Please make it make sense??? :'-(

I was at another community today, waiting for Hotwire to come and hook up both Internet and television in somebody's house. 

No, not my house; I haven't moved. I was doing this for someone else who bought a place locally and needed a body in the apartment, as they're not here yet. 

We all know what a mess Hotwire is, from dealing with the shenanigans in my community. I've made plenty of posts regarding tech issues, insights and wild blowouts, yet, there are still small challenges we face on a weekly basis. 

Today was no different, although this is going to be a brand new account for someone who doesn't know from HotMess. 

After being told a tech would arrive between 8 and 10 this morning, a guy showed up about 9:30, backpack in hand and ready to hook everything up. He was showed where the three televisions were and where the laundry room was, so the devices can be attached to the wall (a Nokia modem and an Eero router). 

The tech starts working on hooking everything together and asks us to call the person who owns the unit, so that this tech can get access to the Eero device and complete an account. We told him that there already was a Hotwire account made and we have some information to give him, and he informs us that he really needs the Eero information as what we have does him no good. 

Huh?

We get the homeowner on the phone and explain the situation: the tech is looking for a text code to continue the internet set up, but he can only do that if the homeowner downloads and installs the Eero app to their cell phone and create an account through that. 

Why? An account via Hotwire was made; what does Eero have to do with this? 

Eero is the main box that Hotwire configures everything through. In order to proceed with anything internet related, the company has to go through Eero. If you don't do anything in the Eero app, there potentially will be too many problems down the road with Hotwire, if you need any type of troubleshooting help or need to return the devices.

I said that we were told, during our set up several years ago, that Eero is a Wi-Fi extender. It makes sure that we get wireless internet through out the house. All our information is done through the Hotwire app. 

He informs us that's false because Hotwire requires everyone to install and use the Eero app in order to make their internet run. If you don't have that, you don't have internet. 

I questioned him about that, as I reiterated that the Eero is an extender because we have a Nokia modem. He shot me down, stating that's not true. The Nokia is a modem that may be the brains of what is provided, however, the Eero is the one doing all the work. It is not a mesh / extender. It is the actual router. Without the Eero, you don't have (wireless) internet. 

Again, I questioned it because it wasn't how any other tech explained this to us and we also know plenty of people in our community who were told the same thing as we were: The Nokia is what supplies the Internet, the Eero is what makes sure you get a full spray across your house. 

To this he still fought me, saying that's wrong information. 

I asked him if what he's trying to say is correct, then basically the Nokia shouldn't be part of the equation? That our internet is coming from the Eero only? 

The long of the short of it is yes and no. 

You need the Nokia modem to get a part of the Internet, as it acts as wired internet. The Eero is plugged into the Nokia and makes the Internet wireless. 

So the Nokia isn't wireless already? You can't just hook it up and go online in another room?

Correct. 

(Essentially the Nokia is a hardwired device only. You can't roam the house expecting to get online because it won't do do that)

Well that's shitty, I think to myself. What a con job. 

(there are a few con jobs going on in this deal.. it's a magician's cup special. Watch where the coin is going under one of the vessels.. and then guess which one it is)

The Eero is what makes the house Wi-Fi compatible, therefore, you need an account on the Eero app. This way, you can change the Internet name, password, boot people, pause people, do whatever you want. While being in one room, away from the actual box.

Essentially, the box takes the place of the all in one machines (modem router.. the surfboard type boxes you get from other companies) that you type in the generic IP address, log in as an administrative user, and change all the stuff you want. There's no way you can do that through the Nokia because it's just a warm body in place of having the ability to manipulate the data. 

All of this still doesn't explain why the Eero was being sold as a Wi-Fi extender. That once Hotwire hooks up the Nokia, you need an Eero in any room to be able to get a stronger spray. If this extra box is needed to make the internet, then explain it that way. Don't be telling people that you can get more bang for your buck and a better signal if you use the Amazon backed box. 

Which brings me to another con job. 

