Click images for desktop size: "End Of Daze" by Envy A couple of weeks a go we found a robin's nest in one of the trees. The bird built the thing at about my chest height . . . There were 3 eggs in it. Pretty pale blue things.
I thought at the time that this was no good but urban myth says you can't touch or move a bird's nest.
Last week the nest was there but the eggs were gone. I felt deprived.
Stupid bird.

The new internet provider is now on board. They claim it was up and working since the 31st . . . I have no idea how they figured I would know this.
Anyway, it took me the full day to get everything up and running. By paying a year in advance the ADSL is about 1/3rd the price we were paying. My router generates about 10% stronger signal than the one the Slipstream the old ISP made us use, with about 50% less noise on the broadcast. For those two things alone it was worth making the move with the savings just slightly over riding the increased range.
Both Mac's and the Apple TV were no brainers to get up and running on the new router config. The AppleTV particularly likes the stronger signal. My router is G, as are the WiFi cards in all our computers. The AppleTV is the only thing in the house running draftN. Still with the increased signal the AppleTV loads things from the computer much more quickly and far less stutter on the 5mgs on some of the movie files.
This is a pretty bare bones service. You get some email addresses and some one line storage but nothing else.
Even though their customer service is good the bare bones thing could inhibit growth. The modem works out of the box ONLY if you plan to plug it in via the ethernet cable. Does anyone do that anymore?
To set the DSL modem up into bridge mode was a tremendous chore. This house is old so phone jacks and outlets are at a premium. I had to keep climbing ladders to set up the modem, test it, figure out what was wrong and then go through the grief of reconnecting to to the computer - back and forth.
Once I figured it out it wasn't all that difficult but setting up keep alive times and establishing MTU (what the hell is an MTU anyway?) was all guesswork.

Click images for desktop size: "Sits Down Far Away" by Unknown But it works.
The other pluses for the new ISP are corporate guarantees of Net Neutrality, and no traffic shaping. I don't put a lot of faith in corporate promises but at least they put it out there and in writing.
As to performance it seems to be okay. There is a slight decrease in download speed overall but with higher spike speeds, much higher like 200%. The upload speed is like 300% higher than the old provider! Since this all come through the same DSL line the effects of bandwidth shaping are pretty apparent. No problems at all with my normal internet stuff.
Its too early to define the reliability of the connection. I've had one complete outage that lasted for only 5 minutes. Time will have to tell on that.
Basically I'm happy with the new provider. Its a shame I had to do so much work to find an alternative provider, alternative to the biggies who even now are working or charging for the megabyte of bandwidth. The old charge 'em more for less gambit. Funny it works when you have corrupt local and national politicos who are willing to let a monopoly get away with this stuff.
The other shame was the lack of instructions on setting the DSL modem up for basic home networking. That seems like a quibble on the next day but yesterday it was bugging me bad.
Emails today admonished me to save and dry the maple branches because they are the best wood going for smokers! Maybe I should chip them up and sell them! Around here there are too many maple trees. If I was successful it could start a deforestation thing, so I'll just save them up.
The other emails (4) wanted instruction on making your own guitar from scratch!
I've only done it twice. One when I was 16. I made it in high school wood shop. Plenty of power tools paid for by the government!
The second time when I was 22 and I had a friend who's dad spent a fortune on his workshop.
Making two questionable guitars doesn't make me much of an expert. But I did make them and futzed through the whole procedure so maybe it might be useful.
I'll give it some thought.
Its supposed to hit 90 today . . . means mucho work outside!
That will make the puppies happy. They like to boss me around. But doesn't everybody . . .