works - I'm still not sure it ever will) telling me that they had at long last been given an install date from Verizon. It just so happened that the date Verizon was going to show up at my doorstep happened to be Saturday, which of course was when I was going to be out of town. Now, I've long been convinced that my luck will forever prevent me from getting a DSL line, but this was downright silly. So, I told the nice woman on the phone that due to it being a holiday weekend, they would have to reschedule it. I was told they would call me back. The next morning, I was awakened at an ungodly hour (okay, it was 8:00 AM and I get up at 8:30...but it's the principle here, people) by a smiling Verizon employee, who was here to install a new DSL line. Incredibly, he wasn't struck by lightning during the installation (although there were "complications" which lead to it taking a significantly longer period of time than I had expected) and I've actually got a third phone box now that has the letters "DSL" written on it in the almighty marker. Of course, my apartment could still self-destruct if I ever plug anything into it, but it's a start.

Link of the Day: DataPimp (thanks Will). For those that were wondering who registered ThePopeShinesMyShoes.com before they did (warning: contains adult language).
Story of the Day: Making a Game of Web Searches (thanks kevin).
eBay Auction of the Day: Mario, the CRAY Y-MP C90. Thanks _blue (no relation).