The Kerstens

Wireless

We finally got our wireless network (Linksys Wireless-G) installed. It is great for building a home network. Unfortunately is it set up encrypted as well as based on MAC access. So don't even think about spying on our data flow.

Power-washer

Being tired of all this manual scrubbing and washing when the boat came out of the water we decided to get a power-washer. And it is a POWER washer. We cleaned the patio floor with it and it almost ripped the wooden floor apart. On the boat it worked very well and reduced the painful process quite a bit.

Char Broil - Master Flame

We have a new toy! It was Philip's birthday in May and he got an excellent new BBQ grill from Klaus and Edda. While Philip disappeared to go to work, Hans managed to assemble this fairly complex grill during the week. Yesterday, 5/28, we had our first BBQ with the new grill. It's great!! Since it doesn't take long to heat the grill up, it runs on gas, it looks like we'll be having a BBQ every day now.

Cable modem

One click and it's there - the high speed Internet Service that revolutionizes the way we experience the Web. It's 50 times faster than a standard dial-up connection. This is MediaOneExpress - the latest development in Nahant's technology.

This modem is really fast, but we expected it to be even faster (it still takes a couple of seconds until you see the full page). The other good news about this modem is that we can be online and telephone at the same time - since the cable modem uses the TV cable rather than the telephone line.

With respect to videoconferencing, this system works but the quality / speed isn't as good as expected. The reason for that seems to be our fairly old laptop rather than a slow internet connection. We use MS NetMeeting and a Connectix Color PC Camera. We used the " netmeet1.t-online.de" server and it worked fine in the past.

Fax

Just a reminder: Please let us know before you send a fax, because we need to switch the printer on. The fax No. is the same as the phone No.

And please, don't send early morning faxes from Germany, because we have to get up in the middle of the night to recieve the faxl

Security

This house is a high security zone. You can't enter the property without being electrified. Whoever reads this now, don't even think about it.

    New England is nice: