Monthly Archives: October 2003

but why batman?

Posted by on October 27, 2003 3 comments

A decent percentage of the time I spend at work, I spend listening to Digitally Imported Radio. They have good techno tracks, unlike my area, which has no techno broadcast radio stations.

Recently, they’ve started a “pay for listening” sort of structure, to help cover their costs. I’m all for that. But then I looked at the price structure. They want $11.95/month for the premium streams…

For that price, I can get an XM radio and get not only good techno stations, but 100 other streams to boot… So what gives DI? Why you gotta be like that? I was expecting a few dollars per month, or even per year.

it’s great… for me to poop on!!

Posted by on October 26, 2003 1 comment

So my most wonderful of ISPs is not doing so hot in the connection quality department tonight (this has happened before). I can’t stay connected to anything right now. Every couple minutes, I get massive packet loss to the world outside my ISP. I can still talk to ISP machines perfectly though, so the problem is on his end.

grrr.

garfunkel is a funny name

Posted by on October 26, 2003 No comments

Melissa and I loved the concert. Driving there was a bit of an adventure. (I skidded to a halt at one particularly slick intersection. It was raining, and I need tires.) Simon and Garfunkel are quite the artists, and the musicians that were playing in their band were all quite good in their own rights. The my favorite song was “the leaves that are green”. My favorite instrument was a big, long, tube sort of thing. It looked as though it was made of bamboo. It slid shorter/longer like a trombone, and it was very deep and melodious. I dug it.

In short, very worthwhile concert. Also, we stayed with Elizabeth’s parents for the night. They have an amazing house! Their hospitality was much appreciated. Thank-you Farquhars!

And echoed noels, of silence

Posted by on October 24, 2003 No comments

Melissa and I are going with Jerry and Elizabeth up to Chi-town tonight. We’re going to listen to the musical genius that is Simon and Garfunkel. I’m looking forward to it. I’ve always loved their music. Hopefully, it will be a good time.

Why, pray tell?

Posted by on October 23, 2003 9 comments

Apparently, stupid children are now popping cold pills (aka skittles ?) for a mild hallucinogenic effect. This leads to all kinds of health issues, just like any drug abuse. Currently, this form of cold pill is not regulated. Parents of effected children are calling for legal controls on this medicine. Good deal. Let’s make the government step in and take over where parents fail. We’ve already seen how effective goverment is at doing such things.

Also, it’s illegal to purchase or own matches, iodine, peroxide, pseudoephedrine. Granted, these also happen to be ingredients for methamphetmine, but what the heck people? Should walmart employees be blowing the whistle on stock-up shoppers?

What a wonderful world.

What’s in a name?

Posted by on October 23, 2003 2 comments

Gator, one of the first and most prevalent forms of spyware found on the internet and on computers everywhere, is saying that their product is not spyware, but adware.

Gator forced PC Pitstop to cease calling their product spyware, in favor of the adware verbage.

Bull-hooey I say. Gator is an evil program that feeds on the underbelly of networked PC’s like a flea. It’s spyware, malware, and rotten trash.

(story via Slashdot)

fond farewell, for the time being

Posted by on October 19, 2003 1 comment

Melissa and I were able to witness a beautiful wedding between Eri(c|k)sons this weekend. It was quite a joyful occasion to see Joel and Amy wed. I can’t say enough good things about friends getting married. It makes me happy. I’m looking forward to the funky/gibbs wedding coming up. (:

It gives me pause to stop and think, when I see how many of my friends really are getting hitched. It’s fun to see.

I was also quite proud to be able to house my goodest of friends and his lovely wife for the night last night. We got to visit for quite a while, driving around and then during lunch as well. It’s quite a pleasure to spend time with Nate. I really like that guy.

Chocobo racing professionally

Posted by on October 18, 2003 3 comments

So my melissa-pie is playing Final Fantasy X. The final fantasy series has never been my thing, but it’s right up her ally. I do like to watch sometimes, because it’s a pretty game though. Now and then, Melissa cons me into playing a mini-game for her.

Tonight, she talked me into chocobo racing for her. Now don’t get me wrong, I did it of my own free will. Let me tell you though, it was maddening and addictive. Riding a large yellow bird through a balloon field, with oncoming seagulls bent on slowing down my progress.

It’s a race, and each balloon I manage to nab shaves three seconds off my final time. Conversely, each freakin’ bird that hits me momentarily stuns me, then costs me three seconds from my total race time.

The race itself takes about 35-40 seconds before penalties and bonuses are factored in. I’ve managed to get my factored score down to two-point-four seconds. Melissa has heard tell that a nice item comes from getting your time down to zero seconds.

I just can’t do it!! I will try more later, but the game is maddening. First off, the chocobo doesn’t always run the way you command it. Next, the birds sometimes come out of nowhere to smash into me, slowing me down. The guy I’m racing sometimes steals balloons or knocks me into incoming bird traffic. Sometimes my chocobo jumps *into* incoming bird traffic.

!! sleepy time… before I hurt the PS/2. (:

connection stats

Posted by on October 17, 2003 No comments

As per Ryan’s request, here are some statistics on the new internet connection the Melissa and I have. It’s advertised as a 2mbit down/384kbit up connection. The physical connection between me and my ISP is a microwave link. When talking to a computer at my ISP, I can get about 1.1-1.2 Mb down (~160kb/sec). I can ping ISP computers at around 15-25ms.

Talking to google, I get around 45-65ms pings. Better than the cable modem in Logansport.

From here at work, I don’t have any trouble getting full bandwidth from the upstream of the microwave link. I’ve downloaded files from my server at home at around 48kb/sec, which is the max for the link.

poof! no more…

Posted by on October 14, 2003 2 comments

packet loss. I fixed that. The linksys hub I was using to connect all the wired systems was dying, apparently. Switch to the rescue. Only now, the internet connection isn’t working.

I suspect that the rain storm today has something to do with it, but I’m going to have to go rattle someone’s cage at the ISP tomorrow. ):

If everything just worked, I wouldn’t learn anything, now would I?

UPDATE: Apparently an animal or something chewed through the coaxial cable that connects me to the antenna outside my house. It’s all working now, and it appears to be far more healthy. Booyah.