The laptop saga, part 4.

Well, both Dell laptops have been returned, and I am just waiting for them to credit me (which is hopefully sooner rather than later, as I now have TWO laptops on this month’s AmEx bill). That said, I did receive an email from my Costco contact saying that they could send me a $50 gift card for my troubles. In the meantime, I received an email from a separate Costco entity saying they were going to credit my credit card $50 for my troubles. So, I’m waiting to see if I still get the gift card. πŸ™‚

Also in the meantime, I bought a Toshiba (from Costco locally) but am not loving it—most of all, it’s 15.6″ (which is actually just a hair smaller than Tom’s 17″ laptop) and it’s just TOO big and TOO heavy for me to use as I need it. So, it will be going back.

And Tom is trying to fix my laptop. Which, yes, we should have done in the very beginning… Live and learn.

The laptop saga, part 3.

So, when I last talked to Costco.com (10/6), they said I would hear from someone within 1-2 days about my issues. Yeah, I got an email and voice mail from them today. Apologizing up the wazoo about taking so long and all the problem I’ve had… The voice mail asked for clarification on some things, so I sat in the parking lot of Kroger and sent a response from my phone. Among other things, I said I did not want a third laptop UNLESS (and only unless) they could give me a big discount on it.

We’ll see what happens.

A few hours later…

Oh. My. Gawd.

The rep replied and said she didn’t see anything in my account about a return for the laptop and asked if I wanted her to initiate a return. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. >:XX

Needless to say I kind of went off on her, though somewhat nicely:

I have to say I am completely gobsmacked that there is no return in process. I made it VERY clear to the rep I spoke with on 10/6 (I think it was Evelyn if that helps) that I was returning the second laptop and she assured me she would initiate a return via UPS label and I would receive it via email in 3-5 business days. This comes after the FIRST rep I talked to (during the initial Concierge/Costco.com phone calls weeks ago) said I’d receive a return label…and about 9 days later I hadn’t received it (OR the replacement laptop), so contacted Costo.com via the website asking about my return/replacement status, and they informed me the return hadn’t been processed (at that point). I received the UPS email the very next day. So long story short, YES, please start the return process.

Then I told them there must be something wrong with their returns system, as TWO SEPARATE REPS said they initiated a return, and both apparently failed.

THEN I asked directly about receiving a credit since she didn’t bring it up.

I love Costco, but this is RIDICULOUS.

The laptop saga, continued.

So I got the replacement laptop today…and…IT’S THE SAME >:XX ONE.

Costco seems to think they can get it right on the third time, as the lady is sending the issue to “order resolution”—whatever. I told her I had no desire to get a third laptop, and she was all “Well why am I emailing them then?” And I told her so they could figure out why their Dell outlet keeps shipping foreign laptops that don’t match the specs to customers. She didn’t get it. I told her I’ve been without a laptop for three weeks now, and cannot wait another week for this to be resolved and then another week to get a replacement laptop. She didn’t get it.

So I’m letting them do whatever they need to do and I will be laptop shopping elsewhere. I assume I will have to send back a third laptop…

At least now I can send back the second laptop masquerading as the first, so I can at least continue to use the laptop I already have set up with wireless, some programs, etc.

The Case of the Foreign Laptop

Ready for another electronics rant?

Got the new Dell laptop delivered last night. Got it up and running. All was well. Until I realized that the hard drive space was wonky—it should have had 500GB but only appeared to have 300 or so. I posted in one of my tech forums about missing space, and come to find out, nope—it IS only a 300GB drive.

AND…

Apparently, it was purchased outside of the United States. Because when I tried to connect to Dell chat with my Dell service tag, it TOLD me I couldn’t chat because I didn’t purchase the laptop in the country.

Wait.

What? :??:

Yeah, I know. :##

So I called Costco Concierge Tech Support and I am sure the guy thought I was a moron because I couldn’t find the serial number. He even had me take out the battery–nothing. I told him most of the writing was Chinese characters. I even checked the shipping box—it came from a Dell Outlet in Tennessee. The guy was flummoxed.

null

Well, 40 minutes later, after conferring with his manger and a three-way conference call with Costco.com, they are sending me a replacement laptop and a pre-paid sticker to return this one. They have NO idea what happened, but are confident it won’t happen again.

I. Can’t. Wait. πŸ™„

I mean, I only wasted about 3-4 hours already getting this one back up to speed with uninstalls, downloads, installs, backup recoveries, personalizations, etc. And now I get to DO IT ALL AGAIN in another week and a half. Oh yes, that’s right—they can’t expedite the order AT ALL since it still goes through Tennessee. They assured me my order will go in front of the new orders, though. Big whoop.

I do give credit to the Concierge support and Costco.com people, though—they were very nice and patient and they weren’t the problem at all. My rant is about the whole thing in general… First a Dell that came down with some strange condition (which we honestly haven’t yet checked out), then bought and returned a shitty HP, then ordered and waited 1.5 weeks for this Dell…and it turns out to be wonky, and now I have to wait just as long for the replacement.

I can use this one for the 3-5 days until the return label gets here, and I may stretch it out even longer so I have a working laptop…

But, really? Could I have any worse luck with electronics?

