Archive for June, 2005

Here’s some quick ones for ya

6/1/2005

A few things to keep the masses in the know:

Flying Northwest Airlines? Don’t expect any free pretzels.

Do you use Bank of America? Then someone else probably has your information.

Plan on taking the subway in New York? Big Brother is watching you.

Good night.

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Stuff arrives from Dell… and a present?

6/2/2005

Remember when I ordered an AC adapter and a stick of RAM from Dell? Well, here’s what has happened thus far.

Yesterday: AC power adapter arrives. Works fine. No complaints.

Today: A second AC power adapter arrives. Hm.. I didn’t order two adapters. Is this a gift?

But, no RAM yet. I checked my order numbers. The order for the RAM is “shipped” and the estimated arrival date is tomorrow. I will wait until tomorrow. If the RAM arrives, cool, because then I got all the stuff I ordered with a freebie $26 AC adapter which I will ship to my sister for her Inspiron 6000. However, knowing the track record I’ve had with Dell and shipments so far, here’s what I expect will happen:

The RAM will not arrive. I will have to call Dell and bitch them out for sending the wrong part. After that, I will probably have to make several more phone calls to Dell to ask “where’s my RAM” and it will take over a week to get here. Either way I will get it sooner or later.

Hopefully none of that will happen. I hope I just get my RAM. It cost me almost 100 bucks.

Oh, and I forgot to mention: For that keyboard I ordered under warranty replacement, Dell tried to CHARGE ME FOR IT. 16 bucks. I sent them a little note about that, here was their response:

Thank you for choosing Dell Online Customer Care.

I understand your concern regarding invoice for the replacement
keyboard.

Please be assured that you have not been charged for this replacement
done. It is always requested to send back the defective item back to
Dell in order to close the open exchange process.

I apologize for the confusion caused by the invoice. Our system
automatically sends out an invoice as a reminder to return the defective item you received from us.

I have submitted a request to the concerned department to close the open exchange and would be done within 3-5 business days. Once closed, our system will stop sending out invoices to you. Please disregard this invoice. No balance is due.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to assist you. I hope to have
addressed all your concerns to your satisfaction. Your case number for this interaction is 095327263. Please keep this number for your records. It will help us keep track of this issue so we can better assist you.

If you have any further questions or concerns please visit us at:

www.DellCustomerCare.com

Thank you for contacting Dell Online Customer Care.

Respectfully,

Irfan
REP ID 71173
9:30 PM hours to 07:30 Am hours CST Tuesday - Sunday
Dell Online Customer Care

I checked my “order history” for my Dell account today. THE CHARGE IS STILL THERE. Furthermore, when I originally called in the warranty replacement, I specifically asked if I had to send back the defective part (the old keyboard), they responded with NO - I don’t have to.

This is all getting very, very annoying.

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You knew it had to happen sooner or later

6/2/2005

Alienware (who I give credit as having one of the coolest company names ever) has introduced the Star Wars PC.

Funny note: The dark side is winning, by a LANDSLIDE. ;-)

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Wax on, wax off..

6/2/2005

Ordinarily I don’t brag about quick fixes, but this one is worth bragging about.

As anyone who uses a Sandisk Cruzer Mini knows, the cover falls off ALL THE TIME. It’s very annoying. This evening I thought to myself “Well, if I put in something small to act as a shim, this should take care of the problem.”

I found my shim. A folded piece of silver paper that you tear off whenever you open a pack of cigarettes. I used half of one, fit it to the small cover, then pushed the USB port to form fit it. Works like a charm. It keeps the cover tight and snug so it will never fall off. The coolest part is that it’s silver like the rest of it, so you don’t notice it unless you look really closely.

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RAM’med

6/4/2005

Happy news: RAM arrived. I am now running 1GB of RAM in the laptop. Does it run any faster? Not particularly. Does it run smoother? Yes. Apps seem to open easier and run more efficiently now. Video performance has also improved.

Coolest part: I don’t need to upgrade the laptop any longer. This was the one and only upgrade I needed to get for it.

