2012

So in case you missed the memo, we're now in 2012.  I'm very excited about this year.  I have a lot to look forward to.  I get to watch my little boy continue to amaze me with his growth.  I'm excited about the new cameras that are expected to be announced/released this year: Nikon D4, D800, Canon 1D X, 5D3, 7D2, etc...  And last, but most importantly, I'll be making some crucial changes in my professional career.  No, I'm not changing profession.  But I am going to take it up another notch.

So yes, 2012 is going to be a very big year for me.   But I guess if you believe that the end of the Mayan calendar also signals the end of the world, then I guess it's going to be a very big year for EVERYONE. 

Not everything is picture-perfect at this start of the year for me.  My old, chronic lower back injury has flared up.  I've spent most of the day laying in bed because moving/sitting/standing is just flat out painful.  It feels like someone's got 2 screwdrivers jammed into my lower back and that same obnoxious bastard occasionally twists it whenever he feels like making my life miserable.

In any case, I hope everyone had a good 2011 and I wish you all have an even better 2012.  Here are three photos to share with y'all, all taken in this new year.

Until next time.

Verizon DSL

So, this will be the first time that I'm posting TWO separate blog entries from the same day/date.  Not only will it be my first time doing so, it would also be on the same topic/issue: Verizon DSL.  But I'm starting to get the sense that I am not alone in this and I should write a more formal blog entry on the matter.  Perhaps someday, many years from now, some other poor shlub will also be tearing his hair out on his computer, wondering why his supposedly advertised download speed of his Verizon internet service is FAR LESS than what was advertised.  I am now 11 days into this ordeal and I fear there will be no positive resolution in the foreseeable future.

Dec 2, 2011

They say a picture's worth a thousand words, so I'll let my Excel log do most of the talking.  As mentioned in the previous entries, I've noticed that between the hours of 7:30p-11:30p (plus/minus 30min), my download rate would plummet to I consider pathetic levels.  After all, I am actually paying a higher fee for Verizon's alleged "Highspeed Internet" option, that is suppose to provide me 3Mbps-7Mbps download rates.

I started this log after my 2nd call to Verizon.  My first call was made on November 30, 2011.  I reported to them that I was not getting the download speed as noted in my particular DSL package.  I told the customer service representative that it felt as my download rate was being "throttled" and not meeting the advertised 3-7 that I had signed on.  Naturally, the rep had been instructed to make it seem as though it was the end-user's fault.  They asked countless questions as to how many computers were connect.  What's the make/model of the DSL modem.  Whether any 3rd party router was used.

Dec 3-4, 2011

I went along with their stupid checklist knowing that none of it could explain the decrease in my download speed.  It just didn't make any sense how my existing hardware could work fine during "non-peak" hours and yet miraculously, *my* equipment would somehow clog up my own line always around the same time of night.

The first representative said he'd "test my line".  Well, whatever test he did showed him nothing other than working as intended.  But he said that my call would be "escalated" and that I should expect a call within the next 24-48 hours.

A couple of day slater, while at work, I missed a call from Verizon.  They left a voice citing that they had run their test and believes all should be fine now.  And that should I continue to experience issues, to contact them again.  And wouldn't you know it, that same night, again, pathetic download rates.

Dec 5-6, 2011

So like the idiot that I am, I called up Verizon DSL support again, but by this time, I was convinced that something fishy was going on.  I informed this second rep that I had been (and I was) checking with speedtest.net between Nov 30 & Dec 2, and that from this point forward, I would be logging my transfer rates as closely as I could.  And that if it continues to under-perform (as I was paying extra for the 3-7Mbps), I would likely try and seek out others and perhaps Verizon deserves to be slapped with a class action lawsuit.  The rep claims that she will, again, monitor the line but she also tried to ask a bunch of questions, seemingly wanting to blame it on my modem and router.  Please.  I've been surfing the web since 1994.  Prior to that I had been messing around on BBS's.  Don't try and treat me like an internet retard.

Well, as the days went by, and I continued to log my transfer rates with Excel, it became painfully clear that something awful was happening between the hours of 7p-12a.  So on Dec 7th, I decided to call Verizon again.  This time, I figure I won't "shoot the messenger" as I did with the 2nd call.  (Though truth be told, I really didn't give the rep that hard of a time at all.)

