Yet Another Comcast outage:
<rant>Over the last few week (29 Sep - 21 Oct), I've experienced some unexplained Comcast outages, and no ones seems to know what happened.
I am starting to hate Comcast (or at least their customer service). I was hoping that the service interruptions were done with. Unfortunately, that's not the case. The interrupted service continues. Checking my logs shows no outages while we were on vacation (during the vacation I used Apple's VNC (Back to My Mac) service to control the desktop at home), buy my attempts to watch some Netflix caused a network outage. Of course, Comcast would blame it on me or my equipment, without proving anything. If I call, they'll be unable to find a cause, and I'll be left scratching my head and cursing Comcast. Could this be something caused by Netflix? Or, better yet - Here's a sweet one for the conspiracy nut in all of us. With absolutely no proof, or way to prove anything. I wonder, could Comcast be looking at my packets to see a competing service? Maybe Comcast has decided that they don't like the fact that I'm watching Netflix instead of using their OnDemand service? I went downstairs, unplugged the modem, waited a couple of minutes, restarted the modem, and connectivity was re-established. What a 'PITA'!</rant>
Another Snow Storm slams the Front Range:
After returning from our Annibirthday vacation (see below), Kim and I had to drive home through the slick, slushy, snow covered highways and byways of Colorado's mountains and the Front Range (easter slope). The snow started falling on the 29th of October. Kim and I headed east (at the end of our vacation)
on the same day. The day before, Utah got socked by the same storm. So, our trip east followed the storm front as it moved from Utah to Colorado. This was a big storm, it dropped approximately 3 feet of snow in many mountain towns. Thankfully, we were moving behind the storm. With a 12 hour start, the highways were reopened as road crews battled to keep things running. Moving into the front range, the storm was slightly less intense. Here the area received a couple of feet of snow. Finally, reaching Aurora and parts east of Denver, our neck of the woods was covered with approximately 16 inches. While we managed to make it home, the fun was far from over. The storm continued to move east, causing problems for Nebraska and Kansas. Oh yeah - Then I had to clear the driveway! This three day storm was a record breaker. We haven't had this much October snow since 1976. It'll take some time to dig out of this mess.
<http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-snow-story-102909,0,4160722.story>
Annibirthday - 2009: Kim and I celebrated another Annibirthday in October of 2009. As Kim and I were married on my birthday, we celebrate an Annibirthday instead of an Anniversary, or my Birthday. This year we decided to take a trip out west; well, further west than Denver. We packed up the Volvo and headed west on I-70. Utah bound, we took up residence at the Arrowhead Country Inn of Mt. Carmel, Utah. From our base-camp, we set forth on our adventure. Over a one week period, we visited four different parks. Zion Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Coral Pink Sand Dunes (a state park), and the world's largest hole in the ground - The Grand Canyon (in Northern Arizona). During the vacation - despite the loss of my camera's battery charger - we took a lot of photos. Another great Annibirthday - and plenty of photos posted. These photos have also been posted to my MobileMe gallery.
<https://www.robsworld.org/iphoto/annibirthday2009/index.html>
<http://gallery.me.com/rvaessen#100296>
Apple TV updated:
Recently (29 Oct 2009), Apple released a major Apple TV update. This update contained numerous new features, improvements and interface changes. The layout is now based on a 'Top Down' structure. With three layers, the top of the screen features a contextually dependent Cover Flow display. Beneath the Cover Flow is a seven column menu consisting of the following categories: 'Movies, TV Shows, Music Podcasts, Photos, Internet, Settings'. Highlighting a column reveals another column beneath the main heading. These sub-menus contain things such as (under Movies): 'My Movies, Top Movies, Genres, All HD, Search, Trailers'. Clicking/selecting anyone of these sub-menu items results in a new menu interface dedicated to the item selected. Thankfully, Apple has moved the 'My Movie' (personal content) to the top of these menus. In the past, the users personal content (which I used most frequently) was located at the bottom of all the menus. The new menu navigation is very intuitive, easy to navigate, re-organized to favor user content, and looks great on a wide screen display.
In addition to this new interface, Apple has added some new content. With this update, users can now access the enhanced media formats available through the iTunes store - iTunes LP (Enhanced Music content) and iTunes Extras (Enhanced content for movies and tv shows). Along with these enhanced media functions, they've added Genius mixes (a new iTunes feature) - synched over from iTunes, and improved the Photo options to match those available in the latest version of iTunes. Apple even added and updated some 'Streaming Internet Content' The podcasts section is awesome. I love the podcasts, and now they're much easier to access, prettier to look at, and stand on their own. New to the 3.0 update are Internet Radio stations. Streaming audio channels (like those available in iTunes) have finally made their way to Apple TV. Unfortunately, I don't think Apple will ever add a competing video service (such as Netflix, BlockBuster online, or Amazon video) to the Apple TV. It's still got the YouTube channel, and that's been updated to make the interface easier to use, but we're still missing Netflix. That column has a lot of room for additional content. Hopefully Apple can find some additional streaming content for our viewing pleasure.
Finally, I've noticed that the synching function is much improved. It's been running great since the update. I don't have to reboot the Apple TV, re-initialize the synching, or erase and start all over. The synching under the previous operating system was terrible. I was constantly fighting with the box in order to keep it synched.
In conclusion, the 3.0 update comes a little late (The Roku player is moving far ahead of Apple in this war), but it's welcomed all the same. I really enjoy the ability to view all my media (movies, music, photos, podcasts) on the big screen 52" flat panel in my living room. Given this update, I may start to move my DVDs over to the computer for viewing through the Apple TV interface.
<http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/10/29appletv.html>
<http://www.apple.com/appletv/>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cover_Flow>
Comcast Customer Service:
<rant>Over the last few week (29 Sep - 3 Oct), I've experienced some unexplained Comcast outages, and no ones seems to know what happened.
I am starting to hate Comcast (or at least their customer service). I was hoping that the service interruptions were done with. Unfortunately, that's not the case. The interrupted service continues.
So what's my latest rant about Comcast's lack of customer service? Today's rant involves their level of cluelessness. Today (23 Oct 2009) a Comcast Customer Service representative called, to ask me a series of questions regarding the service I received. They asked a lot of questions; including, "Was your High Speed Internet working after the technician left?" Umm, yes it was working. Notably, a few questions that they didn't ask: "Are there any unresolved issues regarding your High Speed Internet service?" and "Are you satisfied with Comcast customer service?". They didn't solve the problems I'm encountering, but I'm sure they'll chalk this up as a 'Satisfied Customer' statistic. Good going Comcast. I'm sure your investors will be happy - but what about your customers?</rant>
<http://consumerist.com/consumer/leaks/5-confessions-of-a-comcast-customer-service-rep-304368.php>
<http://www.consumeraffairs.com/internet/comcast_isp.html>
News about our Neighborhood Watch: Our Neighborhood Watch (The South-East Aurora Neighborhood Watch) has very close ties with the Aurora Police Dept. They’ve assigned a specific police officer as our ‘Police Area Representative’. It’s the job of the PAR to assist, inform and work with the Neighborhood Watch, in order to help us keep crime out of our neighborhoods.
In December of this year (2009), our PAR - Officer Brandon Samuels will be promoted to Sergeant, and he will be reassigned to patrol duties. He doesn’t (at this time) know what his exact duties will be, but he does know that he will no longer be our PAR officer. Our community will be losing a great PAR officer, but Officer Samuels deserves the promotion, and we hope that he does as well in his new position as he did as our PAR.
Officer Samuels has promised to keep us in his rear-view mirror, and stated that he’ll “be around” if we should need him.
The good news? We’re going to get our own PAR officer. According to Officer Samuels, ‘It’s because of the numbers of people involved in area 26, and the quality of neighborhood watch programs you have’, that the decision was made by (Aurora municipal/police department) management to staff area 26 with a dedicated PAR. The district (Aurora PD) has decided that we (The South-East Aurora Neighborhood Watch) need a dedicated PAR officer (earlier plans involved sharing a PAR officer with another part of Aurora). We’re very excited to hear that the City and Police Department have decided to hire a dedicated PAR officer for our community. A PAR dedicated to our community will allow for a greater one on one relationship, a more responsive police presence, and a safer neighborhood for the Southeast Aurora area.
