Horizon Zero

I Want This House

It's a transformer! It has a drawbridge!

Unfortunately, it's in Poland. But perhaps someone can build a replica?

Momentary Distractions

I've been tweaking my setup at home the last few days - things are mostly where I want them but the overall efficiency isn't quite as, well, efficient as I was hoping for.

My new dsl connection is very good, far beyond what I'm used to, actually. My PC can suck down the megabits at the maximum allowed rate and I've noticed that my average latency on WoW has dropped to around 50 ms from the Saint Robert era average of 310. So that's to the good.

The difficulty lies in the home network. The new wireless N router seems to be experiencing some difficulty in reaching the downstairs devices. They work, but there's a noticeable lag. I had hoped to dump broadcast and cable in favor of Netflix or roku video on demand since there are only a handful of shows I watch with any regularity. But my attempt to stream an episode of Stargate Universe off of XBox Live was less than satisfactory. The PS3 reports a connection to the router at about 77% signal strength. I'm looking at options to make that better, but I honestly don't know if a repeater/expander or one of those power line networking deals is a better solution.

I set up my Netflix trial - not greatly enthused by the selection of on demand titles. The DVD library isn't nearly as deep as I thought it would be, either.

I've given Dragon Age II about three hours of play so far, which isn't really all that much since I created one character for each class (warrior, mage, rogue) and played enough to get them to the start of Act I. DA2 has gotten a lot of negative press the last week or so, but I honestly can't find much to complain about yet. There seems to be a mighty backlash building against Bioware, though - and it's not contained to just one title. It started around the time Mass Effect 2 released and I think it's going to really explode once Star Wars: The Old Republic launches. I don't necessarily think that TOR is going to fail, just that expectations and hype are so out of control at this point. And we increasingly seem to be a society that can't or won't accept it when reality doesn't match our own personal expectations.

We had two BoE epics drop during our Blackwing Descent raid last night, which if they sell at market price will net the guild somewhere between 27k to 50k. One of them is the uber-leet sword I bought myself on my birthday. Ironic.

Several Steps Closer

The saga of the world's most drawn out move continues!

I took off early Friday to get down to Saint Robert in time to do the final walk around and turn in my keys. Felt strange, and final. Bummed around town for a bit, doing change of address stuff and saying goodbye to a few folks, then had dinner with a friend and headed back to Columbia.

Naturally, it rained. But only on the really twisty two lane hilly parts of the drive. Such is life.

On Saturday, the new furniture I bought two weeks ago finally got delivered - which was extremely welcome because I was tired of sleeping in the guest room. The phone guy also came out and we made a most irregular discovery. All this time that I've been without dial tone, the line has been active - just going somewhere else. It seems that the previous resident installed another line that was taking precedence over the jacks in the house. Plug a phone into a wall jack and you'd get nothing.

We found the Super Secret jack in the corner of the living room, hiding behind one of the media stands that flank my TV. The phone guy proceeded to turn on the office jack and set up the DSL connection, so huzzah for progress.

So if that's all done, why am I not online yet? Well, I still had Things To Do. Like assemble my new desk and office chair, move boxes into the basement, unpack and set up the new router, etc.

The router, in fact, is the step I'm on currently. As soon as I get it configured, I'll have to get it talking to the ISP. Which I'm reasonably sure I can get done tonight. (Of course, I've been reasonably sure each step of the way...)

Anyway, that was my weekend.

Home Comms Remain Down

I'm having a bit of trouble reestablishing my home phone and net connections - according to the person I talked to at lunch I don't seem to exist.

Well, I mean I exist since I'm paying them on time, but my new residence doesn't seem to show up on their internal map.

I'm not entirely convinced they got the address right, though. Will try again this evening.

Thirty Dots On A Map

I have a road map of Columbia. The map has thirty dots, signifying thirty possible dwelling locations.

Slowly but surely, the dots are being crossed out.

This is not the ideal time to be house searching. The big rental companies have just finished renting out to the incoming freshmen for August. The leftovers are competing for upper classmen and grad students looking to get away from the newbie undergrads come summer.

Despite all that, I may have found something.

Getting Processed

Spending the next few days in Columbia undergoing assimilation... er, in-processing for the new job. Today, that meant filling out all the little pieces of paper the government requires for the privilege of working in our glorious free market system.

There may be some irony involved in the preceding paragraph.

Mizzou is big. Cameron University isn't exactly tiny, but it's compact. Oklahoma State is comparable, but manages to integrate Stillwater's small Oklahoma town atmosphere. Mizzou? It pretty much dominates, and it's anything but compact - it downright sprawls. The hospital alone has more square footage than Saint Robert. All of Saint Robert.

Speaking of square feet, tomorrow - weather permitting - will be my cross town rental crawl. I've got a countdown in progress and need to nail down a domicile posthaste.

One final note. The vending machine on Floor 4 is out of Dr. Pepper but does indicate as such and will not return your money. Additionally, selecting Pepsi as an alternative "rewarded" me with a 7-Up. We are not amused, Hampton Inn.

Home Office Upgradening

Making some small home improvements today, or at least starting them. Given my constant purchasing of new books and my inability to divest myself of old one I'm always short on shelve space. So I purchased two 3 shelf bookcases - some assembly required, of course - to go in the office upstairs. I've got room along the wall for a third (and maybe a fourth, but let's not get ahead of ourselves) so hopefully that will mitigate the stacks of books collecting on my stairs.

I'm also in the market for something to serve as a repair bench. I thought this would be easy, but there seems to be a shortage of good, tall tables with a smooth surface. Plenty of cheap folding tables with those bumpy plastic tops, but I don't want one of those. Will have to keep looking, I suppose.

 

In Which I Celebrate Labor Day

By doing no labor.

Well, that's not totally true. Long weekends are a good time to get around to around-the-house stuff that I've been putting off for days, weeks, months and, yes, even years.

I have terribad housekeeping skills, it's true. But it's a respectable, concealable shame.