Mercury in Retrograde

[Greg]

Ominous.

[Drunk Monk]

I've mentioned before that JM is terrible at emailing. Topics get changed randomly, lots of oblique comments, and often there's someone on the email group that shouldn't be there. Over the last few days, there's been a lot of chatter about SNWNF, Hog Farm, & now Lucidity. Somehow lines got crossed and it was thought that SNWMF opted for MARS medical (a paid national event med group) instead of us, but it was really Hog Farm. Hog Farm was raised because they didn't ask us, but it was agreed we didn't have the bandwidth this year. Now we're chasing it, hoping to make a counter offer to MARS. wth? why? 

It's during committee discussions when I support fascism over democracy.

[thatguy]

What's the best form of government?

Benevolent dictator!

--tg

[Greg]

The Satellite Dish is no longer tight to the mast. Every time the wind blows a breath, it shifts and knocks out reception. I tried locking it in place last night with some shims but it didn't quite take. I need to call the nice men to come out and fix it.

[Drunk Monk]

Oh yeah? Well let me just dish about my AppleTV. It’s been crashing a lot. At first I thought it was the storm which interferes with our provider. And that might still be an issue. I got Netflix to work after a few reboots but it keeps freezing. I can’t access Amazon prime, PBS, or YouTube. I can get in to the tab but it just stalls. I’ve been watching a lot of spinning wheels of death tonight.

Oh shoot! I was going to have some whiskey tonight. Time for a pour. That’ll make everything better.

[cranefly]

Let's hope the whiskey doesn't form a spinning wheel of death when you pour it into a glass.

Might be safer to drink it straight from the bottle.

[thatguy]

Oh yeah? Well let me just dish about my AppleTV. It’s been crashing a lot. At first I thought it was the storm which interferes with our provider. And that might still be an issue. I got Netflix to work after a few reboots but it keeps freezing. I can’t access Amazon prime, PBS, or YouTube. I can get in to the tab but it just stalls. I’ve been watching a lot of spinning wheels of death tonight.

Oh shoot! I was going to have some whiskey tonight. Time for a pour. That’ll make everything better.

Is it on WiFi or Ethernet? Mine was giving me problems because it's so far from the Wi-Fi access point. It's been better since I plugged it in directly. Recently, the screen has been going black intermittently. I finally figured out that the HDMI cable was being problematic. 

lots of data going thru those pipes, especially for HD

--tg

---

Below the equator, do the spinners spin the other way?

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

It’s Wifi but it has not moved from when it worked well previously. It’s an old AppleTV, and you know how apple products get funky with age (planned obsolescence I say). It was slow to come back online but each reboot brought the functions a little closer. I was able to watch Hoopla off my Chromebook (which is jacked into my tv as an alternate channel) so it’s probably just AppleTV issues. I may have to invest in a new one. 

After a while, the whiskey won out and the tv didn’t matter.

[Greg]

I called the nice people at Directv (Online Chat) on Sunday to schedule an appointment to come out and tighten my dish(not a euphemism). After some language confusion issues or maybe they didn't know how calendars worked, they sent out a repairman on Sunday. Yes, Sunday. How much did they charge for a Sunday call? Nothing. Turns out we've been paying an exorbitant amount for insurance.

The nice man came out and I apologized for my repair attempts. He immediately was not happy with anything about the dish. First thing he did was throw out the mast that was twisting. Cool. Then he didn't like the wiring running from the dish to the house connection. Cool. Then he got mad at the focuser at the end of the arm pointing at the dish and tossed it out. Wow. Finally, he got fed up with the dish all together and chucked that. I liked this guy.

And he did this in the rain. He was very happy he had his rain gear was in the truck. The whole job took under an hour and now I have a brand new satellite set-up. I hear the wind howling outside my window right now, so I guess I'll know tonight how good a job he did.

[cranefly]

 I hear the wind howling outside my window right now, so I guess I'll know tonight how good a job he did.

I think the real test will be watching something like The Wind (preferably the 1928 version).

[Greg]

Does a silent film still have a wind that blows?

[Drunk Monk]

Nowadays more foods give me the winds than ever before.

My AppleTV has returned to normal functioning - a prelude to Wednesday when merc leaves retro…

[King Bob]

I say use the ethernet if you can; it's way faster and far fewer lags and signal drops. We used a Chromecast with our old TV (had no ethernet port) and it dropped out all the time even though it was right next to the WiFi hub. With the new TV connected via ethernet, all those problems went away.

[Drunk Monk]

It’s awkward to lay a wire because my port is on the other side of the bungalow from my work niche. But that wasn’t the issue this time because my Chromebook ran fine and it taps the same wifi and sits right next to my AppleTV.

[Drunk Monk]

Meanwhile, is anyone else's Facebook feed messed up? Mine keeps jumping about when I'm D00M scrolling...I mean when I'm working on my social media promotions for my companies... It's such a bother...