I Need A Guide, Dropped Connections, And I'm NOT Saying That You're Useless To Me

I never managed to crank out another entry last night. Sorry.
As cool as the DVR is, there have been a few annoyances. For instance, my universal remote refuses to learn the DVR-specific functions when I try to add them to the VCR buttons in the Cable device mode. I had to actually clear out the VCR commands in VCR mode (since I don’t really use my VCR anymore anyway), and put them in there. It’s annoying that I can’t have the complete functionality of the DVR remote in one mode.
The other annoyance is the fact that in 24 hours it still hasn’t downloaded the program guide. It doesn’t even have the channel line-up: everything just shows up as “To Be Announced.”
This is especially annoying because without the programming guide I can’t program it to record anything.
I called the cable company and they said there was a signal outage that had just been resolved and that it would just be a while longer before the information started coming in.
That was around seven hours ago, so I’m thinking there’s something else going on.
Still, I’m not going to bother calling again until Monday. I don’t really need to record anything this weekend, and that gives it plenty of time to just miraculously start working, as often seems to happen for me with problems like this.
Not much is new or exciting today.
I got up, went for a walk, came back, called the cable company, took a shower, and then headed in to work for a departmental training that ran longer than it was supposed to and which consisted of information about networks and telephone signaling that was way beyond my skillset, so I probably absorbed very little from it.
After that I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things, came home, ate, and now here I am writing this…after dealing with yet another issue with my wireless network.
Apparently whenever other people get home from work or whatever and turn their routers on my computers drop the existing connection, which is strong, and for which they have the correct security information to log onto, in favor of trying in vain to connect to the much weaker signal for the network for which they don’t have the correct security information to log onto.
I have to say that it’s pretty damned irritating, but from what I’ve been able to find there doesn’t appear to be any way to fix it.
It would help if there were some sort of setting to tell my computers not to try to connect to any other network, but I haven’t been able to find one.
One thing that I did to try to make resolving future issues a little easier, though, is re-enable broadcast of my SSID.
The SSID is the name of my network. If the SSID is being broadcast anyone with a wireless connection can see that there is a network named “X” broadcasting within range. Whether or not said person can connect to “X” is another issue entirely, but he or she can at least see that it exists and is available.
To add to the illusion of security, since it really doesn’t do anything to actually make your network more secure, you can choose not to broadcast your SSID. Presumably that would prevent anyone who doesn’t know that it’s there from finding the network.
As I said, this doesn’t really do much to add security (and I’m not familiar enough with network security, or insecurity, to explain why), and really, it’s been presenting a bit of a problem for me.
My computers are set up to know that my network exists, and because they know to look for it, they can find it and connect. However, because the SSID isn’t broadcast, if my connection drops and doesn’t automatically reconnect, I can’t easily tell my computers to reconnect to it manually because it’s not in the list of available networks.
Presumably, since it’s the only network listed in the “Preferred Networks” setting, it should automatically try to connect to my network when I tell Windows to repair the connection.
However, since I’m not seeing my network listed, and since it can’t seem to connect to it even when I have the router’s antenna actually touching my wireless adapter, it seems that it’s trying to connect to one of the other networks that is listed as being available.
By choosing to broadcast the SSID again my network shows up in the list of available networks so I can more easily go in and manually tell my computer to connect to it.
We’ll see if that actually makes things easier.
Of course, that’s assuming that the dropping of the connection is actually tied to someone else turning on a router. It’s possible that something else (a cordless phone, a microwave, etc.) is interfering with the signal, but the drops always happen at the same time that a different network appears in the list of available networks, and the signal strength indicator always shows that my network has a full signal.
So like I said, we’ll see.
Back to the topic of my DVR, it seems that, by using the Firewire connection it may be possible to copy recorded programs over to my computer.
This is almost entirely dependent, though, on whether or not the show that’s been recorded has been copy-protected. It seems that some are and some aren’t, and the ones that are probably can’t be copied over. In the future, broadcasters may make software available for the DVR that would allow the transfer of copy-protected content, but that’s still up in the air.
