Foxtrot Comic

I saw this and laughed. Click for larger image.

I Hate HP & Best Buy

I had to send my laptop into Best Buy to get fixed, since it has issues. I sent it in on the 19th of March, and picked it up today. I had issues with the screen resizing itself, the keyboard occasionally not registering the keys I typed, and the whole computer just crashing randomly. I know that an entire generation of HP laptops contains bad chips made by nVidia. HP has acknowledged that some of its laptops are severely messed up and has extended the warranties on a few dozen models because of those issues.

My machine counts as one of the ones that are messed up, but not enough of them are messed enough for HP to extend the warranty on them. I contacted HP and they told me to take it to Best Buy, since they do warranty repairs for HP. Three weeks later (the day after I was supposed to get my laptop back) I get a call from the HP service center in California saying that they need my authorization to do a hard drive replacement. They said that they didn’t find any of the problems that I have been experiencing for the last few months, but they said that my hard drive failed and that they needed my authorization to replace it at a cost of $236 for parts and labor. I asked them why it wouldn’t be covered under the warranty, so the guy asked the HP representative there about it. The HP guy said that since I bought the laptop on eBay, they wouldn’t honor the 12 month warranty and thus I would have to pay for any and all repairs. (I’ve dealt with HP before about a hard drive issue, and they replaced it for me for free a few months ago, because that was under warranty, they didn’t care that I bought it from eBay, all they cared was that it was less than a year old, and was therefore covered under warranty.) I said I was not willing to pay that much for a hard drive replacement, so they shipped it back to me without actually doing anything to it, other than it coming back to me with dirt and dust in it that wasn’t there when I gave it to them.

The hard drive I have in my laptop sells for $50 and you need to remove a single screw to take it out of the computer. I really need to find a job where I can get paid $186 to remove a screw and put it back a minute later. If anyone can find me such a job, I would really appreciate it. I ran my own detailed diagnostic on the drive when I got it back and found nothing wrong with it.

HP sent me a survey about my recent experience with them, and I said I was very dissatisfied and explained why. They said they may contact me for follow-up information, and I hope they do.

The people at HP and Best Buy need to actually communicate with each other. Everyone I talked to said they’d make sure the problem was taken care of, except for the guy at the service center. Everyone I talked to at HP and Best Buy said my machine was under warranty, except the guy actually in charge of doing the work. If the HP people, and the Best Buy people I interacted with a month ago had told me that my machine would not be fixed for free, I wouldn’t have been parted from my laptop for almost a month with the hopes of getting it back in full working order. The lady at Best Buy was going to charge me $34 for the labor of looking at my computer, but since I pointed out that her sheet says my computer is still under parts and labor warranty, she didn’t charge me.

I now have no idea if my computer is under warranty or not. One guy at Best Buy said that an HP person told him it wasn’t under warranty, yet everyone else I’ve dealt with at both HP ad Best Buy believed it was under warranty. Everyone needs to be on the same page. Either my machine is under warranty and I want it fixed, or it’s not under warranty and I’ll open it up and try to work something out myself, without the fear of voiding the warranty. And yes,

I wish my experience with Best Buy and HP was more like my experience with Logitech. My wireless headphones broke, and there was a known defect in the plastic used that caused them to break. Not only did Logitech let me know that there was defective plastic used in my headphones, they sent me a pair of the newer, better headphones as a replacement because they would not replace a defective part with a part that would probably fail in the same way. Although I wish that I didn't have to deal with broken headphones, I appreciate that they took the time to ensure that I was satisfied with their product. Here's my post about that situation. And yes, after 15 months, I am very happy with my replacement headphones and they still work great!

Wise Politician?

I'd vote probably vote for anyone in the US that talked like this guy (and I'm not talking about his accent). His name is Daniel Hannan and he's a British MEP.

Earth Hour?

Some hippy Australian thing has spread like the Plague across much of the guilt, ridden Western World. Many people feel guilty for living in the modern world, with modern conveniences such as electric lights. So to celebrate their moral superiority millions of idiots are taking a stand against modern technology in support of global warming, or something like that. They are turning off all the lights and living by candles and lanterns for an hour. These idiots don't realize that more pollution is generated by burning candles than is produced by generating the electricity used to power a 100 watt bulb (which also puts out more light).

