Back Online

This morning, having not totally gotten back on Pacific Time, I woke up around 3:30 AM or so and decided to take another crack at getting the new cable modem online. Using my smartphone, I determined that the Spectrum website issue was resolved, and I managed to find a telephone number that (eventually) led to a human being, who actually knew what needed to happen. I gave her the MAC address of the new modem (that being the one key piece of information), she entered it into their system, and several modem restarts (and one case of me disconnecting and reconnecting it to the network, and one restart of my computer later, the internet reappeared on the home network. Don't let this summary fool you: it took around and hour of futzing around trying things before everything connected.

I'm relieved that we got this going before I needed to go back to working on the Day Jobbe, because moving the amount of data I move over the smartphone's bridge connection would have been painful.

Fire and Smoke

Some of you may have heard news reports mentioning wildfires in California and also near Reno. When I went back into Reno yesterday to buy that new cable modem, I could see the plume of smoke of what is known as the Davis Fire from far away when I was coming through the Truckee River canyon, and while I was coming and going, it was clear that the fire had flared up and was generating an immense amount of smoke. However, it was difficult to get a picture of it from any of the parking lots around town, as the buildings blocked the view.

( Davis Fire )

The smoke is less bad in Fernley today, and I think there is a chance of rain in a few days; unfortunately, between now and then it will remain dry and sometimes windy, which means that a Red Flag Fire Warning is up, and fighting that fire (which as of now is still 0% contained) will remain quite challenging.