Our new PAR officer will be Officer John Cassell. Officer Cassell has already begun his transition to area 26, and he will be taking over soon after our next Neighborhood Watch meeting (on the 3rd of December). Officer Cassell has been the PAR officer for areas 22 and 25 for the past few month. He’s done a fantastic job establishing communication and Neighborhood Watch in areas where it was not present before. John is a young, high energy officer who brings a lot to the position. John understands the importance of communications and supports the continuity of our Neighborhood Watch program. As Officer Samuels has stated: ‘because of your active and engaged watch groups and communications trees, your area is the model for the city and other PAR officers and units.’ ‘You all have raised the bar very high and I know you will have a lot of fun with Ofc Cassell as well.’
During the next few weeks, Officer Samuels and Cassell with be out trying to meet with members of the community and Neighborhood Watch members. Officer Cassell will be taking the same phone number as Officer Samuels (see Aurora Police Department entry on our Info page), and I will update our Info page with his email address after our Dec 3rd meeting. Please be sure to attend our December meeting (with Officers Samuels, Cassell, and Neighborhood Watch members) to learn more about our new PAR.
Snowstorm blankets the Front Range: Kim and I woke up to a early winter (Winter doesn't start until the 21st of December) surprise on the 21st of October. The snowstorm started before 0500 (That's 5:00AM for those of you without training in military time), and we were surprised to find a fairly significant accumulation. By 1000, we had 6+ inches of snow on the ground. The temps hovered just around freezing, making it wet, heavy, back breaking snow. For your viewing pleasure, and because I can - I posted a few of the photos I took.
<https://www.robsworld.org/iphoto/snow102109/index.html>
Updates to the Tollgate Crossing Website: My odd-ball schedule actually works in my favor for some things. A couple of those activities are the community support activities which I enjoy - Volunteering with our local neighborhood watch, and supporting our community by maintaining the Tollgate Crossing website and mailing lists. What started out as a website focused primarily on our Neighborhood Watch has grown to encompass the whole of our community, in the form of an expanded website and a variety of email mailing lists. Here are a few changes I made at our community website in the last few days.
* Updated the banners/badges on the Welcome page/front page of the website. Updated banners regarding our next HOA (10 Nov) and Metro District (27 Oct) meetings. I moved a badge promoting the new 'Tollgate Crossing Business Directory' to an area below the photo of Tollgate Crossing (along with some other badges). I added a new badge (to the same area) which promotes an exclusive deal arranged by our HOA. The HOA has managed to arrange some really low prices on new trees. These trees are being sold to residents at very low prices (starting as low as $105.00). You can learn more in the upcoming HOA newsletter. I also added a badge announcing the creation of a new mailing list.
*
Updated the eMail lists page. Added information regarding a new mailing list. The 'Tollgate Business' mailing list is focused on supporting businesses and business owners in Tollgate Crossing. It's intended as a forum for residents who own or operate a business. It’s also for residents looking for goods, services, and businesses located here in Tollgate Crossing. You might be trying to promote your personal business, you might be looking to sell a refrigerator, find a baby-sitter, or someone to cut your lawn. Everything and anything related to business and commerce in Tollgate Crossing. Join the list by sending an email to
*
Updated some information on our Events page. Updated the events posting for our upcoming meetings. Updated the HOA and Metro District meeting dates.
Wicked Cold, Rain and Snow: It looks like we winterized our lawn just in time. Today (10 Oct) is another reminder that Winter is on its way. Cold - Damn cold! This morning started out with temps below freezing, and the day just got crappier as the day wore on. Throughout the day we saw nasty cold rain, freezing rain, and yes - you guessed it - Snow! I'm one of those folks who dread the coming cold. We're not ski folk - Yeah, I know - That means we're not 'really' Coloradans. We like the warmer months. Do you really want to shovel the driveway? Really? Do you really want to slip and slide on the roads over the next four months? Really? I say, bring back summer! I didn't get enough.
Continued Comcast outages / Comcast Customer Service:
<rant>Over the last few week (29 Sep - 3 Oct), I've experienced some unexplained Comcast outages, and no ones seems to know what happened.
I am starting to hate Comcast (or at least their customer service). I was hoping that the service interruptions were done with. Unfortunately, that's not the case. The interrupted service continues. Today I once again woke up to no internet! I checked my modem logs (read from bottom up):
1970-01-01 00:00:04 3-Critical R002.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
2009-10-13 06:31:51 3-Critical R005.0 Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - T3 time-out
2009-10-13 05:02:12 3-Critical R002.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
2009-10-13 04:09:56 3-Critical C206.0 DCC aborted unable to communicate on new upstream channel
2009-10-13 04:09:56 3-Critical R003.0 Init RANGING Critical Ranging Request Retries exhausted
2009-10-13 04:09:56 3-Critical R002.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
2009-10-13 03:35:51 3-Critical D001.0 DHCP FAILED - Discover sent, no offer received
2009-10-13 03:32:25 3-Critical R002.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
2009-10-13 03:30:56 3-Critical T001.0 SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire QAM/QPSK symbol timing
2009-10-13 03:30:54 3-Critical T002.0 SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire FEC framing
2009-10-13 03:30:54 3-Critical T001.0 SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire QAM/QPSK symbol timing
These are just a few of the errors. I reset my modem at appx 0437MDT, and then I lost my connection again! I had to reset my modem a second time (at 0513MDT). After resetting my modem (unplug, wait a couple of minutes, reconnect the power) twice in the span of an hour is killing my productivity. After calming down a bit, I tried chatting Comcast using their 'Live Chat' feature. O.k. I've already re-established my internet connection. I'm already online, using the 'Live Chat' and I'm just trying to find out why these problems are occurring. Once I'm online with a tech, I try to determine whether others are having problems in my area.
The rep asks me the typical 'security' questions. What's your name, address, phone number, last four of your social security number... What? I don't want to give that out over this chat. I explain to the rep that I'd rather not provide that information. I have no way of determining the security level of this chat window. There's no URL displayed, no lock icon. No way to determine how secure the chat is. The rep may not know this, but the only 'random' part of a social security number is the last four digits. The other five numbers are assigned based on various rules. Rules that make the number less secure. Now a low level Comcast rep is asking for part of my SSN. No thanks. He shouldn't need that information in order to provide me with service. I ask if there's some other information that will suffice. He explains that Comcast respects my privacy, they would never disclose the information, blah, blah, blah.
They routinely ask for this information, but I've had enough. I'm not going to give this info to Comcast any longer. Doesn't Comcast realize that Identity theft is a real problem, I've had my identity stolen once before, and I'm very cautious about what information I give out. For that matter the SSA even cautions people not to share your SSN. "You should treat your Social Security number as confidential information and avoid giving it out unnecessarily." "You should be very careful about sharing your number and card to protect against misuse of your number. Giving your number is voluntary even when you are asked for the number directly."
I asked why he needed that, he said that it was policy. I don't know whether the techs have access to my full SSN, but I'd rather not use that number (or any portion of it) as a form of identification. I told him that I still wasn't going to provide that information. Eventually, he relented. Maybe he realized that he didn't actually need my SSN to assist me.
Back to my problem... So, this problem I'm having. Is anyone else in my area having similar problems? The tech claims that he doesn't know. Apparently, they don't have access to that information. After a bit of chatting, the tech wants to help me reestablish my internet connection? Huh? I already explained my problem. He suggests I should power-down and reboot my equipment. My computer, my router and my modem. I ask him why he's wasting my time with troubleshooting steps that aren't relevant to my problem? He explains that he's trying to help me. I explain that his recommended course of action won't help - As I'm already connected to the internet. He makes some kind of comment regarding 'Customers like you'... I can see that he's not interested in solving my problem so I say goodbye and sign off.
Five minutes later, I start experiencing a problem with my Comcast email. What? Now I can't receive email. Is the Comcast email server having problems? I enter my email password. I must have tried a dozen times. Checked and re-checked to make sure I was entering the password correctly. I even went so far as deleting the account info in my email program and re-entering it from scratch. Still no luck. I try to check for outages using their web site. They sure have that hidden nicely, and it seems as if it never indicates any problems... Wait a minute, I can't seem to log into my account online either. What the?
Finally, I relent, and use the 'Live Chat' function again. This technician doesn't ask for the last four of my social. He does ask a previously established security question. I gladly offer the proper response. Thank you very much. I explain to the tech that I'm having problems accessing my email. He asked what operating system I was running. I told him that I was using Apple's OS X on my Mac. He did his best to help me, but we got our wires crossed when he told me to set my incoming server setting (pop3) to port 995, and my outgoing server (smtp) to port 587. I ended up changing them to the wrong settings, and that didn't help. Eventually, I got the settings correct. Everything was set correctly, and I still wasn't able to connect. So then he asks whether I have a router. Umm, yes I do. Why would that make any difference? He seems to think that my router might be blocking the Comcast email service. I remind him, that I had already indicated that all my other email and web services are working. He asks if I have a firewall configured. I say yes, and remind him again that I told him that I had checked to make sure that my firewall wasn't blocking any ports or services which might affect my email and web surfing. He indicates that we will need to disconnect my router, and connect my modem directly to the computer. I should power down computer, the router, and modem. Disconnect the modem from the router, connect the modem directly to the computer, restart the modem then the computer, and use a code to reconnect with him over chat.
At this point I've had enough. I can't take any more, I've run out of patience and time. I had an appointment I had to go to and couldn't spend any more time on this problem. After I got off the computer, I realized something. These problems started right after the nasty chat session I had earlier. The one where I refused to give the rep the last four of my SSN. I can't seem to retrieve or send email via Comcast, but the other services are working. I can't seem to log into the Comcast web page, but other web pages are working. The common denominator? Comcast and my password! That guy I was chatting with must have changed my password!
After I got back from my appointment, I called Comcast on the phone. Oh how I hate calling them. That phone maze of theirs is a tiresome, irksome, pain in the you know what. Once I get done restarting my modem (which has nothing to do with my problem), I'm finally connected with a customer service rep. I spend five minutes explaining the problems I've been having. I ask her if she can reset my password for me. In order to verify that you are who you say you are... Guess what info she wanted? Yup. By this point I'm so tired of fighting the system (I've spent approximately four hours of my morning dealing with Comcast problems) that I give her the info she wants. Damn it pisses me off that they keep asking for part of my social security number.
She resets my password, and all is well. Yup. My password, which hasn't been changed since 2003, stopped working. Resetting the password fixed the problem. I wonder how it got changed?! That tech changed it, that's how. The customer service rep wants to know whether I want to file a complaint. Well I'd like to, but I can't remember the handle/name of the rep that changed my password. Oh yeah, that brings up another issue. Why has Comcast created a web based chat application where you can't copy or save any of the transcript? Come on man, it's seems as if they specifically disabled (on my Safari browser) the ability to copy any text, except for the field that I'm able to type in. If you want a copy of the transcript, you'll have to install a keylogger (that's a really bad idea), or take some screen shots.
Even More Music for October:
Here's a list of some of the music I recently acquired. Where do I get all this stuff? I find a lot of free (actually free) music by visiting several of the new music web sites (Pandora, 3hive.com, musicalfamilytree.org and several other music blogs (Analog Giant, Brooklyn Vegan, Fluxblog, Gorilla vs. Bear, etc) out there, and listening to a few different music podcasts (iTunes new music tuesdays, discovery download, and indiefeed). Artists want you to hear their music - If you like it, you'll buy it. The major labels want you to pay for their product - letting you hear it for free is contrary to their business model. Well, guess what? I won't buy it unless I can listen to it first. The major labels are killing themselves with their restrictive distribution and dissemination policies. If you like new music, you can do a google search to find your favorite artists web site, a new music web site, or an archive of free music. Free music is available - Legally! Don't believe the major labels propaganda - Not all free music is illegal. You can legally download music for free. I download music from websites, newsgroups (when I already own rights to the music), and a couple of commercial sources (iTunes and eMusic). Here's a listing of some of the music I legally downloaded.
Starbucks gives away free iTunes Tracks: Kim and I occasionally visit Starbucks to pick up some java juice. While we're there, we grab the most recent Starbucks Pick of the Week card. Starbucks and iTunes have teamed up to reward loyal customers with these handpicked downloads. Just visit your local Starbucks every Tuesday to pick up the latest free Pick of the Week card. Here are the tracks I downloaded this month.
* I and Love and You - The Avett Brothers: (single) The title track from their recent album, this is an excellent song. Billed as Rock by iTunes? Honestly, this is more bluegrass, country, folk, more americana than it is Rock. The lyrics and instrumentals (strong piano and strings work) are extremely well blended for a perfect union of melody and music. I may add some Avett Brothers to my eMusic list.
iTunes New Music Tuesday download: Sometimes I purchase music from iTunes, and sometimes I take advantage of their free downloads (check it out on Tuesdays). iTunes is the King of the Hill when it comes to the bigger names, so sometimes I find that I have to pay the higher prices. Here's one of those free downloads from the iTunes store. Thanks Apple!:
* Junebug - Robert Francis: (single) A single from his new album 'Before Nightfall'. Robert Francis has excellent baritone vocals, the musical composition is well handled, and I wouldn't mind adding more of his work to my collection. Definitely pod worthy.
These are some of the items I added to my music collection during the last month. Since revamping my music collection back in September of 2005, I've been slowly adding, revising and updating the collection. If you have a comment, question or correction regarding my music collection, please don't hesitate to send me an email. Please keep in mind that my collection isn't for sale, and I'm not interested in giving you any copyrighted materials. I'd rather not go to jail for music piracy. :-)
<https://www.robsworld.org/music.html>
<http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/>
Apple Drops the ball on DRM elimination - Or, did they?: <rant>Recently, I downloaded a free track (I and Love and You by the Avett Brothers) from iTunes. It was one of those Starbucks 'Pick of the Week' downloads. The song/track downloaded without any problems, but the track was an iTunes DRM protected track. I thought Apple/iTunes no longer had any DRM protected tracks? According to Apple; with the release of iTunes version 8, Apple has removed DRM (Digital Right Management) from all the music tracks they sell. Or so I/we thought... I'm really tired of the restrictive policies imposed by DRM (as is Steve Jobs), and I don't appreciate the fact that despite it's public statements to the contrary, iTunes is still serving up DRM protected tracks!
This is the second time I've encountered this problem. I was hoping that they had changed their policy. That the music would no longer have any DRM on it. I deleted the 'Offending' track, searched the internet, and found an MP3 version of the song. I downloaded the MP3 version and added it to my iTunes library. I guess I'll have to keep checking every track I download from iTunes. The continual use of DRM protection is one of the reasons that I continue to look outside the iTunes store for the majority of my music purchases. Apple! - Why are you continuing to practice the 'Opposite' of what you preach?</rant>
<rave>I sent a complaint to Apple regarding the use of DRM on the tracks in their iTunes Store. I submitted my 'feedback' using an online form. How did Apple respond? "Although all our items for sale on the iTunes store are DRM free, it is different for free codes provided to customers. Unfortunately those items are still DRM protected." Oh, I see it's a 'loophole' Apple hasn't eliminated the DRM on all their music tracks, just the tracks they 'sell' to the public. What the heck? That's better - Not! but it does clear up a misunderstanding that I had. I guess I'll stop complaining when they slip me the DRM (for free tracks). Well, at least they were somewhat sympathetic towards my concern. "For the misunderstanding, and to show you I value you as a customer, I have issued 5 song credits to your 'email address omitted' iTunes Store account. You can use these to buy the individual songs of your choice from the iTunes Store." Despite my misunderstanding, and the fact that Apple is continuing to use DRM on 'Free' tracks, I'll count this as a bonus. I got free music, and hopefully Apple will eventually see the futility of DRM protection for tracks that are freely available all over the internet.</rave> These tracks can usually be found for free (without DRM) on several other websites. The publishers and artists are giving the tracks away. They want people to download, share and enjoy them. Why would Apple want to add DRM to the tracks? <http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/pressdesc.asp?id=857>
<http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/01/06itunes.html>
<http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/>
<http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1917>
Another batch of iTunes downloads:
Here's a list of some of the music I recently acquired. Where do I get all this stuff? I find a lot of free (actually free) music by visiting several of the new music web sites (Pandora, 3hive.com, musicalfamilytree.org and several other music blogs (Analog Giant, Brooklyn Vegan, Fluxblog, Gorilla vs. Bear, etc) out there, and listening to a few different music podcasts (iTunes new music tuesdays, discovery download, and indiefeed). Artists want you to hear their music - If you like it, you'll buy it. The major labels want you to pay for their product - letting you hear it for free is contrary to their business model. Well, guess what? I won't buy it unless I can listen to it first. The major labels are killing themselves with their restrictive distribution and dissemination policies. If you like new music, you can do a google search to find your favorite artists web site, a new music web site, or an archive of free music. Free music is available - Legally! Don't believe the major labels propaganda - Not all free music is illegal. You can legally download music for free. I download music from websites, newsgroups (when I already own rights to the music), and a couple of commercial sources (iTunes and eMusic). Here's a listing of some of the music I legally downloaded.
iTunes purchases: Sometimes I purchase music from iTunes, and sometimes I take advantage of their free downloads (check it out on Tuesdays). iTunes is the King of the Hill when it comes to the bigger names, so sometimes I find that I have to pay the higher prices. These tracks were purchased using credits awarded by their customer service department (see Rants and Raves above for more info).