To show my support for human progress over the last century I am observing Human Achievement Hour. Instead of turning everything off, I'm putting the halogen shop lights in the front windows for the world to see. I got out some Christmas lights too. And I'm spending the hour in front of the computer.

Free: 50+ Blue and Orange Popsicles

Best Craigslist post ever!:

My kids only eat red popsicles, so here I am again, with a freezer full of blue and orange popsicles . . . . Free to anyone who can pick them up today. Tell me what time you can be hear (I'm near Steilacoom and Bridgeport) and I'll send the address to whoever can be hear first.

Blue is usually my favorite color popsicle since that's usually blue raspberry, which is my favorite flavor.

Another Month Gone...

I really want to know where all the time went. It seems like it was just Christmas, and now the winter quarter is almost over with finals approaching. We had snow for a couple days last week, of the consistency that makes perfect snowballs. Sakura-Con is only five weeks away, and I'm looking forward to almost every minute of it.

The country is still going down the tubes and probably will for the next five years, longer if Obama stays in office past 2012; slightly shorter if conservatives can get themselves elected to Congress next year.

I thought I has something else worth saying but I can't remember what it was, so it obviously wasn't that important.

Random thought of the day:
How is it that God, the creator and master of the universe expects us to give Him 10%, while the guy at the restaurant that brings me the food I ordered thinks he deserves 15%?

Get ready…to wait…again….

Two weeks from today is supposed to be (as of this writing) the cutoff date for all analog TV broadcasts in the US. The switch was mandated by Contress in 1996 and was originally scheduled to happen in 2006. They delayed it a few years to ensure that everyone would be ready for the transition. They did require that all new TVs sold, would have digital tuners in them so that they would be ready for the switch from analog. So any TV made in the last 3 years will be unaffected. Any TV currently hooked up to cable or satellite signals will be unaffect until the mandated switch on their end in 2012. Any TV that isn’t being used to actually watch TV programming is also going to be just fine.

People are now screaming that the transition date needs to be pushed back four more months because people aren’t ready. Millions didn’t get their free coupons from the government to buy converter boxes for their older TVs. They’re demanding free converter boxes so that they can continue to watch TV all day since requiring people to purchase an adaptor for their TV is obviously racist and a discrimination against poor people.

If a $40 converer box is a financial hardship to someone who only gets TV over the air, then they really shouldn’t be watching TV in the first place, especially since there really isn’t much worth watching on network TV most of the time. These people should go out and get a job or do something more productive with their lives. We’re probably the only country in the world where the poorest are complaining about something that could adversely impact their TV viewing habits. Ironically we’re also the only country in the world where the poorer you are the more likely you are to be morbidly obese; in much of the world the poorest citizens are emaciated and on the brink of starvation. People really need something better to do than complain about TV.

Epic Freeze

The evening of Friday, December 12, 2008 was the beginning of the coldest period of time I remember here in Seattle. While attending a performance at Kent Meridian High School the temperatures dropped and it snowed a couple of inches in an hour’s time. In most of the country, people wouldn’t think much of seeing snow in December, but this is Seattle. We don’t get much snow around here and usually not while it’s still technically Fall.

What made this weather even more unusual was that it was cold, really cold. For us to get snow we need moisture in the air, which usually comes to the region via southern air currents. Cold weather comes from the arctic, but that air is almost always very dry. This particular weather front had both, with enough cold air to cool off the warm southern air, and enough moisture in the air to blanket the region in snow. Both the huge quantities of snow that fell, and the cold temperatures lingered for several weeks. Snow was on the ground at my house for almost 3 weeks, other places had it longer. I noticed last night that there are still patches of snow at church that have not melted yet, 5 weeks later.

So far this has been a rather typical January. It’s a few degrees cooler than usual, but still above freezing most of the time. January and November usually fight it out for the title of “Wettest Month of the Year” and this January is getting a strong head start. Combine that with the tons of melting snow and many parts of the region are seeing dangerous flooding. But if we didn’t have Al Gore’s global warming invention to protect us from the extreme cold, we would probably be frozen solid right now.

