Fat Chipmunk

At first I thought it was a squirrel or something. But after closer inspection, it turned out to be the mother of all chipmunks, ready to have her spring babies I suspect.

This past week I was reading some of the blogs on the news sites that were asking what people are going to do with their government refund check. Several people said they were going to use it to help pay off their student loans. That may sound kind of silly to give it right back to Uncle Sam, but that's how f*d up the system is.

Why don't they make it possible to get a tax deduction if you help pay for someone else's student loan? If they would forgive some portion of all outstanding student loans, instead of issuing rebate checks, it would help the people who really need it. What am I going to do with my refund check? Probably give it to my girlfriend to help pay off her student loan. If it didn't go for that it would probably be used for food and fuel. The rich get richer and the poor stay poor.

Read more about the student loan swindle from Ralph Nader, before you decide to get one.

Digital Converter Box Review

This past weekend I had my first opportunity to install one of the new digital television converter boxes. The model I installed was the Philco TB100HH9 DTV set-top box with analog pass-through. The price for this unit was $59 before the 40 dollar government coupon. The Philco box is sitting between a 32" Panasonic TV and an analog antenna which is installed on a two story house. The antenna has a booster installed, so the reception was fairly decent before the Philco box was installed.

The thing that is going to bug people about these DTV boxes, is that now you have another remote to mess with. The remote is needed to change channels, because your TV needs to be set to channel 3 or 4 to receive the signal from the box. You still need your TV remote to turn the TV on and adjust volume. I'm sure there are universal remote solutions out there for this, but that's how it works out of the box.

With the strong signal from the boosted antenna we were able to pick up about ten digital channels in a town that sits about 50 miles away from Green Bay. I must say that the picture quality was a vast improvement from analog, even better than the cable TV reception I get.

The strange thing about DTV is the range of aspect ratios from one station to the next. Some channels have black bands on top and bottom, some on the sides, and some on all four sides. I was able to adjust a zoom setting and all of the image filled the screen without too much clipping. A search online shows that the Philco box is still a bit hard to find, so don't order one unless you know they have it in stock.

Budget Decisions

This week I went to visit with my insurance agent, something that I recommend everyone should do at least every other year. We found several things on my policies that needed to be updated. It all started when I called to let them know that I was going to be selling my 1976 Datsun 280Z and that I would no longer need to have insurance on it after the policy expired.

We did find a few thing on my home owners policy that would lower my rates, but raising coverage in a few areas, quickly eliminated any savings. You have to watch out, they are always trying to up the coverage level and it's hard to argue against them when it comes to future liabilities.

My Datsun is in fair condition with some rust and minor mechanical issues. But with a little work, it could be road worthy again. I have decided that after waiting over twenty years, it is unlikely that I will be able to properly restore this classic sports car. The hardest thing will be trying to establish a value for it. I have enjoyed owning it and have put a lot of work into it over the years. But now it is only taking up room in my little garage and I can't afford to give it the attention it needs anymore.

Hawking Wireless

In one of my past postings, I reported having trouble with my Linksys wireless adapter. The network adapter card would have trouble making and holding a connection. I narrowed the problem down to a bad PCMCIA port on the laptop.

A few weeks ago, I started looking into USB wireless adapters and found many to choose from. My biggest concern was that my old HP laptop, which only has a USB1 port, could connect at wireless-G speeds. All of the USB network adapters support USB2 (high speed) ports, but none state that you can get 54Mbps connections using a USB1 (low speed) port.

After looking around a bit, I found a reasonably priced model from Hawking Technology that had received good customer reviews. The HWUG1, 2.4Ghz Wireless-G USB 2.0 Network Adapter has a unique removable antenna. Best Buy actually had the lowest price at $35 bucks. So, last weekend I purchased one to see how it would work on my laptop. At first I had trouble getting it to connect, so I downloaded the latest drivers from the Hawking website. After I installed the software, it seemed to work quite well.

I am getting solid 54Mbps connections and web surfing feels like you have a wired connection. I have a profile setup in the software that came with the adapter and I am not using XP's zero configuration network software to manage the connection settings. I would also recommend getting a short USB extension cable so that you have better access to the other USB ports. This will also allow you to place the adapter in a better location for the best reception.