mosker

iPhone

My iPhone stopped working this afternoon and the next available appointment is tomorrow afternoon.

I'm trying to be zen about it and just appreciate that I won't be bothered by any phone calls this afternoon, but it's not really working. It's not that I use the phone constantly, but it not working makes me want to use it for everything. How am I supposed to function without my phone?!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I will have yet another positive customer service experience with Apple.

This is not want you want to see on your GPS unit

Last month, right before they began their cross-country journey, my brother realized his GPS unit (a Magellan Maestro 3225) would not boot. My understanding was that it had been stored for several months while he was in OCS, and when they turned it on to plug in the destination city, it simply would not move past the blue splash screen. An Internet search and conference with my sister didn't resolve the problem, so they replaced the unit with another brand and left the old one behind at Mom's.

I couldn't let it go, of course, and brought the failed unit with me. I haven't gotten anywhere with it yet, but a friend of mine is convinced he can fix it and I have turned it over to him. It certainly would be the ideal way to recycle, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Are you really telling me there was once a world without the iPod?

Okay, so I'm a day late with this breaking news, but do you realize that Apple announced the iPod eight years ago? The first model had 5GB of storage and was only Mac-compatible.

Today the iPod is basically synonymous with MP3 player, much as Kleenex is the term used for every kind of facial tissue, but when it was released there were plenty of pundits predicting it would be a major flop.

This is not an improvement

Have you upgraded to Firefox 3.5 yet? You might want to wait. I wanted to like it because Firefox has long been my preferred browser, but this version seems to be having some stability issues. Several times a day it simply stops responding and the only option is to close the application and lose all of the tabs I have open. (The application does close without resorting to ctrl+alt+delete or Force Quit.) I ignored it for a while, but this week, today even, it's happened several times on both Mac and Windows. I'm beginning to wonder if I should have waited to start deploying it on production machines, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the next patch.

4294967295 unread messages

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that there was a little problem with my email last night. Because while I have been known to avoid my email every now and then, I don't think I've received this many messages in my entire life.

About your twitter...

I just learned that one of my favorite friends started a twitter feed, but I heard it from one of our mutual friends. Since she didn't tell me herself, is it kind of like eavesdropping that I added an RSS feed for her Twitters without mentioning that I know?

Because, on the one hand, if she wanted me to know she would have told me, but maybe she just didn't think I'd be interested? Of course, it is out there for the public to see and I could have found it for myself if I'd Googled her recently.

The Internet is such a funny place sometimes.

I'm beginning to see a pattern here...

Is it just me, or are all the Blogspot (now owned by Google) blogs having an etsy little problem this evening? Or  maybe I wasn't supposed to admit that I was catching up on blogs on a Friday night.

One reason why I'm happy today is Saturday

Because yesterday I installed Windows XP for the fillionth time.

There's no way this could possibly go smoothly

Last spring I began experiencing even more problems with my laptop, specifically that whenever wireless was turned on, the computer became convinced that a USB device had malfunctioned. Except no USB devices had malfunctioned, and I got the error even if no USB devices were attached. I could have ignored it if the error message hadn't kept popping up every few seconds, invariably blocking my view of whatever document on which I was working. I finally turned off the audio whenever possible so I didn't have to listen to the incessant error chime that accompanied the message, and even resorted to just turning off wireless when I didn't absolutely need it so I could get my papers finished. I didn't have a whole lot of time to deal with it then and when I finally called (it was still under warranty) the tech support guy to whom I spoke was unsurprisingly unhelpful.

I blogged about it here, and once again Brad from Dell's customer support posted a comment offering to assist me. He was able to get the broken case replaced and suggested some troubleshooting for the error message. It took a little while quite a while for me to follow-up, but Brad was still able to help me out and arranged for a tech to replace the motherboard. This is all good, except for the part about how someone other than Brad was going to be doing the work.

• Monday I got a call from Dell's local tech support contractor telling me they would receive the part the next day and I should expect a call from the technician.
• Tuesday the tech called. He asked where he should go (my office) and said he would be there on Tuesday afternoon. Then he called again and said he wouldn't be there after all because his car had died and he couldn't make it in from the suburbs.
• Wednesday the tech called from the parking lot and asked where he should park. Parking on a college campus is always competitive, and thanks to trenching in the parking lot, finding a spot is an iffy proposition at best, so I suggested he park wherever he could find an available space, and noted that the metered spaces were probably his best bet. He grew hostile immediately and retorted that "they don't pay for parking," and if he couldn't find a place to park he would just call Dell and tell them so. Then he called back and said he would have to come back the next day because he didn't have any money for parking. Seriously, who are we kidding? I paid what felt like a fortune for the computer and extended warranty and the guy is trying to make this my fault? Do they refuse to provide warranty service for customers downtown where parking can be extremely scarce and expensive?

I'm waiting to hear what today's obstacle will be. Perhaps he will be deterred by the very large pool of water in the parking lot that will prevent him from getting to the building. Or maybe he'll make it into the building only to face a freak dual elevator outage so he can insist that "they don't climb stairs."

I'd be really frustrated if it were my primary computer, but as I have abandoned both Dell and Windows for my personal computing, I can maintain a bit of perspective. Interestingly, the University has a large inventory of Dell computers, and never once have I had these kind of problems obtaining warranty service for the corporate machines. It sure makes it difficult to recommend Dell to associates who ask for my opinion when they're looking for a new computer.

But the lights on the control panel are on...

I put the safety key into my treadmill a few weeks ago to turn it on, and the incline went all the way up, then all the way down, and was on its way up again when I pulled the key. I put the key back in and ran the incline back to zero. It seemed to be a fluke and I forgot about it.