I’m Comic Sans, Asshole.

http://www.mcsweeneys.net…5comicsans.html

Of course, I can’t figure out how to write this blog post in Comic Sans, so it takes a little bit away from it, but you can read it in its correct format on the linked page!

I’m Comic Sans, Asshole.
BY MIKE LACHER

– – – –

Listen up. I know the shit you’ve been saying behind my back. You think I’m stupid. You think I’m immature. You think I’m a malformed, pathetic excuse for a font. Well think again, nerdhole, because I’m Comic Sans, and I’m the best thing to happen to typography since Johannes fucking Gutenberg.

You don’t like that your coworker used me on that note about stealing her yogurt from the break room fridge? You don’t like that I’m all over your sister-in-law’s blog? You don’t like that I’m on the sign for that new Thai place? You think I’m pedestrian and tacky? Guess the fuck what, Picasso. We don’t all have seventy-three weights of stick-up-my-ass Helvetica sitting on our seventeen-inch MacBook Pros. Sorry the entire world can’t all be done in stark Eurotrash Swiss type. Sorry some people like to have fun. Sorry I’m standing in the way of your minimalist Bauhaus-esque fascist snoozefest. Maybe sometime you should take off your black turtleneck, stop compulsively adjusting your Tumblr theme, and lighten the fuck up for once.

People love me. Why? Because I’m fun. I’m the life of the party. I bring levity to any situation. Need to soften the blow of a harsh message about restroom etiquette? SLAM. There I am. Need to spice up the directions to your graduation party? WHAM. There again. Need to convey your fun-loving, approachable nature on your business’ website? SMACK. Like daffodils in motherfucking spring.

When people need to kick back, have fun, and party, I will be there, unlike your pathetic fonts. While Gotham is at the science fair, I’m banging the prom queen behind the woodshop. While Avenir is practicing the clarinet, I’m shredding “Reign In Blood” on my double-necked Stratocaster. While Univers is refilling his allergy prescriptions, I’m racing my tricked-out, nitrous-laden Honda Civic against Tokyo gangsters who’ll kill me if I don’t cross the finish line first. I am a sans serif Superman and my only kryptonite is pretentious buzzkills like you.

It doesn’t even matter what you think. You know why, jagoff? Cause I’m famous. I am on every major operating system since Microsoft fucking Bob. I’m in your signs. I’m in your browsers. I’m in your instant messengers. I’m not just a font. I am a force of motherfucking nature and I will not rest until every uptight armchair typographer cock-hat like you is surrounded by my lovable, comic-book inspired, sans-serif badassery.

Enough of this bullshit. I’m gonna go get hammered with Papyrus.

Facebook Status Updates

  • Jennifer Hudson is currently restoring 97,600+ files via Carbonite onto her new 1TB hard drive with a new Windows 7 install.
  • Jennifer Hudson likes the thought and spirit behind “We Are The World 25” but it doesn’t even compare to the original.
  • Jennifer scored a BINGO in SCRABBLE with the word TOLLERS worth 81 points!
  • Jennifer Hudson was not excited at all about the Olympics, until watching an hour or so of Olympic preview-type broadcasts. Now I can’t wait. BRING IT ON!
  • Jennifer Hudson just realized it’s Friday night. Being a SAHM with a husband who works six days a week kinda lessens the impact of a weekend.
  • Jennifer Hudson woke up and was depressed her dream about seeing Roger Mitchell and Ursula Mitchell wasn’t real…but was glad her screaming match with Jean L. Schwalm and Tom Hudson wasn’t real.
  • Jennifer Hudson—The boy is 12 months old and still sleeping with his burpie over his face. I wonder how long he’ll continue to do it?!?! I wish I could ask him why he loves it so!
  • Jennifer Hudson is ready to throw the Windows7 Upgrade right out the window.
  • Jennifer Hudson never gets as much done during Owen’s nap as she hopes to.
  • Jennifer Hudson is happy to celebrate Valentine’s week by sharing a photo of hubby and me…we first met 2/7/97 and started dating 2/14/97…so we’ve been together 13 years and married eight.
  • Jennifer Hudson is finally watching the season premier of Lost!
  • Jennifer Hudson just downloaded and tried Google Chrome. They need to work on Tab issues before I switch.
  • Jennifer Hudson thinks it’s hilarious that I have Shazam’ed the same song now THREE times. 😐
  • Jennifer Hudson has decided life is too short for uncomfortable socks! In the garbage they go!
  • Jennifer Hudson wants someone to stop her the next time she wants to subscribe to Cosmo because it’s a good deal.
  • Jennifer Hudson thinks that the Chocolate Cheerios were a waste of money. Blech.
  • Jennifer Hudson just got Owen to wave back at her! YAY OWEN!
  • Jennifer Hudson was having fun watching Owen dig around in his toybox, leaning completely over with his feet off the ground…until he fell in and started crying.
  • Jennifer Hudson thinks she needs to take a break from Scrabble. I seem to be getting worse the more I play (instead of better) and it’s frustrating me terribly.

Flip UltraHD Camcorder

I also own the Flip Mino so my review is based on a comparison between the Flip Mino and the new Flip UltraHD.

