scott

The Story Of My New Improved Internet Connection at Home

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This sat in drafts for ages since I originally discussed my internet being down on the 28thof Octobe.   As a follow on to that my DSL provider sent me a new router to install. Between the time they said they would send a new router and when it showed up my internet link started going up and down. At first it was down for 36 hours. Then it came back online however the speed was horrible. I rebooted the router and then it was down again. It came back again after another 30 some hours.  It was still not performing well so I gave up till I got the new router.

On Monday I was supposed to receive the replacement router however it did not show up. It arrived on Tuesday.  I’ve talked about that this DSL line has been flaky from the beginning. It was just generally an annoyance. When I tried to get help the hoops I had to go through weren’t worth the time since if it would go down it would only be down for a minute or two.

Talking with my neighbors they said they had Virgin Media. They also said that the speed was really good. With Cable internet you need to be sure that your specific area isn’t oversubscribed. All the neighbors I checked with were in technology and I trust their usage pattern is is close enough to mine to be happy that Virgin might work. So Saturday after my Internet was down I ordered Virgin cable.

The package arrived Tuesday. In recent memory it was the easiest set up I’ve had to deal with. They sent me a text and said to reply with “go” when I was ready for them to turn on my service. Within five minutes I got a response saying my service should be up. I plugged all the cables in the modem just worked. It wasn’t even screw in coal act cables. It was pushed in. That little feature alone made me happy.

Another added feature for me is that I turned the virgin router into motor mode only. That allowed me to plug in my Asus router be up and running. That switch was flawless.  I now get faster speeds, plus the custom Tomato router I wanted.  It is the ideal setup for now.  Thankfully the switch and setup was straight forward.  I will give my old provider credit also.  Their canceling process was pretty simply.  Now all that has to happen is the line gets canceled without any snags.

W Sisters Short on The TARDIS

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“It is smaller on the outside, and bigger on the inside”. That is A’s explanation of what a TARDIS is to British kid.

The first thought that came to my mind when I heard that was it was very funny and I had to write it down. The second thing that went through my mind was I thought having a working knowledge about Doctor Who was a legal requirement for all British children? My nephew not knowing about it in America is just sad, however a 7 year old in London not knowing about it I thought was illegal.

The Story of Wonky Weather

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This is a post I wrote back in September.  The screen capture is from then also.  it wasn’t 20 C today.  I have had a huge backlog of things I wrote that I never posted.  Then I stopped writing a bit and have been slowly posting things.  Then I just forgot to post stuff.  I have come full circle and want to write again so the first thing I am doing is getting the backlog out.  I felt that this post was appropriate since its like 60 degrees Fahrenheit  in March right now.

I got the impression prior to my move to London that the city has a reputation for being cloudy and wet. After living here for a little while I realised that is a broadly accurate statement. The problem is it’s a wildly broad statement. What I’ve learned is that complaining about the weather almost national pastime in this city.  I was all but told that by more than 2 friends of mine. From their point of view I can understand some of the complaints. Coming from New York however where there is a significantly wider variance of whether you prefer a little bit more of the consistency of England. Even if that means less sun generally.

Everyone is pretty consistent in their assessment that things “get real”when it’s below zero (Celsius).  That is 32 F for Americans. They also comment about the fact that it usually doesn’t get over 25°C or about 77 F in the summer. I have also heard from many people that snow is virtually unheard of. Ironically all the statements I just made are not true this year.  We had a week of snow that basically shut down London even though from my perspective coming from NY it wasn’t much snow.  It was 25-32 C for probably around a month to 6 weeks in the summer.  And because of the heat there was tons of sun.

The rational side of me wants to believe everyone who made the original wild generalisations of the weather here and wonder why this year is different. The other less rational side of me is thinking why am I in the middle of a big deception around the weather in this country?.

Even with the two snowstorms. Well what they consider snowstorms. Even with the few days below zero. And even with 4-6 weeks of heatwave in late June and July I been very comforatable with the weather. The idea of a milder summer and a milder winter compared to what I am used to appeals to me. Problems start to arise when it gets over 25°C, somewhere in the 80s Fahrenheit. That is when air-conditioning would be required in New York. There simply is no air conditioning most places here.  To survive we bought two fans.  On most days we were ok.  Thankfully when I am writing this post in early September the weather has settled down to 20-25 C or mid 60’s to mid 70’s F.  That is kind of perfect.  The rain has come back too but not as bad as in the winter.  Lets face it our lawn needed the water since it was getting pretty brown for a while.

London Mug Mark III Lives For Now

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After the untimely demise of London Mug Mark II M looked and found the name of who makes the mug. An easy search on the internet found a place selling the exact mug. About £20 later I ordered the replacement. I didn’t even have to go to Heathrow for this one like I did for the Mark II. The mug arrived right before our holiday (in February). This post is late getting published.

Hopefully Mark III has a longer shelf life than Mark II at 4 years or Mark I at under 2. If we are aging these thinks with a half life that means Mark III could last 8 years!

My IT Skills In The Real World

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I was able to use rule number one I learned when starting out in IT when trying to troubleshoot a stove with M. Turning it off and on again fixes everything. Seriously never question a hard reboot’s effects on anything.

Anarchy at The Mall

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Here I thought everyone was worried about anarchy because of Brexit. The anarchy is now. People standing on the left while on an escalator. What next indiscriminate cutting of queues?

London Mug Mark II is Dead

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On my first trip to London for work in 2012 I was on a mission to get M the one thing she wanted. A mug. The specifications were such that I actually couldn’t find one that meet the criteria until I was at Heathrow on my way home.

About a year or so later T broke that mug after M left it where a toddler could easily grab it. And T totally grabbed it and broke it.

On my next trip to London I went in search for the same mug. I couldn’t find it until I was again at the same cheesy gift shop at Heathrow on the way home. That is how the mug mark II came into our house.

Flash forward to today. M texted me this photo of the broken mug. She wasn’t sure what she did but the mug fell off the table and is now destroyed.

I am torn. I would like to replace the mug (again). I also don’t know if getting a mug like that of NYC instead of London is appropriate now that we live in London and not NY. Either way I am going to have to ask anyone we know visiting to check out the gift shops in Heathrow for this mug.