Once upon a time, I went to grad school at Carnegie Mellon. Even though I was an arts management student, the fact that I was at one of the top tech schools around found its way into everything... I was required to take MIS and learn every single feature of the Microsoft Office Suite. I learned relational database design and found myself having conversations with friends along the lines of "hey! cool cascade update!" I took desktop publishing and could pull together some manageable design projects using the Adobe suite. I designed a web site or two. And, the killer, I even took GIS as an elective and spent many, many late nights in the computer lab FTPing my giant file-size assignments to the TA.
What I'm getting at is... once upon a time, in an era known as "the late 90's," I was pretty darn computer savvy. When I started my first job, *I* was the smug kid who knew how to quickly overcome any computer issues, and I wowed and amazed my supervisors with the technological feats I could accomplish... the databases! the spreadsheets! the presentations!
Well.....
Somewhere along the line, something happened. Over the past year or so, I've started to notice something.
Suddenly, I'm the manager-type at work who now has to ask the, ahem, younger employees and interns to make stuff happen on my screen. Office has gone through so many different iterations, it's almost unrecognizable. Hardware has a lot more little wires and plugs than it used to. Printers and copiers are mega-machines, many generations past those old rolled-paper fax machines I started using.
And now, I have to ask for help. And there's a whole new generation of smug kids fresh out of school who can come fix something for me in a snap... and earn points doing it. And you know what? I let them.
Showing posts with label electronics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label electronics. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Thursday, May 08, 2008
A Plug for a Good Deed
Remember how I just upgraded to a new fancy, shiny laptop? Well, if you're wondering what I did with my old computer.... or are looking for what to do with your own old, slow, or broken computer, here's a tip:
You can donate used computers to a local charity called First Time Computers. They will come pick it up (or you can drop it off), they will fix it or use the parts to build a new system, and then they provide the computers to low-income families right here in DC. The best part? Well, all of it's pretty good, but they also train at-risk youth to do the actual refurbishing of the old computers, so kids are learning real skills and putting them to use.
Here's what they say about themselves:
Our mission is to enhance the educational prospects of low-income children/youth by widening their access to the world of technology. We seek to build their educational resources by [1] providing ready access to computers at home and [2] assisting community non-profits seeking to build computer access for the children and youth they serve, ultimately taking aim at the cycle of poverty.
Pretty good, huh? I first donated a computer to FTC 4 years ago, and I was so pleased with their friendliness and their mission that I was more than happy to give them my old laptop tonight. And, they even provide you with a tax-appropriate receipt. Check 'em out!
You can donate used computers to a local charity called First Time Computers. They will come pick it up (or you can drop it off), they will fix it or use the parts to build a new system, and then they provide the computers to low-income families right here in DC. The best part? Well, all of it's pretty good, but they also train at-risk youth to do the actual refurbishing of the old computers, so kids are learning real skills and putting them to use.
Here's what they say about themselves:
Our mission is to enhance the educational prospects of low-income children/youth by widening their access to the world of technology. We seek to build their educational resources by [1] providing ready access to computers at home and [2] assisting community non-profits seeking to build computer access for the children and youth they serve, ultimately taking aim at the cycle of poverty.
Pretty good, huh? I first donated a computer to FTC 4 years ago, and I was so pleased with their friendliness and their mission that I was more than happy to give them my old laptop tonight. And, they even provide you with a tax-appropriate receipt. Check 'em out!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
My New Baby
Meet Lucille..... (at least that's what I'm calling her for now)
She's sleek, sexy, long and narrow with her widescreen, and super-ridiculously-freakin' fast. Hooray! She's an HP Pavilion Entertainment PC, ready to handle my photographs and my music, and she even has a webcam. Fun times ahead!
(And I'll have to find lots of ways to entertain myself with this new baby in my new apartment, cuz I've dropped roughly $2,000 JUST THIS WEEK. Yowch.)
She's sleek, sexy, long and narrow with her widescreen, and super-ridiculously-freakin' fast. Hooray! She's an HP Pavilion Entertainment PC, ready to handle my photographs and my music, and she even has a webcam. Fun times ahead!
