| I'm exhausted ... |
[Feb. 6th, 2010|07:45 pm] |
The new, new computer is up and running... kind of...
I started at 9am and quit at 6pm. Of course a couple of hours of that was uninstalling MS Office. It still has a bug in it, and at this point Mail has a bug too. So while we can get incoming email - we can't send any out.
Most photos have been successfully moved over, as was Safari bookmarks. Most, but not all, other software has been moved over.
I had hoped it would only take a couple of hours to do this, but it appears I will be workin' on this most of tomorrow as well..
Argh! |
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| New Computer... |
[Jan. 30th, 2010|08:55 am] |
The replacement computer is at the Fed-Ex office in Santa Rosa. I will pick it up today after work.
I have a Genius Bar appointment at 6PM today to get more info on manual migration of our data to the new computer.
The plan is to create a new user, check out the apps, and then back up the OS before moving anything over.
Then move one app at a time, test to see if their are any bugs and back it up.
A tedious prospect.
I got a notice from Kaiser yesterday that my monthly premium will increase $52.00 in March for April's coverage. I'm being moved into a new age category: 55-60. That is on top of the yearly increase of $35.00 that began in December for January's coverage.
I had to call their 800 number to find out when the $52 would take effect, as the letter did not say.
I read the poor guy the riot act, as I felt I was getting a double wammy, and wasted my, and his, time to have to call to find out basic information. Really - they can't program their computer to have given me notice in December of this impending increase?
I will now be looking at plans that will increase my deductible and lower my monthly premium.
In other happenings:
Kitchen Disasters:
No donuts [according to Duke]
Kitchen Successes:
General Rat's Chicken [according to Duke and Rat]
Family:
My cousin called to get our grandparents birth/death data for a passport application. We talked a little ... social pleasantries and then she added "Our President is an idiot." She knows how I feel about this kind of thing. I guess conservatives cannot help themselves. I kept silent. Later that day she sent an email with some "How Great Friends are." Sent to me an dozens of others....
I felt like adding "Our previous President was a Moron, so an idiot is a step up." But I didn't ... sometimes silence is the best response. |
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| Apple Store |
[Jan. 25th, 2010|07:56 pm] |
Duke and I went to our Apple Store appointment today.
Apple agreed to replace the computer ... somewhat reluctantly...
I had the fellow at the Genius Bar read a copy of my LJ post and then said "I'm tired of this. I want Apple to replace this computer. It is a lemon."
"Reunions and MS Office are 3rd party software...."
"iMovie is not and it is having problems as well...."
To which he replied "I'll have to get a manager" ... but with an air of ... 'do you really want me to do that?'
"Do you have another suggestion? ..... get the manager."
He was gone for a while and then came back and said they would replace it. BUT .... because it was a phone order they couldn't replace it in store. Well they could, but it will take longer than if I take the paperwork authorizing the replacement home and do it via the phone. Apparently part of the issue was that I had them pre-install MS Office and they couldn't do that in store.
The "Work Authorization" states it this way:
"Proposed Resolution: The machine is a CTO and CANNOT be replaced here in the store to meet their time frame. Sending them away with case/reference number and AppleCares number. Also explained that software could be root cause of some of their smaller issues EXCEPT for the sleep/wake issues. Please replace unit through AppleCare agent."
It's kinda snotty....
When I got home I called AppleCare and was shifted over to a manager. He kinda didn't seem well versed in this... process. First he talked about repair.... and I nicely, but firmly, emphasized it was for a replacement. Got that cleared up.
I had choices ...
They would email a shipping label so I could ship back old computer and they will ship out new one. Takes about 4-5 days.
Or
I could give them my credit card number and they would ship out the new one immediately. Upon receiving it I would move my docs over. Within 24 hours [from today] they will email a shipping label for the old computer.
Door number 2, please.
They will pre-install MS Office again, and there is a new AppleCare policy with 90 days of phone support, beginning when I receive the new computer.
So here's the question:
The Genius guy suggested that I not use migration assistant, but instead move over everything manually, because there could be a problem arising from moving from a PowerPC to an Intel chip.
But we didn't have any of those software problems until after the logic board was replaced.
It seems Big Gary said to me that manually moving things over is problematic.
So migration assistant or not? That is the question... |
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| computer woes 4 |
[Jan. 24th, 2010|08:34 am] |
After the logic board was replaced in December:
When we got the computer home it was in ‘select user’ mode and in sleep. After opening up ‘mail’ & ‘safari’, and leaving the lap top open, the display went to sleep, but the computer did not.
