tweaking our home network

For a few months now, I’ve noticed that our home network is just painfully slow either on accessing files over the network or just surfing the net. We have three PC’s on the network, two of them run on Windows 7: a desktop, our media center and a Sony Vaio laptop running on Windows XP. We also have a few gadgets that occasionally piggyback on the network: three mobile phones and PMP (portable media player) with wi-fi and the only thing that connects them together is a 4-port wireless Linksys WRT54GC.

Googling (and Binging) around, I saw a couple of tips on how to improve our hapless router’s performance. Some of them are straightforward, like picking a good location for your router so that it has good coverage on each of the device on the house. Some of them are just trivial, which I will cover here:

• The first that I did was to change my router’s channel. It turns out that most routers use the same channel by default so if you’re in a wifi congested area, connection gets weaker. To change your router’s channel access the router’s page, if you’re using a Linksys router, point your browser to:

  http:///192.168.1.1/

  You will be prompted with a security dialog box, provide the credentials. The default username is admin, leave the password empty.

  
  Go to the wireless section of the page and the value router’s wireless channel. Six, one and eleven are common values so stay away from them. You can download net stumbler to detect the channels that are being used around your area.

 

• The next thing that I did is to tweak the settings of each of my PC’s wireless adapter. I’m not going to discuss them here since most of the things that I did was just fiddle with the values of the adapter’s settings. I suggest that you check the documentation of your network adapter first before changing anything.

  To view your wireless network adapter’s settings, right-click on “My Computer” > Manage > Device Manager > On the right pane, expand “Network Adapters” then double click your network adapter.

• The last that I did – it may sound Greek but just bare with me – was to configure my router to use  OpenDNS instead of the default DNS  from my ISP (SmartBro). OpenDNS is a fast, secure and reliable DNS alternative, in english, it’s just plain better. Anyway, applying DNS can be a little tricky depending on the router’s model. Case in point, Linksys WRT54GC only allows you to specify the DNS using “Static IP” and not “DHCP”. The first thing you need to do is go to the router’s settings page just like on the first tip. Once you’re there, go to the Set-up section of the router’s settings page. If you’re using a Linksys, its the default landing page. On this page, change your “Internet Connection Type” to “Static IP”. After this, you will need to supply the values for the fields. I found the values of these fields by checking the “Status” page of my router setting page.

  

  Copy these values on their respective fields.

  
  Don’t forget to click the “Save Settings” at the bottom of the page.

After these steps, there’s a noticeable change of speed in copying files over the network and some very subtle change in internet connection. There you go. I hope these tips help. Leave me a comment if you have some questions.

episodal [strikes] back[slide]

  When you get used to being busy, holidays aren’t necessarily good news for you. Three days at home without work may sound relaxing, but if work is something that keeps your mind occupied then that means three days of being on-occupied. Three days of nothing to think about but catching up missed episodes of some TV shows, pigging out, afternoon sleeps and hours and hours of mindless surfing on the net.  Don’t get me wrong, I like doing those things. I love doing nothing. But for three days?

The thing that sucks when you’re not doing anything is your mind tends to fly. “Fly” and “mind” in one sentence is never a good one. All of these images swimming, backstroking in your brain like a scene from some weird movie. Picking some random thoughts from your recollection like its some kind of torture-yourself-day. And that’s not even the worst part, wait until you get to sleep and you couldn’t. When everybody is in la-la land and you’ve seen all the TV shows  and you’ve read every article on your RSS reader and you’re still wide awake.

Yes, It’s 2:18 in the morning and I wanna think about work. I am thinking of what I’m gonna do the minute I sit on my desk. I am composing in my mind every code that I’ll be writing, every email that I’ll be sending,  and every little thing that I need to do. I am thinking about anything because I don’t want to be not thinking. I think I’m wired this way. I think we’re all wired this way. And that’s just all right. Life is just too short to throw away some moments of not thinking. I’ve wasted enough.

I think I just had my “fill”. I’m hitting the sack now.

third option

Haven’t blog something personal for a while, so here’s something I’ve got from HIMYM:

You may think your only choices are swallow your anger or throw it at someone’s face, there’s a third option: you can just let it go. And only when you do that it is really gone, you can move forward.

Ted Mosby

what’s bloggin’?

So I haven’t blogged for a while. I’m starting to think that blogging is for lonely people (do the math).

Anyway, a lot of stuff happened since my last post. For starters, I’m in my new apartment now. And what’s weird is I never really saw myself feeling settled here but now I couldn’t imagine renting anywhere else. It’s crazy. It’s a good community I guess, quiet and easy.

What else happened since I last blogged… Oh I know, Bamboo released their fourth album – Tomorrow Becomes Yesterday. Yay! (I’m listening to it right now). I have to say that most of the songs are the ones that you need to listen over and over before you realize how good it is. But there are crowd favorites too, “Muli” is easily one of them. I’ll be blogging more on this next time so no spoiler for now.