* The Cars (Complete Greatest Hits) - The Cars: (5 songs) Five songs downloaded with free song credits. The songs usually cost $1.29 each (yeah, that's too much. Which is why I used these free song credits). I won't pay that much for the music. The MP3s are only $.99 per song at Amazon. You can purchase the 20 track CD for $12 or less at many mail order outlets, and any unscrupulous person (not me) could easily download the entire album from a torrent site - for free. I love these songs (Just What I Needed, Shake It Up, Good Times Roll, Drive, My Best Friends Girl), they bring back many excellent memories (of the '80s), and I'm glad I've got these gems tucked away on my iPod. Let the Good Times Roll!
These are some of the items I added to my music collection during the last month. Since revamping my music collection back in September of 2005, I've been slowly adding, revising and updating the collection. If you have a comment, question or correction regarding my music collection, please don't hesitate to send me an email. Please keep in mind that my collection isn't for sale, and I'm not interested in giving you any copyrighted materials. I'd rather not go to jail for music piracy. :-)
<https://www.robsworld.org/music.html>
<http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/>
Movie Purchases:
This month (Oct of '09) I purchased a few more gems to my collection. I purchased three movies during the month of October (I bought the movies from a new place - An online outfit named "eCRATER / Movie Bin". eCrater is something of an online mall, with several merchants under a unified online storefront. Movie Bin is one of those merchants. They sell rare and hard to find videos). None of the movies were on my 'Must Buy' list, but one was on my 'Must Watch' list. It's been on that list for many years. I've been waiting and waiting for a proper DVD release, but it doesn't seem like that's going to happen. So, along with that favorite, I also purchased a couple more rare movies that piqued my interest.
* The Land Unknown: (1957 - Adventure, fantasy, sci-fi) Classic 50's B Sci-fi. Features rubber suit dinosaurs and a land-of-the-lost setting in Antarctica.
*
The Medusa Touch: (1978 - Drama, mystery, thriller) Richard Burton plays a telekinetic prophet of doom. A man with terrible psychic powers.
*
Island of Terror: (1966 - Horror, sci-fi) Peter cushing in a horror movie where bioengineered monsters terrorize the inhabitants of a remote British isle.
Crappy Comcast Customer Service - Yet Again! <rant>Over the last few week (29 Sep - 3 Oct), I've experienced some unexplained Comcast outages, and no ones seems to know what's happening.
In addition to the unexplained outages, I've been the subject of some fairly crappy customer service, including an incident where (as far as I can tell) a Comcast tech changed my password without my authorization/request. I am really starting to hate Comcast (or at least their customer service). My wife seems to think that it's just me. Maybe - Maybe not. Here's another instance of Comcast crappiness.
On the 16th of October, I'm running some trace routes. Trying to see whether I'm running into some server re-directs, or exceptionally slow DNS (Domain Name Server) machines. While running these trace routes, I see some rather high latency (time it takes to get my requests out onto the net). I've been running my internet search requests through a pair of OpenDNS servers. In my infinite wisdom, I decide to change the DNS servers back to the original Comcast DNS servers. Comcast provides DNS servers when you sign up for their service. You are not compelled, required or directed to only use these DNS servers. As a matter of fact, Comcast even offers an alternative list of DNS servers.
Thinking that a quick phone call was the fastest way to find the IP addresses of the Comcast DNS servers, I picked up the phone and dialed 1-800-266-2278. Oh what a mistake that was. First, I had to navigate my way through their telephone support menu maze. Which seems pre-ordained to reboot my modem, and the only way to get a tech is by selecting the 'I have no internet connection' option. The interactive voice response system is a royal 'PiTA' if you know what I mean. It's not that the IVR can't understand me, or I can't understand the IVR prompts, it's just that the options are ridiculous. Apparently the only valid way to access telephone support is if I have no internet connectivity what so ever. Once I figured that out, I had to put up with gratuitous 'We are now rebooting your modem' nonsense. Finally, after appx five minutes of telephone hell, I'm permitted to talk to a human. That process alone puts me in a bad mood.
'How can I help you today?' Today's problem should have been relatively simple to solve (What follows is a paraphrased conversation, not direct quotes) - Or so I thought.
Me: I ask for the IP addresses of the Comcast DNS servers. I explain that I've changed my DNS settings, and need to set them back to the Comcast preferred settings. Phone rep:
The tech wants to know what operating system I use. No problem... My response:
I'm using Mac OS 10.6 Support rep:
The support rep questions me. '10.6? What is that?' Apparently the rep doesn't believe me, or maybe I didn't speak clearly enough. My reply: "I'm using Apple's Mac OS 10.6; actually, it's 10.6.1 if that helps at all. It's Snow Leopard, Apple's latest operating system." Phone tech:
The rep doesn't believe that such an operating system exists. 'We don't know what that is, is that Leopard?' My reply:
I assure the rep that 10.6 is real, that Snow Leopard was released by Apple at the end of August, and I've been running it since the beginning of September. Comcast rep:
The rep informs me that Comcast doesn't support that operating system. Me:
Great - O.k. 'What Mac operating system do you support?' Comcast:
We support Mac OS 10.5 Me: Alright, let's just assume that I'm running 10.5 and proceed from there.
Alright, proceeding with the assumption that I'm running standard Leopard - 10.5, that way the Comcast technician can follow a pre-written script in order to answer my 'pre-defined' problem... I once again have to explain that I've changed my DNS server settings, and I want to set them back to the Comcast preferred setting.
Comcast tech: The tech seems incredulous, telling me that "you're not supposed to change those. They're supposed to be automatically assigned". According to the tech, the setting should be grayed out and not subject to user change. My reply:
I explain that I simply clicked on the lock icon, entered my system administrator password, and changed the settings. 'Could you please tell me what the DNS server addresses are supposed to be? Support rep:
"Sir, (You know you're really in trouble when they start to use the 'Sir' word on you) you're not supposed to change those settings. They're automatically assigned when you configure your network for Comcast service" Woe is me:
"O.k. how do I get them back to the settings that they should be in?" This isn't getting me anywhere... The tech rep: "Sir you shouldn't be trying to hack the system. These settings are not supposed to be changed"
My final reply: Alright, it's rather apparent that you're either unwilling, or unable to help me. I'll go online and get the info I need. Thanks for nothing, goodbye.
One last jab by the phone rep: "No - Thank You Sir, and Have a Good Day"
Me: I hung up.
If that wasn't abuse, I don't know what is. Man I am 'So' tired of calling the Comcast tech support number. For the record - I never used any profanity, did my best to keep calm and I tried to provide all the information necessary to solve the problem. For some reason, the tech didn't believe me when I provided him with the information he asked for, thought I was trying to 'Hack' the system, and refused to provide me with the information I needed to get my DNS settings back to the Comcast preferred DNS servers.
Software favorites:
Another release for one of my software favorites. Transmit is an FTP tool that does it all. If you need to upload and download lots of files. This tool will likely fit your needs
Transmit: An FTP tool that does it all. Anyone who publishes web pages eventually needs a way to upload their pages to a web site. I've found that stand alone FTP tools are the best for this task. Transmit has a clean and easy to use interface, and some really nifty features, like the ability to resume a transfer that's been interrupted, site synchronization capabilities, iDisk integration (It's way faster than the finder!), drag-to-dock sending, column views, a built in text editor, and secure ftp transfer (in various different flavors) capability. The most recent update moves this software up to version 3.6.8.
<http://www.panic.com/transmit/index.html>
With this software update, I've updated my Software Favorites page. It's primarily dedicated to web publishing for the Mac user. Not meant for the professional, It's my hope that home users and hobbyists will find it useful. It's a listing of applications that I find useful in publishing my web pages.
