then she appeared

I am such a lazy moron sometimes! I've been having wifi connectivity issues in my bedroom since I moved in here. Prior to this evening, my signal strength was commonly between 35% and 50%. Occasionally would get as high as 60%. Mostly would disconnect sporadically. And I have the spiffy new monitor, so I like to sit at my desk now.

Our apartment is in a big old Victorian with really thick walls, a giant chimney, pipes everywhere, and our added problem of really tall bookcases. Not a signal paradise! But I got to thinking, maybe if I could put another antenna/something right in the sight line of my desk, I might have better luck.



After having hours of issues last night and being hugely peeved, today I went to Microcenter on my lunch hour and bought a repeater. Or, more specifically, a Hi-Gain Wireless-G Range Extender.

Tonight, after two hours on the phone with Hawking Technology tech support somewhere in Mumbai, I have signal strength of 100%!! Should have done this months and months ago! Why do I procrastinate??

ETA: ( see? )

My new (somewhat used) Treo screen arrived yesterday, so, all excited, I sat down immediately after dinner and cracked open my phone to get started. I got it all done perfectly (or so I thought), closed it up, put the battery back in, and ... black screen. Arg! Read the comments on the "how to fix your treo's screen" video and someone said that when you install the ribbon cable into the board, you have to shove it in pretty far or else the pressure from the clip doesn't connect evenly and your screen won't light up.

Ok, so I open it all back up again, and now it's all familiar and I understand how the little clips hold it together so it is easy, and as I unclip the ribbon* and position it back in I try, very gently, to push it in further, when ... SNAP! the ribbon breaks off the last 1/8", which is where the wider part narrows so that it will fit into the clip. RUINED!! $40 down the drain, because of course the place that I bought it from won't honor installation damage. (Which to me makes sense, but kind of sucks anyway!)

I left positive feedback on the eBay site saying something like "Speedy delivery, accurate description, I just wish I made it work" and they got right back to me, asked me to call. (Apparently the "catch more flies with honey" maxim is pretty accurate!)

We chatted, she told me that she could sell me another for cost ($25) if I wanted. So now, do I try again? I'd still be doing better $$-wise than if I had someone do it for me, and I'm pretty sure I could get it to work without breaking it this time.

Or do I just buy the damned iPhone???


* which is a 1/2" wide (slender) strip of plastic film, nothing as sturdy as ribbon, but I don't have another term for it!

Stuff floating around in my head:

On the chores side of my brain: How awesome is the hand scanner thing at Stop & Shop? Since I started using canvas bags, I've been increasingly annoyed at the baggers. They try to toss in plastic bags at every turn. Things need to be separated from other things! Ice cream needs to be kept isolated from everything else! Soap needs to be sanitized for my protection! Cat food needs to be safely placed all together in one plastic bag, just because! But with the scan-as-you-shop thingie, I can bag my own stuff straight off the shelf! No hidden plastic! Organized the way I want it. And I can check the price right then. And keep track of how much I'm spending, and review what I've already bought. I love love love it. After I finish, I just go to the self-checkout, scan my scanner, and then pay and leave. The clerk didn't even look at anything. No putting stuff into the cart, then taking stuff OUT of the cart, then putting stuff BACK INTO the cart, then taking it BACK OUT OF the cart to go in my car. So fast, so convenient, I don't know if I can go back to the old way now!

On the entertainment side: I've got four current TV faves. In at number one, "Lost" is so damned good this season it's almost painful! Seriously, finally the plot is interesting and weird and fun. Also enjoying "New Amsterdam," even though every time I read the name I hum Elvis Costello to myself. The lead actor, Nikolaj Coster Waldau, is hot, kind of quirky, and his mild Danish accent is disturbing in a smoldering kind of way. It's a completely silly plot, but it's still fun. [I'd pay good money to know why every immortal ends up fighting crime, though. Is there NOTHING ELSE TO DO with all that time? Seriously?] Also, how damned good is "Breaking Bad"? God, I never realized how nuanced an actor Malcolm in the Middle's Dad was before this show; not that Malcolm ever gave him much to do other than run around in his undies. But in this? Awesome. It's seriously a one-man show. And, finally, "Dexter" on network is still compelling, even without the cuss words. Michael C. Hall is just crazy-good.

I'm also really sad that Jeff Healey died. While my musical tastes normally run to the somewhat alterna, I really dug his voice. And he was so 80s cute, back in the 80s. All that mullet! Anyway, I've vaguely followed his career over the years and liked his jazz stuff. And now he's dead at 41 from the same cancer that took his eyes when he was a toddler. That's just tragic.

And I've been a little bit into Amy Winehouse this week (I know, I know, but damn, the woman can really belt out a tune!). I'd never put "Rehab" and "that chick that popped out of nowhere last year and everyone talks about all the time because she's a mess" together before, seriously. Had no idea what she sounded like. I hope she manages to pull herself together. She seems like she's on a flameout trajectory, though.

And, FINALLY, baseball's almost back! 25 days to go. I know they're playing now, but I just can't get excited about spring training. Part of the fun for me is the race, and if the games don't count, it's not baseball!

OK, brain empty now. Back to work!

Go space shuttle! So damned awesome. Some day I need to be in Florida during a launch. I want to take photos of the crowds and feel the rumble of the engines in my chest.