TDS internet out already

Yup, my brand new internet that was installed on Tuesday and was working great, went out some time Wednesday night. It is now Friday morning and it is still out. I am not a happy camper and am not looking forward to calling tech support this morning. I have to be at work at 9 and don't have a lot of time to deal with it, but need to get the call placed before the weekend.

Thankfully I have my Verizon jetpack to fall back on. I'm sure the TiVo did not record anything it was set to record, namely the season premier of Gray's Anatomy.

Off to call tech support, wish me luck.

I have internet!

My TDS DSL was installed yesterday. I got my computers updated, the TiVo set up and working and even got the printer changed over to the new network. The only thing left to change is my storage drive, but since that will be cable connected to the modem, I have to move the modem first.

So far so good even tho I already had to reboot the modem due to the lack of a connection. Speed test was great. Supposedly I am close enough to the feed to get great service.

It will take a little getting used to the fact that I no longer have to watch every little byte that I use. Looking forward to streaming and being able to watch tutorials and cat videos again. :)

I was surprised when the installer turned out to be a woman. That is typically a man's job. She let me help with the installation. Her name is Dolores. We chatted through the whole job.

I'm a a little concerned about my service once the town fills up with snowbirds, but she said TDS upgraded last year and that it shouldn't be an issue. We'll see. For now I am keeping my Verizon as backup. I have already spent the money, so I might as well. I will need it if I do any traveling anyway. Should still cost less than what I have been spending for the last year or so. Plus unlimited....

Productive day and internet day!

I had the most productive Monday that I have had in a long time yesterday. I did get some more sleep and ended up finally getting out of the house around 11. Went to the post office and picked up my light fixtures and then went to Sal’s. I found a light fixture for $2 that I needed parts from, a clear glass pumpkin, a covered dish, several pair of pants and a couple of tops. I spent $8.75. I washed all the clothes and got them hung up indoors, then I proceeded to replace the light fixtures. The second one wasn’t as easy as the first, I had to cut and grind the screws that held the fixture on because they were too long. I have no idea what the difference was between the first one and the second one, but they are done for now. I need to get some caulking and seal up the gap, but other than that they are done and as far as I am concerned, they look much better.

I went from this….

to this….

No more plastic. The plastic was so old it had discolored and was dry and brittle. After I finished that up, I took all the parts and pieces and put this together for outside the patio. It is quite bright and am going to try a lower wattage bulb in it when I can get to the store to get an LED bulb. Hoping we have them at work. 

This whole light cost less than $10 to put together and other than the fixture I got at Sal’s was stuff I had on hand. 

As you can see, it lights up the whole yard.

   

My final project for the day was installing the lever on the outside door knob. The silicone cover I had put on it helped a lot with my elbow, but it didn’t stand up to the heat and split in several places. This should last longer.

It is pretty ugly tho. And I didn’t paint it. But it works great.

I spent most of the day outside after I got back. Got a soak in the tub - the water had warmed up to 80 degrees. Still clear too. Added some more bromine tablets to keep it that way. So far this is the best it has done since I set it up in the early summer. Looks like bromine is the way to go and it doesn’t dry my skin like the chlorine did. Soon I will turn that area into an outdoor living room. I did order the rod ends so I can replace the saggy cable the curtain hangs on with a galvanized pipe. That will also make it easier to open and close the curtain and eliminate most of the sag.

Today is internet installation day! Yay! I will finally be able to update my computers, put my phone back on wifi and so much more. I am hoping the service will be better than expected, I have heard both good and bad about it. More bad than good, but not a whole lot about it lately so I am hoping in this case no news is good news. I hear they did upgrade some of their equipment, so maybe that helped. The tech is supposed to be here between 8 and noon. I have plenty to do while I am waiting. I need to clean house and actually dust this time, get the TiVo set up and ready, clean the bathroom (ugh), and get my melons peeled and cut. This afternoon I hope to get the TiVo up and running and figure out how to use it. I did not miss the season premier of Gray’s Anatomy, it is actually this week so hopefully I will have the TiVo figured out by then because I work Thursday nights. 

The Gilmore Girls revival will be airing on Netflix Thanksgiving weekend. I will get a trail month of Netflix so I can TiVo it. Supposedly you can burn it to DVD. I am hoping that is true as that is what I want to do and add it to my DVD collection. I am so looking forward to that. It is a year in the life and is four 90 minute episodes. I haven’t been able to find any word on it being released on DVD.

