Death of my Wireless

I was happily surfing the net using Opera Mini on my mobile N85 yesterday afternoon when my wireless dropped dead!

I could not connect to my wireless broadband!! I just could not detect my wireless network!

And I tried all afternoon and gave up by evening time. My wireless is dead! Dead!

So when SO came back, we fiddled with the wireless modem for a while but still could not get it to work.

I then took out the modem Singnet sent us last year when we recontract. I did not use this new modem cos the old one (the one that died yesterday) was functioning very well. And thus I did not see any point in doing so. Besides I was lazy.

Well, the new modem did not have the term "Wireless" stated anywhere in the box or packaging.

And when I connected the modem, I realised, yeah, this modem is NOT wireless! No choice. Beggars cannot be choosers! Just have to make do with the non wireless one.

But damn, I am still not satisfied. I am so used to using wireless for the past few years, I just dun like using wires! Besides, I mostly surf the net using my phone. And with NO wireless, I just cannot do so!

So i got SO to call Singnet technical support but they said if there is no light on the ASDL, then it's dead. Singnet said we could try calling the modem manufacturer, 2Wire.

He also was advised to call Singnet Sales unit to ask why we were given a wired modem instead of a wireless modem.

I feel so lost. I am so used to reading blogs and sites on my mobile. I checked the net using my phone about once an hour, sometimes even more. It's the first thing I do when I wake up each morning and the last thing I do before I sleep at night.

And not being able to detect my wireless network and surfing the net on my phone is starting to make me crankly and restless.

I am mumbling here. I have been sick for the last week. Been sick since last monday and I have been coughing since.

The PC Show 2008

I arranged with SO to go to the PC show this afternoon. SO was reluctant to go cos his boss was on leave and he's covering for her. He claimed he was very busy and had meetings all lined up all day.

You dun know how many threats I have to whip out to get him to go along. I told him if you dun go to the PC show with me, I am going to splurge on whatever I want. And that includes a top of the line laptop, a playstation, and maybe even a video camera.

SO left his office at 2:30pm and he was just grumbling about how he had no breakfast and no lunch. That little bitch was just whining and complaining how hungry he was. That bitch needs to eat several times a day and if he skipped a meal, he can be extremely bitchy and sourface! Not like me, I can skip breakfast and lunch and yet I dun feel hungry.

Anyway, I told him that if the food court below the PC show center was not that crowded, he could have his lunch there. But when i reached there, that place was packed! There was not a empty table in sight.

I sms SO that he could buy fruits as a snack to fill his stomach and then i went to the fruits counter. The fruits there were so expensive. Everything was 2 to 3 times more expensive than elsewhere. A piece of honey dew or papaya which normally cost $0.60 to $0.80, costs $1.50 there. Yeah, i think it is daylight robbery. SO said he would never eat there cos everything is so double priced.

The PC show was crowded.....there was barely room to move, there were hordes and hordes of bargain hunters hustling for space.

With a hungry and grouchy bitchy SO in company, I dare not linger too long to window shop. Luckily, I am the type of person who know what I want. I had read the PC show paper supplements that comes with the newspaper and did my research online. I also had checked out the booth number of the stuff I wanted.

I wanted a micro SDHC 8Gb memory card for my Nokia N95 phone and a Creative Xmod. And maybe a Canon MP610 printer.

So we wandered about a while first to get our feel, before zooming in the the Sandisk booth, Level 6, B1812. There were 2 types of micro SD card on sale. The normal 8Gb version cost $65, the ultra mobile version cost $72.

It was a steal! The papers advertised the price as $105 and this is $32 cheaper than I expected! And at least $50 cheaper than elsewhere. So I sent off SO to queue and make payment as I wandered about a bit.

It was just too crowded to really browse. I have a great phobia for crowd and people. Lots of people. I started to sweat and my breathing became difficult. I started to make my way to the queue where SO was. I did took a few photos on the way back there. I would post it up once I load it up into my phone.

After SO had made payment, we walked around Hall 6, without realising that we had forgot to take part in the Sandisk lucky draw, which came with every memory card purchase. Not that the prizes were that fantastic, but still freebies after all. Damn!

One other thing that I was looking for was PSP games. We searched high and low and did managed to find a small isolated booth selling games. Some PSP games were on offer, one for $39, three for $99. There wasn't any games I really wanted, so we left after a quick browse.

Next, we went down to the 4th level, Hall 4. This was where all the major brands are; Canon, Creative, Samsung, Acer etc. The only thing I wanted from here was the Creative Xmod. The usual price was $139. Sale price was $69 and it came with a free Zen USB adapter.