<https://www.robsworld.org/myfavs.html>
More Info on my Comcast network problems:
Unwilling to continue my conversation with Comcast technicians, I've turned to my community to see if I can find some answers locally. I run a local community mailing list, and sent an email to that list. I queried my local residents; asked them about Comcast connectivity problems. I was wondering whether anyone else was having problems similar to mine. While my request was quite specific, and I included the errors from my modem log, the results I gathered were far more diverse.
Out of the seven responses that I received; one resident reported no recent problems with Comcast service. One has had numerous problems with their Comcast service. One has connectivity issues on average once a month. One used Qwest with poor internet service over the past few weeks. One has occasional connectivity issues with their Comcast service. Another user with Qwest has had no issues over the past three years, but recently started having connectivity issues. Finally, one resident reported that they lose their Comcast connection frequently, sometimes several times a day. These residents reported problems despite the fact that they use a different modem.
I'm now convinced that this problem is not being caused by my modem (A Motorola SB5100) - Which has had no problems staying connected over the last four years. Yes, I've experienced interrupted service before these problems began (on the 29th of September, 2009), but I've always known why the outage occurred. It was either a known outage reported by Comcast, or some other explainable issue. In this case, no one seems to know why I'm experiencing outages. They (Comcast) keep assuming its me/my equipment, but everything I read seems to indicate that the problem lies upstream. I'm pretty sure - After all my online searches and research, that this is a problem with the physical connection between my modem and the CMTS (Cable Modem Termination Service - aka the 'Head End'). I have a bad upstream transmit path.
Kim and I enjoyed an evening out - Attended a wedding! <rave>Kim and I don't often get the opportunity to attend a wedding, and tonight's (Oct 17) outing was a special date. The last time we attended a wedding was Oct of 2006. It's been three years, and we were looking forward to a good time. One of our best friends, a friend who goes all the way back to San Vi to, Italy, got married. Dino Starinieri and Amy Schelling. Dino is a great guy, and Amy is fantastic as well. Kim and I were a little worried that we might not have a good time. We really didn't know anyone at the wedding. Dino, helped us feel good about the wedding. He pointed us in the direction of some friends. One, Matt Lambert had played in our campaign. So we weren't completely without friends. Matt introduced us to some other gamers who were attending the wedding. More friends of Dino, now friends of ours.
While Matt and Soo Young had to leave early, we accompanied James and Aileen to the banquet hall. The food was great, and the free bar was definitely appreciated. I did my best to put a dent in Dino's wallet. The company was excellent. After an hour or so, my 'motor-mouth' gene kicked in. I nearly talked Aileen and James' ears off. But I got them talking as well. Kim and I did some dancing, won a bottle of wine, and had a good old time. I sure hope we can see more of Dino and Amy - and we wish them the best as a married couple. Congratulations to the happy couple!</rave>
Yet another Comcast service interruption:
Once again - Sep 29, Oct 2, Oct 3, Oct 7, Oct 13 - 18th. I'm now experiencing daily connectivity issues. I am always able to resolve them by rebooting my modem, and today was no exception. I lost connectivity at appx 1200MDT. The modem reconnected, dropped the connection, reconnected, dropped the connection, and finally I had to reboot the modem to restore a constant connection. The router never blinks during these problems, and I seriously doubt that it has anything to do with the problem. I didn't have the time or fortitude to call Comcast during today's outage. I'm waiting for a good day off, as I'll likely spend most of it wrestling with the issue (unless I simply reboot the modem and leave Comcast customer service out of the loop). My next course of action will be the rental of a Comcast supplied modem. I'm going to completely rule out my modem as the source of the problem. I think I'll go back to the local Comcast office (I was there on Friday, but decided not to accept a modem when it wasn't another SB5100) on Wed, and pick up a new modem (for $3.00 a month rental, discounted after I return it after a one week run - to load up the 'seven day delta').
October 08, 2009
eMusic Downloads for October:
Here's a list of some of the music I recently acquired. Where do I get all this stuff? I find a lot of free (actually free) music by visiting several of the new music web sites (Pandora, 3hive.com, musicalfamilytree.org and several other music blogs (Analog Giant, Brooklyn Vegan, Fluxblog, Gorilla vs. Bear, etc) out there, and listening to a few different music podcasts (iTunes new music tuesdays, discovery download, and indiefeed). Artists want you to hear their music - If you like it, you'll buy it. The major labels want you to pay for their product - letting you hear it for free is contrary to their business model. Well, guess what? I won't buy it unless I can listen to it first. The major labels are killing themselves with their restrictive distribution and dissemination policies. If you like new music, you can do a google search to find your favorite artists web site, a new music web site, or an archive of free music. Free music is available - Legally! Don't believe the major labels propaganda - Not all free music is illegal. You can legally download music for free. I download music from websites, newsgroups (when I already own rights to the music), and a couple of commercial sources (iTunes and eMusic). Here's a listing of some of the music I legally downloaded.
eMusic monthly downloads: Every month I download 50+ tracks (50 download credits) from eMusic.com. Unlike some music outlets, eMusic doesn't have any DRM and they don't insert unique track id's into the ID3 tags. Their terms of service are consumer friendly; eMusic allows you to burn as many CDs as you like and copy downloads to an unlimited number of computers and portable MP3 players, including the iPod and Zune. At less than $.40 a track, it's a really good value. iTunes and Amazon still charge more. eMusic offers more music for your money, and the variable bit rate recordings make for exceptionally high quality recordings. This month I managed to score an additional 10 downloads from eMusic - It's a reward for rating albums. By rating my favorites, eMusic can help other members to find something they'll like.
* History Will Never Hold Me - The Hourly Radio: (8+2 songs) Alt-rockers with a pulse-pounding danceable beat. Sounds British? Not hardly, these boys hail from Dallas! Should keep the clubs hopping for years to come. Discovered on 3hive.com. I originally downloaded two of these tracks back in '06, and I finally got around to downloading the rest. Unfortunately, I had numerous problems downloading the tracks - all related to the upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard and a misunderstanding with the eMusic customer support desk... I'll hold back on the rants for now.
* The First Four Years - Black Flag: (16 songs) The band Black Flag was great, even before Henry Rollins joined the group. Here is compilation of those first four years. Here is pure rebellion in the form of anarchist credo of kick ass, drink beer, slam it! Favorites from the early '80s.
* The Slip - Nine Inch Nails: (10 songs) I'm growing to like Trent Reznor, and this was my first album download. Unfortunately, I didn't discover until later, that this album is available for free at the bands website. Save yourself some money and download it from there. I just wish there was more available at eMusic.com, I'd like to hear some of the earlier stuff, which is supposedly much better.
* Try Whistling This - Neil Finn: (13 songs) Neil Finn is a powerful creative force behind the bands 'Split Enz' and 'Crowded House'. Crowded House is kaput (sort of - broke up in '96, reunited in '07...), but Neil Finn carries on. Here he is darker, more experimental, deeper, more humanistic, less pop. I like it. I'm planning to add more of his solo work to my career.
* Are You Really Lost - Matias Aguayo: (9 songs) From an artist I've never heard of before - probably never would have, if Closer Musik hadn't disbanded (I'll have to check that out). Here are some excellent 'Minimal' Electronic beats. Great backing vocals, tempo, beat and synchro tracked tunes. I discovered Matias through an eMusic newsletter.
* Early Cats and Tracks Volume 2 - Psapp: (8 songs) Classified as an EP, this 8 track collection contains a harsh compilation of noise rock in the Psapp style. Clicking, whirring, buzzing and snapping. May only appeal to fans of the band. A duo of experimental musicians, here's another example of their 'Toytronica' genre. Supposedly an iTunes exclusive release, this compilation of early works is available at eMusic. A favorite band since '06.
Free eMusic sampler downloads: Here's some more free music I downloaded recently. eMusic provides plenty of free tracks (to it's members) throughout the year, and I certainly take advantage of the free stuff:
* Kaleidoscope Room 7 - Various Artists: (15 songs) When I download these compilations, I find it convenient that emusic groups them by genre. Unfortunately, this set of songs falls in the jazz/rock/pop, category. That's a bit broad... I found a few good tracks in here, but nothing that stood out so proudly that I'm going to commit more downloads from any of the featured artists.
* The Music Instinct
- Various Artists: (10 songs) This compilation comes courtesy of artists featured on WNET New York public radio. Highly diverse styles and genres of music. I found one gem on the compilation. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any releases by the artist on eMusic. Oh well, better luck next time. Still good music, I really appreciate the free stuff. I often discover new artists while listening to these compilations.
