When I first moved here, I discovered that the internet connection offered by the apartment complex is really slow and unreliable, but other providers aren't allowed to offer service here so there aren't any real alternatives. I was considering starting a petition to convince them to allow outside service, but I didn't ever get around to it. Today I learned that the apartment complex is being sold, and as of next month we will be allowed to have whatever cable, phone, internet, etc. service we want. Awesome. The lesson to be learned is: If you want something to change in your life, just sit back and wait for it to happen on its own.

I'm glad I found out when I did — I had been planning on signing up for a Verizon Aircard in the next few days, and that entails a one-year committment. I may still decide I want the flexibility offered by the AirCard, but I think the $100/month will seem a lot less worthwhile if I have a reliable, fast connection at home.

This change will improve things for me in a bunch of different ways. Besides the obvious advantage of reliable internet, I'll also be able to switch to a cable TV provider instead of the Dish Network service that the apartment complex offers. Satellite service isn't terrible, but it causes problems for my Tivo; most stations come in via the satellite receiver, but the local channels (including Fox, ABC, and Cartoon Network) are offered directly by the apartment complex via cable. The Tivo has no problem recording from two different sources (in fact, I bought a Dual Tuner unit that can record from both at once), but because the local channel lineup is determined by the apartment complex, the Tivo doesn't know which stations are on which channels, so the only way to schedule recordings is to set them up manually by specifying the time and channel. I know, your heart bleeds for me. It's not a life-threatening hardship, but the end result is that I've been missing a lot of the shows I like a lot (like Family Guy, Metalocalypse, and Lost). So I'm relieved that now that should no longer be a problem.

Another advantage of the change is that now I'll be able to sign up for HDTV service and start making real use of all those pixels sitting in that big honkin' TV in my living room. DVDs look great, but regular TV looks depressingly bad in comparison. The HDTV displays I've seen at Best Buy and Circuit City look amazing. It'll be awesome to have that here, since I watch TV much more than DVDs.

On a completely unrelated note, there's a (possibly) fun new little feature down at the bottom of the sidebar on the right. To support and encourage everyone's healthy sense of voyeurism, I rigged the site up to display my last 10 Google searches. Note that these are searches that I've performed, not searches that brought people to BinRock. I'm not sure how interesting it will be — if the current list is any indication, I don't seem to have particularly breathtaking search habits — so I may eventually get rid of it if it turns out to be dull and boring.