Category: Jake

OK, I have about had it up to here with my ActionTec 1520 not playing nice with my Watchguard SOHO firewall. Our new DSL connection requires PPPoA to get the static IP address that has been assigned to our office here. All I want to do is make this thing be absolutely transparent and just pass EVERYTHING it gets directly to the firewall where it can then get routed around to the correct servers (as we run Web servers, Terminal servers, as well as a couple other ports I need to have open and routed). But this stupid modem does NOT want to play nice with my stupid firewall. I’ve tried disabling NAT. I’ve tried using the transparent bridge setting. I’ve tried (though maybe I’m not doing it right) a static route from ActionTec to the firewall, no luck. I’ve tried putting the firewall in a DMZ, no luck. The ActionTec has firewall features, but they don’t work at all, either, so I’m not about to put the dozen ports into the modem and hope it works (already tried that).

I’ve spent the last 6 hours kicking the sh!t out of this thing getting nowhere (and this is after the various other days I’ve spent trying, too). My DSL provider has been less than helpful, as well. They can’t seem to find their Tech guy, and when I told them that they were no good to me, they said “Well you’re no good to me, either!” How’s that for customer service? If they weren’t the only broadband providers around these rural parts of Central Oregon, I’d tell them to to f**k off.

Does ANYBODY have any idea what I might be missing? Anybody ever dealt with this modem/firewall and gotten it to work? Anybody? Bueller?

I need a drink…OK, I don’t drink, but maybe I should start… .

I just put live a couple more sites for a couple folks. They’re nothing fancy, but they get the job done and give me something else to add to my meager portfolio. Let me know if you guys find any odd little quirks on them so I can fix them:

Home Improvement Services (my Dad’s company, hence the domain)

Lost Tracks Golf Club

Hey, if you’re in the need of some postage meter ribbons, hands-free phone systems, or some older software, I’ve got some for sale. I’ll knock 10% off the final price you bid if you say you saw the link on my blog.

And I get a pile of projects, all of which have to be done today. Ugh…don’t expect much blogging until my lunch break — if I get one.

So 1) I won’t be posting much between now and Friday, 2) You only have a couple days to donate and send me some cash so I can buy goodies I want ;).

I will try to post in the next few days, but don’t hold me to it.

We recently had a cable modem disappear from one of our units here at work. The renters who stayed in the house last claim they don’t have it. I don’t believe them, nor does some of the staff, just based on the fact that we had trouble with these folks.

So the modem is gone, and we ordered a new one from NewEgg (for $82 — the cable company wanted to charge us $250). But there’s only a couple thing you can do with a cable modem: pawn it off on someone, or hook it up on your cable system. Generally, to get it to work with a new cable system, you have to give them the MAC address. That’s how many cable companies verify that you’re a subscriber is by the MAC address of your modem — if your modem’s MAC is in their database, you can play.

So what am I going to do? Get the MAC address of the stolen modem from our cable company, and then call the renter’s cable company, just to see if they have that MAC address on their network. I’ll keep you posted with my results.

I need a PCMCIA card and an access point. E-mail me at jake at orty dot com if you have one you want to get rid of.

I walk into work today (this is my “Monday” for anybody who doesn’t know that) and not only do I have about 150 e-mails that need to be replied to (out of about 300), but I get a note and a project sitting on my desk: “I need this by the end of the day.” Lovely…it’s usually a three-day project.

My day’s almost over, and I’m almost done with the project, but man what day. Back to blogging more tomorrow.

Just an FYI, I’m now a contributor for the metaweblog Lockergnome Bits and Bytes, along with a few other folks (like Neil Turner who was kind enough to link to me). But most of the stuff (if not all) of the stuff I post over there will be posted here, too.

As I’ll be playing in the Central Oregon Symphony concert this afternoon (and again tomorrow night). If you’re in town, come on down to Bend High School at 3:00 pm for a great show (tickets are free while they last).