First aggravation of 2016

It was slightly after noon on January 2 when the first aggravation of the New Year reared its ugly head. I went off earlier in the morning to get a leaking tire fixed. (It had a nail in it.) This was a carryover from 2015 so it did not qualify as the first aggravation of 2016. That still lurked in the shadows like a burglar casing a neighborhood. 

On the way home I stopped at Best Buy where “Jose” helped me select a cable modem for $69 plus tax that would replace the modem furnished by my internet provider, Hargray Communications, which was failing fast. Every modem box on the shelf, and there were many, said: Stop renting a modem. Own your own. 

I took it home, dis-enaged the old one which was to be returned to Hargray and end the monthly rental fee of around $7.00. I struggled to get the new one out of the box and finally succeeded. Electronic devices are packaged to minimize sholifting and theft. It would take Houdini to open a box and shoplift one of these things in a Best Buy aisle.

I hooked it up, attached the router, plugged everything in and telephoned Hargray to have them recognize the new piece of equipment on their end. And here is where the aggravation was born. It is Hargray’s position and practice, according to the faceless tech rep on the end of the line, that a customer cannot own his own modem on their system. WHAT?

The Hargray tech rep and I argued over this practice for a couple of minutes. My warning that I would protest to the FCC fell on deaf ears. I thought about throwing Alan Dershowitz and a lawsuit into the mix, but decided against that on two counts: The tech rep probably didn’t know or care about Dershowitz, and, two, no one files a lawsuit hoping to save $7 a month in rental fees. Anyone whose retirement depends on saving $7 a month needs to continue working.  

I had to disconnect the new modem and put it back in the box for return to Best Buy. If getting it out of the box was a pain in the ass, what do you think putting it back in was?

There was one saving grace to this first agravation of 2016. The tech rep advanced Hargray’s planned service call from “next Wednesday” to “this afternoon.” A four-day advance.

The service man came, took out the old and put in a new modem. After going outside and making a phone call to some Hargray site ( I don’t understand why he went out. I wasn’t going to appropriate the secret code or whatever.) everything clicked and service was restored. 

At Best Buy, the RETURNS clerk told me she knew about Hargray’s position and it prevailed all around Bluffton and Hilton Head Island. She did not know why the sales clerks didn’t know all this and dissuade Hargray customers from buying modems in the first place. 

So ends the saga of the first aggravation of the New Year, 2016. 

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A New Year cometh...

In three days 2015 will be history. This has not been the best of years. Personal loss included a sister and a wife. Personal benefits include good health, five children and families who love and support each other and me, and new friends made and kept. A great-grandson made his appearance and is a loving joy. Out of deference to his parents’ wishes, no one in the family is putting his pictures in social media on the web. But take my word for it he is a handsome little man. Siblings and close old friends continue to do well and we are grateful for that and them. 

As we greet the New Year we are on the run-up to the Presidential primaries and later the election. In this mornings paper a lead story says that all the tickets are sold out for a local (Hilton Head Island) appearance by Donald Trump. At this time a year ago not many saw this wheeler-dealer leading the Republican pack at this time. I belong to the school-of-thought that says thrill seekers will attend a manhole cover opening but not many will jump in. We shall see.

Our country collectively faces many challenges, foreign and domestic in 2016. Some of these are old problems and there will be new ones. Individually, obesity is a major problem for too many Americans. I am shocked at the size of some people I see locally and as I travel around on the East Coast. 

But every year as I grow older, I remain convinced this is still the greatest country in the world. I traveled to Northern Virginia over Christmas and saw new growth and building underway in several venues. Projects I witnessed starting a couple of years ago have been finished. People have new places to live and work.  

I have unbounded faith that we -- the American people -- will meet the challenges in 2016 and a year from now look back on a great year. 

I hope it will be so for all of you and your loved ones. Do the best you can for yourself and others. You will be happiest. 

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

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Network signal ---- re-visited

I thought I had my Internet router strength/distance problem worked out. (Ref. This blog, "Five bars of strength, Thursday, October 16.)  Apparently not as well as I believed. We have a new all-in-one computer in a room at the other end of the house and could not sustain adequate strength to our network access point. I found some loose change in the cushions of the sofa and bought a Linksys Wi-Fi range extender N300. The setup was simple, took only a few minutes and voila everything fell into place. The signal for the network on the new computer is five by five.

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Do Not Call Registry

Your cell phone number is going to be turned loose this month and telemarketing companies will be able to call you (at your expense) and make a hard sell pitch.A note in the most recent issue of AFOSISA Global Alliance, gives this Federal government web site where you can list your phone numbers, including cell numbers, on a "do not call" list. I went there this morning and listed my land line and cell number. I found it straight forward and easy to use. There will be a couple of e-mails you have to respond to; these are to assure someone is not playing games with your phone numbers and desires.

(If you wish to be removed from this occasional e-mail list send REMOVE BLOG LIST to arch@archibald99.com.)

Wikipedia to go black; death of a comedian

"Wikipedia, the popular community-edited online encyclopedia, will black out its English-language site for 24 hours to seek support against proposed US anti-piracy legislation that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said threatens the future of the internet.
"The service will be the highest profile name to join a growing campaign starting at midnight Eastern Time on Wednesday that will see it black out its page so that visitors will only see information about the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA).
"The information will urge Wikipedia readers in the US to contact their local congressman to vote against the bills. Other smaller sites leading the campaign include Reddit.com and Cheezeburger.
" 'This is a quite clumsily drafted legislation which is dangerous for an open internet,' said Wales in an interview." (Source: Aljazeera.com website, 1/17/2012)

In a nutshell this is the issue: If a website publishes intellectual property, be a movie or a song or something similar, without permission, the website would be forced off the air, even if the publication was incidental and unintended. If you did a search on Google, for example, and it turned up this second website that contained the unauthorized material, Google could be closed down. The present procedure is to send notice to the offending website and have them remove the property in question. If they fail to do so other legal remedies are available to the rightful owners. Hollywood and other backers of the proposed legislation say the SOPA and PIPA legislation is essential to protecting their investments against intellectual piracy, which is a problem centered mainly outside the United States.  Critics say the legislation goes too far and, as Wales put it, "threatens the future of the internet."

*****

In a new book Thirty-Nine Years of Short-Term Memory Loss: The Early Days of SNL from Someone Who Was There, by Tom Davis the author recounts how entertainers and  artists of all types tried desperately to get on the Johnny Carson show. In the 70s, an appearance on Carson was the key to success and good fortune. It opened doors everywhere for a performer. One comedian, Davis recounts, had a tryout and used his best material and gave it everything he had. He was rejected by the talent director and staff. Ten days later he jumped off the roof of a hotel and landed in the parking lot of the Comedy Club in Hollywood. He had note in his pocket with his name on it and three words: "I was a comedian." (Source: delanceyplace.com, website, 1/17/2012)


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