The other issue is the conflicting information I’ve read about the DVR itself. The DVR actually has several output ports along with Firewire, including an Ethernet port and a USB port. According to everything I’ve read the Ethernet and USB do not work, period. They may in the future, but for right now they are entirely non-functional.
The Firewire port definitely works for connecting to HDTVs that have Firewire input, and, though the information is conflicting, it probably works for connecting to a computer.
As I said, the information is conflicting, but most reports seem to indicate that it does work and that the only caveat involves the aforementioned copy-protection issue.
You may wonder why it’s so important to me to be able to transfer recorded content over to my computer.
Well, one reason I would want to be able to is simply that I should be able to. There’s no legitimate reason to prevent people from one hard drive to another. It’s the same technology; it should necessarily be compatible.
For another, it would allow me to maintain a library of content without having to clutter up the DVR’s hard drive, as I would be able to burn it off to DVD.
And finally it would give me the ability to record HD content, even though I wouldn’t be able to watch it in HD on my TV, and move it over to my computer where I would be able to watch it in HD. Sure, I could do that by running the S-Video or DVI connection over to my monitor, but this way I would be able to edit it, which would open up a bunch of possibilities, such as, for example, getting HD still captures of the various women I use as models for drawings. I’ve learned from downloading them off the Web that HD still captures make great source material.
So far I haven’t been able to test out the Firewire thing, as, for one thing, I can’t really access any of the DVR features (other than pausing live TV) because it hasn’t downloaded the program guide, which you actually need to access any recorded content.
For another, while my computer two ports, I don’t have a Firewire cable as I’ve never picked up any Firewire devices.
Maybe I’ll pick one up next week after I’ve gotten program guide thing straightened out. I’m sure that, as with most things in my life, I’ll keep you posted on my progress on that score.
A while back I came up with an idea for a non-fiction book.
Because I pretty much never do, I didn’t bother writing it down, but normally that wouldn’t be an issue anyway, as I can usually rely on my memory.
The book was something that would require significant research, so about a week after I’d come up with the idea I decided to set some time aside to start doing some preliminary research. I ran into a problem: for the life of me I couldn’t remember what the book was going to be about.
Over the past weekend, after letting it tumble around in my subconscious, I was able to recover the idea.
This time I wrote it down.
Today while I was in that training it occurred to me that the book is something that could, conceivably, have enough associated costs that I might want to consider applying for some kind of grant.
I’m going to have to think about this a little more, but the process of planning and writing a grant proposal, in addition to working on the book itself, could be a pretty involved (and involving) project, giving me some sort of useful purpose towards which I could apply my time for quite some time to come.
That’s assuming, of course, that I don’t just get bored (or lazy) and toss the idea.
I’m not going to get into what the book is about yet, as I am still tossing around some ideas for variations on the original concept.
However, at some point I may actually appeal to you, my loyal Threshold readers, for assistance.
Actually, it’s not so much my loyal readers, as I know who most of you are, but rather the random, unknown readers who stumble across the thing and may happen to have some information that I want.
Most of the people I know wouldn’t really be of much assistance for this, as they just wouldn’t be likely to have what I need.
Is this my subtle way of saying that everyone I know is useless to me? No, not at all. After all, if I were of a mind to say such a thing I think you all know I would just come out and say “You are all useless to me.”
Honestly, it’s just that this project would rely on people with a very specialized knowledge, something that, as mentioned, most of the people I know simply don’t have.
That’s certainly not a slam; after all, I don’t have it either, which is why I’m going to have to go out in search of it.
I think there’s an extremely good chance that I’ll find that the idea can’t keep my interest, and that it’s too much work, and end up just scrapping the whole thing.
Still, you never know, I guess, and I’m bound to surprise myself one of these decades…
In any case, with the exception of Monday’s belated celebration of my birthday and getting the DVR yesterday, this week has been pretty uneventful.
I did a little bit of drawing, but I didn’t manage to finish anything, and now, even though the sun remains pretty high in the sky, it’s getting close to “that time” for me.
I hope you all have a good weekend and I’ll see you back here on Monday.

