Month: April 2013

I’m out having a nice time and my phone starts blowing up.

Emails are rolling in at about 2 a minute and I’m wondering what the hell is going on.

The emails are dumb and from people I don’t know.

Don’t worry, this chunk above is a screen grab. So the link isn’t live. Obviously don’t manually type it into your browser. I have no idea what the heck kind of viruses you’ll infect yourself with if you do.

Obviously they’re trying to interest the unsuspecting in a dating site. The site may actually be legitimate but the 50 emails that blasted into my inbox were all from different servers and appeared to be spoofed.

I ignored the first 5 or 10 emails. Then I got annoyed, so while I was drinking my JD, waiting for my meal I pulled out the ipad and started poking around. Pretty soon it was clear that these were spoofed emails. the problem was that I didn’t have all the tools on the ipad to really put a stop to the problem.

About the best I could do was just turn off the email account until I could get back to my computer. (Note to self, beef up iPad tool set.)

I fucking hate spammers.

I was surprised at how many European servers are apparently open enough to allow spoofing.

Some of these emails were originating on Latin American systems too. Bolivia comes to mind as one of the worst offenders.

Maybe I’m just cranky. I’ve thrown my back out and am becoming acquainted  with new definitions of pain. Or maybe it’s that I wanted nothing more than a quiet night spent in a social situation without having to think about technology…

This morning after figuring out the scoop behind these emails, I put the originating servers and a bunch of other questionable sites hitting my blogs from Russia on the deny list.

Don’t get me wrong I like Russia, and have had the pleasure of working with some great folks from there. I just don’t see why a site called prostituteks.ru needs to be linking to my blog 1000 times an hour but not reading any pages.

I’d like that kind of traffic on my blog but only if it was really people reading the site. This looks like some kind of bot trying to do something strange.

So I just spent an hour investigating the traffic and then configuring my deny IP list to block the strange stuff. I’ve also for the first time enabled a SPAM filter on my host. It’s a pity, yet another thing I have to manage and maintain simply because some people can’t restrain themselves from screwing around with other peoples stuff.

I suppose, that it takes a factionally small percentage of people to click on a link to make it worthwhile to a spammer, whether the spammer is looking to increase their bot army or scamming money out of the unsuspecting.

Bottom line, if you even think that there’s something weird about an email you’ve received, just delete it. If your friend really sent you something they’ll probably follow up with you about it.

Stuff like this does make me more likely to leave my phone at home, or turned off.

I miss the days when we weren’t so connected all the time.

There are a couple of problems.

Contrary to what the Cable sales office told me. HD is not available here yet.

Believe it or not that’s actually a pretty big deal to someone whose got TVs that can display it. I’ve also gotten really used to seeing TV in HD so this is kind of a bummer.

It also makes me wonder how long it will be until the cable company gets around to making the necessary upgrades for HD.

Presumably that will be around the same time they get the infrastructure improved enough to support things like internet and phone. I’m not expecting anything for at least the next year.

I felt kinda bad for the cable guy. He’d been up & down two telephone poles, then up the side of my house a few times only to find out that what we’d ordered and what the company sent him out with were two different things.

He was very accommodating and connected one of the TVs directly to the cable without a decoder box so that we could see the quality of the Non-HD video.

Obviously I see the difference. The question came down to cost and how much broadcast TV I actually watch. The bottom line is that by going with the rock bottom basic cable package I’m saving about $70 a month.

That’a a lot of cash and translates to a few “Season Passes” from iTunes for the programs I really want to watch in HD, and doing a Hulu account with a ton of money left over per year.

So we went ahead with the install.

I was a bit annoyed at the cable company.

When I called customer service to find out how the pricing was going to change, the lady I talked to was at first surprised HD service wasn’t available here.

She checked and rechecked then apologized profusely.  One Plus was that she was an American and Local!

She was really helpful and basically we ripped all the charges for HD, and DVRs and a bunch of other stuff out of the equation till the bill was less than $45 a month.

That’s still a bit high for what I’m getting but hey, I’ve tried an antenna and the only thing I could get was a Chinese channel located out on the desert floor.

Since I don’t speak the language and they weren’t doing subtitles the antenna option did me little good.

I suppose that I could have sat there with Mandarin fro Dummies and eventually learned Chinese.

What’s interesting is how dramatic the difference between low definition TV and  the Apple TV, DVD, & Xbox are.

It really makes me appreciate the BluRays all that much more.

The cable isn’t great, However it will serve the purpose for the time being.

If I want season passes for my favorite TV shows I can afford them & let the computer download the program while I’m sleeping.

The advantage here is that the programs I really want to watch are available across my devices, the Apple TV, my computer, and iPad without commercials.

Thus far, I’ve tagged but not purchased about $140 worth of season passes. I think that will serve my TV watching desires for the foreseeable future and I’ll own the programs so I can go back & watch them when, and where I want.

I haven’t looked too hard at Hulu but I could probably pony up the 7.99 a month to use them for watching programming on any channels I don’t have access to via the cable.

Aside from the savings, the best part of this is the space I got back.

Because of the stack of electronic crap in the bedroom I didn’t have use of the storage cubby in my chest of drawers.

The cubby was filled with the satellite box, and the cables, and the DVD, and the Apple TV and the Network switch, and, and , and.

