We've been having severe connectivity problems affecting one of our main communication hubs which has caused no end of problems. Mail has been bouncing, staff people have been unable to keep in touch with contacts - even this week's edition of "Off The Hook" was a victim.

It all started last Wednesday when our DSL connection went down. We immediately suspected Verizon was up to their old tricks. On Thursday, Verizon closed their trouble ticket and blamed it all on NAS, which is the company providing our DSL service. NAS never told us to be prepared for a visit on Friday, so when they showed up, nobody was around. They didn't bother coming back until Tuesday, when they claimed it was a Verizon problem. And so the dance continued.

Tuesday's edition of "Off The Hook" was disrupted because the NAS technician left a door open and our cat got out. Many hours were spent searching and that, combined with not being able to send out email or reach the right people over the phone, resulted in the show not operating within its normal parameters. It wasn't any kind of action taken against us as a result of the Pacifica controversy - unfortunately this was the conclusion many people reached due to the lack of information. Everything should be back to normal next week. And the cat returned late Tuesday night.

The Verizon issue still remains a problem, however. Our DSL line is currently connected at a slower speed and we're told that once Verizon finally gets around to looking at it on Friday, they could take us down for days or even weeks. It's obscene that we have to tolerate this kind of abuse, which is nothing short of sabotage through incompetence. We're working on alternative solutions, but these take time.

Since we're trying to piece everything back together, we're in the process of compiling various stories and announcements which will be getting posted here as we get our collective act together. We're sorry for the inconvenience and confusion. Yet another reason why Verizon really sucks.