Until I tried to use the incline a few days later. I kept pressing the up button, but even though the control panel showed I was at 5% incline, I sure wasn't working that hard. I pulled the plug and tried again. Nothing. I left it unplugged over night and tried again. Nothing. Every time when I put in the key I push the up button to see if it has magically healed itself. That hasn't worked either, so I pulled off the cover and took a look. Which is only slightly more effective than my lifting the hood of a car to do anything more than add wiper fluid or check the oil. I can read a wiring diagram just fine, and I can match all of the components in machine to the wiring diagram, but I lack the requisite troubleshooting experience to figure out exactly what's not working, and better yet, what I'm supposed to do about it. Since the incline wasn't working, I could only assume that something was wrong with the incline motor.

I took lots of pictures and showed the diagram and pictures to my very smart and handy friends. After examining the images and diagram, and an extended discussion about what might have failed, and how and what to test, I think the verdict is that I'll probably have to replace the incline motor. My mission for tonight is to test voltage levels across various points while pressing the corresponding buttons on the control panel. Ugh. I'm trying to look on the bright side: I can still use the treadmill and I found a source for replacement parts. But I don't relish yet another expenditure and I am not looking forward to replacing the parts. Those jobs always require at least one more hand than what you have available at any given moment and they always take two or three times longer than what you expect.

Not as good as the original

When I signed up for DirecTV, I got one of their receivers with Tivo. I had seen the Tivo advertising and how they claim it will change the way you watch television. It's true. Nearly everything about their product is well-designed and easy to use: the season pass feature, the ease of navigation through most of the menus, and the very minor learning curve. Their remote control (the one on the left in this picture) is a thing of beauty. It's comfortable to hold and all of the buttons you use the most are easy to find, even in the dark.

I mention this because I upgraded my other receiver to a DVR recently and was astonished at the difference between the Tivo product and DirecTV's version. I'm guessing DirecTV thought they could create their own version and avoid having to pay those licensing fees, but it is no where close to the original.

To be fair, this one has a larger hard-drive, so it can record more episodes, and you can pause live TV for 2 hours, rather than Tivo's 30 minutes. Everything else though? I am not impressed. The menu navigation is not intuitive and takes multiple button presses where one would do. The worst part of the package is the remote (on the right). Where Tivo's is comfortable to hold with buttons logically located, the DirecTV DVR remote is like a brick. You have to have a light on in order to find the button you want, and the DVR controls are way up at the top. There are even five buttons on the brick-shaped remote that don't have labels. How is that helpful? I'm not going to memorize the manual just to use their remote control. Maybe they didn't want to pay for product testing either.

I wouldn't tell someone not to get a DVR just because DirecTV abandoned Tivo's excellent product--a DVR is still so much better than a VCR--but DirecTV didn't do their customers any favors by cheaping out.

Stolen cars and dinner art

I've had a request for more information about the car theft I alluded to in my Apple Store post. I can't offer much in the way of detail, because it's not my story, but it goes something like this:

On Friday afternoon, my friend's son came home from school and found a strange car in the driveway, along with broken glass. When he got in touch with his mom, she asked if their car was in the drive (the one that neither she nor her husband were driving). Frankly, he was so preoccupied with the strange car and the broken glass that he had to go back outside to check. It wasn't there. When the police came, they said that the car in the driveway had been stolen in a nearby town just that morning. Their car was located the next day, damaged, by police in a third city here in the metro. And despite the fact the tow company had only just finished the tow, they said the tow lot was closed for the weekend. My friend can pick up the car on Tuesday, after the long weekend, after she pays the tow and mileage fees, as well as the daily storage fees for the weekend. Oh, and by the way, they just dropped the coverage on that vehicle to liability only. The only bright side to the story, other than no one in the family suffering any injury, of course, is that the stolen vehicle wasn't the primary mode of transportation for my friend or her husband.

In other news, I have obviously changed my blog's layout and banner. This is one of those want-to-do's I talked about the other day. The banner image is by my friend Linda. We had lunch several months ago at one of those places where they give you crayons in case you want to draw on the paper tablecloth. When I saw what she'd been doodling, I asked if I could take it for just this purpose.

The Apple Store

I introduced someone to the Apple Store today. Someone, this is the Apple Store. Apple Store, this is someone.

Okay, maybe not.

I took a friend with me to the Apple Store and she hung out and listened to my One-to-One session. Her car was stolen out of her driveway the day before (but the thieves did leave the car they'd stolen earlier that morning) and our visit to the land of Mac proved to be a welcome diversion. We talked about the Automator with Mike, the guy who is delighted when people ask geeky questions. Last time I had a session with him, his eyes kind of lit up when I asked detailed questions. "Nobody asks that," he said, and then launched into a full-on explanation. When I checked in today he looked at me and said "I remember you!" I decided he didn't mean in a bad way.

There's nothing quite like it

You know, the realization that although you've spent about seven hours over the past two days trying to make a piece of technology do what it's supposed to, it does not and will not work. That's just a teensy bit irritating, you know?

I bought an AirPort Express from the Apple Store in order to restore my ability to print wirelessly. It looks like a great device, and if I was prepared to move my DSL modem into my office (not an option unless I want to trip over the telephone cable strung through the house) or move the printer out of the office (also not practical), everything would be fine. Or, I can turn off the encryption on my wireless network. That was the best Apple Support could offer: turn off your encryption. He was right. It did work when tried his suggestion, but there's no way I can leave it that way.

I'm still well within the 2 week return period, so I can get my money back, but it's a shame it won't work for me.

Truth in advertising?

Have you seen the series of commercials from Apple? The ones with the guys, one who is a Mac and the other a PC, who play off on every Mac and PC stereotype ever written? I love them. Not only is it one of the most innovative advertising ideas I've seen in a long time (we talk about them in the office every time a new one comes out) but they absolutely hit the mark every time. Uncomfortably so, some times.