  • The original Mino is more compact, and feels a little “plastic-y.”
  • The Mino HD has some heft to it, but it also makes it feel a bit sturdier.
  • The original Mino has an all-plastic outer shell.
  • The Mino HD has a smooth silicone/rubberish gripper material (which I loooove).
  • The original Mino? 9 seconds of video = 4.53MB
  • The Mino HD? 9 seconds of video = 10.1MB
  • The original Mino is rechargable via USB only.
  • The Mino HD is rechargable via USB and replaceable AA batteries (says the description, although to be honest, I haven’t read the instructions, and I can’t easily see where/how the battery compartment works).
  • The original Mino has a TV out jack.
  • The Mino HD has an HDMI out jack.
  • The original Mino has touch-sensitive buttons (which I find somewhat confusing.)
  • The Mino HD has actual buttons (which I find easier).

Both versions work well in low light (and do an amazing job compared to my Canon SD600 digital camera).

The HD version powers up a smidge quicker (maybe 2 seconds), but that can be a lot if you’re trying to catch a kid or a pet in action.

The only reason it gets 4 stars is because I am not fond of the USB connection–as I said, the unit has a bit of heft to it, so when I plug it into my laptop, I feel like I need to brace the camcorder so it doesn’t weigh on the USB. I am sure it’s strong enough, but I worry about it.

Overall, I can highly recommend this camcorder…it is just up to you to decide which features are most important (item size, file size, battery charging, etc.)

We received this item for free as part of the Amazon Vineβ„’ Program.

Amazon Referral Program

http://www.amazon.com/?tag=hudson2001-20

I just signed up for the Amazon Associates Referral Program. Basically, any time you purchase anything from Amazon by going through my links, I will get a percentage of that back!! YAY! Unfortunately, I cannot get credit for my own orders…so I am counting on the graciousness of others!

I will be working on more specific links/banners/widgets over the next few days…but for now, there are widgets on the Blather blog (my wishlist) and the Baby blog (my must-haves), as well as a generic search box on our main website page. Or, there is always this generic link:

http://www.amazon.com/?tag=hudson2001-20

Thanks, all, for your future Amazon purchases! πŸ˜‰

More Facebook Updates

  • Jennifer Hudson loves all her Tivo friends sooooooooo much!
  • Jennifer Hudson hates that it’s impossible to cut a baby’s nails. What cruel joke is that?
  • Jennifer Hudson wishes Owen would just nap already. He’s tired, I can tell.
  • Jennifer Hudson hates hates hates online “coupon printers” because if you’re not connected to a printer (i.e. laptop) you can’t print to pdf. GRRRR.
  • Jennifer Hudson isn’t sure why her scanner thinks a newspaper clipping is a color document. /confused
  • Jennifer Hudson is on her third shirt of the day and it’s only 11am.
  • Jennifer Hudson is prepping to give Owen a bath by herself. I am not good at that alone part yet.
  • Jennifer Hudson says Facebook is irritating me. I keep getting emails about applications I have specifically said NO EMAILS from.
  • Jennifer Hudson is attempting to watch Back to the Future 3—simply to complete the trilogy.
  • Jennifer Hudson says whoops, my sneeze just woke up the boy AND surprised the cat right off my lap.
  • Jennifer Hudson just fast forwarded through the rest of Rachel Getting Married. Oh well.
  • Jennifer Hudson misses her 21″ widescreen monitor since she’s on the laptop 99.95% of the time.
  • Jennifer Hudson is hoping Owen has a better day today—he was Mr. Crankpot yesterday.
  • Jennifer Hudson has the beginnings of a chocolate headache. /damn that easter candy
  • Jennifer Hudson knows she should keep the babes up, but she is enjoying getting some stuff done around the house.

25 Additional Random Things

I keep thinking about my previous list of Random Things, and reading other people’s lists, and I wanted to have another go at it.

  1. Back in the day, I was sure I was going to write the next great American novel someday. I guess I still have time, but it seems much more of a pipe dream at this point in my life.
  2. Sometimes I think I want four or five kids, because I love having large family gatherings—and it’s what I’m used to. But I’m not sure I want to be pregnant that many times!
  3. I knew the night I met my husband that we would get married. It was love at first sight.
  4. Someday I will live in my dream house—a ranch with enough space for everything, a great party kitchen with professional appliances, and a hot tub. There’s more, but that’s the gist.
  5. We’ve been on two cruises and I love them. LOVE THEM LOVE THEM LOVE THEM! I would go on a cruise every other month if I could afford it.
  6. I would love to live by family for the rest of my life, but I just don’t think we can live in the cold anymore.
  7. I hope that I can be a good parent. Everyone assures me I will be, but I just don’t feel it yet.
  8. I could eat an entire box of Krispy Kreme Original donuts if given the opportunity. Especially if they were Hot & Fresh.
  9. My favorite salad is mixed greens with Craisins, toasted pecans, feta cheese, and Amish Dressing (a sweet mustard dressing).
  10. Sometimes I want to sell everything and just start over.
  11. I am a PC person (we have three), but would be willing to give a Mac a try if they weren’t so damn expensive.
  12. I’ve always wanted to see Jimmy Buffet in concert and he’s coming here in August. I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
  13. I really want to travel around the world—one of my top places is Fiji, where we initially wanted to go for our honeymoon but never quite made it.
  14. I love music from the 50s and 60s. I guess it’s from growing up listening to it via my parents!
  15. I have never had a broken bone.
  16. I have been to the emergency room four times that I can remember: 1) when I jammed scissors into my hand when I was about seven or eight, 2) when I fell off my bike in high school, 3) when I sliced the tip of my finger off in college when working at Glen’s, and 4) when I fell down the stairs last year and twisted both my ankles.
  17. I love organization—storage containers/bins/baskets, shelving, labellers… Maybe because I’m a packrat as well?
  18. I hate my legs so rarely wear skirts or dresses unless they are ankle length. I hate shorts, too, but had to wear them in North Carolina to survive the summers.
  19. I miss reading. I couldn’t even tell you the last “real” book I read (real meaning NOT baby-related help books).
  20. I cannot believe our thermostat is set at 60 for a Michigan winter—and our heating bill is still $300.
  21. I just figured out that my numerology life path number is 5, which “suggests that you entered this plane with a highly progressive mindset, with the attitude and skills to make the world a better place.” Interesting.
  22. Someday I hope to have a job I truly enjoy. I can’t even imagine what that would be like. Heaven, maybe?
  23. I know I complain too much and am trying to get better about that. Or at least tell the same amount of “good” stories so people don’t think my life is ALL bad.
  24. I love love love my car, a 2001 Toyota Highlander purchased brand new a week before we got married. I would buy the same exact car in an instant, but the new Highlanders are NOT the same.
  25. I have a personalized license plate that says TRAVCTY. It was strange living in NC and having people know what it meant!

