Today's been a really awful day for people stepping on the things that annoy me. If anyone should ever have to call into a tech support call center here are a few things to keep in mind:
1) When calling, do not launch into a 3 paragraph description of your problem right away. First of all we need your basic information to start the ticket. Secondly, we have to type most of this information in the ticket so don't just assume that we are keeping up with you. Instead state your name and a brief description (be more specific than "It doesn't work") of the problem and when we're ready we will ask you to continue.
2) Do not argue with the technician if he asks you to do something you've already done. As the fictional Dr. House likes to say "everybody lies". We are usually required to document in the ticket that we have asked you to do basic troubleshooting steps (rebooting, checking the cables, etc.) before we continue with more advanced steps or sending the ticket to another department. Please just humor the technician and do what he asks. Many times we'll put a new twist on the step that may help fix the problem. Instead of logging out and back in, we may want you to restart. Instead of restarting, we may want you to shut down and disconnect the power for a minute.
3) Follow instructions and don't get ahead of the technician. If we say open Internet Explorer and you open Outlook it gets in the way of us being able to help you. Listen carefully to the technician because we will typically not just fix it for you, we'll need your help. If you don't understand or don't know just ask. We would rather answer a question or explain something than have you lost because you aren't listening. Conversely don't assume that you know what the technician is asking you to do. If you are two screens ahead doing something else that is very irritating
4) (Could possibly be 3A) Don't bullshit us. 99.999% of the time we know more about computers than you. That's not arrogance, that just fact. Why else are we working here and you are calling us? That said, if you don't know something, just say you don't know or ask. We'd rather tell you that the thing you are resting your feet on is your computer tower and not have you tell me that it's the CPU, modem, etc. Another thing is that if you're not sure about something please ask, it really cuts down on wasted time. For example: I personally worked with someone for 10 minutes asking them to do various things with the computer (reboot it, pull the power, etc.). I finally asked what they see on the case. "Uhhh, Hewlett Packard Laserjet" THAT. IS. A. PRINTER!!!!
5) Don't say "I don't know if you can help me" - this is very insulting to us even if you don't mean to be insulting. We are paid to help you, if you call that is what we will do. Even if it's something we don't handle we will let you know where to get help or if it's beyond help
6) Don't ask us why something doesn't/didn't work - Honestly, do you really care that a registry key wasn't set or that an .ini file was corrupted? It's a waste of our time because you'll forget it as soon as I hang up. You called, it didn't work, we looked at it, and now it works. End of story. If we think you need to know why something happened in order to stop you from doing something that is causing the problem, we will let you know.
7) Don't constantly interrupt us and/or freak out. We can take it a few times because we know how stressful computer problems can be but your interruptions/freaking out are distracting us from doing our jobs.
8)If you are told that you will receive a call when your problem is fixed and it HASN'T been more than a day since you called do NOT call back asking for a status update. Calling more often will not fix it any sooner and just pisses us off. For most problem, give it 2-3 days before getting a status update. Consider that you aren't the only one with problems. For example, at the DOC there were about 35000 tickets called in last year. Those 35000 tickets are serviced by 62 people. There are 6 people who take the initial call, 3 people in 2nd level, and no more than 6-8 people in each 3rd level team (Software, desktop, server support, etc.). At any one time they could have 10-100 tickets open per group, each crying out to be worked on.
9) When calling and you need it fixed now or are calling on something that we need to speak to you with (usually password resets) stay on the line until someone answers if you don't have anything else to do. If there's an alternative method of contacting the help desk (e-mail, voicemail) that's fine, but don't be surprised if it's not handled very quickly. Our main responsibilities are taking calls.
10) Do not ask about problems unrelated to what's happening now.. I'm specifically talking about if you are calling the service desk for work, don't ask about problems with your computer at home. Even if we choose to humor you and help, it distracts us from the problem at hand and also keeps us from speaking with other customers who are waiting.
11) If you are put on hold and can't hear music, the tech has muted the microphone. They can still hear you so don't start talking smack.
12) If service desk hours are from 6am - 5pm, here are some times when you may get a tech right away. 6-7am, 8-10:30 am, 1-3 pm. Any other time, coverage will likely be short and you may have to wait. Now of course if you all call at that time it will tie up the lines, but that's just something to keep in mind.
They may seem like nitpicking to some of you out there, but I'm only putting out there to enhance my experience and yours should you ever get me on the phone. Do you think these are justified? Am I an asshole? What would you change? Let me know in the comments. If I'm wrong, I'll gladly admit it.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The man is keeping me down
The recession (don't you DARE call it a depression) is really starting to hit home now. We were informed that because we had a shortage in our escrow account for property taxes this year that we'll be paying $80 more on our mortage. The cost of food is steadily rising, where we'd normally pay $100 every 2 weeks we're paying $150-$200. There was a scare that clothing resale stores (such as Goodwill) would no longer be able to sell kid's clothes unless they were tested for lead. This has since been clarified http://www.ohio.com/news/top_stories/37555019.html. Despite paying an extra $50 last month, our energy bill is $50 higher than last month because the billing cycle was 36 days. WTF?
What pisses me off the most is that there are goverment roots behind all of this bullshit. Our mortage is held by the USDA, the gov't is partially responsible for food pricing (price ceilings, etc.). They created the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act . and are partially responsible for energy pricing. Add in the mandatory taxes and stuff and your lower income Americans are drowning in this. That doesn't even take into account the credit card debts and student loan debts (also held by the gov't) that we and others have.
