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OCT

18

2011

i spent most of the day trying to fix the slow wireless connection at my great uncle's place. there are currently 5 tenants not to mention their significant others, as well as the restaurant owner next door, who are accessing the router. when i unplugged it this morning, it seemed like everyone was poking out their head to see what was going on. i first did a speed test, which gave me a wireless speed of less than 1Mbps even though i was standing next to the router. when i tried to access the cable modem directly through an ethernet cable, i couldn't see the internet at all. all the lights were on, but nobody was home. from that point on nothing worked.

the whole setup was a mess: the cablemodem might've gone bad, the netgear router was caked in kitchen grease, there was signal loss due to an over-extended coaxial cable, and the network itself could've been down. in the early afternoon i went to the comcast office to trade in a new modem. when i got back, i had the same problem, so it wasn't a modem issue. i went downstairs to get a more direct cable connection, but the modem still wouldn't work.

i ended up spending half an hour talking with comcast on the phone. the operator was super nice, but i just wanted him to tell me they were going to fix it and leave it at that. even after several remote modem resets, i still couldn't see out. finally we scheduled an appointment for a repairman to come back tomorrow morning.

i didn't get home until almost 4:00 and finally had something to eat, some leftovers my 2nd aunt prepared for me. i ate quickly and left for my community garden, where i picked a few hot peppers and the last of the green tomatoes. i also planted some radishes, not sure if they'll sprout but worth a shot. i'm thinking about making a few small raised beds before the season is over; not for vegetables but for a trio of perennials: chinese chives, lunarias, and milkweeds. maybe also a box for the chinese lanterns which have a tendency to spread if not contained.

afterwards i made a run at market basket and picked up a few items (tuesday is traditionally my grocery shopping day). some pork cutlets for tonkatsu part 2 and a wedge of blue cheese (about the only cheese i really like).

after watching the evening news, i fell asleep on the couch with the laptop on my stomach acting as a hot water bottle. later i pulled myself underneath the red fleece throw. i sleep until well past 9:00, not feeling particularly hungry, but woke up anyway. i heated up some pizza rolls for dinner.