(And I'll have to find lots of ways to entertain myself with this new baby in my new apartment, cuz I've dropped roughly $2,000 JUST THIS WEEK. Yowch.)
The Upgrades Continue
Well, this little gal is certainly doing her part for the American economy lately...
... cuz today, I'm finally giving up the fight, and I'm going to replace my 4-year-old, wheezy, slow, cranky, hot-flash-having, warranty-expired laptop. It's totally on its last legs, and when it took AN HOUR last night for me to finally get past the error messages and not-responding-pop ups and such just to open a Web page, all the while racing to beat its "I'm overheated!" automatic shutoff, I knew that it was time.
The current plan is that I'll be heading over to Best Buy after work today. I'm looking for recommendations... do any of my dear readers have laptops that they love? or any cautionary tales?
It's very exciting... just watching my savings account go!
... cuz today, I'm finally giving up the fight, and I'm going to replace my 4-year-old, wheezy, slow, cranky, hot-flash-having, warranty-expired laptop. It's totally on its last legs, and when it took AN HOUR last night for me to finally get past the error messages and not-responding-pop ups and such just to open a Web page, all the while racing to beat its "I'm overheated!" automatic shutoff, I knew that it was time.
The current plan is that I'll be heading over to Best Buy after work today. I'm looking for recommendations... do any of my dear readers have laptops that they love? or any cautionary tales?
It's very exciting... just watching my savings account go!
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Not Again?!?
My reverse polarity at home continues. First the phone line went dead. Then the digital camera broke and needed to be replaced. Then the phone again, then the cable went out. This is all in the last few weeks.
Well, tonight, the VCR died. I thought it would be fun to kill some time before tonight's episode of "I Heart Halpert" by rewatching last night's killer episode of LOST. I had taped it while watching, and the tape was still in the VCR. I hit REWIND and the little "display" stats came up on the screen, but then the VCR shut itself off and the screen went to snow.
Huh? I turned the VCR back on, try again. Same thing. Now I try just hitting PLAY. Same thing. Now FFWD? More snow. But now, just turning the VCR back on makes it shut itself off again. More snow. Eject? No such luck. That tape's not moving.
Uh oh. So now, not only is a tape stuck and not working, but the VCR won't even stay on. And my cable comes in threaded through the VCR. Oh, I will not be missing The Office and Grey's Anatomy. Hell, no!
I get a bread knife and try jimmying the tape out. I tell myself "Ah, yes, all that's needed is a simple lever." Hmmm. Not so much. Tape's not budging, although the hard black plastic starts to chip off on the end of the knife.
I decide to just give up on the damn VCR and try to salvage tonight's tv-watching. So, I pull everything out of the entertainment center and start moving cords around. I used to have mad cord skillz back in the day of moving computers and TVs and VCRs every year.
Aha! I did it! I now have the little alternator box thingy hooked right into the TV, and thank goodness the cable still works! The TV remote has a battery in it so ancient that it could've powered the mobile in God's crib, so that didn't work, but luckily the VCR remote has a tv function.
So, now the VCR has been put out of commission. Alas, I've lost last night's LOST. But.... now I have a decision to make. Leave things this way? Or think about replacing and/or repairing the VCR? Heck, this one is about 10 years old, and that tape that's in there has a label that says "Friends Finale" from probably 1998 or so. This is what happens when cheap electronics get old.
And here's my question to you all -- does one even need a VCR these days? What's the alternative -these fancy DVR things I've heard tell of? Watching TV shows online? Tell me, what do y'all do in the 21st century?
Well, tonight, the VCR died. I thought it would be fun to kill some time before tonight's episode of "I Heart Halpert" by rewatching last night's killer episode of LOST. I had taped it while watching, and the tape was still in the VCR. I hit REWIND and the little "display" stats came up on the screen, but then the VCR shut itself off and the screen went to snow.