Yeah, well, I bought a MacBook.

I have been a Windows user almost since there has been a Windows operating system. I work in IT in an organization that uses only Windows. This is a huge decision for me, but to be frank, I am just so tired of jumping through hoops in order to have a reliable computer. I could blame it all on Dell, who empower only a select few within their organization to provide customer service, but that would not be fair. I am also sick of trying to force Windows to do what I want to do when I want to do it. Yes, I know how to make it work, but that doesn't mean I want to spend the time to make it happen. And that's to say nothing of the time I spend trying to help friends and family who have far less patience.

My friends are joking that this acquisition increases my "cool factor", but I'm actually concerned that it's bringing out my inner geek. I spent a couple of days trying to figure out how to transfer my email from Outlook Express on Windows to Mail on the MacBook. I was ultimately successful, but it was not easy. (The folks at the Genius Bar don't even provide that particular service.) And printing, yeah, well, I'm still working on that.

I'll try to post about my experience in switching from Windows to Mac. As someone I know said "it's just a computer", but I think I will like it. And I have to say that visiting an Apple Store is an amazing experience for a Windows user. Not only do they seem to know what they're talking about, they seem happy to answer questions.

The saga continues

I felt a bit chagrined when the tech assigned to replace my broken laptop case actually called on Friday. After all, by my calculation, Friday qualified as next business day following my after-hours Wednesday call. Hurray! and maybe I could begin to revise my opinion of Dell service. We chatted briefly in order to negotiate when he would be there (I asked him to come to the office), and he said he would be there between 1 and 2. Perfect timing, because I had to leave at 3:30.

Perfect, except for the part where he didn't show up. He finally called at 3:00 and said he could be there in 30 minutes. Uh, no. He was a bit put out about my refusal to wait, even getting a bit snarky as he attempted to correct my terminology when I again described what was broken. Listen buddy, I don't care what you and Dell call it as long as you fix it. Then he offered to reschedule for the next day, but then backed out when he realized that was Saturday. Yeah, it is painfully obvious he affiliated with Dell. For the record, I know I have offered users the correct terminology to help them describe a problem, but I don't act like they're stupid, and I don't do it when they won't have to use the term again. Is Dell assuming they'll have to replace the "palm rest" again?

The tech did show up during the scheduled time window on Monday and set to work. And he replaced the broken part, which was great, but he also told me four or five times that the heat sink was "impacted". Okay, go ahead and clean that up while you have everything dismantled and quit nagging me about it. Oh, and he decided that it was my fault that the case had cracked. Apparently I should have been periodically dismantling the case in order to tighten the hinge screws that hold the display to the base. Whatever. That's not in the manual (wait, there's no manual) or the support website, so he can just stuff it. Besides, that finger-pointing rationalization does nothing to explain why there were also cracks forming at the front of the case. Perhaps they should consider the possibility that the impacted heat sink and the cracked cased are symptoms of design flaws instead of blaming their customers for something over which they have limited control.

In the interests of fairness, Brad has been working with me to try to resolve the software problem. It's unfortunate that Dell has only one unit capable and empowered to help their customers, but that's not his fault. Thanks Brad!

It's all about keeping your expectation low

I have the first of two final exams out of the way (I think it went pretty well), so I decided to bite the bullet and call Dell about the problems I've been having with my laptop. Given the experience I had getting the battery replaced last year during the recall, I figured I should keep my expectations low, and still, I'm disappointed by the experience. Yes, I got the comment from the Dell customer service folks offering to intervene, but that felt like cheating. Next time, I'm gonna cheat right away.

I explained that I was calling about two problems, one hardware and one software. His response to the software problem was to direct me to a website that allows them to take over my machine remotely. Uh, No. Let's just move on to the busted case instead. I explained where the cracks are, but he continued to ask for the location of the cracks. Okay, maybe a bit of a language barrier. The top piece of the case is broken in at least two places. Have the tech bring a new case. He goes off for a while and finally gets back to me with a case number, then says that a local technician will call me on Friday or Saturday. Friday or Saturday? What kind of service would I get if I didn't have the Next-Day Warranty? It's after close-of-business on Wednesday, so I wasn't expecting a tech tomorrow, but I was certainly assuming they'd call tomorrow to schedule Friday. What was I thinking? So far, I am not impressed.

It may turn out much better than how it sounds right now, but I'm not holding my breath.

When it rains, it pours

I am so frustrated. It is well beyond crunch time trying to get my last assignments finished and turned-in before finals and I have been beset by computer problems. I'm sorry to break this to you, but even people who work with technology for a living have computer problems. We don't like it any better than you do. I don't have time to deal with the broken computer case right now, and I found a temporary work-around for the annoying error message that persistently pops up when I try to use wireless. Now, however, the keyboard is freaking out and I cannot type the letter "u" without purposefully and carefully pressing the key. I don't type with the speed and efficiency of my sister, but this is frustrating enough to have me in tears soon. It only takes a few minutes of typing to realize how many words contain the letter "u".

I have postponed calling Dell for warranty service because I wanted to finish the semester. What is wrong with technology working when we need it anyway?

Done list

I'm back at work this week, and not surprisingly, I didn't get everything on my to-do list accomplished. That's not particularly shocking considering my ambition exceeded my energy and time. I've decided to take some advice I read recently and think in terms of a "done" list instead of the "to-do" list. After all, who will ever finish all of their to-do's anyway?