These are some of the items I added to my music collection during the last month. Since revamping my music collection back in September of 2005, I've been slowly adding, revising and updating the collection. If you have a comment, question or correction regarding my music collection, please don't hesitate to send me an email. Please keep in mind that my collection isn't for sale, and I'm not interested in giving you any copyrighted materials. I'd rather not go to jail for music piracy. :-)
<https://www.robsworld.org/music.html>
<http://www.emusic.com/>
eMusic billing makes me mad: <rant>Recently (1 - 4 Oct, '09), I've been having a problem with
my eMusic service. As the new month rolled over, I attempted to download my new crop of songs (Every month I download 50+ tracks (50 download credits) from eMusic.com. Unlike some music outlets, eMusic doesn't have any DRM and they don't insert unique track id's into the ID3 tags. Their terms of service are consumer friendly; eMusic allows you to burn as many CDs as you like and copy downloads to an unlimited number of computers and portable MP3 players, including the iPod and Zune. At less than $.40 a track, it's a really good value. iTunes and Amazon still charge more. eMusic offers more music for your money, and the variable bit rate recordings make for exceptionally high quality recordings (for MP3s)). As my first attempt failed abruptly, I remembered that the download application was no longer compatible with the new Safari browser (released under Snow Leopard). As a result, I turned to Firefox in order to complete my downloads. The first eight downloads happened without any problems. Then I got to track eleven off the album "History Will Never Hold Me" by the band "The Hourly Radio". That's when the problems started.
No matter what I did, I couldn't get the track to download. After repeated attempts, I sent an email to their tech/support team, and awaited a response. While I was waiting, I noticed that I was charged for the track that I couldn't download. I never got the download. It didn't download at all, partially or completely. Then I sent another email requesting that they credit my account. I never downloaded the track, but it still showed up as a charge against my monthly quota. In a back and forth debate with the billing department. They steadfastly refused to credit my account, insisting that "eMusic permits a limited number of re-downloads per track when you experience a technical problem with a track." I explained that I had never downloaded the track to begin with. I also learned for the first time, that "After four re-downloads you will need to re-purchase the track." O.k. I don't have a problem with this policy - BUT I NEVER DOWNLOADED the track. The technical problems have prevented me from downloading the track. So, I was charged for 'attempting' to download the track. That's not right.
The customer service reps from the billing department never agreed that I shouldn't have to 'pay' for a track that I wasn't able to download, and they never agreed to credit my account for the track that wouldn't/didn't download. They kept emphasizing their point that I was allowed a 'limited number of re-downloads'.</rant>
Eventually, after I had downloaded a new version of the eMusic download manager (see rave below), I was able to successfully download the file that I had a problem with. And, I wasn't charged for the offending track. The credit was deducted when I had the problems (and didn't get a download). When I finally was able to download the file, I wasn't charged an additional credit. So, despite the fact that the billing department wouldn't 'credit' my account, or agree that I shouldn't pay for a track that I never downloaded, I was only charged one credit for the song. Even after my multiple 'attempts' to download the track.
<http://www.emusic.com/>
eMusic technical support makes me happy: <rave>Recently,
(1 - 4 Oct, '09), I've been having a problem with
my eMusic service. As the new month rolled over, I attempted to download my new crop of songs (Every month I download 50+ tracks (50 download credits) from eMusic.com. Unlike some music outlets, eMusic doesn't have any DRM and they don't insert unique track id's into the ID3 tags. Their terms of service are consumer friendly; eMusic allows you to burn as many CDs as you like and copy downloads to an unlimited number of computers and portable MP3 players, including the iPod and Zune. At less than $.40 a track, it's a really good value. iTunes and Amazon still charge more. eMusic offers more music for your money, and the variable bit rate recordings make for exceptionally high quality recordings (for MP3s)). As my first attempt failed abruptly, I remembered that the download application was no longer compatible with the new Safari browser (released under Snow Leopard). As a result, I turned to Firefox in order to complete my downloads. The first eight downloads happened without any problems. Then I got to track eleven off the album "History Will Never Hold Me" by the band "The Hourly Radio". That's when the problems started.
No matter what I did, I couldn't get the track to download. After repeated attempts, I sent an email to their tech/support team, and awaited a response. While I was waiting, I noticed that I was charged for the track that I couldn't download. I never got the download. It didn't download at all, partially or completely. That's a different story (see rant above). I included as many technical details as I could in my email, and the eMusic tech support was quick to respond. They quickly addressed my issue. Less than 24 hours later, a eMusic tech support specialist sent me instructions on how to download and install the new eMusic download manager. The new software is compatible with Snow Leopard and the newest version of Safari.
The instructions were accurate and easy to follow. It took me very little time to download and install the new Download Manager, but that's not all. Not only did the technician provide excellent instructions. He also provided some excellent advice. I should try out the new Download Manager' on some 'Free' tracks. eMusic offers many free downloads to its users, and I was able to select some free tracks to try out the new software. That way, my account won't be charged for any downloads if the software didn't function properly.
Within twenty minutes, I was downloading all my monthly downloads without any problems. This particular eMusic technician sure made my day. Compared to their co-workers in the billing department, this technician offered excellent instructions (the billing rep. tried to provide technical instructions, but failed miserably by only sending me instructions on how to 're-download' the track (I already knew how to do that, and that didn't address my problem)), and provided some invaluable advice when he suggested that I test the software by attempting to download 'Free' tracks.
The technical support that I've received from eMusic remains excellent.</rave>
<http://www.emusic.com/>
Software favorites:
Another full release for one of my software favorites. GraphicConverter moves ever forward. With the recent release of a new Mac OS, the developer has been busy updating this application. Here are more beta releases for the product that's always getting better. More free upgrades for those who own a license. If you need a powerhouse converter, editor and browser for your graphics, grab a copy of GraphicConverter - You won't be disappointed.
GraphicConverter:
Thorsten Lemke (of Lemkesoft) released another full release this week. I'm now running full release version 6.5.2. GraphicConverter is an image converter and editor. A fantastic piece of shareware that is well worth the price ($35.00). I use it to convert image formats into web standard formats, to create and edit image maps and other graphics. I've been singing GC's praises for many years now, and I'm not sure I would do without it. The best part about GC is it's author. Thorsten Lemke is completely committed to his customer base. Constantly and Continuously responding to customer recommendations and bug reports. GC is a dynamic, evolving, application. Always on the cutting edge, an absolute must in any web developers tool box. At a fraction of PhotoShop's cost, this photo editor puts a huge wrench in your toolbox.
<http://www.lemkesoft.com/xd/public/content/index._cGlkPTE5Mw_.html>
With this software update, I've updated my Software Favorites page. It's primarily dedicated to web publishing for the Mac user. Not meant for the professional, It's my hope that home users and hobbyists will find it useful. It's a listing of applications that I find useful in publishing my web pages.
<https://www.robsworld.org/myfavs.html>
Netflix has unplanned outage: <rave>I use the Netflix 'watch instantly' service heavily (streaming 35.7 shows/month), so you would think that an outage would make me rant. On the contrary dear reader. Read on. The outage I experienced started on the 6th of October, at 1925MDT. I was attempting to watch a movie, and the stream stopped flowing. I was in the middle of a download when Netflix crapped out. Damn! I thought, another Comcast outage (or so I thought). After a bit of investigating, I realized it wasn't Comcast causing the problem (Imagine that!). Turning to the web, I found the Netflix website down! Wow - That's weird. Certainly this must be an unscheduled outage.
Netflix outages have been rare, and this one was definitely unplanned. Still, I wanted more info. I picked up the phone and called Netflix. They immediately confirmed the 'Watch Instantly' and web page outages. Informed me that it wasn't scheduled, and they were working hard to restore service.
In less than an hour (by 2015MDT) my 'Watch Instantly' service was restored, and was still able to watch a show before I turned in for the evening. Thank you Netflix. When an unscheduled outage hits, it's apparent that you do your best to restore my service. They didn't feed me any B.S. They didn't deny the problem, didn't try to blame it on my equipment, and didn't ask me to reboot my equipment when it was obvious that doing so would have no effect. Netflix customer service and tech support are awesome!</rave>
<http://www.hackingnetflix.com/2009/10/netflix-unplanned-and-planned-outages-tuesday-night.html>
Comcast customer service can do better: <rave>Recently, I've been having a lot of problems with my Comcast service. Especially the customer service offered by way of phone support (see numerous rants in this months blog (Oct of 2009)). So, imagine my surprise when I received some positive customer service recently. On the 7th of October, I called Comcast customer service, looking for updated firmware for my modem. As the tech informed me that there was no Mac compatible software (Not that again - Man, I get so tired of hearing that excuse) to update the firmware on my modem, he then asked "Why would you want to update the firmware?" Fearing the discourse which was likely to follow, I simply told him that I've been having problems keeping my modem connected to Comcast service, and wanted to make sure my firmware was up to date.
