Shiny Chrome

When Chrome OS was announced I became immediately interested in it.  The concept of a "light" OS that was generally web based intrigued me and I was interested in investigating it but it was only available pre-installed on select hardware known as Chromebooks.  Since I am a cheapskate at heart I declined on purchasing  a Chromebook.  Over the next few years, Several vendors produced Chromebooks of varying quality, from incredibly cheap to insanely expensive.  The market was all over the place.

Fast forward to 2015 and a company called Neverware releases a version of Chrome OS called "Cloudready" that will run on a multitude of laptops, including my sandbox,an HP 6730b.  I did  not need any more prompting than that.  I quickly downloaded the image and burned it to a USB stick.

I booted up my sandbox off the USB stick and was shortly greeted with m first look at Chrome OS. I ran Cloudready for a  week or so off the USB stick before taking the plunge and install it on the laptop. Installation was quick and simple. No major hoops to jump through.  I was up and running in less than 30 minutes.

To be clear, this is not a vanilla Chrome OS installation.  This is Chrome OS with Neverware's wrapper around it.  That being said, updates are slower (mine just updated to version 45.1.20 and the official release from Google is 47.0.2526.74) so you will  never be at the most current up to date version Google offers but on the plus side, you can run it on almost any laptop.  It runs very well on my HP 6730b  .

One of the nicest things about this OS is that your Google profile follows you so there is no need to back-up anything.  All your bookmarks and documents go with you.

My only major complaint so far is with Hulu.  I watch a fair number of videos on that site and it does not appear to allow videos to be played in Chrome on Linux...not sure why.

Bad Hulu, BAD!

Hulu.  It was my first foray into online movies and TV shows and I was into it way before any of my friends.  I loved in  the beginning.  The ads were short and ad blockers worked. Over the years things changed little by little and while it is not the best choice for online streaming, if suffices...mostly.

At work I used Windows because,well it is corporate America and that is what most companies use, unless you are a Linux  company, like Red Hat.  At home however, I use Linux mostly (I have a Windows box, a fairly new one at that, I use just for a couple of programs) because I like it.  It is secure and almost immune to viruses (or virii as I like to call them).  I am not a guru, just a geek who likes to tweak and experiment.  So much so that I downloaded and installed "CloudReady" on my old HP 6930b laptop.  CloudReady is a wrapper to make Chrome OS work on almost any laptop and it is pretty darn cool.  Running on an old laptop, it is not as fast booting as it would be on a real Chromebook but it is fast everyplace else.  I liked it so much I had given a lot of thought to possibly buying a $250-ish CHromebook the next time one went on sale.  Well, that was until yesterday.

I remembered I had a lot of things bookmarked in Hulu and decided to watch a few of them on my CloudReady Chrome OS loaded laptop, which is essentially a Chromebook (albeit heavier and slower than a regular Chromebook).  I booted it up, launched the browser (Chrome) and then logged on to Hulu.  I clicked on my queue and selected "iZombie" (guilty pleasure...sue me) and the obligatory ads began playing.  Then nothing.  I cleared my cache, turned off uBlock, reloaded the window.  No change.

I repeated the process but this time rebooted.  No change.  I was perplexed.  I know that before I put CLoudReady on this thing, Hulu worked (most of the time),  but the major difference was in Linux I tend to use Firefox, something you cannot load in Chrome OS.  So I went online and guess what?  This has been an issue for at least three months now, with no solution in site.  Someone wrote a JS hack to make it work but my guess Hulu found out about it and broke the hack.

That bums me out.  I was thinking a Chromebook might be something I could use to stream videos but I  guess I will just continue to look at getting a better tablet to replace the Asus TF201 I use. Oddly, it  is back to being slow slab of attractive metal and glass.

Another Android Scare

Yesterday I posted about my near-death experience with my Android tablet (Asus TF201) and how I was able to resurrect it.  I was very happy to have it back, flawed as it has been with slow response and buggy operation with Android 4.1.1.  Nonetheless, I wanted to be able to try other ROM's, just to see if I could make them work.  When I got home and took care of dinner and the dishes, I turned on the TV and sat down with my tablet, holding the power button and down vol  to boot into the bootloader menu.  I clicked over to the RECOVERY icon and it just gave me "the dead Android" image (Android laying down with a red triangle with "!" inside).  It would sit for a few minutes and then it would reboot.  Wash,rinse, repeat.    While the tablet worked, if something happened I would never be able to do anything with it without a proper recovery.

I searched online for a while and realized the issue was that the ORIGINAL ROM I flashed back to had overwritten the "Team Andwook" custom recovery image (heavily modified TWRP recovery image...I think the one I had was for ICS, not Jellybean) and caused the error.  I was a bit unsure of what to do (I am still learning about Android bootloaders, recovery images, boot images, and system images) so again I hit the web and found that TWRP (Team Win Recovery Project) has an archive of all their custom (and well reviewed) recovery images for my device.  All I needed to do was download the correct one (Jelly Bean) and use adb/fastboot to flash the new recovery image.

My tablet is not stock by any means (other than the system image), but TWRP is a good recovery image and now I can (probably) safely research other ROM's if I desire.  I know I will need to be more careful in the future but at least I am a bit smarter now.

Hey, this is how I learned about traditional Linux and Windows...trial and error.  Do you know how many times I have had to re-roll my home machines?

BTW, the  tablet seems to be running very fast now, faster than it ever has.  Time will tell if it stays that way but so far, so good.

I Love It When a Plan Comes Together

I am the not-so-proud owner of a gently used, second had Asus TF201 Transformer Prime.  It was released in the US in December of 2011, making it 4 years old. It is my first and only tablet to date.  I was initially pleased with it but over time it has grown very sluggish.  I kept hoping Asus would release an update (it originally came with Honeycomb but was eventually upgraded to Jellybean (4,1.1).  The hardware is gorgeous but the software is  buggy and slow.  I wanted an upgrade.

I heard that once the bootloader was unlocked, it could be updated to a custom,  faster ROM from CyanogenMod so I began the process of doing updating to a customer ROM.  Word of warning kids, RTFM (read the friggin' manual) before you attempt to flash an Android tablet or phone.  Failure to do so could cause you grief.  At least it did for me.

I am not sure where the problem happened.  I unlocked the bootloader,  flashed in a third party one (Flatline), then copied the new ROM to my SD card.  When I booted my  TF201 in recovery mode, it did not recognize the SD card.  That was odd.  Oh well, I just hooked the tablet up to my PC and copied the files to the internal storage to install from.

I booted the tablet into recovery mode, installed the custom ROM, rebooted and .... nothing.  It was stuck at the bootloader screen.  It would not completely boot.

For about 2 weeks I tried to resurrect it and finally today I stumbled across the TWRP bootloader and used ADB to push it to the tablet.  I rebooted the tablet in recovery mode and I had a new bootloader...that had SD card support. So I put the SD card into my PC and copied the ORIGINAL ROM from Asus onto the card and booted back into recovery mode.  I pointed the bootloader to the new ROM to install and started the process.  For several minutes it did not seem to do anything.  Then the machine powered off.  No OS.  I  tried again, this time touching the screen every few seconds to keep it alive.  Finally it completed and even offered to Root my tablet for me.  Oddly enough it still said there was no OS installed but asked me if I wanted to reboot anyway.  I had nothing to lose so I rebooted.

The tablet cycled a few times then finally came to the Android setup screen.  I was back in business!

I don't use it all that much...mostly for books and for Candy Crush, plus watching videos, but I have been lost without it.  I keep it with me to check mail when my phone is charging plus I can surf the web if I need to.  Again, it is not fast but it is all I have.

Now that I have a proper bootloader, I am going to try the ROM's from CyanogenMod if this thing slows down like it did before.  I should be safe as long as I understand what I am doing when I do it :)

Not Much Has Changed

I know, it has been a while since my last update.  I have had a lot of things going on so now that things are simmering (not at a rolling boil) I figured I can make an update.