Huh? I turned the VCR back on, try again. Same thing. Now I try just hitting PLAY. Same thing. Now FFWD? More snow. But now, just turning the VCR back on makes it shut itself off again. More snow. Eject? No such luck. That tape's not moving.
Uh oh. So now, not only is a tape stuck and not working, but the VCR won't even stay on. And my cable comes in threaded through the VCR. Oh, I will not be missing The Office and Grey's Anatomy. Hell, no!
I get a bread knife and try jimmying the tape out. I tell myself "Ah, yes, all that's needed is a simple lever." Hmmm. Not so much. Tape's not budging, although the hard black plastic starts to chip off on the end of the knife.
I decide to just give up on the damn VCR and try to salvage tonight's tv-watching. So, I pull everything out of the entertainment center and start moving cords around. I used to have mad cord skillz back in the day of moving computers and TVs and VCRs every year.
Aha! I did it! I now have the little alternator box thingy hooked right into the TV, and thank goodness the cable still works! The TV remote has a battery in it so ancient that it could've powered the mobile in God's crib, so that didn't work, but luckily the VCR remote has a tv function.
So, now the VCR has been put out of commission. Alas, I've lost last night's LOST. But.... now I have a decision to make. Leave things this way? Or think about replacing and/or repairing the VCR? Heck, this one is about 10 years old, and that tape that's in there has a label that says "Friends Finale" from probably 1998 or so. This is what happens when cheap electronics get old.
And here's my question to you all -- does one even need a VCR these days? What's the alternative -these fancy DVR things I've heard tell of? Watching TV shows online? Tell me, what do y'all do in the 21st century?
Monday, September 25, 2006
A Tale of Two Companies With Made-Up Names
As I've mentioned several times over the last few weeks, I've been having phone and cable problems. And this comes at a time when I'm planning to make the switch on my Internet service from a phone-based provider to a cable provider. These experiences have given me a chance to compare two companies' approach to customer service and make a decision for sure on how I'm going to proceed.
The V Company: The problem - phone service goes out twice in two weeks, supposedly related to problems with the "outside line" both times.
The C Company: The problem - cable service goes out on Friday afternoon.
V: When you call, you get this ridiculous computerized "customer service" line that loops in and around itself, doesn't always recognize your spoken commands, cuts in and out, takes you to the wrong menus, and sometimes just cuts the call off for no reason. Then you have to call back and do it again. And no matter what volume, just yelling "help!" doesn't save you.
C: When you call, you get a real live person.
V: The computerized "help" line does some diagnostic test on the phone then tells you that to fix it, they must send a technician to your home and it will cost at least $91. After much punching of numbers and yelling out random things, you finally reach a real live person who says they will schedule a technician but since it's an outside problem they don't have to come in to your home and there will be no charge. It will be 3 days before you can get a technician on-site.
C: The real live person explains that there are outages in your neighborhood, and that if it's still not working the next morning you should call back and they'll schedule a repair.
V: As reported earlier, when the technician is at your apartment building he calls and yells at you for not being home, saying he can't fix anything if you're not there. He says he'll do the best he can. Whatever he does, it does end up fixing the phone service. But it goes down again 2 weeks later.
C: When you call on a Saturday morning, the next real live person you talk to first apologizes that you had to wait from the night before (although you didn't really feel mad about it) and promptly schedules a technician appointment for the next day. The next day being a Sunday morning. And at the beginning of the scheduled window of time, you get a call from the company confirming the appointment, making sure someone will be home, and letting you know the technician is on his way.
V: When the phone line goes down again, you have to deal with the computerized help line again and it takes several tries to get back to a real person. They tell you the problem is something different this time and they again have to schedule a technician for 4 days away. You ask to be very clear that you don't have to be home, and they again say that you do not. Somehow, though, the phone line starts working again on its own the next day. You don't question it and let the technician appointment stand, cuz who knows if it'll go out again. You never hear back one way or the other.
