This may turn out to be a bad idea, or not, but today I went to the Verizon shop in Hilo and bought myself mobile broadband for $60 a month. It was a real suck up moment - do I really want to spend that amount of money each month for fast internet access when I've managed to get by on a dial up for well over a decade?First results indicate I've been a bloody idiot not to go down the broadband route before. I'm listening to Bob Dylan's(1) latest albums while uploading photos and reading email with attached pictures all at the same time while also making a nice cup of tea and reading photo book reviews. I could have checked my bank balance as well but I didn't want to spoil the day.
This rocks! But it's expensive. The really bad thing about this is I can't use ridiculously slow dial up speeds to make excuses anymore. Coupled with that, I've run out of photographs. I think I may have a few more really nice ones lying around but all I can find right now are a couple of photos of birds. Both were taken in the UK in September and one's a Nottingham heron (above) and the other is a goose, I think, taken in Bracknell where I grew up.
Sorry, I'll try to get back to the Mauna Kea sunsets and sunrises as soon as I can - after I've listened to a couple more online albums...(1) I've never been a Dylan fan but "Dreamin' of you" and "If you ever go to Houston" seem to have hit the right nerve with me!
6 comments:
That heron is a beauty. And congrats on the faster connection. It's SO worth it.. you'll never look back.
For a moment I was wondering if I was indeed on "A Pacific View". "Where had Tom found those birds around these parts?" was the next thought.
Goose shows good detail. White feathers were overexposed a bit. OTOH, black portions of neck & head did come out legible.
You did not have broadband before? Wow, dial up connection, I think I had that like 15 years ago...;) I admire your patience then.;)
On another note, I so want to hear your take on the latest hype; the 2012 phenomenon. It is all a con, right? There is no danger in the coming galactic alignment and the imminent polar shift?
That's a Canada Goose, a close relative of the nene!
Tom,
My brother lives in HOVE and can't get either DSL or Cable. Thus he went the Verizon wireless route too.
The only gotcha is the price and the monthly 5GB cap on uploads/downloads.
There is Mobi PCS's Hele service for 29.00 a month WITHOUT the cap. But it appears they don't cover much of Puna.
http://www.mobipcs.com/hele/coverage.php
Hilary - It's fantastic! I obviously have broadband access at work (Hilo and summit) so know what it's all about, but have a fast connection at home is wonderful! I just need to keep an eye on things as there is a download limit.
Parv - I'm sure the picture could do with a little improvement, but it was a quick snapshot and was thrilled it came out so well - I've hardly done any processing to the image which is rare for me!
Protege - what to say? There have been so many predictions in history about the end of the world and none of them have been right. (have you ever asked a Jehovah's witness why we're still here? - they've predicted the apocalypse countless times and have never got it correct). The 2012 nonsense is the same.
In astronomical terms, we could all be wiped out tomorrow by an undetected asteroid or in a billion years. No Galactic or planetary alignment is going to kill us though. Our poles do shift from time to time as well, but life is still here despite that.
I wouldn't worry if I were you!
Brad - how can you tell it's a Canada Goose? And what's it doing in England? ;)
PS. Yes, I heard nenes were related, apparently a couple of Canada geese got lost one day and ended up in Hawaii. That's a fairly serious navigation error!
Aaron - the 5 GB cap is definitely a gotcha but fortunately Verizon do provide some decent monitoring tools although they do lag a bit which could be an issue. I did check Mobi PCS but unfortunately their coverage doesn't extend to Kaloli Point (where I live) despite what they claim in the adverts, i.e., their coverage is everywhere. I got a little miffed with them when I checked their actual coverage.
Tom
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