First off, we (me, wife, newish dog) drove the Taco to the pan handle of Florida for a week of leisure. The location was more for my wife than it was for me.  I like the mountains (you can take the boy out of WV, but you cannot take the WV out of the boy) but the wife likes the salt life so once a year she goes and sometimes I go with her.  A few times over the years she has gone with friends.  Suits me fine.

The week was nice overall.  We were 3 miles from the closest anything (food, entertainment, shopping) and 20 miles from our favorite places to eat.  I was glad I took my bike because not only was I able to keep up with the company sponsored fitness challenge, but I could do some Ingress (what little there was on the island) at the same time.

The trip was a chance for me to try out two new items I purchased on Amazon.  The first and most important was a tonneau cover for the Taco.  I picked up a tri-fold cover for $200 shipped, which was $50 cheaper than I had seen it before.  This was a different brand but  the reviews were all good.  It worked well enough but there is small gap in the back near the glass that caused some water to get in under the cover but it was minimal.

The second item was a bike mount for my mobile phone.  Playing Ingress on my bike is fun but without a mount, it is dangerous.  I have already wiped out once because of this.  The new mount worked very well and holds my Moto G quite securely.  The only complaint I have is the side mount blocks the "down" volume key but that is a minor issue.

The dog did well on the trip, mostly.  She became figitity after a few hours of driving so we had to stop to let her stretch her legs.  A few times she tried to climb up in the front seat,  which was dangerous but my wife,who was not driving at the time, took care of her.  The dog finally began to enjoy the water after only 3 trips to the beach.  She is a hound and we were not sure how she would adapt.  With no place to let her out to do her business, I had to walk her every time she needed out.  It was not too bad but she got me up most every morning at 4 or 5 AM to go out.  I just took my meds, grabbed my phone, a poop bag, and a flashlight (it is dark at our end of the island) and headed out. The one good  thing about the 4 or 5 AM nature call was I could sneak up and hake the portal that was just inside a private area.  During the day, if you crossed the line a guard in a nearby guard shack came out an ran you off, politely of course.  At 4 or 5 AM, it is too dark for him to see anyone 50 feet from his well lit shack, so I did my hacking there at those hours.  I have held that portal for about 3 weeks.  I am hoping to make it 60 days.  Mostly likely I will not, but I can dream.

Almost all  the Ingress portals on the island were in the center and we were at the farthest west public  part of the island.  Any further west was  private.  The far east end of the island is a state park with a few portals but since you have to pay each time you enter the park, I just stayed  out.  Only a small number of portals are there anyway.

So I hopped on my bike each morning and rode to the center of the island, hacked, linked, upgraded, and fielded the portals then rode home, putting in about 10 miles or so each morning.  Those rides, plus the ones I did at home (planing Ingress in evening in the town where I live) allowed me to meet my fitness challenge for biking (240+ miles for the month).

The food we had on this trip (mostly lunch since it was a little less expensive) was OK but not as good as I have had in the past.  I never had the chance to eat any scallops (my fav) but I did have some baked oysters a couple of times.  As a matter of fact, I had seafood every day that week.

Ingress Update:  I am at Level 11, with 6.6 million points.  For the first time since I started playing this, I am short  both points AND badges to level up again.  I currently need two more Gold badges and it looks like unless I either field and link like a madman or I go in search of a lot of new portals, it will be months before I level up again.  This folks, is where it starts getting hard.  I have reached Silver in almost all badges (that I am not already Gold or Platinum in) but I am quite a ways off from getting those two more Gold.

Since I have been busy with work, a week long vacation, a weekend camping trip, and other things, I have not been overly active on the weekends like I normally am.  I noticed a few of the other agents in the Resistance have started working in my neck of the woods,  which I am sure is driving Hockey Family crazy.  A large part of the city is blue and it appears the Hockey Family is fighting hard for a few portals nearby.  I can see HockeyMan does a lot of work south of us, where he works but I don't see any real farms (of any high level)  there.

Our little L7/L8 Cemetery was taken down again the other day.  What I find odd about that was it was not linked/fielded up so the toads would have to waste a lot of get for little return.  I usually avoid taking down farms that don't have links/fields because of this but maybe the people who took it out were bored.  They did not link it up and they did not defend it well so I am not sure of the reason  to take it out.  I had a few L6 XMP's to spare so I unleashed those to kill some resonators (working for my badge) but left it mainly untouched.  Hopefully the people who took it out will continue to battle for it...I could use the points.

One nice thing about my vacation was it allowed me to farm a lot.  I am not sure why but when I farmed lower level (3-5) portals, I got a lot of shields and a surprisingly large number of AXA's and ADA's...enough that I have been using them to flip portals instead of wasting my supply L8 XMP's. There have been a couple I have flipped more than once, simply because I can.  I will slow down when I get low, which might take a while since I have accumulated so many.

I have been farming as much as I can and hacking any portal that I come across, even if it is low level.  Farming nothing but high level portals only gets you high level gear and believe me you will want some L4 Reso's if you run out!  I am currently holding on to several L3 and L4 reso's to help fill our portals.

The biggest surprise for me was all the MUFG containers I have gotten in the past 3 weeks.  I had (at one time)  11.  I know it is just a random chance but it sure has been interesting.  Of course I just recycled most of them...how many can I actually use?

My  ALS has not been bothering me much but my hand is getting weaker and I noticed my left leg slightly give out on me when I tried to run across the street.  That was a little scary but I did not fall.  I just stumbled a little and recovered.

Well, the hand is tired so  I need to give it a break. 

Look! A post that is not dedicated to Ingress (well, much anyway)

Work.

At the time of writing this (Sept 11, 2015) I am 50 years old (as of last month) and officially have been in the workforce for a little over 32 years.  The first 10 or so I was a blue collar worker and it agreed with me for a time.  But eventually I snagged a white collar job working for a regional cellular provider in a shirt and tie (!) environment and have been white collar ever since (with the exception of some white collar side jobs taken to make additional money).

After 32 years of working 40+ hours per week, I have really started to think what retirement might look like.  I have colleagues who are retiring (some by choice, others not so much) and seeing people I care about moving on is somewhat sad.

Now to be honest, the odds of me being able to retire are not all that great.  Regular readers/stalkers are aware I have been diagnosed with ALS (I am not going to rehash a previous post...you can look it up and educate yourself if you are unfamiliar with ALS), and barring a few exceptions, my chances of living another 12 years (age of early retirement) are pretty slim.  Statistically,  I should not expect to see my 55th birthday,  which is far below retirement age. No, I am not dwelling on the thought of dying, nor am  I seeking to garner sympathy.  I am just stating a fact.

The fact is I will collect disability far before I can retire.  Disability will not be fun as it pays ~70% of what I earn now and my retirement funds are not stellar (although I am ahead of many I personally know).  My quality of life (and that of my wife, who is 3 years my elder) will change as the money flow slows down and the expenses increase.  Thankfully we are debt free with the exception of the house.

The current work situation has made me question the timing of my taking disability.  Work is stressful (I am pulling double duty right now with job roles) with ongoing projects that constantly clutch at me.  If not for Ingress to help me blow off some steam, I might go mad.

Contract issues, employee issues, contractor issues, PO issues...the list goes on.  Most of it was caused due to a desire to cut costs but the repercussions have been greater than expected.  Since the man who was  dealing with a large part of this has taken another role within the company, not on this account,  I was asked to fill it on an interim basis.  That was supposed  to be a 30 day window but it is looking more and more like 90 days.  I turned down the role because I am formally in a global process related role and dislike the regional politics the role I am filling in for seems to be stuck in. I have been asked by at least two managers to reconsider but I am just not sure I need the added stress. My neuro certainly does not think I need to add to my plate.  He feels I should be cutting back some. While I am still very physically active biking (yes Hockey Family, that was me the other night :-) ), walking and using an elliptical  machine at work, added work stress will not help me any as I manage to live with the early  (slowly progressing) onset of ALS.

On to other subjects.  I like TV.  I like discovering new shows.  I usually take recommendations from colleagues and friends but somehow I seemed to miss "Mr. Robot" on  USA.  DAY-UMMM, that is an awesome show (well  at least  episode one was.  I hope to see more soon)!  I was bored and came across the on demand listing for it and gave it a shot.  I was not disappointed.  Christian  Slater is not all that great but the lead character is.  Interesting story line!

