Only one more week of lovely summer with D.

D. starts fourth grade a week from tomorrow, and then I won't get to hang out with him all day. This summer's been great - I didn't sign up for any childcare or day camps, and he's just entertained himself while letting me get my work done. Of course, I'll be able to focus even better when he's not around 'til mid-afternoon, but I'd just as soon have more of that grin, and the cheery way he sings to himself, and the martial arts leaps and kicks he makes while playing Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokémon on his DS.

So this week, we'll finish up his swimming lessons, and maybe visit the pool some more and paint the picket fence together, though it's going to be relatively cool and cloudy by the weekend. Maybe we should be festive and play some Warcraft 3 together, or Magic or something.

(I am not looking forward to waking up 2-3 hours earlier either, even if I do get to go back to sleep right after.)

Modem vexations

One thing I have definitely not enjoyed this summer is a tolerably stable Internet connection. Earlier I thought it was the router, then I discovered the Wii/DS issue (which is definitely a contributor). That didn't fix the whole problem, though, and a few days ago I noticed a clump of dust and dog fur inside the modem case, which I would really like to be able to remove.

However. The case is sealed with a screw with a hexagonal socket-thing, but I can't open the stupid thing either with metric or English hex-wrench-things because the edges of the hexagon are all scrunchy such that nothing quite fits in there. (Such precise usage of terminology.) I suppose in theory I could take the modem to a repair shop, but we can't afford to spend hours without it, so I guess I'll have to buy another. Hmrph. And maybe that's not even the problem.