On top of that, I'm a contractor for the state and our contracts only get renewed every 3 years (or so I was told, I think it's a crock of shit) and with the budget crunch there's no extra money for me. Pam's maxed out at her job so there's no money there. So where in the fuck is your average family suppose to get all this extra money from and be able to pay down their debts?
Here is what we're doing:
-Making our own laundry detergent. There's a really good article at http://tipnut.com/10-homemade-laundry-soap-detergent-recipes/. I used recipe #9 and while it was a little messy to make, by my calculations we should be saving $65 a year.
-Unplugging everything not in use. My electronics shelf is a sucky beast even when everything is off, all the status lights and idle network traffic is a drain. Same for the computer, that is on 24/7 and it really could be off more often with the modem, cable modem, etc unplugged.
-Turn down the heat....again. We already keep the house nippily cold, but we've dropped the temp another degree. Here's hoping my cock doesn't fall off. I guess I'll just have to "keep warm" with Pam in bed, hurr hurr hurr.
-I'm now getting my hair and the loofah wet, turning off the water, soaping up and then rinsing it off.
-We're going to have to start weatherproofing the windows again (at least the ones that haven't been replaced.
-Go thrifting more. Goodwill and Salvation Army are great places to get clothes, especially for kids. As fast as they grow there is no fucking reason you should be spending a lot of money on clothes. At Goodwill nothing is over 4.00 and we're talking some good clothes, barely used and labels like Gap, Calvin Klein, Old Navy. We spent $150 this weekend and the kids are set for the next 6 months. See how many outfits you can get from Gap for that much. I dares you.
Alright, I gotta cut this rant short because it's busy as fuck at work now. Go figure. Sometimes it feels like I'm the only one here :(
"I hate my job, all of my rich friends I hate everyone to the bitter end. Nothing turns out right There's no end in sight I hate my life! " Theory of a Deadman
What pisses me off the most is that there are goverment roots behind all of this bullshit. Our mortage is held by the USDA, the gov't is partially responsible for food pricing (price ceilings, etc.). They created the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act . and are partially responsible for energy pricing. Add in the mandatory taxes and stuff and your lower income Americans are drowning in this. That doesn't even take into account the credit card debts and student loan debts (also held by the gov't) that we and others have.
On top of that, I'm a contractor for the state and our contracts only get renewed every 3 years (or so I was told, I think it's a crock of shit) and with the budget crunch there's no extra money for me. Pam's maxed out at her job so there's no money there. So where in the fuck is your average family suppose to get all this extra money from and be able to pay down their debts?
Here is what we're doing:
-Making our own laundry detergent. There's a really good article at http://tipnut.com/10-homemade-laundry-soap-detergent-recipes/. I used recipe #9 and while it was a little messy to make, by my calculations we should be saving $65 a year.
-Unplugging everything not in use. My electronics shelf is a sucky beast even when everything is off, all the status lights and idle network traffic is a drain. Same for the computer, that is on 24/7 and it really could be off more often with the modem, cable modem, etc unplugged.
-Turn down the heat....again. We already keep the house nippily cold, but we've dropped the temp another degree. Here's hoping my cock doesn't fall off. I guess I'll just have to "keep warm" with Pam in bed, hurr hurr hurr.
-I'm now getting my hair and the loofah wet, turning off the water, soaping up and then rinsing it off.
-We're going to have to start weatherproofing the windows again (at least the ones that haven't been replaced.
-Go thrifting more. Goodwill and Salvation Army are great places to get clothes, especially for kids. As fast as they grow there is no fucking reason you should be spending a lot of money on clothes. At Goodwill nothing is over 4.00 and we're talking some good clothes, barely used and labels like Gap, Calvin Klein, Old Navy. We spent $150 this weekend and the kids are set for the next 6 months. See how many outfits you can get from Gap for that much. I dares you.
Alright, I gotta cut this rant short because it's busy as fuck at work now. Go figure. Sometimes it feels like I'm the only one here :(
"I hate my job, all of my rich friends I hate everyone to the bitter end. Nothing turns out right There's no end in sight I hate my life! " Theory of a Deadman
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Busy at doing nothing
This weekend was pretty lazy. Friday night we had Kristi and Brandon over for some Rock Band action. It was decent except for Brandon wouldn't sing and Pam had to keep hassling him about it. Pam went one drink over the line and had to drop it off at the pool :)
We sat around all day Saturday catching up on 1st season of 30 Days which was pretty sweet and then later Pam and I worked more on getting more stuff in the band section of Rock Band, and that's all we did. Time sure flys when you're have fun. :)
Sunday, we took the kids out to Chuck E. Cheese's and then I proceeded to be a kid. That place is mega expensive though, we blew through 60 bucks there and that was with coupons. We recycled the salad bar plates however, that'll save $11 bucks, which we can then blow on tokens to get tickets to get more worthless crap. We also stopped at the Madison Westside Goodwill. We only had 15 minutes to look but still managed to find some decent stuff. I got a sealed copy of Lost and Found by Mudvayne, Candlebox by Candlebox, Ritual de lo Habitual by Jane's addiction, Sixteen Stone by Bush, and Cereal Killer Soundtrack by Green Jello (and in the original Green Jello packaging, sweet) for $3 each. The kids got some clothes and some old WWF figures :) Thrifting rocks.
Monday, was kind of a repeat of Saturday except Pam had a class in Milwaukee so I played Fallout for a while (I scored one more trophy, almost there :) ) and the kids and I watched House, Monday Night Raw, and 24.