C: The technician arrives about 15 minutes after the call, and he calls you first, too. That makes it 9:50 am for an appointment window of between 9 am and noon. He has the problem fixed within 15 minutes and the picture looks better than ever. Plus then he also talks me through the sales pitch of cable internet, which is what I was thinking about doing anyway, so he shows me where it could be hooked up to work best in my apartment. And I've said thanks, especially for working on a Sunday. He tells me that's his regular workday and that they always have people on weekends, and he's on his way before 10:15.
Well, those are certainly very different experiences! I will be calling both companies again soon - one to cancel the service altogether, and the other to make the full switch.
The V Company: The problem - phone service goes out twice in two weeks, supposedly related to problems with the "outside line" both times.
The C Company: The problem - cable service goes out on Friday afternoon.
V: When you call, you get this ridiculous computerized "customer service" line that loops in and around itself, doesn't always recognize your spoken commands, cuts in and out, takes you to the wrong menus, and sometimes just cuts the call off for no reason. Then you have to call back and do it again. And no matter what volume, just yelling "help!" doesn't save you.
C: When you call, you get a real live person.
V: The computerized "help" line does some diagnostic test on the phone then tells you that to fix it, they must send a technician to your home and it will cost at least $91. After much punching of numbers and yelling out random things, you finally reach a real live person who says they will schedule a technician but since it's an outside problem they don't have to come in to your home and there will be no charge. It will be 3 days before you can get a technician on-site.
C: The real live person explains that there are outages in your neighborhood, and that if it's still not working the next morning you should call back and they'll schedule a repair.
V: As reported earlier, when the technician is at your apartment building he calls and yells at you for not being home, saying he can't fix anything if you're not there. He says he'll do the best he can. Whatever he does, it does end up fixing the phone service. But it goes down again 2 weeks later.
C: When you call on a Saturday morning, the next real live person you talk to first apologizes that you had to wait from the night before (although you didn't really feel mad about it) and promptly schedules a technician appointment for the next day. The next day being a Sunday morning. And at the beginning of the scheduled window of time, you get a call from the company confirming the appointment, making sure someone will be home, and letting you know the technician is on his way.
V: When the phone line goes down again, you have to deal with the computerized help line again and it takes several tries to get back to a real person. They tell you the problem is something different this time and they again have to schedule a technician for 4 days away. You ask to be very clear that you don't have to be home, and they again say that you do not. Somehow, though, the phone line starts working again on its own the next day. You don't question it and let the technician appointment stand, cuz who knows if it'll go out again. You never hear back one way or the other.
C: The technician arrives about 15 minutes after the call, and he calls you first, too. That makes it 9:50 am for an appointment window of between 9 am and noon. He has the problem fixed within 15 minutes and the picture looks better than ever. Plus then he also talks me through the sales pitch of cable internet, which is what I was thinking about doing anyway, so he shows me where it could be hooked up to work best in my apartment. And I've said thanks, especially for working on a Sunday. He tells me that's his regular workday and that they always have people on weekends, and he's on his way before 10:15.
Well, those are certainly very different experiences! I will be calling both companies again soon - one to cancel the service altogether, and the other to make the full switch.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Do I Have Reverse Polarity?
Something funky is going on with the technological portion of my life.
Two weekends ago, my digital camera broke. Now I just keep getting this error message and it won't open the lens or do anything. A quick cost-benefit analysis has me thinking it'll be cheaper and more satisfying to just buy an upgraded camera that's on sale rather than get this one fixed.
Last weekend, my phone line went out AGAIN. So all those plans I had of working at home prior to my biggest work week of the year? Yeah, that couldn't happen, and it made the earlier part of this week even more stressful. It was back by Sunday night, but I still lost the weekend.
Last night, my cable went out! It's still out and I'm playing phone tag with Comcast trying to figure out what's wrong and when they can fix it. I still get the local networks, but none of my cable channels at all. And I purposefully made no plans for this weekend so I could just relax and veg out in front of the tv. Thank goodness for Netflix!
So I've gotta ask myself, is this all just annoying coincidence? Or have I suddenly got an X-Files-like electromagnetic vibe around me that causes all my stuff to break?
Plus I have had a crazy eye twitch all week. Yeah, it's enough to drive me a little bit nuts.
