Got the laptop back. It looks great! I have a brand-new scratch-free LCD panel, a brand-new shiny back arrow key, and QWERTY imprinted on my forehead because I can't get the damn thing to boot up. It's the BIOS, I don't understand the BIOS, and I won't touch anything to do with the BIOS.
So, I'm still on the Thinkpad while my laptop sits on the floor next to me in all its black-screened glory, waiting for the bios to be...uh...whatever you do to the bios. Or whatever.
Yeah, that.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Friday, February 16, 2007
Blame California
I called Microcenter yesterday to ask the status of my laptop that was checked in back in January. Microcenter hadn't heard a word, so they called California (the whole state) to find out what the hold-up was. The Californians said they were still waiting for approval from the Georgian, who, crazily enough, had been left out of the loop for a few weeks. They needed authorization to replace the LCD panel, the heat sink, and the logic board (isn't the "logic board" the motherboard on a Mac??? Will this be a problem?). That's *pretty much* a whole new computer, innit? I mean, I have the hard drive here at home. I was then put on hold so the guy could do Really Important Stuff. I waited on the phone, silently obsessing over whether I should remind them that I am missing a back arrow key, and the guy yanked me out of my haze. I don't know how long he had been snapping his fingers before he resorted to pushing telephone buttons to get my attention, but I came to, and he said the laptop should be in on Saturday.
I really hope California gives me that new arrow key...
I really hope California gives me that new arrow key...
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Closing Out
I have waaaaaaaaaay too many blogs, and I'm trying to consolidate. I won't be updating this one, anymore, but I have another blog that I am updating regularly:
http://acuppajoe.blogspot.com/
http://acuppajoe.blogspot.com/
Monday, February 12, 2007
If a picture says a thousand words...
...a word can paint three times as many pictures. Yeah, I made that up.
No laptop, yet, but a weird train of thought led me to the subject of emoticons. Uh-huh, you read that right. Emoticons. Sometimes I'm a very deep thinker.
I read somewhere that when a person reads an email, some huge percentage of it is misconstrued. Something ridiculous, like 99.9%, or maybe that's just my personal percentage, going by some of the responses I get.
I used to think it was silly to use emoticons, period. Especially the text-based ones, like ;-). LAME. After many misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and rejected marriage proposals, I decided that a little "wink" couldn't hurt, just to let people know when I am yanking their chains. I still have issues with the basic "smiley". It often seems condescending to me, which is ironic, since the whole purpose of emoticons is to clarify the sentiment behind the statement. :) Did you feel I talked down to you, just then? No? I guess that's one more for the therapist.
Since I've discovered animated .gifs, however, I've become addicted to emoticons. I can make an entire post consisting of these things. They're so powerful, and with them, I'll never be misunderstood again!
Check this out: I'm going to retype a few sentences from this post, and I'll add an emoticon. See if your interpretation changes:
I can make an entire post consisting of these things.
I can make an entire post consisting of these things.
I can make an entire post consisting of these things.
In the first example, I'm bragging. I'm feeling pret-ty damn smug that I can make a post using only emoticons. In the second, I'm blown away by the fact that I can make a post using only emoticons. In the third, I'm thinking that I probably should have added a few words to my post, since someone seemed to have misinterpreted that wink emotie.
Another example:
Sometimes I'm a very deep thinker.
Sometimes I'm a very deep thinker.
Sometimes I'm a very deep thinker.
In the first, take me literally. I'm ponderous! In the second, I am soooooo not a very deep thinker, but that's a good one! In the third example, I'm thinking impure thoughts, deeply.
One more, but this time I'll just use a simple phrase:
I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry.
In the first, I'm genuinely sorry. In the second, I'm playing the World's Smallest Violin. In the third, I've completely lost you.
Finally, I'm going to demonstrate how an entire conversation
can be held using no text at all.
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
Well, you get the picture.
No laptop, yet, but a weird train of thought led me to the subject of emoticons. Uh-huh, you read that right. Emoticons. Sometimes I'm a very deep thinker.
I read somewhere that when a person reads an email, some huge percentage of it is misconstrued. Something ridiculous, like 99.9%, or maybe that's just my personal percentage, going by some of the responses I get.