Dec 7-9, 2011

The 3rd rep went through the same apologetic spiel.  How he understands that it would be frustrating to not get the "performance" as promised/advertised.  But at least this time, he followed the notes from the various phone calls and realized that I wasn't just going to crawl under a rock and go away.  I, again, reiterated the fact that I've been keeping a log, that I'd be more than happy to e-mail it to someone.  I was transferred to a States-side rep and was told they'd look into my problem again, once more.

The following day (Dec 8th), the rep called me and said that the line that I am on had "a lot of static," and that he needed to come by and check our phone line.  He noted that my address puts me close to their hub/center/something and that I should be seeing transfer rates closer to 7Mbps.  Oh really?  So we scheduled for him to come by between 8a-12p on Dec 9th, figure that my wife's home and can let the tech test the line.

As it turns out, my wife said that the Verizon technician was here for a little more than an hour.  And that he had mentioned that our line was "very congested" and that he switched us to another line that wasn't as congested.  "Congested?"  I'm pretty sure DSL was once advertised to be superior to cable because we wouldn't have to deal with line congestion. 

Dec 10-11, 2011

In any case, at least this time, a technician came out and at least sounded like he knew what was going on and offered a repair/solution.  And as you can see, Dec. 9-10 transfer rates were actually consistent.  "Hurray, my DSL problems have been resolved!"  I wasn't terribly pleased to see my transfer rate go down from 5.21Mbps to 4.69Mbps, but I told myself it was a small price to pay for the times that I use the web the most.

But I guess it's good that I'm a perpetual skeptic as I continued to test my connection speed.  And what do you know... Sunday, December 11th, my download speed craps out again.  So much for resolution, eh?

I called up Verizon DSL again this morning (Dec 12) and politely made them aware again that my DSL issues have not been resolved.  I was told, again, that my description again sounds like line congestion.  But she also suggested that I try powering off/on my modem when the connection seems slow so that it would put me back on the system again.  (Say wut?)

Dec 12, 2011

She also noted that she would contact the hub/center/wherever and have someone check on the line used and switch me to a less congested line if it was determined that was the issue.  She did note that someone should be calling me tomorrow (Dec 13) to follow-up on the matter.

This afternoon, around 3:25pm, I noticed that I lost internet connection.  And minutes later, I get a call from a lady from Verizon.  She said that she's at the hub/center/somewhere and she's switching me to another port.  I mentioned that I guess that would explain why I lost internet just now and she confirmed that it was her.  She told me to give it a few minutes, then to unplug both the modem and the router, and that everything should fire back up nicely.

And so I did and to my dismay, I went from 4.63Mbps down to 4.46Mbps.  "But look, Ma!  My ping improved!"  (As if that mattered for me anymore since I don't play any online games.)  And as the perpetual skeptic that I am... as highlighted in yellow, once again, between 7p-midnight, my connection tanks.

*sigh*

I decided to do some online searches and I found this link:

http://www.dslreports.com/comment/552/75674

He talks about slow connections between 6pm-midnight.  Verizon technicians coming out 3x to his apartment without any success.  Talks about "network congestion."  And the best part of it all?  This article was posted 2+ years ago.  I wonder whether my connection had been just as bad for just as long? 

It's been 2 years since I played any online games so I never really checked my connection closely.  I've been only frequenting my photography forums and I had notice that going through the lens archives (filled with photos) had seem somewhat sluggish.  But I just thought it was because I was opening up 2-3 threads at a time, thus overloading the download.  I guess it wasn't me after all...

See, here's the kicker in all of this.  I have a friend who lives in a condo about 1/2 mile away.  He's also on Verizon DSL and he's not paying for the higher speed feature.  Yet he is able to get consistent ~2.8Mbps during the times that my connection drops to ~1Mbps.  Hey Verizon... why don't you put me on my friend's line?!?

Well, I look forward to talking to Verizon tomorrow.

DSL continued...

So this morning, I spent some time talking to Verizon tech support.  The customer service rep was nice and cordial.  I explained to her the situation, and I guess she was able to read the copious notes on the matter.  She said the magical phrase that I long suspected was happening.  As I detailed that every night, I've had my download speed drop to an abysmal ~1Mbps, pretty much at the same time, she said it sounds like that they've got me wired to a very congested network back at their station.

I then asked how this could be since I was under the impression DSL wasn't subjected to such shenanigans and the congestion had been more of an issue with cable modem.  But she said that it can still happen back at the hub if they've got a lot of customers online at the same time.

"..."