Well, he indicated that Comcast can push a firmware update to my modem, he said he would check my modem for me. After a moment of checking the modem, he confirmed that I had the 'latest' firmware (I've since figured out how to read that info myself - I'm running: SB5100-2.3.8.0-GA-00-NOSH, Hardware Version: 3, MIB Version: II, GUI Version: 1.0, VxWorks Version: 5.4). The customer support rep also mentioned that I had a lot of "T3" errors in my logs. According to him, this could be an indication that the modem is going bad, or there may be some line problems.
He wanted to know whether I needed any additional assistance. I said no, thanked him for the information, and hung up the phone. I really appreciate it when the customer service reps treat me like a valued customer. His information was very helpful.</rave>
Revelations from a Comcast technician: Recently, I've been having a lot of problems with my Comcast service. Numerous outages over the last few days (last week of Sep/first week of Oct) have left me scratching my head, restarting my modem, and cursing the poor customer service at Comcast. When I was finally able to schedule a service call, the technician confirmed most of my suspicions. There's nothing wrong with my equipment. He checked the lines (inside the house), modem, and connectors in my home. We did some reboots, restarts, and resets. He took some additional readings. He couldn't find any problems. We talked briefly about the recent DOCSIS 3.0 roll-out in the Denver area. According to the tech, they have seen some problems with older modems not behaving properly after the upgrade (it's pretty much complete in this area). Their network is supposed to work properly regardless of the modem type, but they're recalling all the SB5100 modems, replacing them with ones that are DOCSIS 3.0 compatible. According to the tech, sometimes the network send DOCSIS 3.0 packets (which are larger than the packets were under the DOCSIS 2.0 standard) to older modems, and the modems can't handle the packets. This has caused some users to get disconnected. He also indicated that this shouldn't be an issue with my modem. It should be fine with the new DOCSIS 3.0 upgrade.
Anyway, all this information was very helpful. The technician pretty much confirmed everything I suspected. I didn't think the problem was caused by my equipment - He agrees. He couldn't find any problems with the lines, connectors or equipment in my home. I suspected that some recent changes to the Comcast network might be causing the problem. He indicated that the recent roll-out of DOCSIS 3.0 was causing some problems. While this may not be the problem, I'm fairly convinced that the modem isn't the root of the problem.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOCSIS>
<http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Comcast-DOCSIS-30-Hits-Denver-104587>
More Music for October:
Here's a list of some of the music I recently acquired. Where do I get all this stuff? I find a lot of free (actually free) music by visiting several of the new music web sites (Pandora, 3hive.com, musicalfamilytree.org and several other music blogs (Analog Giant, Brooklyn Vegan, Fluxblog, Gorilla vs. Bear, etc) out there, and listening to a few different music podcasts (iTunes new music tuesdays, discovery download, and indiefeed). Artists want you to hear their music - If you like it, you'll buy it. The major labels want you to pay for their product - letting you hear it for free is contrary to their business model. Well, guess what? I won't buy it unless I can listen to it first. The major labels are killing themselves with their restrictive distribution and dissemination policies. If you like new music, you can do a google search to find your favorite artists web site, a new music web site, or an archive of free music. Free music is available - Legally! Don't believe the major labels propaganda - Not all free music is illegal. You can legally download music for free. I download music from websites, newsgroups (when I already own rights to the music), and a couple of commercial sources (iTunes and eMusic). Here's a listing of some of the music I legally downloaded.
iTunes purchases: Sometimes I purchase music from iTunes, and sometimes I take advantage of their free downloads (check it out on Tuesdays). iTunes is the King of the Hill when it comes to the bigger names, so sometimes I find that I have to pay the higher prices.
* Think I Need It Too - Echo & The Bunnymen: (2 singles) My favorite band is no longer a 'fringe' 'New Wave' group. It's a mainstream talent - Even considered 'classic' or 'old' by some. The band is still cranking out tunes after more than 30 years. Here is a recent single (2 songs) from my favorite band.
* Tone Adventure #3 - Deastro: (2 singles) Another favorite band, but a lot fresher. This one man show emerged onto the stage in 2008, and since then he's become one of my favorites. Electronic beats with a disco flavor and shiny techno coating. Not as good as the previous offerings, but perpetual motion is hard to maintain.
* Life In a Day - Simple Minds: (10 songs) Another favorite from the '80s. Simple Minds went from obscure New Wave to big time pop. Changing their sound radically along the way. That may be part of the reason for their downfall. Here is a very early release (Apr 1979). As far as I know it's their first commercial release. I had never heard this album before, but I really like the early Simple Minds, and I'm glad I was able to get a copy of this selection.
*
Singles (EP) - The Bravery: (5 songs) While they're not a really popular group, they aren't available on eMusic. After downloading this EP from a favorite group, I realized that it only contained one new song. I already owned all the other tracks - Grrr! I'm not happy with that. I wish there had been some sort of warning in that regard.
Lawn Winterization: Gotta do it before the hard freezes set in. It sure would suck if my sprinkler system froze up, or my pipes burst. On the 8th of Oct, 2007. We scheduled the sprinkler blow-out two weeks ahead of time, as getting it done between the last week of September and the first week of October can be difficult - If you're having someone else do it for you. Winter is fast approaching and it's time to get the lawn ready. Workers came by to aerate the lawn and, and a local handyman blew out the sprinkler lines. Davey Tree came by and gave our trees a deep root feeding, and Kim handled the lawn fertilization. After everyone had finished, I picked up some stuff around the yard, insulated some pipes and covered the outside faucets. If you haven't done it yet, you'd better get it done before it's too late!
Cold and Crappy Weather:
It's quickly approaching winter in this neck of the woods (I wish I lived in the woods - I really like trees). While winter doesn't officially start until the 21st of November, I'm starting to think that it's going to get a harsh and bitter start. Its only the 8th of October, and already the weather's turned nasty. We had rain and snow all day today. It started out as very light snow early in the morning (0640), changed over to rain by mid day (1100-1500), then switched back to light snow in the evening (1500-1900). What a crappy day. Its the sort of day where you don't want to get out of bed.
October 03, 2009
COMCAST outages vex me, make me angry: <rant>Over the last few days (29 Sep - 3 Oct), I've experienced some unexplained Comcast outages, and no ones seems to know what happened.
I am starting to hate Comcast (or at least their customer service). Here's a recap of what's happening.
Sep 29: Modem disconnected from Comcast servers in the evening (appx 2130MDT). My wife was unable to log her work hours when she got home (appx 2300). I discovered the problem on the morning of the 30th. I was able to restore the internet connection by unplugging the modem, waiting a minute, reconnecting the power.
Sep 30: This time I experienced the outage first hand. I was watching cable tv, and the services went out (appx 2100) for a period of appx 15 minutes. While the cable service came back on its own, I didn't think to check the internet connectivity. My modem could not re-establish a connection with the Comcast servers, and I didn't discover that problem until the morning of the 1st (October 1st, 2009). Once again, power cycling the modem reconnected my services.
Oct 2nd: Once again, I woke up to no internet connectivity. I'm not sure when it happened, but my modem lost it's connection with the Comcast servers. This time I left the modem disconnected and called Comcast service. The run-around on the telephone is always amusing. The only way you can get service is to insist that you have 'No Service', then they attempt to reset your modem over the phone? That never works, despite their insistence that I wait for the 'modem lights to come back on'. Then they insist that I open a 'new browser' window and attempt to load a Comcast web page... After I 'reset' my modem (I already had an internet connection), I wait to speak with a technician. Eventually, after explaining my problem, they want me to reboot my computer, router and modem. After a bit of 'explaining', I am able to convince the technician - Who obviously knows best - That I am currently connected to the internet. That rebooting my computer, router and modem isn't going to help with my problem. I relented, and tried a couple of things. Disconnected and reconnected the coax cable from back of my modem. Disconnected the coax from the splitter and reconnected it. Guess what? That didn't make any difference. You know why? I was already connected to the internet. Disconnecting the cable caused me to lose my internet connection. Reconnecting it allowed me to reestablish an internet connection. Wow - Looks like everything is working fine now! OMG - Why must I put up with....
