It has been a tough couple of weeks for me, mainly because I haven’t had a beer in over two weeks (16 days to be exact – not that I’m counting). Last week was especially difficult because the little grocery store in the village had my brand on sale for $12.99 a 12-pack, which is a very good price. It was depressing to pass that up. In fact, this whole experience has been extremely depressing – not quite as bad as when your dog dies, but pretty close. I’d like to say that I’m doing this for health reasons (which for most people would probably be the prime motivator), but, frankly, it’s financial. I had a look at last years expenses vs. income, and my 2014 cashflow was most decidedly negative. A lot of that was automobile related – between the efforts to fix my aging Hyundai (I really regret fixing that exhaust leak) and then putting a fairly substantial down payment on my new car, I was in the hole.
Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of areas where I can trim expenses. I’ve already scaled back my Satellite TV to (almost) as far as I can go, in anticipation of dropping it altogether when my 24-month commitment is up in November. Of course, you’ve gotta spend money to save money (or something like that), so I’ve invested some of those monthly savings into a few one-time expenses (basically, an OTA antenna, network DLNA tuner, a much needed upgrade to my router and network infrastructure – switches and cables – and I’ve built a couple of little media computers based on the Raspberry Pi – which if you’re not familiar with is a little thing that fits in the palm of your hand and sells for $30-35 plus $10-20 for a case).
Other than that, though, there’s not much else I can do. I can’t exactly stop paying the mortgage or the property taxes (or the car payments, gas, and insurance), and I have to keep feeding the dogs (they’re pretty much the only friends I have). I’m also kind of partial to heat and hot water (not that it’s exactly toasty around here most of the time). Basically, the only thing left to cut back on is beer, which has been very depressing for me, though I think I’m starting to get over it. In fact, yesterday, I packed away all the beer mugs I’ve been keeping in my freezer, and converted my office refrigerator into a food refrigerator (I took out the six-pack that’s been sitting idle in there, put the shelf back in, and filled it up with food).
Back when I quit smoking (not that I’m saying I’ve quit drinking – I know myself better than that), it was actually easier because I had, shall we say, other things to smoke to fill the empty spaces. Now, I don’t have that to fall back on (if anybody in Colorado or Washington State wants to send me a care package, let me know), so I’ve had no idea what the fuck to do with myself after work, and I feel as though there’s nothing to look forward to.
End of the work day? Big deal, go home and not drink beer. Friday? A whole weekend without beer. Whoopdie-freakin’-doo. It’s not so much missing being a little wasted (though there is that, I cannot lie), it’s not knowing what the fuck to do with myself. Hopefully in time I’ll direct that into doing something productive.
On the bright side, while the nights kinda suck, the mornings are a lot less painful. I don’t really sleep, but then I never really slept before. Curiously, I still have to get up to take a leak just as often I used to, so what’s up with that?
Fortunately, we’ve had enough snow the past few days to keep me busy, and it looks as though there’s more to come. They say a storm will settle in here late tonight dropping an inch an hour at its peak and continue through Monday morning – the absolute worst time for anybody who has to go to work. The plows really can’t keep up with that (hopefully the ones we sent downstate are back now). They’re talking about 10 inches or so in Syracuse, which generally means a lot more than that out here in God’s country.
I only hope that it’s either not as bad as they seem to be saying it’ll be, or that it’s so bad that nobody will expect me to go anywhere. Either way, I reckon I’ll be out on the tractor tomorrow morning.
I guess there’s a football game going on later today between the Seattle Seahawks, and the cheating Bastards from Boston. Not that I think the cheating part actually won the game for them, but, hey. It’s kinda like the steroid/HGH thing. I don’t actually give a shit if they do it, but if it’s against the rules, it’s cheating (I think that’s actually the definition of cheating), whether “everybody” does it or not. Try telling the IRS that “everybody” cheats on their taxes and see how far that gets you.
Speaking of taxes, I guess I should go and finish mine. I’m actually done, but I’m always afraid to pull the trigger on filing, lest I’ve made a mistake.
Oh well, if not taxes, I guess I should at least do some laundry, just in case we don’t get snowed in tomorrow.
But aren’t you saving $ from lower gasoline prices such than you can afford the on-sale beer?
Vern, glad to see you! Are you now a Raiders fan?