On Tuesday the shit hit the fan. Our cat, Burrito, had been pretty listless for the last few days and Tuesday was pooping yellow and refusing food. That fat fuck never turns down food so we knew something is wrong, so that cost us $60 and pretty much wiped out every extra bit we had in checking. However, there's a possibility that he could have whatever killed Kristi's cat which they suspect may have been FIP, which is a mutation of a virus that most cats have already. It kills the cats in only a couple weeks and is very hardy in the open. We shared our kitty carrier with Kristi and never thought about disinfecting it. However, it's up in the air as to whether the virus is actually transmitted in it's lethal form or if the potentially mutated virus is transferred and then eventually mutates to the lethal form inside the host. Either way, a blood test is $100 and if positive, death would be in a few weeks. The way I see it, if he has it he will die, and if he doesn't die then he doesn't have it. However, I am NOT paying that vet any more money for this. The cat can die at home.
So essentially, I haven't really done too much lately, and it doesn't matter how much I sleep, I'm always tired and cranky. Maybe winter's getting to me? I wish it would go away. I'd like to actually get outside and exercise, and that's a sentence that you normally wouldn't hear from me.
"I'm tired of holdin' up the weight,
The weight of the motherfuckin' world.
All I want is just to get right here
Right now.
We struggle and fight just to get in a grave
That's overflowing
Clock's ticking on my fifteen minutes of fame
Come on now, one two three go" Mudvayne - Determined
We sat around all day Saturday catching up on 1st season of 30 Days which was pretty sweet and then later Pam and I worked more on getting more stuff in the band section of Rock Band, and that's all we did. Time sure flys when you're have fun. :)
Sunday, we took the kids out to Chuck E. Cheese's and then I proceeded to be a kid. That place is mega expensive though, we blew through 60 bucks there and that was with coupons. We recycled the salad bar plates however, that'll save $11 bucks, which we can then blow on tokens to get tickets to get more worthless crap. We also stopped at the Madison Westside Goodwill. We only had 15 minutes to look but still managed to find some decent stuff. I got a sealed copy of Lost and Found by Mudvayne, Candlebox by Candlebox, Ritual de lo Habitual by Jane's addiction, Sixteen Stone by Bush, and Cereal Killer Soundtrack by Green Jello (and in the original Green Jello packaging, sweet) for $3 each. The kids got some clothes and some old WWF figures :) Thrifting rocks.
Monday, was kind of a repeat of Saturday except Pam had a class in Milwaukee so I played Fallout for a while (I scored one more trophy, almost there :) ) and the kids and I watched House, Monday Night Raw, and 24.
On Tuesday the shit hit the fan. Our cat, Burrito, had been pretty listless for the last few days and Tuesday was pooping yellow and refusing food. That fat fuck never turns down food so we knew something is wrong, so that cost us $60 and pretty much wiped out every extra bit we had in checking. However, there's a possibility that he could have whatever killed Kristi's cat which they suspect may have been FIP, which is a mutation of a virus that most cats have already. It kills the cats in only a couple weeks and is very hardy in the open. We shared our kitty carrier with Kristi and never thought about disinfecting it. However, it's up in the air as to whether the virus is actually transmitted in it's lethal form or if the potentially mutated virus is transferred and then eventually mutates to the lethal form inside the host. Either way, a blood test is $100 and if positive, death would be in a few weeks. The way I see it, if he has it he will die, and if he doesn't die then he doesn't have it. However, I am NOT paying that vet any more money for this. The cat can die at home.
So essentially, I haven't really done too much lately, and it doesn't matter how much I sleep, I'm always tired and cranky. Maybe winter's getting to me? I wish it would go away. I'd like to actually get outside and exercise, and that's a sentence that you normally wouldn't hear from me.
The weight of the motherfuckin' world.
All I want is just to get right here
Right now.
We struggle and fight just to get in a grave
That's overflowing
Clock's ticking on my fifteen minutes of fame
Come on now, one two three go" Mudvayne - Determined
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
This season's for the birds
I got to watch just about all of the football games this weekend (to Pam's delight). Until the Steelers won in the late game, the underdog won all the football games. So right now we have the Cardinals, Eagles, Ravens, and Steelers in the conference championship game so it ought to be pretty interesting. Just off the top of my head, I'm predicting a Steelers - Eagles Super Bowl with the Steelers winning it.
During commercial breaks I installed Vista on my computer. I'm actually really liking it. It seems to run slightly faster than XP did (although it really needed a cleaning) and the Aero interface is nice and purty :). Obviously there are a few issues like UAC and my printer not working but I disabled UAC and I'm probably going to buy another printer anyways that DOESN'T clog up after 3 days. I'm getting used to it and honestly I don't see what the fuss is about now. Yeah, it DID suck when it first came out but so did XP, I remember having to throw away a bunch of games because they wouldn't play right in XP when I got it way back in 2002. Right now, every single program works but one and that works in XP compatibility mode.
The only other hardware problem I am having is that the eSata port on my Seagate external drive is recognized by Windows but Windows can't communicate with it. I think it's a problem with the drive or cable personally but it worked fine in XP and now it's shit in Vista. I don't know what the deal is. I kinda want to sell it and get a terabyte internal drive. I only got the external drive for storage because I didn't have sata ports on my computer at the time. Now I have a ton of them so there's no need for an external drive. I don't really take it anywhere, it's too bulky for that. I can get about $100.00 for the drive and either turn that into a 1TB drive or another 500 GB and a portable 100-200MB drive if I really needed a portable. However, if the interface is broke, I should probably send it to Seagate. Unfortunately that costs money. Wonder if I can talk them into just RMA'ing the interface (it's removable). Hmmmmmm.