The tech today said that all you need is one Eero, the main Eero, to fill your house with Wi-Fi. It has a 2200 square foot radius, so in an 1850 square foot unit, you're more than covered, room to room. By my community overselling the unit (allowing us to have 2 boxes per house), we're being overcharged because each Eero is a set price (1x$$$) with a set range (2,200 ft²). 

This means that the included Internet being part of our HOA, we're paying more than we should for the boxes. All we need are two total devices: One Nokia modem and One Eero. We don't need anything else. The single Eero can take care of everything. It's an Internet work horse. 

Now, if you want to get another box, because you have a bigger house (more than the aforementioned 2200 square feet), then yes, a second box will be needed and that's when the entire thing is called an extension or extender. The second box is extending the radius from the first box. There is no in between. Using the first box and only the first box is not a mesh anything. It's a plain old router. 

But... but... without even bringing this next part up... you can't tell me the signals push through walls okay. We all know (or should know) how cement and brick prohibit certain frequencies from reaching specific areas. This is why the sales guys said "you need two boxes to be safe" (let alone upsell the data speed.. which is another bracket so you end up paying that tier since the community doesn't provide it. We're talking basics here for our quarterly fees). Sure, they potentially sold us something they shouldn't have, but isn't that part of sales? Making sure you get more than what you need? Going back to the original thought of "it won't go through walls", well, tell me why Ed can't get a proper signal in his garage (he has a TV hooked up with a small banger box. Which he pays extra for) because his router is upstairs in his laundry room. He told me this yesterday - he has been having trouble lately, getting a strong signal when he watches his shows downstairs. I explained to him it's because the garage TV is trying to talk to the upstairs units and since the signal is going across his house, through the floor and into his garage, it's having trouble. It's going through wood, drywall, flooring, cement. and an aluminum door. So by the time it gets to him, he could see some buffering and flickering. Although.. thinking about it now.. we get buffering and it's only going through a couple rooms and an open space. It's still going through drywall, but we're on one level and relatively close to the access points. The hardwired Eero is literally 100 feet away from the living room television. However, it's not hardwired to the Nokia, in the laundry room. It's hardwired to an Ethernet port in the guest room (last Hotwire tech who came in, moved the box from the laundry room to the guest room). This potentially means, I think, it's ultimately a Hotwire issue coming into the house. It is basically an upgraded form of Dish Network: blink or sneeze and the system goes out. You're going to have trouble regardless. 

Yet, the fact remains, take a look at Amazon, the place selling the Eero device: all searches point  to "mesh system", "extender", "mesh extender system" and other key words (yes, it is also being sold as a "router" or "mesh router"). None of these terms should be interchangeable, in my opinion. This is what is getting people confused, and in my case, frustrated. 

If several techs are using one set of vernacular to describe the devices and other techs are not using the same conversational pieces, it leads to a very awkward situation. It makes it look like the company isn't training their people correctly and there are some employees who act as if they know better than others. 

Especially today, when I was asking about the devices and the tech saying I'm wrong, even though I said the other technicians were the ones telling me this information. I feel like he treated this situation like I don't know what I'm talking about. I do have to say, he didn't directly state I was wrong; it was the way he was trying to shut me down and correct me. At one point I just mentally clocked out and stopped being part of the exchange; let him deal with the other person in the room and the homeowner on the phone.

Maybe I don't know much, but maybe the Internet doesn't know how to elaborate either, if I am asking the wrong questions to go with it. Maybe the people who come to your house and set up everything don't know what they're doing either. 

