The pros and cons of hitch-hiking
So, I recently moved, right? And the new apartment is nice, cheap, completely devoid of furniture, small, and above all, cheap.
Yeah, the move was motivated by a desire for a better living environment.
Right…
In any case, I’m cool with moving. I love carting my stuff from one place to another, especially since I don’t have a car and my roommates (which also happen to be my brothers) refuse to spend a cent during the move. I could’ve ponied the cash myself, but then we get to problem #2: driving permit. Not having a car, it’s usually not a big deal, not having a license and all that. But when you need to drive a car, it’s usually near the top of the priority list, right underneath “I need to drive”.
So, I undertook it like the big, sweaty challenge that it was, and emerged mostly unscratched. My ego took a few dings, walking down the street a couple thousand times while dragging suitcases full of stuff will do that to you. At least I was smart, and followed my friend Chase’s advice: “Always travel in style”. I’m not sure luggage with wheels even qualifies as stylish anymore, much like toilet paper lost its ground-breaking appeal a couple of weeks after it was invented. I’m guessing after a couple of uses it wasn’t like “Wow, I cannot believe I useth to wipeth my buttocks with berryleaves and silkweed”, but “Life before TP? What the fuck, man?”.
Anyway, one of the most basic premises of moving is that your identity refuses to leave your old place. It’s like a ghost of your old life, represented in credit card statements, magazines and utility bills. Until you go through the trouble of changing your address, that is. Bank and utilities, I had no trouble with that. They wanted to be changed: “Oh, so, like, not here anymore? That’s cool man, just say the word, and let there be light”. One of the finer aspects of always-on internet connectivity is that , much like the love of your life, it’s easy to take for granted. I would get home, and it would be there…
Until one day, I moved on, while my DSL line stayed in the same place. To this day, I still stare at my DSL modem, hoping that through some miracle of science it’s innards be filled with internet connectivity. Glorious, heavenly internet connectivity! But, alas, it was not to be…
So, I did what any self-effacing geek would do:
I went rogue, bitch!
Necessity is the mother of invention, or, more likely, the mother of freeloading. So I bought a wireless adapter which I fully intend on returning within 14 of the 15 day return window the store offers, to jump on somebody else’s wireless connection. I’ve found a couple of, how shall I put it, generous neighbours with wi-fi routers, who are in dire need of an, ahem, security audit, which I will gladly provide, asking for nothing in return, except some spare bandwidth…
chronic procrastinator wrote:
Yup, the end justifies the means even if that implies stea*ahem* taking bandwidth from the neighbors. Have you ever heard of triumph the insult dog? Either way I think you will appreciate the following link: http://www.briandrotleff.com/clips/Triumph%20visits%20the%20starwars%20geeks.wmv
I’m sure that clip is worth your neighbors bandwidth, I almost pissed myself laughing.
Posted 25 Apr 2005 at 9:44 pm ¶
Mozalbete Cowell-Vera wrote:
I havent clicked on the link yet.. but isnt that sketch of the Episode II premier that has a moronic asshole dressed like Lord Vader and Triumph.. in one of the most hilarious lines EVAH ask him:
So.. which of these buttons tell your parents to pick you up?
As far as going rogue is concerned.. hey.. I bet the spare bandwith of your neighbors doubles the Total amount of bandwith that I have here in this stupid town.
And I pay 90$ for this shit…
Posted 25 Apr 2005 at 10:46 pm ¶
alvarete wrote:
Quick calculation: My neighbour should have about 16x more bandwidth than you, and we pay about 3 times less…
Is the internet 50 times cheaper here?
Oh yes, yes it is…
Posted 26 Apr 2005 at 11:58 am ¶
nashira wrote:
Not only the internet is cheaper.
:p
I liked this post.
Did you finally cracked your neighbour’s password? ‘Cause all this “yeah, I steal bandwith”, “I read your mail”… you just went to bed, I guess.