I never did get Windows 7 installed, but I do have the official iso and product key. Maybe sometime this week or weekend I'll check it out and let you (the non-existant reader) know how it is.
I did however check out Playstation Home finally. I'm not incredibly impressed. The interface is pretty nice and some of games are nice. You can play pool, bowling, or one of 3 arcade games in the Bowling alley. However the downside is that there is a finite amount of game cabinets, pool tables, and lanes so you are always waiting to get on a game. They may have multiple servers to split the load, but it's hidden to you and there's no way to switch. The character creator is pretty robust, however you're very limited in clothes and furniture. Currently you have to purchase just about everything which ranges from .49 to 2.49 (for clothes from Diesel). You can get a bigger home for 4.99 and furniture which mostly costs 1.99 to 2.99. I don't really see myself using it too much to justify spending money on it. You do get freebies from certain games by hitting a certain score. I wish to hell that they would take another cue from Microsoft and convert trophies to points that you can spend in the Playstation store. I have 43 trophies from Fallout 3. I would glady spend those points on something if I had them, but I'm not so freaking rich that I can buy designer clothes for my digital avatar :)
I'm really digging the new season of 24. You had to figure the government would eventually crack down on the actions of CTU, I think it's stupid that they would try to make Jack the fall guy but even in the first 4 hours there's been so many twists that I'm crosseyed.
Jack's on trial, now he's working for the FBI, Tony Almeida's alive and a terrorist, there a mole in the FBI, an African warlord is blackmailing the US with a device that can crash any plane mess with the power grid, etc., Tony's captured, turns out he's undercover and a good guy. Jack breaks him out, finds out that Bill Buchanan and Chloe are the only two who know about this. Jack and Tony go undercover and try to kidnap an African Prime Minister.
I like it because right now we have a break from Arab terrorists and nukes. That had gotten a little stale. Although, once again they are resorting to having a mole in the agency. Don't they keep up on their people? Seriously this has happened in every season :(. Can't the terrorists almost succeed because of incompetence and not inside help?
I gots to get back to work because, I'M RUNNING OUT OF TIME!!!!!
Other than that, it was pretty uneventful. I barely touched Fallout, I need to get the last 8 trophies so I can work on something else.
During commercial breaks I installed Vista on my computer. I'm actually really liking it. It seems to run slightly faster than XP did (although it really needed a cleaning) and the Aero interface is nice and purty :). Obviously there are a few issues like UAC and my printer not working but I disabled UAC and I'm probably going to buy another printer anyways that DOESN'T clog up after 3 days. I'm getting used to it and honestly I don't see what the fuss is about now. Yeah, it DID suck when it first came out but so did XP, I remember having to throw away a bunch of games because they wouldn't play right in XP when I got it way back in 2002. Right now, every single program works but one and that works in XP compatibility mode.
The only other hardware problem I am having is that the eSata port on my Seagate external drive is recognized by Windows but Windows can't communicate with it. I think it's a problem with the drive or cable personally but it worked fine in XP and now it's shit in Vista. I don't know what the deal is. I kinda want to sell it and get a terabyte internal drive. I only got the external drive for storage because I didn't have sata ports on my computer at the time. Now I have a ton of them so there's no need for an external drive. I don't really take it anywhere, it's too bulky for that. I can get about $100.00 for the drive and either turn that into a 1TB drive or another 500 GB and a portable 100-200MB drive if I really needed a portable. However, if the interface is broke, I should probably send it to Seagate. Unfortunately that costs money. Wonder if I can talk them into just RMA'ing the interface (it's removable). Hmmmmmm.
I never did get Windows 7 installed, but I do have the official iso and product key. Maybe sometime this week or weekend I'll check it out and let you (the non-existant reader) know how it is.
I did however check out Playstation Home finally. I'm not incredibly impressed. The interface is pretty nice and some of games are nice. You can play pool, bowling, or one of 3 arcade games in the Bowling alley. However the downside is that there is a finite amount of game cabinets, pool tables, and lanes so you are always waiting to get on a game. They may have multiple servers to split the load, but it's hidden to you and there's no way to switch. The character creator is pretty robust, however you're very limited in clothes and furniture. Currently you have to purchase just about everything which ranges from .49 to 2.49 (for clothes from Diesel). You can get a bigger home for 4.99 and furniture which mostly costs 1.99 to 2.99. I don't really see myself using it too much to justify spending money on it. You do get freebies from certain games by hitting a certain score. I wish to hell that they would take another cue from Microsoft and convert trophies to points that you can spend in the Playstation store. I have 43 trophies from Fallout 3. I would glady spend those points on something if I had them, but I'm not so freaking rich that I can buy designer clothes for my digital avatar :)
I'm really digging the new season of 24. You had to figure the government would eventually crack down on the actions of CTU, I think it's stupid that they would try to make Jack the fall guy but even in the first 4 hours there's been so many twists that I'm crosseyed.
Jack's on trial, now he's working for the FBI, Tony Almeida's alive and a terrorist, there a mole in the FBI, an African warlord is blackmailing the US with a device that can crash any plane mess with the power grid, etc., Tony's captured, turns out he's undercover and a good guy. Jack breaks him out, finds out that Bill Buchanan and Chloe are the only two who know about this. Jack and Tony go undercover and try to kidnap an African Prime Minister.
