AT&T Uverse // August 2018 Speed Report

So, on or about Aug 9 at 2pm, something happened to my connection to no longer cap it at 100M u/d. Yes, it caps at 300/200 up/down, respectively.  I was home — not traveling. No idea what happened. I think the USB connections are keeping the caps at 300M.  I know all of my cables are CAT 5e with the proper RJ45 connections. And I’m using all Gig routers (1000/100/10).

Now on to the stats… Below you see a chart of the upload/download (red/blue, respectively) speeds for the month of August 2018:



August 2018 Averages:

18AUG Ping (ms) Down (Mb/s) Up (Mb/s)
Monthly 14.319 190.047 115.785


CFA inspiration

So, I’m interested in getting my CFA designation and I don’t want to spend much $$ outside of registering for the exam. A patent friend of mine took and passed Level 1 (investment tools) — Level 2 (Asset Valuation) and then Level 3 (Portfolio Management).  In doing some research I came across:

  1. CFA Institute, CFA Program Curriculum Overview (link);
  2. Wall Street Mojo, CFA, Level 1 (link).
My friend provided the following feedback:
  • I studied the material that is provided by the CFA Institute, i.e., no extra classes or materials beyond registering for the exam.
  • Although the subject matter is completely different, I found it to be like the Patent Bar with the amount of studying involved.  The MBA helped, but there is a lot more depth and detail that required a lot of study time.
  • If you do sign up for it, one thing I would recommend is to take a lot of the mock exams to get familiar with the topics that are actually tested.  I did that later in my studies and would have preferred to do that sooner.
I am going to try to study the material provided by the CFA Institute in the Study Support (link) and do the provided practices exams. I’m hoping the knowledge obtain in my MBA in Finance will provide some background.

Right now I know I will bump-up against the official designation, but taking/passing the Level exams should be doable.

Fingers crossed and feel free to comment.

Sushi Eating // Densetsu // Plano

Densetsu

Website: https://www.densetsujapanese.com/

Ambiance: Small. Local. Traditional place with a nice patio. Always crowded.

Ordered: Jays’ Favorite Roll (one of my favs — salmon atop spicy tuna roll)
Thoughts: “Irasshaimase!” (いらっしゃいませ!) LOVE this place! great ambiance and size/price ratio. This is one of the standards by which I measure all others.
My Rating: 4.9 / 5.0.  Google Rating: 4.5 (483 reviews)

Photos:

AT&T Uverse // July 2018 Speed Report

Continue to see no meaningful improvement in the speed. Can’t tell where the fail point is, which could be: (1) the PON, (2) the broadband router, (3) the 2 GIG ethernet switches, and/or the (4) the USB Ethernet dongle. I can sense that my distance from the router (2) may be an issue and the dongle (3) may be cheap.  No idea what caused the spike.  Further, I bought a power timer reset to reset the power of my router daily at 3am; thinking that may help. It doesn’t.

Now on to the stats… Below you see a chart of the upload/download (red/blue, respectively) speeds for the month of July 2018:


July 2018 Averages:

18JUL Ping (ms) Down (Mb/s) Up (Mb/s)
Monthly 14.764 78.194 79.599

Sushi Eating // Kai Ola // San Diego (iii)

Kai Ola Sushi (actually in Encinitas)

Website: kai-ola.com

Ambiance: Small. Local — on the PCH. No alcohol when we went, but that didn’t matter as there is a great wine bar next door.

Ordered: Jalapeno Bomb w/ Tuna, Moonlight Roll, Kook Roll, STHR, & Miso
Thoughts: really liked this place. great food and cool vibe.  The salt/lime mix on the Moonlight Roll was very unique and well done.
My Rating: 4.96.  Google Rating: 4.8 (47 reviews)
Photo:

[Kook roll on top, Moonlight roll on bottom]

AT&T Uverse // June 2018 Speed Report

Continue to see no meaningful improvement in the speed. Can’t tell where the fail point is, which could be: (1) the PON, (2) the broadband router, (3) the 2 GIG ethernet switches, and/or the (4) the USB Ethernet dongle. I can sense that my distance from the router (2) may be an issue and the dongle (3) may be cheap.

Now on to the stats… Below you see a chart of the upload/download (red/blue, respectively) speeds for the month of June 2018:



June 2018 Averages:


18JUN Ping (ms) Down (Mb/s) Up (Mb/s)
Monthly 12.645 76.138 79.121

Sushi Eating // Royal Sushi & Isakaya // Philly (ii)

Royal Sushi & Isakaya

Website: royalsushiandizakaya.com

Ambiance: dark. cool. not very sushi-ee, but chic.

Ordered: Sashimi Deluxe, Tune Avocado Roll & Guac Roll. (And miso).
Thoughts: Good food. I was interested in the omakase, but you need a reservation for that, which wasn’t public from the Google Search I did.  Further, they wouldn’t serve me a STHR, 😦  The sashimi quality was very good.  Buttery tuna. Miso was a little lemony for my taste, but still good.
My Rating: 4.94 / 5.0. (<- a little surprised. Not sure I would have subjectively provided such a score, but that's why I'm now using an objective mechanism)  Google Rating: 4.7 (195 reviews)
Photo: