government net
thursday january 3, 2002


there is a law: the government must be slow and must always send you to the wrong place at least once when you are looking for an answer. this law used to not be quite so evident on the net because either all business type websites were slow (good ole dial up, you know!) and confusing or, if you were lucky, you had dsl and you just got confused faster than most people. those days are over now. the slow, wrong turn rule has come to the net with the new fasfa site.

for two days now i have been trying to get in to fill out my f.a. app. day 1, january 1, the day that the apps were supposed to be available for 2002-2003, they weren't ready. the old site remained, although, admittedly, the old site worked. it just had the wrong years available. on january 2 the new site became available but good luck getting anywhere! the new site is slow and has more 'page cannot be displayed' errors than a government office has closed windows when the line is snaking out the door.

today i actually got to page 2. i figure at this rate i might get through the entire fasfa by the submission deadline. the really fun part has been trying to get to page 3. i have had to resubmit my pin 4 times so far. the fourth try ended with "your pin sessions has expired." all preceding efforts ended in the good ole "page cannot be displayed."

the government has truly hit the net. slow downs. errors that are the government's fault. and, above all, the closed window. this is going to be fun...not!

i admit it, i need my government money. i would not have made it through my b.a. without it and i definitely won't make it through my mfa without it (not at $4500/quarter...before the residency costs). heck, there were a few years my family wouldn't have made it without it. at least with f.a. you're only filling out stacks of paperwork once a year rather than once a month. and i also admit that i have become somewhat used to delays and screw ups when it comes to government money. this quarter, for example, automatic deposit disbursements will begin on saturday instead of today like originally planned.

thank goodness my books will only come to about $30 and i can pay for that on my own!

but i do remember the quarter my money, and my books, were over a week late. that was fun...NOT!

i have tried to keep in mind that everyone and his mother AND other assorted relatives is trying to get into the site at the moment, but i have been waiting for some kind of response for try number 5 since i started this entry.

queuing on the net. what will they think of next?