Cool beans

I just spent two and a half hours cleaning my room, which didn't look too messy at all, until you started deep cleaning. Like putting the laundry away, I decided to completely redo my closet and drawers. Even my underwear and socks are organised by colour now. I rearranged the nightstand drawers. I rearranged the cedar chest, moved most of the books on top of the bed bookcase to the inside, and wound up taking several bags of stuff to the car to take to storage, filling up the trunk. Amazing what one can pack away or acquire in just four months. Of course, we're planning to exchange everything between what's in the living room (my room) and the library (which currently has a large computer desk, a table, four chairs, and large wing-back chair, along with three walls of built-in bookshelves). That would give me a bona fide bedroom with a door. My closet would still be in the entry, but still. That does mean taking the bed apart this weekend. But I think it will be worth it, and there are even six shelves I can use.

Of course, this means we won't be playing the game on Sunday, as most of the move will have to be after Sabbath, so Saturday night and Sunday during the day.  This works out fine, as I'm actually helping out at work doing some overtime on Saturday.

One other great thing.  The precursor to this is that the cable will have to be moved to a position in front of the living room window so we can move the desk there and he can use the computer there.  That's set for tomorrow, I think.  He asked about another connexion, like a second modem, and the lady convinced him that the best thing to do would be to have a wireless router hooked up and use the Internet wirelessly.  Of course, that would be Wi-Fi, which he's normally terribly against, but she convinced him (where I was not able to), that the computer he uses should not be compromised in the way that say, mine would be, if someone hacked the Wi-Fi, since his  connexion would be completely wired.  So I can take the stuff to the storage unit and go hunting for the wireless router I already have, and then I can get on through Wi-Fi, and use the printer wirelessly, rather than having to use my phone hotspot, like I am now, and I can still use the laptop in the kitchen if I like, and won't have to hook up to his wired connexion via Ethernet adapter.

This also opens up the possibility of bringing my television, which is small (32") but is a Smart TV that plays Netflix, etc., via Wi-Fi.  And I could hook up my little DVD player to it, and actually watch the DVDs, without having to hook up my old, somewhat loud DVD-ROM player to my laptop.  I can just shut the door (I never play the TV very loud, whereas he's a little hard of hearing, so if he watches something on the computer, you'll hear it throughout the whole house.  This also means I can listen to music without headphones in my room.  I'm excited.

The one caveat is he needs access to the books in the library, at any time, day or night.  It's a good tradeoff, I think.  He'd never consider invading my space as far as opening drawers or looking through my stuff, of course, although I have given him permission to go into the cedar chest (which is his, after all, I'm just borrowing it) for the heating pad, should he need it.

Hmmm...this could really work out, hopefully.

I don't know why I was so tired

I slept a couple of hours, waking up around close to 8 pm. I really needed that, apparently. Now I'm up and I've connected my television to the wireless router so I can watch Netflix and also listen to Pandora. I have an Ella Fitzgerald channel playing now ('As Time Goes By' from Casablanca is playing right now, even though that's Dooley Wilson), so it's very mellow in here. I may talk with a friend on the phone later; I'd called and he was just getting out of the shower, so I told him that I didn't have anything pressing but if he'd like to call me that's fine, too. I've still got the windows up, so the blinds are open. I'm looking around the room. So much to do. So not wanting to just now. I think I will water the plants again (I did just a few days ago, but they're already dry). Also, I need to do dishes and then gather laundry and have it ready for tomorrow. I don't know if I'll get the fish tanks taken care of today, but I need to soon. And I think I will straighten up the living room so it doesn't look so cluttered, which is a bit of a challenge. The books are all on shelves, for example, but there are more books than there are really meant to be, for example. And I need to take the air mattress out of the living room (I thought I might have a guest) and back to the bathroom, where it normally stays. So basically, I need to work on some little things that will improve life around here. I think one of the Habitica challenges puts it as 'Personal Management', the daily stuff that you have to do to have a good environment.