TEN THINGS ON MY MIND RIGHT NOW

  1. I was wondering why I am hungry because I ate breakfast. Then I remembered, oh yeah, I was up at 5:30 and that’s when I ate, so every 3-4 hours is about my eating schedule at this point.
  2. I am on course to have about an 8.5# baby. Egads.
  3. Why is it that when I am laying in bed I can’t sleep because I am thinking of the hundred and one things I want/have to do, then when I get up, I don’t want to do/don’t have the energy to do ANY of them?
  4. WHY DO MY CATS KEEP POOPING OUTSIDE THE BOX? GRRRRRRRRR. >:XX
  5. We have two people somewhat maybe sorta interested in renting our house, and maybe kinda possibly one person interested in buying. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let someone do something. We cannot afford more months of double payments.
  6. It’s time to start washing baby clothes to see what all we have. It feels like we have a lot, but on the same hand, it feels like we don’t have the right stuff.
  7. Sometimes my computer frustrates me so much I think I am ready for a Mac. But I am sure I would have issues with that, too.
  8. How can a photo album be lost? The entire house got packed and moved, and we have looked in every box and it’s still gone. Bah. So obviously we have some hidden boxes, LOL.
  9. Dogs that bark irritate me, because I am so used to our dog who rarely, if ever, barks. I know it’s not fair, but sorry, that’s what I’m used to.
  10. I wonder when I will fall asleep today…I’ve been up since 3am.

I hate computers today.

Everything was working peachy when I decided to run Windows update and install whatever it needed (important stuff). I also ran Secunia and updated the things it told me were insecure.

I rebooted.

A while later, I realize I can’t print. Interesting. It says I have no printers installed.

Huh? What?

I check, and nope, no printers. :crazy:

I reboot, just because that’s what you always do first when something like that happens. RIGHT? RIGHT!

Now I had printers, but I got Windows error messages about the “spooler subsystem app has stopped working” and you couldn’t actually manage any of the printers…meaning I couldn’t add a printer or delete a printer. Not even in safe mode.

Well, this is when I realize that maybe it had something to do with the updates, so I did a system restore to before the updates. It didn’t work. I tried another, earlier, restore, and there were errors during the process, so nothing was changed. >:XX So then I tried to revert back the initial restore I did—and there were errors with that, too—so who the hell knows where my system is at. All I know is now there are like two more programs that aren’t working, antivirus being one of them. >:XX

After some googling and an attempt at a solution (that didn’t work) I just kept rebooting I did manage to get the printer installed again, but it still won’t print and I haven’t the first idea why. (Of course, this all started because there is something we HAVE to get printed out.)

Then, after one of these reboots, Outlook decides that it wasn’t shut down properly, and when it finally comes up after checking the “bad file,” all of my email account passwords are gone. WTF? (I get the popup boxes asking for my password.) I mean, how the hell does that happen? I assume since Outlook thinks I shut it down incorrectly, which I am pretty sure I didn’t. So I fill in what passwords I know and have to login to my admin stuff online to change the passwords I don’t know/can’t remember. GRRRRR. >:XX

In the midst, of course, I am trying to receive a lost password from HP, but the email address I used? I no longer have it, so the password reset email is lost in the ether…so I either keep guessing at passwords (it’s not one of my three major passwords for sites like that) or create a new account (major pet peeve of mine).

So I email Tom to tell him to print out what we need (it’s for him and he emailed it to me this morning) because my computer is hosed. He calls and asks what’s up, and I briefly try to tell him, and he gets a little snotty with me (sorry hon, you did!) because I can’t print it for him and he’s busy and can’t talk. |-| Well, I didn’t call him to tell him what was wrong, did I? He asked! (And with these pregnancy hormones? Watch out!)

So at this point I still can’t print, my antivirus isn’t working, I can’t get my HP password—and I am ready to heave the computer into the garbage.

