WesM

I'm trying to move my T-Mobile To Go number--which was originally ported from Southwestern Bell about four years ago--to a VoIP service provider.  Unfortunately, T-Mobile either doesn't know or doesn't care how to set a PIN on an account.  When I submitted the port request, I gave the new provider my T-Mobile account PIN, which I thought was, let's say, 1110.  Three weeks go by, and that PIN is rejected as invalid.  No problem, I must have remembered it wrong.  Apparently, a subscriber can call 611 from his handset and use the IVR to change the PIN.  I try this.  "Due to technical difficulties, I am unable to change your PIN.  Please hold for a customer service representative."  At this point, the CSR says that if I don't know my existing PIN, I have to go to a store.

I roll up to a T-Mobile store and ask to change said PIN.  After providing ID, I tell the person a new PIN--so as not to confuse anything, I don't use what I think the old PIN was--of 4443.  I watch him enter it into the computer, I e-mail this new PIN to my VoIP provider, and all is well, so I think.  Just now, I receive an e-mail from my carrier: "T-mo has rejected the port today, saying 4443 is an invalid PIN."  ARGH.  Just for giggles, I call the IVR from not-my-prepaid-line and have it prompt me to enter my PIN.  I enter 4443.  "I'm sorry, that's not the same as our records."  I call, again, from my prepaid line and try to change my PIN using the IVR.  "Due to technical difficulties, I am unable to change your PIN.  Please hold for a customer service representative."  ARGH x2.

Fortunately, and in a shocking turn of events, Verizon was much smoother.  My parents' phone number moved from their Verizon landline in exactly 23 days, 14 of which were taken up by the disconnect order needing to complete.

So I've figured out why pet adoption agencies have such a hard time placing pets: This form is more complicated than a mortgage and has more conditions than a cell phone contract. It's like the volunteers want to keep all the animals they find and use the excuse of "no one was qualified to adopt!" in order to justify having 30 at a time in their houses. At least the adoption fee isn't outrageous. I've seen some that want more than $300 for a tabby cat.

In short, support your local shelter. All the pet adoption agency animals have great homes whose owners are thrilled to keep them forever.

Before:



After:

So we moved this Monday, and I realize you're all dying to know great the new house is and all that stuff, but, frankly, who cares when I can discuss geek things?

FiOS is, as everyone likely knows, amazing. We moved a) because this townhouse has FiOS and b) the townhouse is bad ass inside. I ordered the Verizon Flex bundle which is 20/5 Internet* and the "Extreme HD" (all "cable" channels like Discovery and USA in HD, no premiums like HBO) channel lineup for $79.99/mo. Oh, and three CableCARD units at $3.99 each for the replacement flotilla of TiVo HD units. No crappy Verizon STBs here, thanks.

Short review: 20/5 Internet really is 20/5. It's OMG-fast, and low latency. About 9ms (wired) to my colo box. The TV picture is incredible and the channel lineup includes everything we want except NASA TV. ( Mad geeking cut for the rest. )

I'm still here... :)

This semester at school is almost over, giving me a couple weeks until I dive into the last Maymester, Summer and Fall semesters of my life (hopefully). Next year at this time I will be graduating with my B.Sci. in Computer Science.

We put in an offer to lease an amazing townhouse about four miles away from our current apartment and are waiting to hear back on Monday. The place has three levels, three bedrooms, four(!) bathrooms, a wide open second level ("great room"), granite countertops in the huge kitchen, plush carpet, travertine flooring and FiOS. I have great rental and employment references, plus the unit has sat vacant for five months so I'm betting the "credit that looks like a funny car at a monster truck rally" won't be much of an issue (esp. with the deposit we're offering).

Speaking of Internet, our Internet connection is down and has been for about 24 hours. Fortunately, tethering through AT&T 3G devices isn't difficult and hopefully our regular link comes back up by Monday. If not, we're not going to be here much longer so I'll just get an AT&T data card and share it out to our network. The other offerings here aren't worth either the contract they'd require or the hassle of getting set up.