• Wrote five papers for school (they were all short assignments, but they still had to be done, and they all start with that clean, white page.)
• Cleaned the kitchen cabinets of expired and soon-to-be expired food
• Re-arranged the contents of the cabinets to get lots of stuff off the counters
• Made homemade ravioli
• Made a rain-barrel (I haven't actually attached it to the down spouts yet, but I'll get there)
• Changed insurance companies for both home and auto insurance (I've been concerned about the level of coverage for my home policy for a couple of years now, so I feel relieved to have this taken care of. My premium is lower and my coverage is better.)
• Did the laundry. Even those throw rugs in the hamper.
• Filed my taxes.
• Replaced the oven hood.
• Learned how to create rotating images for the blog. There's always more to learn--that seemed like a fun place to start.

Yes, yes, there's still lots more to do, but I'm determined not to stress about it, at least for a few days.

Except maybe for that test this week.

Dell durability

No, I haven't dropped it. Yes, I carry it in a padded bag. It is less than two years old. There is actually one more crack, but it hasn't spread as much as these two, so it doesn't seem worthy of its own photo yet.

To be fair, although I do have the accidental damage plan, I have not contacted Dell yet. After last years' battery replacement debacle I'm not quite prepared to face the frustration yet. And I'm having other bizarre  problems too. For example, both USB ports work just fine, but when wireless is on and there are no USB devices plugged in, the machine likes to complain--incessantly--that a USB device has malfunctioned. I have to leave audio muted so I don't hear the on/off chiming of the warning.

I don't have the time or the energy to deal with it now. When the semester is over I'll carve out a few hours to make the dreaded calls. One of my associates has been tormenting me by suggesting that since they don't make the 600m anymore there won't be any replacement cases available. I'm not even prepared to contemplate that possibility yet.

I'm delighted to report I have never gotten a call like this:

11AM Betty: Yet Another Ingenious Excuse to Get Out of Working

Tech guy: Yeah, Betty* left a Post-it at my desk because her computer was broken -- it wouldn't turn on, but then when I got there it seemed to be fine.
HR rep: Oh, she actually came to me about it so I just left the Post-it for her just in case, but I'm pretty sure the reason it wouldn't turn on was because she was pressing the big round Dell symbol instead of the start button.

5700 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, California

Overheard by: I can turn on my computer

via Overheard in the Office, Mar 20, 2007

Thinking out loud

I'm just thinking out loud here, but when my TypePad subscription runs out I might consider other blog software options. I am in no way unhappy with TypePad--their customer service is top-notch--but a big part of my job is exploring new technology. Even when something doesn't directly translate into something I do at work, like say blogging, everything is inter-connected and every new thing I pick up helps.

I know that Carl V. uses WordPress and he seems pretty happy with it, so I'll have to invite them over for dinner so I can pick his brain. Does anyone use Movable Type? Anything else? Do you have any pros or cons to share? I'd love to hear from you.

Could be coming to a city near you

This clip talks about technology used by police to run 3000 license plates per hour. This is in use in British Columbia now, and will be used by a lot more cities within the United States in the future.

Technical support

A big shout-out to my friend killer who knew I would think this is funny:

The iPhone is much cooler than I realized

Check out this video which highlights some of the features offered on the new iPhone:

Snippets

For the past couple of years I've been saving recipes--pulling pages from magazines, collecting them from friends and family, and marking pages in cookbooks. It's a great way to try new food and impress your guests (always better than boring them), except when you can't find what you saved. Suzanne gave me a tip and, as usual, it's working great for me. I bought a couple of binders and a pack of sheet protectors, and have been working on assembling a loose-leaf cookbook of my own  making. I can pull out only the recipes I need and they are protected from mixing splatters and mislaid spatulas . I'm planning my Christmas Eve menu and already feel much more organized.

I'm excited about Suzanne having a youngster in the house, and although it doesn't make up for not being there to get to know her, I am recording a few books for her. I couldn't locate the exact titles that Suzanne recommended when I visited the library today, but I did find something I knew she'd like and also picked up a copy of Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories. It's probably way too old-fashioned for kids these days, but I still remember listening to the stories when I was a kid. I read a couple of chapters after I got home and hope she'll like the stories as much as I did at her age. I did realize, however, that I'm not going to get through the recitation without mangling at least a few words. Maybe she won't notice.

I had some guests over for dinner recently and I found myself marveling at the difference in Janie. She has changed from a friendly, but skittish, stray to a demanding house cat who throws herself at the feet, and laps, of my guests. If they don't bend down to her level in a timely manner (like, immediately) she finds a handy chair that will elevate he to within arms reach. I felt badly about what a nuisance she was making of herself until I realized that both the cat and the person were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Jane slept soundly for several hours after they left.

I'm trying another off-line blog editing software. I've tried a couple of others in the past and almost immediately uninstalled them, but this one is much better. TypePad has worked hard on their interface, but there have been a number of times I've wanted to compose off-line. If you're interested in checking it out you can find it here. It is free and it works with more than a dozen blogging platforms.

Update: Qumana does not appear to support scheduling future posts and the feature that allows you to select a specific time in the past seems a bit quirky. Other than that, I like it well enough to continue testing.

Can I have some cheese with this whine?

One of the biggest challenges you face when you work in IT support is keeping up with technology. Not only do you have to know all about the hardware and software you need to do your job, but you also have stay up-to-date on what everyone else in your organization uses, too. Most of the learning process occurs on the fly--someone desperately needs assistance with a product you've never used or maybe never even heard of, and you figure it out.

This week is different though, because today I attended a formal training session for a new, specialized product that is being deployed. The training is intended for the people who actually use the product on a day-to-day basis rather than for those who provide the technical support, but knowing how it is supposed to work makes it much easier to figure out the problem when it doesn't. So what am I complaining about? Training is great in theory, but sitting in a room for nearly eight hours listening to someone talk can try anyone's patience. It will absolutely be worth it later, but please don't make me admit that out loud until after tomorrow's session is over.

