Nobrainer’s Think Tank

But I never lit myself on fire…

nor other people.

I thought I fixed my high speed internet problem. I may have been mistaken.

After having the problem — no access to some domains — for a while, I finally bypassed my router (SMC) and hooked right into the cable modem. Suddenly my problems were gone. I switched to backup router (Netgear). The backup allowed access to some of the previously inaccessible sites while also demonstrating new problems. It was a crappy router anyway so I bought a third (Linksys) and it worked great for a day. Now the same old problems are creeping up.

This Action Item is NOT RESOLVED.

I am now grateful to Atlantic Tire & Service in Durham, NC.

I was in Durham for an all day interview. I wanted to go back to Charlottesville, and I had a tire going flat quick. I stopped by Atlantic Tire at about 5PM. Their posted closing time was 6PM, but they didn’t even flinch in telling me that they would have me on my way. It wasn’t the quickest repair — it took two hours — but everything was fantastic. The waiting room even had wireless. Even better was that getting my tire patched cost only $13.82 (after a 10% discount). I’d have paid a whole helluva lot more than that so I’m really thrilled.

Atlantic Tire is doing things right. That much is for damn sure. If you’re in that area and need work done, I highly recommend them.

This is an exact quote from the door of my last hotel room: “The fire alarm sounds like a loud siren noise.” I, of course, found this to be very helpful. I’m not sure how I otherwise would have known when the fire alarm was going off.

Hotels are also happy because the move towards being “green” helps them do things they’ve always wanted. Things like reminding guests that expecting fresh towels every day is wasteful. If they said that before, they sounded cheap. If they say it now, they are stewards of the environment. It’s funny how things change.

First, my problems with my routers led me to accidentally fixing my LAN card which I had assumed got fried when I spilled coffee on my laptop many months ago.

Second, I’ve pretty much decided which job offer I’m going to take. Technically it’s the only offer I have, but even if I get an offer from the company I have a 2nd interview with tomorrow, I don’t think I’ll take it. I’m sure it’s a good job with a lot of perks, but it has Initech (Intertrode? Penetrode?) written all over it. Barring major changes to my opinion, my goal is to sign the papers by 12/1/06. More on this in a later post.

Third, I was treated to dinner by the “Initech” folks at what looked like a really nice steakhouse. The filet was only OK and the ribs were about the worst I’ve ever had. So this isn’t really positive or happy except that the food was free. Hooray.

I was at Best Buy this morning to buy a new router.

20 people were standing outside. The big metal gates were closed. The “OPEN” sign was unlit. The store hours were posted and it was definitely not quite 10 AM.

That’s when I heard a lady ask, “what’s everybody waitin’ on?”

The look on her husband’s face was almost equally as priceless.