So I tested it a few days later:
Sleep working correctly when in ‘select user’ after startup
Sleep working when close laptop
Sleep working when use ‘apple > sleep’ menu
Sleep not working when in any of 4 users, laptop left open. Display will go to sleep, but computer will not.
As some point in late Dec/early Jan sleep began working correctly for several days.
Then sleep became more erratic, working sometimes and other times not.
Tue 12 Jan
Mail asked for password to be able to go get mail
Word – cannot create new envelope
iMovie – edit not working correctly
Move mouse and it did not wake up computer/display
Reunions – edit in sources wonky
Sleep working
Wed 13 Jan AM Sleep not working
PM During Youtube upload the display and computer went to sleep and cut off internet upload process.
I wonder - can a program that is not open cause these problems? Duke and I have identified a number of programs that we don't use.
I've already run disc utility and nothing was changed afterwards.
I reinstalled the OS and MS Office prior to the logic board being replaced. Each took several hours. I'm not looking forward to doing that again.
I have an appointment with Genius Bar tomorrow, but really something is terribly wrong and I'm not happy about it. |
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| Epson Ink sucks |
[Jan. 23rd, 2010|05:20 pm] |
I had this interaction with Ebson Printers this week:
Rat:
“Why does my Epson brand ink smear when it gets wet? The label states it to be water resistant. I have not had the problem with other brands of ink.”
Epson:
“ I need to know the exact paper mfg and type your printing on, which application you printing from and what settings did you use in the Epson driver (Print Settings). Do you know if your [sic] using the Gutenprint driver? Typically it will say “Printer Features” instead of “Print settings.” Gutenprint driver is an Apple driver not Epson driver. The quality is the absolute best when you use Epson ink with Epson paper. They are made to work in conjunction with each other.”
Rat:
“Thank you for your response. I use Office Deport store brand paper and envelopes purchased at my local drug store. I have never had this problem before. I fail to see how the drivers, or settings would effect whether the ink is water resistant or not.”
Epson:
Unfortunately, it is difficult to guarantee good output when printing on non-Epson brand paper. … blah, blah, blah ….”
If that is the case then Epson should state that on their printers, instead of stating that the ink is water resistant. |
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| Demons, Witches and Pat Robertson Oh My! |
[Dec. 30th, 2009|08:53 am] |
According to the Christian Broadcasting Network…
“demons” sneak into bags of Halloween candy at grocery stores.
“Most of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches,”
“Curses are sent through the tricks and treats of the innocent whether they get it by going door to door or by purchasing it from the local grocery store. The demons cannot tell the difference.”
“I have prayed for witches who are addicted to drinking blood and howling at the moon.”
Well there ya go …
Since I’m a godless heathen faggot I though I would help them out…
Classified Ad:
WANTED: Demons and Witches to pray over and insert curses in Halloween candy. Must have blood drinking references and be able to work during the full moon. Apply to Mars Candy Co. Sodom CA. Demon owned for 125 years! <halloweencurces@demonspawn.com>
Apparently CBN has removed these comments from their web site. You can read the article at Americans United for Separation of Church and State for more info. |
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| Christmas 2009 |
[Dec. 27th, 2009|09:24 am] |
Last night [Saturday] we did Christmas Dinner. Big Gary, Bob from Conn., Chuck from San Jose, Dennis and Michael were over. Bob, Duke’s radio partner wasn’t feeling well so he opted to stay home.
We all had a good time. Duke had us do The Twelve Days of Christmas with changed lyrics. Chuck was dressed as Santa, and Big Gary filmed it. Duke will up load it to you tube at some point….
Lyrics:
1 – A game called Grand Theft Auto
2 Angry Pit Bulls
3 Sawed Off Shot Guns
4 Violent Rap CDs
5 Hits of Meth
6 Drive By Shootings
7 Home Invasion Robberies
8 Roadside Bombs
9 Molotov Cocktails
10 Car Jackings
11 Violent Homicides
12 Crooked Politicians
Michael did 5, and as he sang it he used as fake syringe, then it got bigger [turkey baster] and on 12 Santa spanked him, while he was shooting it up ….
Dinner went well, and after the Thanksgiving disaster, that is a good thing.
We all had out picture taken on Santa’s lap.
Duke returned a photo album to Dennis and Michael that he had for 2 years! It was one Kwai had put together for them from the summer of 1990. They had recently moved onto the Laufenberg Ranch in Knights Valley near Calistoga CA.
A cool trip down memory lane. That was the year I met them and Duke. They already knew each other….
Big Gary presented us with a ‘gallery wrap’ photo he had taken of us in Guerneville. We were standing around watching sheriff officers searching for the crazy guy who shot an arrow into the sky… and it went through the top of a convertible hitting someone in the head. He was not hurt. One of the best photos of Duke and I, we have. I took out my handy portable drill and hung by the door.
