wireless sucks...
March 21, 2007
With the Folks away for three weeks and having free rein over the study (and their bank accounts!) I decided to fix up Wendy's computer that went boom last week and install it as a little surprise for when the return. My parents have pretty much dismissed the idea of having a PC of their own to play around with but I see some of their life-long friends stepping into Cyberspace I'd like to see my parents taking that step too. Dad receives emails from work which I'm required to check, and if required print...now he can do all that himself. Mum can email her sister and friends instead of jumping on the phone to swap recipes or whatever women do!!! I know Dad will freak most upon seeing his slightly reorganised desk, mum will see it as an opportunity to play Bejeweled until morning. Getting a computer is probably one of those things they'd never do: I can't imagine them waking one morning and deciding to get one that afternoon, so in order for them to be online someone would probably need to force it upon them.
Not that I have anything against spiders (snakes give me shivers though) but there was no way I was crawling under the house to install another network cable so this time decided to go wireless. Now I'm someone who researches products before purchasing them and visiting Officeworks one afternoon decided on a Belkin wireless router to replace my trusty wired Netgear. Matching it to a Belkin PCI wireless card. Returned home all excited at my $280 purchase and looking forward to getting it up and running. Router installed fine, nice and easy but the wired (hadn't even gone wireless yet) speeds were absolutely atrocious. Using a test download from a local server my connection was suddenly 90% slower. Bugger that! Didn't even get around to installing the wireless part. Returned to Officeworks to change to another Netgear - this time going all out and purchasing their top of the range one hoping to quell my problems - forked out another $120 for the privilege. The wired speeds through that was were better than anything I've had previously and was excited about the next step and going wireless. Seven hours later...needn't say anymore! The following morning went to PC shop and purchased a Netgear USB adapter hoping that a Netgear Router would happily work with a Netgear adapter. No such luck. Back to the PC shop to purchase a Netgear PCI card. You guessed it...no luck with that either. So at this stage I'd spent almost $500 and gone through two Routers, and three adapters! After spending an hour on the phone to Netgear the Malaysian operator told me to return the adapters as they MAY be faulty. Cracking the shits I returned to Officeworks and scored a refund on the Netgear router and Belkin PCI card. Back to the PC shop and explained my situation...the manager kicked up a stink about refunding. I'm not one to complain about anything, not even cold Maccas fries, but I knew my rights and after my day I let him have it!!! He relented and refunded. Before I left the shop I spotted a Linksys router (it received great reviews too) so thought I'd have one more crack so purchased that along with another Netgear USB adapter. To cut a long story short these two installed perfectly, no error, no anything and getting fantastic speeds. Lets view the tally board shall we? Three wireless routers, four wireless network adapters, ten hours of my time, five trips into Frankston and a dozen new gray hairs. The cheapest router of the lot turned out to be the best. ARGHHH!
Trains aside Uni is starting to shit me too. Late last week received notification that two of my classes for next semester have been cancelled. By cancelled I don't mean "choose another class" but rather "choose another subject completely". Really throws me off because the subjects wanted were for my Major. Now I'm sorta left wondering what to do. Unfortunately the subject I enrolled in to two years ago stopped existing when the move from Peninsula to Caulfield too place this year. Subjects I've already done in order to get to that Major have basically been a waste of time. I'm so pissed off with everything at the moment because it now looks like I may finish the middle of next year not the end of this year. To quote a famous commercial "not happy Jan".
Who would've believed the Blue Boys would win the Pre-Season competition? Guess it means nothing but hopefully they're pumped to at least finish second-last this year! Have made a pact with two from work: will go to one Carlton game this year. Haven't been to a game for...shit...can't even remember. Probably 2000 or even 1999. Tipping will also begin shortly. Wonder what the odds are on Carlton winning the Premiership this year? Should put on a few dollars.
Keeping with the sporting theme: the Cricket World Cup is on too. Loving that too! Thanks to CCDXP-32 I can keep up with most of the action in the Caribbean!!! Unfortunately Australian matches tend to be broadcast on FOX-3 so I miss that one...but still! Fantastic seeing Ireland kick Pakistani butt, and Banga's embarrassing India. The time difference is annoying with most games starting at 12:30am, however it's something to fall asleep to.
My beloved Melbourne is once again reaching world audiences with the F1 and FINA Swimming Championships. To be honest both F1 and Swimming doesn't interest me - seeing cars race around a track is dull and I'd be happy if Swimming Championships only consisted of female swimmers strutting their stuff in their two-piece. I'm an avid reader of international newspapers and I love seeing articles in different languages containing the word "Melbourne"...instills a sense of pride for some reason.
Went to see The Wizard of Oz a couple of weeks ago too. Was absolutely fantastic...probably not worth the $80 admittance though. There were so many kids there: they're so cute when they're all dressed up to attend the Symphony. Twenty years must have passed since seeing that movie, brought back many memories. With the movie playing in the background it was easily to forget the soundtrack was being played live by the Orchestra. Despite being her "favourite movie of all time" Emma managed to somehow sneak in a little snooze!!! No other performances seem to grab my attention this year...with any luck they'll add some shows which don't consist of boring old classical music.
Thanks for the letter this afternoon Medibank Private: I'm so happy learning of yet another fee rise. I never get sick so every month paying the premium is like pissing $60 down the drain.
Apologies for my incredibly short last entry. Spent time outside that night star-gazing and probably reflected a bit too much.
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