Rant the first–
All right, techs. I’ve been putting up with the connection speed here at school since the beginning of the semester. And I’ve been really, really patient about it, even though it sometimes takes me an hour to do my web-based assignments (which consist soley of reading a webpage). I’ve taken failed connection attempts to AIM in stride. I’ve even developed a habit of keeping a book next to the computer that I can read while pages are loading.
It appears, however, that I have been patient for far too long.
You guys promised that the connection would get better. You published an article in the goddamn school paper saying that you were going to “increase the connection speed by 150%” What a motherfucking load of bullshit.
It takes me 10 minutes to load a thread on the SDMB. AIM is lagging by minutes, thus defeating the purpose of an instant message. Some pages won’t even load–I had to go to the computer lab, which is on a different server–in order to look up flight and train schedules. I’m not using file-sharing programs, I’m not running a 50 person Quake game, I’m not trying to download huge files. I just want to use my fucking computer to read a few webpages and send a few messages! And it’s not just me; everyone in the residence halls has this problem.
When I went home this weekend, I used my old computer, with the 28.8 modem. It managed to load webpages within my natural lifetime. It managed to keep me connected to AIM. This on DIALUP, nonetheless. On fucking slow dialup. And it felt magically fast and wonderful!
Is it too fucking much to ask for the same from a asslicking T1 connection?! I know, I know…it’s the file-sharer’s fault. We’ve all heard it. Well guess what, Nelly–I’ve got friends who go to other colleges. I bet that people use file-sharing programs there, too. And you know what? THEY have connections that can outpace a team of snails trekking uphill and carrying heavy baggage.
Unlike those of us here. We are jealous of the snails.
Rant the second–
My laptop computer, which is all of six months old, has decided to develop a major flaw. The main cooling fan has, for no reason, decided to stop working. This is a major problem, in that the cooling fan is what keeps my computer from melting into a pile of plastic and silicon goo.
This really cheezes me off. In order to use my computer for any length of time (read as: for longer than 20 minutes or so), I have to position a fan below it, so that air circulates through the cooling vents. This keeps my laptop mostly functioning, although, for the past two nights, I’ve had to go down–again–to the lab in order to work on papers and/or talk to people.
I have not abused this computer. It leads a rather boring life, in fact. It sits in my dorm room, except for when I pack it up to take it home, which I’ve only done twice. And it STILL broke.
I did purchase the warranty, but since the warranty is through Best Buy, I can’t get the computer fixed until I go home for Christmas; there is no Best Buy withing walking and/or reasonable ride mooching distance.
So, basically…I have a shit connection and a piece of shit lemon computer. The two problems, incidentally, are unrelated; everyone else has connection problems. No one else has fan problems. If it weren’t for my roommate, who suggested that I use the fan, I wouldn’t have a usable computer at all.
::sighs:: Fuckin’ technology.