I gave Duke a new folding Buck knife – nothing says Christmas like a weapon ….
Hope everyone had a Happy Holiday |
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| computer woes redux |
[Dec. 22nd, 2009|12:52 pm] |
We got the lap top back from Apple Monday night. They replaced the logic board .... and it ... didn't solve the problem ....
They said they had tested it, both with a password in a user account and upon startup. And I believe them.
So I did a little testing of my own. The wireless router is the one difference I could think of between home and Apple, but turning off Airport made no difference.
I let the computer go to sleep upon startup, and it did. But in all 4 user accounts it will no go to sleep unless forced to do so via the Apple menu.
I just called Apple Care and indicated my displeasure about this, I expect it fixed or replaced. I asked him to put the above in the notes on this case number. This is not a problem that will be solved easily or quickly. I will not have my computer setting in the shop over the holidays, so I will bring it back into the Apple Store after the first of the year.
Interestingly, when I backed it up, Time Machine thought it was a different computer, so apparently the logic board has some ID in it. |
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| computer woes 3 |
[Dec. 13th, 2009|08:46 am] |
Last night I opened up "Word" only to discover that files are being corrupted and are unreadable.
It appears to be documents created in a precious version of "Word" and "Excel". Not all of them, and not entire files.... but it is progressing.
I'm not sure if this is related to the logic board/sleep problem. The computer goes in tomorrow [Monday] for that repair.... or more likely, if this is a Microsoft problem.
So I think that one solution would be to re-install Microsoft Office and then retrieve the files from Time Machine
I'm not sure if this is the correct thing to do, and since I have never done it, not sure how to do it.
And on top of that ... when I went to have my bi-annual teeth cleaning last week the dentist said I would soon need a crown on the tooth that we fix the large filling on last year.... last night a piece of that tooth came off ... I guess when she said soon, she meant ... now.... |
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| Those Crazy 60s |
[Dec. 13th, 2009|08:38 am] |
Last night Duke and I came across a 30 minute Time-Life ad for Flower Power a cd set of 60s era songs, hosted by Peter Fonda. The stage was colorful, with a Harley in the background. They cd's were colorful with a "psychedelic" motif. The video footage that they showed was very interesting. Most of the artists appeared to be early in their careers, probably from the likes of Ed Sullivan Show, with head hair, but little facial hair. The exception to this was Santana, who was always on the scruffy side.
Next up was Romancing the 70s billed as "Love songs from the 70s", hosted by Tony Orlando, without Dawn. Among the songs were Blue Bayou and I'll Never Love Again.... need I point out that they are hardly "Love Songs" ... In contrast to Flower Power here it was all muted, soft colors .... |
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| Computer woes 2 |
[Dec. 5th, 2009|05:20 pm] |
I made an appointment at the SR Genius Bar today and went down there.
The result is possibly, but not 100% sure, it's the logic board.
He ordered one, and had me sign a repair order.
It's covered by the warranty.
They will call when the board comes in, probably Tuesday.
It will take 2-3 days to ship, repair and ship again.
I didn't think to ask ... can you just replace the whole computer? |
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| flu shot roulette |
[Dec. 5th, 2009|12:25 pm] |
We always get seasonal flu shots.
By chance, I was at Kaiser for a doc's appointment the day they were giving out shots.
This year the clinic Duke goes to has not been able to get any.
The county flu hot line listed about 10 sites that were having flu clinics. All of them today. All 9-noon.
Duke got up way early - 8:30am and we arrived in Sebastopol about 9:15. The line had already snaked around the building. We waited, along with everyone else, on the cold, shady north side of the building. The line moved fairly quickly and soon we were on the west side of the building, in the sun. Warmer, but still cool out. We got about 3/4 of the way and rumors started that they were out of seasonal flu, but still had N1H1, for which we are not eligible. I walked up to the entrance and saw several other people go in that were not in line, so I waited. When they came out I asked...yes, they were out of season vaccine. I went back to Duke and told him, and the people around us, but official word had come out yet, so we decided to wait.... and moments later...finally someone from the hospital informed everyone that indeed no more seasonal vaccine was available.
It was about 10:45, so only a hour and 1/2, wasted, but not too bad. Off we went to East West Cafe for breakfast.
Then home, where Duke crashed out. |
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| I've been spittin' mad all day. |
[Dec. 4th, 2009|08:02 pm] |
I've spent about 8 hours over several days, and 3 calls to Apple Care tryin' to correct a seemingly minor problem. The problem is sleep. If left alone the display goes to sleep on time, but the computer does not. If I use the Apple menu > sleep - then both display and computer go to sleep properly.
