If you’re a regular watcher of my live stream on Twitch.TV, you might have notice that I haven’t really been streaming much lately, and when I do stream, it’s from a different location (as you might have seen from the background in my webcam).

I’ve gotten a handful of people asking me why that is (and one person even going to the extent of asking me if I had quit streaming), so I decided to make a quick blog post describing my current situation.

The reason I haven’t been streaming lately is because the Internet at my apartment is extremely unreliable. My rent payment comes with utilities included, one of which is 50 Mb/s Internet from ResTech Services, an Internet service provider that I believe only serves the Madison, WI area (or, at the very least, their main offices are in Madison). Usually the Internet is okay (although I never get up to 50 Mb/s), but occasionally, I run into severe speed and latency problems.

These problems generally fix themselves, and if not, then I can usually call customer service and ask them to reset some stuff on my account. However, the problem I’ve been facing lately has gone completely unresolved, even though I’ve done thorough investigations and I’ve called my ISP multiple times.

Long story short, my Internet connection drops every 15-20 minutes. Although this isn’t a huge deal for everyday, normal Internet use, it does pose a problem when I’m playing games like League of Legends, or when I’m streaming, which requires a constant and consistent connection with the corresponding servers. Get your connection dropped during a game and it’ll lag you out, rending you unable to control your character while it attempts to reconnect, putting you in a vulnerable position prone to death. Get your connection dropped during a stream and your viewers will constantly have to refresh the stream (if the stream doesn’t automatically restart in their browser), and the recorded replay file is split up into little chunks.

As of right now, my next course of action is to try out a different router than the one I’m using. I find it very difficult to believe that my router randomly decided to start dropping my Internet connection one day, but I still understand that it’s possible, no matter how small the chance.

Until then, all of my streaming will have to be done from an alternative location using a different Internet connection.

Fortunately, my university’s Internet is good enough that I’m able to stream in high definition without any problems. So, I’ve generally been streaming from my psychology research lab office, or a commons (sometimes referred to as a library in the quiet sections) private study room.

I’ll try to keep you guys updated on the status of my Internet, and when I will be able to stream regularly from my apartment again.

If you saw my blog post from a few days ago, you know that I recently got a bunch of new stuff from Razer, which included the Razer BlackWidow Ultimate 2013.

For the past half a year or so, I’ve been using the Razer BlackWidow standard edition. The primary difference between this keyboard and the one I received a few days ago is that it’s an older model. I’ve done a bit of research on it and I haven’t really been able to find any significant differences between the two models, other than the fact that the color of the lighting is different, and the gaming features have been slightly improved in the newer model.

The other difference is that I used to use the standard edition, but this time I got the ultimate edition. The main differences that I can tell between the standard and ultimate editions are that the ultimate comes with full lighting of the keys, and has extra jacks for connecting your headphones, microphone, and something that uses USB.

Overall, I love the Razer BlackWidow standard edition, but I dislike the Razer BlackWidow Ultimate 2013.

Starting with the feel of the keyboard, the standard edition keyboard has a rougher feel with more defined edges to the keys that helps your fingers get a grip on the keyboard. This allows for efficient typing with few errors because it is very difficult for your fingers to accidentally hit keys that you don’t want.

On the other hand, the ultimate 2013 edition has much smoother and softer keys with very undefined edges. If you were to slip your fingers across the edges of the keys, it would be difficult to tell just by your sense of touch where the key ends and a new key starts. Thus, it’s difficult to get a grip on the home row, and easy for your fingers to slip off your targeted keys.

I’m not sure if this difference in texture and feel is distinct between the standard and ultimate editions, or the classic and 2013 editions, because I haven’t tried all four different combinations of possible keyboards.

Moving on to the extra input ports, it seems like something that would be convenient, but there’s a catch. The data sent through the extra ports aren’t actually being converted through USB; they’re essentially just mass extension cords. When you take a look at your Ultimate keyboard, the input cable is massive, because it has two USB cables and two standard jack cables. This is pretty bulky and uncomfortable if you’re using a laptop and you’re connecting and disconnecting your keyboard each time you take it out with you and bring it back.