Now these crazies are submitting 15 different pro-weapons bills to “give us more freedom,” as one nut-job said on the teevee. These bills include making a switchblade a-ok, concealed weapons a-ok on college campuses (because booze & guns are like salt and pepper), not require a Social Security number for a concealed weapons permit (presumably so undocumented workers can legally carry) and allow guns in many government buildings including the state capitol. I’m thinking their idea of concealed handguns in the state capitol might cause these nit-wits to prove Darwin exists while they accidently off-themselves…..
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/26/AR2007032602102.html
Pj, can you recommend a wireless router for a house with lots of neighboring wifi’s hitting said house? We are due to replace our tired old router and the choices are confusing. Your input is appreciated.
If your current WiFi is limited to 2.4 GHz (802.11b,g, and n), there are only three non-overlapping channels – 1,6, and 11 (BTW, routers typically come set to use Channel 6 by default and most people don’t know enough to change it, so if you haven’t already try using channel 1 or 11 – you can get free WiFi analyzer apps for your phone or tablet to see what channels are in use around you and set yours to a less crowded channel). Besides your neighbors’ WiFi, there are also a lot of other things that use 2.4 GHz (cordless phones, Bluetooth, baby monitors, and microwave ovens – especially Panasonic for whatever reason). So, assuming you have devices that can use it, you’re gonna wanna have a router that uses the 5 GHz band (802.11a,n, and the new ac), which has 23 non-overlapping channels.
Without getting into a lot of technical stuff, 802.11n uses some nifty tricks to get speeds a lot faster than 802.11b (max data rate of 11 Mbps with the actual throughput half of that), and 802.11g (54 Mbps). 802.11n can get somewhere in the neighborhood of a theoretical max 150 Mbps. 802.11ac is an improvement on 802.11n that can get in theory something like 867 Mbps – and newer routers use various tricks to theoretically get even faster speeds; the one I have advertises up to 1.3 Gbps, but I don’t think you’re really gonna see that (there’s an 802.11ad – though I don’t think there’s any consumer devices out with it – that operates at 60 GHz and can supposedly do 6.75 Gbps).
Also, keep in mind that no matter how fast the router is, your Internet connection is what it is. I get about 10 Mbps download speeds (no longer considered broadband by the FCC, BTW – they just upped that designation to 25 Mbps), and it aint gonna get any faster than that. However, now that I’m serving video over my network, the faster network speeds make a difference. For instance, with the old router, I couldn’t watch live OTA tv wirelessly on my tablet – kept pausing and stuttering. Now it works great.
So, 5 GHz – faster speeds, less interference. Only catch is you need devices that have 5 GHz radios in them.
Assuming you also have older devices that can’t do 5 GHz, you’ll want a simultaneous dual-band router (or I guess you could keep the current one for those devices). In other words, it can do both 2.4 and 5 at the same time. This will also give you the ability to keep devices (stuff just doing web browsing, e-mail, etc) that don’t really need a lot of speed on the 2.4 GHz band, while keeping 5 GHz for stuff that needs it (streaming video, etc.).
I also prefer external, replaceable antennas (you could, for instance, get high-gain antennas if you needed to) because I think they work better and are more flexible.
Other things to look for are the switch (anything new these days should have a gigabit switch built in), and maybe the number and type of USB ports (many of them will have the ability to attach a USB printer and/or an external hard drive, for instance, to share on the network w/o having to be hooked up to a computer – mine actually has a built-in bittorrent client and the ability to hook up a hard drive to make it available from “the cloud”).
So, the next question is, how much do you want to spend? D-link has this really nifty tri-band one (2 5 GHz, one 2.4) that looks pretty f*cking awesome.
Sadly, it’s $300. And out of stock.
If you want to know which one I got, it’s an ASUS RT-AC66R. Looks like it’s going for $150 at Newegg (I got it on sale for $120 – it was too good of a deal at the time for me to pass up). I’ve been quite happy with it (your mileage my vary, of course – I would shop around and read all the reviews on all the ones out there). I don’t use any of the automatic setup type crap and I kinda know what I’m doing when I’m setting things up and I know how to update and roll back the firmware and all that, so there may be much better alternatives out there.
Around here, we have (wifi-wise) two iPhones (4s and 5s), two Android phones (HTC One M8 running KitKat 4.4.4 and a Motorola Droid Razr running I don’t know what – it’s old), a Nexus 9 tablet (Lollipop), an Amazon Fire 7 (or something) tablet, an Asus Transformer Prime tablet, an HP something or other laptop running Linux Mint, a Toshiba I don’t know what laptop with some kind of Windows on it, I think, a really old Dell Inspiron with Windows XP that is my “shop” computer in the basement, two Grace Mondo Internet Radios, two Chromecasts, an Amazon Firestick, and my stepson’s Chromebook (on weekends).