"Appointment" TV? No Such Thing.

So today I finally called my cable company and asked them about the only cool thing they’ve done in recent memory: making DVRs available.
I had filled out some form online requesting information, after which someone was supposed to contact me. No one did, however, so I opted to call today.
Turns out that all I had to do was just bring my existing digital cable box and remote in and swap them out for the new version which includes the DVR.
So I did that, and now I’m no longer subject to the tyranny of network scheduling: I can watch what I want whenever I want!
Well, at least I can after the box finishes downloading the programming guide, which can take a while.
And, you know, as long as “whenever I want” occurs during or after when the network decides to air the show in question…
Still, it is pretty cool.
Yes, I know that the capability to do many of the things that a DVR can do has been around for decades in the form of the humble VCR, but hey, this is just cooler. Also, there are a lot of advanced features that VCRs just don’t have.
The ability to actually pause live TV will come in very handy. Who needs to wait for commercial breaks to pee? Being able to pause what you’re watching is the next best thing to wearing a diaper.
Strictly speaking, I already had a DVR in the form of my computer, which has a TV tuner card and software that provides all of the functionality of a DVR.
However, there have been various obstacles to making easy use of the computer in that fashion, mostly in the form of physical connections.
Somewhat ironically, the new digital receiver overcomes one of those obstacles by having an S-Video output that I could use to connect to my computer without disconnecting from the TV, but now that I have the DVR I don’t really need to connect it to my computer.
Still, as I don’t see any easy way to network the DVR, I’ll have to make use of the actual connection to the computer in order to copy over any shows that I’d like to archive permanently.
One cool feature the DVR provides that my computer can’t (without a costly investment, at least) is allow me to watch one thing while recording another, as the receiver includes dual tuners.
Yes, I know; that’s an existing feature on VCRs. However, in addition to watching one show while recording another, I could actually record two shows at the same time. Let’s see a VCR do that.
Also, though it really doesn’t do me any good, the new receiver also lets me receive HD programming. There’s no benefit to me because I don’t have an HDTV.
(I was looking at some yesterday, though, and was sorely tempted. Now the temptation will only get stronger. They’re still a little too pricey, though.)
Strictly speaking, I probably could hook up the receiver directly to my monitor, which would be able to display the HD content. I may do that from time to time, but I wouldn’t make a habit of it, given that my monitor, while big, is still smaller than my TV.
Anyway, that’s what’s new so far today. I’m sure I’ll be back with another entry later.

Missing The "Dead," Mall Field Trips, and Those Who Can't Write, Edit

On a rerun of “Law & Order” on TNT I just saw an appearance by actress Ellen Muth.
Muth is the actress who starred as Georgia “George” Lass on the late, lamented Showtime series “Dead Like Me,” which long-time Threshold readers have often seen mentioned here.
She was only 16 at the time she was on that episode of L&O, but she was such a little cutie, especially with that trademark deadpan, monotone delivery and palpable bad attitude.
*Sigh*
I really miss DLM, especially after seeing Ellen in action.
Stupid Showtime.
I still don’t see the rationale behind a subscription-based network which doesn’t rely on advertising for revenue canceling a series due to low ratings.
Besides, it’s Showtime; even its best-rated shows have low ratings.
Dumbasses.
I didn’t manage to stick to my schedule very well today.
I basically just got off to a late start with my 9 am walk not starting until 9:20.
After I got home from that I got back on schedule for a little while, but then I ended up spending more time out in the world than I had planned to, and when I got home I had a hard time getting myself motivated enough to do much editing, though I did get through one of my shorter stories.
The reason I went out into the world was to make use of the gift card I’d gotten from Jamie last night. Along with doing more writing I’ve been intending to do more reading, so I was eager to pick up some new books.
Along with the books I picked up a copy of the latest issue of Maxim, which has the Frank Miller original “Sin City” artwork cover (It also features Brittany Murphy, who plays Shelle in the movie, inside looking pretty damn good for a crackhead, or retard, or whatever the hell she is. I mean, the chick is hot, but there is something seriously wrong with her brain.).
After I finished at the bookstore I was just going to hit the food court to grab lunch before heading to the grocery store.
On the way I went past a Suncoast store that had a prominently-featured display of “Sin City” merchandise, though, so I stopped in and picked myself up a T-shirt featuring Jessica Alba as Nancy.
While I was eating I noticed a large line of kids wearing school uniforms being herded into line at the Ben & Jerry’s stand by what appeared to be their teachers.
So apparently when the schools aren’t able to get away with just randomly declaring a holiday and closing down they take kids on field trips to the mall.
I just don’t get it. What’s the point of even having schools around here if no one is actually going to go?
When Scott’s daughter is old enough to go to school I’ll have to find out from him why she never does.
On the way to and from the mall I ran into a lot of traffic hassles thanks to the perpetual road construction that’s going on around here.
At this point I’m hard-pressed to figure out what they’re constructing. Basically it just looked like they were tearing up the road for the sheer hell of it.
On the way to the mall traffic conditions forced me to become the kind of driver I hate: the jackass who waits to the last second to merge when a lane is closed, causing the whole process to take forever.
I usually try to avoid that, but by the time I saw that I was going to have to merge to the right I was pretty much trapped in the left lane right up to the merging point.
And that was pretty much my day.
As I said, I did some editing on a shorter story. That involved catching some typos, random “extra” words (Places where I started to write one thing, but then changed my mind and said something else, though I ended up leaving one or two words from what I had started to write), and rewriting a few things.
You’ll note that I haven’t been doing any actual writing.
Ideally that will change, but in the meantime I’m sort of gradually easing into it.
On the topic of writing, though, I recently learned that there’s a “writing group” located in this area. They’re holding a presentation by some editors and an agent next month. I’m going to check it out and see if there might be any value in joining the group.
I don’t know if the odds favor that; I’ve never been much of a joiner.
Also, back when I was in college I attended some meetings for a writing group. It was pretty lame, and actually soured me on the idea.
Still, it would pass the time, and it might serve to inspire me, so we’ll see, I guess.
In any case, that’s it for now.

