[XILED]

This entry was written @ 4:52 AM on June 03, 2008 using Notepad++

My internet connection has been up and down all evening and I’ve
given up on my usual memtracking via Google Reader, Twitter, and
FriendFeed. I’ve decided instead to try to do something useful with this
time. But what?…

One is that I could shut down my computer (gasp!!) and take this
keyboard apart in hopes that I could stop the ? / key from sticking.
Problem is that I’ve never taken a keyboard apart before. I realize that
this must be a shocking admission from someone who claims to be a geek
but still, its the truth. I guess I’ve just never had a reason. Another
of course is that I could write, which is what I’m doing.

The main problem for me there is that other than technology I don’t
really have much to write about. It seems that the muse of fiction hasn’t
visited in quite some time. I suppose one has to exercise those muscles
from time to time to prevent atrophy, which is why I’ve been thinking of
giving Ficlets try. Of course that brings me back to the same problem. I
want to use Ficlets as a sort of fiction OpenCourseware. A place to jump
off from for story ideas. The strict 1024 character limit Ficlets makes
it almost like an english assignment and I feel my fiction was best when
I was forced to write daily by my wretched old english teacher. Of course
this time I would be in charge of myself and I’m a terrible boss. :/

The other problem with me using Ficlets is that its yet another
online service. I believe now that when I did away with my feed reader
that I made a mistake. My reason for doing so was sound, nobody wants to
read an rss feed twice and I need to read them in Google Reader so that i
can share and or note them. This is a vital part of building a community
around [XILED]. It’s all a part of networking. Yet at times like this,
without an  offline rss reader, I am without access to the feeds at all.
The error was in not having a backup. I should have had FeedReader
archiving posts even though I wasn’t using it. Hindsight…

But how am I to backup Ficlets? Sure I can back up my Ficlets and my
favorites and my favorite ficlet authors all via rss(fail once again).
But as for using the service as an idea factory, how am I to back that up?

Screw it, time to take this keyboard apart.

Update: I haven’t worked on my keyboard yet and 12 full hours later my internet is still b0rked. Centurytel, YOU SUCK.