Well, now that Hockey Family has found my blog, I guess I will no longer be discussing Ingress strategies here.  I can tell from the past few nights that the family has changed their tactics some by seeking out high point link anchors.  Good job on making the switch.  Smart move.  I will need to adjust mine strategy as well but Wayne, the guy I geocache and sometimes Ingress with will not change his style, so he is on his own,

Wipeout!

I had a wipe out today on my bike.  I was trying to dodge some glass (at a very low speed, at that) and lost control on some gravel.  I cut my eyelid and have some severe road rash on the back of one of my ears. Other than that (and a sore wrist on my ALS affected hand...I am wearing a brace right now) I am fine.  I need to get my new tires on my bike since the old ones are so old.

And yes, I was doing some Ingress but that is not what cause the spill.  I would serve me right if it did but I was going slow and not even looking at my phone...it was in my pocket...for once :)

Living with ALS - The Early Stages

It has been 7 months since my official diagnosis (and a year since the preliminary diagnosis) and I thought I would post an ALS update.

To date, the only issue I can detect is  the loss of a larger percentage of my fine motor skills in my left (non-dominant) hand.  Everything else appears normal, or a reasonable facsimile thereof.  I have been asked several times what that means, exactly.  Well, the best way to describe the loss of my fine motor skills would be to have you put on a heavy winter glove on your non-dominant hand and try to do simple things like button a shirt, zip a zipper, open and close a zipper baggie, tie your shoes, or fasten your jeans.  It can be done but you will have some difficulty.  Since I cannot manipulate small objects, I have to adjust, which is like learning to do it all over again.

I have ZERO pinch strength in my left hand causing me a lot of issues when I have to grip things with both hands (like a zipper baggie, or tear open a bag of chips).  I tend to use my teeth as a substitute for my left hand when I can (sorry Dr. Weyandt) which speeds things up but if what I am doing is for someone else, they probably should do the opening.  Also using my left hand for washing is cumbersome and awkward without the coordination I used to have

My hand grip is limited but is still useful with the aid of  multi-tools/pliers which are quickly becoming my friends.

Typing has been reduced to a lot of improper form but fortunately I don't have to type a large amount each day.

All that being said, I feel good overall.  My sleep schedule has been altered but that is only because our new dog wants to go use the bathroom at 3 or 4 in the morning and since I get up at 5, it really does not pay to try to go back to sleep.  I end up getting pretty sleepy by 9 PM and rarely do I stay up past 10.

The Quest For R10

Saturday morning.

I had 3,718,054 AP's and the required badges for R10 in Ingress.

I needed just under 300k  and had two days to do it (my goal is to level up by Sunday each time I get near the next level).  It could be done but I was short of time on Saturday and my buddy Wayne wanted to perform some person  revenge attacks instead of focusing on points or actions that would get both of us upgraded badges.  That was okay,  I still had a few hours Sunday morning.

We drove up to a local shopping center to take out a couple of weak anchor portals (portal used to anchor several links and/or fields) worth 5k each.  Once we were done with that, we headed to Murphy to clean up on a nice link anchor field near the high school and a public park.  That took a little longer because we also completed a mission while we were there.  At this point we were at about 50k points each so we boogied over to do the revenge attack(s) Wayne wanted to carry out against his neighbor, a mid level toad. You know him as Hockey Man.  Personally I did not want to hit him but Wayne had his heart set on it so we did.

That was pretty anti-climactic (no surprise) so I ushered him over to a place in Plano that had several links completely undefended (tadpoles set them up, I think) where we dispatched them quickly.  At this point it was about time to return Wayne back home (I was driving this week) so we started to head back, stopping only  at a few weak and tempting targets on the way back.  Once I got him back home I completed 1-2 missions in Allen and then headed home.

Sunday morning.

I had 3,838,895 AP's and the required badges for R10.  I had gotten over 120k points without breaking a sweat the day before.

I got up and decided to walk our new-ish dog (15 months old but had never been trained so she is a handful.  A coon hound/beagle handful who loves to chase rabbits) at the park across the street, the same park the hockey family defends with a passion.  While walking the pooch, I hack all the portals to get a little gear and a small amount of points.  It was about halfway into my first lap I noticed one of the portals was a weakly defended anchor portal, so I used the few L4, L5, and L6 XMP's I had to bring it down.  I only had a 3- 5 of each so it took them all to bring it down.  Once down, I threw a few token L5,L6, and L7 resonators and basic shields on it (I had a ton to spare) and continued my walk.  On the next lap  I noticed I could link up a few of the friendly portals that had not been reclaimed by the Hockey Family.  This should have told me something but I did not really pay it any mind.  So I took a few minutes and created a few small fields, just for the points and went back home.

My wife was almost ready to head out to church and I had a small list of chores I need to complete before I did anything else. So once I washed, dried and put away the dishes, cleaned and portioned off the fruit,  and had my breakfast, I was free to play a little more.

My plan was to get to R10 before lunch, when I would be meeting my wife so  I looked at any high point targets and found several in the city so I went after them.  As I took out more and more targets, I inched closer to that magical 4,000,000 AP mark.  I was just 15k away when I went back to the shopping center Wayne and I were at the day before and started attacking portals.  It was not time at all before I hit the 4 million AP mark,so I headed back home.

On the way home I looked at the Hockey Family maintained park and saw all the portals I haphazardly worked on were now green.  I looked at the level and noticed they looked weak.  Then I looked at the defenses and they were completely non-existent!   Hockey family set up several anchor link portals worth 30-40k points completely undefended!  I could not resist the low hanging fruit so I hit just those portals with the last of my lower powered XMP's (L5 and L6...I was out of L7's) and went home.  I finished the weekend at 4.040,476 AP's.  I think I need to thank Hockey Family for all the points.

Seeing all the poorly defended portals made me think that just maybe the Hockey Family is a little low on gear. It happens when you cannot get out and farm sometimes.  Mods may be common, but you have to hack a lot of friendly's to get them.  I don't get the impression they farm much, but I could be wrong.  I guess we will see.  Maybe they will get some donations like I did a few weeks ago.

Anyhoo...later that Sunday,Wayne called me up to discuss if the Hockey Family had been cheating or not (at this point, I do not care...build all you want, I will just tear it all back down...that is all part of the game, right?) and we watched in real time as the son took out a couple of portals that had no real value.  It did not appear he was cheating at all.

After that I gave Wayne some intel on how he could make a large field with little effort so he followed my advice and was rewarded with a couple of thousand AP's for his trouble.

It was a productive weekend.  I have a big hurdle to clear (I need 1 more gold to get to R11, not to mention the 2 million additional AP's to get to that level) but getting to 10 feels good.  I just need to continue to do more of the same:  Selective link assassination.  Hack everything.  Upgrade friendly portals with better resonators and mods.  Link and field when appropriate.  Reclaim any weak/undefended portals when I can.  Recharge resonators of any friendly portal I come across.  And continue doing it.

I made it to work today 4,053,434 AP's, a gain of almost 13k AP's that I picked up hacking and linking along the route to work.

Six Million Points?  I got this.

Me, The Farmer

A big (and somewhat boring) part of Ingress is farming.  Farming is when you seek out higher level groups of portals, usually close together (hence the term "farm"), and hack them for gear.  The idea is that if you and several other put a little in, you will get a lot out, just like on a farm.  8 people each donate an L8 resonator, half of them donate mods (shields, force amps, turrets, multihacks, etc) and you can each hit it 4 times in 4 hours, essentially getting a lot more than you put in to it.  If the farm stays up more than one day, you can hack it going to and coming from work.  Nice, easy painless way to collect gear.

If you hack enemy portals, you get less gear (usually) and take some damage but on the plus side you get 100 AP.

If you farm friendly portals, you get more (again, usually) and better gear, but you do not take any damage and you do not get any points  for the hack.  It is sort of like going to your neighbor and saying, "can I have a cup of sugar"

Most local factions have a farm or two (L7 or L8) they farm on a regular basis to keep them stocked with the higher level gear needed to remain active in the game.  Since it takes many L7-L8 players to make a good farm, there is usually a sense of "ownership" to that farm and normally the rival faction will tend to leave the farm alone unless there are a lot of people who maintain it, then it becomes a bit of a challenge to see if the rival faction can take it down  before the host faction can keep it up.  Part of the game and most of us accept that.  It can be fun.

In smaller areas/communities with few maintainers, the farms usually are left alone unless the farm becomes huge and begins to tip the balance of power.  Up  where I live, there are a couple of hotly contested areas so they never really stay in control of one faction very long so calling them "farms" is not really accurate.

Now sometimes, a group (8+ people) of high level players from the same faction will come in and set up a farm (with heat sinks and multihacks), with the sole intent of farming it for several hours or days to build up gear and then move on.  If you can be part of one of those organized gatherings, get in  quickly to claim your share.

In my neck of the woods we have a small cemetery with 7 portals in it, 6 of which can be "drive by" hacked (hacked from the comfort of your automobile/cycle).  The cemetery has been an occasional L6-L7-L8 farm for the Resistance, lasting a few weeks before someone comes in and knocks it down. A couple of times in the past it has been done by an L15 looking for a nice point haul with a few L8 XMP's...while disappointing to those few who maintain it (3 or 4 L8-L9 agents and every once in a while a few L9-L10 will help) We understand...the agent is trying to level up and this is mostly low hanging fruit (unless we can get enough AXA shields at one time to defend it).

However on a couple of occasions it has been taken down purely as some sort of revenge towards one or two of the maintainers.  To me that is just silly.  If I took the time to seek out every L7-L8 farm that was maintained by someone who attacked one of my portals, I would not have any time to farm!  Besides, I just link hunt.  Taking out an entire L7-L8 farm is wasteful no matter which faction you belong to.

Taking out L8 farms, especially smaller ones seems wasteful.  I purposely left one alone in Plano (75/Park area) and had hoped to farm it but some group on the Resistance decimated it.  Maybe they thought it was getting too big?  Not sure.  Anyhoo, a few hours later the toads had it back up so I am happy for them.  Each side needs at least one local high level farm.  Of course it did not last long as some other Resistance member took it out again.  The next day it still was not back up so Waynea1, PapawTexas, and I filled it out, sans any L8 reso's (I was out...grrr) and linked it a bit for points, then left.  The toads will have it back up and hopefully it will stay a while.

So, am I wrong?  Should the small farms be left alone if they are not a real threat to the rival faction?

I Thought I Said Not To Take It Personally

I had a fantastic weekend with PapawTexas and Waynea1, Ingressing in South  East Plano near 15th Street.  The toads had about 50 L5-L7 portals all linked up pretty as you please.  It was a very tempting target that Waynea1 pointed out.  The AP potential was pretty huge, even for three players joining forces which we do not do much.

So after breakfast at Mom's Cafe in Allen, the three of us went off to link a few portals before heading down to P-Town.  Before we left the cafe, I gave each of my Smurf brothers 75+ L7 resonators (a gift from ViktorLaszlo) to seed on any Smurf portal we ran across.  I was also armed with 150 extra L7 and L8 XMP's as well as some Ultra Strikes from MisterAlex (much of which I still have thanx to farming)

We arrived at GZ and scoped out the portals with the highest point value (links/fields) and worked our way backwards.  We hacked, liberated, and brought on line ~50 portals in a very short time (we did this walking ... need to upgrade our Trekker badges).  We did not waste our time linking them back up because we knew the toads would fight like crazy to reclaim it and I did not want to give them more points than I had to.  This was simply a controlled carpet bombing.

The mid-level farm was being maintained by a few toads, one of which is a member of a family who lives in Allen, who just happens to live within spitting distance of Waynea1.  This attack would not be taken lightly, as it would most likely be perceived to be personal.  And while it COULD be looked at like it was personal, it wasn't...it just happened to be the juiciest low hanging fruit I could find in the immediate area.  It made sense from a points gathering perspective.  There were bigger farms but they were much more heavily defended than this one...heck many of the portals didn't even have basic shields.

This attack also helped contribute to netting me over 200k AP, over 150k AP for PapawTexas, and over 100k AP for Waynea1  (he did not take out as many portals as we did) during the weekend.  It was euphoric once it was all taken down (even though a few toads began rebuilding shortly after we finished).

Once we left Plano we headed back to Allen where we all met and took out many of the remaining toad portals along the route.  This is where I think it became personal because all (or at least most of)  the portals belonged to one family.  I affectionately refer to them as "Hockey Family".  Hockey family was quiet for a while but they went out at 10 or 10:30 PM that night and the next night to begin taking things back.  This is where it gets confusing to me.

I don't quite understand their logic (I am not a strategist or do I feel I am smarter than anyone else) on why they would waste SEVEN Jarvis Virii flipping portals (5 alone in one small park alone), several of which had no real strategic value.  And on top of that, they have a history of flipping these portals (not getting any points for doing so) and letting them decay....never maintaining them.  I guess they could be waiting to build them back up but why waste the Jarvis and AXA on them?  Those are pretty rare.  However it is their choice...they certainly can play the game as they wish.

Normally when I experienced players hit the portals I maintain, it is usually because of the lure of the AP's or because it is in the way of a bigger field.  Not with the Hockey Family.  The three of them (Dad, Mom,  son) appear to hit portals randomly, not creating  big fields, and dropping  AXA shields on them, then let them decay...no teamwork at all.  I mean, if I have a key to a friendly portal, I will remote recharge if I am not  out playing, keeping portals up and running when I cannot visit them.  I do not see anyone coming in behind them to fortify  their work...things just decay.  With many of the people I Ingress with, we go out  of our way to fortify/upgrade portals (as team players and to work on our badges)...upgrading  and recharging any chance we get.  I just don't see that with this family. That is kind of sad.  If they  would think about their attacks/defenses better, they might have more success in the game and in the area they play, but it obviously their choice to play as they like.

One of the areas they hit on Sunday night They linked it up pretty well, but they placed the AXA shields on the portals with the fewest links.  Why?  If I go selective link hunting, like I normally do, I am going to hit the weaker one, take the points, and move on.  Knowing their habit of letting things decay, I will just come back  in a week to take back the stronger one when it is close to death.

The father of  that family has sent me taunts  such as "Sucks to be you since you lost all those portals last night..." and "have fun wasting all your gear taking those portals back..." that I find amusing.  He obviously does not realize I farm almost every day and thanx to generous, higher level smurfs Dragnlo, MisterAlex, ViktorLaszlo), I have more than enough gear to do what I WANT to do on a daily basis.  I don't have to "waste" my gear.  I will just plan my attacks around toad weaknesses. Simple as that.  Have 3 portals linked without shields and 7 others linked and heavily  defended? Take a guess where my spare L6 XMP's are going to be used.  Wasting gear?  L6 XMP's are my daily drivers with my L7 and L8's in reserve for serious battle.  So what if I did not build out what I took down?  I liberated it, left a few L8's and/or L7's reso's to keep the tadpoles away and moved on.  All in the strategy.

Don't take it personally just because you cannot understand me as an opportunistic link hunter. Study Sun Tzu  and then you will understand.

And besides...it is just a game, right ;) ?

Don't Take it Personally

The longer I play Ingress, the more I realize that some players appear to be just a tad too emotionally invested in the game, doing anything to try to control certain portals, usually near home or work.  I have to admit, I was like that as well for a little while but once I started watching who was attacking the portals I was maintaining and understanding the reason(s) behind the attacks, I did not take it personally any more.

Oh I still get frustrated when an area I help maintain gets taken out but I don't let it get to me too much.  I don't have players that I target (even though I have the feeling I have a few who have me in their sights) just to annoy them, although I have once or twice targeted portals that I knew would get under the skin of the maintainer. Of course I was just letting them know I am not a pushover.  I try to limit that sort of behavior because I really am not the vengeful type.