Rip-off!

I received my final textbook for this quarter a few days ago and realized that this book was a total rip-off, much more so than normal college textbooks. This particular textbook is a supplemental course pack put together by our "Business, Government, and Society" professor which has additional readings for us. I’ve had these before and didn’t have too much to say about them one way or the other except that they were grossly overpriced and usually just scans or photocopies of original material. This book, however, was made up almost entirely from magazine articles, newspaper articles, and corporate publications that can be found online for free with a few minutes searching via your favorite search engine. The one piece that was not freely available online was 3 poorly copied pages from a 2003 textbook, which is available at the school library.

I have all of the links saved and will offer to email them out to any classmates who wish to have them so they can avoid wasting their money on a useless booklet. Maybe I should ask for donations? :)

New Year's Eve

Congratulations!

If you are reading this you have (or nearly have) successfully completed the calendar year 2008. Tonight will be the time-honored tradition of celebrating the new year in hopes of it being better than the previous one, or something like that. Then the traditional fireworks, followed by some more partying and then the drunk dodge home (The night of the 31st/morning of the 1st is considered the most dangerous time to be on the roads as it has the highest number of drunk-driving related accidents, therefore the effort to dodge all these drunks).

I’m off to go pick some stuff from my fireworks stash to blow up tonight. Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

I just got home from dropping Brenda off at her house. It has been snowing most of the evening, so only a freak warm front that brings hot air and lots of rain in the next few hours will prevent me from having a white Christmas this year.

Merry Christmas!

White Christmas Update

So one party is cancelled today, while the other is on, so that should make my day slightly less hectic. It’s snowing outside and there’s currently 11 inches on the deck. Our igloo is fairing quite nicely with the added snow. Zach hates it but I did manage to get him to stay in the opening long enough to snap a few pics.


Click on either of the images to see the really big versions if you wish.

Seattle has taken it upon themselves once again to be the sole “defenders of the environment.” They are doing this by refusing to use salt on any of the icy roads because of the environmental impact that may pose. Apparently anything that gets spread onto the roads in Seattle eventually gets washed into Puget Sound and they haven’t yet done a multi-year, multi-million dollar study to determine if washing a few extra tons of sea-salt into the ocean will harm marine life or not. As Seattle is one of the hilliest (I didn’t know that was a real word, but spell check and the dictionary tell me it is) large cities in the country, not salting the roads is very dangerous. But then again this is Seattle and they look for any excuse to keep people from driving their cars anywhere, even if that reason is because it’s life-threatening to try to drive some of these roads that are sheets of ice.
Thank you Al Gore once again for giving us your global warming, otherwise we would surely be dead from what’s already likely to be the coldest December of my lifetime so far.

A White Christmas?

It might actually happen this year! Or at least a Christmas with some traces of snow left on the ground in varying shades of white, gray, and brown. It's been snowing/slushing all week and therefore most of our accumulated snow from the last week and a half hasn't melted yet. It started snowing the evening of the 12th and some of that was still around when it resumed snowing a few days later. From recent memory I recall traces of snow on the ground for 16 days in a row 2 years ago. We might have that beat if there’s still snow on Saturday.

I’m going to be all Christmas partied out by the end of this week. Our party that got snowed out last Saturday due to our nonexistent blizzard is rescheduled for Friday. There are two parties today (overlapping a bit) as well as another one on Saturday. I'm gonna try to make both tonight. I still haven’t decided if I want to go shopping later today before these parties start. I enjoy going out on Christmas Eve so I can make fun of the panicked people who need their last minute gifts for people. Not that I don’t often wait until the last minute, I’m just not panicked about it. And I've had all my shopping done for quite a few hours now anyway.