I like it because right now we have a break from Arab terrorists and nukes. That had gotten a little stale. Although, once again they are resorting to having a mole in the agency. Don't they keep up on their people? Seriously this has happened in every season :(. Can't the terrorists almost succeed because of incompetence and not inside help?
I gots to get back to work because, I'M RUNNING OUT OF TIME!!!!!
Other than that, it was pretty uneventful. I barely touched Fallout, I need to get the last 8 trophies so I can work on something else.
Friday, January 9, 2009
When's gonna be my time Lord?!?
Still waiting for the Windows 7 beta to go live. According to lifehacker.com it is live, but I'm not seeing anything at the links. Maybe it's being blocked at work? I'll have to check when I get home.
That was a pretty sweet game last night for the BCS championship. I thought Florida would put the smackdown on the Sooners but it was tied until about 8 mins. left and then Florida ran away with it. I also have no problem with either school or band so that's always good :) My only gripe is that the Fox announcers were verbally fellating Tim Tebow so much I wanted to throw a remote through the TV. Seriously, my life would be better by "knowing Tim Tebow for even 15 minutes". Yeah right, maybe if I was a chick. I think Tebow will be the next Brett Favre, an overhyped douche who can do no wrong (only with less interceptions).
Personally, I think the AP should have fucked with everyone and voted Utah #1 in the nation and thereby cause some controversy and maybe build toward a playoff system. There's a few good points why:
-The most obvious is that Utah was the only team in Div. I to go 13-0. Florida, Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and everyone else all lost once during the season. It's hard to go 13-0 even in a non-power conference like the Mountain West. Keep in mind that both TCU and BYU won more than 10 games. I think Michigan sucking so bad this season hurt them, but still it used to be you go undefeated you are the national champ.
-You avoid all the fuzzy logic: You heard this before, "well, Ole Miss beat Florida which beat Oklahoma who beat Texas" Therefore Ole Miss should be #1. Then someone will be like "Yeah, but Alabama beat them and Utah beat Alabama, so Utah's number #1" And it will go on and on.
-It would lend some creedence that you don't have to be a member of the big 6 conferences to be a great football team. The ACC was a dogfight this year with no one team doing better than 5-3 in conference play. The Big Ten is a joke, getting blown out in just about every bowl game. The Big 12 is more like the Big 3. The Mountain West Confernce is not one of the "Big 6" but other than the SEC and Big 12 it was the only confernce to have 3 10 win teams.
A playoff system would stop all the voting nonsense. The top 16 teams square off in 4 successive weeks and the winner is the last one standing. No BS, no voting, no computers. No one gives a shit about the Meincke Car Care bowl (except maybe the fans of the two teams in it). They do care about who is the best team in the land.
But that's just my opinion, I could be right.
I have quite a bit on my plate this weekend. I'm trying to rebuild my computer and I think I'm going to finally upgrade to Vista and maybe try dual booting with Windows 7 (or at least run it in a Virtual Machine). XP support barely exists now anyways so I might as well get with the program. I think I might actually buy Windows 7 when it comes out (as part of my goal to be more legit in my software usage), so I'll use Vista and get used to it so I'm not floundering around with 7. I also have a few more Fallout trophies and then I'll be trying out Home for PS3. We'll see if I can pull it off :) Oh yeah and because Canada decided to dump more snow on us, I have to snowblow the friggin' driveway too. I am so sick of winter!
Man, one more hour to go. Busy all day and then nothing for the last 90 minute. Boooring!!!!
That was a pretty sweet game last night for the BCS championship. I thought Florida would put the smackdown on the Sooners but it was tied until about 8 mins. left and then Florida ran away with it. I also have no problem with either school or band so that's always good :) My only gripe is that the Fox announcers were verbally fellating Tim Tebow so much I wanted to throw a remote through the TV. Seriously, my life would be better by "knowing Tim Tebow for even 15 minutes". Yeah right, maybe if I was a chick. I think Tebow will be the next Brett Favre, an overhyped douche who can do no wrong (only with less interceptions).
Personally, I think the AP should have fucked with everyone and voted Utah #1 in the nation and thereby cause some controversy and maybe build toward a playoff system. There's a few good points why:
-The most obvious is that Utah was the only team in Div. I to go 13-0. Florida, Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and everyone else all lost once during the season. It's hard to go 13-0 even in a non-power conference like the Mountain West. Keep in mind that both TCU and BYU won more than 10 games. I think Michigan sucking so bad this season hurt them, but still it used to be you go undefeated you are the national champ.
-You avoid all the fuzzy logic: You heard this before, "well, Ole Miss beat Florida which beat Oklahoma who beat Texas" Therefore Ole Miss should be #1. Then someone will be like "Yeah, but Alabama beat them and Utah beat Alabama, so Utah's number #1" And it will go on and on.
-It would lend some creedence that you don't have to be a member of the big 6 conferences to be a great football team. The ACC was a dogfight this year with no one team doing better than 5-3 in conference play. The Big Ten is a joke, getting blown out in just about every bowl game. The Big 12 is more like the Big 3. The Mountain West Confernce is not one of the "Big 6" but other than the SEC and Big 12 it was the only confernce to have 3 10 win teams.
A playoff system would stop all the voting nonsense. The top 16 teams square off in 4 successive weeks and the winner is the last one standing. No BS, no voting, no computers. No one gives a shit about the Meincke Car Care bowl (except maybe the fans of the two teams in it). They do care about who is the best team in the land.
But that's just my opinion, I could be right.
I have quite a bit on my plate this weekend. I'm trying to rebuild my computer and I think I'm going to finally upgrade to Vista and maybe try dual booting with Windows 7 (or at least run it in a Virtual Machine). XP support barely exists now anyways so I might as well get with the program. I think I might actually buy Windows 7 when it comes out (as part of my goal to be more legit in my software usage), so I'll use Vista and get used to it so I'm not floundering around with 7. I also have a few more Fallout trophies and then I'll be trying out Home for PS3. We'll see if I can pull it off :) Oh yeah and because Canada decided to dump more snow on us, I have to snowblow the friggin' driveway too. I am so sick of winter!
Man, one more hour to go. Busy all day and then nothing for the last 90 minute. Boooring!!!!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Do I eat this or put it on my face? My back hurts?
So it was an interesting weekend. We got a load of freezing rain on Saturdy so everything was covered in a nice coat of slippery ice Sunday. I perfomed a triple back sommersault with a twist down the stairs but I completely messed up the landing. The Chinese judge wasn't impressed and scored a 7.5. It's OK, though. My back broke my fall and is feeling awesome right now. Which is to say it hurts. A lot.
Unfortunately it's not helping with exercising. I'm trying to get down to 250 by the end of the year and I seem to be gaining weight despite eating better and exercising. I know it fluctuates and I could check right now and be 3 pounds under where I was this morning but it's still depressing.
Speaking of dieting, The Daily Plate and Traineo are helping me track my calorie intake. It's working out pretty well except I have to create every meal for the first time because we made it from raw ingredients. Hopefully the weight starts going down soon. I'm also using Joe's Goals for some of the more basic tasks I want to improve upon, like brushing teeth, reading to the girls before bed, etc.
I managed to catch parts of all 4 NFL playoff games but not any whole one. I'm pissed that I fell asleep during the Indy - S.D. game, sounds like it was exciting. I did manage to watch most of the Fiesta Bowl last night. Surprisingly Texas did not wipe Ohio State off the map. This was actually one of the more compelling bowl games this year. It was back and forth all the way with Texas shredding the Buckeyes defense in the last 2 minutes to win the game.
If I do have one gripe about college football, it's the bands. I understand it's tradition and all that, but first of all, the Texas band's uniforms are just silly looking. I get that Texas was primarily known for ranching and stuff, but they look like cheap ass Howdy Doody knockoffs. Secondly, is it really necessary for the bands to play their drums everytime a first down is made, or it's late in the game, or it's 3rd down, 4th down, the coach is yelling, end of the quarter, etc. It's irritating. The sound board guy needs to turn that crap down because it's distracting me from the game. And you, Ohio State, look like a bunch of re-re's dressed like white Black Panthers. Black isn't even on of the football team's uniform colors. Also, why is Texas, dressed like idiot cowboys, playing Led Zeppelin? THAT. DOES NOT. MAKE. SENSE!
We also went out and got Singstar for PS3. It's not too bad. Essentially instead of rendering your character rocking out like Guitar Hero or Rockband, they play the music video with the notes overlaid on top. I prefer Rock Band because the words match up more closely with the notes like so (it's hard to see but it's at the top):
vs. Singstar
Also in each games there are sections where it judges you on speaking the words (mostly rap songs). Rock Band isn't as strict on this. "Epic" by Faith No More is in both games and in Rock Band I can get 100% on Easy, in Singstar the rapping part of the verses grades me as awful on Easy. Rock Band 2 is supposed to have even better recognition. I can't wait to get my hands on that. They have "Master Exploder" by Tenacious D on there. I would rule that song ! :)
The good things about Singstar are that:
-You can load songs from any of the other Singstar games, many of which are sitting at Gamestop used for $15-20. (You can do this with Rock Band as well, but the discs cost more)
-People can upload videos of themselves performing. This is mostly for your amusement, not for your use, because people will laugh at you if you do it :)
-The downloadable content is slightly cheaper, however it's limited to a lot of Sony's artists and personally there's nothing I'm too crazy about, but there's about 450 songs for download right now vs. 100 something for Rock Band
Anyways, that's been keeping Pam and I busy, so yes I still haven't tried out Home yet. It's on my to-do list for the weekend. I'm hoping by then I may have all the trophies in Fallout 3 and then can concentrate on something else.
Well, duty calls, so I'm off to say the day!
Friday, January 2, 2009
Speaking of keeping busy
Pam and I got Rock Band 1 for the PS3 off of Craig's list for $100. Last night we had Kristi over and found that no one is good at any of the instruments, except for singing. That didn't stop us though because we got drunk and sang our little hearts out. I got less drunk than the two girls because I had to work (also because it's hard to sing in key when you're drunk, right Pam?) :) Kristi and Brandon kicked in half the money so it was an even better purchase. Now they want to get one of the Singstar games because they'd rather do kareoke. We'll see, I'll have to check Gamestop again to see what they have. So anyways when I'm not killing Super Mutants in Fallout 3 I'm doing that. This weekend, I swear to God I'm going to try the Playstation Home app :) Anyways, I suppose I ought to get back to work.
Whoa, we're in the future
All right, so 2008 was an interesting year. There were a few firsts:
-I went camping for real for the 1st time. Yeah, it was at an actual campsite and not all by ourselves in the woods, but Pam, myself, and the kids went and had such a great time that we went two more times after that. I found that as long as I have enough beer, I can enjoy anything! :-)
-I saw Nine Inch Nails live! For whatever reason on their last tour, they didn't come anywhere near Wisconsin, so Pam and I were able to go to Cleveland (an awesome city) and see them and then also go to Grand Rapids (a not so awesome city) on our anniversary to see them again.