It's a challenge to deal with my stuff--not only am I basically a hoarder, although I've de-hoarded a lot periodically throughout the years, but also my apartment is only 750 square feet. But I was recently looking at apartments for someone else and that's bigger (and cheaper) than a lot of places in Lexington. I'm paying $550 a month, and that's on the low-end of a one-bedroom fee, for a larger apartment with a lot of storage, and all utilities except electric. We have a pool, tennis court, fitness centre, basketball area, laundry, and they just opened a fenced-in dog park the other day. They're making a lot of improvements here lately, too. I'm starting my thirteenth year here, soon. And while we don't have balconies or patios, we do have a large porch off our building (ours is a little different than the rest, which makes it great for getting pizza). Plus there's the windowsills for plants. :) I'm on a long lease, which gives me a break on the rent. I think the standard fees are $555 for a one-bedroom and $655 for a two-bedroom. And pets just require a pet deposit and $20/month (not for each pet, but for any dog or cat), and I see some pretty big dogs here, so I don't think there's a poundage limit. It's a quiet neighbourhood in east Lexington and very convenient to a lot of stuff--shopping, hospitals, etc., plus I have a ten-minute drive to work every day. So I'm happy here.

Okay, enough about the apartment. Time to work on it, with Billie Holliday and Natalie Cole in the background--and of course, Ella. :) Good night, if I don't blog anymore tonight.

Home now

We decided to record 'Grimm' and watch it tomorrow, as they were tired and were all comfy in bed. I came on home. It's supposed to get really cold tonight; my apartment leasing office actually put up a notice on our building door for tips to prevent the pipes from freezing. At least all of our plumbing is on interior walls, so that helps. Which makes me wonder if I left my friends' kitchen faucet dripping when I got some water. I'll call them a little later and remind them to check.

I'm listening to the radio now. Ed Sheeran's 'Thinking Out Loud' is playing. I'm a little tired, a little sleepy, but not as bad as I have been on and off this week. I did a little cleaning up when I got home, and the house doesn't seem quite so bad now. Tomorrow I'm running by the pharmacy, taking a friend to the credit union, taking them shopping for sheets, taking one to the grocery, and then to their Valentine's celebration. So tomorrow will be busy. Our hiatus with the game was slated to end Sunday, but Brenda's got an ill member of her family who needs her to stay home with him until he's back on his feet, so it may be next week. I still have a passage to transcribe from awhile back, but the actual game notes were finished weeks ago. So I'll try to finish that. Also this weekend I hope to get my taxes done. I put my info through an estimator and I'm not getting much back at all this year from the federal and I usually get almost nothing from the state, usually about $25 or so, which is why I usually just donate it to one of the causes you can choose. We'll see. I may wind up doing them on my phone with the Internet down at home; it's probably more secure than going on the library's Wi-Fi network. I wonder if the library is open on Presidents' Day. We've only had that holiday off since last year, so I'm still not used to a February three-day weekend. But it would be nice to go over there and do some blogging. Or I could go to our laundry room, which has a Wi-Fi password hung up on the wall, a couple of chairs, and a small table. :)

I think I may do some reading. I've got several books out from the library, both paper books and e-books. I'd like to get them read. Good night for now.

Found it!

It was under the laptop bag in the bedroom. Now I can take it to the library tomorrow before work, before they open, so that I don't get charged for another day. And when I get paid on Thursday I'll pay the fine. Pesky book on woodland gardening, I tell you.

By the way, someone in my general vicinity is apparently a fan of HP Lovecraft as well, for whenever I go onto the laptop, like I am now, one of the Wi-Fi connexions that pops up says 'Miskatonic'. I wish I knew which neighbour it was. I wonder if they ever heard of the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game. Ach, well. Not all of us can be mystical ninjas and witches fighting off venomous serpent men in the Amazon. :) Good night!

