Still No Internetting from Home

For all of you out there who take your internet connection for granted, I suggest you give props to the big network server in the sky because you don't know how it is to be internetless.

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Wirelessless Networking Sucks

When I say that I have no internet, what I really mean is that I have no wireless internet, or more precisely, that I'm operating wirelesslessly. Sure, for thousands of years people have been using wirelessless connections to the internet but ever since I discovered that one could go wirelesslessless (or simply wireless) I have found wires to be a complete nuisance.

My home network has been a little flakey as of late, with the connection to the router being intermittent at best. Over the weekend I officially lost all connectivity to my own router and to my neighbors' routers. I've spent untold time trying to reconfigure my router to get the damn thing to work, to no avail. My laptop tells me that it's not a problem on the laptop side of the connection, so the obvious problem must be that there's a problem with the router.

Well, Linksys (the router people) have a handy utility that will set up your network for you. After monkeying with all of the settings and so on I discovered this utility and put it to use. It got as far as to set up the router, and when it tried to configure my laptop it told me to turn on the radio (not the stereo, but wireless card radio). It was already on, so I turned it off, then back on again and set the software off running. It came back and said the radio was not on.

Hmmmm. Methinks there's a problem with my wireless card. Assuming this is the problem I should be able to either install a new driver and get it up and running again, buy a PCMCIA network card (that sticks out the side of the laptop), or buy a new laptop, in ascending order of price and descending order of preference. Translation, I hope it's the free solution.

Without TV and now without a reliable internet connection I have had a lot of free time after work. Thank God I started reading that long but fascinating book, State of Fear by Michael Crichton.

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Still No House of Pain

As of last night I am still without House of Pain's self-titled album, House of Pain. I can only pray that it'll be waiting for me when I get home tonight.

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No TV is Taxing My iPod

I've found that when the TV goes off in my house, the iPod goes on. Since the only time my iPod is charged is when I'm driving (< half an hour per day) or synchronizing it on my laptop (which has been keeping dust off my desk for nearly a week now) I have been scraping the bottom of the battery. My car charger only works with the key in the ACC position, meaning the car effectively has to be on but not running, so I can't just let it charge while I'm at work. And since I would have to kill myself if I didn't have any music to listen to I think the only option is to buy an AC charger to connect to my new cradle. Damn you Steve Jobs, you're killing me with the add-ons.

If anyone has one that they would like to send to me, I would greatly appreciate it.

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Well, that's all I have time for today. I'll holler at y'all later (hopefully from home).

Over and Out,
Old Coot