“Season of the Shark” by Yo La Tengo… “I want to be the one to make you feel okay right now. Some way, somehow. When I fall short I sink so low that I even blame the clouds for blocking out the sun. And the shadows on the wall. That’s why you feel alone. Could it be that it’s the season of the shark?”

After a day or so glued to the monitor, I believe my eyes have now attained the ability to not blink for hours at a time. But I’ve got a new layout, a new site and a new found desire to design so it was worthit.

So what happened since the last time? I was contacted by my ISP who informed me that I’d gone over the quota number of hours for the last 2 months and despite their warnings, had not reduced usage. I didn’t even realise I’d gone over, so I’m going to use that excuse along with “But I thought I was paying for unlimited internet!” When you’re signing up to a new dial-up ISP, be sure to read the small-print, kids. I’m now accessing the internet via my cable TV and phone company, which could mean that in the worse case scenario (i.e. the cable company spontaneously combusts), I have no internet, no TV and no phone line. To be honest, I’d just miss the internet. For phone calls I have my mobile phone to hand. I’ve fallen out with TV though. We only get along at mealtimes.

It’s like an end of an era. I’ve been with my ISP for about over 5 years and still remember the good old days when my internet was completely unlimited and completely free. In the beginning, I used to be with a phone company that provided free internet (back then “unmetered internet” was very much like the Loch Ness Monster). It was literally unlimited internet back then too, but the ISP went through a few changes in management over the years till it devolved into its current incarnation; a monstrosity that soiled the good name of 24/7 internet. It now claims (like a lot of providers) to have a tariff for unlimited dial-up internet, provided you don’t go over a certain number of hours per month. Exsqueeze me, but doesn’t unlimited mean without limits? Or does the un- prefix in un-limited now stand for “unprepared for the new hole we’re going to rip you, geek?”

I’m not bitter though. I had been served well and my internet is now cheaper, just as fast as the previous ISP and literally unlimited. Unmetered internet meant that I was able to sit at the monitor and force the cogs in my lazy mind to get up to speed with my creative mind, to churn out a new layout. I’d wanted to learn and implement CSS (”Cascading Style Sheets,” for the lay person) into a new design for a while now, so ta da! If the layout starts floating around, don’t worry, it’s meant to. It’s not meant to look crap though, so if that happens, start blaming the person nearest to you who you think you could beat down in a fight. It won’t make you a better person, but it’ll sure make you feel better. And absolve my website from cramping anyone’s style.