Just An End Check In

Yo. I’m still alive here. Maybe writing a few things but this blog is still going. Strong? Not so. Weak? Yeah maybe. Most likely. Well even this post is weak sauce and just words on the blog.

So I am just telling you. I am a bit sad about not writing. Maybe sometime I’ll do something good.

Please, stick around.

Link of the Day [5.18.17]

Filipinos are a funny lot — queer in the original sense of the word. Lots of things to ponder about the culture. Things that have developed from years of colonialism. Things that have developed from years of Catholicism. Things that have developed from the inequality between the land owners and the workers.

It is like that. Sometimes we forget. We get reminded about it once in awhile.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/06/lolas-story/524490/?utm_source=twb

Makes you go hmm. Take 23498

Why is it that the only vampire novels I have read are translated from Russian or Swedish? I hate vampires and vampire tales, so why did I/am I reading translated works of vampire lore? And is there a Japanese vampire novel that I should read?

When is winter getting here?

Another week of 60 degree weather. Normally, I like the idea, but it’s November. Shouldn’t it be nothing but 30 degree nights with 50 degree days? I mean, c’mon.

Why I thought I needed an AirPort Express

Decided today to buy a Apple AirPort Express. I wanted it in order to achieve two goals. First, to hook into the stereo in my den to stream music with iTunes. Second, to solve the perplexing problem I have been having with my wireless network. Actually, I think the second goal the more important of the two. Ever since I got DSL and set up a wireless network, I have been having trouble using it. I believe it is the layout and construction of my condominium which makes it troublesome.

Here’s how it goes. My desktop computer (Win95-233 MHz PII!), dsl modem, and wireless router reside in my office, a back room on the upper floor of the condo. The furnace sits to its front and side, basically centered on the second floor, acting as a big metal sink soaking up the wireless signal. Another aspect of the building is that it uses the cement board in floor to dampen sound, but it also dampens the wireless signal to the bottom floor. I am limited to 50% signal strength outside of my office. Not much of a signal coming downstairs, and a washed out signal in my bedroom at the front of the second floor.

I bought the AirPort Express to alleviate some of these problems. I wanted to set it up to increase the range of my signal. So I placed it in my den/music room to take advantage of line of site to my bedroom and to have some signal spill down the stairs. It took me 2 hours to get it set up correctly. At first, I set it up as a client to the wireless network. That was not what I wanted. I searched the internet and found this which helped, but was confusing. When I was setting the AirPort Express up to use WDS, I was searching using my wireless network which caused me to continually fail the configuration updating. One tip: if you try to do this, when updating the configuration of the AirPort Express select it as the network you are updating. Once I got that correct and it was extending my range, I had problem connecting to the internet. This had to do with using a bad MAC address. I am still confused about what the right MAC address is. I saw on my router configuration 2 different MAC addresses. I don’t know why the one I am using works, because it isn’t one of the two. Has it worked?

Achieving my goals has not happened. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I haven’t tested it enough, but I still receive sucky signal strength in my bedroom and down stairs. Rats!