Overall, my recommendation, if you are going to get a Razer keyboard, is to stick with the older model of the BlackWidow. Unless you specifically want or need the extra features of the Ultimate, and you are fine with the inconveniences it brings, the classic standard edition seems to come with everything that a keyboard really needs while keeping everything simple.

Because of my dissatisfaction with the Ultimate 2013, I will be returning it back to Razer. However, I will still be using my Razer BlackWidow standard edition whenever I get the chance, because it is still my favorite keyboard and I get a feeling of satisfaction whenever I use it and hear myself typing.

My stash of new Razer gear arrived today in the mail.

Seen in the photo is the Razer BlackWidow 2013, Razer DeathAdder mouse, and Razer Goliathus surface.

I’ll definitely be testing these out extensively within the near future, and will be posting some reviews up on my website.

And of course, a thank you to Razer for providing me with the equipment.

I came back to my desk at the Badger Herald office for the first time in about a week or so today. After sitting down, I noticed this:

How do you even manage to scratch and gunk up a desk so badly in a single week?

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You might already be aware that I’m back at home for Thanksgiving break.

Before I got back home, my dad did some holiday decorating. I noticed that he selected an interesting place for one of our wreaths.

Ran out of places to hang up decorations? No problem. Just put it on the telescope.

I’ve always wanted to make a wishlist series and feature items about once or twice a month that I came across during that time period that seem appealing to me. I had the idea of starting this sometime in November of 2011 when I first started adding items to my Amazon wish list. Literally a year later, I finally got the time and motivation to execute my idea.

Please note that these items are elements of my wish list as of today, and not any time in the future. For the latest updates, please check my Amazon wish list directly at http://amzn.com/w/1EG9DR8JK4295.

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Razer Blackwidow Ultimate 2013 Elite Mechanical Keyboard

While I was browsing through some mechanical keyboards, I noticed that Razer came out with a newer version of their Blackwidow. I currently have the original Razer Blackwidow, and I think that it’s the best keyboard I’ve ever used.

The Blackwidow has blue switches. I’m nowhere near a keyboard expert, but I do understand that blue switches are food for typing, and I can definitely agree with that from experience.

Those of you who don’t know me well might not realize that I’m an extremely fast typist – my overall average is about 134 words per minute, and I can reach speeds of about 170 words per minute when instant messaging or typing anything limited to basic English.

I haven’t particularly done tests to statistically prove myself right or wrong, but even at this intense level of typing speed, there is still a difference – I can feel myself typing faster on the Razer Blackwidow as opposed to my laptop keyboard or any regular keyboard I might find on a public desktop computer.

I’m looking to get myself another Razer keyboard soon because there’s a new location with a desktop computer where I spend a lot of time, and the new Blackwidow seems to be a good candidate. If I do end up getting this, I would use it as a replacement to my old Razer keyboard, and move my old Razer keyboard to my secondary office.

Razer Deathadder Black 3500 High Precision Infrared Mouse

I’ve never really considered the type of mouse I use as a high priority, but when I tried to play League of Legends on a different desktop computer with a poor mouse and no mouse surface (I was using it on a semi-glossy table), I realized how important it is and how significantly it can influence me when I’m doing something that actually involves intensive mouse use, and how much it can affect my accuracy.

Being satisfied with Razer keyboards, I would obviously turn to Razer for a high-quality mouse as well, and I’ve settled upon the Deathadder as my pick.

By looking at the technical specifications of the mouse, it seems like a solid mouse that focuses on the basics, without charging me more money for extra bells and whistles that I know I’m never going to use. After reading the reviews, I discovered that a majority of customers feel as if it’s a strong, stable, durable mouse that’s still com­fort­able to use – which is exactly what I want.

As of right now, I’m using a pretty cheap mouse with (literally) a sheet of notebook paper as my mouse surface. If I do end up getting this, I will most likely get a proper surface for it as well to ensure that I get the most out of its extreme precision.

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That’s all that I’m going to cover in detail today, but I have a bunch of other stuff on my Amazon wish list that I think is worth taking a look at.

Again, even though I don’t expect anyone to get me anything, if you are considering it, please be sure to check my actual wish list first, as it may have been updated if I already got the item, or switched it out with a different item of better quality but same purpose.