I’ve been a bad, bad blogger.

Yes, I know I haven’t been writing anything lately. And I feel bad.

But it’s just that the longer I take to catch you up, the more stuff happens, and the harder it is to catch up. A catch-22 if you will.

But I know I have to fill you in with some details (obviously the short versions) until I get more time:

  • The animals are fine.
  • Tom’s visit home was wonderful—although too short—and we had a great time with friends in Florida.
  • I am eating healthy (hate to call it dieting) and have lost almost 25# so far (since Tom left).
  • I am still at my job (although that could be a VERY LONG story).
  • I haven’t been seeing too much of my friends around here.
  • I did have family down to visit, and more coming soon!
  • I had computer/general tech difficulties, which kept me frustrated and offline more than usual (although all is well now).
  • It’s finally cooling down here (68 today, but 85 last week).

I promise to try and write more in the upcoming weeks.

I’m trying a new thing, don’t shoot me!

I’ve been wanting to try out Google AdSense for awhile now, but wasn’t sure if I should—just because this site doesn’t get a lot of traffic so I surely won’t make much (if any) money. But I thought it would be a good place to test it out, before I take it live with my business site. See how it works, what the ads look like, the best placement, if they are too obtrusive, etc. Again, though, it doesn’t really matter since this place isn’t terribly public and doesn’t get many hits.

But, why not try?

A month of miscellaneous updates.

Wow, it’s been almost a month since I last posted. Nothing much has been going on…just little things here and there.

Well, I did have some major problems with my new Vista computer, but at that point I really wasn’t loving any computer and was keeping my distance so was not online posting about it. What happened? Let’s just say that little things here and there weren’t working right, so I had to do some system restores, then in trying to get those little things to work right, the solutions caused my system to crash and I had to do three (yes, THREE) full system recoveries (which means taking the computer back to day 1) which meant I lost all installed programs…never fun. It’s back up and working now, but it was a very, VERY, VERY traumatic few days. >:(:'(

I’ve had some good times with our friends… a few drinking and hot tub nights over at Roger and Ursula’s and a night out at a local bar with a co-worker (which made me glad I did not really have to live through the dating scene).

I had my vein surgery just about a month ago and it went very well—he said it could not have gone better. I have to go back shortly for a follow-up to make sure it’s still doing well.

We have had more rain and storms this past month than the whole time we’ve lived here, I think. Poor Maggie… and add the 4th of July sounds to that, and miscellaneous noises in the neighborhood? The poor dog must think she’s going nuts.

My job is…well, it’s still just a job. I am not having any fun and some days it’s just dreadful. There’s a long and involved story but suffice it to say I am SERIOUSLY looking for other employment.

And last but not least, Tom and I continue to chat and talk just about every day. He’s online every morning (my morning) from about 8:30 to noon, and he tries to call once a day. If I am up late some nights (mainly on the weekends) we chat around midnight or 1am as well. Right now, we’re counting down the days until he gets here—we’re finally under one month!! :>>

My mornings on the computer…

Charlie waits for me at the door to the living room (same exact spot every morning) and when she sees me coming, she starts talking and runs into the office and up into the bed, walking around and around, talking at me, bumping into me and my hand wanting me to pet her. However, that is short-lived as Maggie follows closely behind (having just come in from outside) and wants up in the bed, so I lift her up and put her in—which kicks Charlie out because Charlie doesn’t much like to share, but Charlie still wants attention so she hangs around and sits right there. I managed to snap some pics this morning. It’s the same thing every morning!

Computer Woes Downgraded to Computer Annoyances

There aren’t really many woes at this point (since most of my info is transferred and nost of my software is reinstalled), just annoyances.

Windows Vista has some great new features (photo handling, search capability), but some of the things are REALLY different and are taking some getting used to (a few folders in different places, a different style start menu). Also, there are certain programs of mine that just WILL NOT install—luckily they aren’t life or death programs (like software to backup my cell phone address book), but I do need them so I have to keep messing with it.

Right now, the new computer is still hooked up on Tom’s monitor/desk, but I am thinking that by tonight, I will move it over to my desk so I can have my keyboard and mouse back (I hate the ones that came with the computer, but left the good ones attached to my old computer since I am still using it quite a bit—posting this entry from there, actually). I still need to have my old computer running for a bit, just in case I find something I didn’t transfer or some settings I need to look up.

I do have to say a big PHEW! to our backup hard drive, though. I used it to transfer all our pictures and music and documents (etc.)—which, in and of itself was great. But then, I accidentally deleted a huge folder (probably 50GB of stuff) and since it was too big for the deleted bin, it erased it completely! Backup hard drive to the rescue!!

Computer Woes

I am so tired of this crap I want to throw it out the @#%$ window.

So if you haven’t heard, I have been having MAJOR computer issues. I tried to reinstall Windows to fix some major errors, and it didn’t work—so now I am stuck with Windows XP Pro SP1—which you need SP2 for just about everything since SP1 is not secure. So, after dealing with that for a good long week, we decided to order me a new computer—with Vista Home Premium. The first one arrived damaged, so had to send it back (and it hasn’t even been picked up yet) and I had to order a new one, which came today.

