As you may know, this service is provided to me by a company called Stagecoach Wireless. The service is pretty good, sometimes there are outages or very low bandwidth that make it impossible for me to do things like raid in WoW or watch movies in Hulu (two of my most common internet pastimes). Overall it is great to have a reliable and affordable access point from my boat, in fact it is a requirement for my living situation.
So a few weeks ago my wireless internet went down. I contacted the owner of this internet service who may or may not live there on the Harbor but now it says his voice mailbox is full an all of my support emails to his company have bounced. Now, I have pre-paid for a full year of this service, 6 months of which has been rendered. Also, I am a little worried about him. The last time I heard from him was April 23rd. I called the Harbor Police and they are looking into the matter.
In the meantime, I just could not live that long without internet service. I looked into the available wireless broadband services (AT&T, Sprint, Verizon) and decided to try the AT&T service since it has a 30 day return policy. So far it seems to work pretty well, in fact marginally faster than the wireless service I was using. The major problem seems to be with the limits of usage. I am allowed 5GB of upload/download per month. They have a handy website that you can monitor your usage with and this pro-rated billing cycle is 13 days long. For that 13 days I am allowed 2.2GB. As of today I have used 1.6GB of that watching 7 shows (~4 hours) on Hulu, zero WoW raids plus some light browsing. Something tells me this arrangement will be disappointing and expensive.
Update: The harbor called and said they were able to get him to answer and he is on vacation. One would think he would have someone take care of his business while he is away on vacation, you know, in case someone has a problem that causes them to not have internet for 18+ days. I knew that it was a likely possibility and I am sort of sorry to have bothered him but, I also feel a little bothered. I was already calling local ISPs inquiring if they would be interested in filling in that opportunity to provide service to the harbor. Even now, the problem seems to be either a mis-configured or damaged wireless bridge that took him 4 weeks to deliver to me when I first started the service. I feel like as an American, internet service is an inalienable human right. This situation is very trying for me.
-Aaron
Well, due to some mis-information I went to see the midnight showing of Star Trek on Wednesday. The movie is EXCELLENT though I won’t go into details as that would spoil it for everyone else who is going on Friday. I did make a costume:
Unfortunately I cannot afford to rent the electric wheelchair twice so I won’t get to wear it on Friday, but I did have fun the first time. The theater even let me use the super secret wheelchair cave!
-Aaron
I have some pictures to share. First, come take a look at my latest sailing trips HERE!
I also took a picture of a manhole cover.
Notice there are little crosses all over it. My question is, are the crosses to keep the vampires out of the sewers?
Now, I need some pictures from you. I was inspired by Spinnwebe’s “Left Nipple Collection” and a picture of Brian’s left nipple that he sent me one day. I would like to associate a picture of as many left nipples in my phone contact list as I can. So, if you could please email me a picture of your left nipple and your phone number, each time you call me I will be greeted on my iPhone with a full-sized image of your food-dispensing or vestigial valve depending on your gender. I am asking for your phone number because I recently borked up my phone contact list with an ill-fated iTunes sync. As an example, I have provided a picture of my left nipple that you can use in your phone if you would like!
Thanks all and have a great day!
-Aaron
Forgive me blogsphere for I have procrastinated. It has been two months since my last post.
Work has been busy lately, compounded by a new gaming group that I have joined and of course the always addictive World of Warcraft.
Things that have happened in the last two months:
- I went to a conference in Vegas
- I have gone sailing a few times
- Brian got engaged
- The Donegans moved into their new house
- Randall and Vince are about to have their baby daughter
- I filed my taxes
All very exciting, except for that last bit. At least I am a little happier about where my money is going this year.
Pirate Fest is coming up (July 17th) as well as Ren Faire (Sept 12th) and PAX (Sept 4th).
On a final note, there was an article written about me in a local online news site called The Cournalist. Let me preface this article by saying that it were me crew that were tipping too much grog, not I. We had a perfectly fine time of herding cats and filling me sails with wind. I would like to thank Graham, Daniel, Dowdy and Jordan for being a merry crew.
-Aaron
I am playing this iPhone game called mafia. It’s pretty cool I guess. I played a game a while ago called Tanoth and if I had to guess I would say they were created by the same people. In short you fight people and commit crimes for experience and money and you can similarly be attacked by other people who play. You are trying to build a large family, buy enough weapons and armor and invest in real estate so your family can thrive. It’s a good distraction when I am waiting for something.
I thought I would jot down some strategies that I have noticed just for fun.
1) Don’t buy health points. In fact, keep your health low. If you are low on health you cannot be attacked.
2) Buy real estate. Save up and buy a lot of it before you start buying equipment that has an upkeep cost.
3) If you attack someone and you get a lot of money from winning the fight, go to “My Hood” and you can click on the link to that person and attack them again and again, and you know aready that you are going to win!
4) Always put money in the bank, especially before you fight and before you quit the game.
5) I believe that attack is more important than defense. I have no evidence but I think defense only mitigates damage and attack is how likely you are to win the fight, and losing health is kind of a good thing. I have been putting all of my zen points into attack so far and it’s working pretty well.
The whole “family” thing had me confused at first. What happens is if someone joins your family, your family count goes up by one and so does theirs. What this does for you is give you more people to hold guns and such to raise your attack and defense power. You don’t actually join someone’s family so you are not stuck with them like a guild. That means it is a god thing.
My family code is 379 778 489. If anyne is playing, please leave your code in the comments.
