Blocked!!!

I rarely have anything unfavorable to say about Indonesia. I have found it to be a place of incredible beauty, startling contrasts, and some of the nicest people anywhere. I am glad we came here and I will be incredibly sad when we leave. This weekend, however, I wasn't feeling so friendly. Here's the story.

Saturday I tried to view my blog (as I do EVERY morning just to see who has been there) and it wouldn't open. No problem. I got another cup of coffee and browsed some of the other blogs I check daily. After a bit I noticed a trend, none of the blogspot sites would open. "Blogger's down, again" I grumped at my husband (as if he could fix it). Shut down my computer and went on with the day. Later in the morning I checked back, still down. On a whim I tried getting to blogger's home page, it loaded fine. I could even get to my personal dashboard, I simply couldn't view my blog, or the blog of anyone else using blogger. Frustrated I called my husband (a.k.a. personal computer geek) to come check out the problem. Deep down I was worried it was another case of USER ERROR, the most common computer problem I encounter.

David said, "That's weird!" and after doing pretty much the same things I did, with the same results, he went to the help board and ran a search to see if anyone else was having problems. He quickly discovered the source of the problem: Indonesian Government! Apparently there is a recently passed law banning pornography and they are implementing web filters. As the parent of a teenage boy, I can tell you it isn't to work, he is way more computer savvy than a bunch of bureaucrats any day. Anyway blogger was a casualty of the filter. AAACCK! Oh No They Didn't! This is my sanity, my creative release, my link to home, family and friends. How dare anyone mess with THE BLOG!

Sulked all weekend. Periodically checked to see if it was working, no such luck. Finally Monday morning my blog reappeared, but when checking other blogs I noticed typepad was not accessible. Never have I more appreciated the freedoms we take so much for granted.

To amuse ourselves in the absence of THE BLOG over the weekend David and I watched the Achmed the Terrorist at youtube.com, really if you haven't seen this yet you MUST go to youtube immediately and watch it. It is just too too funny. "Silence, I kill you!" Oh my, I get the giggles just thinking about it. I would post it here for you but guess what?? Youtube isn't working. Quick google search. Youtube has been blocked because they refuse to remove videos critical of the Qoran. Myspace has also been blocked. I don't go to myspace often and I didn't think that youtube would affect me too much since I generally confine my computer addiction to blogging. I was wrong, every freaking blogger seems to use youtube to post videos on their blogs leaving big blank holes in their blogs when I view their pages.

I don't think every Indonesian supports this move, anymore than I think every American supports Bush. Some do, some don't. Oh well as Dakota says:
"It's no problem Mom, just use an epoxy site."

**Yes I know it is proxy NOT epoxy, but he doesn't, teehee.