Pilot's Log

Paid $110 today to shut off the account for the USB modems.  With seven months left in contract that will save us almost $240.

Can't bundle the plans we have left tho'.  AT&T stopped doing that, for some reason.

FP

Goodbye Sierra Momentum Connect Device.

Hello Motorola NVG510 Wi-Fi DSL Gateway. Rather Manor now is U-Versatile.

Which means that I will be using this computer a lot more and maybe even posting actual posts on this blog more as well.

It took a lot of effort and money to get us here, and I'm very grateful for it, even if it means we have to scale back other plans we'd had this season.

If the login situation is fixed then you can "now hear this!"

My divisions of labor vis-a-vis my smartphone and my desktop PC are coalescing.

SMARTPHONE duties:
*) Facebook. Even though actual posting is easier on the PC (as well as access to archives), it's easier to check the ongoing activity with the smartphone...even if the Facebook app is lacking (it works better to use Chrome).

*) YouTube. Granted, the hair trigger on the phone itself makes it tough to navigate, and for some reason the app lacks features you need (it works better to use Chrome), but I seem to save a lot of data use by playing videos over the Smartphone. It won't play everything, tho'.

*) Dropbox. I'm still learning it, and it needs a Wi-Fi source for it to be efficient, but it streamlines use of the phone's camera, and I may play around with video shooting thanks to Dropbox.

PC duties:
*) E-Mail. The smartphone app is wonky; using Chrome on the smartphone at Hotmail is tedious and needlessly limited in functionality.

*) LiveJournal. I can read my Friends' page on the mobile version, but that's about it.

*) PCH.com and all Flash-based content providers. No Flash support on Android phones whatsoever.

More to come.

FP

My internet connectivity just didn't dig my company over the last few days.

I don't know what the problem is but it's just so frustrating to muck about with this hardware and hope that it's working long enough for me to post something like this entry.

Due to bandwidth issues, I will be offline till after Wednesday. I apologize for any inconvenience from this predicament.

...It's because I'm forced to conserve bandwidth again, with it being the end of the fiscal month.

...as conserving bandwidth. I only have lass than half a gigabyte left for the fiscal month, which ends on Friday (or Thursday night, I hope!).

AT&T has the best customer service system in the world. I mean it. They hire terrific people and you can reach some of them 24/7.

But that nice, ardent, professional woman and her good work is lost on me today because her phone makes her sound like she's way in the back of a shipping container she shares with a stepdown power transformer.

Still, in spite of this difficulty and others I've endured over the last few weeks, I was able to on this day:

*) Pay the first Wireless Internet bill for Rather Manor (although it was past due)
*) Correct the billing information for the Wireless Internet account (so it wouldn't bounce back like the first bill did)
*) Link the Wireless Internet account with the Landline account for Rather Manor so
*) We might be able to BUNDLE services and save some moolah

And I did it on ATT.com, whose veracity measures are needlessly difficult for legitimate users while still leaving gaping holes for cyberfraudsters. Tho' I doubt there can be a lot gained from the information available to the phone company and the individual endusers.

Bought it at HobbyTown in Knoxville at the IPMS meet Tuesday; got the usual club discount on it. With my Internet service interrupted badly by storms yesterday, I put it together and painted it tootsweet. Photos after more paint and decals.