Wow... you would think, in this day and age, that a month's lead-time would suffice for moving communications services from one site to another. Not so much, it turns out... at least, if Qwest is involved.
My company is consolidating office space, and closing out an office in the process. We notified our provider, Time Warner Telecom (TWTC), that we wanted to move services on 30DEC08. Great, they said, but the physical lines for that service are handled by Qwest, so it'll be about 30 days before we can do it. Finally, TWTC set a date of 02FEB09 for the move.
Admittedly, I don't know exactly what's involved on Qwest's end for this process. What I do know is that they came by on Tuesday this week to do some installation work, had problems, and said they would be back on Wednesday. They came back today (Friday), played around a bit, and told me at 3pm this afternoon that one of the two T-1 lines we ordered is still having problems, nothing they can do, sorry, etc., etc...
I finally had no choice but to pick up the dreaded phone and call the TWTC people, and let them know what Qwest hadn't yet... I'm being told that, with one line, we should get some of our phone lines, and Internet access with reduced speed, but something functional, at least. I certainly hope so... but I'm definitely not getting the "warm fuzzy" about this whole thing right now.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Anonymity returns
I had some downtime at work today, so I tried Googling up 'delRhode'... in times past, it came up with two, maybe three pages devoted almost solely to the doings of yours truly. Now, if you try that, you get page upon page of Spanish-language references to things having to do with Rhode Island... it's good to be hard to find... :)
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Scavenging at Circuit City
Like many people in Spokane (and, honestly, the world over), there are stores that I just don't go to (generally because there's a similar one that I like better), until one of two things happen... either the disfavored store has something that I just can't find elsewhere, or it's going out of business, and I'm looking to scavenge the remains. Circuit City has now fallen into both categories.
Of course, Spokane has two Cirucuit City stores, which brought up the question of which one to go visit... and, as a proper scavenger, my answer was "both". It's as well that I made that choice... it helped remind me that, for all that stores can be the same in many ways, there are always differences.
The first store is about a half-mile from where I work, and is part of a major shopping mall complex. I hit in the late afternoon, and it was, as expected, a madhouse. I dutifully made the rounds in that store and determined that, yes, there was not much left that held any interest for me... there were a couple of XBox 360 "elite" packages left around, but 10% off wasn't enough to "seal the deal" for me, because of the extras I would have to buy to get what I want out of it.
The second store is on the far side of town, tucked away in a shared driveway with a local Costco. It only took me about a half-hour to get there from the other one, but the difference was really night and day... for all that their miniscule parking lot was packed, the mass of humanity inside was much less. They still had a couple of PlayStation 3 consoles around, possibly because of their odd placement (not quite "with" the other videogame stuff)... but, again, 10% off wasn't enough to pull the trigger on a purchase (I can get a similar price through Amazon.com through the end of the month, at least).
So, no new videogame systems for me yet... as for anything else, well... they did have some PlayStation 2s at each store, but I've got one of those lying around already. There were some "upconverting" DVD players at both... which I couldn't justify buying, since my old DVD player does a pretty good job as is. There were, of course, the Blu-ray players... which are both too pricey, and something I might not need at all, if I end up getting a PS3. So, round one of the scavenge comes up empty... we'll have to see what's left by the time round two comes around.
Of course, Spokane has two Cirucuit City stores, which brought up the question of which one to go visit... and, as a proper scavenger, my answer was "both". It's as well that I made that choice... it helped remind me that, for all that stores can be the same in many ways, there are always differences.
The first store is about a half-mile from where I work, and is part of a major shopping mall complex. I hit in the late afternoon, and it was, as expected, a madhouse. I dutifully made the rounds in that store and determined that, yes, there was not much left that held any interest for me... there were a couple of XBox 360 "elite" packages left around, but 10% off wasn't enough to "seal the deal" for me, because of the extras I would have to buy to get what I want out of it.