"Only now, with the advent of Potato Day, has tyranny come to our shores." Oh, and Jon Stewart says "y'all."

Tap..tap..Is this thing on? Apparently not. :)

I have dd-wrt installed on my router. That router does NAT from 192.168.7.0/24 to a WAN IP of 192.168.100.33. Yes, I know NAT is evil, and I know double NAT is worse. However, XOHM's Ethernet home modem won't *@)$ing disable NAT and just bridge the WAN IP to the Ethernet port. Whatever. I have made my peace. I just set 192.168.100.33 to be the "DMZ" IP of the XOHM modem and this usually works well.

However, my 360 complains that NAT on my network is "strict" and I should enable UPnP. No problem; dd-wrt has this. I enable it. NAT is still "strict." Restart dd-wrt and 360; no change. UPnP discovery is working. Find ports I need to forward (3074/tcp, 3074/udp and 88/udp) to 360. Give 360 a static DHCP lease and forward said ports. Tada, 360 now says NAT is "open." Disable UPnP like paranoid-techie would want me to do. Oops, NAT is back to "strict." Reenable UPnP, life is good.

So, I learned:

* The 360 wants ports 3074/tcp, 3074/udp and 88/udp forwarded to it in Some Way.
* It also want UPnP on.

Oh, and trying out wet cat food for my feline to see if it helps with his tummy. He almost took my arm off when I opened the can.

"Monsters v. Aliens" is hysterical. Not the greatest, but it was worth the $ to see it at The Inwood

This is easily the coolest and rarest baseball card I've ever owned.



( Back... )

Did I mention that Nolan Ryan is, in my opinion, the best Texas Rangers player ever, as well as one of the best ever to play the game? :)

Oh, and I must have one of these bumper stickers from around D/FW: "My president is Nolan Ryan," referring to the Rangers' newest team president.

(has) Made all of my iPods work happily with Windows 7. For the record, the Zune 8GB fired up in two clicks with no issues.

(is) taking a comp day from work and being productive on homework assignments.

(says) looking for rentals is fun, even if it's WAY too early to be doing this sort of thing...

(is) at work, learning SCCM the hard way...

Burn Notice is an awesome show; that is all.

...but this time, it's USEFUL. Quoth the Dallas Morning News:

Texas amendment would prohibit HOA foreclosures

( Read more? I think you should. )

To summarize: No more foreclosures by HOAs, per the state Constitution (which is slightly less easy to repeal than a regular law), for dues and certain fees. Assessments may still be the basis of a foreclosure, but those must be put to a specific vote of the association membership. In addition, highlights from the companion bill:

- Association covenants giving right of entry to the association are prohibited unless such rights are contained as an easement on the property plat; considered void as against public policy
- The records of the association must be open and available to all members of the association, and a member denied such access may sue
- The association must contract with a county judge, elections administrator or voter registrar to handle the tabulation of votes in an election; oh, and those ballots must be in writing and signed by the member
- An association may not prohibit solar energy devices installed on the roof or in the member's fenced in yard or patio
- An association may not prohibit the parking of a vehicle on a public street in the association; considered void as against public policy

I have little faith that this bill will make it through unscathed, but it is being put forward by a Republican AND sponsored in the Senate by a Democrat, so maybe there's hope. If it passes in any form similar to the current text, Texas' HOA laws will become some of the strongest in the country.

Oh, and because I love you all:

• HJR 76, the proposed amendment
• HB 1976, the companion bill

Water temp in thermos is 40.9F @ 12:14AM, ambient temp 70.1F. (Testing quality of new "vacuum flask.")

"'Peep,' it's like '12 Ounce Mouse' without the killing." -Cari

Holy cow, the TiVo hd has a much better atsc tuner than the hr10-250...