Creative was at one corner of Hall 4, Booth A 1801.There wasn't much customers around and the cashier queue was practically empty. Actually I was not quite sure whether I wanted to buy Xmod, cos I was not sure if I would actually use it. The purpose of the Xmod is that it functions like an external soundcard, making low fidelity, xtreme fidelity. It is suppose to make MP3 sound better than CDs and turn stereo music and movies into virtual surround. So I thought, why not, since there were some great reviews on the item and it was on sale!

http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=209&subcategory=668&product=15913

I was also looking for a printer/scanner and had decided on Canon Pixma MP620, which costs $338 and weigh 10 kg. SO was in a bitchy mood. He said, you buy it, you carry it. I told him it comes with a free trolley and he can pretend to be a air steward lugging his luggage. He rolled his eyes.

I was still considering as to whether I wanted a printer cos I had just managed to make space in my study room for a printer. But then my laptop memory space is more than half gone. With only 80Gb memory space, I had only about 40Gb space left, rendering the laptop sluggish at times.

So finally I made the decision to NOT buy the printer at this fair, but at the next IT fair, which would be probably 6 months later. I still like the Canon MP620, but I think there would be other better grade printers at better price few months down the road.

And I told the bitch SO that I needed to buy a new laptop first, before getting a new printer/scanner. He said, okay....want to buy now? I told him, nope, not now but soon. And I want a better laptop, one that comes with at least 3 Gb RAM, 320 Gb storage space. Now that model retails for about $2300 and if we pay by istallments, it comes out to be about $100 per month for 24 months.

I am so getting a brand new laptop this year!

SO was now whining about how hungry and faint he was. I told him I wanted to take some more photos. I left him at the entrance and made my way along the side of the Hall and snapped several photos.

After that, we made our way down to the food court at Suntec. It was crowded but there were still empty seats. He had curry vegetables and rice for lunch and I had fish curry and rice.

After lunch, we made our way to Marina to take a bus back and on the way, that BITCH made me draw $140 to pay him back. Normally, he would pay for such things, but today, that whiny bitch insisted that I have to pay him back for what I bought today!

Normally, I would paid back what i bought, but I dun pay full price, I paid either 50% or 80% of whatever I bought for myself. And if the bitch was in a good mood, he would waive the payments. But this time, he said I wasted his time, and thus wanted me to pay for the full sum! He even lead me to an ATM!

Frankly, I was not in a good mood either. I hate shoppping with grouchy, whiny people and SO can be a real bitch at times when we are not shopping for him.

So I withdrew $130, intending to pay him only $100 and leaving only $30 for my personal use. No way, I was going to pay him $140. Dream on, Bitch!

He gave me $10 change back, cos he really thought I was paying $150. Ha! How stupid can he get? I told him, I should only pay him $70 cos the price of the micro SD card should be paid by him, since the phone and card would be his in a few months time anyway. He rolled his eyes.

In the end, I paid him $120, leaving only $10 for myself.

-----------------------------------

As we reached Marina, I told him John Little was having a 20% storewide sale and I wanted to grabbed some stuff. I informed him that we would either visit it today or over the weekend.

Buying a printer

Going to the PC show tomorrow. Decide to brave the crowd for a printer, a micro SD card and a Creative Xmod.

So far, i have narrowed down the printers to the final 4. I have been wanting to get a multifunction print/scan device for a while.

1. Canon Pixma MP620
Cost $338
Without fax.

Print Resolution 9600 x 2400 dpi
Scan Optical Resolution 4800 x 9600 dpi
http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/printers/0,39051175,42089372p,00.htm

2. Pixma MX318
Cost $249
With fax.
Print Resolution 4800 x 1200 dpi
Scan Optical Resolution 1200 x 2400 dpi
http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/printers/0,39051175,43583879p,00.htm

3. Brother MFC 260C
Cost $228
Print Resolution Up to 1,200 x 6,000dpi
Scan Optical Resolution Up to 600 x 2,400dpi
http://www.brother.com.sg/productDetail.asp?model=MFC-260C#products

4. Epson Photo RX610
$288

Of the 4, Canon MP620 has the best printing and scanning resolution. It even got the Cnet Asia readers' choice gold award.

Epson seems not very common. It seems almost obsolete, based on number of reviews.

Canon MP620 weighs 10kg but since meeting SO, he would be the one carrying it. Ha!

My Mac Hardware Overview

Machine Model: iMac G5
CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (3.0)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1.6 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 256 MB
Bus Speed: 533 MHz

System Version: Mac OS X 10.3.9

Did i mention that i won the iMac G5 in a contest 2 years ago? And i only paid $50 for it!
That was when i was on my lucky streak.