What didn’t fit in the cubby, (everything) ended up on my nightstand. You know, keys, wallet, watch, sunglasses, and all the other crap we carry in our pockets.

Now that the stack of electronics is gone,  the cubby is mine. This is the first time in four years that I’ve actually been able to use it for it’s intended purpose.

It’s nice to have a nightstand where I can put my iPad or a book I’m reading down without knocking something else off.

OH and before anyone gives me any grief about the dream catcher on the lamp.

I KNOW… It’s supposed to be hanging in the window of the room. BUT the window to the room is actually a sliding glass door and I haven’t found a hook long enough to allow the dream catcher to be hanging over the sliders without being interfered with by the blinds when they raise.

I just realized that I had the entire season of Spartacus Vengeance on the DVR of the satellite box and I hadn’t watched a single episode. Wow! I really have lost interest in TV. There were even some movies from the premium channels that I was never interested in enough to sit down and watch.

I will miss the next Superbowl game in HD. But I won’t miss the half time show if it’s another Beyoncé debacle.

What does this say?

I’m a child of the 60s. We were raised on TV. It’s been my babysitter, my friend, my entertainer, and in some cases, teacher for most of my life.

What does it say when people like me are so disenchanted with the endless reality shows, and the pointless infotainment shows detailing the Kardashians, Lohans, or other moronic celebrities that we’re actually disconnecting premium services?

I suppose it says I’m old. I’d like to think it sends a message to Hollywood but I know I’m not their target demographic anymore.

I think my book budget just got a whole lot bigger… Maybe that’s a good thing.

After a lot of deliberation, we’ve decided to go Cable again.

it’s not that we’re particularly unhappy with the DirectTV service it’s that, well… it’s expensive.

We’ve contacted DirectTV several times about downgrading our service and each time we’re talking to someone that barely speaks English and who tells us that to downgrade will require that we choose one of the “New” lineups.

We say “ok, tell us about the new lineups” and then we find out that even with the new lineup and removing the premium channels we’re going to be paying as much or more per month than we are now.

To which we said in the past … “Uhhh Nope because that doesn’t serve our purpose.”

Then Mr. or Mrs. Xpenitrylakakakakflem

Tries to explain to us that for just a little more we can have everything we have now, and the smashing lineup of Al Qaeda Tonight, North Korea Today, Nairobi News, and that all time favorite… Allah is Watching & Ready to Kill You.

At which point we usually end the conversation with “no thanks”, “no thank you”, “Really! No thank You!” then hanging up.

It’s a remarkably efficient method for the DirectTV staff to DO Nothing, and yet retain a fairly normalized stream of income. I respect that kind of efficiency and control. If I’m ever in charge of the world I’ll implement this strategy.

Imagine a Tax structure based on this model. Whenever someone bitched, they got upgraded and paid more. Those that kept quiet would be lucky to pay the old amount they’d been paying for years. WAIT A MINUTE!!!! That’s what we have NOW!!! Damn!

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Until recently we didn’t really have another choice.

Many years ago, there was a cable company up here. They were terrible!

In a little less than 2 years, every single house in this town went to one of the satellite providers. It was amazing to watch and should have served as a lesson to all service providers.

Unfortunately the lesson the satellite services taught the cable people has been forgotten by the satellite providers.

A cable company is trying to make a return to the area.

Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t have given them a thought except that there’s talk about the cable company bringing high speed internet services up here.

This is something that the satellite providers can’t compete with.

Couple this with the impression we all have that Verizon isn’t interested in providing FiOS or even expanding their DSL service beyond those that already have it and ….

Well the cable provider starts to gain some traction.

I’ll admit, I kinda like the idea of not having to brush snow off the dish in the middle of a dark winter night too.

So this morning is an experiment. If The Cable company can get us good cable signal without making a mess of the outside of the house then we’ll go with them. Otherwise we’ll stay with DirectTV until something better comes along.

Thing is, as little TV as we’re watching anymore I’m much more interested in high speed internet.

I want a completely ON-Demand entertainment paradigm.

With the exception of maybe one or two programs, I’m not watching much of anything over the broadcast channels anymore. Those programs that I do watch I can get over Hulu, Apple, or Netflix. The problem is the DSL internet speed isn’t up to the challenge.

I’m looking at this cable experiment as an investment. I figure if the cable is already in the house, it will be just that much easier to switch on internet. If they offer phone as part of the package, then I’m going to tell Verizon to piss off.

The problem with these companies is that they forget who the customer is.

I guess I identify way too much with the Nebari.

Yes, I know they’re characters from a SciFi show. But their attitude toward service providers is what Utility companies should remember.

The Nebari command and “Servicers” Obey.

What an interesting arrangement!

Perhaps I’ll start referring to these people as the Nebari do.

“Servicer, you will fix my cable. Servicer you will provide me the services that I’m paying for.”

It does have a nice ring to it. I wonder if it would remind the utility company personnel of their role in the equation?

The alternative is for me to just go full on Demonic mode and devour their souls.

Then the litany, or Mantra “Yes Sir, I understand your concern, I’m sorry for the inconvenience” will finally lose all meaning and simply become a prayer for deliverance from evil.

That too has a nice ring to it.