I used to think it was silly to use emoticons, period. Especially the text-based ones, like ;-). LAME. After many misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and rejected marriage proposals, I decided that a little "wink" couldn't hurt, just to let people know when I am yanking their chains. I still have issues with the basic "smiley". It often seems condescending to me, which is ironic, since the whole purpose of emoticons is to clarify the sentiment behind the statement. :) Did you feel I talked down to you, just then? No? I guess that's one more for the therapist.
Since I've discovered animated .gifs, however, I've become addicted to emoticons. I can make an entire post consisting of these things. They're so powerful, and with them, I'll never be misunderstood again!
Check this out: I'm going to retype a few sentences from this post, and I'll add an emoticon. See if your interpretation changes:
I can make an entire post consisting of these things.
I can make an entire post consisting of these things.
I can make an entire post consisting of these things.
In the first example, I'm bragging. I'm feeling pret-ty damn smug that I can make a post using only emoticons. In the second, I'm blown away by the fact that I can make a post using only emoticons. In the third, I'm thinking that I probably should have added a few words to my post, since someone seemed to have misinterpreted that wink emotie.
Another example:
Sometimes I'm a very deep thinker.
Sometimes I'm a very deep thinker.
Sometimes I'm a very deep thinker.
In the first, take me literally. I'm ponderous! In the second, I am soooooo not a very deep thinker, but that's a good one! In the third example, I'm thinking impure thoughts, deeply.
One more, but this time I'll just use a simple phrase:
I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry.
In the first, I'm genuinely sorry. In the second, I'm playing the World's Smallest Violin. In the third, I've completely lost you.
Finally, I'm going to demonstrate how an entire conversation
can be held using no text at all.
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
Well, you get the picture.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Why didn't I just hit "Publish"?!
Lost another long blog entry thanks to my closing out the preview window thinking it would ONLY close out the preview window, and not the whole damned unsaved blog entry.
*drums fingertips on desk
No laptop, yet. I'm expecting the Asshole Technician to call anytime...
Yeppers...N E time...
*looks at watch
Is this page done loading, yet?
*chews on a pen cap
*spins around in chair for fun
*bats at little birdies and stars circling her head
So, lappy is in the shop, but I do have a laptop that I am borrowing from the folks. I'm going to give you the specs, but please TRY TO CONTAIN YOUR ENVY.
Drumroll, puh-leeze:
This is a Thinkpad 600E, circa, oh, 1997 or 1998.
It has a super-powerful 363 MHz Intel Pentium II processor,
a whopping 288 MB of RAM, and a SUPER roomy 6 GB harddrive.
Can you feel it? I am nearly DRUNK with the power that is sitting in my lap.
...hang on, it's thinking I want to activate the voice-thingy
(pardon my technical terminology)...
...and what's with this borked-up formatting?! Why isn't my text wrapping?!...
So, it's a little quirky. "QUIRKY" HAS NEVER HAD TO BE SENT IN FOR REPAIR.
I can't watch videos smoothly, can't play the game, I can't do much of anything but type, really, but only if I have maybe 3 windows open, tops. By that point I'm already seeing a lag between my typing and what shows up on the screen, so I often end up typing things twice things twice.
Another fine feature of this remarkable little wonder is that it has built-in memory enhancement. I don't mean computer memory, I mean Val-memory. There are memory-strengthening exercises in this baby that would make an elephant drool.
Here's how it works: there's no battery in this thing. Batteries are for wusses. So, I type out a long blog entry (like I just did!),then I sneeze, which pops the power jack out, causing everything I've just typed to vanish into thin air. So...I must retype everything I had from memory! It's like that card game you played as a kid, only so much more intense.I can remember VERBATIM what my last blog entry said. Okay, so it was a copy/paste job, and the lyrics to a song (since taken down. Don't ask.). Even the smallest of victories is a Beautiful Thing.
Enough boasting. I don't want you all to hate me. Besides, I'm having a bitch of a time trying to get the formatting right.
*drums fingertips on desk
No laptop, yet. I'm expecting the Asshole Technician to call anytime...
Yeppers...N E time...
*looks at watch
Is this page done loading, yet?
*chews on a pen cap
*spins around in chair for fun
*bats at little birdies and stars circling her head
So, lappy is in the shop, but I do have a laptop that I am borrowing from the folks. I'm going to give you the specs, but please TRY TO CONTAIN YOUR ENVY.
Drumroll, puh-leeze:
This is a Thinkpad 600E, circa, oh, 1997 or 1998.
