Been wanting to upgrade the firmware on my TP-LINK Archer C8 router.  It was pretty old and having some problems, and I was also worried about security.  To top it off my neighbor quite a ways down the block mentioned she could see our (unlocked) WiFi from her house.  I do this on purpose, since I live in a relatively sparse neighborhood with friendly neighbors.  But maybe it was time to lock that down too.  What could go wrong?

I double checked everything, downloaded the correct file and sent it to the router over a wired connection.  I waited and waited and nothing came back. The unit was warm to the touch.  Not good.  Finally I power cycled it and nada. No lights, no nothing.  Bricked.

Ran off to Fry’s and bought the latest TP-LINK C90 since I couldn’t imagine going for too long without WiFi in this house.  It all went fairly well.  Decided to lock down the WiFi with a password.  Tried to figure out how many devices I would have to deal with. Pads, phone and PCs came to mind.  Maybe a dozen.  I’ll take care of my own and let the rest of the family deal with their own devices.

Oops.  Forgot the thermostats.  No big deal.  Uh oh.  IP surveillance cameras I have been playing around with.  Now they are cut off and I can’t even log in to them to set the new WiFi password.  They need to be taken down and plugged in to the router.  Damn.

No way was I going to take down these two cameras. I guessed I could have turned off the password for a while and reset them and then turned it back on, but that might mean resetting everything else I had just spent an hour typing passwords into.  I could run a long Ethernet cable.  Nah.  Or I could use this old power line Ethernet adapter I had!  And it worked! Sorta.  These powerline adapters need to be on the same circuit.  So I hauled a long extension cord out to the back yard to get the second one to work.

Of ourse the crazy Chinese software on the cameras got confused and had to be reset a few times before it worked.  Set some fixed IP addresses and maybe 4 or 5 hours later I was done upgrading my router firmware.

Oh, forgot the printer.  Had to log it in too.  I’m wondering what other devices might need to be logged in.  Ah, my Chromecasts.  Better go check them now.

Pucci and Rino spending some quality time together.

Decided to drive to Waco and check out the Magnolia stuff.  Also wanted to try out the Tesla Super Charger.  The drive up I35 was worse than I remembered.  We got to Magnolia Table and the wait was an hour and 45 minutes.  For breakfast on a Tuesday, in Waco, TX.  We decided to skip it and headed to the Magnolia Silos.  Had some Mexican for lunch at a place around the corner.  The Magnolia Silos was, well, underwhelming.  Lots of people milling around and some good looking food trucks.  We walked up to the Blanco River and saw the old suspension bridge.  Got back on the road and hit the Super Charger.  Pretty cool.  A really nice bakery across the parking lot.

Went out to Deckhand again.  Their credit card machine must have been broken because they were ”cash only’ tonight.  Normally we might not have had enough cash on us but we had just sold some old furniture on Craig’s List and the people paid cash with a $100 bill, so we were good.  Also found a pearl in one of my oysters.  Our lucky day.

Lost my big koi a few months back.  Put up this camera partly to see if I could catch the culprit.  All I have in the pond right now is a small goldfish and a few minnows.  Looks like I found out who has been going after my fish.  Seems to be a raccoon.

A video (recorded at 5 fps) below:

Not ‘why’, but ‘because’.  From Quartz:

THE BIG BECAUSE

The key to loving your job in the age of burnout

By Cassie Werber

April 7, 2019

Saw Lucinda Williams last night a ACL for the 20th anniversary of the release of Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.  Didn’t realize util the day of the show that she was going to perform the album in its entirety.  Great show.  A one point the vocals went out.  Realized the strobe lights weren’t part of the show, but a fire alarm.  No sirens and no announcement.  The band left the stage, some people left, we stayed and got something to drink at the bar.  I figured not much could burn in the big concrete ACL Moody Theater.  Band came back in about 15 minutes and re-played the cut-off song (“I Lost It” ?) and finished up a great show.