The first Apple Care tech took out his lap top, made just a week before mine, and said his does the same thing and it was normal.
Argh ..
The second attempt, the Apple Care tech gave me a case number and said try software update. Did that.
Argh ....
The third one transferred me over to a 'senior tech' he said reinstall the OS. Did that and the software update to bring it current. Along with that came an update for our printer drivers ... did that too.
Not only did it not solve the problem, but I should not have done the printer driver update, now the printer will not print. I have no idea how to uninstall the drivers and get the correct ones.
The senior tech gave me his number and extension, which I called today - I suggested email since I cannot lose more work by being home during the day. Didn't hear from him.... it's suppose to rain next week, so then I can spend hours, again, trying to get this taken care of. |
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| Dinner disasters |
[Nov. 29th, 2009|10:00 am] |
First we had to delay Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday because I had a mild case of ... flu of some sort.
Then on Friday night, just minutes before Duke left for the station to do his show, we discovered that the turkey had completely defrosted. Despite thinking we had wrapped it well, bloody water had gushed out and drained, not only all over the shelf, but into the two veggie drawers below.
Saturday morning I had to unplug the fridge and move it to get the drawers and shelf out. Clean, clean, clean the fridge and the veggies.
Bob and Gary came over, turkey nicely cooking away in the oven. All is ready ... take the turkey out and put it on a platter to set .... and ...What's that in the bottom of the platter? More blood - despite it looking good, it wasn't fully cooked. Egad.
We ate everything else while the turkey finished cooking, then had some at the end...
I'm not really a fan of turkey as it is ... but after this ... Christmas will be a ham.... |
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| Wow |
[Nov. 8th, 2009|08:51 am] |
Our old laptop has been failing for some time. We finally ordered a new MacBook. It arrived Wednesday.
All I can say is WOW. As ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) fogbear said it has "very silky aluminumity."
I thought we should name it ... maybe Hal ... um no. That name for computers is forever bad juju. Kinda like John for English kings.
Everything got transferred over and is working. We've had a few issues. The current one is that Airport Extreme base station goes off when the computer goes to sleep. Then Airport, itself needs to be reset.
Good thing it comes with 90 days of AppleCare.
Wow is the word for the day, the week, maybe even the month. |
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| If it's not one thing ... |
[Oct. 25th, 2009|09:07 am] |
It's another.
Friday my windshield got nicked by a rock on the freeway. The result was a nice little crack ... that kept growing.
$257.49 later I had a new windshield.
Saturday was a busy day:
Had dealership fix the windshield wipers they had installed incorrectly.
Got windshield replaced
Got some help with projects:
Moved the drainage ditch farther from the side fence
Front fence that had blown down a week after fixing the back fence, is now repaired
Painted the yellow on the side of the house where we had replaced the rotted siding
Finished both small sheds
Put a new tarp on Duke's bike shed
This is Black Kitty. He lives behind us, but comes over for pets and scratches.
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| Rocky Raccoon |
[Oct. 10th, 2009|07:15 pm] |
It's very tiring to drag a large, but dead, raccoon from under house. It's an 18" crawl space and he was on the other side of all the plumbing...
The white trash "door" to the crawl space entrance finally fell apart a few weeks ago. When we had that thunderstorm a week later there was some loud noises from under the house. I thought "one of the local cats got scared and darted under the house. Must be time to make a real barrier for the crawl space entrance.
And so I did. I got some quarter inch hardware cloth and fashioned a removable barrier. I did a quick check and didn't see anyone under the house and put it in place.
A few days later Duke remarked he had heard some scratching late at night. I didn't think much about it.
Wrong. Very, Very Wrong.
About a week or so later I kept wondering why the kitchen trash smelled so bad, especially after I had taken it out to the trash can. Then ... why are there more flies around ..... ?
Then it hit me ... opps someone must have been under the house when I blocked the entrance. Me Very Bad.
So today I got under the house, straightened out the plastic vapor barrier and looked for whatever it was.
It was Rocky Raccoon. Laying below the kitchen sink.
I feel terrible that I locked him in and he died for lack of water.
( photos - If You Dare ... ) |
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| The ER Experence |
[Sep. 28th, 2009|07:12 am] |
I took Duke to the ER last night. 2 EKGs and one chest x-ray later they sent him home with some nitro, just in case. We got home just after 1AM. I woke up at 6AM to piss, and well, it's was about time to get up and get ready for work.
I'm gonna love takin a nap this afternoon. |
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