Sooooo much schtuff to blab about. It's 1:30am, I
need sleep, so I'm gonna type quick. You ready?
OK, so this morning at around 10 I headed up to Chippewa
Hills to meet with my electrician. We had to go over some
stuff in sublot 40, one of the houses I've installed the FutureSmart
system. I've got to order one more part to complete the project,
and we got that all settled.
I was only there for a few minutes and it was time to head
downtown. I wiped-out and reinstalled an IBM Aptiva desktop
computer there. Joy. Major scare when I thought we'd lost
the Quickbooks info. That sucked. My heart was in my socks
for a few minutes, but then I figured out what happened. The
backup file was there, it just had an incorrect extension for some odd
reason. </sweating>
Next I had to go the rest of the way downtown, right next to Jacob's
field. Through my job at Sonnhalter I'm working with a company
called Ameriserv. They're a web hosting / web design firm in Ctown.
I had a meeting about a web site I'm working on and it went smoove.
It's funny how simple some tasks seem until you sit down and discuss how
actually to go about doing them.
Now comes the fun stuff. I had spoke to one of my favorite
customers earlier in the day. He's back from Europe, time to
play. I'd finally gotten his wireless LAN network access point in
after it was on backorder for over a month! I called and he wasn't
home at the moment, so I was forced to get a sub at Quizno's. For
any of you who haven't tried their grub, take my word for it and give 'em
a try. Toasted subs... oh yeah baby. So I stuffed my face,
and got the call right as I was finishing up.
I had tried setting up the wireless network here in my office once I
got the access point, but that didn't work for some darn reason.
My laptop crashed during the installation of the network card, so that
probably didn't help.
|
DIAGRAM #1
Click for the big guy |
Since he has DSL, the main point of the network was to have broadband
<fast> Internet access anywhere in the house - outside even!
(Wash the car and surf the web...? Hell yeah.) Only problem
is, the DSL modem has a USB connection to the computer. (See
Diagram #1 for how things are setup.) We're still OK though,
because the Network-in-a-Box kit I purchased comes with Internet connection
sharing software. (FYI - If you've got Windows 98SE/ME/2000 then
you've got this feature built-in.) Internet connection sharing
<ICS> let's you allow everyone on the network to share your pipe
to the 'net, whether it's dial-up, cable, DSL, etc.
Problem #2 - the stupid software won't recognize the Internet
connection. Why a USB connection to the Internet isn't detectable
by Sybergen's software is anyone's
guess. They'll fix it soon, but it won't be soon enough.
It's still OK though, read on...
|
DIAGRAM #2
Click for the big guy |
So, now what to do? I got the file & printer sharing setup,
so he is able to print from anywhere in the house to any of his
printers. (There are a few.)
The next step is to get a new DSL modem from Ameritech. I
called and got transferred around about 5 times, no joke.
Finally a lady in the sales department tells me that they can't
exchange a USB modem for an Ethernet version. I told her that's
ridiculous. She said we'd have to cancel service and
re-signup. Does that sound stupid or what? She transferred
me to someone else and they told me that I should be able to get it
without starting up a new account. I left a voice mail since the
next place I was transferred was closed and I'm going to call back
tomorrow afternoon if they don't return my call quickly.
Eventually we'll have what I drew in Diagram #2. Once we've got a
Ethernet DSL modem, we'll plug that into a gateway/firewall/router
device. This is an excellent layer of protection against hackers,
etc., much better than a software solution. That's why I wasn't
too worked up about Sybergen letting me down.
In the mean time, he's still able to access his 30GIG worth of MP3s
from anywhere near or in the house, so it's all good for the time
being. As a kick at the end, he tells me he'll be purchasing the
new Apple laptop as soon as it comes with OS X (Mac OS 10).
Does the fun ever stop?! I can't wait to get my hands on that!
Ah ha! the night is still young. I got out of the wireless
network thing at about 7:00 and headed over to Tony's. We jetted
out to Media and the farm to jam w/Bide. For our second session,
we're doing pretty damn good! We recorded the mahem, and Tony's
got the tape. So as soon as I get my copy I'll mash it into MP3
and post it on here for ya, coo?
We rocked out from about 8 'till 11 and then it was time for the fun
to rest. Now here I am, 2am, really wanting my bed. I think
I've blabbed enough for now. Tomorrow a meeting with my accountant
and more Retrospect. Hopefully
some hoops later in the day as well.
Live love laugh yo!
J to the mo'fo' R.
Oh yeah, then I came home to some more great news. Del
Rey publishing is putting out the first Star Wars ebook! Howz
about them apples?! :)