Given that I was able to disable some settings in the Android Operating System that the TiVo cable box runs on (yes, if you look at some previous posts, Hotwire uses a retrofitted TiVo type box and runs an Android OS) while the two guys who came out to fix our internet, couldn't figure out what was wrong. I asked if it was a setting issue on the box (knowing full right it was) and they scratched their heads, saying no, they didn't think so. They couldn't figure out the problem while searching through the menu and seeing everything was "correct". I didn't want to show them what I knew because it would have created more issues as they would have probably questioned my logic and I would someone look foolish (me, them or all of the above). Yet I'm sure they would have hated me for disabling some stuff as well. Another tech on another day gave me the third degree about not wanting to sign in to the cable box and use my Google account because we could download apps and make the best use of the services provided. Explaining we have other streaming devices (a Roku for example) and we rent these cable boxes, I question how refurbished they actually get some days, since we've gotten previously loved boxes before (from Comcast) and they still had the other user's log in information up and running. Which showed the box wasn't factory reset or as wiped as it should have been. The tech didn't trust that answer and gave me an earful for it. 

I digress. I'm not in the IT world, doing any sort of IT job. Everyone has to be their own advocate to a point but there is only so much you can fight back with, to make sure you're on the same page as the people you invite into your home to get everything put together need to be aware of any type of situation. 

Nevertheless, the tech today, got everything set up, the TVs turned on, powered up the TiVo splash screen, the Fision boxes logged in to the newly acquired credentials, and he was out of the house by 11am. An hour and a half in and now people who arrive in the house don't need to rely on cellular data from their phones, allowing those who stay, the opportunity to watch the news while they wait for more people to come and deliver stuff to make the unit livable for the owners. 

In the end, with all the discussions on who is right and who is wrong and why the terminology needs to be changed, I still feel like Hotwire is a hot mess because they come in, set up to their liking and don't fully explain everything. Like I said, every human working there is different, so you get a variation of knowledge, for as little as they show you on how to work everything. I know they are on a tight schedule, but it doesn't excuse the way they work. That includes the way they charge you for everything too. 

All the communities they are in, there is a ten year contract and the rates go up a percentage (4+) a year. Although today's tech wanted to not talk about that because he briefly mentioned something about charges when the extra Eeros were brought up. 

I don't know, man. I know I'm sitting here running my mouth about technology and providers, but I really need it to make sense. I was telling a few people, including someone who has been working in high level IT jobs for several decades, and everyone was like "what the actual crazy is going on" because it seems like fakery to them too. Explaining everything that happened and the way things were happening, my friends just couldn't believe what I was telling them. I included photos and videos, and they're texting me back things like "smh", "wtf" and other quizzical messages. My IT friend saw a picture of what the settings menu looked like and he was in shock at the numbers (his exact text "WTF" and then "That makes no sense!"). Overall, the entire thing just didn't seem okay to him. At one point he says "Oh, that's a Mickey Mouse set up if I ever saw one. No pun about being in Florida" because I showed him how the boxes were on the wall using Velcro and staples.

It's how it's done here. I really can't excuse it or make it seem on the level. There's no way to properly show anything and write it out because there are not enough crayons, markers and paper to get it sorted. I wish I had an answer, but this is life now, especially since everything is trying to push into the AI generation. All of today's wildness will be completed more with a touch of a button, just you wait. Then what will we do? I don't know and I don't want to know.

Right now, I think I need to stop while I'm crazily circling around and cut my losses here. My time stamps says I'm posting this at 2:43pm because that's when I started this thing. But it's actually 6pm and I've got to get going. I got squirreled for 45 minutes and had to run an errand for another 15 minutes. So I've really been working on this a few hours, even though I shouldn't have. This is what happens when you just write and lose track of time... 

Until I get back the clock pieces I lost, go find something to do and entertain yourself.

Cheers; 

My blog is loaded with birds lately

I promise it has nothing to do with Alfred Hitchcock. It's just coincidental. 

Why am I talking about yet another feathered creature? Because I was at work yesterday and happened to have my camera with me. 

With the place I'm currently working at, it has a koi pond on property. I was telling my friend Rachael about it, as she had sent me pictures of her frog pond. Unfortunately, this being May and the main company dialing back its employees, there's no one around to maintain the fishies, since the pond was gross looking. 

Seriously; the first time I saw the ornamental carp, the water was crisp and clean, and I could count the number of swimmers in this tank. I could also count the pebbles on the floor; that's how nice it looked. When I went back yesterday, I could barely see through the scum on the surface of the water. I did see something silver floating around, but I have no idea what it was because the water was just so dark and grimy. 