After spending an intolerable amount of time troubleshooting 'my issue', I'm able to convince them that they should send a technician out to 'check my lines'. I'm pretty frustrated at this point. The interruptions are intermittent, and when I'm not having a problem, the signal strength, frequency, and other line characteristics (as measured by my modem) look good. Oh well, I guess I'll have to wait until the technician shows up. It's really sad how little the telephone techs actually know about modems, the internet or computers in general. Even after I mentioned the symptoms and indicated some of the errors I was seeing, they didn't bother to check my modems error log. I'm really tired of their phone maze (which never offers options which make sense), and the attitude of the phone techs is always a bit sour. They always assume that the problem is on my end, and fixing my problem isn't their concern. I should try to be more reasonable and realize that 'my problem' is inconveniencing them! Comcast customer service sucks.</rant>
<http://consumerist.com/consumer/leaks/5-confessions-of-a-comcast-customer-service-rep-304368.php>
Updates to the Tollgate Crossing Website: My odd-ball schedule actually works in my favor for some things. A couple of those activities are the community support activities which I enjoy - Volunteering with our local neighborhood watch, and supporting our community by maintaining the Tollgate Crossing website and mailing lists. What started out as a website focused primarily on our Neighborhood Watch has grown to encompass the whole of our community, in the form of an expanded website and a variety of email mailing lists. Here are a few changes I made at our community website in the last few days.
* Updated the banners/badges on the Welcome page. I updated banners for HOA (13 Oct) & Metro District (27 Oct) meetings. I also added a banner for the newly created, Tollgate Crossing Business Directory. Set-up, coordinated, and created by other residents in our community. This business directory has listings of businesses and services available to/from residents in our community.
*
Updated some information on our Events page. Updated the banner for our next HOA & Metro District meetings.
* On the Info page, I added links and information for the previously mentioned (see above) Tollgate Crossing Business Directory. Hopefully some residents will find this information useful. I also updated the links to meeting minutes from the Tollgate Crossing Metro district meetings. I added links to minutes from May, June and July. Removed links/copies of meeting minutes from some older meetings.
Yowza! - It sure got Cold!
Last night was certainly an eye opener. Maybe its a little taste of more to come. Last night the temperatures dipped down into the cold zone. Down into the sub-arctic range. Way below the normal range for this time of year (2 Oct '09). Last night we set a record low. The coldest ever recorded for this day of the year. The temperature got down to 26 degrees fahrenheit last night. Sub-freezing. Yup, that's cold. Thankfully we didn't end up with frozen water in our sprinkler system.
D&D updates:
We played a D&D session on the 19th of September, and again on the 3rd of October. Here are some of the updates from those meetings. With the conclusion of the 8 August meeting, our players have moved into an entirely new phase of the game. Gone are the S.C.R.E.W.O.F.F.S. - Existing now as a group of non-player characters. The player characters are now members of an entirely new group. The H.A.L.L.O.W.ed Knights. A new group of adventurers strike out from Whillip. In search of glory, fame, and justice, they seek to right the wrongs of this land. To defend the weak, enslaved and oppressed. Striking out at evil and taint, this group of characters vow to make their mark upon the land. Let H.A.L.L.O.W.ed Knights be a name both feared (by evil) and revered by the (good) citizens of these realms.
3rd Edition Campaign: I updated the date of our next meeting - Our next meeting is 31 October. We're skipping a meeting on the 17th of October. Kim and I will be attending the wedding of a good friend. Dino - a former player in our campaign, and a friend going all the way back to San Vi to, Italy - will be getting married on the 17th of October. This page is the first stop for information on the campaign that I'm currently running. Here you'll find information regarding our next meeting, some notes, and an index of web pages and documents that are important to our campaign.
<https://www.robsworld.org/3ecampaign.html>
The Adventurers journal: The tale of our adventurers. A series of journal entries from various party members. This document contains details of their encounters. Victory, defeat, desire and glory. Here is the tale of The H.A.L.L.O.W.ed Knights, a group of adventurers who set forth from Whillip, seeking fame, fortune and the defeat of evil in these lands. The meeting on the 19th of September was another session in and about town. The party is in Whillip, and they're trying to get things done before the next adventure. This entry features inputs from Mutteran and Solmar. Thank you Lee and Mark. <https://www.robsworld.org/ajournal08.html#sep19_2009>
Character updates:
With the party recuperating in Whillip, I find myself busy connecting the dots, updating character entries, and tweaking things here and there. I updated six links related to Lee's character. Links to photos of Dynnera were broken. Thanks to Lee's astute observations, I was able to update these broken links. If you ever notice errors or problems with my web pages, please let me know. I'll fix it as soon as I can. The "Who's Who?" page is a listing of characters, both player characters and non-player characters.
<https://www.robsworld.org/3ewhoswho.html>
Monsters encountered: With the party in town, they don't usually encounter monster. Then, a few of our adventurers ventured out of town. On the outskirts of civilization, they encountered something decidedly uncivilized. I added a new entry for the Owlbear to our monsters page. The monsters page is a listing of monsters that the party has encountered, read about or heard of.
<https://www.robsworld.org/monsters.html>
Another brand new Spell:
One of the documents used as a house rules supplement in our campaign is the 'New Feats' document. This document contains campaign tailored skills, feats, traits, flaws, and even "Spells". As characters in our campaign research new/unique spells, I add them to the document. This update introduces another player crafted spell. Belt - the Monk is now credited with the creation of a spell. This non-spell caster paid wizards at the Mages Guild to come up with a new spell. The spell they crafted - "Belt's Duergar Adaptation" is a transmutation spell that affects the spell recipient with extraordinary growth or reduction. Simulating the power of the Duergar of Firestorm Peak, this spell allows one to shrink or grow on command. This document is available for download by the members of our D&D campaign. It's a password protected pdf, so you'll need the password in order to read it. I encrypted the document because some of the materials are taken in whole directly from copyrighted game materials. It's not my stuff, and I don't have explicit permission to re-distribute it. Thanks to Apple for making my computer powerful and versatile.
<https://www.robsworld.org/3enewfeats.pdf>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preview_(software)>
These updates follow our meetings on the 19th of September and 3 October. Our meeting on the 19th of September saw the party back in Whillip leveling up and preparing for their next adventure. At first I thought there wouldn't be much 'adventure' in town, but these character sure keep it exciting. You can keep up to date with our adventures by continuing to visit "Rob's World!" for all the latest campaign info. If you're enjoying the story of our adventurers, I encourage you to write me and let us know. Perhaps you've got an idea you'd like to share, some criticism or praise. Either way, it'll be earnestly appreciated.
<https://www.robsworld.org/3ecampaign.html>
Software favorites:
Yet another beta release for one of my software favorites. GraphicConverter moves ever forward. With the recent release of a new Mac OS, the developer has been busy updating this application. Here are more beta releases for the product that's always getting better. More free upgrades for those who own a license. If you need a powerhouse converter, editor and browser for your graphics, grab a copy of GraphicConverter - You won't be disappointed.
GraphicConverter:
Thorsten Lemke (of Lemkesoft) released a few more beta releases over the last few days. They come so fast and furiously, that he sometimes skips a few in releasing them to the public. I'm currently running 6.5.2b32, but I'm sure it'll change soon. GraphicConverter is an image converter and editor. A fantastic piece of shareware that is well worth the price ($35.00). I use it to convert image formats into web standard formats, to create and edit image maps and other graphics. I've been singing GC's praises for many years now, and I'm not sure I would do without it. The best part about GC is it's author. Thorsten Lemke is completely committed to his customer base. Constantly and Continuously responding to customer recommendations and bug reports. GC is a dynamic, evolving, application. Always on the cutting edge, an absolute must in any web developers tool box. At a fraction of PhotoShop's cost, this photo editor puts a huge wrench in your toolbox.
<http://www.lemkesoft.com/xd/public/content/index._cGlkPTE5Mw_.html>
With these software updates, I've updated my Software Favorites page. It's primarily dedicated to web publishing for the Mac user. Not meant for the professional, It's my hope that home users and hobbyists will find it useful. It's a listing of applications that I find useful in publishing my web pages.
<https://www.robsworld.org/myfavs.html>