In any case, this afternoon, I got a call from Verizon again.  Some lady on the phone said that she was switching me to another circuit, noting that I was hooked up to a "very, VERY congested circuit".  I then remarked that she must be the reason why my internet connection just went out less than a minute prior to her call.  She confirmed that it was her.

She then told me to power off the modem and router.

It's too early to tell whether this made any difference, since it's currently 3:40pm (and the swap was done at 3:27pm).  The bright side is that the ping dropped from 26-42ms down to 12ms.  The downside, however, is I've now taken another transfer rate hit.  I'm down to 4.46Mbps.  (I've gone from 5.21 to 4.88 to 4.69 to 4.63, and now 4.46.)

Again, if I can be consistent 4.46Mbps during 7:30p-11:30p, then hell, I'll settle for the loss.  I need to win the lottery.  Then I can just have someone come by and hardwire a T1 line.  But I'd probably move out and buy a different place first and then get the T1 installed.

So here's to keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that this new circuit will be the solution I have been looking for.

Something Fishy

So I've been busy with just daily life, you know the "uuuuj" (usual):  working my ass off, playing with the kid, paying bills, that kind of stuff...

The times that I do get to hang out in front of my computer to catch up on the daily news, visit my photography forums, etc... are between the hours of 9pm to 1am.  So while I've noticed that my internet had "felt" sluggish for sometime, I sort of just assumed all was well and nothing was wrong.  After all, I have Verizon's Highspeed Internet package (ADSL), which is suppose to give me 3-7Mbps download performance.  While I would have loved to go with FIOS, unfortunately, it is not available for my condo.

So if you could imagine my surprise that my internet download fluctuate(d) from 5.21Mbps to as low as 0.8Mbps.  I mean, seriously...

What...
The...
F...

And it just so happens that the slower download rate occurs between, drum roll... 7:30pm and 11:30-midnight.  I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  So I decided to call Verizon DSL hotline on it, 3x.  Of course the hours I called were well into the night, so I get to speak to outsourced Verizon Mumbai or wherever the hell the 1st level call center is.  I repeatedly tell them of my concerns/issue.

Naturally, I get the standard checklist of:
1)  What's the model number of your modem?
2)  Do you have a router and who is the manufacturer?
3)  Turn off/reset router.  Turn off/reset modem.
4)  Test connection again.
5)  Oh, I see... I'm sorry the problem has not been resolved.
6)  How many computers are logged in.
7)  "No, my desktop, where I'm hard-wired, is the machine I'm testing on.  I'm not testing this on my laptops and not a wireless issue."
8)  Oh, I see... I'm going to test the lines.  It seems to be working and I show that internet should be working.
9)  "Yes, it works, it's pathetically slow (for what I'm paying for) but it works.  Why does it feel like my connection is being 'throttled'?"
10)  I will forward you to a technician.
11)  (So why weren't I forwarded to someone who would know @#$% in the first place?)
12)  Your issue has been escalated and you will receive a call within the next 24-48 hours.  I'm sorry I was unable to assist you in your problems today.  Is there anything I can help you with?
13)  "..."

So I called Verizon on this "throttling"/download issue on December 2nd.  I started logging my download rates everyday/night.  And as suspected/feared, I was getting 5.21Mbps until roughly 7:30pm and it would drop to ~1Mbps (+/- 0.2Mbps), while throughout all this, not having any affect on the actual upload rate (which is a rather steady 0.73Mbps).

Time and time again, I called Verizon on it and finally, they sent out a tech on Friday to "test" my lines.  Because from their end, it seems there was a lot of "noise/static".  While I was at work, the tech came by (with my wife and son at home) and supposedly our line was "congested".  Oh really?  How the hell is it congested?  I though only "cable modems" were shared, and ADSL weren't suppose to be affected in such a manner.

According to my wife, the tech tested a bunch of stuff, and switched us off to a "less congested line" and that everything should be "fine" now.

This happened December 9th, and true, Friday evening and throughout Saturday, my download rate was higher, around 4.63Mbps.  It's lower than 5.21 but I was thinking, hell, if this can be consistent, it would fall within the bullsh!t 3-7Mbps rate and I'll take that any day over the stupid sub 1Mbps rate I had been getting/recording.

And I should have known that this wouldn't last.  As I'm typing this (~10-11pm), I noticed that my download speed is down to ~1-1.3Mbps... AGAIN.  And as before, my upload speed is unaffected.  I checked my wireless router and checked for IP logs... no suspicious activities.

