Everything I own is broken p. 2

OK, I'm going to give this MarsEdit thing another try and see if it works. I figure its only fair to give it a chance before the trial period is over.

Well, I mentioned in a previous post (at blogger, yea gods this could get confusing) that my laptop, my bike and my XBOX 360 all died in within a very short period of time. Well, thankfully the laptop turned out to still be under 'Gold Warranty' from Dell, so they actually sent a person over to fix after I gave them a call. The odd thing is that I found out about the warranty after I went out to get a new battery downtown. I couldn't find one, but when I got home there was a letter telling me that my super-do-everything-Gold coverage would expire in October. I didn't even know I had such a thing! I assumed that I had the usual 90 days or so of parts coverage on a refurbished laptop. Anyway, I gave Dell support a call and after testing a few things they determined the problem was not the battery, but the motherboard being fried. He put in an order for the parts, and a guy came to install them the next day. While I was checking things out on the Dell website I found out my battery is only one number away from the recalled batteries that were 'asploding. The battery was also replaced.

My bike's wheel was fixed earlier that week, but the mechanic said they couldn't fix the gear problem and suggested a different cartridge might solve the problem. This didn't make sense to me so I took my bike to the shop on South street. 10 minutes and 10 dollars later the bike was fixed. The problem was a loose gear cable. I think I won't be going to that other bike shop anytime soon.

The XBOX360 completely went red on me. Email to the support was kind of fruitless so I gave them a call and waited on hold for 20 minutes. Thank goodness for the speakerphone and the other video game system. The first thing they did mention is that the red light failure has had its warranty extended to three years. Yay! They also mentioned refunds to those who paid for them. It looks like those who went to third parties for repairs are screwed though. Once I got a live person she set up my machine for a repair. Which means they sent me a box to ship the thing to Texas in. It arrived a couple of days later. I packed it (minus the hard drive) and took it to the UPS store on JFK Boulevard, I should see a fixed version in 4-5 weeks. *sigh*

What was kind of scary was that despite the fact the box has no markings on it, the woman behind the counter recognized it as an XBOX repair mailing box. This does not bode well for the hardware.

Multi Test

Strange, I get error messages. But it posts!

Second Test. Let's try this again.

Yarrr!

"The rule says 'One pet, parrot preferred!'" - Yellowbeard

Everything I own is Broken!!!

Well, my refurbished Dell laptop stopped taking a charge the other day. I checked the power supply with a voltmeter and that was working. So today I went downtown to try and get a new battery. Nobody had one and that turned out to be a good thing. Because when I got back I found a letter from Dell informing me that my Gold Service package would be ending in October and that I should renew it. I was unaware that I had such a deal so I went online and got the number for for Dell service. After going through a few tests with the guy online, he determined that what was wrong was the motherboard, which needs replacing. The guy is supposed to be by tomorrow sometime in the narrow window between 9:30 and 5:30. Oh well.

Anyway, after this I decided to get a bike ride in. So I hopped on my bike and went down West River Driver. On the way I started hearing a 'thwip thwip thwip' sound , after much looking around I figured out that my back tire was somehow out of true and rubbing the brake pad. *sigh*. I took the bike to the shop and it seems that one of the spokes has come loose. They first told me that I would have my bike fixed by WEDNESDAY, but when I said that I would take to another store they said they would have it done by late tomorrow. I'm not too pleased with their attitude and I think I will not be using them for bike repairs anymore.

When I got home this evening I thought I would play a little XBOX. I turned on my system and was greeted with a scrambled title screen. Resetting resulted in what is known as the Red Ring of Death! Such fun. Resetting twice had the same result. But I checked online and followed the troubleshooting instructions listed (which said in essence 'Turn off and walk away for a minute') and it started properly. But I have but to wonder if the things lifeclock is clicking.

*sigh*

Now comes the hard part

Well, I've finished my course in Business Plan writing and things are going well. My rough draft has seen good reviews from a couple of business guys, and with a few more financial additions it should be complete.

Now I have to start the grunt work of getting financial backing and finding a location for this business.

What irks me right now is that I have still yet to come up with a name for this store. I've abandoned my first name as sounding too much like an urban planning project. But now I am having a hard time brainstorming a new name. Grar.

*sigh*

My email program, or the server it is feeding from, has decided it needed to re-download every email I ever got since January 2005.

Thrillsville.

In case you were wondering about the hat...

I won it. There are some pictures of the event located here.

The pics with me start here. Iam the guy in blue if you cannot recognize me.

Farewell to my Third Decade

So as I write this there are two hours before my date of birth, some forty years ago.

Its been an...eventful decade. I've had more jobs (4) and more girlfriends (oh no you don't!) in this decade than I did in my twenties. This is not a good thing. At least it was more interesting and better paid, when I was employed that is. I moved across the country twice, and have lived in 3 different apartments on Green street. I'm still trying to determine if I was in better shape at 40 than I was at 30. Its hard to tell since I did fall badly out of shape (for me, at least) in my mid thirties. I'm mostly trying to not think about it too much, but that's like not thinking about purple elephants when someone keeps mentioning purple elephants. I won't go as far as to say Everything is ruined forever!

In other news I've found my little so-called side business of helping folks with their computers is spreading. I don't do this for big bucks, but it does get me a little spending money here and there. Mostly what I am doing is hand-holding for people who really lack technical savvy. I started with my parent's friends, but no it has spread to a bunch of folks in my neighborhood. It would be interesting how this pans out, but I doubt it will be more than a little work now and then. Given that I've gotten good reviews on the work I have done on my Business Plan, I really can't let a second job interfere.

In kitten news, Zot has been going absolutely beserk since the July 4th BBQ I had. She was the center of some attention and seemed to love it, now she's almost constantly on top of me, claws bared for climbing, and right into my face. She even jumps around me while I am in bed to get into my face and lick my forehead. Seriously, Zot seems to lick me as much as Lyra did.

This alone would not be so big but Zot also is in high gear with the other cats and has managed to knock about a dozen things over in the apartment. She crazy kitty!

I won a hat

Yay me!