Border Update

So the night of November 30 my mom, my sisters, and my girlfriend were coming home from Mt Baker, while Dad and the dog stayed behind at the condo since there wasn’t room in the car for all 7 of us. We decided that since we were only a few miles from the Canadian border that we would swing through Canada for a quick stop, primarily because Brenda had never been there before. We also wanted to stop by a grocery store and buy a bunch of candy that cannot be bought in the US due to pesky FDA regulations (KinderEggs). So we stopped at Zellers, which is just like Target, and bought a bunch of random candy to bring home, then we stopped by Wendy’s for supper. We get back to the border only to wait just under an hour to actually get to the crossing point. After talking with the customs dude for a few minutes he asks to see our passports. None of us actually had a passport with us since we didn’t actually plan on leaving the country that afternoon, nor did we realize that finally needed one to get back into the US.
We were then sent to the holding area where we were supposed to talk to some other customs people to convince them that we are indeed US citizens and have a right to be in the US. Thanks to idiots in the government who think illegals need at least as many rights and privileges in the US as real citizens, a government issued drivers’ license is not proof of citizenship or even legal residency in the US. Also, the entry fee to enter the US legally for someone who cannot prove that they are a US citizen is about $570.
Thankfully my mom was able to talk our way into the country and we made it home in one piece, without having to shell out a quarter’s tuition to get home. The moral of this story, if you’re coming into the US, pretend to speak Spanish and don’t cross on a major road. That will save you from many problems.

Van Update

So as a follow-up to my post on December 1, a day or two actually means 2-3 weeks on this particular occasion. So our van is basically totaled now. Apparently there was a defect on the frame of the van where the steering box housing (if I remember correctly) which caused it to fail structurally. This is actually supposed to be one of the strongest parts of the vehicle as it basically supports the full weight of the vehicle and the full force of forcing the 4500 pounds of it to turn at whatever speed it happens to be traveling.
It also appears that this is not an isolated case, my mom did some research and found quite a few reports where owners have complained that the exact same thing has happened to them; the biggest difference is that most of these complaints were filed between 1994 and 1997 for the van that was built in 1993. My mom also thinks she can find a bunch of accident reports where the van did a similar thing at freeway speeds, killing everyone involved which would mean that the owner wouldn’t be able to file such a claim if they were in the van at the time.
My grandpa took the van from Mt. Baker to his house to look at it and discovered several large cracks in the frame with rust in them, indicating that the cracks have probably been there since we bought the van (15 years ago next week).
God was definitely watching over us as we have driven that van up and down the West coast several times, and even out east to the other coast. That it died while we were parking on the top of a mountain was a bit inconvenient, but if it had broke a few minutes earlier we probably would have plunged over a cliff, or if it failed after we left that would have been another cliff to plunge over.

Global Warming is Once Again Saving My Life

Thanks to Al Gore’s more useful invention, global warming, I am not dead right now. We are currently experiencing some of the coldest and nastiest conditions I can recall in my lifetime of living here in Seattle. With highs squeaking into the 20s and lows flirting with single digits (all Fahrenheit) and blizzard conditions over most of the region, I am warmly sitting in front of the raging woodstove with my laptop. We’ve got about 6 inches of snow on the ground at the moment, which is amazing; 6 inches of snow in a year is pretty good here, not to mention all at once.
I was actually stranded at home a good chunk of Friday and Saturday since I happen to be the only one in the house with a vehicle that has 4 wheel drive, therefore both of my parents took it upon themselves to borrow it several times to run errands and stuff like that. The weather people also claim that there will be 90mph gusts of wind from about midnight to early this afternoon, but I’ll believe that when I see it.

Now that I'm up and ready to leave for church, I just got a call from the Don that all services are canceled and that I can sleep in. As this morning is the first time all week that I've been out of bed before 11am (yay Christmas break) I really wish someone would have made that decision and let me know before I went to bed. Oh well I guess I'll read for a bit then nap for a few hours.

Funniest Car Listing

Here's a car listing for a Nissan Xterra that someone found on Craigslist and posted to Fark:

OK, let me start off by saying this Xterra is only available for purchase by the manliest of men (or women). My friend, if it was possible for a vehicle to sprout chest hair and a five o'clock shadow, this Nissan would look like Tom Selleck. It is just that manly.

It was never intended to drive to the mall so you can pick up that adorable shirt at Abercrombie & Fitch that you had your eye on. It wasn't meant to transport you to yoga class or Linens & Things. No, that's what your Prius is for. If that's the kind of car you're looking for, then just do us all a favor and stop reading right now. I mean it. Just stop.