I’m going to see if my Heartland DVD’s will play in Jake’s big laptop, they won't play in my region free DVD player. If so, I should be able to connect it to the TV, bought the adapter last year but haven’t used it. It is possible the one I tried to play is defective, I should try another. I picked up an HDMI splitter cable at Sal’s yesterday. I didn’t really need it, but it is the first one I have seen and I got it for fifty cents. Those run anywhere from $12 and up, so it was a good find. I will be able to keep my apple TV hooked up and connect the laptop without having to disconnect something else. 

It has been raining off and on all night and is supposed to through tomorrow. Then high winds. Monsoon season ends at the end of the month. Should be much cooler very soon. It has already started to cool off. We hit 100 degrees yesterday, but it was cloudy and overcast all day. It is a nice, soft rain not the heavy downpours we usually get. Should make a lot of plants and critters very happy and it smells good! We don’t often see rain like this. Maybe one or two days mid winter, but that is about it. We can thank the hurricane off Baja for this. 

Well, it is time I try to get another hour or so of sleep. I will have to get dressed first as the TDS tech is supposed to be here between 8 and noon. If I am not dressed, he will be here at 8. I need to be ready.  I went to bed about 10:30 last night and have been up since 2:30. I even took the melatonin. I had high hopes for that, but it just doesn’t seem to work for me. I had to give it another try.

Catching up

I haven't written as there hasn't been much of anything to write about. I'm still working at DG, and the rest of the time, just living.

Things are starting to pick up for the winter season here in Quartzsite, people are slowly starting to trickle in. A few people are already back here in Mountain View Resort, many more to come.

I splurged and ordered myself a TiVo Roamio, supposed to be able to record over the air TV. Since I work several nights a week now, I will be missing some of my favorite shows. Unfortunately, it needs internet for the programs lists and updates. Good thing I finally broke down and ordered an internet service. It should be up and running by Tuesday. I am hoping it will save me money in the long run, and it will allow me to stream and be online any time I want. Right now I am paying $10 per gig for service and it is running over $100 a month, the TDS service will be about $90 per month with 250g of data. I'm hoping it will be enough if not more than I need. I had to bundle a land line with that, but I won't be using the phone portion of the service, I am happy with my cell phone.

I'm still adapting to working at DG. It is a very demanding job, lots to do and lots to remember, but it is getting easier. I may stay for a while. The new manager is happy with my performance and mentioned something about a raise yesterday. Although I won't hold my breath.

My cool tub has turned into a cold tub. The water is averaging about 75 degrees and is almost too cold to use now. I am thinking I will drain it and store it for the season and turn that area into a small private sitting area for the season. I may even put a Christmas tree out there when the time comes. Like an outdoor living room. Maybe the little green tree for the outdoor living room and a new one for the indoor living room.

I am considering putting up a web cam in the yard when I finally have always on internet service. I miss being able to do that. I still have the wifi webcam, but it is an indoor one. I will have to look and see what is available for outdoor wireless cameras. Since I have power in the shed, it should be easy to get it hooked up.

The weather has improved some. Days in the upper 90's and lower 100's, nights in the 60's. I had to turn my water heater on the other night as the water is a bit nippy now for showers. I was ready for it to cool off and am happy that I can open the windows and run the fan at night. I even had to get out my fuzzy blanket and get it washed and ready to use as I am having to cover up part way through the night now.

Still not sleeping well. I sleep about four hours and then am up for several and then get another hour or so of sleep. Trying melatonin again to see if it helps. It didn't in the past, but I'm not sure of the dosage I tried before. I don't have any trouble falling asleep, it is staying asleep that I have issues with. I'm tired. My sleep issues started in my 30's and has gotten steadily worse since then.

Well, time to get ready for work. Since it is Sunday and I start at 6:45 I don't have to fix my lunch. I will buy a breakfast sandwich. It is a Sunday treat.

Oh, still loosing weight! Yay. Finally down to the next size in jeans. This makes the second size down. Hoping to go two more sizes over the winter. I am already down to what I weighed when Jake and I met in 1997, the least I have weighed in years. It is the Dollar General weight loss plan. Who needs a gym when you work at DG? On days that I act as key holder I always get 100% of my daily steps in. Not so much when I am stuck behind the register tho. Gonna try some beginners yoga to try and tighten up the loose flab I have now. The disadvantage to loosing weight at my age. Too much loose flab. Much harder to get rid of.