Peter’s Soapbox

School Choice and Consolidation in Vermont

Now that the Vermont Yankee debate has died down, the current hot topic before Vermont’s state government is school choice. Here’s what I think on this. Continue reading School Choice and Consolidation in Vermont…

Bethel Votes to Withdraw from Windsor Northwest Supervisory Union

Here’s a summary of the highlights of this week’s school budget meeting:

1. The chair of the school board announced that the superintendent has been put on administrative leave.
2. The school board asked if the taxpayers would borrow $480,000 to pay back, over a period of three years, the debt that has been accumulated.
3. Townspeople attempted to get details on both of these points, which was like pulling teeth without Novocaine.
4. The board informed the taxpayers that audits have not been complete for at least three years.
5. Many people griped, loudly. Included in this crowd, I informed them that, while I realize they are volunteers, the board has a responsibility to look after these things.
6. The two board members whose terms were up for renewal were unanimously re-elected.
7. The taxpayers voted to withdraw from the Titanic known as Windsor Northwest Supervisory Union. Continue reading Bethel Votes to Withdraw from Windsor Northwest Supervisory Union…

Bethel Town Office: Still Can’t Get Through

Four years later, the song remains the same.

On Fresh Ubuntu, Fiber Optics, and Divorce

Okay all, I’ve been silent for far too long, and I figured it was time to come out with some official statements for the benefit of the (albeit small) community that has formed around the Fresh Ubuntu podcast, and also for my other friends whom I haven’t had a chance to touch base with on a one-to-one basis. Continue reading On Fresh Ubuntu, Fiber Optics, and Divorce…

Fairpoint (FKA Verizon), You #$@#$^&* @#$(* !@#@#@ !!@(()*&!!!!

Ever get the feeling that maybe you spoke too soon?

Yeah, me too.

So remember the Fairpoint tech, who showed up unannounced, and told me our lines were crossed with someone else’s? He told me that they were getting our calls, and we were getting theirs. I gave him a list of other problems we were having.

Note that the problem of us getting their calls and them getting ours was not something that I had personally experienced…

Until he left.

After saying the problem had been fixed.

So, after everything was all set, every call placed to our business went to some family across town. Wonderful.

Now I know how my clients feel when I tell them they have had a RAID failure, and they are going to lose data, and they say “but we haven’t had any problems,” and then their server dies for real. *sigh*