So I started up the new computer just fine, and went to transfer my settings with the stupid $30 Easy Transfer cable I bought. But guess what? It won’t work, since my old computer no longer has SP2 installed (it refused to install, which is one of the reasons we got a new computer)! Of course, NOTHING on the cable packaging says it needs SP2. Lovely. So I try to use the transfer program that is already installed in XP (which the Vista computer told me to do) and that pops up, but of course cannot find the other computer (yes, the cable is attached). However, when the cable is plugged into the old computer, I get a Found New Hardward Wizard, but the software won’t install, even if I direct it to the correct drive (which, I assume, is because I don’t have SP2 installed).

So it looks like I wasted $30 on this stupid cable. Wonderful. Maybe Sams will take it back, but it says right on the packaging that it cannot be returned, only exchanged for the same item. I either need a drink or I need to go to bed.

Why did I think this would be easy?

20 MINUTES LATER…

Oh, now I’m having even MORE fun. I discovered that I can save my settings to a CD or thumb drive to transfer them to the new computer. Cool. So I put them on a thumb drive and…Vista can’t see it (within the Transfer function). I tell it it’s on a flash drive, pick the correct drive, and hit next and it says “put the media in” — um, it IS in. I try again, nothing. There is a password field, but I have no idea what that’s for, so I try my logon password and that does nothing, either. So I think, maybe it’s an issue with the thumb drive, so I burn it to a CD. And that doesn’t work either.

GRRRRRRRRRRR. >:(

So, I found a new “diet” but…

So, I found a new “diet” and got all excited about it—Oprah’s diet guru Bob Greene’s The Best Life Diet—and now I’m pissed.

Why?

On the show, I SWEAR Oprah said [something to the effect of] “Go to the [best life] site and sign up for free!” So today I ordered the book and just now I went to the website to sign up and…nope, not free. They want $20 a month or $150 a year for access to everything!

WHAT THE HELL?

Yes, I want to change my life, but I honestly wasn’t planning on forking out $150 up front—especially since that part was NOT mentioned on the show (I’m pretty damn sure I would remember that).

So, it either feels like “pony up the bucks to vastly improve my Diet experince and chance at success” or “I feel my health is not worth $4.50 a week.” >:(

I HATE COMPUTERS. OR THE INTERNET. OR MYSELF.

I just now spent the past hour (HOUR!) composing a post about mom and David’s visit…probably 1000 words or so. But of course there was an error in some of the code when I went to post it so I clicked the link that said “go back and fix your post” (instead of simply the back arrow) and what do you know? The whole damn thing was gone. GONE! What really grinds me is that all along, as the post kept growing, I kept thinking “I should just post what I have then go back and edit it” but of course I didn’t. XX(

GOD I HATE IT WHEN THIS HAPPENS! IT JUST MAKES ME WANT TO CRY. AND SCREAM. AND THROW THE DAMN COMPUTER OUT THE WINDOW. >:(

Way short version of mom and David’s visit.

As you will read on the 10/28 entry, I lost my entire well-constructed thread with links and pictures…and there is NO WAY IN HELL I’m in any mood to even try to recreate it, so…without further ado, here’s the short version of their visit.

  1. They brought my old dresser and my old toybox because they were cleaning out the basement and I had to take my old stuff. They filled the toybox with Tom’s beer he requested, which I found funny.
  2. We cooked some great meals, as usual, plus ate at our favorite Thai restaurant. David made some yummy soup from leftovers and mom made Tom his favorite scones.
  3. Maggie LOVED grandma and I think grandma was surprised that she liked Maggie more than she thought she would.
  4. We went to our annual Halloween party/oyster feast at our friend’s house. We wore our new costumes and mom and David wore the scrubs that we had been banned from wearing again. My costume still needs some work, as it’s way too big and not slutty enough for what the costume should be (I couldn’t get enough cleavage).

The end.

P.S. You WON’T believe this, but I lost this post as well…another stupid error in the code. GRRRRR. There has to be something wrong with my cookies because this does NOT happen when I write in my blog at work. >:(

Snoring Maggie

Maggie is so damn cute. She loves to hop up and sit in the window (in her bed) when I’m on the computer. (Of course, sometimes it gets tiring, as she wants up, then down, then up, then down, ad infinitum.) But this morning she hopped up, curled up in her bed, and is SNORING to beat the band. If only you could hear her!

Too bad I have to get up and finish getting ready for work—as soon as she hears me, she will get up as well. But then it’s one more potty break and then she gets crated!

Dell can kiss my ass!

We have a $50 Dell Gift Card that came with a previous purchase. It doesn’t expire for another eight months and is branded by AmEx. I tried to use it online last week to purchase an APC surge protector, but there was no place to enter a gift card—only coupons. I tried entering it as a coupon, but it said it was invalid.

So I tried the website listed on the card and the site isn’t there.

So I call the 800 “call to order” number and… the rep can’t use the card, either (he only has a coupon entry spot and he also gets the invalid error). He has NO idea what to do and suggests I call the other 800 # on the card.

So I call the ‘other’ American Express 800 Customer service number, explain what happened, and the rep says something to the effect of “you need to talk to Dell regarding this card, here is the sales number.” She doesn’t care I was just talking to them and they sent me to her.

So I call the Dell 800 # she gave me and am routed to sales, where I get another Dell rep that has no clue. She suggests I call back again to hopefully get a rep who will know how to deal with it! Of course, each call requires me to go through the phone number/name/address confirmation.

