Can't break-down and buy an iPad at Best Buy up the street.

And the only PRESCRIPTION, is more COWBELL

I am the Network Administrator for an ISP (AS4307) in San Martin, CA (between Morgan Hill and Gilroy) that was directly affected by the cuts.

We are multi-homed by two providers. BOTH providers fiber ran through those SONET rings that were cut. We were COMPLETELY isolated (internet, POTS AND cell) from 2:15am to 10:42pm. Luckily, 90% of our customers are in the Morgan Hill/Gilroy/San Martin/San Jose area, so they were fully aware of what happened.

As a side note, the cuts were actually in San Jose. I live 3 blocks from where the cuts occured (Monterey Hwy and Cottle Rd. for those interested). And it did not just affect Morgan Hill. Some parts of South San Jose were affected, along with Morgan Hill, San Martin, Gilroy, Watsonville, Santa Cruz, and parts of Hollister.

What was interesting was when service was restored, customers who lived out of the area who had not heard of the happenings here, called and told us they thought one of two things:

A) We went out of business
B) Natural disaster (Earthquake was #1 on the list, considering where we are located)

We lost no customers over this fiasco, and are now looking at getting a provider that feeds from completely separate fiber (i.e. from the SOUTH)

Robert Glover
Director of I.S.
South Valley Internet (AS4307)

I, for one, enjoy the relative safety and comfort of my fine tree. I am at a sufficient altitude to avoid the dangers that you "land-lubbers" deal with everyday. I'm shaded from... well, some of the harmful UV rays that you terra-firma-loving peeps drive your cars around on that spew out ozone-depleting compounds. I have fresh air to breathe, and best of all, those SEC officials will never find me out here!

Of course there are some downsides

• My solar-cell charged batteries die in the middle of the night
• Mosquito's in the summer
• Chicks don't dig dudes in trees. :( Maybe I need some tree-bling?
• No phone, ergo, no DSL. My beloved conifer is 264,000' from the CO. I'm connected via Sprint Carrier-Pigeon.

And you guys complain about the slow 300 baud acoustic-coupled modems back in th.... WHAT THE?!?!

HOLY HELL, there's a goddamn hunter aiming at my carrier pige *BOOM*

NO CARRIER