Frustrating day

It started on Monday. Our internet router, just died. Called up the provider and they 2-day the new router to use.
I connect to the very weak and unsecured connection at our neighbors. The downside is that I can't connect to work over an unsecured connection.
So today is Wednesday. I'd hoped to work from home, but with out a connection, couldn't do. So I go in. I then spend two frustrating hours attempting to connect. They pushed out some new logon script and it hung up my machine. I couldn't connect at all. I called up the help desk, they open a ticket and tell me I'm not alone and that I should try connecting, at work, over the Wi-Fi. I try that and that won't connect either. I call them back and he finds out that my machine wasn't set up to connect to the firewall, wireless, at work! He tells me to just connect to the internet and open a security request.....and. I heard the light bulb light up when he realised that without a connection, I couldn't connect to open the wireless connection request!!
I told the boss I was heading home. At least I'd had my email at home!

Thankfully, the router showed up and I was able to reconnect.

An Al Bundy moment

Yesterday we had an Al Bundy moment.

I’ve been working from home all week taking an online IBM class. The wife took the kid to high school yesterday. When she arrived back home she mentioned stopping at the local Star Bucks and talking with one of the ministers from our church. I waited for her to finish.

“Where’s my star yucks?” I asked.

“You don’t like Star Bucks” wife responded.

“True. I find it bitter and over priced” I said.
Followed by my Al Bundy moment.

“Just like marriage” I said.

The couch was surprisingly comfortable.

Up-selling idiots

My eleven year old Ford truck got recalled along with a lot of Fords. The issue is that a cruise control valve can leak some brake fluid and with a spark, have a fire. Ford solution is a fuse-link, which will trip/burn/blow if the short happens. You'd loose your cruise control, but not burn up the car/truck. So I called a local dealer, check the parts are in and they can fix it. They were just great to deal with. I dropped off the truck and they gave me a ride home. A few hours later, they called with the "up sale". What a load. They think we are all idiots. In their attempt to sell me something, they showed that they are the idiots.
My truck has a K&N air filter on it. These are a cotton fabric in a mesh. You CLEAN them about once a year. You spray on their cleaner, wait a bit, gently brush off the gunk, repeat if needed. Once clean, you rinse with some warm water and set it in the sun for a time to dry. You then apply some of their oil to the cotton and put it back in. I even have a big STOP sticker on the air cleaner housing, which states that it is a cleanable filter.
Ford thought it was dirty and needed REPLACED.
Um, now, they always LOOK a bit dirty, when they are doing their job and catching dirt in the reddish oil.
I guess they couldn't read the big sticker saying DO NOT THROW AWAY.
So they then decided to tell me how the connectors for the Air to Air inter cooler (my truck is a turbo diesel, after the intake air is compressed, which heats it, they pass it through a radiator to cool it) were oily and needed replaced. I just said "NO". Seems they didn't think: 1) 1999 (but 11 years old), truck. 2) Diesel 3) Oil leaks after 175000 miles. 4) the Connectors are not the CAUSE of the oil, especially when all that is passing through them is AIR.
They think all customers must be idiots.

Las Vegas bathrooms

The bathroom at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas was a bit different than the normal places we stay at. It was very nice, but still different.

Case in points.

The bathroom had a tub, two sinks, a stall shower and a separate room for the toilet. In that room was a telephone. I figure that was so you could ring down to the casino cashier and check your winnings. Or call the spa for your afternoon make-over. Or call down to one of the bars and order up someone……….

















Next case in point was the shower soap. It had bits of something in it. I tried to figure it out, but never really did. It could have been coconut husk bits. But the soap had no scent to it at all. Perhaps when Grandma was making up that batch of soap she forgot to strain out the bacon bits from the grease. Or the last option was that Tyler Durden made it. You don’t want to think about what those bits of fuzz were.















And the last point was a High Definition TV attached to the wall by the sinks. Dangerous with a razor in your hand and The View on. I wonder how many men have turned that HDTV on while shaving and then were found dead when the maid came by.


Maybe the maids should check twice a day. Once after "The View" and again after Oprah

Leaving Las Vegas

So last Thursday I got up in Vegas, ate breakfast at the IBM IOD conference, attended the 8:15 AM session and then checked out of the Mandalay Bay and headed to the airport.
It was interesting in that when I left Mandalay, the flight was on time. An hour later, after the taxi ride, the boarding pass mess, the security line, the tram ride, and arrival at Terminal D, the flight went to an hour delayed. Due to weather at DFW airport. So I had nothing to do but email, surf the Internet, eat a Quizno's, and read a book.
Items noted on the airplane.

1) To the lady with the over sized soft sided luggage that looked like a pregnant guppy, no, no way did you fit that into the "check to see if your carry on will fit". You can act all ticked off and all, but all you really did was delay the flight and a hundred people, another 10 minutes while you tried THREE overheads, as if one would magically be large enough to hold that bag. The guy who first pointed out that your guppy bag was five INCHES to wide to fit, was right the first time. No amount of shoving your bag into a Playtex 18 Hour girdle would fix that.

2) As we were waiting to taxi onto the runway I fired up my IPOD. ZZ Top's Viva Las Vegas roared on. Strange.



3) Most everyone was awake going TO Vegas. A third of the plane was snoring on the return flight.

4) Having a Rock and Roll band on the return flight was cool. They were all very polite gentlemen, even with the guppy-bag lady.

Attend a week long IBM seminar

I’ve been in Las Vegas all week attending the IBM Information On Demand (IOD) conference. I’ll post some other blogs about all the events on this trip. But one person at the conference kept showing up in my sessions. This guy sat in the back and read the newspaper half the time. Rustling his papers and only half paying attention. I wondered what his boss and company would think. They paid IBM about $2000 for him to attend and learn about new technology, they paid his airfare and hotel. He didn’t care. He was too busy reading the paper.

This company needs to find another marketing company

They are an electrical repair company. They have a crappy jingle, then they add some person who is supposed to represent an electrician. Looks like Farmer Ted to me. Someone needs to switch the farmer's head with the pumpkin.
And then at the very last second of the advertisement, they have a FLASH! Looks like the same electrical shorting flash which would make a homeowner want to hire an electrician! Not AFTER they SHOULD have fixed it!!