Of course, while I'm sequestered away learning new stuff, I'm falling behind on everything else, but that's another problem entirely.

Dell batteries

When Dell announced their recall of Sony batteries in August, I followed their instructions and requested a new battery. As a rule I think early adopting is a bad practice (let someone else help them work out the bugs), but this time I ignored my own advice.

A month later it was clear that my order had gotten lost in the system and calling customer service was not going to get their attention. I threw up an expletive-laden post to vent my frustration before responding to Brad, who left a comment on a earlier post.

It is a reflection of my frustration with the situation that I was shocked when Brad not only contacted me, but also followed through on every promise and kept me up to date every every step of the way. He not only arranged for a replacement battery but also called me with a tracking number and followed up to make sure it arrived.

You know it couldn't be that easy, however. The battery they sent me was refurbished. I wasn't sure how nit-picky I was prepared to be--a battery is a battery after all, right? Still, I knew that Sony was paying for the recall, so it wasn't coming out of Dell's pocket, and they had sent my boss a new battery. Besides, given the streak I was having with batteries, I couldn't help but wonder if the refurbished battery was going to die any moment. I left a message for Brad, who actually called me back the same day. He apologized profusely, said I should have gotten a new battery, and he would take care of it. Except they were out of stock and the new one would be delayed. No problem...Brad scored bonus points for simply calling me back, so it's not like I was going to complain about the delay when there's nothing he could do about it anyway.

I guess they've replenished their stock, because not only did I get the promised replacement, I got three. I know I've got to return the extras (I've already gotten a nagging email), but I doubt anyone will be surprised to hear that I'm not in any particular hurry to do it. Gosh, I guess they all fell behind a counter for a while, eh? After all, it's not as though they care about my continued business anyway.

The only thing they've done right in this whole ridiculous mess was empower a handful of customer service representatives to assist those customers who were fortunate enough to get connected with the right people. Brad was a stand-up guy who followed through on his promises and followed up to make sure I found a (belated) solution. Too bad Dell couldn't figure out a way to help all the folks who did the work of reaching out to them, before they started complaining publicly on blogs all over the Internet. You know...fix the problem while it's still small and engender some good will.

Brad: thank you. Michael Dell: You have some explaining to do. And apologizing too.

Recyled

A couple of semesters ago I asked Laura Gayle to help me out with a class project by taking some pictures for me. Before anyone asks, that was not cheating. We had already discussed getting someone else's perspective by having them shoot pictures, and I told the class when I did my presentation.

Laura Gayle sent me a note on Friday telling me about a cool new service associated with flickr and did I still have the photos? Great question. I had no idea. I don't delete photos unless they're defective, but when I started poking around my hard drive I could not find them. I eventually found the files on my back-up device--good thing, because when you work in IT you really don't want to tell someone you lost files.

Once found, uploading the files to LGG's flickr account proved to be something of a hassle. I used flickr's upload via Windows XP Explorer tool--very handy, by the way--even with 100 MB of files, it was pretty much a set-it-and-forget-it type of operation. No, the problem occurred while trying to log into her flickr account. I tried the username and passwords she sent, and then every similar combination I could think of until the system thought I was trying to hack in. I finally gave up and called her on vacation. At least it wasn't a work question.

Pouring salt into the wound

I always feel guilty when I rant. I should have been more reasonable, I tell myself. I shouldn't have taken it personally, I think. Even as I typed my last post, I was second-guessing myself. The next day I was tempted to go back and edit the language. I left it though, because although coarsely articulated, it reflected how I felt about the situation.

After my unpleasant and unproductive call to Evelyn, my boss dug out the PPID for another battery that needed to be replaced, for the same model PC as mine. I was not amused when he announced that it was already out for delivery this morning. My coworkers are getting a giggle in twisting the knife as they torment me about the ridiculous situation. Maybe, they suggest, Dell has flagged my IP address so they ignore anything coming from me. I called customer service again. She told me she would escalate the call and they would get back to me. Forgive me if I don't hold my breath.

I did get a call from Brad around noon with a promise to investigate the problem and call back before the end of the day. It's too soon to check the tracking number he gave me, but he's the best lead I've had so far, so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I give him credit for calling me back as promised at least.

Bastards!

I'm not good at ranting. Well, actually, I'm not good at ranting in writing. I can spend fifteen minutes telling you all about how Dell bastards! can't send me a replacement battery for the potentially explosive part currently powering my laptop. I can also spend another hour detailing the unresponsive and rude staff who take calls about the battery replacement program at Dell bastards!. When it comes to putting it in print, however, I feel obliged to attempt to be fair to the hardworking and probably stressed staff who are attempting to implement a large scale parts replacement that has damaged the reputation of Dell bastards!.

When I ordered the battery they told me it would take up to 20 days to receive a replacement. They did not say it would take at least 20 days. Up to means I should get it before the twenty days are up. The first three calls I made, the service reps all promised they would escalate the call and I should expect an email with additional information. I got nothing. No emails, no follow-up. NOTHING!

Today I called again, and Evelyn couldn't even be bothered to take my information and check the status of my order. Evelyn's response was they "are replacing four and half millions batteries and it's going to take a while". As to the tracking number that was assigned a month ago? That's the shipper's fault--they have lots of packages from Dell bastards! and it's going to take a while to scan them all.

That's a load of bull, and not even creative bull at that. What part of customer service don't they understand at Dell bastards!? How about Customer and Service?