All seem to run happily (my wife whined at me about her Fire Tablet saying the network was out of range the other day so I turned the WiFi on the tablet off and on and it was fine – I’m guessing it was something to do with her tablet, not the router).
With it being winter and all, I haven’t had a chance to go sit down by the cornfield and surf the net, but I’m guessing the range on the new one will be an improvement over the old one. We’ll have to see, once summer gets here.
Anyhow, I hope that helps some.
Yes, it does help. I was wondering what the 5GHz meant. The not-so-teenager can do the settings which you descibe when he comes for a visit; we’ll have to use the sutomatic setup until then. I’ll start looking around and I appreciate the tutorial. We have mulitple apple devices, an HTC, multiple chromcasts and a wifi printer. The $300.00 gismo is cool looking but I plan on spending half that or less. Thanks bunches!
Yeah, that D-link thing looks like a stealth fighter. Too expensive for me, though, and not something I really need (usb 3 ports might be nice – mine only has usb 2, but I don’t actually have anything hooked to it anyway).
I’m actually in WA, as I’m sure you already know, PJ, from my IP address. Though, being a former USPS employee, I’d never consider sending pot through the mail, even if I was being paid handsomely. I actually dislike pot. Sure, it helps me fall asleep, have vivid dreams and drive like a nervous-nelly, but that shit is all over-rated.
http://youtu.be/oqe3HvVf8nk
In fact, after all these years, I still feel like I don’t even fucking know you. Like there’s a whole team of guys (maybe a couple women, but I doubt they’d carry on a charade like this for so long) getting their 7 chuckles by making up a persona that supposedly lives on the east coast with a couple critters and works at the Miracle Center in the IT department, just to catch me doing something stupid — like sending pot through the mail.
I think it’s raining though I can’t tell by looking at it and I’m too cold and chicken to go outside. But, the dog came back wet without attached snowflakes. It snowed last night, I’d guess about 3 inches (estimated by the depth of Lola’s footprints on the once clear path on the deck). As it is below 32 I assume this rain will be a layer of ice on top of the snow. Because we were snowed in for a day and a half after the last snowfall we parked the car at the entrance of the driveway with the hopw that we will be able to get out. The roads are usually plowed early. However, we will have to walk to the car which is several hundred feet. It should be fun.
The last snow storm in NYC, DeBlasio closed the schools and told everyone to stay off the roads so that they could be plowed. That jerk, Snotball, closed the trains without telling Mayor DeBlasio. Why? The trains run mostly underground. Many lines run completely underground. They are never closed except for Hurricane Sandy when flooding was the issue. The subway is the way most people get to work. So Snotball made it impossible for the transit workers to get to their jobs. Then the storm dropped only 8-10 inches on the City so the NY Post claimed DeBlasio and Snotball played politics becuase they knew the storm totals would be lower than forecast. (Because Democrats are psychic?) So, I have not heard anything about storm prep for the City this time. If this storm is bad and the mayor didn’t prepare you can be sure the Post will explain how he played politics. Ugh.
Well, as expected, that was a fun ride in today. I plowed the driveway at about six o’clock this morning, and there was easily 10″ already – and still snowing like crazy when I left. I need a nap.
My outdoor thermometer is frozen and at 32. It’s really about 16 according to the weather report. I hope it’s not an omen.
Here, it’s up to a balmy 18°, the sun is shining, and the winds are calm. Very pleasant indeed.
18 degrees isn’t exactly a Summer’s Eve®.
The commute is much more enjoyable today, as you can see by the difference between yesterday and today’s traffic cams.
Well that is a whole lot better! I love that Lola is sp’s snow gage.
We are on the freeze/heat roller coaster mode here. I’m a bit concerned about trees getting ready to sprout their new leaves. Don’t know they a hard freeze is around the corner?
What kind of vaccum did you get Vern? I have tried so many I probably should have gone in to business. Years and years ago in my yute a Kirby salesman came to my parents’ door. I was the only one home. The fellow gave such a wonderful sales pitch that when my folks came home I sold them on the Kirby’s features and benefits. The parents then dropped some large bucks on that puppy. I still hear about it decades later. Oh what a good sales pitch can do…..
