There’s a couple of reasons why my updates have been missing for the past few days.

The first is that my internet got “shaped” earlier this week. Apparently, my downloads were deemed excessive under the terms of Cyberone’s Acceptable Use Policy. According with the AUP they reserve the right to slow down user’s download rate if usage is considered to be excessive and adversely impact on network performance.

That seems vague to me, but whatever. 56,877.38MB is around 60Gb. I can get 40Gb on ADSL2 on iiNet for $130/month, or bundled with a VoIP server, 60Gb. Internode and Vintek has 80Gb for $120 per month, 90Gb for $140. It’s a pretty easy case to avoid renewing with Cyberone when my contract is due for renewal in November.

The second reason is the crap in Thailand, and the rerouting of my flights to avoid it.

This was a drama beyond all reckoning. It cost around about $3K to get on Emirates flights that *sort of* meet my requirements.
Flight details are written here for easy reference:
27-Sep-06 dep 20:05 BNE arr 06:00 DBX (via Singapore)
28-Sep-06 dep 08:35 DBX arr 13:00 MUC
18-Oct-06 dep 21:50 PAR arr 06:30 DBX
19-Oct-06 dep 08:45 DBX arr 06:35 BNE (via Singapore)

Those familiar with my other travel plans will note that I’m also arriving a day earlier than intended in Munich, which is both great and crap, because it cost another $350 for a hotel room that night, but it’s another day to enjoy the Oktoberfest, so …

The hassle of all this (and the hassle of sending my booth and equipment via FedEx) completely wore me out Wednesday, and I fell asleep at around 7pm. Unfortunately, I was up again, bright as a button at around midnight, so it was a mixed blessing. I had dinner at the Pancake Parlour in town at around 2am, and it was pretty good. It’s one of the few places open 24 hours in this sleepy town. Anyone else know any others?

This entry was posted on Friday, September 22nd, 2006 at 8:54 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.