I'm irritated about getting the runaround, and I'm supposed to be mollified with hyperbole? I don't care if it's 100 batteries or 100 million batteries. I care about my battery not exploding in my computer. And News Flash Evelyn: It's not 4.5 million batteries being replaced, it's 4.1 million batteries subject to recall. What kind of response rate do they actually have, do you suppose? 50%? 75%? There are experts who can figure these things out ahead of time. If you cannot replace all of the 4.1 million batteries affected by this recall within 20 days, then you must give a better estimate of how long it will take. Customers don't get angry about getting something sooner than expected, but they do when something takes 50% longer than promised (and counting). And do they really expect me to believe that a national shipping company like DHL is going to ignore packages for a month? Why would Dell use them if that's true? That entire argument from Evelyn was ridiculous and insulting.

Dell bastards! may not care if they lose my future computer business, but let's look at this in practical terms: I work in Information Technology at a public university. Students, faculty, and staff frequently ask for my recommendation for computers and computer companies, as do friends and family. Does Dell bastards! really want me to tell all of these potential customers what I think of their customer service? Do they really want me to mumble bastards! under my breathe every time I hear someone say Dell?

After I posted yesterday I got a comment from Brad, who says he works at Dell and is willing to look into my problem. How did he find me? Do they have people trolling the web for bloggers who are dissatisfied with Dell? I don't know if he is who he says he is, but it's the best lead I've had to this point, so I'm willing to give it a shot. I would love to find someone who works for Dell that doesn't think customers are an afterthought.

Battery-power

What's that old adage...it's easier to keep a customer than find a new one? That might not be exactly it, but the idea is there.

Obviously Dell hasn't heard that one. I can understand the battery problem. They purchased their supply of batteries from Sony. It's not Dell's fault that Sony has a design/manufacturing problem. It's not the battery recall that has me ticked...it's the way they handled it. 20 days, they promised. Yeah...right. It's not like I actually believed that anyway. After all, they couldn't even bother to merge the date and time into the form letter they sent confirming the letter. The first line of the email read "/datetime/".

I did not get the promised notification that my order had shipped, so I didn't bother checking until it was already late. Of course, you can't look up your order without the well-hidden and irretrievable order number they assigned. I finally found the page I printed, and discovered that Dell thinks they shipped the battery almost a month ago. Great, except when I entered the tracking number at the shipping company's website, they don't have the number in their system.

When I called Dell customer support, the rep has access to no more information than me. He tells me he will "escalate" the order. I'll get an email, he says.

The next time I call, I have to explain the problem again...yes, I know your system thinks it shipped, but no, it isn't here and the shipper doesn't have a record of the package. She tells me she'll "escalate" the order and I should get an email. And what is the service tag from my computer and the PPID from the battery? Hello?! I provided all of that when I placed the order...maybe you can just look it up?

Again I called. And explained myself all over again, but this time I had the the service tag and PPID. She, too, tells me she's going to "escalate" my order, and as she's retyping all of the information into the system, I'm asking myself why a computer company requires so much duplicate data entry--could this be why Dell's quarterly financial reports haven't been looking particularly upbeat lately?

I haven't gotten my "escalation" email yet, so I guess I'll be calling again tomorrow. I suspect, however, that the next time I need a new computer, I won't be calling them.

Dell & batteries

Have you heard the one about the computer manufacturer that has to recall 4.1 million laptop batteries? Oops. To be fair, it isn't Dell's fault, because they bought the batteries from another vendor, but that distinction isn't terribly important to the people whose computers are powered by those batteries.

Like me.

According to the press release, affected "[c]ustomers may continue to use the notebook computers safely by turning the system off, ejecting the battery, and using the AC adapter and power cord to power the system until the replacement battery is received." (Here is the link to check your battery.)

Okay, sure. That makes sense. I don't want the battery to overheat and catch fire. That would be a bad thing. But three weeks for delivery? (Some models will take up to 75 days.)

When the replacement gets here I will, no doubt, appreciate having a brand new battery. Until then, however, I'm going to be feeling pretty cranky that my portable computer is now anchored to the wall. The end of the world? Of course not. But the end of intersession and the start of the fall semester? Yes.

I don't think so

The next time I shop for appliances, I might consider a feature like an ice-cube maker, or even water in the door. But a washer and dryer that nag me? I don't think so.

Consumers are testing appliances that are connected to the Internet and can alert them that their load of laundry is done or that the lint filter needs to be cleaned. How is that useful? All you have to do is clean the lint filter every time you run the dryer, and you're in great shape. If I don't hear the dryer turn off, I can just look at the clock and know that it's about time to pull the clothes out.

Creating new gadgets just for the sake of being high tech is not practical. They need to serve a purpose, like saving time, energy, or just do a better job than a person would do. When you create a laundry system that sorts the clothes (correctly), loads the washer, transfers them to the dryer, and then folds and puts the laundry away, let me know. Otherwise it's just more stuff.

How about inventing a clothing inventory system that alerts me the night before that I need to wash a load of clothes? Now that would be helpful.

CNN story

Alerts

Does anyone remember the alert messages that used to be broadcast on the television: "We interrupt this broadcast to bring you an important message..."? It always started and ended with a high-pitched, warbling kind of noise that succeeded in getting your attention by piercing your ear drums. After scaring the bejezus out of you, they went on to say "If this had been an actual emergency, you would have been instructed where to tune for information about your area."

I spent my formative years on military installations in Europe, so when I returned to the United States and heard those messages, I always took them pretty seriously. I'm not sure what I was supposed to do as a ten-year old, but I listened every time to make sure they said the part about "if this had been an actual emergency".

The Cold War may be over, but the government wants to be sure they can get your full and complete attention even if you're not glued to your television set. Homeland Security plans ("plans" being the operative word) on having an emergency broadcast system in place by the end of next year that transmits a message to every device that is capable of receiving a text message.

And this isn't just for nuclear attacks, you see. The can also alert us to "situations of war, terrorist attack, natural disaster or other hazards to public safety and well-being." Does that include a traffic snarl in the Triangle?