This car was engineered by 3rd degree ninja super-warriors in the highest mountains of Japan to serve the needs of the man that cheats death on a daily basis. They didn't even consider superfluous nancy boy amenities like navigation systems (real men don't get lost), heated leather seats (a real man doesn't let anything warm his butt), or On Star (real men don't even know what the hell On Star is).

No, this brute comes with the things us testosterone-fueled super action junkies need. It has a 265 HP engine to outrun the cops. It's got special blood/gore resistant upholstery. It even has a first-aid kit in the back. You know what the first aid kit has in it? A pint of whiskey, a stitch-your-own-wound kit and a hunk of leather to bite down on when you're operating on yourself. The Xterra also has an automatic transmission so if you're being chased by Libyan terrorists, you'll still be able to shoot your machine gun out the window and drive at the same time. It's saved my bacon more than once.

It has room for you and the four hotties you picked up on the way to the gym to blast your pecs and hammer your glutes. There's a tow hitch to pull your 50 caliber anti-Taliban, self cooling machine gun. I also just put in a new windshield to replace the one that got shot out by The Man.

My price on this bad boy is an incredibly low $12,900, but I'll entertain reasonable offers. And by reasonable, I mean don't walk up and tell me you'll give me $5,000 for it. That's liable to earn you a Burmese-roundhouse-sphincter-kick with a follow up three fingered eye-jab. Would it hurt? Hell yeah. Let's just say you won't be the prettiest guy at the Coldplay concert anymore.

There's only 69,000 miles on this four-wheeled hellcat from Planet Kickass. Trust me, it will outlive you and the offspring that will carry your name. It will live on as a monument to your machismo.

Now, go look in the mirror and tell me what you see. If it's a rugged, no holds barred, super brute he-man macho Chuck Norris stunt double, then contact me. I might be out hang-gliding or BASE jumping or just chilling with my ladies, but I'll get back to you. And when I do, we'll talk about a price over a nice glass of Schmidt while we listen to Johnny Cash.

To sweeten the deal a little, I'm throwing in this pair of MC Hammer pants for the man with rippling quads that can't fit into regular pants. Yeah, you heard me. FREE MC Hammer pants.

Rock on.

Not really sure what to say to that but I was laughing pretty hard when I read it.

And It’s December Already

Wow, November went by fast. It seems like we just had Halloween and now Thanksgiving is already past us. So what have I done so far this month? I voted against a bunch of politicians and measures that still managed to win. I worked and went to school. I managed to study my Bible Quiz material and work out every single day during the month. I had two Thanksgivings last Thursday, at Brenda’s grandparents’ house and the other at my house. I was also stuck at the top of Mt. Baker Highway thanks to the steering rods sheering off the bolts in our van(thankfully while we were parking in the ski-area parking lot and not when we were driving the icy, winding, cliff-side roads to actually get to that parking lot) which means that our van is only drivable if you’re trying to drive it straight since the front tires won’t turn. And last night I was detained at the US/Canadian border since my ID is apparently no longer considered proof of citizenship. Good times, good times. More to come in the next day or two after I finish my Psych paper and my IT presentation.

Fifth of November

On this sad day it is time to once again remember the 5th of November. It is once again Guy Fawkes day! It has been 403 years since the attempt by the Catholics to blow up the Parliament building while in session and assassinate King James. In remembrance I might try to watch V for Vendetta sometime today.


Remember, remember, the 5th of November
Gunpowder Treason and plot ;
I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,
'Twas his intent.
To blow up the King and the Parliament.
Three score barrels of powder below.
Poor old England to overthrow.
By God's providence he was catch'd,
With a dark lantern and burning match

Holloa boys, Holloa boys, let the bells ring
Holloa boys, Holloa boys, God save the King!

Hip hip Hoorah !
Hip hip Hoorah !

A penny loaf to feed ol'Pope,
A farthing cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down,
A faggot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar,'
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head,
Then we'll say: ol'Pope is dead.


"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." I'm a bit more afraid of my government than I used to be, but I fear people more since they're mostly just the stupid, unwashed masses. Time to arm yourselves a bit more heavily and head for the hills.

Oh $#(^!

Enough said for now.