Now one thing that occasionally I am horribly guilty of is the mindless, random destruction of Enlightened portals.  This usually happens when a player out in Ingress Land tries (and succeeds) to push my buttons.  Once I was on my way home from work I pulled up to a series of portals that had been sort of a "mini farm" for me and a few locals and found it completely destroyed and brought back online by the Toads.  I had no idea who did it (I did not follow the comms much at the time) but it angered me greatly (A bad day at work did not help matters much, either).  All that time, all those resonators, mods, and links...gone.  I drove to the closest toad portals and damn near completely emptied my gear collection on a few insignificant portals that had no strategic value whatsoever.  It took several days (and a few gifts from some fellow smurfs...Alex, Dorian, Chris, et al) to get back to where I was before the mindless destruction of the portals.

We all (me included) need to keep the game in perspective.  While it is okay to be passionate about it, it should not be your "raison d'être".

As we get more involved with our Ingress playing, we are bound to piss off somebody, maybe even a group of somebodies.  For me it is a local family  (Father, Mother, son) who lives very close to one of my Ingress playing friends.  While I could be mistaken, I get the feeling that I am their adversary.  I jokingly told a few of my local smurfs that I should take it as a compliment since it takes his whole family to undo just what I set up.  But the truth of the the matter is...it is a bit creepy.

Do you know someone like that in the opposing faction?  When you go hit a portal of a certain someone, do they rush right over (I quite literally mean AT THAT VERY MOMENT) to take it back?

Seriously.

Have you ever received unsolicited taunts on the comms - "It must really suck to be you since you lost so many portals last night"?

Really?  How old are you again?

How about having a toad pull up behind you in their vehicle (at night) and just sit there, watching, then sending you a comms message once you leave the area?

Creepy.

Now, after reading this you may think I am taking this too seriously...maybe you are right...I guess I could be.  It is just a game.  I was warned when I started this that just like anything else, some people take  things too far. I really hope I don't end up like this.  I mean, I have a life and other interests not to mention a job in IT. I may spend a lot of free time walking, hacking, and farming, but at least I am getting exercise :)

Ingress - Level 9

After about 2 months or so of play, I am at R9 in Ingress.  I reached that milestone during my morning commute this morning when I noticed 2 link anchor portals that were calling my name.  It came at a cost...I am pretty weapons poor at the moment.  However it netted me the points I needed to put me over the top.  I managed to get 33k points on the morning commute.  I normally get 10-20k.

I had a stellar week, gaining over 300k AP's (points) during a 7 day period.  I stayed in the top 50 regional players all week as well, which is saying a lot since we have some STELLAR players (DragNLo - congrats on your number one slot)

I don't thing I have done too poorly overall but I have to admit my commute time and gasoline consumption has doubled.

To reach R9, you need to not only get points (2.4 million) but you also need to get badges/medals:

• L09 Agent = 2,400,000 AP + 1 gold 4 silver   -  Level Reached
• L10 Agent = 4,000,000 AP + 2 gold 5 silver   
• L11 Agent = 6,000,000 AP + 4 gold 6 silver  
• L12 Agent = 8,400,000 AP + 6 gold 7 silver 

Getting the badges/medals for R9 was not very hard.  I currently have enough of those for R10 (and bloody close for R11), but I still need the points.  The gap between Silver and Gold is pretty big, so I am really going to have to hack, upgrade. link, and destroy nearly every single time I get the chance if I want to get to R11.  I am also going to have to see out portals I have not hacked before, just to increase my changes of getting those badges/medals.  Fortunately I have a couple of places I can farm for supplies if needed, proving they stick around.  I have been actively maintaining them when I can. 

R13 is where the  ULTIMATE Challenge begins as you need to get Platinum badges/medals to level up:

• L13 Agent = 12,000,000 AP + 1 Platinum 7 Gold
• L14 Agent = 17,000,000 AP + 2 Platinum 7 Gold
• L15 Agent = 24,000,000 AP + 3 Platinum 7 Gold

And if you want to get to R16, you need "black" badges/medals:

• L16 Agent = 40,000,000 AP + 2 Black 4 Platinum 7 Gold

The game takes a lot of time if you want to level up effectively.  I am learning the best ways of getting ponts  but it still takes a lot of XMP's and Ultra Strikes  to do it.

I am sure I can male R12 by Christmas, maybe even Thanksgiving this year.

Do You Love Ingress?

Man, this game is addicting.  I am constantly looking for new ways home to hack/attack unique portals, upgrade resonators and/or mods, trying to link and create fields to help The Resistance keep XM from destroying us all.  I selectively seek out "Link Anchors" which will yield me a good deal of points with little effort (okay so I waste 20-30 L6,L7, and L8 XMP's but who's counting?) and really get the toadies knickers in a bunch.

But with all the fun I get out of playing Ingress, it frustrates me as well.  Not the game, but the notifications that, "Your link/portal/resonator, XYZ has been neutralized"...it is so demoralizing to me.  Probably not for you, but it really bothers me.  I would rather wake up and see my portals down and owned by toads than get inundated with 6000 e-mails telling me so.  It was crushing me.

So I made the decision to turn off all notifications and I have to say I am a happier man.  of course I would be happier if "SlapYoMom" had not taken out the L6/L7/L8 farm across from my office.  I am sure glad I was able to stock up a little at lunch today before he/she went on their rampage.  Well, played, SlapYoMom,well played.

In other news I am just under 600k points from reaching R9.  I have my badges/medals for that level and I am actively working to get badges/medals for the next, before I need them.

Another One?

The Resistance had a hard night last night in the Allen and Plano Texas area as many of the control fields and R7/R8 farms were brought down...bad news for me since I am low on high level gear.  I have a ton of mid-level stuff so I guess I need to go a hunting for more gear over the next few days. Maybe it is payback as I have been on  a link destroying kick lately.

One of the farms was in the Allen Cemetery and it occurred late at night or early in the morning hours when it was dark.  I try to be fair and stay out of places when it is after hours but maybe Allen's Cemetery does not have a curfew set on it.  I need to check.

In other Ingress news, I acquired my FOURTH MUFG container this morning.  Add that to my two
regular containers and lack of high level gear :(

If you are constantly trying to control areas and seem to have trouble doing so, make sure you watch your antagonizer to see what they are trying to accomplish.  I  get frustrated in my Ingress playing sometimes but when I look to see who took out the portal I have been nurturing,  sometimes it is someone who is trying to make a large field and that portal is key to their plans.  That being the case, "link block" where you can to help counter that.

Also try going to portals that are difficult or impossible to drive up to (drive by hacking/attacking) since a lot of Ingress players cannot be burdened with walking 50 meters to go after a portal.  I have one I have been nurturing for weeks that is over 100 ft from the road and since it is so blazing hot right now, most people do not want to be burdened with getting out of a comfy A/C cooled vehicle.

BTW, if you have no checked out the IITC web tool, you need to.  Linkage.

90 Days and Still Good

I am happy to report at 90+ days of being on Riluzole that my liver appears to be in good health and the meds have not caused any damage that the doctor can detect.  Also the meds have yet  to make me sick.  I am however a bit fatigued on some days and I am usually in bed by 9 or 9:30 PM!

My Newest Obsession - Ingress

I have always been late to the party.  It  does not matter what area it is, I am one of the last to adopt to it.  We just bought our first flat screen TV last year and our first laptops this year.  I did not start Geocaching until 2007 (it started in 2000).  The only high end cell phone I have ever had was an HTC One (M7) that I got shortly after it was released (my work phone) and I still have it.

About 1.5  months ago or so I read an article that made me curious about a game experience called Ingress that was made available to the public in beta form on Oct 30, 2013 and general release on Dec 15, 2013.  Before June 10, I never heard of it and at that time was not following much in the gaming community.  I loaded the app, signed up, and joined a faction.  I did a little Ingress playing (doing a mission or two) in the local DFW area before going on vacation (staying in WV, VA,  NC, GA).  When I arrived in WV, I completed a few missions and was able to get to level 5 before I made it back to Texas on July 5th.