This here pretty much says you’re a douche, PJ.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/ignore-commenter/stats/
Hard to believe that today I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of a new vacuum cleaner. I had three but I am having trouble getting them back from my former landlaords. Next: washer/dryer. The beard can wait. The dishwasher here that was left behind is pretty lame. I can understand considering what I paid to get my old one removed in SF.
I have often suggested to blogmeisters that they install ‘ignore’ functions that allow individual participants to filter a poster or troll they had no interest in or who was annoying or abusive. Reader’s choice. Then I can rave on and anyone can choose to ignore me at my own risk. 😉
An ignore feature is something I wanted to have for a number of years now (was even thinking about writing it myself, but then I’d have to figure out how to write WP plugins, and I don’t really have the time or inclination). It would have saved a certain amount of animosity back in the olden days when there were a lot of people here and things at times got a bit shrill. I’m pretty good at manually tuning things out (learned that from my dad, I guess – he was good at it), but I know there were some folks in the past that got irritated with certain other people (for instance, the Hillary/Obama thing).
The “ignore user” feature is pretty common on forum platforms, but it wasn’t something I’d been able to find for WordPress until recently. So when I saw it, I figured I’d add it. It’s always good to have options.
My dad had the tune-out down and I got some of that from him. Also, years of working in rekkid stores having to listen to music I didn’t want to hear sharpened it. Still, that was more aural. Blogswise I can always scroll past but the filter makes it a lot easier to get to who/what you want to see uncucumbered.
I got a Bissell bagfull closeout from Best Buy. It weighs a ton and I have lost most strength and use of my arms from moving. What could possibly go wrong?
I sure hope it sucks.
Well, at least another ferry ride to SF tomorrow to pick up a hand me down apple laptop and lunch.
Nice to have another ferry rider. How long a trip is it to SF?
It is a one hour cruise and it is lovely. They have one that goes to all of the Giants games.
Very snazzy ferry and nice to see someplace not covered with snow. (I have at least 2 icicles that are 6 feet long with a 2″ diameter.) The Shelter Island ferries carry 12 – 25 cars, depending on which ones they are running. The North Ferry is a 10 minute ride, The South a 5 minute ride. But, waiting, boarding and unloading adds a 1/2 hour to every trip. They stop at midnight and resume at 5:40 AM. When I tell someone I live on Shelter Island the usual respense is, “I’ve heard about the ferries.
No cars on this one.
Up north of here, you can take the majestic Provincially owned and operated Wolfe Island ferry from Kingston, ON to the largest of the Thousand Islands, Wolfe Island.
And then you can take the privately owned and operated Horne’s Ferry over to Cape Vincent, NY.
Proving that capitalism and privatization are way better than that godless socialism they practice north of the border.
I love riding ferries! You feel like you’re going someplace exotic, no matter the destination. Yes, I am easily entertained.
Spent part of a summer taking ferries around the Gulf Islands. Beautiful place.
So did you see the news about Mr. Williams? What a disgrace to the military and the correspondents who actually do their job. That blowhard has been telling that story for years. I don’t believe he had any prior “war” experience. That little trip was to give him street cred (spew my tea). I have it on good authority Mr. Williams was riding in those choppers wearing his Guccis.
I took an overnight ferry from Athens to Crete in 1976 and we slept on the deck. 1976 was very dry as things went. Brits still remember that dry summer affectionately.
Mr. Williams has always lacked cred with me but is pretty good in the info-tainment sense. I am pretty removed from network news and haven’t been able to receive NBC since the turn of the century but I don’t even know who his competition is. Cronkite and CBS were always my yardstick. I didn’t even think Roger Mudd measured up. Yeah, I’m tough. 😉
Another source for free streaming content, Shout! Factory TV.
From some of the founders of Rhino Records, one of the greats.
Oh, cool. Hopefully there is or will soon be a Plex Channel for it.
Seems there was a little fender bender on I-81 north of here.
That looks terrible!
OK, Obama said that terrible things have been done on the name of religions, other than Islam. He cited the Crusades, The Inquisition, Jim Crow and slavery as examples. Cue the wingnuts: “Obama hates America and Christians.” And while I agree that terrible things have been done in the name of religion, I think that the monotheistic religions are the main culprits. That’s not to say that the Greeks, Romans Vikings etc didn’t do terrible things to people, but I’m not sure they did it in the name of a god. (Though they did think that some god or another was on each side.) Am I missing something?