Periodic Uplink

I got back to Blacksburg this morning. The trip was uneventful. I spent some time unpacking, then having everyone on my floor knock on my door bitching about the network being out. Watched some Monty Python, then nius called, wanting some help tracking it down. With his help, we finally track it down to a rogue DHCP server upstairs. This was, essentially, a router with the internet cable plugged into the WAN side of the router. I fixed it, and people's troubles seem to be over. Starting tomorrow I'll prolly be dealing with virus/spyware-o-rama, as people who haven't updated in a month come back and find that their computers are now ownz0red. Ah well, at least I proved myself useful today.

As per my earlier desires to get a real cell phone, I went to Wireless Zone today to sign up for a plan. Spent an hour there as they tried to port my number, went out to lunch, and then was told that it would be a couple of days while they wait for TracFone to get off their asses and process the request. Here's hoping it works. If not, I'm not sure what I'll do. TracFone has served me well, but its rates are high, even for prepaid, and I can't roam in certain areas. Verizon will have better service, but it's proving to be more expensive at the outset -- I had to put down a $125 deposit due to my lack of credit history, plus a $35 activation fee, plus $40/month for basic service...eek. Then there's switching to another prepaid network. The only other one I can think of is Virgin Mobile, and they run on Sprint from all accounts, which means crappy coverage here. I'm going to see how the number port goes. If I have to get a new number -- for one reason or another -- I'll post it here.

I napped for a bit afterward, then got food, then went over to Atma's to hang out. We took apart an NES to see if we could fix it. We eventually determined that the video board needed work, but it was soldered on to the main board, and we didn't have a soldering iron handy. I'll prolly be going back later in the week to try to help her fix it.

Finally, I came up with some new bio text on my user info page. Feedback would be appreciated.