It has a super-powerful 363 MHz Intel Pentium II processor,
a whopping 288 MB of RAM, and a SUPER roomy 6 GB harddrive.
Can you feel it? I am nearly DRUNK with the power that is sitting in my lap.
...hang on, it's thinking I want to activate the voice-thingy
(pardon my technical terminology)...
...and what's with this borked-up formatting?! Why isn't my text wrapping?!...
So, it's a little quirky. "QUIRKY" HAS NEVER HAD TO BE SENT IN FOR REPAIR.
I can't watch videos smoothly, can't play the game, I can't do much of anything but type, really, but only if I have maybe 3 windows open, tops. By that point I'm already seeing a lag between my typing and what shows up on the screen, so I often end up typing things twice things twice.
Another fine feature of this remarkable little wonder is that it has built-in memory enhancement. I don't mean computer memory, I mean Val-memory. There are memory-strengthening exercises in this baby that would make an elephant drool.
Here's how it works: there's no battery in this thing. Batteries are for wusses. So, I type out a long blog entry (like I just did!),then I sneeze, which pops the power jack out, causing everything I've just typed to vanish into thin air. So...I must retype everything I had from memory! It's like that card game you played as a kid, only so much more intense.I can remember VERBATIM what my last blog entry said. Okay, so it was a copy/paste job, and the lyrics to a song (since taken down. Don't ask.). Even the smallest of victories is a Beautiful Thing.
Enough boasting. I don't want you all to hate me. Besides, I'm having a bitch of a time trying to get the formatting right.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Grrrrr
My laptop is in for repair. Man, I am NOT happy with the IT guy that was handling this! (Notice usage of the past tense...)
I took my laptop into Microcenter yesterday, waited 45 minutes in traffic to do so, and had a new inverter board ordered. They said no problem, and that I could take my laptop back home with me. Cool. So I head back home and am almost 2/3 of the way there, about to get on GA 400, when I get a call from Microcenter. They said they were sorry, but couldn't just order the part and I needed to bring my laptop back in so they could ship it off. They said to be sure to back everything up because there was a slight chance it would be sent back with a different harddrive.
Oka-ay. So anyway. I said no problem, there's no harddrive IN it. (I had taken the harddrive out because I knew there was a chance it would need to be shipped out, and this is DEFINITELY not a harddrive issue. The LCD backlight problem can be reproduced without a harddrive. Last time I had it sent off, it was delayed because it took 3 days to back everything up. This way, I figured I'd save some time.) They said okay, then just bring it on in and they'll ship it out. I took it back, waited in the same damn traffic, which was now worse thanks to a busted gas main at rush-hour, and dropped it off.
I just got a call from the asshole technician at Microcenter. I got a message from him earlier saying what the guy told me yesterday: they needed to ship off the computer, I need to make sure to back everything up because they might have to wipe the harddrive or send back a new one. I called back, got voicemail, and left a message saying there's no harddrive in the machine, we went over this yesterday, go ahead and send it off, already.
Asshole technician calls me back saying he just got my message. He said "The thing is, we need to send in a complete unit, otherwise we're gonna send it to them, they're gonna send it back saying 'there's no harddrive in it, that's the problem', OR they're gonna try to replace the harddrive." I said "That's ridiculous! This isn't even harddrive-related." I said I don't see what difference it makes when the problem can be reproduced simply by turning the machine on. No harddrive necessary! I also told him that the harddrive that was in it was a new harddrive I'd purchased seperately from the laptop, a more powerful one, and I wasn't about to send that off if there was a chance it would be lost...
( !!!)
...or replaced with the standard 80 GB 4200 rpm piece-of-crap-harddrive it had, originally. He then said "Well, do you have the original one?". I laughed incredulously and he said "You think this is funny, ma'am?" Okay, that pissed me right off.
I told him I took the machine in so they could look at it and just have the part ordered so I could repair it myself, originally. He says "You were gonna fix it yourself, huh?" I said "Yes. It's the inverter board." He said "You're sure about that?". I said, yes, I was fairly certain. He laughed and said "Ma'am, I work on these all day long and I can't tell you how many times I thought it was the inverter board at first, then once I got in found it was the whole screen that was shot, or something." Okay, firstly, that would be my problem, not his. And secondly, WHAT EXACTLY DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH HAVING A HARDDRIVE?