The second store is on the far side of town, tucked away in a shared driveway with a local Costco. It only took me about a half-hour to get there from the other one, but the difference was really night and day... for all that their miniscule parking lot was packed, the mass of humanity inside was much less. They still had a couple of PlayStation 3 consoles around, possibly because of their odd placement (not quite "with" the other videogame stuff)... but, again, 10% off wasn't enough to pull the trigger on a purchase (I can get a similar price through Amazon.com through the end of the month, at least).
So, no new videogame systems for me yet... as for anything else, well... they did have some PlayStation 2s at each store, but I've got one of those lying around already. There were some "upconverting" DVD players at both... which I couldn't justify buying, since my old DVD player does a pretty good job as is. There were, of course, the Blu-ray players... which are both too pricey, and something I might not need at all, if I end up getting a PS3. So, round one of the scavenge comes up empty... we'll have to see what's left by the time round two comes around.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
WANT
Wow, and here I thought I had somehow "gotten beyond" lusting after computer gear. The people who got the whole "netbook" thing rolling showed another great idea at CES... why not pack a whole computer inside a keyboard, with a wireless HDMI connection back to your TV for audio and video? I mean, that's been the big sticking point for me putting a computer in the living room, really... you have to have a (more or less noisy) box tethered to the set, and then some sort of wireless connection to a keyboard/mouse combo that you have to store somewhere, with batteries occasionally dying, that sort of thing. Here, it's all in one package, the only "required" tether being power to the wall, but with plenty of connection jacks if you need to plug in, say, that portable flash drive with the movie you want to watch.
Take a quick look at it here. Of course, it hasn't been released yet, so there's no pricing info, or bothersome system specs to make me go "that's all it has?", but I hope to hear more soon... it is a pretty toy, and well thought-out, from what I can see, and that's plenty to give me a big ol' case of WANT.
Take a quick look at it here. Of course, it hasn't been released yet, so there's no pricing info, or bothersome system specs to make me go "that's all it has?", but I hope to hear more soon... it is a pretty toy, and well thought-out, from what I can see, and that's plenty to give me a big ol' case of WANT.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Now THAT is geeky!
People never cease to amaze me in how they find ways to go that little bit farther, taking something good on its own and enhancing or breaking it, depending on your point of view. I mean, never in my wildest dreams would I have considered playing the vocals part in Rock Band 2 by putting the microphone in a pair of headphones driven by a theremin (link). As an added bonus, it's that "Still Alive" song from Portal I just posted about recently... :)
Monday, January 5, 2009
Little Roku's pumping up
So, a couple of days ago, my Roku box updated its firmware... which I noticed because the "home screen" changed. Namely, the Netflix queue was no longer the main home, but just one channel of a (very limited) selection... checking out the new "what's new" channel, I found out two things:
- The box now produces 720p output (yay!)
- More channels are coming this year
Friday, January 2, 2009
Fallout 3
Well, I finished my first run through Fallout 3 last night... it's a pretty good game, from what I've seen, but there were a couple of minor things that stop me from giving it an unreserved "go get it".
First off, on the off chance you don't know anything about the game... it's a computer RPG played from a first-person perspective, where you emerge from a survival shelter (called a Vault in-game) some 200 years after a nuclear war has laid waste to the Washington D.C. area. The main storyline involves you looking for your father, who fled the Vault shortly before you did, and getting entangled in his business. More specific than that... well, I won't say much, because I'm not one for spoilers... except for a couple of those minor irritants I mentioned earlier.
Hm... since I can't seem to go for a whole paragraph without mentioning those irritants, maybe they're not so minor. So, let's get them out of the way. In terms of game mechanics, the underlying system used is a mixed level/skills system... you earn experience to gain levels, at which point you get extra health and points to add onto your skills, along with Perks, another little bonus to help make your character something other than a cookie-cutter creation. This is all fine and well, except that you hit a wall at level 20... you just stop accumulating experience entirely. Now, I understand this to some degree... the designers wanted to keep the end-game difficulty "in scale", I'm sure... but, in my case, it also cut short my game. A surprisingly large world is given to you to explore, and I'm just the sort to do that, but, by that point in the game, I had plenty in the way of coin, equipment, and ammunition... the level progression was the last "tangible" benefit that separated me from being an explorer/adventurer and a tourist. I mean, if you've maxxed out your level in a single-player game, then you know that there is nothing out there that can stand before you... and to me, that's just plain dull.