At first blush it might sound like a good idea, but have they even considered the effect a mass-mailing of that magnitude would have on wireless and wired networks? If the terrorist attack about which they wish notify us doesn't devastate communication throughout the nation, crashing the phone system with a mass-mailing certainly will.

Link: CNN.com - Wireless devices to get emergency alerts - Jul 12, 2006.

On my mind

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation requiring "state and local preparedness offices to take into account pet owners, household pets and service animals when drawing up evacuation plans." It's not entirely clear what "taking into account" actually means, but without it, they will not be eligible for FEMA grants.

I'm not convinced that a federal mandate is the best way to deal with the problem. The images of pets abandoned in New Orleans after Katrina were heartwrenching, and the anecdotal reports of people refusing to evacuate because they could not take their pets are disturbing, Also troubling, however, is the idea of turning people away from a shelter whose capacity has been reduced by the mandatory inclusion of an animal shelter. And when supplies are limited, as in the Superdome following Katrina, It is unlikely that hungry people would be very happy to see pets eating when they and their children are not. I am not arguing that emergency officials should ignore pets in their plans. Those plans, however, should be made and adjusted at the local level to meet local needs, rather than dictated by an inflexible and unfunded mandate.

__________________________

An 8-year-old boy in New York has been charged with criminally negligent homicide after he snuck abour a school bus and released the brake. The bus rolled forward, striking and killing a 7 or 8-year-old girl as she crossed the street. Does an 8-year-old have the ability to understand the consequences of his actions--is it reasonable to believe that he could or should have known that his actions might bring harm to others? And if the boy is convicted of the crime, what should be done with him? What would become of him if he were incarcerated in a juvenile facility for an extended period?

_________________________

A Chicago-area school district has announced its intention to begin monitoring blogs authored by students enrolled in the district. "Illegal or inappropriate blogging or social behavior over the Internet...can lead to denial of extracurricular student privileges." The objection from one parent, that it is an invation of privacy, is ridiculous. You can't argue that something is private when you've posted it on the web. And I do believe that we are accountable for what we post to the web, but how much control should our school or work have over us? I would not write anything on my blog about my coworkers or my employer that I would not say in person. However, I do not think it appropriate for my university to sanction me for admitting that my sister once nicknamed an instructor "snackboy" after I told her that he insisted we take turns feeding the class. (He always took the leftovers home.)

If an teacher found a note on a bulletin board suggesting that one student intended to cause harm to another, I would expect the teacher to take action, so I don't have a problem with administrators keeping an eye on what students talk about in a public forum. Does that, however, extend to discussions about "that great party last weekend" upon which the school board might frown? That's not as clear cut. Where should we draw the line?

Scattershot

Now that I'm back to work after a week's vacation, I feel like I've been working 16 or 18 hour days instead of just 9 or 10. I really don't have to work that long, but sometimes the most productive hour of the day comes after everyone else has gone for the day. The phone rings less, the office is quiet, and I can concentrate. I just need the day to be a few hours longer so I can make a dent.

New gadgets (but not for me): This afternoon I started configuring an ultra-portable laptop (a Toshiba LifeBook P7000 series). They aren't kidding about it being light--I'd guess well under 5 pounds, and the display is really sharp. It has a modular bay like my Dell, meaning you pull out the optical drive (DVD drive) and replace it with an extra battery for extended battery life, but I don't know if I'd want to work with a display that small (10.5"). These two notebooks, however, each have a minor defect in the display--one pixel doesn't work. No, it's not that big a deal, but once someone points it out, it's hard to ignore.

And from the "I had no idea it was so hard find an apartment in New York" file: A husband and wife buy a house together. When they get divorced, he stays in the house, but they remain co-owners of the property. His new girlfriend moves in with him, but then they break up, and she won't move out. The guy then enlists the help of his ex-wife to try to throw the ex-girlfriend out with an eviction notice. The ex-girlfriend can't be evicted because she never paid rent. The guy is trying a different tactic now and the case is scheduled to go to trial. It's over already, move out. That's just creepy. (link)

It would be better if he stopped talking now: Poor Scott Stapp--somebody is picking on him. He's trying to concentrate on his new bride and his solo career, and someone has released a tape of he and Kid Rock, uh, "cavorting" with female fans. Rock and one of the female participants are separately arguing that Stapp is trying to get publicity, while Stapp claims that someone is trying to embarrass him. Hello?! He taped himself particpating in a group sex scene, and neither secured nor destroyed the video. What a dufus. (link)

My eyes! My eyes! Starbucks has a line of coffee cups with quotes from a variety of authors that the company says doesn't necessarily represent the views of the company, but is intended to stimulate conversation. It's apparently worked. At least, people are talking about the reactions of officials at Bob Jones University and Baylor University to one of the quotes, attributed to Armistead Maupin. BJU has cancelled it's contract with Starbucks, while Baylor has asked the Starbucks locations on campus to stop distributing those cups. (For the record, Baylor's library carries items by the author whose quote was so offensive.) Remember, it's very important to shield young minds from dangerous quotes printed on coffee cups. What's the world coming to when children are exposed to new ideas at college?

I am a rock star

I bet you didn't know that. Actually, before today, I didn't know it either.

One of my classmates has been having a problem with his laptop. I offered a few suggestions, and when that didn't work, I agreed to take a look at it. I really don't like doing that. Not because I'm cruel and heartless (I can be cruel and heartless, of course, but that's not the reason why). It's just that when you agree to help resolve someone's computer problem, you are, in fact, agreeing to help them resolve every computer problem that person has from here until eternity. It's like adopting them, but without the tax deduction. After all, you are the one who seemingly conducted miracles before, so why go anywhere else.

