Random things and a question

[thistlechaser]

- In the endless tangle of worries that is my brain, a new BIGGEST MOST IMPORTANT WORRY EVER has come to the forefront of the others: The new apartment complex I'm moving into comes with wifi, so I'm going to cancel my personal service and use the complex's (saving almost $100/month), but now I can't stop wondering if it'll be good enough. If I'm sharing wifi with an apartment complex, probably 50 other apartments, what are the chances I'll get the speed/bandwidth that I'm used to? Good enough to play online games (MMOs) and steam video without lag? Is that a pipe dream or might it be good enough that I won't need to return to a personal account?

- In other apparently worry-related news, last night I had a dream I was at work. Working. So when I woke up, I felt like I had been at work all night... just in time to go to work this morning. Thanks, brain.

- I'm watching the new Voltron series from Netflix/Dreamworks. I had loved the original Voltron when I was a kid, so I had hoped I'd like the new series, but right now (halfway point of the first season), I'm pretty meh on it. I don't hate it, I don't love it. It's watchable.

- Ellie New Cat is the oddest cat. She doesn't like to climb things. I used to have a floor-to-ceiling post for her, but she never used it so I got rid of it. Now I have boxes stacked halfway to the ceiling, formed in "steps" that would be easy as pie for her to jump up, and she hasn't checked it out once. She never wants to go higher than the back of a chair or desktop. I never met a cat like that before.

- Packing for my move is going well. I said it before and I'll say it again: It rocks to start really early. I have three weeks and change left, and I'm nearly done packing -- too done! I packed stuff I now wish I hadn't packed, bowls and such.

- I have a ton of non-packing, move-related stuff left to do. I've been dragging my feet on it for some reason, things like change of address through the post office, scheduling power to turn on in the new place, etc. Much of it can be easily done online, though some of it (like canceling Comcast) will need a phone call and an office visit to return hardware.

- Though I said I was done with Freecycle, I decided to list one more thing. I had three very nice plush toys (picture of them), very good condition (kept on shelves, never played/slept with). I thought they would get lots of interest and snapped right up, but nope. Only one single request, and that person wanted just one of the three. (I ended up saying no to that person, since I'd have to take the other two to Goodwill to donate, splitting the group would just double my work.) I know this area has very few families/kids, but I still thought there would be interest in them. Oh well.

Comments

[bacchuslives.livejournal.com]

I've had that experience with plush toys... Not sure what the psychology is there. Not sure if I want to know.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Probably best not to know, yeah.

[ashmedai.livejournal.com]

So when I woke up, I felt like I had been at work all night... just in time to go to work this morning. Thanks, brain.

Oh God, I've had that happen too when I worked outside the house. What a bummer!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Totally! I had such a hard time getting anything done, since I felt like I had put in more than a full day already...

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

WHAT! Why did they not want those three adorable plushies? OMG that fox is adorable! And the leopard looks like Bagheera. And I love how you can see the little teeth on the wolf. Silly people, not snatching them up!

Well, I'm sure if the apartment speed isn't up to your needs, you can easily get cable again somewhere. Plus, that will make you a *new* subscriber so maybe you can finagle something cheaper than $100/month (which, when you think about it, is ridiculous...I only pay $30 from our local company and Verizon say they would do it for $40...and we stream everything, play online with our friend in Chicago)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I know, right? And they were good sized (about a foot long/tall). I'd think any kid would have loved them. Oh well, hopefully someone will buy them through Goodwill.

And that's a good point. If I'm a new customer, maybe I can get a better deal than my current one... Hopefully I won't need it, but if so, that could be a plus.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I really think Comcast/Verizon/TimeWarner (whoever rules your land) relies on people not calling to complain about how ridiculous their rates are. Any time I have called, I have managed to talk them down a little.

Luckily, we have a local company and they are desperate to keep us so I just call every year and they reduce my rate back to 29.99 - which is really all it should cost for Internet.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

29.99 is a great price for it, yeah. Comcast owns us around here, and their prices are just insane.

If/when I have to go back to them, I'm going to keep that in mind and see if I can talk them down to something more reasonable. Can't hurt to try!

Thanks. :)

[teaandfailure.livejournal.com]

My best friend and I HATED Shiro in the New Voltron at first, but started to warm to him after about episode 8. We fully admit that part of this was that we just really liked old Shiro/Sven, so we kept saying YOU'RE NOT SVEN and WHEN WILL HE DIE AND GET KEITH IN BLACK LION WHERE HE BELONGS. Same with New Alura.

We did, however, absolutely lose our minds when Lance called Keith "Mullet."

