July 23, 2017

 Today was a nice lazy Sunday. When I woke up I went down to the basement so I could start downloading a couple games on my new computer. I hit the power button and it was back to the blink on blink off thing. Moving the RAM worked but I decided to move it back upstairs so I could take a look at it. And because I figured the download speed would be better upstairs. I sent a message to CyberPower to see if they know a better solution to fix my computer. After that I went back into the BIOS and saw that XMP mode had turned off, so I turned it back on and the computer worked fine after that. I'm wondering if it resets after being turned off for awhile. It will be kind of annoying if I have to go into the BIOS every time I want to start the computer.

Also, despite moving my computer upstairs right next to my router, the download speed was still around 1mbps, often dipping below that. That didn't seem right and when I did a speed test on my other desktop it was several mbps faster. I then swapped wi-fi things and my new computer got the regular speeds while my old computer was super slow. So, turns out the wi-fi thing I got with the new computer sucks balls. The basement is still an issue but a lot of it has to do with the new wi-fi thing. I ended up finding the short ethernet cable that came with my router and plugged my new computer directly into the router. Oh boy. I got download speeds up into the teens, which is really fast for me, despite the advertised speed of my internet. After that I ended up ordering a new wi-fi thing for my new computer, so hopefully it can get a decent signal in the basement. I also ordered new ethernet cables, one for each desktop, and we'll see if the 100 foot one will be long enough to reach to the basement. If the new wi-fi thing gets a decent enough signal, I can save the ethernet cable for when I want to download stuff, so I don't have a cable running through my house all the time.

I managed to finish a book today, Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire. It is the sequel to Every Heart a Doorway. I will probably read the third book in the trilogy whenever it comes out, but I have kind of lost interest in the story. Or maybe it's just a lost interest in Jack and Jill. Or even more specifically, Jill. I still like Jack, but Jill was really unlikeable. She just became the the stereotypical mean girl who is also under the influence of an older man. And then she has a psychotic break and Jack saves her, even though I would have had no problem if she left Jill for the mob. Finishing this book does make me want to go back and re-read Every Heart a Doorway with the perspective of knowing where Jack and Jill came from. I don't remember all the details but I remember Jill also being unlikeable in that one. We'll see if she gets redeemed in the third book.

I watched part of Scott Bradlee's livestream today. He's the guy that started Postmodern Jukebox and his stream today consisted of the chat asking him to play a certain song in a certain style. And later on he asked for song titles in the style of another artist. He then played them as he saw them in chat. Most of the time he knew the songs and just jumped right into it. For the few he didn't know he would pull up a YouTube video, watch about thirty seconds of it to figure it out, and then he'd just play it in a totally new style. It was ridiculous. He is incredibly talented.

I took a nap this afternoon which was really nice.

After dinner I moved my new computer back to the basement and borrowed the wi-fi thing from my old desktop. The internet still isn't great, and it cut out on me at least a couple times, but it was more successful than yesterday. I played theBlu, which has you standing in the ocean as cool things happen around you. I got it in the free trial of Vive games and I wouldn't pay ten dollars for it, but if it ever goes on sale I'll probably pick it up. It would be a cool demo experience for people new to VR. I also went through the Remembering Pearl Harbor. Another thing I wouldn't pay ten dollars for, but it was good. I really liked how they incorporated real photographs and things into the experience. It shows the potential of what can be done in VR. I tried play Star Trek: Bridge Crew (which I finally got my key for) but my internet cut out and it kicked me out of the game before I could get out of the initial menus.

After that I played several random games before giving Elite Dangerous another try. I ended up getting kicked after fifteen minutes or so because of the internet thing, but before that I was able to navigate the system map with my joystick. Hooray. Now I can do the exploration thing and mark specific planets in VR. The next step is to come up with a better system for my list of planets so I don't have to keep peeking out of VR. Also, when I first got into the game I nearly had a disaster. My throttle was apparently pushed forward when I initially tried to take off. As soon as I lifted off I shot forward, ran into something, and started spinning in a fast circle. I got it under control somehow but my ship got knocked down to 55% health. I tried to request docking again but ended up having to leave the space station before I could request docking again. I was then able to go back in, land, and repair my ship. I've seen people accidentally hit their boost or some other random button inside a station and blow their ships up, so I'd say I got lucky.

It is now time for my audio journal and then sleep. I might actually iron my pants before I got to bed. We'll see how nice my current self is to my future self.