That level issue is a forgivable annoyance... less forgivable is a trick that the designers played in the main storyline, not once but at least twice. They broke the spirit and, in one case, the letter of the rules of their own game in order to make the storyline go the way they intended. The first such involved requiring a particular weapon to be used to defeat a creature... in a game based on characters having multiple ways to get around problems based on the skills they possess, which might not include much in the way of skills with that weapon. The second involves the end game, where (at least in the path I took) the story dictates that you die in a radiation-saturated room (think Star Trek II, but without the special effects)... this in spite of the fact that I had hoarded nearly every radiation-blocking/curing drug I came across, and pretty much every doctor in the game (of which there are several) is capable of "flushing your system" of said radiation.
So, it's a game with some flaws... and I don't know how the console versions play, but I know it strained my (admittedly aging) game computer greatly... to the point that I even had to turn off Xfire in order to keep it running relatively smoothly. On the other hand, I'm seriously considering jumping back in and giving it another run... I was rather the goody two-shoes last time, and could stand to take a more rascally turn at it. As such, I know I'm getting my money's worth out of it... if you have the time and inclination for this sort of game (and you likely know if you are already), then give it a go.
First off, on the off chance you don't know anything about the game... it's a computer RPG played from a first-person perspective, where you emerge from a survival shelter (called a Vault in-game) some 200 years after a nuclear war has laid waste to the Washington D.C. area. The main storyline involves you looking for your father, who fled the Vault shortly before you did, and getting entangled in his business. More specific than that... well, I won't say much, because I'm not one for spoilers... except for a couple of those minor irritants I mentioned earlier.
Hm... since I can't seem to go for a whole paragraph without mentioning those irritants, maybe they're not so minor. So, let's get them out of the way. In terms of game mechanics, the underlying system used is a mixed level/skills system... you earn experience to gain levels, at which point you get extra health and points to add onto your skills, along with Perks, another little bonus to help make your character something other than a cookie-cutter creation. This is all fine and well, except that you hit a wall at level 20... you just stop accumulating experience entirely. Now, I understand this to some degree... the designers wanted to keep the end-game difficulty "in scale", I'm sure... but, in my case, it also cut short my game. A surprisingly large world is given to you to explore, and I'm just the sort to do that, but, by that point in the game, I had plenty in the way of coin, equipment, and ammunition... the level progression was the last "tangible" benefit that separated me from being an explorer/adventurer and a tourist. I mean, if you've maxxed out your level in a single-player game, then you know that there is nothing out there that can stand before you... and to me, that's just plain dull.
That level issue is a forgivable annoyance... less forgivable is a trick that the designers played in the main storyline, not once but at least twice. They broke the spirit and, in one case, the letter of the rules of their own game in order to make the storyline go the way they intended. The first such involved requiring a particular weapon to be used to defeat a creature... in a game based on characters having multiple ways to get around problems based on the skills they possess, which might not include much in the way of skills with that weapon. The second involves the end game, where (at least in the path I took) the story dictates that you die in a radiation-saturated room (think Star Trek II, but without the special effects)... this in spite of the fact that I had hoarded nearly every radiation-blocking/curing drug I came across, and pretty much every doctor in the game (of which there are several) is capable of "flushing your system" of said radiation.
So, it's a game with some flaws... and I don't know how the console versions play, but I know it strained my (admittedly aging) game computer greatly... to the point that I even had to turn off Xfire in order to keep it running relatively smoothly. On the other hand, I'm seriously considering jumping back in and giving it another run... I was rather the goody two-shoes last time, and could stand to take a more rascally turn at it. As such, I know I'm getting my money's worth out of it... if you have the time and inclination for this sort of game (and you likely know if you are already), then give it a go.
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