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

*checks* I'm on 8 now!

I kind of like him, as much as I like any of the characters (which is really mild, at best). I like that he's older (or at least seemed to be, I think the producers said he's 21?).

I really, really don't like Allura. At all. I know the show is from Japan, so this isn't the most logical thing to say, but: The whole show edges on too anime-y for me, and she's not just over that line, but she's glittery, twirling, magical girl transforming over it. (Edit: Though I have to say, her father works for me. Works for me a whole lot. I'm watching the "evil AI" episode, which is easily my favorite so far. Not just for the father, but for the whole Shiro PTSDing subplot.)

I guess I'm getting old, because my "So cool!" reaction to the lions keeps warring with "But... but... but... lion robots just don't really make sense...".

I wish I liked the show more, I keep hoping it will hook me, but on ep 8 of 12, the time for that to happen is growing short.

[teaandfailure.livejournal.com]

That was when we started to like Shiro, because of that subplot! Before that we were very eye-rolling because he was Mister Perfect With No Flaws, but then shit went DOOOOOWN.

Hahah, see, that was the whole reason we really liked new Alura - she seemed more alien to us, and we both really don't like the whole "aliens are humans with weird foreheads" thing. So we liked that she was completely over the top.

It's so cool to see the different things that work for different people.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

That's a good point about Alura (and I'll admit, I loved her eyes! So pretty with the blue/purple!). I hadn't thought about it that way.

I finished up the season last night, and can't say I enjoyed the "ending" at all. It didn't surprise me to leave it on a cliffhanger like that, but it made me grumpy.

Agreed on Shiro! I only started liking him once I realized what had gone on in his backstory. We did get hints at it right from the first episode, but it wasn't until midseason that it was clear.

[liedra.livejournal.com]

I certainly wouldn't trust new wifi. If it's being shared amongst 50 flats then it'll be hitting its bandwidth limits (which are fairly low) pretty quickly. They also tend to not use the best equipment in these sorts of things. Also, higher likelihood that your PC could be compromised if on the network with a lot of other computers. Best you can do is try it but I'd see what you can do to get another connection just in case.

On ENC, if you watch the "My Cat from Hell" show (I binge watched it, don't judge me) you quickly learn there are two types of cats - shrub dwellers and tree climbers. Sounds like she's one of the former.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

if you watch the "My Cat from Hell" show (I binge watched it, don't judge me) you quickly learn there are two types of cats - shrub dwellers and tree climbers. Sounds like she's one of the former.

I've never seen that show, but that breakdown makes sense! Googling to find out more about that, it answers something else: I always thought I was just lucky that Ellie never wanted to jump up on the kitchen counter. I guess the two things are related!

And thanks for the thoughts on the wifi. Hopefully the units will have cables in place already, so I can just get Comcast turned back on if needed...

[voidmagus.livejournal.com]

Reiterating liedra's point. Could I run a wifi network across 50 apartments that had good service? Sure, easily. Are they likely to? Nope. Even with good access points, they're probably running the traffic through a smaller pipe than would be good. Worst case, they're running it all through a single residential line. Definitely some security risks if you're sitting on the same LAN as others, but it is possible they set it up as a properly segmented network.

So I guess my point is -- 'free' probably means 'crap', but sometimes not.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

That's too bad. I'm in the process of trying to find out if the apartments have Internet cables already installed (I'd assume so, Silicon Valley and all, but...), so at least I can switch back to Comcast easily if needed.

[voidmagus.livejournal.com]

Speaking of MMOs...Is anyone still playing WoW? Resubbed for the expansion, have had fun getting a garrison up and running. The Legion pre-launch event is handing out ilvl 700 gear, and I have this free lv100 character boost sitting there. My guild died, and asking on facebook and in gaming communities and almost no one seems to play WoW anymore. Happy to roll a new toon on another server since it'll get boosted to 100, if only I knew some people there.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Not that I know of. I've heard a couple FFXIV people say they'd go back to check out the new expansion, but I don't think I know a single person who plays now...

Sorry!

[tersa.livejournal.com]

She never wants to go higher than the back of a chair or desktop. I never met a cat like that before.

*waves a hand* Tali is similar. She'll get on the back of the couch, the bed, and even, now, the top of a set of shelves I put up, but that's the highest she'll go. She has no desire to climb that tall cat tree you gave me, or get on top of the dining room hutch, like the other two love to do. :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Someone else commented that there are two kinds of cats: shrub dwellers and tree climbers. I guess Tali is a fellow shrub dweller. While it seems odd for a cat to not want to climb, I like it better -- Ellie gets into less trouble since she wants to stay low!