bitching bitching bitching
Yes it's just bitching. Just having one of those moments when I want to stab something because of all the loaded up BS, not because there's a dire problem. Just a lot of little trip ups that in actuality are nice problems to have.
Overwhelmingly my computer usage is Internet-based. I think that's common for the average user in this day and age, especially as we are increasingly encouraged to use Web-based apps. But little of that encouragement comes with the understanding that our tech can't always keep up. Laptops get outdated within a year, ISPs have to continually evolve. And so keeping up the tools to for the tasks the world expects of us requires a continuous outlay of cash, to say nothing of monthly bills for the service itself.
It's fucked up. I need to be able to look at videos to reference characters and performers for the work I want to do in voice over. It's perfectly clear to me that casting directors assume I will have a smart phone and can look up these references on the go. If I don't have one I'm clearly not serious about my career (and not, as is my case, destitute and reliant on others' generosity). Other people expect me to have a smart phone - I have to keep reminding my theatre compatriots that I don't have one. I can't afford one and I certainly can't pay the monthly bills for one. Moreover, to keep up with bandwidth and speed needs I would have if I went that route, I'd be looking at the pricey end of both machine and service.
At home the laptop I use now, courtesy the good freudinshade, is somewhat better than my old laptop, but still showing its age. Where my laptop has weird stops on how fast a signal it can accept and therefore couldn't handle encrypted signals, this computer can handle password protected ISPs. But sometimes I can be in the same room as the (new!) router, receiving a fast, excellent signal, and a page will still churn and take a few minutes to load. To say nothing of videos.
What the hell is up with not letting me watch videos? Some days I can watch Hulu videos ok, and then it'll go through weeks-long spates of refusing to load/buffer them. This computer used to be able to load YouTube videos (perhaps with a little lag) but it would do it. Now I'm lucky if I can get a whole minute loaded in an hour. And forget watching videos on other formats like Vimeo or the players that MSNBC and Funny or Die use. Just not happening.
So damn frustrating. To make it all the more special, I know this laptop can (sometimes) still load YouTube videos fine at other places, like my theatre. I haven't tried watching a Vimeo video on it yet. So maybe it's the house ISP?
DSLExtreme gets some pretty poor reviews online but, lucky me, the ISP is up to my mom and since she's almost never online here she doesn't really see the problem. When I have called in for customer support their response was pretty much that it was my problem, too bad so sad. So add me to the chorus of DSLExtreme sucks. At&T gets better reviews. I think that's who serves the theatre.
I hate that to get through all the hoops I'm expected to clear just to get to the challenges I *want* to have in life I have to get well versed in technical tools that serve well... just another tool. I hate that I can't rely on any of my machinery at home to get me even to the threshold of where I need to be.
I just need to access the Internet. Why is that still such a fucking obstacle?
Overwhelmingly my computer usage is Internet-based. I think that's common for the average user in this day and age, especially as we are increasingly encouraged to use Web-based apps. But little of that encouragement comes with the understanding that our tech can't always keep up. Laptops get outdated within a year, ISPs have to continually evolve. And so keeping up the tools to for the tasks the world expects of us requires a continuous outlay of cash, to say nothing of monthly bills for the service itself.
It's fucked up. I need to be able to look at videos to reference characters and performers for the work I want to do in voice over. It's perfectly clear to me that casting directors assume I will have a smart phone and can look up these references on the go. If I don't have one I'm clearly not serious about my career (and not, as is my case, destitute and reliant on others' generosity). Other people expect me to have a smart phone - I have to keep reminding my theatre compatriots that I don't have one. I can't afford one and I certainly can't pay the monthly bills for one. Moreover, to keep up with bandwidth and speed needs I would have if I went that route, I'd be looking at the pricey end of both machine and service.
At home the laptop I use now, courtesy the good freudinshade, is somewhat better than my old laptop, but still showing its age. Where my laptop has weird stops on how fast a signal it can accept and therefore couldn't handle encrypted signals, this computer can handle password protected ISPs. But sometimes I can be in the same room as the (new!) router, receiving a fast, excellent signal, and a page will still churn and take a few minutes to load. To say nothing of videos.
What the hell is up with not letting me watch videos? Some days I can watch Hulu videos ok, and then it'll go through weeks-long spates of refusing to load/buffer them. This computer used to be able to load YouTube videos (perhaps with a little lag) but it would do it. Now I'm lucky if I can get a whole minute loaded in an hour. And forget watching videos on other formats like Vimeo or the players that MSNBC and Funny or Die use. Just not happening.
So damn frustrating. To make it all the more special, I know this laptop can (sometimes) still load YouTube videos fine at other places, like my theatre. I haven't tried watching a Vimeo video on it yet. So maybe it's the house ISP?
DSLExtreme gets some pretty poor reviews online but, lucky me, the ISP is up to my mom and since she's almost never online here she doesn't really see the problem. When I have called in for customer support their response was pretty much that it was my problem, too bad so sad. So add me to the chorus of DSLExtreme sucks. At&T gets better reviews. I think that's who serves the theatre.
I hate that to get through all the hoops I'm expected to clear just to get to the challenges I *want* to have in life I have to get well versed in technical tools that serve well... just another tool. I hate that I can't rely on any of my machinery at home to get me even to the threshold of where I need to be.
I just need to access the Internet. Why is that still such a fucking obstacle?