How unfortunate, because these are living things in this box, and if no one is going to take care of them "in the off season", why have it all year? Sure, it's a pretty addition to what can be a nice calming part of a courtyard (there's also a little random flower garden), but if it's only taken care of during specific months, it's a complete waste during the rest of the year. I mean, what happens during hurricanes? Honestly; does an employee cover this thing with a piece of plywood or something? I don't know. I don't think I want to know, after seeing such a difference in housecleaning.

Once I got settled into the office, I happened to be in a position where I had an outside window (we switch desks a lot where I am). As I was watching the world slowly pass me by, I kept seeing flashes of red. By the time I realized what was going on, the wind was picking up and I had to focus on a cardinal keeping its micro talons on a railing. 

I quickly got my camera together (Canon EOS Rebel T7i with 75-300mm zoom lens) and started taking pictures. I really need to figure my camera out better, because I kept losing the focus on the bird and getting the trees in the background. 

At least he came in clear and I wasn't fighting a lanai screen!

I haven't seen a cardinal since moving out of Brockton. At least, I haven't noticed them around here. So we're talking at least 15 years (come August), even though I've seen flashes of red and blue (blue jays) the last few weeks where I work, I really haven't seen them prior. 

It's so weird what we see and don't see. Considering when I showed my friend Cathy the pictures (more in a minute), she said she loves cardinals and thinks the photos I took are great. Cathy lives near "Witch City" (Salem, MA) so she's into some spiritual stuff, although it was my mother who said "someone was trying to pay a visit". One of the guys I work with, stated the cardinal and his mate are nesting in the trees, so it's probably him coming home for a few minutes. 

I did catch the bird in the tree and I tried to get his female friend, but she blended into everything as she's brown / tan and he pops with his red. She was too far in the branches to really get a solid picture, so I won't add it here.

 

As the day wore on, the bird kept moving and the last pictures I got of him were on a stand. He truly pops in these because they are doing construction across the way from where I was, so there are blue barricades up. The way the sun hit everything, I had a great opportunity to get details in the cardinal, for as much as he was moving around.

These show how I really should make better attempts on practicing my skills at camera usage, but also, I was at work, and I know I shouldn't have been using my camera while sitting there, so I needed to be quick (Thanks Jacob and Michael for letting me do it randomly). 

I still think the blue background ones are the best, regardless of how sharp they may or may not be. I did do some light sharpening on all the photos, as well as adding my name, but for the most part, I left the photos as is. 

Watching nature for 4 hours prohibited me from reading, which is a good thing, in case we got customers at the window. I'm currently reading "Architects of the Culture of Death by Benjamin Wiker and  Donald Demarco. I'm not far into it, only on the introduction, but it looks interesting, although a very hefty paperback (over 350 pages). I also picked up "Dark Matter: A Novel" by Blake Crouch in audiobook on CD form the other day and am looking forward to start listening to it in the car because the Apple TV series was pretty cool, once you started getting into it (and needed to focus). I'm ready to see where season two goes. :D 

That's about it for now, as I've got some Sunday chores to do this morning before the rains come in. 

Until I spot other things, keep your eyes to the sky and don't get wet.

Cheers;

A week old batch of bird pictures | Podcast recommendation

 Last week, my mother and I were watching a movie when I happened to look outside. I keep seeing things hopping around on the wall as well as flying into the tree immediately outside our lanai. It was extremely distracting because whatever was moving into the tree, kept going back and forth between the branches and other places. 

It wasn't until I actually turned and focused on what was going on (as if to "turn and face the strange"), when I saw a couple of birds flying between a few spots out back. They either went from tree to tree, or hopped along the wall. Unfortunately, I couldn't get quality pictures, as I was fighting the lanai screen. I was, however, using my Canon Rebel T7i with telephoto lens (as per usual). 

