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I’ve had a Linksys wireless router for about to two years now. The Linksys firmware is limited. I’ve known for a while that it is possible to install third-party firmware, but I’ve been hesitant to do. I finally decided to go ahead and give it a try. The firmware that I decided to use was Tomato Firmware. All I had to do was use the firmware update option in the default firmware. I haven’t played around with Tomato much, but what I’ve seen so far is cool. I’m mostly interested in the bandwidth usage monitor.

One of the main reasons I decided to change the firmware was that I wanted to monitor our monthly bandwidth usage. I’ve heard about ISPs limiting how much bandwidth you can use. Although my ISP doesn’t do so, out of curiosity I wanted to see how much our household uses. I normally download at least 2 or 3 shows from iTunes each week.

So far I’m not having any problems with the new firmware. I hope that continues.

I held out for about 3 weeks before I rented the fourth season of Alias. I don’t really have a lot to say. I would say that it is the weakest of all the seasons so far. Sydney joins a black ops division and within the first 3 episodes all of our favorite characters at the CIA have been recruited into this new division. How convenient. There were some interesting storylines during the season, but there didn’t seem to any central storylines that tied together the entire season like there was in past seasons. The show did redeem itself during the last few episodes though.

One thing that Alias is good at is the season-ending cliffhanger. This season ended with another cliffhanger that makes me want to rent the next season just to see what happens. I’m already watching other shows on DVD now, so I think it really will be a while before I watch the next season of Alias.

After approximately 10 days of not feeling well, I went to see the doctor yesterday. I had hoped to beat it myself, but it didn’t seem like it was going to happen any time soon. I went on a Sudafed treatment over the weekend. I started to feel better that first day, but after that it didn’t seem like I was getting any better. I was tired of being sick and being tired all the time, so I went to see a doctor.

The doctor asked me a lot of questions, took some blood, and gave me her theory. She thinks that my allergies started acting up, which made me more prone for “other things to settle in”. She thinks I caught a cold while my allergies were bothering me. She said that she was going to “dry me up”. She prescribed medicine that ended up costing $64 that she said may not work because not all allergy medicine works for everybody. If it doesn’t work she wants me to come back to see her. I hope that I’ll be feeling better within the next few days.

Last night I downloaded Punch-Out from the Virtual Console. I like playing these Virtual Console games because they give me a chance to re-experience parts of my childhood. I almost feel like a kid again.

I probably last played Punch-Out when about 16 or 17 years ago when I still had a copy of Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out. I kick ass at this game now. There were a couple of fights where I took some damage early on, but once I figured out their pattern or how to handle their special attack I did much better. I stopped at the point where you fight Bald Bull for the first time. I remembered all of the characters that I’ve come across so far, but part of me wonders if I beat them all myself or if I just watched my cousin beat them. Anyway, I’ll be getting back to this one soon. I wonder how much tougher it’ll be.

This has been kind of a rough week between lack of sleep and sinus stuff. I’ve had lots of fun though. I’ve spent many hours playing Valkyrie Profile 2 and may be starting Super Paper Mario tonight.

My new case and motherboard that I ordered from TigerDirect came in the mail the other day. I already received my new processor and video card. I’m moving the DVD burner, sound card, and hard drive from my old computer to this new one. Today I went to the new computer store and bought a cooling fan. I’m so eager to start putting everything today, but since I feel terrible I think I’ll hold off until the weekend.

The thing I miss the most about being a student is learning new stuff. Maybe I’ll take a class over the summer or in the fall since it would be free. I have learned a lot of new stuff at work but it has slowed down some lately. Thankfully, I’ll be getting something fresh and new to jump into within the next few days.

I’ve started using YouTube more and more lately. I only watch videos, but maybe if I make something one day I’ll upload it. Check out my profile and see what videos I have added to my favorites. There should be more added to that list soon.

Working full-time takes up so much of the day. By the time I get off work, I want to spend my time relaxing and doing something fun. That means I haven’t been going to the gym much. Of the 50 lbs that I lost in 2005-2006, I’ve regained about 20 since last August. I’ve rejoined The Sanderson Center on campus and I hope to go a few times a week. I may end up having spending some of my valuable weekend afternoon hours in the gym. Maybe I’ll get back to the point where I actually look forward to going there.

If I go to a fast food restaurant or any kind of restaurant enough times, I often know what questions they are going to ask ahead of time. Sometimes when I place my order I try to make sure that I answer all of those questions.

Me: I’d like a medium #2 with no onions to go please.
Cashier: Would you like that medium or large?
Me: Medium.
Cashier: No onions?
Me: Right.
Cashier: Would you like that for here or to go?
Me: To go.

Then he told me the total. That kind of thing happens a lot when I order food. I wonder if they aren’t really paying close attention to what I am saying or if they are mechanically following a script. Do I need to use a bullhorn?

When I got home with my food I discovered that the burger had onions on it. I hated my life for a second.

My roommate and I finished out second playthrough of Tales of the Abyss on Saturday. After all the time we spent on it I was definitely ready for something new. We went straight into Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria by Square Enix. We’ve played for a while and we’re already hooked. I think this will be a shorter game than TOA, but that’s okay with me.

I didn’t wait long before I jumped into season three of Alias. As expected, there were lots of twists and turns along the way. A good portion of the season was devoted to the mystery that was presented in the previous season’s finale. As with previous seasons, a few big name guest stars show up in a few of the episodes. Even though I have some complaints, it’s still a highly addictive show. One day I watched 7 episodes and on another day I watched 6.

Maybe I’m spending too much time watching TV. There’s something that’s currently being way overdone on TV and in movies. In the first scene they show the characters in the middle of some kind of predicament or important event. Then a message like “72 HOURS BEFORE” or “24 HOURS AGO” flashes on the screen and they flash back in time to show you how the characters got to the predicament that was shown in the first scene. Once they get back to that point they resolve the situation. This happened in a few episodes of season three as well as episodes of other TV shows I’ve seen lately. I get annoyed every time I see “X HOURS AGO” appear on the screen.

Other annoyances:

• How long it took to reveal mystery that I mentioned earlier
• How they can never keep the bad guys in custody
• How Syndey’s entire family seems to be involved in everything
• The stories people tell about events from earlier in their lives or earlier in the series that somehow tie into what’s going on in the present (fictional example: “When I was young my father would take me to the park blah blah blah [I zone out for a little while at this point] and since then I haven’t trusted him.”
• How they kept mentioning Sydney’s mother but never showed her
• The stuff with the mole

Things I liked:

• The guest stars
• Marshall is hilarious
• The action scenes are fun

Overall, I enjoyed the third season of Alias but I don’t think it’s the best. I will hold off for a while on season four so I won’t get burnt out on the show. There are other shows than this.