Awesome new internet!

If I haven't mentioned this before, it's been well over a year since I was totally fed up with the current internet we were getting through Bertram Wireless. We were on the 1.5 Mbps download service, and it was slow as fuck. There was hardly a day that went by where YouTube videos didn't buffer, webpages didn't load and the Internet didn't shit it on us. When I initially called Bertram and asked what the hell was up (I didn't actually say that, but I sure felt like that), the guy told me to basically just use the Internet connection directly through the Ethernet cable and take out the WiFi for the time being. I tried that out, and it just coincidentally was the same moment when the Internet was being decent, and that fooled me. The next day I told them about how much worse it was, and a service guy came out by us shortly thereafter and checked out our setup. He told us it was just fine and that they were actually working on a much faster connection that would allow for overall better load times, and he compared it to Time Warner Cable speeds. At that point in time, he told us that they were hoping to have it rolled out by that spring (2014). Now, maybe we didn't hear it right (my mom got the info so she easily could've misunderstood something), and maybe the guy said they were gonna start working on it in the spring, which would make more sense. Anyway, spring rolled around and nothing arose. Finally, around August, I emailed Bertram and wanted to get an update on their work. This representative replied several days later and told me that they were "working on it as we speak", which I'm sure they were. 

Another few months went by and I again emailed her asking about if there was any possible ETA she knew of, and she told me they hoped to have it done by the end of 2014. January 1st, 2015 rolled around and still nothing. Eventually I emailed her one last time. She never responded, but it didn't matter, because about a week into February I decided to cruise to Bertram's website, and for like a half a second my mind wasn't registering their new site and that it was finally here. Once I figured out what I was looking at (their update was so drastic I actually thought I was looking at a different ISP's website for a short time), I started freaking out because the day I had waited nearly a year for was finally here. I let my parents know about it, and a bit later I called them up to have them get that shit installed. They came over about 4 days later, and... then... something else happened. The installation technician told us that our current setup wouldn't work with the new equipment since it's a lot heavier and acts like a sail, so if it were to ever get really windy out, our current pole could possibly lose the signal. I was pretty disappointed to hear about that and have it come down to some stability. I was forced to wait another good month before I could get the new structure out. 

Just before I was on Spring Break, the weather warmed up a lot, and it got to the point where I could finally start digging a hole where the new structure would go. I was able to dig down about 6 inches before calling it a good afternoon's work. That following Sunday I had to work most of the afternoon, so my oldest sister's boyfriend was able to finish it, and he managed to dig down a full 3 ft., 2in. which was pretty damn good. They showed me what had been done, putting the concrete in the hole and letting it heal up over the week then. I contacted Bertram once more and let them know we were ready for some actual installation, and about a week later we were flying high speed on the net. Right now we are on the 5 Mbps download service, and it's working great. Everything is consistent, we get about 4.8 Mbps down and .97 Mbps up every time I do a speed test, which is great, and it hasn't had a hiccup yet (knock on wood). 

Now, let me tell ya, I was so damn happy when it was finally set and done. I was in class when my mom told me they had come and set it up that morning (last week Wednesday), and I was pretty anxious to get home and enjoy it. Having lived with the Internet we had for nearly 20 years of my life wasn't torture, but it made me feel like we were slightly out of touch with everyone else in a way. Ever since, we've watched several shows and movies on Netflix with no problem, gone on YouTube on my Xbox 360 and the laptops with little trouble and everything is overall much quicker. Someone from Bertram did call and ask if everything was going well and just wanted some feedback, so I'll probably take care of that when I get a chance sometime this week. I've also called Signicast twice about a follow-up on my resume that I gave them, and both times I had to leave a message and the guy didn't call back yet. I called around 12:30 on Thursday afternoon and left a message, and then again today around 11:30 I called. On Thursday he said he was currently out, and this time he was in but not at his office. Anywho, that's about all I wanted to cover, keep y'all in the loop on our internet situation and how much nicer it is. Until next time!

Google Earth

 I have been using a Google Earth a lot lately. My group of college friends like to go out for lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I had to drive one day because I'd never driven up until that point, and so I was, as I like to say it "Google Earthing" how to get to the possible restaurants we may go to. It's been a big help for things like that, but it's not just that which I've used the program for. I have a 4-hour break between Physics and Math on Wednesdays, and so I use part of that time to look at different place I know of on Google Earth. I like to reminisce in certain places that I come upon/travel to and bring back some nostalgia about the memories made in those places. My biggest spot of nostalgia and reminiscence - believe it or not - is where I live. When I go to the street view of my house, I can tell the picture is from at least 1.5 to 2 years old, because the Honda Pilot is there, which we've since replaced with our 2012 Ford F-150. I get especially nostalgic with that part because it really makes me wonder what I might've been doing at that time, whether it be at school, at home watching TV, whatever it was, it'd be cool to know what that was. I also like to "travel the roads", as I say it now, to different friends' houses that I now know how to get to, and places where I've worked, like my friends Brandon and Alex, and HUHS, Mantz Automation and Scenic View Country Club. 

I also go on Google Earth a lot more now because of the fact that I have so damn much time in-between classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. It's why I'm blogging right now, too. It's almost 1pm and I still have a good 20 minutes before I need to head to class. I doubt we'll be doing that much anyway. We were supposed to take a quiz on Monday, but there were some people who wanted to review an extra day, so the quiz is going to be today and then the test next Monday. I personally would've gone ahead and taken the quiz last class, but I don't think a lot of the other people in the class really get what we're working on, but to me it's really not too hard. I don't really care all that much, though, I mean, we were a little ahead in Tech. Math 1 last semester, so I'm fine with pushing tests and quizzes back a few days. 

It's now 1pm on the dot. Imagine Dragons are performing at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on June 13th, and I'm hoping to get a number of people from the Rejoice Group to go to it. There is a section with a row of the exact amount of seats we need, but I'd like for anyone that wants to go to commit soon because I wouldn't doubt for a second that some or all of those seats will be taken within the next few weeks as that date nears, especially with how much more fame Imagine Dragons are getting all the time. 

Anyway, that's all I got today. I should give my thumbs a rest before math, I've been writing this whole post on my iPhone, since my laptop is off and it's not worth it getting that out just for this. Until next time!