At least, I sure hope it is...

A rare glimpse into Why Drang Drinks.

M-F, 0800-1200, FEMA Instructor Development Workshop via Zoom, two presentations evaluated by other students and instructors. Followed on Monday and Thursday by an additional 8 hour shift, starting at noon. (Fortunately, I was authorized to telework...)

And Mrs. Drang had an online class Tuesday and today. Except she didn't know that it was a two-parter when she signed up for it. Remember this, it will be significant...

Monday morning she discovered that the compressor had gone out on the fridge. So while I was slaving away over a hot internet connection, she was searching for dry ice and on the phone trying to get a repair technician to come out.

He did, finally, at 6 PM. And the replacement part he had didn't work. 

Expecting him to come out Tuesday morning, she got a text that he had been rescheduled to Thursday. A couple of angry phone calls later, she got hold of them and him and he showed up shortly after her class was done, and had the fridge running right away. It had finally cooled off to the point we could take food out of coolers nd put them in the freezer and fridge compartments at about 9 PM.

Somewhere in there I was informed that a package had been delivered to the office for me, and from the return address I deduced that it was course material. I managed OK with .pdfs, but I decided that rather than have it take up space on a (shared) desk, I would pop in quickly and pick it up...

...and discovered upon arrival that the the personnel scheduled to be in-office had 1) requested and been approved to telework due to illness  -- OK -- and 2) overslept and decided to telework to avoid being late. Without running it by anyone. Resulting on me making several phone calls, tracking down my boss -- who was speaking to the director -- and suggesting we needed to talk, being told to spit it out, and, of course, embarrassing my boss...

Also, one employee from first shift doing an hour of overtime, and me sitting in the office working the phones, in jeans and a t-shirt, when I was supposed to be off...

Then, last night (after I had gone to bed), the intert00bz died. 

I had already planned to get up early and put some finishing touches on my final presentation, but spent most of that time trying to get connected. My laptop with LTE connectivity wasn't getting a strong enough signal to connect, so I finally used my brand new (less than a week old!) cell phone as a mobile hotspot...

Which was about the time I learned about Part 2 of Mrs. Drang's class. So I told her how I had gotten online, thinking that would work for her...

And then she told me she needed my laptop AND hers to have two screens... 

(Fortunately I was using the desktop, with dual monitors. Which, BTW, can lead to odd behavior from Zoom...)

...And just as I was about to start my presentation she informed me (by screaming) that she was unable to connect...

I finished and talked the rest of the small group to give me a five minute break so I could try and get her online.

Which I did, by logging her into MY cell phone. So for the rest of the mornings Samsung's finest was providing internet for THREE computers. I am told that my audio signal garbled a couple of times, but was readable. 

So with that over with we called customer service to see if they could trouble shoot the "Home WiFi Gateway", the results of which effort was to suggest we take it to the local store and exchange it, "Or we can ship you one for delivery next week."  

Went to store, store said they couldn't just swap it after we had been in possession for over 30 days, but they can have one delivered to us "Next Day", which, this being Friday, probably means Monday. Which means she should be back online in time for Tuesday's class.

But I need a drink or three...

Edit 1, originally a comment: First World Problems all, of course, but the cumulative effect of multiple First World Problems within a short period can be just as detrimental.

Edit 2: Yep, Mrs. Drang picked it up Monday while I was at work, Mrs. Drang realized that we had left the old box and its power supply in my car, so we plugged it in when I got home. Connected to it, and... Nothing.

She had ANOTHER online class yesterday morning, which I didn't want to interrupt by calling customer service. She got done about the time I was leaving for work, so she called CS. She and the tech went back and forth, wound up Mrs. Drang reading stuff off the label, while the tech looked stuff up in "the manual". Eventually Mrs. Drang got to "SIM" and the tech says "A-ha!! What's the number?" and then "OK, don't hang up or mess with the box, I'll be back in ten minutes."

Apparently the sim card listed on our account had to be reset by them, before we could use it. Which was fine, but it should have been mentioned on some documentation in the box...

Apple and Google building coronavirus tracking tech for iOS and Android, coming in May - CNET

What could possibly go wrong?

Two of the tech industry's biggest players are working together to fight the coronavirus, announcing a new set of tools that could come to a majority of smartphones around the world.

The new technology, outlined in white papers published by Apple and Google on Friday and further discussed in a call with reporters Monday, relies on Bluetooth wireless radio technology to help phones communicate with one another, ultimately warning users about people they've come in contact with who are infected with the coronavirus.

 It's like Big Brother and Skynet got together, and...

Contact tracing

Apple and Google's technology is meant to support contact tracing, which historically has been a manual process in which health care workers painstakingly comb through a patient's history to figure out who they were near and may have exposed to infection.

Apps could potentially speed up that process. People who're marked as having coronavirus in an app on their phone could then wirelessly transmit alerts to anyone they come in contact with, potentially leading people to take extra precautions or self-quarantine to slow any further spread.

Apple and Google representatives said they chose to create this joint technology in part because they wanted to ensure interoperability between different phones. The companies also chose to build the system into their iOS and Android software in order to reduce the impact this technology could have on battery life.

To ensure as many people have access to the technology as possible, Google will include the tracking data in an update to its "Google Play services" feature for phones powered by its Android software. As a result, more people will have access to the technology even if their phone isn't being actively updated by manufacturers anymore.

