Speedfactory and Suburbia
I think the excitement of moving has mostly ended now. The boxes are unpacked, addresses have been changed, utilities have been transferred, and everything seems to be settling in nicely. I never did get a response back from contracts@MosheLink, but I did receive a bill for some bizarre partial payment for service through December 17th. I know that I entered some sort of contract, since anything DSL requires some sort of contract, so hopefully that weird bill was just the required end of it. If I get another one, I might have to drive out to their office in the ass-end of nowhere and knock some heads, or something.
I’d just like to take a moment to reiterate that Speedfactory sucks. I only used their service due to a lack of alternatives. They were one of the few providers in the area able to service locations like the Smyrna apartment isolated in the distant reaches of the phone loops, since they resell Bellsouth service, and they are one of the few such services that provide static IP addresses. I knew that I wasn’t going to have a fun time as I printed and faxed their online order form, but I didn’t have much choice. They require PPPoE, their customer service is some guy in an office in North Cobb, the modems they provide are consistently poor quality (I got to see and experience several examples of these while living with Moshe as he attempted to find the next useless piece of junk that Speedfactory would be buying), and the DSL link had a habit of going down right around billing time. But still, they’re better than going with Bellsouth or Comcast.
Other changes of address I still need to make are for insurance (I’ll be doing the same thing I did last time and visiting the one AllFarmStateCo agent in the area who’s open on Saturday) and my vehicle registration. The Georgia DDS should be mailing me a new license soon, so I figure I’ll wait on that before asking for a new plate sticker. I also still haven’t gotten the final gas bill from the old apartment. I guess that I ought to check on that.
In other news, Sandy Springs went and officially citied up the wild expanse of unincorporated Fulton county between Atlanta and Roswell. They kicked things off by adopting every Fulton county ordinance (since after midnight on the 1st they no longer counted (home rule!)), except for the ones allowing strip clubs. They also passed a moratorium on new strip club licenses. Boobies are in danger! Maybe I need to start going to city council meetings.
Sometime in late 2004, I was pulled over on Cobb Parkway just inside I-285 for failing to turn on my headlights at night. I received a citation from the City of Smyrna and had to appear in the Smyrna Municipal Court. Before hearing any cases, the judge went through a Powerpoint presentation explaining the process of the courts and the rights afforded defendants by Georgia law and the US Constitution. He emphasized how the Georgia courts had impressed upon “the inferior courts,” seeming to pause on the adjective, how everyone needs to be clearly informed of their rights. The presentation was translated into Spanish as the judge went along. While informing everyone of their right to representation by a lawyer, the judge emphasized the importance of having a lawyer for those who planned to enter a not guilty plea, choosing his words in such a way that the entire point could have been expressed as, “We will destroy you.” This is my impression of the suburbs.