Cable Bill just got a lot more expensive…

So, Comcast normally has a 1 TB limit on it’s internet service. Problem: whenever I rebuild my system, my Twitch Prime and Epic games have no way of being backed up, like in Steam. So, I have to redownload them all (about 700 GB right there). And then there’s streaming (why else would I reset up my old tower to hook up to the TV)? So, today (actually yesterday) I ordered the unlimited internet option. It’s gong to be much more expensive, but I have no choice. Comcast is a monopoly. They know it. The rates keep going up, but the service keeps going down. I’m supposedly in a contract (since last fall), but they’re already dropping a channel from my service and raising my rates, notwithstanding the aforementioned contract (which apparently means that I’m the only one locked in).

It sucks, but I have no choice….

No laundry tonight.

Normally, I do laundry on my weekends. But it's been in the 20s both nights. And I have enough clean clothes to last another week. Laundry can wait.

Went to Puyallup today. Objective: Haircut. I do like having long hair. But then again as I was looking in the mirror recently, I am aware that I have significantly more forehead than my high school years. And it gets in the way. A lot. So I got a haircut. Went from Rockstar long hair to Marine Corps boot camp. At last, all my hats fit again. 

Another weekend underway….

So, another weekend has started. Agenda: absolutely nothing. Aside from some Flight Simulator. And maybe some streaming. And definitely sleeping…

2 in one night…

Finished setting up my second tower. It will be used as my Blu-Ray player/streaming box on my TV. But it also has a current version of Chrome/Firefox and Office so I can use it as a back up tower in a pinch.

Also finished setting up the laptop. And I brought it out to the living so my brother can use it too (I even created his own account on it).

All this trouble so I can stream ESPN+ to my TV…

Updating on Rendering Unto Ceaser...

My tax refund was approved. It should show up later this week. NOt as much as past refunds have been, but it's still better than having to pay.

Celebrated by ordering pizza tonight...

Setting up my 'new' Blu-Ray....

I think I said this a week or so ago, but my old 'smart' Blu-Ray has become rather dumb of late. First, the Hulu app expired. And last week, the Crackle app went. Then I realized that I could replace it dirt cheap. All I had to do was order an internal Blu-Ray drive for my old tower. Which I did. Then pulled out the Windows 8.1 system restore DVDs (going with Windows 8.1, since I have Windows 8.1 Pro with Windows Media Center). So I'll have a Blu-Ray player (I stall have a valid copy of PowerDVD for this tower, since I bought another when I built my current tower). And thank to Google Chrome, I'll be able to stream. And surf. And email. I'm not putting a TV tuner in this tower, since it's being connected to my TV anyway. Nor will I be gaming on it (not enough space on the hard drive)...

For some reason or another….

For some reason or another, today just seems to be a good idea today. Happy Birthday.

And if it’s not your birthday, happy Thursday and cake is still a good idea…

Render unto Caesar, 2020 edition….

Did my taxes online last night. Still getting a refund, though not as much as I thought. But it’s still better than paying….

Ordered a new wireless keyboard and internal Blu-Ray drive. My old tower is going to be recommissioned as my smart Blu-Ray player. I still have my Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center Key for it. And I’ll be able to stream ESPN+ to my 55” TV finally…

Snow. Again…

As I was about to end my shift this morning, the white stuff started following. Get off work, get on the bus home, and by the time I get home it was sticking. But it’s my weekend, so I’m not going to miss any work for this…

Ok, today's agenda....

Normally, I sleep during the day, and I'm up at night, because of my work situation. But due to taking a sick day Sunday night (funny really want to get into that here), I got most of my day off chores done a day early. So last night,I decided to take a three hour nap. End result: I have a day off on an actual day. Normally my Tuesday morning errands are done as soon as the buses start running in the morning. But today I'm going to take my time, start out late (for me anyways). First stop, Puyallup...

Snow…

I should’ve titled this post ‘Cocaine…’

Anyway, the white stuff came down last night. Actually it started early Monday morning (and since I work overnights, to me it was evening). Anyway it wasn’t really sticking yesterday. That much. When I woke up last night, it was sticking. And it was still snowing. For most of last night, it snowed. I stayed home, ordered pizza, and watched AB De Villiers make his Big Bash League debut (yes, I like T20 Cricket). Then I played some Flight Simulator. And it still snowed. Sometime last night, I also decided not to make my traditional Tuesday Morning Trip up to Mrs. Fields. And I also decided my traditional errands that I normally run today can be put off as well. It’s my weekend. The roads are treacherous. I’m staying inside.

20 years ago, I bought my coat from Target (or was it Mervyns?). I’ve had other coats since then, but I’ve always used this one. Until Friday night, when the zipper finally broke. I tried borrowing one of my brother’s coats (props to him for literally offering my anything in his closet, save the one he was wearing at the time). I’ve order my replacement coat (from Target, naturally), but it’ll be about a week before it arrives. Correction: UPS says it’ll be here Friday.

But for now, I’m going back to staying indoors….

Finishing up my holiday shopping….

Yes, all the Christmas presents that I bought were given away. But, on Christmas Eve, I took a look at my finances and realized that I could now afford something that I’ve been looking forward too for a while. When I built my computer, I spent the most money on as much motherboard that I could afford, and put in a lower end CPU. Christmas Eve, I realized that I could now afford an AMD Ryzen 7 2700X. So I pulled the trigger. And I also upgraded the RAM to0 (I’m now at 64 gB). Yes, I know that my components are a couple of years old already, but I’m not going to spend 4+ figures for top of the line parts, only for them to be obsolete the next week. Well, not obsolete, but still the deprecation in price will be worse than a car.

