Dealing with Sluggo under these circumstances is rather like being the poor ragamuffin in one of those guilt-mongering Victorian tales -- the kind where the kid has his nose pressed up against the glass of the fancy restaurant, and sees what the rich people are stuffing into their faces, but after only a brief glimpse, a copper comes and drags him away and cuffs him on the ear, and even goes through the urchin's pockets and takes his only morsel of food, a moldy crust of bread, on suspicion that it was stolen goods. Yeah, that's what Sluggo does to me every time I get connected to the Internet on a day such as this. Except that Sluggo is the moldy crust of bread, as well as the window to the fancy restaurant. Here it is, the 21st century, and I'm stuck in a Dickens' novel.
Anyway, it's now three in the morning, I've gotten this much typed into the client, Sluggo has given me the last eight minutes online that he'll be able to provide for the next hour, at least, so I have to copy and save this entry (before all Sluggo's functions shut down,) let the bugger take a nap and cool off, then get back online, fetch the entry from the clipboard and post it, and, with luck, check some of my mail. Ah, summer fun in the digital age!
Even though the house has not yet cooled, it is down into the 60's outdoors. If I could knock a hole in the wall and stick the box outside, the computer would probably run quite nicely. Of course, the ever-inquisitive raccoons would probably take it apart, or at least gnaw the cables, and crickets would undoubtedly take up residence inside it. That might only improve it, though. Raccons could be no less competent as computer technicians than the nephew who cobbled Sluggo together, and I'd not be surprised to find that crickets have brains at least as sophisticated as, (and far more reliable than,) an AMD processor. But I'm not going to be knocking any holes in the wall, in any case, even though the cats would be happy to have a new door. I'm going to put up with things as they are, until I can replace Sluggo. Now, since I must let Sluggo nap for a while, I'm going to go read a book.