Category Archives: Consumer issues

Gemini AI helped me decipher our Hawaiian Telcom cable installation

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I had another pair of experiences with Google’s Gemini AI assistant this week.

One was a resounding success, although not without a few minor errors.

The other was a grand example of an AI hallucination, a total FAIL in what should have been a straightforward task.

Today, I’ll describe Gemini’s assistance in understanding the wiring that brings Hawaiian Telcom’s fiber optic cable into our home, prompted by a “FINAL NOTICE” warning that we’ll lose our current tv service as the company moves to a new digital platform that they call Fioptics. And I’ll save Gemini’s hallucination for a future post.

We’ve been on an older system installed over a decade ago that relied on an old-fashioned cable box, although we updated to fiber optic cable when it became available in Kahala after moving back to what had been my parents house back in 2015. A very good tech caught our assignment at that time and was able to bring the fiber into our attic crawlspace, then through an interior wall into a shelf high in the closet in our small spare bedroom. During remodeling, we had phone jacks and internet connectors hardwired in a few key places in the house, and our fiber installation included equipment to “back feed” the signal from the fiber input back to the existing wall jacks. The result was, from my perspective, an unruly jumble of wiring involving four digital devices up on that shelf.

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Passport saga ends well

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My renewed passport, good through 2036, was received today in the mail held while we were on the mainland last week.

I checked the tracking info. Here’s the timeline.

Online application submitted Saturday, January 10.

An acknowledgement was received the same day.

Notice that application was being reviewed.

Then radio silence!

Renewed passport received by USPS on January 24.

In hand today, January 28.

Although Meda’s renewal was processed and received back within a week, the record on my renewal isn’t bad either.

Online Application submitted January 10, renewal in hand January 28.

Still far less than the 4-6 weeks applicants are told to expect.

The conspiracy theories are disproved, as least in this case.

And we’re good for another 10 years.

Some federal systems are working.

My renewed passport didn’t arrive after all

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Earlier this month, I posted about our experience renewing our passports online.

At that point, it appeared the process was working much better than either of us expected.

It seemed that my renewed passport was on its way and expected in a few days, and we expected Meda’s would follow.

Well, I spoke too soon.

The first renewed passport arrived in the mail a full week ahead of its predicted delivery date. But it turned out to be Meda’s passport that got the quick turnaround of just about a week from online application to receipt of the new version. If I had paid closer attention to the application numbers in the communications we received, I would not have been surprised when her’s arrived.

And my renewal? Since a notice that the application had been received and was under review, I haven’t heard another word.

On January 12, I received a standard reply.

The U.S. Department of State has received your application for your passport book on 01/12/2026. We’re now reviewing your application and supporting documents.

You requested routine service when you applied. Routine service can take 4-6 weeks. Our processing times begin the day we receive your application at a passport agency or center, not the day you submit it.

Despite the quick processing of Meda’s application, mine has disappeared into a black hole. Perhaps it really will take 4-6 weeks, which would mean it should arrive toward the end of February.

My paranoid self thinks perhaps the employee who received my application for processing did a quick Google search and discovered I’m no friend of this administration. What I would have once called my “rational” side thinks Meda just got lucky, and this delay is well within the 4-6 week range for “routine service.”

But I have to revise my initial evaluation. The Dept of State is batting only 50% for “quick and efficient.”

Now I have to wait to make an overall evaluation once my renewal appears.

Elements of a Hawaii agenda?

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Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York in November by a landslide, either because of his populist campaign platform or despite it, depending on your point of view.

Mamdani embraced the issue of affordabilty, and promised to attack it in several ways.

Housing received lots of attention in his campaign platform.

Housing

Freeze the rent.

Building affordable housing.

Cracking down on bad landlords.

Supporting homeowners and ending deed theft.

Affordability

City-owned grocery stores.

Fast, fare free buses.

Fighting corporate exploitation.

Early Childhood & Education

No cost childcare.

Baby baskets for New York’s newborns.

K-12

Paying for Our Agenda

Taxing Corporations & the 1%

Of course, it remains to be seen whether these campaign pledges can successfully become public policy. But the guiding vision is there.

It got me wondering.

Given the fact that the lack of affordability in Hawaii is certainly on a par with New York City, What would a Mamdani-like campaign platform look like in Hawaii?

What would be the primary elements of the platform?

I’m sure Lots of people have been thinking about this since the success of the Mamdani’s campaign. So let’s hear your suggestions.