Gah, I spent the whole afternoon trying to install ADSL internet for my parents, with a wireless gap between where the internet stuff enters the house and where the computer is. It was (and still is) a nightmare.

After lots of typing, cursing and banging, I finally got the thing to work except it wouldn't upload anything larger than about 3 kilobytes and the speeds switch from fast as lightning to slow as tectonic plates. After several calls to the helpline, I finally got connected to someone who didn't sound like he was reading his checklist off the back of a soiled napkin. As a result, an expert will phone tomorrow to see what's wrong. Of course I'm already back in Leuven so my dad will be on his own with that.

That was a few hours ago. I was a raw bundle of exposed nerves at that point but luckily I'm a big enough geek so that a couple of casual online games of Magic the Gathering soothed my spirits. Of course then my dad calls me again and from what I can surmise the whole wireless software somehow uninstalled itself or is playing hide and seek. Whatever, I told him to have someone come around and wrestle the thing into shape. Life's too short.