Words of Truth

Last night my DI-524 wireless router died.

Funeral TBA.

One minute I was showing my wife a video about an inept NFL referee (I’m looking at you, Jeff Triplette!), and a few minutes later, we had no wifi.  So I chatted with my ISP to see what my options were and what I should be looking for specifically when I buy a new router.  They are going to send me a new all-in-one router and modem, which should speed up my connection.  They will be charging me $7 per month for this device, but since it would cost me about $150 or more to buy the equivalent at the store, I think it’s worth it to try it out for $7 for a month.  I should get my new device next week.

This morning I drove to Best Buy to get a temporary router. I ended up buying the Belkin N300 for $30.25.  Best Buy had it listed for $42, but they price matched with Amazon.

Side note:  Get the Amazon app for your smartphone.  You can use the app to scan the UPC code in the store, and Amazon will tell you how much they charge for it, and it’s usually less than the store.  Most stores will price-match.  Also, Best Buy says they will only price-match if the item says “Ships/Sold by Amazon.com.”  If it’s some other vendor selling THROUGH Amazon, they won’t price match. I’ve saved a lot of money this way (got my car stereo for $25 less, for instance), and I highly recommend it.

I brought the router home and plugged it in.  Everything seemed pretty standard, and all I had to do was change the SSID (i.e. the name of my network) and the password.  It also wanted to do a firmware update, which I did.  Then, five minutes after I started using it, my speed dropped to almost nothing.  Seriously, I used to get anywhere from 6-25 Mbps with the old set up, but now it was telling me I was getting 0.05 Mbps.  I haven’t had speeds that slow since I was on AOL and changing my 16 year old son’s diaper.  By that I mean it was about 15 years ago.  He doesn’t wear diapers anymore. Nevermind.

So I plugged my Ethernet cable directly into my computer from the modem and got my high speed back.  I did a search for why this router was so slow.  Short version is this:  you have to go into the settings of the router on the computer (by going to http: //router) and turning the QOS off.  I have no idea what QOS is, but when I turned it off, the router reset, and now my speed is between 7 and 15 Mbps.   You shouldn’t have to change a setting in a new product just so it will work the way it’s supposed to.  This would be like buying a car where you have to switch around some of the fuses before you can drive it off the lot. They should have done this at the factory.

Side Note#2:  While I was at Best Buy, I was looking at their HDMI stuff because I’m thinking about getting an HDMI switcher (so I can plug more things into my TV).  People, don’t ever buy the expensive HDMI cables. Just buy the cheap ones, because they’re all the same.  The Best Buy associate showed me the “Rocketfish” brand switcher, which was $80.  I asked him, “Does Rocketfish just look around at the price of other company’s stuff and just double it?” He said no, they don’t.  He then said that Rocketfish items are higher priced because they are higher quality.  I said, “So the $80 HDMI cable right there is going to give me better quality than the $20 cable right next to it? Really?”  He said, “You don’t have to buy it if you don’t want to.” And he walked away.   It’s a scam, and this article pretty much proves it.

Dean Blandino
Vice President of Officiating
National Football League

Dear Sir,

I would like to call your attention to the job performance of one of your referees. Specifically I’m referring to Jeff Triplette. As I’m sure you are aware, this man has had some problems in the past, but his performance in the past two weeks has left me believing that this man does not belong in an official’s uniform.

In the Sunday Night Football game between the Redskins and the Giants, Jeff Triplette directly affected the outcome of the game. I’m sure you are aware of what he did, and so I’m not going to go into detail. This is inexcusable.

In this past Sunday’s game between the Colts and the Bengals, Mr. Triplette once again proved that he does not have what it takes to be an NFL referee. Let me set it up for you just in case you haven’t heard yet.