I hacked/linked/attacked/modded all along the 3200 mile trip by car (actually my 2010 Tacoma) but did not really get into it until I made it back to TX where I achieved R8 on July 26.  Not bad for me.

Leveling up is pretty easy for the first 5 levels.  I managed to go up from 3-5 pretty quickly while in WV just by driving to and from a nearby park, walking it, and driving home as well as walking to a park that is even closer to my mom's house and hitting it up every day.

Things get harder at L6 but it is still not overly hard to level up.  At L8 the system changes and to advance levels you need not only points, but medals as well.  For example, you need 2.4 million points plus 4 silver and one gold to make level 9.  Right now I have 3 silver and one gold and all the rest with the exception of two, are bronze.  I am about halfway to silver on most of those.

Levels and needed AP/Medals:

• L1 Agent = 0 AP
• L2 Agent = 2,500 AP
• L3 Agent = 20,000 AP
• L4 Agent = 70,000 AP
• L5 Agent = 150,000 AP
• L6 Agent = 300,000 AP
• L7 Agent = 600,000 AP
• L8 Agent = 1,200,000 AP
• L9 Agent =  2,400,000 AP + 1 gold 4 silver
• L10 Agent = 4,000,000 AP + 2 gold 5 silver
• L11 Agent = 6,000,000 AP + 4 gold 6 silver
• L12 Agent = 8,400,000 AP + 6 gold 7 silver
• L13 Agent = 12,000,000 AP + 1 Platinum 7 Gold
• L14 Agent = 17,000,000 AP + 2 Platinum 7 Gold
• L15 Agent = 24,000,000 AP + 3 Platinum 7 Gold
• L16 Agent = 40,000,000 AP + 2 Black 4 Platinum 7 Gold

I have managed to recruit several players in several states (WV, GA, and TX) and so far they all are enjoying the experience.

I have to say I am completely engrossed in this activity and have met a few players without attending any functions, although I hope to attend at least one in the future.

More Links

Google Help Page (Duh)
Field Guide (slightly out dated)
Wikia page
Ingress Intel Total Conversion (neat Intel page hacks)
Niantic Project (Older)
Decode Ingress (Very Helpful)

Labcorp, Where for Art Though/Here Comes the Rain Again...

After and insanely wet (and record setting) spring here in North Texas (NTX), Tropical Storm "Bill" will be making landfall shortly and is expected to drench us with 2-5 inches of rain.  If it was going to happen I wish it would have happened last week.  I need to get my neighbor's grass cut before I hit the road on Saturday and from the looks of things it might be too wet to cut before I leave and that will be bad.  All that water and the heat we have already been seeing (mid 90's each day) will create a humid environment just perfect for the grass to take off.  Good news for the grass seed we just put down but bad news for my grass cutting.

As previously posted, I need to go to Labcorp each month to have blood tests performed to make sure the Riluzole I am taking does not destroy my liver.  Each month a couple of days after the blood is drawn, the results are posted online.  Last month the results never made it online but were sent to my doc so at least he knew what the results were.  After opening a case with Labcorp the results were posted and due to the way the e-mail was phrased I don't think they ever would have shown up had I not contacted them.  Oh, my liver function is still within the normal range, although it did go up a few points.  Nothing to fear.  I can still continue to take my meds.

I also now have my meds send directly from my Insurance company to me every three months.  It is $10 less than the cost of going to the local pharmacy (I use Walmart normally because they are close) and they are shipped free.  The drawback is someone needs to be here to sign for them.  Normally that is not an issue because my wife is home but sometimes that is not always the case.

My wife did some pet sitting last week.  The three legged monster known as "Spunky" spent a week at our place and for the most part was very well behaved. He is an attention fiend and since he did not get as much from us as he normally gets from his owners, he began to act up the last three days he was with us.  He began to whine at night when we put him in his cage (he was fine the first few nights) and then began getting into the potted plants my wife has in the open dining area.  Spunky is now home with his people and our house is back to normal.

Saturday I start my  road trip to visit family and friends on/near the east coast. It is an aggressive itinerary, with stops in 4 states over a 2 week period.  I am staying about a week in WV with mom, visiting family and childhood friends.  Then the following week I am driving to VA to spend a few nights with one of the first people I ever met when I moved to NC.  He and I have been friends as long as we have known each other, which is over 20 years.  I don't get to see him very often but since I have been diagnosed with ALS and he is a good friend I wanted to do everything in my power to stop by and see him at least one more time.

After a short stay in VA, I will cruise down to NC and try to meet up with another friends and former roommate if time permits.  Then I am off to GA to visit a former classmate and coworker whom I have not seen in at least 20 years.  He too, has graciously opened up his home to allow me a good night's sleep while on the road.  Not only is this a money saver, but it is safer and more comfortable. It will be so nice to see everyone again.

My TV watching has tapered off quite a bit with my DVR almost empty with sole exception of the year+ backlog of Cutthroat Kitchen episodes my wife has not watched yet.  I recently started recording "Texas Rising" and a new mini-series on AMC about the American Mob.  It started last night and runs for 8 episodes.

I am quickly losing my love for the Game Of Thrones TV series.  maybe I am just too much of a book purest but the show just does not do anything for me anymore.  I tore through the books at a frenetic pace, much like I enjoyed the first 2-3 seasons of the TV show but now my desire for the show has waned greatly.  It still is visually stunning but the story arcs are not what I want to see.

All Appears To Be Good

Back on May 20th I had my 3 month follow-up with my Neuro/ALS specialist (and an intern) to evaluate my condition's progression.  It appears to be a bit of a good news/bad news situation.

The bad news:  My left hand is noticeably worse than it was in February.  This makes typing much harder and very tiring after just a few minutes.  Also my hand cramps up all the time making life even more interesting.

The good news:  They cannot see any obvious degradation in any other part of my body.  I am still swallowing, breathing, and walking normally.  This would appear to be good news as the disease does not appear to be spreading yet.

No one said ALS was fun.

Pictures for reference

Atrophy	Holding it flat	Pointing

Scary Dude at the Movies

It was a rainy weekend (May 9-10) in the NTX (North Texas) region and with that I decided to be lazy. I did  little to no housework slept in a bit, breakfast with friends, a little geocaching (with some poison ivy as a result) caught up on some older episodes of Archer (bad stuff but funny) and on Sunday I decided to go to the movies to see The Avengers:  Age of Ultron.  I won't go into detail on the movie because to I am not sure I could give a fair review but I will say this:  James Spader makes the movie, at least to me.

I arrived at the theater early, sat down, and watched TA:AoU, enjoying Ultron's facial expressions and head movement, which were very much like James Spader himself, as he is on NBC's, "The Blacklist".  During the movie it was raining quite hard and when I exited the theater I noticed the park nearby was flooded due to the overflowing of Wilson creek.  I snapped a few photos and drove off to grab a bite to eat before the next movie started (which by the way I had no idea I would be seeing but once I saw it was playing I had to make the time to see it).

I grabbed a quick bite at McDonald's, eating a 1/3 sirloin burger (I think), some fries, and a cup of the worst tasting iced tea I have ever had in recent memory (typically McD's ice tea is pretty good, albeit a bit sweet).

I arrived back at the theater with about 30 minutes to spare before the next showing of "Ex_Machina" started.  I had spotted the trailer online and was intrigued after watching it a few times.  I bought my ticket ($3.40 matinee, again!  Two movies for $6.80) and proceeded to find a seat.  When I got in the theater, it was completely empty so I find my favorite spot (3/4 of the way back, one seat left of center) and sit down.  I am in my seat for all of 5 minutes when voice boomed out, "HEY!  When does the movie start?"  I turned around and see a a scary looking man who looks a lot like "Bubba" from the movie "Forrest Gump" standing in the aisle.  I politely told him it started at 2:05 and he then asked me what time it was now.  I replied it was about 1:30 and he disappeared.  Wow, that was odd.

