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Setting up, upsetting, resetting
May. 29th, 2010 01:21 amAT&T Uverse install was a total FAIL, except for the tech showing up at the start of the appointment window. First fail is the cable box and phone closet are way far apart. Second fail is the phone closet and my computer room are way far apart. Third and final fail is the location the tech was given for setting up the junction box three blocks away was wrong, and nobody responded to his call to "maintenance" to fix that. After three hours of this I cut my losses and phoned him to let him know I was going to go to work. For me the whole point of this exercise was to get something resembling fiber to the apartment, but the long cable runs negate that. I2R, you know. Have decided to cancel the order.
At work I wanted to set up yo test optical audio out from the TV, but there was no cable to be found, and the headphone plug was the wrong size and I couldn't find one. I'll bring a cable and an adapter from home Monday. Happen to have several lying about.
Went to Fanime to pick up my badge. The pre-reg line was like the cashier's line at Fry's - someone at the head of the line looking for free minions behind the counter, each minion held up a sign with their number on it when they were available. LOL. Just walking to the reg desk from the other side of the convention center was amazing, then when I went upstairs to the artists' room OMFG that place is huge! And the dealer's room, which I did not have time to visit, looked huge-er. How did I miss that Fanime was the size of a Worldcon? Major costumes, probably 2/3 of the inmates were in some kind of costume. Tomorrow me and my camera will spend the day there. The masquerade is in the auditorium across the street, not a good place for photos if I remember.
On the way home stopped at Fry's to pick up a new set of earbuds for the iPhone, having discovered they do not launder well. And a cable modem, which the Uverse residential gate way would have replaced (when I nuked the Comcast VOIP service, job #1 was to get rid of their clunky and not particularly reliable VOIP-enabled cable modem.
Home, installed the cable modem, and though it have me an IP address, there was no Internet connection. I knew that would happen, and it only took 10 minutes on the phone with Comcast to get it provisioned. Most of that was on-hold time, the rep was very good. While I was there I asked what bundle I needed to buy to get the NASA TV channel. It took her two reads through the list to discover that they don't have it. At all. WTF? free channel, paid for by our tax dollars and they don't carry it at all? Not even in Mountain View, home of NASA Ames? Sheesh. AT&T isn't much better - it's only available in the top two packages (out of 5).
Also, the newer wider Garmin GPS had been delivered, so I dumped the data from the small one into the big one, and set it up as best I could, but it couldn't find a satellite so I had to take it to the car, and drive around the block - if it has never latched onto a satellite, each time you turn it on it thinks it is right out of the box and runs through the initial setup questions all over again. Annoying. Next time, though, I'll try to remember to put shoes on, Birkenstocks are not very good for driving.
What else? I joined Theatre Bay Area yesterday. Had been a member from the 80's till 2004, but they started to be all about professional theater in SF, so I dropped it. They seem to have started paying more attention to smaller theater in the south bay, possibly because the membership director has been doing a lot of shows down here for the past couple of years.
Sunnyvale finally posted the cast list for Sweeney Todd, and the fellow they picked for the part I auditioned for was the one I would have chosen. Lots of familiar names in the list, it ought to be a good show. I have no idea when SBMT will cast Music Man. I didn't get a call yet, but I don't know when they planned on making the calls. Rehearsals don't start till July. I'd be in the ensemble for that one, I like the music and the story. Same as Guys 'n' Dolls, come to think of it. Bad Man falls for Good Woman, becomes Good Man.
Plans for tomorrow:
Pet store, get cat food & treats
Buy some limes & seltzer
Fanime
At work I wanted to set up yo test optical audio out from the TV, but there was no cable to be found, and the headphone plug was the wrong size and I couldn't find one. I'll bring a cable and an adapter from home Monday. Happen to have several lying about.
Went to Fanime to pick up my badge. The pre-reg line was like the cashier's line at Fry's - someone at the head of the line looking for free minions behind the counter, each minion held up a sign with their number on it when they were available. LOL. Just walking to the reg desk from the other side of the convention center was amazing, then when I went upstairs to the artists' room OMFG that place is huge! And the dealer's room, which I did not have time to visit, looked huge-er. How did I miss that Fanime was the size of a Worldcon? Major costumes, probably 2/3 of the inmates were in some kind of costume. Tomorrow me and my camera will spend the day there. The masquerade is in the auditorium across the street, not a good place for photos if I remember.
On the way home stopped at Fry's to pick up a new set of earbuds for the iPhone, having discovered they do not launder well. And a cable modem, which the Uverse residential gate way would have replaced (when I nuked the Comcast VOIP service, job #1 was to get rid of their clunky and not particularly reliable VOIP-enabled cable modem.
Home, installed the cable modem, and though it have me an IP address, there was no Internet connection. I knew that would happen, and it only took 10 minutes on the phone with Comcast to get it provisioned. Most of that was on-hold time, the rep was very good. While I was there I asked what bundle I needed to buy to get the NASA TV channel. It took her two reads through the list to discover that they don't have it. At all. WTF? free channel, paid for by our tax dollars and they don't carry it at all? Not even in Mountain View, home of NASA Ames? Sheesh. AT&T isn't much better - it's only available in the top two packages (out of 5).
Also, the newer wider Garmin GPS had been delivered, so I dumped the data from the small one into the big one, and set it up as best I could, but it couldn't find a satellite so I had to take it to the car, and drive around the block - if it has never latched onto a satellite, each time you turn it on it thinks it is right out of the box and runs through the initial setup questions all over again. Annoying. Next time, though, I'll try to remember to put shoes on, Birkenstocks are not very good for driving.
What else? I joined Theatre Bay Area yesterday. Had been a member from the 80's till 2004, but they started to be all about professional theater in SF, so I dropped it. They seem to have started paying more attention to smaller theater in the south bay, possibly because the membership director has been doing a lot of shows down here for the past couple of years.
Sunnyvale finally posted the cast list for Sweeney Todd, and the fellow they picked for the part I auditioned for was the one I would have chosen. Lots of familiar names in the list, it ought to be a good show. I have no idea when SBMT will cast Music Man. I didn't get a call yet, but I don't know when they planned on making the calls. Rehearsals don't start till July. I'd be in the ensemble for that one, I like the music and the story. Same as Guys 'n' Dolls, come to think of it. Bad Man falls for Good Woman, becomes Good Man.
Plans for tomorrow:
Pet store, get cat food & treats
Buy some limes & seltzer
Fanime
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