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Template changed (a bit)

6/5/2005

I got sick of the menu being at the top so I moved it to the right. Everything else is more or less the same with just some minor changes here and there.. nothing major. ;-)

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The shocker

6/5/2005

Today I learned what a shocker is. Now I admit, I’ve been around the block a few times sexually (hetero only you fuggin’ perv,) but never have I attempted a shocker on a girl. Hmm…

What I find most amusing is the common phrases for a shocker, such as:

Two in the pink, one in the stink
Two in the slut, one in the butt
Two in the grass, one in the ass
Two in the koot, one in the boot

..and so on.

And possibly the best foam finger that ever existed, the big shocker.

This is almost but not quite as entertaining as Piss Beer.

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The upcoming phone call

6/5/2005

I am expecting a phone call tomorrow for something important. Although I can’t say what the phone call will be about - I just hope I get it. This one communication will be hopefully a big turning point in my life. It’s been said to me that it’s a sure thing and that it will most definitely happen. I’m just hoping that’s 100% correct. If I don’t get that call.. life is gonna suck. Bad.

If I do get the call and it’s good news I will write more about it later. If not.. well.. assume that the call didn’t happen, or it did and things didn’t turn out well.

Further bulletins as events warrant.

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Oh, well

6/6/2005

That call I was supposed to get at 5:30pm today didn’t happen. It’s now 5:40pm, which will turn into 6pm and so on. I suppose I can spill the beans on what the call was about since it’s not going to happen anyway - it was for a nice small part-time job. A really nice one. With nice people. Nice atmosphere. Nice everything.

The lesson to be learned here is that “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” Once again, I was suckered into believing something that was described to me as “Oh yes, it will definitely happen.” Well, it definitely didn’t happen. I should have known better. I should have realized what I’ve known all along, which is: If you want something done right, do it yourself.

Right now I am extremely pissed off. I am pissed off that I got my hopes up for no reason, I am pissed off that I let a friend give me any hope of better employment whatsoever (note: IT NEVER WORKS), and most of all I’m pissed at myself - for being a complete idiot.

I’m never mixing friends with business again. Never. Every time I do it, it leads to complete and utter disaster, with me getting the short end of the stick EVERY SINGLE TIME.

To hell with it all. This is what I get for waiting an ENTIRE WEEK for something that NEVER HAPPENS. Oh YIPPY KI YAY TO ME.

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Only light can come from the shadows

6/10/2005

Over the past few weeks I have been dealing with (as is said in High Fidelity) those “what does it all mean” life questions. Questions of this type can only be answered in one of two ways. Up, or down. There is no inbetween. Up is to the light. Down is to the darkness. What I’m about to say may sound a bit prophetic. Or just weird. I’m going to say it anyway.

The world to many people is a dark, bleak place, filled with opposition, stress, pain, suffering and bitterness. It is all too easy to fall into shadow where darkness lives. There are times when life will appear to be coming at you from all the wrong directions. Your mind is a dizzy array of confusion; your soul beaten and tired. You feel your breaking point approaching and don’t know if you can survive. Dark thoughts pervade the mind and you blame the world and everyone in it for all your sorrows and woes. Life seems to be an endless drowning pool of sadness. You reach out your hand for someone, anyone, to pull you free as you desperately try to breathe.. but you feel as if your life is being taken away, leaving you to die a wretched death.

This is not how the world is.

Your soul, if tormented by a dark world, can come out of the shadow. It is up to you to take the first step. It is a choice. Those who are dark choose to be dark. You have the power to defy all places buried deep in shadows - because you’re the one who created them. To step into the light is to realize that you are here, alive, breathing, with a heart that beats vibrant life. Life defeats the shadow. Life means you exist. To wake from sleep each morning means that the light has been granted to you for one more day.

How will you spend those days? Will you be resentful, bitter and cold? Or will you take the light of life, so graciously given to you, and live?

I choose to live. Through the light, once embraced, one knows that life is good.

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