Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Only Because It's My Life

All I have are random tidbits, but it's not because I'm lazy or don't want to develop a thought. It's just that well, my LIFE is random tidbits surrounding my same old job these days. :)

*Last week, I drove to my parents' house (since my husband was away on his third almost week-long trip since mid-February). It is 215 miles from my house to theirs. Around 6 of those miles were NOT under construction and not a single one of the 215 miles wasn't covered in rain while I drove them. And my iPod died about halfway there so my awesome "driving mix" I made myself was for naught. Misery, my friends. Misery.

*WHY do people have such a hard time understanding the "solid line = you can't change lanes/ dotted lines - you can change lanes" phenomenon on interstates? Seriously when did this become a rule that it was totally ok to ignore? And for that matter, since when is it ok to get into a turn lane approximately 6 turns before you actually TURN? When did it suddenly become ok to drive straight through turns because you're going to turn eventually? Do you REALIZE how many wrecks you almost cause when you do that? 'Cause, you know, the rest of us are trying to get in the turn lane at the appropriate time and assume that you're turning before then because you've been in the turn lane for 3 miles.

*My laptop screen shorted out this weekend. The computer was somewhere around 6 years old and had multiple other things wrong with it, and once they told me the time/cost continuum for having the screen re-wired I decided it was time to break down and buy another laptop. I, thankfully, had an external hard drive that is relatively current, so file transfer shouldn't be hard. But HERE'S the thing - none of my websites (aka bloggy friends addresses) are on this new computer. I have them all on my iPhone, but I'm going to have to find time to transfer them all over. And speaking of iPhone, my iTunes isn't on here. (Thankfully my music is backed up on that external hard drive as well.) As a matter of fact, NOTHING on this computer is where/how it should be. The keyboard's all different and nothing is where it should be (or easy to find since this computer runs on Windows 7 and so far I HATE IT!!!). I know eventually this computer will become second nature, but for now, it's a giant pain in my patootie!

*Speaking of my laptop, it came with 6 months of free Geek Squad support (from Best Buy) by phone or internet chat. So yesterday, when I became completely frustrated while trying to network my two home computers together for file sharing, I decided to give them a call. Afterall, on my non-Windows 7 computers, this task was so simple even I could do it without an assist. But here's the thing with Windows 7. They decided to make creating a home network SO SIMPLE on Windows 7. There are videos and people expressing jubilantly how easy it is to network your Windows 7 computers... to other Windows 7 computers. But if you want to network a Windows 7 to, say, an XP computer? You might as well be attempting to expose the truth about Area 51.

So I called the Geek Squad. The first guy I got seemed relatively knowledgeable and put me on hold while he researched doing the task with Windows 7 because even he admitted it was trickier than your usual home networking. Then as he took me off hold (I heard him begin to speak), he accidentally disconnected the line. He hadn't taken a call-back number, so I called the hotline again and got another "agent" (Yes, they introduce themselves as "Agent Jonah" and "Agent Natalie".)

I could tell with the second this agent that answered the phone, that even if she knew the answer to my question, she didn't care enough about the job to use the energy it would take to explain the process to me. She was going to do as little as humanly possible. After first asking if by "having problems creating a home network, networking my two home computers" I meant "having internet connection problems" ????, she took about 2 minutes to "research" the problem, came back and told me I needed to buy an external wireless thingamabob in order to network these two computers, which is interesting since they are already physically connected to the same router with cords. When I pointed this out to her, she said, "Well, that's what it's telling me. If you need more help than that, I can arrange an appointment for a Geek Squad member to make a house call and help you (a service for which one must pay extra, of course). I told her I wasn't going to pay to have them come to my house when this should be a very simple technical question that any help desk should be able to help with. Without another word, she promptly hung up on me. (Now THAT'S what I call service, folks.)

I called a third time and could immediately tell I had Agent #2 again, so I hung up and tried a fourth time, ending with an Indian accented Agent. She, too, after I explained my dilema, said, "Ok, so you're having internet connection problems..." (WHAT?!?). When I re-explained that I was trying to network my two computers, which are sharing a router, so I could file share, she said, "Ooooh, WOW!!!" in a tone that implied I might as well have told her I was trying to get my husband pregnant or my 2-year-old into Med School. Apparently, she's never heard of anything so magical and complicated as a home network. She immediately explained that this amazing task was far beyond the "basic technical support" they are there to give and she would gladly arrange for an in-home visit by a Geek Squad member.

Can I just say how glad I am I didn't PAY for this amazing technical support?!?

More tomorrow...

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

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