The screen is why the photos look weird. I wasn't about to go fully outside and scare the chirpies away. I just couldn't get a good opportunity to have a photo of them in the tree closest to me, sadly enough.

Photos sharpened and cleaned up a bit in Photoshop. Yes, that's also a flowering tree. My mother doesn't know if it's a magnolia or gardenia, but it honestly doesn't smell like a typical gardenia (there's no strong fragrance), so it must be a magnolia.

I have.. what could be explained in an episode... as a "step-friend". Of sorts.

Huh?

My friend Shawn recommended his cousin Bailey's podcast to me. 

Thus, upon listening to a few episodes already, there is a term Bailey uses to describe friends of friends: Step-Friends. 

Without going into her wildly outrageous explanation (because you'll have to listen to it yourself), a step-friend is basically a friend of a friend that you're not completely friends with yourself. You're in the the circle of trust for your main friend, but you're not besties with your friend's besties. You are kind of in the same orbit, but you're not doing things together. Unless you make it a point to become friends yourself. 

It's hard for me to fully put it all into words because Bailey tried her might to explain it to Devin. It's wild, the way she went on and he was like "Wait. What???". 

Shawn has told me a lot about Bailey over the years, so I feel like I know some good about her (positive). When Shawn mentioned the new podcast, I put it in my playlist so I could get to it when I could.

Now that I'm listening to it, it's truly not disappointing and it's very generational (my and Shawn's generation, basically). I am totally finding myself nodding along with the conversations and feel that every exuberant point the two hosts have, I know both sides and can't say who said it best or who is a victor in the lightning round of question and answers. I've been in both places and can argue a third point a view, very quickly.

Okay... so what the podcast is called, and why should you care?

The name is "Overthinkers with Bailey and Devin".

They don't have an immense social network right now, so the only platforms they are on are Instagram, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. 

You should care because they are a pair of people who are really fun to listen to. They just seem to get along so well as they ramble on about things, while trying hard to not have squirrel moments (there are a lot of squirrel moments sometimes). The amount of crazy they come up with is particularly awesome. It's so left field that you want to just yell at your podcatcher and tell them you hear the voices too. You know full well what those Mandela Effects are or that Walgreens stores really are on every corner. Trying to put all The Conjuring movies in order on how they should be viewed, is the equivalent to all the Marvel movies. There are too many in the MCU to keep a straight face, but at least with the Warren films, the list is significantly shorter.

Shh.. don't give the kids any ideas... they'd lose their shit if they had to move the MCU films around... make the movies make the best sense in order of how to be seen, not when they came out. 

I honestly feel like this is one of those podcasts that have a very basic outline of what they want to talk about, but then dive into spider webs of other side quests. Hence the title of "Over thinkers": They start on one topic, discuss it briefly, something is triggered to get them into another topic and all of a sudden they forgot what they originally were talking about. Mainly because they wanted to discuss their side so badly, the focus was lost. But in a good way. 

Bailey had said something to Devin, of which I forget right now, but I texted Shawn what I was hearing. I don't have the text in front of me, but what I had said was I'm on whatever the episode was, and Bailey was on some tangent of whatever the topic was. I said "girl, we've all been there. You're not the only one. I feel you on that. It's all of us". Shawn laughed because he understood the reference and what I was saying. Again, it's a generational thing that meets every day life now. There are things Devin says that I'm totally like "yup!!!!!!" and there are things Bailey says that I'm like "oh geez.. nope. But maybe in another life". Can be reversed too. 

For as much as they're oversharing and overthinking the topic at hand, it makes the listener overthink the topic as well. We've all been in that situation and we all know what it feels like. These two humans together, having an honest conversation, feels like you're a fly on the wall of a very interesting friendship and you're really not supposed to be eavesdropping, but you are. And it's hella funny. 

Go check out "Overthinkers with Bailey and Devin" on  Instagram, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. . You won't be disappointed. 

Cheers;

See also

• "Turn and face the strange" reference is a lyrical quote from David Bowie's 1971 song, "Changes", from the album, Hunky Dory. 

