Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category
Can’t…Concentrate
Tuesday, August 7th, 2012
Ugh. I am not having a productive day. I can’t seem to concentrate on anything (and if you saw how much I had to correct in that sentence, you’d know I can’t type today, either!).
I am not sure what started this but I am sure tired of it. In order to combat it, I have tried:
1) working…it didn’t work.
2) shopping…I now have food in the house I don’t want to cook.
3) obsessively checking email…and wanted to reply to all my spammers with yes, I do believe you are a Nigerian princess and you desperately need my help. Just hold on a sec while I do about 100 other non-productive things on the internet. Like look for images of “concentrate.”
4) obsessively checking Facebook. I have nothing to say; I just want to be amused. Amuse me!
5) obsessively checking Twitter. I constantly wonder why people follow me. I like it, but I wonder…
6) pretend I am going to work, but actually create a blog post instead. (It’s typing, so it’s like working…right?)
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Joining the Throng
Tuesday, July 31st, 2012
Well, I’ve done it. I’ve gone and gotten myself a twitter account. Because, as you know, I have all the time in the world – nothing to do but get lost in tweets and new links and funny photos…all in 140 characters or less. I’ve done such a bang up job with this here blog that surely another time-suck is called for.
Anyway, if you are inclined, you can follow me at @FaithProofing. I picked that because 1) it’s my name and 2) it’s what I do. I thought about using my company name, but as you are limited to 15 characters (and those characters count in a tweet/re-tweet), shorter is better. So of course, I pushed the limits – right up to 13 characters. That’s lucky, right – 13 is an okay number? (Please reassure me that it’s okay that I picked a username with 13 characters, but you will have to do so in some mind-meld fashion as I have comments turned off.) But using Atwater in there REALLY pushed it to the 15 character limit and although it would get my company name out there, I want to be myself, not my company. (They are the same thing, but you know what I mean – I am not trying to ram my company down my follower’s throats…or tweets, as the case may be.)
And speaking of followers, I have some. A few. Well, two. But I love them! They found me the first hour I was on Twitter. Of course, I made it easy for them by responding to one of their tweets, but still…they were kind enough to follow me. Now the pressure is on. Be funny, informative, helpful, insightful…but concise. And isn’t that the watchword of this blog? Concise.
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Creativity and Productivity
Thursday, July 26th, 2012
I actually have a folder in my browser called Creativity and Productivity.
On the “productive” side, I have sites like Lifehacker, Fast Company, Freelance Switch, and Harvard Business Review. On the creative side, I have Dear Photograph and a Flicker stream from a photographer. Stuff that falls in the middle: TED, You Are Not So Smart, and Brain Pickings. {And let me apologize now for giving you these links and sending you off into the wild Internet without a net.}
Now, you might be tempted to think these things are unrelated. But they’re not. I go to this folder when I need a mental break or inspiration. Sometimes my inspiration is a new program; sometimes it’s the story found in a photograph; sometimes it’s in something I never knew.
Of course, if I just want to goof off, there’s always Facebook!
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At last….
Thursday, August 20th, 2009
my new laptop showed up yesterday afternoon. I had a pretty productive morning, work-wise. I scanned and filed and then moved the pdfs to the old Lenovo hard drive. By noon, I was pretty much done with everything I thought I would get done and was just basically waiting for the UPS man to show up.
And there is no more sure way to get the UPS man to show up than to be in the middle of some project that you can’t stop. So I made some pizza dough around noon, and sure enough, about the time I needed to start kneading the dough, guess who shows up? Yup, Mr. UPS Man.
So from about 1:30 to 5:30 I spent unpacking and setting up my new laptop. It has a much wider screen than the old one, so I have tons of space to look at in Excel (awesome!). And web pages look pretty cool too! It has a different setup for speakers (there are two up top near the screen) and the mousepad is textured. On the right side of the keyboard “IdeaPad” is light up in white.