He explained to me that they used to send in test harddrives in cases like this, and then they either don't get them back, or they get them back broken. (AND WHY WOULD I WANT TO SEND MY HARDDRIVE IN TO THESE PEOPLE, AGAIN?! Not exactly selling yourself, here, pal...). He kept saying, "If we get the machine back and there's no harddrive in it, or the harddrive is broken, it's not our fault. Do you see my point?" No, I didn't see his point. Who *cares* whose fault it is? I sure don't! It wouldn't be my harddrive, so it wouldn't be my problem. Besides, obviously it's the fault of the people they're sending it off to, and it sounds like they're sending my machine off to a bunch of fucking monkey-heads, if you ask me. Is he insinuating that it would be MY fault if their test harddrive was lost?!
It's all good, now, though. I called back, told them I wanted to deal with a different technician, and the guy I'm dealing with now is much more reasonable.
But, won't be too much I can do on the site until I get my lappy back.
I took my laptop into Microcenter yesterday, waited 45 minutes in traffic to do so, and had a new inverter board ordered. They said no problem, and that I could take my laptop back home with me. Cool. So I head back home and am almost 2/3 of the way there, about to get on GA 400, when I get a call from Microcenter. They said they were sorry, but couldn't just order the part and I needed to bring my laptop back in so they could ship it off. They said to be sure to back everything up because there was a slight chance it would be sent back with a different harddrive.
Oka-ay. So anyway. I said no problem, there's no harddrive IN it. (I had taken the harddrive out because I knew there was a chance it would need to be shipped out, and this is DEFINITELY not a harddrive issue. The LCD backlight problem can be reproduced without a harddrive. Last time I had it sent off, it was delayed because it took 3 days to back everything up. This way, I figured I'd save some time.) They said okay, then just bring it on in and they'll ship it out. I took it back, waited in the same damn traffic, which was now worse thanks to a busted gas main at rush-hour, and dropped it off.
I just got a call from the asshole technician at Microcenter. I got a message from him earlier saying what the guy told me yesterday: they needed to ship off the computer, I need to make sure to back everything up because they might have to wipe the harddrive or send back a new one. I called back, got voicemail, and left a message saying there's no harddrive in the machine, we went over this yesterday, go ahead and send it off, already.
Asshole technician calls me back saying he just got my message. He said "The thing is, we need to send in a complete unit, otherwise we're gonna send it to them, they're gonna send it back saying 'there's no harddrive in it, that's the problem', OR they're gonna try to replace the harddrive." I said "That's ridiculous! This isn't even harddrive-related." I said I don't see what difference it makes when the problem can be reproduced simply by turning the machine on. No harddrive necessary! I also told him that the harddrive that was in it was a new harddrive I'd purchased seperately from the laptop, a more powerful one, and I wasn't about to send that off if there was a chance it would be lost...
(
!!!)...or replaced with the standard 80 GB 4200 rpm piece-of-crap-harddrive it had, originally. He then said "Well, do you have the original one?". I laughed incredulously and he said "You think this is funny, ma'am?" Okay, that pissed me right off.
I told him I took the machine in so they could look at it and just have the part ordered so I could repair it myself, originally. He says "You were gonna fix it yourself, huh?" I said "Yes. It's the inverter board." He said "You're sure about that?". I said, yes, I was fairly certain. He laughed and said "Ma'am, I work on these all day long and I can't tell you how many times I thought it was the inverter board at first, then once I got in found it was the whole screen that was shot, or something." Okay, firstly, that would be my problem, not his. And secondly, WHAT EXACTLY DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH HAVING A HARDDRIVE?
He explained to me that they used to send in test harddrives in cases like this, and then they either don't get them back, or they get them back broken. (AND WHY WOULD I WANT TO SEND MY HARDDRIVE IN TO THESE PEOPLE, AGAIN?! Not exactly selling yourself, here, pal...). He kept saying, "If we get the machine back and there's no harddrive in it, or the harddrive is broken, it's not our fault. Do you see my point?" No, I didn't see his point. Who *cares* whose fault it is? I sure don't! It wouldn't be my harddrive, so it wouldn't be my problem. Besides, obviously it's the fault of the people they're sending it off to, and it sounds like they're sending my machine off to a bunch of fucking monkey-heads, if you ask me. Is he insinuating that it would be MY fault if their test harddrive was lost?!
It's all good, now, though. I called back, told them I wanted to deal with a different technician, and the guy I'm dealing with now is much more reasonable.
But, won't be too much I can do on the site until I get my lappy back.
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