I'm real disappointed with people in general this week.
Comcast After failing to show up and install cable at my new apartment, they lied to their dispatcher, saying that they had been here. In fact, I was home, and the concierge did not sign anyone in, nor see any Comcast employees. Shame on them.
CovadAfter failing to show up and install my dsl line on the 11th, they rescheduled for the 17th. On the 17th, they showed up at 8:00am sharp, and I was asleep. They rang the doorbell, but the cats had kept me up all night, and I had the door closed to prevent said cats from waking me up early. They tried to call, but of course, my laptop was plugged into the phone line, not my phone. They left at 8:20am, and charged me $150 for a missed appointment.
Wireless Because I've been offline for near two weeks now, I've been poaching wireless off my neighbours. I live in a very large building with 660 apartments in it. There are at least 8 WLAN's I can see from my apartment with the "Super Yagi" (2km range), including one at the Department of Labor. Initially, this was working well, and I could get 30-60KB/s from them. That was more than enough to check my email, irc, and occasionally check news.google.com (remember, I don't have cable, either). Within a couple days, all but one of them had shut me out of their networks, either turning off their WAP's entirely, or MAC blocking me. This really frustrates me. I go out of my way to make sure other people can access my WAP so that they can use it if they need to. I keep a very close eye on my network in general, and I'd be aware if anything malicious was going on. But mostly, people just want to check their email, irc, and browse the web.
Why did these people feel the need to kick me off their network? It was entirely unnecessary, and not in keeping with the spirit of the Internet. We share this big network. It is our home, and everyone is welcome. I think I'm going to post a note in the mail room letting everyone in the building know that I am happy to let people use my wireless. Additionally, I plan to get an omni (when my DSL is finally installed) so large that everyone can reach it. People need to just grow up and share the sandbox.
Taxes. So I said a week ago,
Job DSS is taking their sweet time with my clearance. I guess they're fighting a war and all, but it still pisses me off that it takes so long for my job status to be cleared up. The people I'm working with are apparently going to be out of town next week, so I won't even know until a week from Monday at the earliest. That would be the 28th of April. Moving has lowered my cost-per-day, but that's still another $600 or so of expenses (amazing what a week adds up to).
Notes I'm sure somebody's going to get their knickers in a wad about it, but I for one am glad Theo got his DARPA grant cancelled. What I find most bothering about this is the way he carries himself in public vs in private. In interviews, he is very cavalier about it, saying "it was blood money, and I didnt want it anyways. I feel redeemed." Right. He didn't have any problem taking the money when it was on the table and bashing Americans. It just really bugs me how it is everyone's fault but Theo's. He needs to take some personal responsibility and realize that he is the only face on the project (except maybe Art), and he needs to behave like an adult. A friend of mine referred to him as Theo 'Million Dollar Mouth' de Raadt. I found it fitting.
This Mozilla/Phoenix/Firebird debacle is just insipid. Stop it people. I mean, really. Sheesh.
I've taken to using the "bold subject followed by a paragraph" format that many on advogato seem to be using, it makes it easier to skim through diary entries and find what you want to read.
edit: 31 aug 08; tags, spelling (1), indentation
CovadAfter failing to show up and install my dsl line on the 11th, they rescheduled for the 17th. On the 17th, they showed up at 8:00am sharp, and I was asleep. They rang the doorbell, but the cats had kept me up all night, and I had the door closed to prevent said cats from waking me up early. They tried to call, but of course, my laptop was plugged into the phone line, not my phone. They left at 8:20am, and charged me $150 for a missed appointment.
Wireless Because I've been offline for near two weeks now, I've been poaching wireless off my neighbours. I live in a very large building with 660 apartments in it. There are at least 8 WLAN's I can see from my apartment with the "Super Yagi" (2km range), including one at the Department of Labor. Initially, this was working well, and I could get 30-60KB/s from them. That was more than enough to check my email, irc, and occasionally check news.google.com (remember, I don't have cable, either). Within a couple days, all but one of them had shut me out of their networks, either turning off their WAP's entirely, or MAC blocking me. This really frustrates me. I go out of my way to make sure other people can access my WAP so that they can use it if they need to. I keep a very close eye on my network in general, and I'd be aware if anything malicious was going on. But mostly, people just want to check their email, irc, and browse the web.
Why did these people feel the need to kick me off their network? It was entirely unnecessary, and not in keeping with the spirit of the Internet. We share this big network. It is our home, and everyone is welcome. I think I'm going to post a note in the mail room letting everyone in the building know that I am happy to let people use my wireless. Additionally, I plan to get an omni (when my DSL is finally installed) so large that everyone can reach it. People need to just grow up and share the sandbox.
Taxes. So I said a week ago,
- There is some good news intermingled among the boulders of bad news... The good folks at Kronzek and Co tell me my tax return is done. That should be a few thousand dollars, and should tide me over for a while.
Job DSS is taking their sweet time with my clearance. I guess they're fighting a war and all, but it still pisses me off that it takes so long for my job status to be cleared up. The people I'm working with are apparently going to be out of town next week, so I won't even know until a week from Monday at the earliest. That would be the 28th of April. Moving has lowered my cost-per-day, but that's still another $600 or so of expenses (amazing what a week adds up to).
Notes I'm sure somebody's going to get their knickers in a wad about it, but I for one am glad Theo got his DARPA grant cancelled. What I find most bothering about this is the way he carries himself in public vs in private. In interviews, he is very cavalier about it, saying "it was blood money, and I didnt want it anyways. I feel redeemed." Right. He didn't have any problem taking the money when it was on the table and bashing Americans. It just really bugs me how it is everyone's fault but Theo's. He needs to take some personal responsibility and realize that he is the only face on the project (except maybe Art), and he needs to behave like an adult. A friend of mine referred to him as Theo 'Million Dollar Mouth' de Raadt. I found it fitting.
This Mozilla/Phoenix/Firebird debacle is just insipid. Stop it people. I mean, really. Sheesh.
I've taken to using the "bold subject followed by a paragraph" format that many on advogato seem to be using, it makes it easier to skim through diary entries and find what you want to read.
edit: 31 aug 08; tags, spelling (1), indentation