So I got 95% of my programs installed yesterday. I moved over files last night (work stuff, personal stuff, music, etc.). This morning I buckled down and got my Firefox profile moved over (how I have missed my favorite sites!) and now am working on getting my email up to speed.
I have long term plans to check through my old Lenovo hard drives, make sure I have everything I want, and then wipe them clean to use as mass storage for pictures and video.
But for now, I am happy just to be able to use a computer at the breakfast bar while I bake cookies for church.
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The Light at the end of the tunnel…
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
So, after calling Lenovo about my most recent computer failure, I escalated my call ticket to their Customer Relations department. It was going to take 5 to 7 business days for them to respond to the call.
I got the call last Thursday, the 13th. Steve was a nice guy, working at the corporate headquarters in NC. He explained that they wanted to take a look at the machine, so he was authorizing a return to his location for “high level” technical assistance. I explained how I purchased an extended warranty to have some one come to my home and fix the dang computer at a minimum of downtime on my work computer. And even with those efforts, I ended up having to send it to Texas anyway. And then it didn’t work and I had to send it back. I told him that even though everyone I had dealt with on the phone and in person was perfectly wonderful, I pretty much thought this fell under the “three strikes and you’re out” rule. I really liked my Lenovo (when it worked) and wasn’t interested in finding another computer, I just wanted one that WORKED.
So he offered me a new computer.
It turns out they don’t make my model anymore, so he had to customize the next most similar system to replace what I had. He placed the order that day, and the notification email came back as an estimated ship date of Aug. 20, with a 2 day UPS shipping. So I figured if I was really lucky, it would show up on Saturday the 22nd – but more than likely it would be Monday the 24th before I would see my brand new laptop.
I checked my email this morning and saw a notice from Lenovo. My computer shipped on Monday the 17th.
That means Tomorrow …. I will be checking out and falling in love with my new, working laptop.
Awesome!
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Where has the time gone?
Friday, August 7th, 2009
Somewhere else… probably stuck in someone’s hard drive or the internets or something.
Life has been very busy and there hasn’t been to much time for posting. We took a trip to Denver (details will be forthcoming – it was an interesting trip) and of course, after a vacation, you come home to a mountain of laundry and work to catch up on.
That was my main goal this week – to get caught up on work stuff. It turns out both my bosses took this week off, so I had a great start in getting dug out of the paperwork hell I was in. I had piles and piles and piles (literally – I had three piles) of paperwork to double check was entered in the computer and then scan and then file. I completed pile #1 on Monday. On Tuesday I completed an online project (so I could work from the bedroom and clean up 15 episodes of General Hospital). On Wednesday I completed pile #2. Thursday – not so productive.
I went to tai chi class – something I haven’t been able to do for the last six weeks. It felt good, but man, am I out of practice! Then, I did some work for the three guys who hadn’t gone on vacation, and I must admit, I probably goofed off a bit as well. So, not a real productive day, but – hey – there’s always Friday, right? Plus, The Boy is camping with The Grandparents this weekend, so it’s kinda like he’s back in school or something.
Friday. Ah, sweet, sweet Friday. I started with good intentions. I had four loads of laundry washed and out on the line by noon. The Hubby came home for lunch…but really to pick up his Camaro convertible. Shortly after he left, he called. He had spilled some gas additive on his shoes when he filled up the Camaro. Then he called again… it wasn’t just on his shoes – it was on his socks and pants. I offered to run him up some clean clothes, and he didn’t hesitate to say yes. So… off to his workplace with clean clothes. He had baked a cake (yes, he did all himself!) for his administrative assistant’s birthday, so I stayed for a piece of cake. So, about an hour down the drain there. I was going to head over to the church to pick up some boxes, but one of my guys said he needed a letter asap. So off I go home to take care of that, hoping I could still swing by the church before dinner to get those boxes.
I walk into the office. Everything looked the same… everything looked fine. But it was not fine. Folks, I hate to tell you this, but THE BITCH IS BACK AGAIN. Yes, my laptop pulled the same stunt as last month. It would not start. I almost cried.
