Whitney Houston, we have a problem

I'm sitting in a teriyaki-jip (yep, it's Korean-owned, like the others I've seen and written about) and still having trouble surfing the Web from my browser. This is a bit worrisome. For the moment, I'm assuming the problem is external to the BlackBerry.

When I first arrived at this motel, the situation was actually different: the signal while inside the room was weak, but I was able to surf the Web. Now, for reasons known only to the cell phone gods, the inside-the-room signal is strong (the "many bars" promised on those AT&T commercials) but I'm unable to surf, and the problem seems to have followed me outside, which means it <i>might</i> be a device-related issue. If it is, and if it turns out that this BlackBerry will also need to be exchanged, I'll have gone through two BlackBerrys ("-Berries"?) in three months. That's got to be a record.

In other news:

A walk over to a local sporting goods store led to the discovery that a "gear bag" (that's a fancy term for a small backpack with many specialized pockets) would run me $50 before tax. If I could find the same sort of bag for about $30, that would be nice.

A clarification about the local library's policy: townies can check books out as long as they've got a library card; the "live more than 50 miles away" rule applies to all other people without cards.

I received an email from the Whitman College's Associate Dean of Campus Life and Director of Residence Life and Housing, Nancy Tavelli, that confirmed what I had learned yesterday: there's no guest lodging currently available on campus. That's too bad, but not unexpected, what with the start of the fall semester.

I also learned that Walla Walla University's semester doesn't begin until September 29, which is surprisingly late in the year. I'll be curious to look up the rest of their academic calendar online; WWU is Seventh Day Adventist, so they move to the beat of a different drum. Whitman College started off as Christian but now has no religious affiliation (at least according to Wikipedia).

More updates to come.

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Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T