What the companies didn't know is how many people need to sign up to make the system work, in part because the crisis itself is unprecedented. But together, the companies' software runs nearly all the billions of smartphones and tablets in use today.

This project brought to you by the Chinese Communist Party's Ministry of State Security...

The good news, FWIW, is that comments are running against the idea, in this article and in others elsewhere. (Even this jackboot licker here: Apple and Google are working together to fight COVID-19 but it's up to us to make it effective | Android Central)

So, since I'm still struggling with the Lingering Crud, I added Theraflu to the shopping list.  This afternoon Mrs. Drang texted me:

Mrs. Drang: No more thermally.  Pharmacist recommends alkaline shelter.

Me: Doesn't sound too healthy.

Mrs. Drang: Pork chops for dinner.  Want me to slice you some Khomeini?

Me: No ayatollah for me, I will have some kohl rabi, though.

Mrs. Drang says everything was spelled the way it was supposed to be, until she hit send and then the spelling was "corrected"...

Mallard Fillmore 05/02/2010

Viewed on Motorola Droid using Fuse Tree's "Daily Strip" app, uploaded to blog from Droid with Google's Mobile Blogger.

While waiting for Mrs. Drang to return from her morning foray, I chanced upon LawDog's about digital copy machines which record your work, which led me to review other folks' comments to his post yesterday about the work of S.M. Sterling, which comment stream I attempted to highjack in favor of author Talbot Mundy, whom LawDog mentioned in his post.

In researching whether any of the Tros of Samothrace books are available in new editions, dead tree or electronic--only if you have a Kindle, damn it*!--led me to Project Gutenberg.  (Which I've actually known about for quite a while, and have been using for just as long.)

They've really spiffied up their interface, and are making the open-source documents available in other formats than the usual .txt and occasional .pdf.  Including, ah-hah!, various formats for mobile ebook readers, and even cell phones.
*I also found several discussions about how to convert from Kindle format to something more accessible.  Oy, vey! Not a programmer...

I was going to post the You Tube video of Obi Wan Kenobi saying that, but could not find it.  I mean, everyone else has used "This is the droid I've been looking for..."

Anyway.  Last week Mrs. Drang and I joined the ranks of Droid owners.  We went with Motorola Droids from Verizon, partially because we've been happy with Verizon's service, and partially because renewing your contract with Verizon is about as beneficial as starting a new one with another carrier.  And I wanted a Droid; we both wanted a hardware keyboard as well as the option of the touchscreen.

First impressions:  Gonna take getting used to the keyboards.  The hardware keyboard will be more accurate to type on than the touchscreen, but the touchscreen might be faster.

Do like the interface, although there might be a learning curve.  Interestingly, Mrs. Drang, who is usually not quite as tech-savvy as me, has showed me several things I couldn't figure out.  One of the youngsters who works for me has had a Droid for several months, and he tipped me off about a few things right away.  "When you're back in such-and-such a section of the salt mines, turn on Plane Mode, 'cuz' you won't get a signal, and it'll save your battery."  From that I realized I needed to turn GPS Mode off unless I actually need it...  And installed my first two "widgets", to turn Plane Mode off and on, and ditto for GPS mode.

Apps:  Sure there are more apps for the iPhone, the iPhone has been out longer.  And (I am told by iPhone addicts) there is quite a lot of overlap amongst them.  Plus, they have to be approved by His Royal Highness Steve Jobs, or no go.

As for the Android Marketplace, yeah, still a lot of overlap.  Lots of free apps.  Most of the apps are $10.00 or less.

So far I have installed the following:  Mil Dot Calc and Shooter (Ballistics) by Sean Kennedy.  MDC is free, Shooter is $10.  There is an ongoing thread on AR15.com about Shooter, in which Sean is an active participant.  He has updated the app 3 or 4 times since I downloaded it... There are also a couple of shot timers, for gun gamers.

I've downloaded several amateur-radio related apps as well, including Smerty Software's Ham, which gives the status of a variety of current propagation/band/solar activity reports; APK Labs' Signals, a reference about a variety of signal and codes systems, and Tango 11's Ham Radio Study, to prepare for the Elements 2, 3, and 4 Amateur Radio exams.  (That's Technician, General, and Amateur Extra.)  I also downloaded dev1033's Resister ID and  Imagitronics' Schematic Reference, since I may have passed the General exam, but am still a little weak on that stuff.

There are several CW ("Morse Code") tutors, as well as apps that will send signals in Morse Code using either text messaging  or by flashing lights on the screen.  I have not yet installed any of these.  I figure learning CW can wait until after I pass the Amateur Extra exam...

I have also installed Snaptic's Compass.  The Droid has an integral GPS, but the compass works even with then GPS turned off.  In "digital GPS" display mode, not only do you get the compass and GPS data, but you also get a pitch and roll indicator!

I installed two different references on the US Constitution:  United States Constitution by Ken Hunt, and We The People, by Robert Bushman.  We The People is pretty straight forward, the text of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, while United States Constitution has a lot of additional material, including cross references and such goodies as the French Revolutionary Declaration of the Rights of Man, the Mayflower Compact, and the original Articles of Confederation.

I also installed Qik, inc.'s, Qik Video Camera.  This lets you live-stream video from you smart phone to the 'net.  Handy in case the SEIU is after you...

This is running long, so I'll post further impressions of using the phone separately.