Two weekends ago, my digital camera broke. Now I just keep getting this error message and it won't open the lens or do anything. A quick cost-benefit analysis has me thinking it'll be cheaper and more satisfying to just buy an upgraded camera that's on sale rather than get this one fixed.
Last weekend, my phone line went out AGAIN. So all those plans I had of working at home prior to my biggest work week of the year? Yeah, that couldn't happen, and it made the earlier part of this week even more stressful. It was back by Sunday night, but I still lost the weekend.
Last night, my cable went out! It's still out and I'm playing phone tag with Comcast trying to figure out what's wrong and when they can fix it. I still get the local networks, but none of my cable channels at all. And I purposefully made no plans for this weekend so I could just relax and veg out in front of the tv. Thank goodness for Netflix!
So I've gotta ask myself, is this all just annoying coincidence? Or have I suddenly got an X-Files-like electromagnetic vibe around me that causes all my stuff to break?
Plus I have had a crazy eye twitch all week. Yeah, it's enough to drive me a little bit nuts.
Monday, September 18, 2006
Remembering the First Time
I'm starting to make some technological changes in my life, upgrades and all. And this has started me thinking about how much computers have taken over the world. This led to a funny email thread with another blogger about how it makes us feel old to realize that people 10 years younger than us - people graduating from college - have never known life without computers!
Along the same lines, Jon Stewart had a whole bit about how we've become so accustomed to computers in our lives that Y2K had us all freaked out thinking about life returning to the way it was.... in 1982!!!!!!
I remember the first time I saw a computer. I was in 4th grade, way back in 1984. I was a math geek when I was a kid, and I was in a special advanced class with 2 other kids that was taught by the curriculum coordinator, Miss Barone, who later became Mrs. Greer. (Mock me if you must - but trust me I couldn't do calculus now if you paid me a million dollars!)
Mrs. Greer was very excited one day to take the 3 of us on a field trip - yes, a math class field trip! The high school had just gotten its very first computer, and she took the 3 of us up there to see it. There we were in a special classroom that, as I recall, just had that computer in it. It was an Apple (a IIc? is that possible?), with the green monochrome screen. Mrs. Greer hit some keys and some DOS language appeared (very LOST, I know), and all I really remember was it started doing lots of wavy lines on the screen kinda like that Windows screensaver of today. That was it, the amazing technology of the day.
Within a few years, the elementary school had a computer lab filled with Apples that now had color screens. The most popular use of those computers was to play this game called LOGO (I think), where there was a little triangular "turtle" on the screen, and you had to type in commands to get it to move, to draw lines, to change the background color of the screen, etc. You had to type in the command in some code at the C>: prompt, and if it was a proper command it would execute it. If the code was wrong, it would say "I don't know how to" followed by whatever you'd entered.
Well, you can guess what a bunch of adolescents did with this. Nothing brought on fits of hysterical laughter as reliably as:
C>: FUCK
LOGO: I DON'T KNOW HOW TO FUCK.
Oh, hours and hours of fun!
Along the same lines, Jon Stewart had a whole bit about how we've become so accustomed to computers in our lives that Y2K had us all freaked out thinking about life returning to the way it was.... in 1982!!!!!!
I remember the first time I saw a computer. I was in 4th grade, way back in 1984. I was a math geek when I was a kid, and I was in a special advanced class with 2 other kids that was taught by the curriculum coordinator, Miss Barone, who later became Mrs. Greer. (Mock me if you must - but trust me I couldn't do calculus now if you paid me a million dollars!)
Mrs. Greer was very excited one day to take the 3 of us on a field trip - yes, a math class field trip! The high school had just gotten its very first computer, and she took the 3 of us up there to see it. There we were in a special classroom that, as I recall, just had that computer in it. It was an Apple (a IIc? is that possible?), with the green monochrome screen. Mrs. Greer hit some keys and some DOS language appeared (very LOST, I know), and all I really remember was it started doing lots of wavy lines on the screen kinda like that Windows screensaver of today. That was it, the amazing technology of the day.