As for performance, the best stress test, I can think of is Flight Simulator X. So I crank up all the display settings to their respective maximums, and I still got a decent framerate. But then again, some would say that it’s already obsolete, but it works even better than I had before, so Im not goin to complain…

Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot, 2019 Edition

2019 was a trip. In no particular order,  here’s what happened…..

• Took about 2 weeks from my regular day job to cover the owner’s vacation at Mrs Fields.
• Discovered Willow TV, and the sport of Cricket in general.
• Built my first PC from scratch. And I just upgraded the processor (but that will be an entry in an of itself).
• Bought 4 pairs of shoes, all at once.
• Bought a new coffee maker. I usually do it by the k-cup, but there are times when a full pot is called for, and this one does both.
• Experienced new levels of frustrations with UPS.
• Decided my cable service needed to be adjusted. This led to multiple visits to the cable store, 2 tech visits, and now I can no longer use the TV tuners in my Tower and/or my laptop. But my internet service is now much faster, and I can admin the Wi-Fi from my phone.
• Got ripped off at Jack In The Box. Complained. Got 2 form letters, and a not-so-subtle SLAPP threat for my efforts.
• Discovered UberEats. It’s pricy, but then again, I can have Shari’s delivered….

A lot did happen this year, and I’m sure this is just the tip of the iceberg. Here’s to 2020….

So, Christmas was a week ago…

So, Christmas was a week ago. Christmas Eve was the Big Bryant Family Reunion. Much food was consumed. I had eaten Mickey Dee’s earlier in the day, and that afternoon it had come back up to haunt me, so only had one plate (which I kept down, btw). Then there was the gift exchange. As usual, it was white elephant style, dispersed by drawing. I’ve found a new tradition. I’m now wrapping my present just by putting it in my most recent McDonald’s bag. Worked last year, and it worked this year. All it means to the recipient is that there will be a good chance that there will be a packet of salsa in there as well. Fun was had by all, and I made it a point to give an extra Target gift card to one of my cousins (said cousin has been known to make a bee-line straight for my gift if it is known that brought a Target card, and I just wanted to do something special especially for this cousin). Because of my day/night schedule at work, by the time I got home, I had been up for close to 24 hours, and I went straight to bed (normally I watch Midnight Mass from St. James Cathedral on TV).

So I slept in on Christmas Day as late as I could, and then we went to my younger brothers for Christmas. We had a Taco Bar. Everything is even better with a Taco Bar. I brought a 2 liter of strawberry soda as a tribute to mother. Then gifts were exchanged. Nieces and nephews got their gift cards to Target (yes, that’s where I did most of my Christmas shopping this year), and siblings got their coffee. And I even got something for my nephew’s girlfriend (another one of my traditions is the Spare Present).

This year, I did 9/10’s of my shopping at Target. I ordered most of my shopping online from my phone on my way to Mrs Fields one day. From the items I received, the one that stands out the most was the three cans of SPAM my father gave me. I was to receive them last year, but for some reason they were forgotten. I quick check of the useby dates, and they’re still good. I also got a flashlight/worklight, some shoe gel inserts, and an Atari Flashback 8 Gold. And I’m just as thankful for the 3 cans of year old SPAM that I am for the video game console.

RIP Buzzard Face

One of the memories of my childhood was my mother’s uncle, Earl Abney. I remember being at his house, playing pool. Then as I hit my teenage years, the teasing began. And the jokes. There was the name calling. He called me Chicken Lips. And I called him Buzzard Face. Whenever he visited, or we visited him, there was going to be a laugh….

It has been almost 30 years since I last saw him. Life happened and we grew apart. But I had the memories. Last week, his battle with Alzheimer's finally ended.

Rest in peace, Buzzard Face. You will be missed, but your suffering has ended.

Ho, Ho, Ho

Just boarded the bus to go to Grandma's house for the Big Bryant Family Reunion. Happy Christmas to you and yours.

Yes, I'm saying Happy Christmas this year. I just like the sound of it better than Merry Christmas...

Finally!

Ok, so Monday night, I wiped my laptop with the system restore feature of my laptop. Which put it back to Windows 10 Home 1511. It took a day and a half to get it to Windows 10 Home 1909. And I just now got it to Windows 10 Pro 1909. It took a running of sfc /scannow get from home to pro. And way too much time on Windows Update to get to 1909.

But I’m there. Finally.

Holiday decorating is done...

I'm ready for the holiday. Come for the Airing Of Grievances, stay for the Feat Of Strength... 

So I wiped my laptop last night….

Well, I started it. Using the system restore set, because of drivers. Unfortunately, it leaves me with Windows 10 1511, and for some reason I can’t just throw the 1909 install flash drive in it (like my Tower’s last rebuild). So it’s off to Windows Update for 3 hours, and I got it to 1809. Maybe tonight, I’ll get it to Windows 10 Pro 1909 (like my tower). And yes, I have paid for the upgrade from Home to Pro…

But on the bright side, I have also backed up my documents onto my external drive, which I haven’t done since June (I have two hard drives in my tower, and one drive is my storage drive – it is never formatted. The ‘C’ drive which is my installation drive is).

But while my laptop updates itself I think it’s time for my now-weekly Target run. Probably the last of my Christmas shopping, which is easier to budget for since I paid all my bills last night.

So like I said in the last post…

I said in my last post that I was going to watch the Big Bash League - in a nutshell Australian Cricket’s equivalent of The New World Order (Mind-Control Division). Tonight’s match was the Brisbane Heat vs the Sydney Thunder. An entertaining match, though my preference is more towards the Royal Challengers Bangalore (in the Indian Premier League). Or if it’s International Cricket, I’ll root for West Indies. Mainly because my boss at Mrs. Fields is from India and saying Hooray West Indies is lot safer than saying that Virat Kohli is really Captain Underpants….