What's In A Name?

So a new pope has been elected.
Not being Catholic, that shouldn’t really mean anything to me, and honestly, it doesn’t, beyond the fact that the elected pope opted to go with the name “Benedict.”
Why does the name Benedict mean anything to me? Because it’s not John Paul.
Throughout most of my life there has been a pope named “John Paul,” starting with the extremely short papacy of Pope John Paul I back in 1978 and followed by his successor, Pope John Paul II.
This fact has meant that, the different spelling notwithstanding, there has been only a brief period in my life in which no one pointed out to me that my name was the same as the pope’s.
Yes, that’s right; for those of you not already aware of it my name is actually Jon-Paul.
I usually avoid going by my full name simply because of the inevitable pope references.
The worst part is that every person who make some comment about it thinks that he or she is the first person to ever come up with it:

“Hey, I just realized…did you know that your name is the same as the pope’s?”
“Gee, really? I wasn’t aware of that? After all, it’s not like every fucking person I ever met in the last twenty-five years has felt the need to point that out to me. How uncannily perceptive of you to make that connection when no one else has ever been able to.”

The other variation would usually go something like this:

“Hey, you’re just like the pope!”
“Well, I’m not Catholic, I’m not Polish, I don’t live in the Vatican, I don’t wear a funny hat, and my car hasn’t had to be made bulletproof, so yeah, you’re right: I’m exactly like the pope.”

Of course, it could be pointed out that I do have the whole celibacy thing going for me, but that’s neither here nor there….
In any case, after the pope’s demise I was a little concerned that his successor would carry on the tradition and become John Paul III, keeping the pope connection going for who knows how much longer.
So let’s hear it for Pope Benedict XVI! May his papacy last long enough for the name John Paul to become displaced in people’s minds.
Too bad there probably aren’t very many people in the world named “Benedict” who will have to put up with all the crap I had to, though…
Of course, this doesn’t really free me up to use my full name anyway, since there always the “John Paul Jones” connection (both the historical and musical figure), and, the more recent, “Hey Jon-Paul, where’s George-Ringo?”
That last one doesn’t bother me too much, as it is kind of clever, and because most people don’t manage to think of it I don’t hear it too often.
Apart from the connections to other people with a similar name, my name has been the source of innumerable small annoyances throughout my life (small annoyances that cumulatively amount to a very big annoyance).
Take, for instance, the “Jon” portion of it.
Most people seem to be incapable of getting it through their heads that there is no “H” anywhere to be found in my name.
Consistently, though, people will add the “H” no matter what.
For example, at work I frequently engage in IM conversations with people. My business screen name includes my actual name, spelled correctly, and yet I will still have things like this happen:

JonwithnoH: Hello, this is Jon.
Randommoron753: Oh, hey John, how’s it going?

Also, I don’t have a middle name. People find that almost impossible to believe, and in some cases it just totally blows their minds and completely shatters their views of reality.
Some people (and I’m not kidding) have actually gotten angry about it, insisting that my middle name absolutely, positively has to be “Paul” and will refuse to even consider the notion that Jon-Paul is actually a single first name and that I have no name following it other than my last name.

“You have to have a middle name.”
“Really? I wasn’t aware that there was some sort of law about that.”
“There isn’t, but…well, you just have to have a middle name.”
“Hmm…well, my dad actually has two. Does that make up for me not having one?”

