Update on our Internet Issues

December 4th, 2018

The beginning of the saga, let's call it Chapter 1, is on also here on the news page, just below.
 

Chapter 2 of the Internet Saga

Last week, we bought a cellular booster. On Sunday, it was delivered. We blew a good chunk of the day installing and tweaking it in hopes of getting it to work with my Sprint hotspot. I have an unlimited data plan - so if we could get the speeds up a notch or two, it could have been feasible to use that connection to support our cameras while we wait for a Cable connection install date.

The booster was an epic fail. Our guy took four trips up on the roof to try different locations for the booster - and none worked well enough.

This morning, Comcast gave me an estimated date to install the cable. (that’s the good news) The bad news is that the date they gave me is Jan 21-22.

There is a neighboring business about 200-300 feet away that has the cable - and they gave me permission to use their wifi if I can get connected to it. I tried that this morning, but they are just too far away. By the time we buy any other booster type equipment, get it installed, tested... and even ***IF*** successful, we will be up against Christmas & New Year holidays, etc, and I am out for a business trip the whole first week of January. Ugh.

So for now, it seems that we have to just cave and do other work between now and Jan 21. I can record workshop video here, slap them on a thumb drive, and upload them to our developer dude from my son’s house.

In the interim, we do have the new pattern coming out... so there will be lots of activity - just the Sew-A-Longs are affected by this internet service issue until Jan 22, it seems.

So thank you to everyone that has been rolling with this.

By tomorrow, we will be updating the calendar on the home page to reflect all of this.

I can only apologize for this unforeseen situation.

Thanks for your patience,
-Sally and her Rock Star Team

 

Special Message to Our Members

Nov 29th, 2019

Re: Event Reschedules

Dear Members,

If you have been following along in our community on Facebook ( facebook.com/groups/sewmuchnicer ) , you probably already know the exciting news about me being able to re-acquire the studio space that I truly enjoyed in 2015-16.

This morning, driving into work, I felt like I've come out of a 2.5 year coma! Everything feels so good again... and I love everything going on around me - but it hasn't been easy. It's been a crazy ride! Thank you to everyone that is in my corner! Let me fill you in on what's shakin':

Moving back into the larger space has allowed us to create a fab classroom as well as the space better serves our extensive video schedule we have happening for the site. I love being back in a space that allows for more interaction with local friends, too!

We've been working long hours... I'm so grateful to everyone that has been helping us get through this month! I came home sick from the Florida retreat on Nov 5th - been to the dentist and doc... and I'm still having issues. I couldn't do our normal live events and I sure couldn't accomplish everything we have done this month alone!

So while I was sicker than a dog, all of this came about suddenly and has all been happening as quickly as possible. It's crazy!

Nov 9th: I found out about the space being available - called my old landlord - he's a Sweetie! He had someone else interested in the space, but bumped them aside so I could come back. Yay!

Nov 11th: Lease was signed, rent paid, yada yada yada. We're IN!

Nov 12th: Ordered internet. Found out that Comcast (cable) internet could not be installed immediately - so I ordered CenturyLink (dsl) for immediate install so we could get back to work while waiting to hear back about cable install dates.

Nov 14th: previous tenants vacated.

I had learned that the landlord had given Comcast permission to have cable internet installed into the building to serve the previous tenant (they had massive computers in the space) 2 years ago. At the time of signing the lease, the landlord believed there was cable installed for them, which would be much better than the service I had in this space two years ago as well as what we have been struggling with over the past year. It was a bummer to discover that the last tenants cancelled the cable order and went with multiple dsl lines instead. Major bummer - but we gotta do the best we can to move forward, though.

Nov 15: Move starts! Paint the place, get internet installed. Jim and my family pulled together to help me move (while I'm still really sick) so I could get the sewing video studio space put back together as quickly as possible.

Nov 22: Turkey Day. I spent the day setting up our mounts and running power, camera. and mic cords. Getting ready for our first gig in the new place the next day!

Nov 23: Show time. The team attempted to resume our scheduled Sally Sew-A-Longs. The day was an epic fail due to the internet service in this commercial building falling short in delivering adequate upload speeds to support the camera system feed. Each of our Sew A Longs involves 4 team members, 5 computers and I've got 16 pieces of equipment on my end that all need to play nice together. Each session is a major undertaking - so it was upsetting to see the poor internet service ruin the day - and our end product.

We have been working to get the cable internet installed as soon as possible. It is ordered, but the cable lies 61 feet from the building and it seems that Comcast has to arrange a team of rocket scientists to get it to the building. It's very frustrating.

We are in the midst of attempting a "band-aid" fix to increase our upload speeds in the interim (until Comcast is installed) More equipment has been ordered & if it arrives on time, and my guy can install it right away (antenna on the roof!!!) , we hope to know if this solution will work by December 3rd. Cross your fingers for us.

We apologize for this unforeseen situation. We have had no choice but to reschedule events while the internet service fails us. Please watch this calendar for official updates.

Thanks for your support! We look forward to having fun together very soon.

-Sally and her Rock Star Team