-The Brewers made the playoffs for the 1st time since 1982. Technically I was alive for that but obviously I don't remember. Sadly, I was unable to get tickets for the playoff game (hopefully I won't have to wait another 26 years). However, I did see a game near the end of the season where the Brewers needed to win to still have a shot at the playoffs. The took a 1-1 tie into extra innings and then Ryan Braun launched a walk off grand slam to win it. I still get teary eyed thinking about that because it was so awesome and I got to share that moment with Pam and the kids.
-I actually dieted successfully for the first time in....ever. I helped a team win at the DOC in a biggest loser competition, and I lost about 30 pounds. I took December off (too much stuff going on) but will working out and eating right again in January.
-I got a PS3 and have barely touched the Wii since then. Sorry Nintendo, but I want to play real games :) Real Games in this case are Half Life 2, Resistance, Metal Gear Solid 4, Fallout 3, and Oblivion.
-I got TV again. This time through Dish network which is less ass raping than Charter Cable
-I would say George W Bush isn't President anymore, but that's technically this year's good thing.
Some bad things happened too:
-My grandfather's cancer came back and he had to go through another round of chemo. It looks like it going alright but this time it's affecting his body more, including losing hair. Here's hoping it stays gone for good (the cancer, not the hair)
-Despite the stellar play of Aaron Rodgers, the Packers won't be going to the playoffs. Oh well, maybe we'll get a good player for the defense in the draft.
-I crashed the Escort during a snow storm with a nice dent in the rear quarter panel. The car's not worth it to the insurance company to repair so it looks like crap yet.
-I broke my tibia (shinbone) high up by my kneecap. That put me on the shelf for about 2.5 months and I was unable to do much for exercise or anything else.
-The kids broke my DS and I haven't yet bought a new one (for reasons you'll see below)
-The bathroom floor leaked for 3 months because I couldn't get on my knees to retile it (although I did finally get it done)
-My cholesterol is hella bad so I have to change my diet to get it down.
-Pam and I spent a bit too much money on the credit cards, so now we have to frugalize our lives to pay them off
-The economy sucks and Pam and I would both like to get new jobs for various reasons but probably can't because of the economy
Anyways, I made these 4 goals for 2008 (I don't make resolutions as they are stupid) In red is the progress I made
1) Stop eating so much. I'm getting too much out of shape and I need to slim down
This was a failed goal for most of the year until about September. I just started taking it seriously. I exercised more and ate less and actually lost 30 pounds. If I had started sooner, I could have lost more.
2) Stop spending so much money. Or at least spend it better, no more gas station goodies, etc.
This goal is a definite FAIL. While I think I did I better job of cutting down on my gas station purchases (although when gas drops by $2.00, it's easier to justify the extras), we spent more than we had and will now be paying for it in 2009
3) Quit being so lazy
I definitely think I passed this one. I've refloored almost the entire 1st floor of the house, pulled all the bushes out of the lawn, remodeled the bathroom, went on the 3 camping trips, 2 out of state trips, and did just about everything Pam asked me to do. So yay me!
4) Try being a better person.
I'm not even sure why I put this one there. Better how? Better lover? Fighter? Worker? So I'm not sure what to say. I think I've improved as a person over the last year, so I'm going to say that I hit this goal.
For this year I'm going to make my goals more specific so I can tell if I'm hitting them or not.
Goals for 2009:
1) Get down to 250 pounds. I'm at 335 right now so this might be a hard one to break. However, I dropped 30 in three months so if I can make it work over a year then I should be able to hit it. I'm checking out webapps traineo and The Daily Plate to help track and monitor my goal
2) Watch the spending and pay down at least 2-3 credit cards this year. We'll be dropping our tax rebate on the credit cards this year but we'll still have a bit to pay off over the year. I think with some planning we can do it.
2a) Get a better grip on the finances. Pam is the one who does the checkbook around here. She does a good job, but she can only make spending decisions on what she has in the book. I need to make sure I get her all of the reciepts right away so there's no clusterfucks like the one in the checkbook now. When I tried reconciling the checkbook to the bank statements, I ended up with an extra $200 in the checking account, so obviously we've fucked up somewhere but where? I'm trying the free program gnucash and also the webapp at mint.com to help organize and track where all the money is going.
2b) Cut down on eating out - 1 case of soda a week for me, eating out once every 2 weeks, or worst case, once every week. No more goodies everytime we go to Walmart. Just looking at December's spending it does add up
2c) Make a budget and gasp! Stick to it.
3) Organize my life better. That is to actually plan out things better and not be so scatterbrained all the time. I've been using Remember the Milk.com for about a month now and this is probably the longest I've stuck with an actual goal creation and tracking system. When things get put on there, they get done (not always on time, but they get done), and that's been doing wonders for my homelife as well.
4) I'd like to try going a whole year without missing work unexcused. Last year I think I abused my call ins a bit too much. Now I know it's not acheiveable (especially because I was late today) but it's definitely something I need to work on or else I'll be in the breadlines.
5) I WILL get my A+ cert this year and maybe work on an MCSE and/or Help Desk Inst. certifications. I need more ammo for when/if I DO look for a new job.
And I think that's it. I don't want to overreach although there's tons of more things I'd like to do this year, it should keep me busy.