Some people, even those who have known me for a while, get a little flustered from time to time and end up calling me Paul instead of Jon.
And of course there’s the whole “French” thing.
No, I’m not French, and no, it’s not pronounced with a “Z” sound at the beginning, jacquesass.
In high school many people referred to me as “JP.”
Come on, I’m not that guy. Sure, some people go by their initials, and it suits them, but do I really strike anyone as being a JP? I’m just not an “initials” sort of person.
Of course, one of the biggest annoyances I’ve had with my name is the fact that people will often flatly refuse to refer to me by the name I choose to be called, which is just plain “Jon.”
Some people insist on calling me Jon-Paul, many with the French pronunciation on it, and they will persist no matter how much I tell them that I do not want to be called that.
The strange thing is that when I was growing up there was another kid with almost the exact same name as mine – even the same last name - who lived maybe ten miles away. I used to get his mail (and vice versa). Of course, his name did have an “H,” but even so, it was odd.
Then in high school there was another kid with the same name (different last name) a couple of grades behind me.
I used to be amused by the fact that when they’d print the honor roll they favored the spelling of my name, leaving the “H” out of his.
After so many years I have gotten sort of beaten down and have come to just accept the various hassles that follow from having a slightly unconventional name, though, sometimes I do still wish that my mom had just gone with plain old “Jonathan,” as she’d been thinking, but really, what’s in a name anyway?
There’s a woman at work who everyone calls “Evergreen,” though apparently that’s not her real name, but rather the name she chose for herself.
(Sure, she can get people to call her what she wants, and yet there are still people who refuse to call me Jon…)
I don’t know what her “real” name is, and since that isn’t it I don’t feel that I’m violating my usual policy of not using people’s real names on Threshold when I don’t actually know the person.
I just have to wonder what would make her choose a name like that (thought I don’t wonder enough to actually go up and ask her). I mean, if your parents didn’t screw you over and give you some weird-ass name that people will make fun of, why would you choose to call yourself something that people will make fun of?
And while she was at it, why didn’t she go a little more esoteric? I mean, she could have gone with “Coniferous,” or “Pinophyta.” Either of those would have been much cooler.
Hmm…you know what? I’ve just decided that if I ever have a daughter I’m going to be a total bastard and name her Deciduous.
That would serve as a nice counterpoint to my plans for naming my son, if I were to have one, Cap’n Crunch.
It’s probably a damn good thing that there’s virtually no chance of me actually breeding…

Staying On Schedule

Apart from some work-related issues that I won’t get into, the weekend was largely uneventful.
Yesterday I finally finished off replacing my softcover “Sandman” collections with hardcover versions by ordering copies of “The Doll’s House” and “The Wake.”
Today I managed to follow the schedule I laid out for myself using my newly-acquired time management skills and my equally newly- acquired and handy-dandy Franklin-Covey planner.
Of course, it was a pretty straightforward schedule, but the fact that I stuck to it at all is what’s significant.
Mostly my schedule consisted of devoting time to doing some writing/editing on a completed story and doing some reading.
The story I edited is one I wrote a few years ago. Based on some definitions, the story’s word count would mark it as a novella.
Apart from the novel I wrote for National Novel Writing Month (which is likely to be a target for editing sometime soon…and it seriously needs it), it’s one of the longest complete stories I’ve ever written.
Overall it’s pretty good, but it definitely needs some work.
Apart from the writing/editing, I made time in my schedule for some reading.
Today I was reading “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” the book on which the movie “Blade Runner” was (very loosely) based.
I’ve been meaning to read it for probably twenty years. Scott and I had a conversation about the movie and the book a while back, so on Friday he brought the book in for me to borrow.
It was a very quick read, so I breezed through it today.
After that it was time for the birthday dinner.
Apart from the T-shirt from Kathleen, which is in line with my standing, stated policy of never missing an opportunity to say “That’s what she said,” I got a gift card for Borders, and a very, very cool gift: Batman -The Animated Series Volume One DVD.
That one was from everybody at work.
Obviously I was extremely pleased to get it.
The food at the restaurant was very good, and I ate altogether too much, so it’s a good thing I’ve been building in time to walk in my schedule…
Other than that not much else is new or exciting.
I’ll schedule some time for a lengthier entry tomorrow.

Coolest Shirt Ever

At the birthday dinner tonight Kathleen presented me with this shirt.
I'll have more on the dinner in a bit, but I had to share this.