"It was this monsterous energy that was used to ink the book"

 Actually, it wasn't, but I've got the title track from Twiztid's 2003 album, "The Green Book" as my current ear worm. It's either this or the theme songs to both "Welcome Back, Kotter" and "WKRP in Cincinatti" rotating in my head. I can't help it; I was listening to some compilation disc the other day and it was filled with all pre-1985 television show themes. Then "The Green Book" popped in my head and I'm like, "Well, three ring musical chair circus!". Haha. 

Outside of the tones in my head, we were shopping yesterday and went down the cola aisle. Apparently. it's still Passover. Kosher (yellow cap) Coke is still being hawked on the top shelf.

I took a close up of the sugar content, as regular Coca-Cola contains high fructose corn syrup, while the other contains cane sugar. The latter is also known as "Mexican Coke" (stop guttering) because (closer to the US) countries sell Coca-Cola with no corn syrup, but with cane or regular sugar. Notice the grams of sugar in all the photos though.. some things change, others don't. 

Also, the Diet and Zero Sugar versions still contain Aspartame, oddly enough. It makes wonder how "Kosher for Passover" the drink really is, but according to Dr. Google, as the (fake) sugar has molecular changes in processing, it's considered "generally kosher" (I guess "kosher adjacent"). So the ones abiding by strict laws won't go to hell while drinking their sody and shmearing their charoset on their matzah. 

While we were out, we went to a store that happened to masquerade as one of those bins stores that sell Amazon returns. We happened to hit it on a good enough day when the price was low, but the items were mainly holiday themed (Halloween and Christmas). It was strange, but I actually found something. 

I picked up two packages of a "Sloth Ice Cube Tray, 2.2" Large Silicone Mold for Cocktails" (the Amazon link is here because I left the sticker on one of the pictures). The store seemed to have a few of these in the bins.

I actually got eight made, since they froze up rather quickly. They're cute and I'm using four in my water cup for work. The other four went into a water cup for the gym. They're pretty solid when they're done.

The pictures don't do them justice, but I think it's also the water I'm using. Someone once said, depending on how you filter your water, the more clear the ice cube, the cleaner the water was. I honestly can't confirm that theory, so I'll leave it at that. 

If I were an alcohol drinker, these would totally be a hit among my drinking friends, but I haven't had an adult beverage in quite a few years. Some of my friends gave it up as well. Therefore, the sloth will be used as a conversation starter in water or soda, and I'm sure people would think these are just as cool. 

Even though I picked up the packs for less than the $9.99 Amazon is selling it for, it's worth it because it's different. If there were other animals at this store, I probably would have purchased them too. It doesn't have to be for the hard stuff, you can serve ice in anything you want cold. Just because this mold is made for a bigger glass (for cocktails and such), doesn't mean you still can't use it in water or juice. It would actually be interesting if other freezable type liquids were put in this and it melted in something else (like if a fruit punch were made for a party and the sloth ice was various fruit juices to melt into the punch). That totally would be a fun party trick. 😆

That's about it for now; I wanted to give a quick update as to what I've been seeing and doing the past few days / since my last update. Work has been quiet but long on the days I've done the adult thing. Local schools are getting out in about 33 days, give or take, so summer season is getting closer upon us. Snowbirds left this week and there are still some trickling out. Pretty soon major traffic delays will be a thing of the past for a few months, and we'll see more rain in the future. Nor that we want any storms, mind you, but we're coming up on those wonder weeks and hopefully it won't be so bad.

Big hope. Haha.

Stay cool, stay buzzed, keep singing along with the voices in your head.

Cheers;

See Also:

• "Welcome Back, Kotter" theme song (via Amazon) (John Sebastian's original song, track 06)
• "WKRP in Cincinatti" theme song is hard to pinpoint on Amazon. It's originally sung by Steve Carlisle, but there's nothing to link to on the AtoZ site except covers, sadly enough. Some of them are poorly done, others are just okay.