But I have my weak moments, and I agreed to try to help.

It was the problem I expected, and I was able (with a quick hardware assist from a friend) to fix it and reinstall the operating system. When I sent the email telling him it was ready, I got the following response:

"HOLY CRAP!...Thank you so much, you are such a rock star."

What more could a girl want?

Faster than DSL?

The authors of this article point out important weaknesses in Wi-Fly TCP that lessens its effectiveness and detail a new data transmission protocol (SNAP) which they suggest may be faster than DSL.

The article is a rather dense with technical details, but enlightening if you read through it.

This hurts my brain

A small-minded misogynist was foolish enough to send a non-sensical rant to Dooce.

I think this is a horribly self-distructive act on his part. It will certainly get him more attention that simply stating "I am an idiot and I should receive excessive amounts of flaming emails."

"the other hens you hang around  with"? Charming.

How about "your being a woman makes you a liability in the  work force to an employer"?

And how is the slump-busting, steroid-injecting, has-been, known as Jose Canseco at all relevant to his diatribe?

Sometimes a plan comes together

Maybe I'm not such a complete dork after all. I finally figured out the right combination of connections to get the satellite receiver connected to the VCR, and now I can record to tape. This is a major coup for me and I did it myself. Maybe there's hope for me yet.

We don't need to talk about the half hour it took to figure it out though.

Duh!

I am a dork.

I love having Tivo. The ads tell you that it will change the way you watch television, which sounds like hype until you get one, and then you know how true it is. Recently though, I've been building up a backlog of shows that I want to watch but haven't had time. And I've had a couple of requests for shows that I've recorded. Should be simple enough. There's even a handy feature that tells you when to start the VCR so you can transfer to tape.

I am a dork. I can't get anything taped! I work with technology for a living. It should not be this hard.  I assumed that since I can play video tapes, I should be able to record as well. Set the VCR to channel 3, press record, viola! Right? No. Nothing but static.

Tonight I finally pulled everything away from the wall to take a look. Everybody and their brother has connected some part of the system. Steve (my ex), the satellite installer, everybody except me.

The VCR is connected to the television. Check!
The satellite receiver is connected to the television. Check!
The satellite receiver is NOT connected to the VCR.

Tomorrow I have to figure out what connecters I need, go to BestBuy and hope to find the correct connecters, and then rewire everything. Ugh. Even homework sounds better than that.

An early lead?

Ask Jeeves Buys Blog Search Provider Bloglines

This article describes the acquistion of Bloglines by Ask Jeeves, the Internet search engine in fifth place.

"We're trying to establish an early lead in this space," Jim Lanzone, Ask Jeeves' senior vice president of search properties, told Reuters.

An early lead in this space? What's early about it?

"Spam Costs Billions"

Spam. It's irritating, disruptive, and annoying. I won't argue with you there. I know people who become irate at the prospect of finding one more message that offers them help finding medications, losing weight, or enlarging some part of the body. To be perfectly honest though, it's not the biggest irritation, disruption, or irritant that I can think of.

Apparently, I'm not taking the problem seriously. According to the 2004 National Technology Readiness Survey, spam costs us billions. That's billions, with a B.

The annual survey, conducted by Center for Excellence in Service at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business and Rockbridge Associates, a technology research firm, reveals that Internet users in the United States spend an average of three minutes deleting spam each day they use E-mail. Multiplied across 169.4 million online adults in the United States, this comes to 22.9 million hours a week, or $21.58 billion based on an average wage.

Pretty compelling. But I have some problems with these figures. "$21.58 billion based on an average wage." Whose average wage? That works out to $37,710 per year, or just over $18 an hour, per worker. I know quite a few Internet users, and most of them don't make $37k a year. Okay, maybe I only know people that are horribly undervalued. How about this: figures from the U.S. Census Bureau tell us that the median household income is $42,228. That's per household, not per person.

And what about the three minutes a day spent dealing with spam? Don't most of us spend at least that much time doing something equally unproductive? I might argue that spam deletion has become part of the ritual that starts our day, like checking voicemail, getting coffee, or discussing last night's episode of West Wing.

I am not suggesting we should let spammers run amuck, but let's keep an eye on the facts. I will be very happy the day they find a way to whisk away those messages describing how I can "improve my performance." But on that day, when we each get our three minutes back, I doubt we are going to see an $83 million* increase in productivity.

*That would be $21.58 billion divided by 260 work days per year, assuming a 40-hour work week.

Kudos to TypePad tech support

We all know the reputation that tech support has amongst users...to be polite, it is often less than flattering.

I will take the time to give credit where credit is due here. TypePad's tech support is great! I couldn't get the comments transferred over with my posts from Blogger. It wouldn't be that big of a deal really, as it's not like there were that many, but hey, you never know if you don't ask. Kristine responded within 24 hours, then provided the code to try. Titles don't transfer, but that is because of the way Blogger is configured rather than a problem with Movable Type.

Thank you Kristine!

What was I thinking?

I switched over to TypePad this morning and have spent the last couple of hours trying to import my posts and comments from Blogger. Yes, I know that nothing translates from one system to another perfectly, but, hey, you want what you want, right?

After importing and deleting several times, and searching the help files about a dozen times, I figured I should break down and submit and help ticket. Nothing like being the whiny new kid. At least I'll discover right away how helpful they are and how I'll never want to leave TypePad.

Dooced

Bookshop employee fired for weblog accusation of slavery

Whew!

I get that setting up the blog is easy...if only finding an available name for the newly created blog were as easy. I couldn't think of anything original on my own, so I used OED's "lost for words" link until I found one that wasn't already taken. Okay, well, it was labeled as archaic and rare--(from OED):

Mosker: to decay, rot; to crumble or moulder away.