No thanks for the admin...

[theogrin.livejournal.com]

First of all, I'd like to give a great big 'you're welcome' to my younger sister, who, in a flurry of innovative thought and wild genius, decided to stand between me and the computer I was supposed to fix -- i.e. hers -- when I made efforts to put a NIC in there. She demanded to know why, when the internet was working for her before the move, she couldn't just connect to the wireless router two feet away. "Because," I said, "because." Of course, that was nowhere near good enough for the girl, so I tried explaining things in a manner I thought even an idiot could understand. "There's no reason for you to use the wireless service when the router is two feet away, and I can just plug you in there." No comprende. So, I decided to go for the simplest possible explanation. "The talky thing in your computer wants to have a nice conversation with the other talky box up there, but it doesn't help when they're shouting at each other. Capiche?"

She finally got out of the way, allowing me to plug in the card. Twenty minutes later, as I finish up throwing her 98 box onto a network primarily populated by XP machines (up to and including a wonky print server), she says, "I just wanted Word..."

Well, no kidding, you wanted Word. Tonight, that is. You wanted a word processing program (with DOUBLE SPACING!!!11!1) that you could use to type up your school report, and I'm quite certain that immediately after you opened it you would have wanted to print the damn document, and half an hour later you would have wanted internet access so you could research the damned thing. The least you could do is thank me for spending an hour of my time, which I could have quite contently used to play my silly little desert game, on your half-braindead computer and your worthless, thankless facade of a human face and voice.

And, second, I must thank my parents for their tremendous understanding of the wireless network, especially why your standard 802.11b router will not have any kind of reception through two thick floors. When I say I'm getting 'no reception', either on the Linksys card (which is dead, as it happens) or the DLink USB (which is annoying), I don't mean 'by all means, remind me that I can /connect/'. It means that while I can connect, a 20% packet loss is not acceptable in any way shape or form. And it also means that if I say I can pay for a wireless router and/or signal booster if need be, you should not give me the fucking 'money talk'. When neither of you have done any hacking work for at least 10 years, I don't need to be told what is and is not an acceptable computing expense. You're welcome to set that shiny router upstairs, where three of the five computers are, rather than downstairs -- and use the wireless card on your own computer, which I was kind enough to upgrade just a few days back. I'm sure you'll grow accustomed to that connection box flickering back and forth like a neon brothel sign on the bottom right side of your screen.

So, to summarize? Fuck you all.

Comments

[neferde.livejournal.com]

Thought about that... changed the battery. No difference. She does have a oft-witnessed ability to blow out electronic devices (remotes, microwaves, those electronic washing machines, cars with extensive computers in them, ect.) regardless of the clothing she's wearing that day. My dad and I are convinced she has her own personal electric field that's strong enough to interfere with any sensitive electronics! It's fun making her walk past the Wall O' TVs in the stores and watching them all get little static lines on them.