There is 1:14 left in the second quarter. The Bengals are on the Colts 1 yard line. It’s fourth and goal, and the Bengals are going to attempt a touchdown instead of kicking a field goal. The ball is snapped, and then handed to Benjarvus Green-Ellis, who moves forward and to the right towards the end zone. At the four yard line, the Colts nose tackle Josh Chapman touched Green-Ellis’ foot, causing him to trip and/or stumble. As he went down, he fell forward. His knee hit the ground at about 1.5 yards out from the end zone. The ball was at the 1 yard line when his knee was down. After his knee hit the ground, he slid into the end zone.

The ball was declared down at the 1 yard line. Since it was in the last two minutes of the half, the play was automatically reviewed. Jeff Triplette went under the hood and then emerged to say, “After review, the ruling on the field is reversed. The runner is not touched and slides into the end zone. It is a touchdown.”

When questioned, he stated that he was only looking at whether or not the runner was touched at the goal line, totally ignoring the fact that Green-Ellis was falling because of the contact with Josh Chapman.

The NFL rule book states in section 2 Article 1(a):

…if after defensive contact, any part of a runner’s leg above the ankle or any part of his arm above the wrist touches the ground, the runner is down.”

This means that, since Chapman touched him at the line of scrimmage, Green-Ellis was “down” and the ball was “dead” at the 1 yard line.

Because of this and his many other errors, I believe that Mr. Triplette’s employ by the National Football League should be immediately terminated before he changes the outcome of any more games.

Thank you for your prompt attention.

Steve Picray
NFL Fan

PS: Here is a good write up by a professional journalist who agrees with my position.

I have seen many of my friends on Facebook stating what they are thankful for.  I too am thankful for many things: my family, my friends, my life, and everything else that God has provided for me. The thing I am most thankful for in my life is my salvation.  Almost 2000 years ago Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for my sins, paying my debt so that when I die I will not have to suffer forever.  And that is more important than anything else.

One of the hardest parts about this whole idea of being thankful, is thinking biblically about it.  Ephesians 5:20 says that we are to be “giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  James says that we are to “count it all joy when we encounter various trials….”   I believe this means that we are supposed to be thankful for every single thing that happens to us.  I know that sometimes that’s not easy, and some people actually get angry when we suggest that they should be thankful for everything, but that’s the truth.

I think specifically of one of the worst things that any person can experience:  having a loved one die.  According to God, I am supposed to be thankful that the people I love have died.  It is a lot easier to be thankful though, knowing that they trusted Christ before they died, because I know that, as much as I miss them, they are more alive right now than they ever were here on earth, and they are having the time of their lives.   I am sad because I can’t be with them, especially today, this holiday when we gather with family, but I do not sorrow like those who have no hope.  I know I will see them again, and for that especially I am thankful.

May God bless you and yours on this day of Thanksgiving.

I’m back! When I moved my blog to WordPress a few years ago I purchased the domain “stevepicray.com” so I could tell people how to easily get to my site. Well, in 2012 I was late in paying the renewal fee, so they said I would have to pay $100 instead of $26 (because if you don’t have $26, you probably DO have $100, right?). Obviously I didn’t have the money for that, and they said, “If you wait until the domain becomes publicly available again, you can just re-register it for the original fee of $26.”

I waited until that happened. Unfortunately, that is when I found out about the existence of “cybersquatters.” Cybersquatters are people or companies who purchase expired domains (or domains likely to be purchased), and then charge exorbitant fees to sell the domain to whoever wants it. Stevepicray.com went back on the market in August of 2012, and at that point a company purchased it before I could get to it. They started using it as a portal to spammy search engines, pornography, and a host of other things that have nothing to do with me. I sent them an email asking how much they would sell it back to me for, and the response was something over $1000.

Um. No.

I talked to some internet savvy people, and they said, “well, if it’s not a domain that makes any money or generates much traffic, they won’t keep paying the renewal fee, and you can then just repurchase it.” Evidently that’s what happened, because this week I checked, and the domain was available to purchase again.

If you are reading this and you’ve bookmarked my site, then skpicky.wordpress.com will still get you here, but you could also type in stevepicray.com and get to the same place. Your choice.

It feels good to be home.