-I went camping for real for the 1st time. Yeah, it was at an actual campsite and not all by ourselves in the woods, but Pam, myself, and the kids went and had such a great time that we went two more times after that. I found that as long as I have enough beer, I can enjoy anything! :-)
-I saw Nine Inch Nails live! For whatever reason on their last tour, they didn't come anywhere near Wisconsin, so Pam and I were able to go to Cleveland (an awesome city) and see them and then also go to Grand Rapids (a not so awesome city) on our anniversary to see them again.
-The Brewers made the playoffs for the 1st time since 1982. Technically I was alive for that but obviously I don't remember. Sadly, I was unable to get tickets for the playoff game (hopefully I won't have to wait another 26 years). However, I did see a game near the end of the season where the Brewers needed to win to still have a shot at the playoffs. The took a 1-1 tie into extra innings and then Ryan Braun launched a walk off grand slam to win it. I still get teary eyed thinking about that because it was so awesome and I got to share that moment with Pam and the kids.
-I actually dieted successfully for the first time in....ever. I helped a team win at the DOC in a biggest loser competition, and I lost about 30 pounds. I took December off (too much stuff going on) but will working out and eating right again in January.
-I got a PS3 and have barely touched the Wii since then. Sorry Nintendo, but I want to play real games :) Real Games in this case are Half Life 2, Resistance, Metal Gear Solid 4, Fallout 3, and Oblivion.
-I got TV again. This time through Dish network which is less ass raping than Charter Cable
-I would say George W Bush isn't President anymore, but that's technically this year's good thing.
Some bad things happened too:
-My grandfather's cancer came back and he had to go through another round of chemo. It looks like it going alright but this time it's affecting his body more, including losing hair. Here's hoping it stays gone for good (the cancer, not the hair)
-Despite the stellar play of Aaron Rodgers, the Packers won't be going to the playoffs. Oh well, maybe we'll get a good player for the defense in the draft.
-I crashed the Escort during a snow storm with a nice dent in the rear quarter panel. The car's not worth it to the insurance company to repair so it looks like crap yet.
-I broke my tibia (shinbone) high up by my kneecap. That put me on the shelf for about 2.5 months and I was unable to do much for exercise or anything else.
-The kids broke my DS and I haven't yet bought a new one (for reasons you'll see below)
-The bathroom floor leaked for 3 months because I couldn't get on my knees to retile it (although I did finally get it done)
-My cholesterol is hella bad so I have to change my diet to get it down.
-Pam and I spent a bit too much money on the credit cards, so now we have to frugalize our lives to pay them off
-The economy sucks and Pam and I would both like to get new jobs for various reasons but probably can't because of the economy
Anyways, I made these 4 goals for 2008 (I don't make resolutions as they are stupid) In red is the progress I made
1) Stop eating so much. I'm getting too much out of shape and I need to slim down
This was a failed goal for most of the year until about September. I just started taking it seriously. I exercised more and ate less and actually lost 30 pounds. If I had started sooner, I could have lost more.
2) Stop spending so much money. Or at least spend it better, no more gas station goodies, etc.
This goal is a definite FAIL. While I think I did I better job of cutting down on my gas station purchases (although when gas drops by $2.00, it's easier to justify the extras), we spent more than we had and will now be paying for it in 2009
3) Quit being so lazy
I definitely think I passed this one. I've refloored almost the entire 1st floor of the house, pulled all the bushes out of the lawn, remodeled the bathroom, went on the 3 camping trips, 2 out of state trips, and did just about everything Pam asked me to do. So yay me!
4) Try being a better person.
I'm not even sure why I put this one there. Better how? Better lover? Fighter? Worker? So I'm not sure what to say. I think I've improved as a person over the last year, so I'm going to say that I hit this goal.
For this year I'm going to make my goals more specific so I can tell if I'm hitting them or not.
Goals for 2009:
1) Get down to 250 pounds. I'm at 335 right now so this might be a hard one to break. However, I dropped 30 in three months so if I can make it work over a year then I should be able to hit it. I'm checking out webapps traineo and The Daily Plate to help track and monitor my goal
2) Watch the spending and pay down at least 2-3 credit cards this year. We'll be dropping our tax rebate on the credit cards this year but we'll still have a bit to pay off over the year. I think with some planning we can do it.
2a) Get a better grip on the finances. Pam is the one who does the checkbook around here. She does a good job, but she can only make spending decisions on what she has in the book. I need to make sure I get her all of the reciepts right away so there's no clusterfucks like the one in the checkbook now. When I tried reconciling the checkbook to the bank statements, I ended up with an extra $200 in the checking account, so obviously we've fucked up somewhere but where? I'm trying the free program gnucash and also the webapp at mint.com to help organize and track where all the money is going.
2b) Cut down on eating out - 1 case of soda a week for me, eating out once every 2 weeks, or worst case, once every week. No more goodies everytime we go to Walmart. Just looking at December's spending it does add up
2c) Make a budget and gasp! Stick to it.
3) Organize my life better. That is to actually plan out things better and not be so scatterbrained all the time. I've been using Remember the Milk.com for about a month now and this is probably the longest I've stuck with an actual goal creation and tracking system. When things get put on there, they get done (not always on time, but they get done), and that's been doing wonders for my homelife as well.
4) I'd like to try going a whole year without missing work unexcused. Last year I think I abused my call ins a bit too much. Now I know it's not acheiveable (especially because I was late today) but it's definitely something I need to work on or else I'll be in the breadlines.
5) I WILL get my A+ cert this year and maybe work on an MCSE and/or Help Desk Inst. certifications. I need more ammo for when/if I DO look for a new job.
And I think that's it. I don't want to overreach although there's tons of more things I'd like to do this year, it should keep me busy.
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