10 minutes later Scary Dude comes back in the still empty theater and sits down in the seat, RIGHT NEXT TO ME.  He asks me if I have a car.  He asks me where I live.  He asks me if he gives me 5$ if I will give him a ride.  This man is scary looking big.  I am betting he can snap me like a twig.

Yes I have a car.  I lie about where I live.  Sorry, I do not think it is safe to ride with strangers, so no, I will be unable to give him a ride.  Nothing personal.  He could be a kid, male, female, black, white, young, old, whatever...I do not give rides.

He then goes on to tell me he is an out patient at a local hospital and he is on meds to keep from becoming paranoid.  He assures me he is not paranoid at this moment but he will need to get home shortly after the movie to take his meds on time.  He also says he lives very close to his church which is just up the street.  He also states he does not want to walk in the rain.  I can feel for him there...been there, done that.

More people come in to the theater including a family of four (with the children being preteens, it would appear), all sitting at various spots...no one group sitting all that close to another with the exception of the family of four, sitting in front of me and Scary Dude.   Side note, a movie rated "R" that states it has nudity, language and sexual content is really not appropriate for preteens in my opinion, but that is just me.

He goes on to tell me his pastor (he tells me the name of his pastor and the church he attends) dropped him off after church because he wanted to go see a movie.  Knowing what little I know about this movie, I am not sure this is the best choice for my scary looking friend, but I am not passing judgement.  All I know is that he makes me very ill at ease.

He continues to make small talk while the pre-movie attractions play.  He asks me if the movie is rated "R" and how long it will last.  He even goes as far as making a phone call while on speakerphone.  The call was to someone who was going to get a message to he sister to come pick him up...which I hope she did.

Finally the lights go out and the trailers for upcoming movies.  Scary dude gets up a and leaves again and deep down I am hoping he will forget which movie he was in.  There are 14 rooms in this theater...one can hope!  Alas I was not so lucky.

Scary dude comes in moments before the movie starts and sits down one seat away from me, despite the vast availability of empty seats scattered around the room.  During the movie he leaves and returns at least 5 times, always returning to the same seat one down form me.  He makes comments here and there and I begin to realize Scary dude probably is not dangerous, but he might have a chemical imbalance and possibly mild mental retardation.

Upon return from his last venture out of the theater, he rather loudly announces, "That dude got drunk while I was gone!", referring to one of the main characters in the movie who was a heavy drinker.  I realize at this point Scary Dude has no idea what the movie is about.  If you walk away from it you will become lost.  He just seems to be here to pass the time.

The movie is finally over and since there is no one in the row behind me, I jump the seat and move as fast as I can to the exit and then leave the building despite the fact I have to urinate like a Russian race horse.  I do not want to take a chance of getting hung up talking to Scary Dude.

A Visit With the New Neighbors

October-November  of 2014 my lovely neighbor Pam sold her home to a family from Garland, TX.  I met the family while I was performing the last lawn mowing of the season.  I had been cutting Pam's grass for 10+ years and continued to cut it while it was rented out to her friends until  the last tenant left.  But I digress.  This post is about my new neighbors, not their lawn, although their lawn plays into this post a bit.

When I met my new neighbors, I detected the accent, Eastern European I had guessed but was not sure which country) so I asked and the woman, Maggy, almost sheepishly said, "Polish".  Working in a global company has afforded me the luxury of speaking with and meeting people from all over the world, and that is no exaggeration. So when this woman tells me she and her family is Polish, I am happy to add them to our neighborhood melting pot.

Maggie* introduced me to her mother (or mother in law, not sure), her children (Kam, 10 and Nat, 8) and her husband, Walter.  All seemed a bit shy and the children were very well behaved.  They thanked me for mowing the grass (I do not think they knew I was being paid for it and to  be honest it was in very bad shape by the time I was asked to cut it) and little was said other than simple introductions.

I saw them off and on over the next few months and since we had a wet winter and spring, I saw less of them than I would have normally.  That all changed a week or two ago  when Walter began working out in the yard doing some much needed landscaping and then assembling a plastic shed near their driveway.

While Walter was working on his shed with his wife I came over to give them a hand after I had finished mowing another neighbor's yard.  I could not perform any fine motor skills while helping him but I was  able to hold things, hand him tools and fasteners, as well as give him some insight/advice when needed.  They had the assembly  instructions but Walter did not seem to want/need them and his wife was having a hard time understanding them.  Since I  had put one of these together many years before I figured my assistance was not going to be wasted.

I helped them for a couple of hours until it became too dark to work effectively.  They thanked me and I said my goodbyes.

During the next week (in between storms and windy weather) Walter would be in the yard finishing up his work on the shed by adding a stone border around it as well as planting some bushes and placing a park bench beside it so he and I could "have a beer or glass of wine"  together or for the kids to rest on. I thought that nice. 

Last night I took a 2 mile walk and on my way back noticed Walter had a a large pile of landscaping material sitting on his sidewalk and he was busy digging out the flower beds and setting stones in place to create a border.  I went over to say hi and we ended up chatting for about 2 hours.

Spending this time with him was almost a bonding moment.  I learned a lot more about him in that time then I did all the other time put together.

I learned he has a 23 year old son whom he does not get to see much.  It was not clear if he was married to his son's mother or not, but I was informed that Maggie thought of him as a son early on before she and Walter had kids.

Maggie carries a nice iPhone 6+ but hardly ever texts or talks on it.  The kids both have phones but only one (the little girl, Nat) likes to talk or text.   The boy, Kam, is like his mother and does not use it to talk or text much.

Walter has an older brother who was once quite an athlete until he was diagnosed with Leukemia.  Walter told me that he did not take traditional medicine but has kept the disease in check  with herbs his mother told him about.

Walter and Maggie lived in Michigan for some time but moved to Texas 8-10 years ago.  He stated the area they lived in was nice but a "negative element" started moving in and over the years the neighborhood became very run down with no one maintaining their property.  I have read this is common in certain neighborhoods in Michigan but now I have a first hand witness to this to back it up.

Walter and the kids never seem to change how they look when I see them but Maggie looks different every  time I see her.  The first time she had just came from work, so she was dressed business casual but the next time I saw her up close she was working in the yard and really had "dressed down" so I was not sure it was her until she spoke.

He really works hard on household projects  until they are completed.  He has done quite a bit of updating in the house since they have moved in.  He also tends to rush into things without any real plan, much to his wife's dismay.  She did not want him to start on the landscaping until the fall now she is upset they have to finish it now so it will not be an eyesore all summer long.

Maggie's English is much better than Walter's.  It is not that he is hard to understand...he just has a smaller vocabulary.  I did a lot of filling in the blanks for him last night while we were talking, unlike the evening we worked on his shed when he spent most of the time speaking in Polish and his wife had to translate.

I also think that Walter does not have a job outside the house unless it is part time as I have been home several times during the day (because of doctor appointments,  usually) and he is almost always there, or at least his truck is.  I take it her pay must be good  to afford a big 4 wheel drive truck and a econo-box for her to drive, plus a 200k home and his huge collection of tools and the  improvements they have already done on their home.

As the evening came to a close last night, his wife and kids came home from some athletic event (track and field, I think) and we all said hi to each other.  She ignored all Walter's texts and calls that he sent asking her for input on the landscaping so we spent a lot of time talking while we waited for her to respond or return home.  When she did manage  to get home I kept joking with her and Walter, caller her "boss" and asking what we needed to do next.

I think I am going to like my new neighbors.


*Short versions/alternatives to their Polish names

The Pain and Agony of an AT&T U-verse contract renewal

April 2015.  I was dreading April because my contract with AT&T U-verse was expiring and I would either need to call  AT&T and try to haggle for a better rate or just pay the inflated price.  I remember the last contract negotiation, but not clearly.  I know I was on the phone for at least 15 minutes talking to someone who said they could help me then they transferred me to someone else who asked the same questions all over again.  I did not like it then and I was dreading it now, but at $155 (this includes ~ $22 in taxes and fees...thanx AT&T) a month for TV (U200) and internet (18 meg download speed) was too high for my taste.  I record a lot but to be honest a lot of what I record I could catch on demand from the websites or watch on Hulu.  I don't watch a lot of "live" TV but every now and then I binge on HDTV or Food network or even SyFy when the weather sucks too much to be outside.  We don't "need" TV but it is easier than trying to cut the cord and have my wife learn to use YAED (Yet Another Electronic Device) and if I can get the price close to $125-130 a month she will not complain too much about it.