But I am a big girl, so instead I called customer service. After a couple of minutes explaining my situation and trying a little troubleshooting over the phone, Diane (very nice Diane at Lenovo) suggested I send it back in to The Depot. I said – what other choice do I have? in that disgusted-I- give- up tone. Well, she said, you DO have another option. I can pass the case to Customer Relations. They are the big guns – the ones that can authorize things such as a new computer. So, after a bit of discussion, I tell her to move me over to Customer Relations.
Now I have to wait 3 to 7 BUSINESS days for them to contact me. The Hubby advises me to just tell them outright to get me a new computer as they clearly can’t … or just aren’t interested… in fixing my computer. I certainly would like a new working laptop. We’ll see what kind of attitude I get when they call.
But for now, once again, I am back on The Hubby’s old desktop, trying to control my bitchiness and deal with it.
UGGHHHHH!!
PS – just to top the day off, there were goat issues at The Grandparent’s place. I now hate goats.
L
Posted in Family Life, Technology, The Boy, The Hubby | Comments Off on Where has the time gone?
Do you know what day it is?
Friday, July 10th, 2009
That is the question The Hubby asked me this morning as he was getting ready for work.
It’s Friday
It’s the last day of the work week
It’s the start of the weekend
It’s the 10th
Oh, wait… today is the day I get my computer back!
Yes, folks, the computer is on it’s way back to me. I am a bit apprehensive about it, though. When I talked to the customer service rep on Wednesday, I was told “they fixed the hard drive – it was improperly installed”. I wasn’t aware you could have an “improper hard drive installation”. I figured if you don’t have it in correctly, it won’t work. I mean, I installed 15 programs on this “improperly installed” hard drive last Thursday. I installed, rebooted, installed, rebooted, etc. multiple times and never had a problem until I put it into “sleep” mode at night.
So my plan of attack today will be to install Firefox and Mcaffee – nothing else. I’ll putz around the web for a bit and then put it into sleep mode for a while. If I can get it back, I will feel safer about installing the rest of my programs and files. But if it doesn’t come out of sleep mode, I will be making yet another call to Lenovo. I am seriously considering telling them they need to just give me new computer since they clearly can’t fix this one. It’s still under warranty (plus, I purchased the extended warranty from them when this whole thing started), so we will see how that goes. I guess I might be borrowing trouble, but sometimes it pays to be prepared for your next action.
Posted in Technology, The Hubby | Comments Off on Do you know what day it is?
Day 16
Monday, July 6th, 2009
The cruel summer sun beats down through the window. Nary a breeze comes through… all is still. A dog barks in the distance. A dog barks again, this time closer and with more urgency.
Bark! Bark! Bark!
Damn dog… doesn’t he know he’s disturbing my pity party here on Day 16 of Life Without My Laptop? I have customer service centers to call… and be placed on hold with. At last, a real person… who has to read the novella my service record now must be and takes five minutes to read it all. All I want to do is make sure they have my laptop in their system as arrived at “The Depot”, so that, in theory, it can be looked at for the actual thing that is causing it not to work. Possibly even fixed… I dunno…I’m kinda hopeful about that. {You know, like the last year you believe – or sort of believe – in the Big Fat Guy in a Red Suit Who Brings You the BEST…STUFF…EVER (and fruit in your stocking)}.
“Yes, we can see from the UPS tracking you provided us that we must have your computer.” Gee, how encouraging.
Plans for Day 17: call after 3 pm to check on status. Plans for Day 17 Eve: dream of the BEST…STUFF…EVER that comes from the FedEx guy… a box with my fixed computer in it! Of course, the “fruit in my stocking” will be the delivery of an empty box they are sending me… just so I can send them my laptop (when I have already sent it to them on my own dime to cut out 4 to 5 more days of this hell).
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Sob, Sob
Friday, July 3rd, 2009
the continuing saga….
I called the computer company on Tuesday. I still hadn’t heard (either by phone or email – both of which was promised to me!) if they had even recieved my computer. So imagine my surprise when the customer service rep told me it was on it’s way back to me and should arrive on Thursday.