So I call again and…you guessed it, another Dell rep that has no clue about the gift card (“Are you sure it’s not a coupon?”). This rep suggests I need to talk to Dell’s customer service and NOT sales. She forwards me.

So now I’m waiting to talk to customer service and I’m very irritated at this point. And guess what? The customer service person says I need to talk to Sales. NOOOOOO! I told her “I’ve been with sales (home and business) multiple times and they are clueless and gave me to you!” Okay, she says, let me put you on hold and I will get a new number for you to call. Fine, whatever. Minutes later, she calls and gives me the number… to the AmEx customer service line that I called in the beginning!

How can NO ONE at Dell or American Express have any idea how to redeem a gift card?

On Monday, I decided to try my luck ordering online again. Imagine my surprise when there was now a spot to enter a gift card! Interestingly, there was apparently $100 credit on my “$50” gift card (my purchase was approximately $90, giving me a $10 remaining balance). Because this paid for the entire order, I did not have to enter a credit card.

When my boss received the confirmation email, it showed we had ordered THREE Back-UPS units for a total of $290 (although the gift card was still listed as the only payment). Of course, this was one of the only times I hadn’t printed out the final order confirmation screen… so I had to call Dell and they say “Why yes you ordered three” and I say “I did not” and I was told that since they hadn’t been invoiced yet (or wherever we actually are in the ordering/billing/shipping process), it was possible to alter the order. By the end of the call, the rep said it was too late to alter the order so we would be receiving three items and we should send back two. She gave me a case number and said she would call to check up on the items’ arrival and return.

I then learned that someone from Dell called my boss last night to say the shipping address didn’t match the billing address… Interesting, since we didn’t technically have/use/need a billing address due to the gift card. But even so, we’ve ordered from Dell multiple times with the same shipping/billing information, so why the problem now? Anyway, the rep said something to the effect of “You have ordered three items for a total of $290” and my boss said “No, we didn’t, plus we used a gift card.” He said “Do you want to use your preferred account for this?” No, we wanted to use the gift card. So he was clueless and was supposed to call back, which he never did.

Then we get an email saying that “While processing your order, we were unable to obtain credit card authorization from your bank or credit card company for this purchase.” Well, it wasn’t a credit card transaction, but I called the CC processing center to try and fix it. Of course, since it wasn’t a CC transaction, she transfers me to the gift card section. Of course, the gift card rep can’t help me (since I apparently have to redo the order, only ordering ONE unit), so she transfers me to sales—except somehow I can’t get sales or get put on hold and I hear this (after 10 minutes):

We’re sorry, we cannot continue to process your call. Goodbye.

Of course, each transfer requires me to go through the name/address/billing information. And when I called the regular 800 number back to get sales, I had to go through everything again. I told the rep I wanted to change the order to one unit. Fine. I want to use the gift card. Fine. Except that—are you ready?—he can’t get the gift card to work. He tells me he can place the order, but I will have to call the gift card people to get it working/figured out, and then I will have to call him back. And he tried to give me a case number.

At that point, I lost it. I told him to cancel the entire order and I would not be ordering.

Is it too much to ask that Dell teach their customer service reps how to use gift cards? Or to ask that reps could handle all issues, instead of being transferred eight times—and still not getting a resolution? What is the point of handing out Dell Valued Customer gift cards if it’s impossible to use them online and no one knows how to use them?

My boss (whom I was trying to order from) loves Dell, but after this experience, we will no longer be ordering from Dell. We certainly don’t feel like a valued customer after this experience.

More computer issues.

In trying to update my Hudson Ink website, I messed up some code and the site is totally wonky now. In doing so, of course I overwrote the files needed to revert back to the original. I emailed my web support people to go to a backup, but by the time they got back to me, it was too late—they only keep the backup from the previous day. I remembered I had backup files on the new hard drive so found what I needed, but… discovered that I was having login problems and couldn’t access my files. I finally got through to web support and they had to move my hudson-ink.com domain to a new location so I could access it differently. In doing so, something happened and I lost access to my hudson2001.com files for a few days. Now, those things are fixed (well, I haven’t had time to fix Hudson Ink yet) and email is down. I haven’t gotten any email since Sunday morning and am waiting for web support to answer me.

Sometimes I hate computers and am just tempted to chuck the whole shebang out the window.

P.S. This wasn’t actually posted until 3/20 because I was also having blog issues—when they moved my hudson-ink domain, it changed the directory structure and my blog publishing links no longer worked and it took this long to get it figured out!

Hot Cranky People

http://www.hotcrankypeople.com/

So since I’m currently banned from my favorite online community for another 10 days or so, I’ve been asking people on another board to give me their sites and/or blogs so I have something to read during the day. (Before you ask about work, let me just say it’s REALLY dead right now. Besides the fact that this time of year is notoriously slow, we also only have four actual active listings and probably 20 closings—which is a far cry less than we’d normally have.) So there have been quite a few submissions, but my most favorite has to be Hot Cranky People by sallypnut. I love her writing style, her sense of humor, the quantity and hilarity of pictures—and to top it all off? She’s a cat person! Whoohoo! Her blog is what I wish mine could be. (If you go visit her site, please don’t tell me how much her site rocks as compared to how much mine sucks. Thanks.)