Well, I made a (somewhat) horrible mistake

I forgot to pay my electric bill. So last night I came home to a dark, cold house, and had to use one of those battery-powered push-on/push-off lights to find my around. I couldn't sleep much at all, because I didn't have my CPAP. In fact, in the six hours I was in bed, I probably slept about an hour and a half.

At 5:15 I finally gave up, got up, washed my face, dressed, and headed out to McDonald's, where I could get breakfast, charge my phone, and get free Wi-Fi. So I thought I'd spend some time on the Internet before they got busy. My phone was at 10% when I came in, and on ultra-power-saving mode. Now it's at 64%, so I'm feeling a little better about having a connexion to others if needed. Funny how we've gotten so dependent on cell phones.

Okay, I'm going to check the news. I don't have much juice in my laptop and I can't get the plug into the outlet here for some reason, so I can't charge it. But I'll try to make the most of it. Boy, though, I'm sleepy. I'm supposed to celebrate my birthday/spring with friends, one of whom is going to make Jewish-food goodness, like kugel and matzo ball soup. [It's a little early--my birthday is in early April, but my friend associates it with the vernal equinox, and I was at work yesterday, so we're celebrating today.] I'm hoping I can stay awake with so little sleep. And I haven't taken a shower, because it would be cold, and so I look like crap. But hey, it's my own fault. And yes, I used my phone's hotspot and the laptop last night to go ahead and pay the bill, so it'll be on sometime before 11 pm tonight. Here's hoping it's sooner.

Hope you're having a somewhat better weekend so far.

Yay!

I finally have home broadband and Wi-Fi again. I've hooked up the desktop, laptop, TV, and printer (the phone, tablet, and Kindle only connect when I want them to, but the others either stay on, on in the case of the laptop, connect as soon as I start her up. Oh, and I should do the Roku box in the bedroom, so I can watch Netflix or listen to Pandora, etc.

Again, yay!

And no, I didn't get the TV cable service back. So it's just digital antenna channels and then the streaming services. :) But my bill is a third of what it was.

I was feeling a little like not being alone tonight

for some reason (it's pretty common; for all that I am an introvert, I have trouble with being alone sometimes). So I headed over to the library and its Wi-Fi connexion so I could blog and maybe check out some things. It turns out one of my co-workers is sitting at the table next to me, but I haven't wanted to interrupt her conversation with someone where they're working on some major computer programming stuff. I do miss her; I've always liked her. She is from Thailand and always made things a little brighter at work. I've wondered how she's been doing.

Oh, their tutoring session is over and Upsorn noticed me and we got to talking. I told her all about the new plans for the hospital becoming a outpatient medical center. She was very encouraging. We hugged. It was great to run into her. And her daughter's a teenager now--I remember when she was born. It's amazing how time flies! I'm so glad I came over here tonight.

That seems to have satisfied my need to socialise. I think I'll wrap up here and maybe look through some materials and see if I want to check anything out. I should go home and relax and maybe do something fun. I feel like re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird, to be honest. :) I may just do that. I may blog some more later, but in case I don't, have a good night. And keep your fingers crossed for me--the IRS says they'll deposit my refund tomorrow. Since I have 22 cents in the bank, that would be really, really nice. Especially as I still have some bills to pay and my brakes are starting to make a noise like the pads are wearing down. Mind you, I've had both sets of brakes worked on in the last two years, so I don't know why they would be, but I should check it out. I'm hoping to do so the 16th, as we are actually off work for President's Day this year. Yay!

Take note, hotels and other establishments selling access to wi-fi

Marriott Slapped with $600k Penalty by FCC for Jamming Mobile Hotspots

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) received a complaint that this particular Marriott location was blocking Wi-Fi signals in conference rooms. Once guests would complain to the hotel about the lack of Wi-Fi reception, they would be offered optional high-speed internet services (both wired and wireless) at a cost of $250 to $1,000.

The FCC conducted a further investigation into that matter and confirmed that the hotel was in fact using jamming equipment so that it could upsell hotel guests. However, this practice is a big no-no, as blocking Wi-Fi signals violates Section 333 of the Communications Act.