Last, I’m leaving current job for a new one. I know it’s just been six months and I’m leaving again but I can’t help it, the offer is really good . I’ll be working as a .NET Project Manager in a company called Mediadev.

The good thing is I’ll be jobless for  a week! Wuhuu! As usual, as a tradition, I’ll have that “escape” while I’m jobless. Cheers!

you’re my home

It was a long and tiring road to here. I never thought that I’d make it. I never thought that I still deserve this. I never thought that I am still capable of being happy.

You’re my home. You’re my home.

deadly "stare", again.

Oh I’m such a sucker for pain.

old, familiar place

The other day, I went to visit an old, familiar place. It was raining and it was perfect. Walking around made me realized how I really miss the place. I also visited some old friends and it was great catching up with them.

It’s good to know that some things don’t change. Yes, some things are perfect the way they are. Stay the same old-familiar-place, when that day comes , I will be back with you.

tiny little steps

You’ve been staring on a busy street for hours now. If you could paint a color for each thought that visits your mind, well, your canvass would be pretty messy. One minute you are “putting” words on people’s mouth the next minute felt like you’re struggling as you are being pulled underwater. When these kind of images rushes through your head you snap out by shaking your head. It’s silly but it’s good enough. It’s been like this for months now. Ten months to be exact. You are much better now. Better but not healed. So you proudly trip back to your memories and wonder how the hell were you able to hold it together.

Step I: Bottom…

You remember the first week. “Wait, how do you remember the first week?“, you asked. Yeah, how do you remember something when you spent the last remaining strands of your everything trying to forget that something. The intro alone felt like your heart is being pushed into a small box. You discovered that incident wasn’t the end. It’s the beginning of the end. Because it gets worst.

At one point, you actually told yourself that “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger“. Big laugh. Inside you feel pathetic because you know that there is no way you are strong. You are dead inside. How can anyone expect you to be strong if the remaining strength you have is reserved for breathing, procrastinating and self-loathing.  It doesn’t even feel like living anymore, it’s more of floating. That’s the perfect way to describe how you exist. Not surviving, just floating.  A dead meat that gets lucky and being pushed by the current. Everyday you struggle by waking up and letting time push you through the day. So “strong” would be the last word that can describe you. Now take off the face and wear your grievance where it would nicely fit you.

Step II: Rock bottom…

So you desperately try to move on. You’ll do anything for a temporary high. Anything to numb your mind away from the pain. Anything. This is you running away. You actually believe that you can run away from all of these. You are such a fool for even believing that you are capable of fixing your mess. Idiot. You have the nerve to do things that happy people do because you believe that it can make you happy. Idiot-er. Then you’d realize that you’ve just thrown yourself into another mess because everything around you just remind you of the times before.

And it’s like a quicksand, One mistake leads to another. And another. And another. And another. And another. Next thing you know is you are buried under your complications. And you finally stop. Stop – the first right thing you did in months. You realized that, maybe, doing nothing is actually better than doing something. That the right thing to do is to sit, wait and take the pain as it gnaws you inside. That you never really gotten away from pain, you just delayed it. You just prolonged it. Now it makes sense, “sometimes, the shortest way to relief is pain”.

Step III: Leftovers

And after a while, when tiredness finally claims you, you somehow find it weirdly comforting. It’s not the best feeling in the world, but it’s better than those in-between moments of temporary highs. Or those moments before consciousness leaves your body. It’s a cheap bargain, but it’s all you’ve got. Because for the first time you are not fighting anymore. You’re done trying. There is nothing left to do but to move forward. “I never thought that moving forward could be this painful“, you surrendered.

Step IV: Congratulations, you are now officially ‘damaged’ from this point forward, so keep walkin’!

Now you wake up to a morning with the same sun that’s gray and where everything is dull. Yet it feels different. Not because it doesn’t hurt anymore but because you’ve accepted, not understood,  that there will always be pain. There will be images that will rush randomly on your mind, there will always be moments that you will be reminded of her. The difference is now you can look back at the pain and smile. You now remember her the way you should. You painfully remember how she made that part of your life the best part of your life. You remember the feeling and the insanity. And this time you’re smiling.

You’re healing. Not healed just healing. You’re learning to breathe again.

 

I believe that however you move on, it will involve at least two things: pain and time. There are no detours. It’s the only way through.

This blog entry is dedicated to an old friend. How much I miss her and how much I wish that I could sit with her, drink coffee and talk about life like we used too.

few thoughts on mind games

Mind games can only be played well. Anything less characterizes your inability to think.

 

The beauty of mind games is you can hit your enemy without even aiming at them. You just know they’re down when they react haplessly in pain and fail miserably with their counterattacks.

 

Mind games allow you to beat your opponent in their pathetic game without dragging yourself down in their level.

 

The vilest thing a man can do is to mock the very thing that he’s dying to do.

happiness rule #3-A

Sometimes you realize that people around you has too much influence on your happiness. That’s when you need to step up and take everything back. Don’t let other people make you feel that you don’t deserve what you want. Sometimes happiness is not a decision anymore, it’s conviction.