Data Recovery (File Scavenger)

http://www.quetek.com/prod02.htm

It took quite some time and testing of a few different software programs before we finally found one that worked well enough to buy it—thankfully, it was only $45. After this mess, I’d highly recommend File Scavenger. It recovered probably 90-95% of my files, and we need to make another pass at it this weekend.

So, I’m thrilled… and my Christmas letter was recovered, finished last night, and printed! YEEHAW!

Computer Tragedies

So, about a month ago, Tom’s hard drive went kaput. No reason, just suddenly there was no information on it. So he lost almost 200GB of stuff. We bought a new hard drive and off he goes.

About a week ago, his computer flat out dies. He managed to resurrect it, only to discover that he has a bad motherboard (or videocard or something like that) and for now, it can run, but only in safe mode. We have added a new hard drive.

But get ready for the absolute WORST. My computer.

Last week, after dealing with his information loss, we decided to buy an external 300GB one-touch backup system for my computer. So the drive arrives and Tom installs the software. And my computer pretty much DIED.

Basically, the computer was not responding—you’d click on something to open it (i.e. Start) and nothing would happen…and a few minutes later, it would open. Hmmm. We tried uninstalling and it didn’t help. We tried reinstalling to uninstall and it didn’t help (and each of these attempts takes upward of a half hour, since everything is so sluggish). Safe Mode didn’t even help.

Maxtor support informed us that their software has conflicts installing on XP systems with the .NET framework. DO YOU THINK THEY MIGHT HAVE MADE A NOTE OF THIS SOMEWHERE???

Long story short, somwhow during the installation, the Maxtor program RENAMED my document directory (a separate hard drive) from D: My Files to D: Local Disk. When we tried to access the drive (to change the name back) …surprise! No data! A totally empty drive! Ready to be formatted!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

  • I have lost every digital picture I have taken over the past five years (minus what few I have made into a DVD slideshow).
  • I have lost tons of TV shows and movies.
  • I have lost probably 100GB of music.
  • I have lost the remaining Christmas gift calendars (feel lucky if you already got yours).
  • I have lost my annual Christmas letter (which was to be printed and mailed out this weekend). I am NOT in the mood to recreate it, so I don’t think there will be one this year.
  • I have lost who knows what else—as you know, my LIFE was on this computer.

Ironic, isn’t it, that in trying to install a backup system I erased everything I wanted to back up?

We downloaded some data recovery software last night and are in the process of trying to recoup anything. Of course, the process isn’t going smoothly—the first part should have been done by the time we got up, but it had stuck at 2%…Not Responding. GRRRR. The best case solution would have us extract the drive and hook it up to Tom’s working system in order to do the data recovery…but oh yes, remember his computer is on the fritz?!?

And to top it all off, Tom called Maxtor to see what they had to say/if they could do anything… and they had the #%^$ GALL to tell us that their software didn’t cause the data to be erased…reinstalling Windows did. Um, sorry, but I have to call bullshit on that one—the data was LONG GONE before we tried reinstalling Windows (which they apparently didn’t remember they TOLD us to do because their software failed).

At this point, I think I am still numb.

What if Microsoft Built Cars?

Every time they repainted the lines on the road, you’d have to buy a new car.

Occasionally your car would just die on the motorway for no reason, and you’d have to restart it. For some strange reason, you’d just accept this, restart and drive on.

Occasionally, executing a manouvre would cause your car to stop and fail to restart and you’d have to re-install the engine. For some strange reason, you’d just accept this, too.

You could only have one person in the car at a time, unless you bought a “Car 95” or a “Car NT”; But then you’d have to buy more seats.

Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was twice as reliable, five times as fast, twice as easy to drive—but it would only run on five percent of the roads.

The Macintosh car owners would get expensive Microsoft upgrades to their cars which would make their cars go much slower.

The oil, engine, gas and alternator warning lights would be replaced with a single “General Car Fault” warning light.

People would get excited about the “new” features in Microsoft cars, forgetting completely that they had been available in other cars for many years.

We’d all have to switch to Microsoft gas and all auto fluids but the packaging would be superb.

New seats would force everyone to have the same size butt.

The airbag system would say “Are you sure?” before going off.

If you were involved in a crash, you would have no idea what happened.

They wouldn’t build their own engines, but form a cartel with their engine suppliers. The latest engine would have 16 cylinders, multi-point fuel injection and 4 turbos, but it would be a side-valve design so you could use Model-T Ford parts on it.

There would be an “Engium Pro” with bigger turbos, but it would be slower on most existing roads.

Microsoft cars would have a special radio/cassette player which would only be able to listen to Microsoft FM, and play Microsoft Cassettes. Unless of course, you buy the upgrade to use existing stuff.

Microsoft would do so well, because even though they don’t own any roads, all of the road manufacturers would give away Microsoft cars free, including IBM!

If you still ran old versions of Car (i.e. CarDOS 6.22/CarWIN 3.11), then you would be called old fashioned, but you would be able to drive much faster, and on more roads!

If you couldn’t afford to buy a new car, then you could just borrow your friend’s, and then copy it.

Whenever you bought a car, you would have to reorganize the ignition for a few days before it worked.

You would need to by an upgrade to run cars on a motorway next to each other.