This was at Marriott's Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee. I'm an infrequent traveler, but when I do stay in a hotel, I expect to be able to use my mobile hotspot/tethering feature that comes with my cellular plan and phone, because really, there's no reason to pay for something I already should have access to. Plus, I've noticed my hotspot is usually more reliable than many 'public' wi-fi you find out there. Good that someone got caught. Maybe the rest of the business world will take note that jamming signals is, well, illegal, as well as just greedy and despicable.

I was going to write

about how absolutely relaxed I was after taking a cool shower, getting into my sleep shirt, and settling into the bedroom with the radio on. But that was an hour ago, and I've spent the whole time trying to reconnect the laptop to the wi-fi after an update to the adapter. Turns out that even though my router was working fine, and both the desktop and phone could get to the internet through it, it still needed to be reset for the laptop to get a clue. Yes, I did solve the problem, but my relaxation is shot. I'm going to just go on to bed. :(

Not to sound like a loon

But sitting next to the new wireless router, my head feels distinctly unpleasant, and has from the moment I plugged it in. It's like there's a hum in my ears and head that is hard to describe. I'm also vaguely nauseous, but I had heartburn earlier so that may be it. I have issues next to giant transformers, too. I'm hoping I'll get used to it, and I've put it a little further away from where I sit next to the computer. I thought that I might just be odd, but other people also claim to have physical sensations when they're around radio or other electro-magnetic fields.

I cancelled the upgrade to Amazon Prime today, mainly because I actually read the terms and conditions and you're not supposed to sign up with a debit card, just a credit card, and my card is a Visa cheque card. I like the fast shipping (I ordered the router on Wednesday night at about 11:20--it shipped at 3:30 am, and arrived 10:30 this morning.) But I didn't want to really pay $79 all at once, and I'd rather keep a little cushion this payday without overspending.

I also bought a new surge protector for the television and assorted equipment, because when the Roku box comes there was no place to easily plug it in. This is labelled nicely with the various types of equipment, included surge protection (it was just on a regular extension box with a wind-up cord, like you'd use outside with power tools), and even includes a place to put the cable in and out to provide protection.

That's about all the major shopping I plan to do this month. Everything seems to be working pretty well. The wi-fi connexion is really fast; I downloaded an update to Angry Birds: Space in no time flat. I have it secured, but also have a guest account in case someone needs to use it, like my step-dad, for example, when they come over. Not that a lot of people actually come here, but it's there should it be needed. The installation went well, despite the fact my old Vonage router was in the mix. Yay for looking up things online when the manual doesn't explain enough.

Okay, everything's installed; I think I need a cold drink and maybe a peanut-butter sandwich.

I didn't sleep well last night

I thought I'd made an error that caused me a lot of tossing and turning. I finally realised I could check on it, and got up and did so, and I think everything's fine. But I really worried that people who depend on me to do something right would be screwed way beyond the time I put one of their bill payments in a box (we don't know what type) thinking it was a drop box rather than getting it to a teller or real drop box. I've never lived this down. This would be 10 times worse. Anyway I'm a little relieved, but now of course it's a half-hour before I'm due to get up, and the chirpy birds and babbling brook that my Gentle Alarm uses have already started--I can hear it from the other room.

Tonight I should be able to enter the 21st century in that I should be able to set up a wi-fi network in my apartment. I found a not-very-expensive (I want to avoid the word 'cheap' and its connotations) router from Amazon and it should be here today, which isn't bad as I ordered it Wednesday night. I'm tired of having to run to the library to update any of the big applications from Amazon (anything over 20 MB), plus it furthers my plan to discard cable and use streaming video, as I also ordered a Roku box for streaming it through my TV. That should be here in a few days, and was at a much better Father's Day rate than Amazon at the Roku website. So I am spending some, but the key is I can save in the long run.

Oops, there goes my regular alarm. I'd better go...