I have a lull at work so I look up my info, get my account number, and call AT&T customer service.  I follow the voice IVR (to their credit it worked without a hitch) to cancel my TV service and finally get connected to Max* who asks me why I am cancelling. I tell him the current, non-promo rate is too high and if I have a choice, I will keep internet over TV service.  "I completely understand that, sir" he says...about 50 times over the course of the next 15 minutes.

He tells me they have an offer for U300 (includes Skinemax, Showtime, and Starz) for only $119 a month (which is a good deal but for my wife, it is no bueno) and I tell him that if he did the math, that is not cheaper than my last deal (my last promotion was $131, including taxes and fees so if you add the $119 plus the ~$20 in fees it goes up to about $140 which is 1bout $10 more than I pay now).  He then has the balls (maybe he is just not fully aware of the pricing) that the $119 Includes all fees...the only thing extra would be tax and he goes to look at my bill and see the tax is generally low.

I explain to him that I am pretty sure his $119 does not include the fees but if he will get that to me in writing I will seriously consider it (which I knew he could not so I was not worried there).  He actually argues with me for 5 minutes or so about this (He does not call it "arguing", he calls it "educating" me.  After a while he gives up and tells me he is not sure what he can do so I tell him that if he can get me a promo on U200,with the speed of internet I have now, I will keep the service.  If not, I will be just as happy to cancel and look elsewhere for TV service.  That is when he tells me he has the exact same package I have now for $109 a month plus...wait for it...taxes and fees (amazing how the fees were there all along...)  which  puts me just at what I am paying now, give or take a buck or two.

At this point I think I am finished BUT NO!  THERE'S MORE!  Tell them what else happens, Don!

Now I have to sit and listen to his home phone service sales pitch and when that is over, how he can  get me an iPad in an assortment of colors if I want one, with data service for when I am out of wi-fi range.  I politely listen and finally when he finishes I tell him we already have a tablet, and laptops so he goes ON to tell me he can sell me data.  All the time saying, "I completely understand" and how he is just educating me on the new technology, you know  because I am such a Luddite.

After 15 of the most painful minutes in my life are over, he asks me if he can do anything else.  I really want to say "NO!" but I still need to know what my new bill will be, so I ask him to recalculate it and after a couple of minutes he says, "Sir, you will not have to guess what the next bill will be.  I am going to give you XYZ credit and you only need to send in $109.00.  The following bill will be on the regular billing cycle and you will have to pay $109.00 plus taxes and fees."  It may have only been 16 minutes, but it felt like an hour.  Honestly, my workouts hurt less than these calls do.

I know why they do things like they do, but I wish it was not so.  It would be so much nicer to get a "good customer credit/rate adjustment" once a year instead of the torture we have to endure.  I don't want to be rude but my time is valuable to me...I do not want to spend it on the phone with someone who "completely understands" and "completely appreciates me", at least in  scripted form.

Well, at least that is over with for another year.







*The name he used, which may or may not be real so I have no bones about using it here.

Lunch With Former Colleagues

Yesterday turned out to be a pretty good day over all.  I few former colleagues and I decided to get together for lunch at a more upscale Tex-Mex place about 30 min from my work.  I know for most people that seems illogical but my plan was to work from home the second half of the day since my wife would be out running errands (and we cannot be in the same house when I am working from home...she has trouble understanding the "working" part of "working from home").

I met Shannon and Gary at Casa Milagro at noon and we were seated immediately.  We ordered and in a short time our food was served.  The brisket taco platter I ordered was very good (the rice and beans were pedestrian but the brisket was awesome and the tacos were not soggy at all) and we spent the next 1.5 hours eating,  talking and catching up.  Everyone seemed to enjoy their meal.  The location was Shannon's idea, as her out of state parents eat there every time they come in to visit and love the food.  I had to admit that it was not as uppity as I had thought and the lunch menu prices were reasonable (my meal was $12 including tip).

Gary was not aware of my diagnosis so  he was quite speechless when I told him.  He event went as far as to say, "I am at a loss for words".  He even sent me an e-mail later that afternoon  telling me if I needed anything at all, just to let him know.  I knew he was a nice guy but that act of kindness  was very touching...we are not "close" but did hang out on coffee breaks together when he worked here.

Shannon already knew since we have been keeping in touch so she was not surprised although I think the condition of my left hand caught her off guard.  I do a good job of hiding the inefficiency of the limited appendage  so most people do not know until it is pointed out to them.

I like both Shannon and Gary.  Gary is a quiet guy from Shreveport,LA and is one of the few people I have ever met that uses a knife and fork when eating a sandwich. I guess he was raised a little differently than I was.  he does not come across as better than anyone else, but he does prefer the finer things in life.

Shannon has lived in Colorado,  Louisiana, and Texas and in a few months will be moving to Washington state to be closer to her family.  She is one of the most independent women I know (she don't need no man at all ...poor grammar intended).  She has a very  big personality and it can rub a lot of people the wrong way.  I was one of the few people sad to see her go,  prolly because she was not a sheeple and questioned stupid decisions  and was not quiet when others would back down.  I am going to miss her when she leaves.

Lunch with those two was a highlight of my week.  We have made a pact to go out to lunch more often  until Shannon moves then Gary and I will still prolly get together once in a while as long as I am still able.

The next event I  am really looking forward to is my trip to WV, although telling mom and my extended family about my ALS will not be pleasant, the time with friends will be,  I am planning on swinging through VA on the way back and hanging out with my buddy who lives there.  I am going to take him geocaching  and he is going to take me to the gun range (I have never fired a handgun before).  We hope to be able to meet up with our former roommates for lunch if that is in the cards. I expect it will be an eventful trip.

30 days - Liver Function Looks Good

I just received my results from the first liver function blood test, which has to be done every 30 days to make sure the Riluzole is not destroying my liver.  The results were basically the same as the "baseline" score that I received prior to taking the drug.  The liver function test has three parts and they were all normal.  One score went up by one, another went down by one, and another stayed the same.   It appears all is well as they are all within standard parameters.

Just Not In The Mood / More Rain

I am going to be honest and say that I have not been overly motivated to do much of anything lately...well at least the last two weeks.  I am not really motivated at work and that is partly because my global manager has been on vacation and not available for input on a project he has me working on.  He says that I can pretty much do what I want but I am not feeling very inspired.

Even something that I love, geocaching, has not provided much joy to me as of late.  I admit the weather has been wet (a bit of an oddity in Texas) and I am not a fan of tromping around in the muck to look for Tupperware hidden in the woods.  Normally, my wife has trouble keeping home and away from geocaching but lately I can't seem to get motivated much to leave the house outside of going to work or the story and an occasional walk  or yard work.

I am sure this is due to my near constant reminders (cramping, twitching, hand claw) of my ALS. These symptoms appear to be getting worse.

I have my annual vacation/trip back home scheduled in late June.  I am going to take two weeks this year (a first for me) and visit an old friend in Virginia on my way back.  On the way up I hope to take a longer route to allow me to drive through some states I have not been in before and hopefully (if my interest returns) get a geocache in each one.

I am dreading the thought of telling mom of my diagnosis. While she is a strong woman I am not sure how she will handle the news.  My sister seems to have taken it well enough but I know that at some point the reality will sink in and she will break down some.

My wife is still strangely neutral regarding this.  I realize part of that is the strained marriage we have had over the past 21 years but I would have expected at least something from her.

I am still taking my meds and that reminds me that I need to pick them up from the pharmacy on my way home.  I was hoping to mow grass but the 20% chance of rain has turned in to a full morning of liquid sunshine, soaking the ground again.  That means my already high grass will get much higher before the rain lets up and it dries up enough to cut, which should be Sunday at the earliest, if the current forecast holds true.