My comments and jokes are becoming cheaper, also. Blame it on… damn, nothing to blame.
Posted 26 Apr 2005 at 12:54 pm ¶
alvarete wrote:
You see, it’s hard to crack a password when I don’t have any software, and the software that I do have is for Linux. Oh, whaddaya know, el cheap-o wireless card manufacturer didn’t bother to include Linux drivers in the driver CD-Rom. They should’ve just labeled it “WINDOWS XP DRIVER CD-ROM. IF YOU NEED ANYTHING ELSE, YOU’RE SOL, MOFO!” I don’t want to download this kind of stuff from the office, for obvious reasons, so I’m in a bit of a bind here. However, necessity, they say, is the mother of invention…
Posted 26 Apr 2005 at 3:40 pm ¶
dorothy hale wrote:
Is that the song where Eric Clapton plays with Grateful Dead??? or who?? I used to love that song…
Did you move alone??
Posted 26 Apr 2005 at 10:53 pm ¶
alvarete wrote:
Dorothy:
No, that’s Roger Waters’, from the homonymous album. Eric Clapton with the Dead? I didn’t know there was such a thing, but then again, I profoundly dislike the Dead, so I might be talking out of my ass. Again.
Didn’t move alone, so you’ll have to wait a bit longer to move in with me…
Posted 27 Apr 2005 at 8:39 am ¶
Chase Ransom wrote:
Just for the record, if necessity is the mother of invention then I guess boredom is the distant “curious” uncle of discovery.
Btw, I fart on the very thought of the Dead. Its like an impulse reaction. I hate them.
F it.
Posted 27 Apr 2005 at 2:10 pm ¶
alvarete wrote:
I may have explored the finer details of how boredom moves the world in a magazine article. Then again, it may have been in spanish, and I may not want to relive that writing era of my life… *shudder*
Posted 27 Apr 2005 at 4:01 pm ¶
dorothy hale wrote:
Roger Waters + Eric Clapton (guitar)….i heard it this weekend…
Posted 02 May 2005 at 5:25 pm ¶
Blind Willie wrote:
I bought that tape back in ‘91. Still got it, for two reasons: a) tapes last longer than CD’s.
b) never got much playing time on my stereo.
Not much of a fan.
Now, about Greatful Dead: watch it, punk.
Posted 02 May 2005 at 6:53 pm ¶
alvarete wrote:
Roger Waters and The Grateful Dead ain’t the same ballpark, ain’t the same league, ain’t even the same fuckin’ sport. As for the Dead, excuse me if I’m not a big fan of 25 minutes of flanged guitar and crappy soloing.
Posted 02 May 2005 at 10:54 pm ¶
Blind Willie wrote:
I’m not a Deadhead, so I actually don’t give a shit whether someone likes them or not. But, for the sake of argument, let’s say that I do enjoy the Dead for “abstract” reasons. I mean, Dark Star is flawed, out of tune, and definetely not flashy. But it has soul, man (as in feeling), and you know what: it is fun because it is not pretentious jamming. Flip the coin and on the other side is Phish. Now, that’s a waste of talent. Great musicians jerking off, where’s the fun in that?
Glad to hear you’re a Roger Waters fan though, I thought you’d be on the Gilmour side. No pun intended.
Posted 03 May 2005 at 12:25 am ¶
dorothy hale wrote:
Better than those two is Syd Barret…he was a true genious…Crazy and sick of course, but a genious.
Posted 03 May 2005 at 4:34 pm ¶
alvarete wrote:
Never was much of a Barret fan. He almost killed Pink Floyd. I mean, there’s a point where an artist does too much drugs and loses it. Syd Barret went way over that point. In the end, ditching him was the best that ever happened to the Floyd. Not like he doesn’t have his strong points, but hey, F him.
Posted 03 May 2005 at 11:20 pm ¶
Chase Ransom wrote:
F it is right
Posted 05 May 2005 at 1:50 pm ¶