I was happy about that, but a bit puzzled by what she said after that. She said that they hadn’t found anything wrong with it – they re-formatted the hard drive and it worked fine. It was a power drain issue that they could have walked me through over the phone. Actually, when I heard that last bit, I wasn’t puzzled…I was pissed. So I had sent my computer out to Texas for no reason? Been working off an external drive on an old desktop so my laptop could “vacation” this summer?
But, I was happy enough that it was on it’s way back to me to overlook, or at least not dwell, on those little questions.
Thursday came… Fed Ex came… I opened the box, put the battery back in, plugged it in and everything was fine. I loaded up about 15 programs and started to relax. I hadn’t gotten to loading up any of my files, but I was ok with that. I wanted to buy a hard drive dock and be able to get some files that had not been backed up onto my external drive. I figured I’d do that over the long weekend and come Monday, it would be like everything always had been.
The Boy had The Girlfriend over for dinner. He actually made dinner for her (and, by extension, us). He decided on a chicken parm dish, so I pulled up the trusty website, A Year of Crockpotting, to come up with just the right approach to the meal. He got up in the morning, made the chicken parm and got it into the crockpot. When she got here around 5, it was ready, so he boiled the water for the pasta and made the garlic bread.
The Hubby and I ate in the bedroom and the kids got the dining room. She was very impressed (I think, anyway!) with the thought that went behind the meal. They were celebrating their six month anniversary, so it was very sweet of him to do this for her.
So after dinner, The Hubby and I hang out in the bedroom, both of on our laptops, happily putzing away the night. It gets to be time to drive The Girlfriend home, so I put the computer into sleep mode and head out.
It’s about 11:30 when I get back, so clearly it’s time for bed… not computing. I woke up around 7:45 this morning and went to turn it on to get the news and my email. Hit the power button… start to hear the sound wave.. then it dies. Hit the power button again.. absolutely nothing this time. I decide not to waste any time and bring the computer upstairs to the office and call the computer company.
So I spend the next 20 or so minutes with my new best friend, Derrick. He tells me that the notes on the account indicate they just reformatted the hard drive and turned it on to verify it worked. And it did. So they sent it back to me. No where was there any note that the tech they sent out to me had put in a new hard drive, seen that it wasn’t a power issue, and recommended a new motherboard. NO WHERE. So, it being a Friday, he can send me a box with a prepaid label, but that wouldn’t even leave Texas until Monday, then take two days to get to me, and then a day to fix it, then two more days to get it back to me. That puts it roughly around Christmas, I think. So I ask if I can send it back myself (I do have a box for it now) just to get this party started quicker. He says that will be fine and will cut down on the turnaround time for me.
So I hustle it over to the UPS Store in town and get it shipped out today, for delivery on Monday by 8:30 am. So my sincere hope is that it will be a WORKING computer, back in my hands by Wednesday at 4:30.
The Bitch is Back, people.
Posted in Technology, The Boy, The Hubby | Comments Off on Sob, Sob
I… Want…
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
…my… laptop.
I..Want..My..Laptop..
I.Want.My.Laptop.
IWantMyLaptopIWantMyLaptopIWantMyLaptopIWantMyLaptop.
Do I sound like a cranky, tired two year-old? ‘Cause that’s how I feel.
I called Lenovo yesterday, and they said it was scheduled to arrive on Monday by 4:30. Dang – I shipped it out Thursday, and it was just arriving on Monday?!? I hope they have a quick turnaround.
It seems that just about every technological item in my possession is out to get me. No laptop. Using old desktop. Have to remember passwords. Have to go through hoops to get passwords/user names if forgotten. Have work email issues for my email. Have work email issues for half of my group. Fax machine won’t fax more than one page at a time.
On the other hand, to cheer me up, the back up drive still works. The printer works. The cable tv works. A margarita still works. (no drinking during working hours, you silly goose!)
(unless it is absolutely necessary!)
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