-Aaron
Blow the Man Down: Marooned in Paradise
After our celebration in the year 2008 we again took to the seas in search of fortune and infamy. Not far did we sail before we sighted an armada of warships sent by King George II to take us down to Davey Jone’s locker. In our heroic battle with the armada we set three of their ships ablaze, but from the holds of the Black Shenanigan burst a score of ninjas. We defeated the cowardly assassins but were forced to give up the battle and flee around the horn due to the damage to our rigging.
Having escaped the armada, we’re now stranded on the shores of the Galápagos Islands. Repairs to the Black Shenanigan are underway but for now we live life on this strange and beautiful paradise with strange creatures and a fine saucy crew.
For more information, visit www.santacruzpiratefest.com.
~Captain Groggy Swagger
I’m not saying nobody should do these things, everyone has a right to be their own person and wear what they like. Heck, I run around in full pirate regalia. Certainly a large portion of the population thinks I’m a complete idiot for that. I understand. I am just listing things here that I personally do not find attractive. Without further ado, let the slaughter begin.
Girl pompadour. I am a big fan of Hayden Panettiere, but not a fan of this hairstyle. I can’t put my finger on why … it just looks dumb.
Fauxhawk. I used to do this in the bath back when I was 6.
Stretched ear piercings. I have to think that this particular practice is done more for an introspective purpose than it is for attractiveness, because attractive it is not. One thing it has going for it is, it shows commitment unlike our friend the fauxhawk.
Pre-worn jeans. You pay more to buy a pair of jeans that look old and used. The problem is, those symmetrical bleached shapes and the sanded off patches look totally fake. You can tell the difference between them and actual old jeans so all you pull off is looking like a poser.
Giant glasses. We all know who started this little trend. Who in their right mind wants to look like that stupid spoiled whore anyway? Does anyone stop and think that maybe if they emulate a slutty, useless, annoying bitch that you might be perceived as one yourself?
The empire waist. I am told it is pronounced “ahm-peer” to make it sound more fancy-shmancy. This dress style speaks to me though. It says, “I am ready to gestate.” So maybe the next big fashion will be bras replaced by breast pumps, we’ll have to see.
Guys wearing girl pants. Woo, look at me, I’m a hipster and I can’t sit down without going sterile!
And last but most certainly not least, the purse dog. What more responsible decision can one make then to purchase a small dog who’s sole purpose will be to decorate your purse. These little mutant dogs actually trigger my gag reflex on occasion. Shouldn’t this be considered animal cruelty?
And that concludes my list of recent fashion trends I’m not so keen on. If you are offended by this, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean you, I mean all those other people who do that. Honest.
-Aaron
My last post was too short…
You see, the last 8 years of our government have at its core endeavored to control all of us with fear, treat us like idiots and steal from us. Our president didn’t even feel the need to answer our questions and only talked to us if he felt like he absolutely had to. Our civil liberties were eroded in the name of homeland security and yet we were less secure within our borders than ever before. Natural disasters went practically unnoticed while we sent our National Guard to foreign shores to fight a war backed by lies. We as a people were held in contempt, looked down on, ignored and in this age of mass communication nobody in the world was blind to it.
I talked to someone who is British. We were talking about the election and I asked, “Why do you care about our election? We don’t follow the elections of other countries with this much interest but it seems the whole world is on the edge of their seats about ours.” He answered, “Because weather we like it or not, the United States is the military and economic leader of the world, and what you do æffects all of us.” This reminded me of the world electoral map, a hypothetical “if the world could vote” map based on polling each country.
I have said before how ashamed I was of our government. Every time I saw an American flag I was reminded of that fact. I served in our armed forces, proudly. I was happy to hear the Pledge of Allegiance, the Star Spangled Banner and all that other patriotic stuff. The last two terms though, I couldn’t bear to hear it or see it. Every little thing that happened further eroded my pride for my country and every reminder of it made me sick. Now again, after finally seeing off these wicked men I look at the flags, now becoming more common in Santa Cruz, and hearing the chant of “USA!”, I now breathe in and smile. It is as if the weight has been lifted and I can stop hiding from what I am, a citizen of the United States of America. Today at the end of the inauguration I heard our national anthem and my eyes did not stay entirely dry. It’s been a long time.
I don’t think it is a good time to speculate on what President Obama will do for us. He has his own challenges to overcome. I give him my support and wish him all the best. A quick note though, during his beautiful speech there was a nod to atheists. It was very nice to be acknowledged as an equal by the president. It’s been a couple hundred years since that happened.
UPDATE: There is a parade downtown. Things like this make me love this town.
-Aaron
I came into NextSpace today to see everyone gathered around the projector in the cafe area eating breakfast food and watching the inauguration. Everyone cheered when Biden took the oath, yelling, “Finally, Chaney is gone!” I was moved by the musical piece that was played. Obama took his oath and everyone cheered again, loudly. The feeling I had is, “Finally, I have a country that I can potentially be proud of again.” Obama’s speech was inspiring. I want all of those things to happen. I want the greed, waste and arrogance to stop. I want us to take responsibility, put our noses to the grindstone and become the leading example for the world once again. 
In other news, on Saturday we had game day at Kevin’s house. That was a lot of fun and his wife and him are very good hosts. It is always a pleasure to visit. We played a game called Mutiny that was pretty fun though I see some obvious holes in the strategy of the game. It would take some more trials to see exactly how much they could be exploited.
I also tried out the BBQ last night. I cooked some ahi tuna steaks, melted edam cheese on top, onto a cheese roll with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and some tarragon. I also grilled some nice mushrooms (I forget what they are called) and had some raspberries and blueberries. It was my first home cooked meal on board and it verified that I have all of the tools and such that I need for doing a barbecue. 
Also, I made level 80 in WoW. That’s pretty exciting. Now I can start doing some real raids again.
-Aaron