So basically, I'm worse off than before?  At least prior to the tech coming by, I was getting 5.21 during peak performance.  Way to go, Verizon.

I guess all I can do is call Verizon again and demand they send out another clown and try and fix this crap.

Do People...

Do some people actually fall victim to these scam e-mails?  I received the following earlier today:
_______________________

Dear Valued Customer,

Bank of America has just completed a scheduled maintenance on the online banking system. For your security, your accounts have been placed on hold.

In order to re-activate your account to become active and protected, you will be required to immediately sign in to Bank of America by clicking on the " Go to Bank of America " website below:

Go to Bank of America <http://ipad2.li/http/www.bankofamerica.com/>

We apologize for any inconveniences caused as your security and satisfaction is our major priority.

Security Department,

Bank of America.

_______________________

So do some people actually not pay attention to the URL that's provided in these scam e-mails?  I suppose a better question to ask is... can't authorities do anything about this?  This has nothing to do with First Amendment rights.  The site is setup deliberately to mimic and actual BofA website to steal user logins and passwords.  

Oh well, we don't live in a perfect world.  Crooks and cheats be damned.

Some photos from Miramar 2011

Los Angeles Zoo

It's been forever since I last been to the LA:Zoo.  In fact, it's quite possible that I've never been, despite living in southern California for 29 years.  But I've driven past it a few times, does that count?

This past weekend, a good friend of mine invited us to join them on a trip to the zoo.  He and his wife has a boy who is 5 months older than our Alexander.  They had recently picked up a family annual pass, seeing that their son had a lot of fun and that it seemed like a relatively inexpensive family outing.  The pass basically pays for itself after 3 visits.

So we thought it'd be interesting to see if our little Alexander would take a liking to the zoo and possibly purchase our own family pass.  After all, we've been showing him animal books, teaching him about "eh'e'fent (elephant), li-un (lion)," etc... so we might as well show him some real animals in person.

And for me, it was a chance to sneak in some photos for the weekend, secretly hoping that I might find some cooperative animals who would pose for me.  Prior to the zoo, the only animal photos I had taken were most of my cats (whom we had to give away, but that's another Oprah), and a few rare trips to the aquarium.  So I wasn't expecting to capture anything spectacular as I have pretty much zero experience.

At the petting zoo.

What I found amusing was that Alexander was, at first, very cautious and mildly afraid of the animals at the petting zoo.  I suppose it's a good thing that instinctively, he's suspicious of the unknown.  We spent about 30 minutes at the children's petting zoo portion and I think he finally conjured up the courage to pet the sheep once.  But towards the end, he was warming up to being surrounded by live animals that didn't look anything like cats or dogs.

All in all, I think Alexander had more fun just running around the zoo as opposed to actually finding interest in the animals.  Although it's not quite what we had in mind, having a large area for him to run around serves the same purpose of getting him out of the house, burn off excess energy, and expose him to "new" things, be it animals, or other people.  It should be of no surprise, but since I never really visited the LA:Zoo, I did notice that at least 50-75% of the patrons were all parents with young kids.

In the end we decided to upgrade to the family annual pass.  I figured we'll be back here at least a few times.  I, myself, might end up being here if/when some of my photography friends/acquaintances at LAShooters decide to have another Zoo event.

As far as photos, I'm just posting three that I felt came out rather nicely (share-worthy).  I am very pleased with how the Flamingo photo (posted above) turned out.  One of my all-time favorites thus far.  I also like my daydreaming meerkat photo.

And to the left, this chimp really caught my attention and I felt I had to try and capture the mood/moment.  This little guy/gal(?) seemed quite pissed off/annoyed/depressed at something.  With its arms crossed, it seemed like it was just pouting.  Someone stole his/her share of the morning bananas perhaps.

In any case, I figure I'd do something new and try to add titles to these three photos.  So far, I kind of like the titles.  Guess we'll see in a few weeks/months if I continue to do so.

Miramar Airshow is coming soon.  I plan to attend and I can only hope/pray that the weather gods be kind to me.  Last year, it was drizzling/foggy the entire morning, which resulted in the cancellation of the morning air events.  I'm hoping for a cool, but sunny weekend, or at least Sunday.  Friday/Saturday can rain and crap for all I care since I won't be there.  But Sunday... c'moooOOOoon Sunday!  Can't wait for Miramar Sunday.