Within a few years, the elementary school had a computer lab filled with Apples that now had color screens. The most popular use of those computers was to play this game called LOGO (I think), where there was a little triangular "turtle" on the screen, and you had to type in commands to get it to move, to draw lines, to change the background color of the screen, etc. You had to type in the command in some code at the C>: prompt, and if it was a proper command it would execute it. If the code was wrong, it would say "I don't know how to" followed by whatever you'd entered.
Well, you can guess what a bunch of adolescents did with this. Nothing brought on fits of hysterical laughter as reliably as:
C>: FUCK
LOGO: I DON'T KNOW HOW TO FUCK.
Oh, hours and hours of fun!
Thursday, August 31, 2006
That Sound You Hear
is a dial tone. Hooray! I do have my dial-up connection back and I'm able to get my Internet fix.
So I guess Verizon as a whole doesn't suck. But I will say that the customer service experience of the last few days did suck. Starting with the ridiculous, never-ending electronic "customer service" system that kept giving me different information and cutting me off to the prickly technician who was giving me a hard time on the phone today, this was not a pleasant interaction.
I plan on spending the weekend evaluating different options to give the dial-up the old heave-ho. My understanding is that my building is too old and not wired correctly for wireless (???) but I'm gonna check out what the other possibilities may be. Any recommendations?
So I guess Verizon as a whole doesn't suck. But I will say that the customer service experience of the last few days did suck. Starting with the ridiculous, never-ending electronic "customer service" system that kept giving me different information and cutting me off to the prickly technician who was giving me a hard time on the phone today, this was not a pleasant interaction.
I plan on spending the weekend evaluating different options to give the dial-up the old heave-ho. My understanding is that my building is too old and not wired correctly for wireless (???) but I'm gonna check out what the other possibilities may be. Any recommendations?
Verizon Sucks
I'll know the full update when I get home tonight, but this morning's events have totally turned me against Verizon. Major suckage. Why oh why would they tell a customer "No, you don't have to be home when the technician comes to work on the line," so that the customer then proceeds with her workday as usual, only to receive a call from the technician saying "I'm here, are you in your unit?" Um, no. They told me I didn't have to be. "Yeah, they always tell people that but that's wrong. I can't fix anything until I'm in your apartment." Well, great, whadafa am I supposed to do about that? I'm at work with meetings and can't leave. So Mr. Technician Guy said he'd see what he could do, but chances are he couldn't fix the line after all. So it's very likely that I will go home tonight and still have a dead phone. And still need to schedule a new return visit with a technician, when I'm actually at home for them to be there, and pay at least $91 for the service call.
Well, of course this inspired a rage-filled rant in the office and I think I scared one of my coworkers when I slapped a metal filing cabinet for emphasis, and it made a really loud noise. I tell ya, I'm about ready to go all HIN on Verizon's ass!
Stay tuned for more of this saga... but I can tell you that if my phone line is still dead tonight, before a long holiday weekend, I'll be pissed enough to start bringing about some radical change. Verizon may soon find themselves with one less customer. Mess with a bull, you get the horns. Or something like that.
Well, of course this inspired a rage-filled rant in the office and I think I scared one of my coworkers when I slapped a metal filing cabinet for emphasis, and it made a really loud noise. I tell ya, I'm about ready to go all HIN on Verizon's ass!
Stay tuned for more of this saga... but I can tell you that if my phone line is still dead tonight, before a long holiday weekend, I'll be pissed enough to start bringing about some radical change. Verizon may soon find themselves with one less customer. Mess with a bull, you get the horns. Or something like that.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
One of These Days...
I'm going to have to step into the 21st century and abandon my dial-up connection. For now, though, dial-up = my window to the world. And unfortunately, something went goofy with my phone line and Verizon can't come fix it until Thursday. So that means no home Internet access. And since I do most of my blog writing and blog reading at home, that means you won't be hearing much of a peep from me until tomorrow night at the earliest.... And that means I can get in some good Roller Coaster Tycoon time on the www-less laptop. Fun!
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