PE> A modem is not an investment.  It is a luxury.  It gets financed
PE> differently.

RB> If something is not EXACTLY what I want and is not of the best
RB> quality, then I go without, 

You bought a $2 million stereo system rather than put up with Jap
Crap, did you?  I don't think so, Russell.

RB> I Do not buy it. Therefore Everything
RB> that I buy is treated as a luxury.

Food is a luxury too, eh?  I don't think so, Russell.

RB> So, OK. Maybe I should learn how to budget & manage my money, like
RB> you do.

Might help.  I have a massive spreadsheet with EVERY SINGLE DAY for
the next few years on it, how much we're spending on groceries, etc
etc.  That is more to get the most out of the timing of our bills
rather than to save money though.  The best thing for saving money is
to work out in advance how much you need, and then get that allowance
every week.  You sure find out where the money goes that way!  We didn't
used to control it to that level, and sometimes we would say "Where did
we spend all our wages".  Well we know exactly where they are now,
because the budget worked, and it's all in the home loan.

PE> wild women, unless you count the odd abusive message I might send
PE> to Denise about here stupid initials.  I eat lollies, and write
PE> public domain code.

RB>  Ah , There is your downfall. you had me convinced that your way was
RB>  the better way, that your head really is screwed on properly, that

Well actually I don't know for sure that it's the better way, but with
99.999% of the world being the other way (people who may as well have
never bothered to come down out of the trees), I figure there's room
in the world for someone who potentially wastes their entire life in
the pursuit of things which may not really be important.

RB> You are not a Cult leader are you?

I suppose so.  Abject lack of followers though!

RB> You are very convincing.

It's nice to know.  But it would be even nicer to know what it was I
convinced you of?  From memory I was just stating what I did, and a
pure statement of fact can not be "convincing".

PE> People like Brenton, who are Real Men, will
PE> tell you that I am wasting my life, everyone should be like him.
PE> The fact that he feels the need to convince me of my own plight
PE> of despair gives me great satisfaction that I'm on the right track.

RB> And here I was trying to do similar. I Bow (or is that Bowel) to you

When I was 20, Mike Tyson was also 20, and knocking the daylights out
of anyone who came within 1 metre of him.  It was quite obvious to me,
that in the realms of heavyweight boxing, I was a useless turd.  I
chose a different field to compete in.

RB>> I can't really understand why I had trouble logging into his
RB>> netcomm. I dial them most every day, with out the trouble that I
RB>> had with his, those few times... This EC thing, must have been user error
RB>> somewhere.

PE> Poor old Russ.  There is no AT command to say "fuck up low level
PE> negotation".  On EITHER modem.  The reason you never saw it before
PE> was because you have never run the modems with the particular line
PE> characteristics you get with me.  Maybe every 5 seconds there is a
PE> slight click in my line, because the bitch upstairs has a cuckoo
PE> clock that emits EMR.  I don't know.  But you find out bugs in modems
PE> by finding a single example.  You don't find them by saying "well
PE> most people don't have the problem, so you don't exist".

RB> Of course, you are right.

If you're serious, that's a nice change and admission.

RB>> He really made me so mad, that he could use a Courier and then pass it up
RB>> for the netcomm. (Money, not being the issue, here)
RB>> Can't see the grass, for the green.

PE> The ISP's words made a lot of sense to me, "It's not a $200 better
PE> modem - it's not even a better modem".  That was a hell of a logical
PE> thing to say, and it summarized his testing perfectly.  I had NO
PE> evidence to suggest that he was wrong.  I KNEW I had a lot of
PE> problems with the USR, I didn't know what the problems were with the
PE> Netcomm in my environment.  Turns out he was wrong when he said 
PE> "it's not even a better modem".  I didn't know that at the time.
PE> The Courier is my preferred modem, assuming no price difference.  
PE> BFN.  Paul.

RB> I am humbled, what more can I say.

It is a logical course of action, nothing humbling about it.  BFN.  Paul.
@EOT:

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