For the first time since 2006…

I used to assemble scale models for a hobby. Before I got my computer, and my first internet connection, it was what killed my time. My two best friends owned the hobby shop in the South Hill Mall. I mainly did 1/72nd scale kits, mainly military airplanes, and Star Trek on occasion. But I bought my computer, and going on the internet started using up more of my time, and I eventually stopped (the last model kit that I assembled and painted I actually never really finished). When I moved to Parkland, all of my paints, thinners, and my assembly tools were put away.

A couple of years ago, my sister gave me a Bandai 1/72nd scale X-Wing from the Star Wars Franchise. I was all molded in color, and no cement was required. There are a couple of other kits from the same series that are now works in progress.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, I was on eBay, and I found a 1/72nd scale Danube Class runabout from Deep Space 9. And I pulled the trigger. Kit arrived quickly, and I new I still had my sprue cutters and cement. And it came time to paint. Problem is, most of my paints are over 20 years old now. I did find a couple of paints that were still salvageable (and no, I’m not going to order new paint quite yet, just for a one-off impulse buy I made on my phone while on the bus).

Long story short, for the first time since 2006, I assembled a scale model. With paint and cement…

A little bit faster.

Since 2011, I've used a 802.11n for my apartment’s Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi is a must. In our previous apartment, I only had a wired router, and my brother’s computer was out in the living room (gateway was in my room, and the cable outlet for it was in another brother’s room). So there were a couple of episodes of tripping. When my brother and I first moved into this apartment, he bought his iMac and he also bought a 802.11g router. Which was soon updated to 802.11n, so I could move the cable modem and router out to the living room. In 2011, I got my first 802.11n router from Worst Buy and things were good. In my year with dsl, the modem had a Wi-Fi router built in, and so my router got retired. When I went back to cable, I got a new modem, again with Wi-Fi N onboard already.

When I built this computer, the motherboard came with 802.11ac Wi-FI. So I decided to upgrade the router. Once I got the router set up, I moved everything back out to the living room (I moved the modem back to my room a while back so I could use the faster speed a wired connection provides. And I now have a faster wi-fi connection.

And I unplugged my Echo. And it will not be coming back. Too many privacy issues. It was a Christmas present from my brother, and I do appreciate it, but still Spamazon has privacy issues, and I don’t need them eavesdropping on everything I say…