Smile 82/100 Clean Sink

This has always been a weird thing for me. I can't stand to wake up to a sink full of dishes, so I generally make sure that the sink is empty before heading to bed.

Obviously there are times when time constraints prevent this from happening, but I can say that waking up to the empty sink this morning totally brought a smile to my lips.

It is like a fresh start and the options are unlimited because nothing has to be washed to figure out breakfast...LOL

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color, light and then to add the fuzzy border.
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Last Year on In My Words...Red Skies At Night

Sometimes Technology Is Just Not Your Friend

Dissembled Wii

If you know me, you know I am a geeky little nerd and while I don't think that going out and buying the newest thing is the smartest thing to do, I am a believer is the use of technology in many forms.

Lately, it seems like I have been inundated with technology issues. As you know from this post, I was having issues with the cable/phone/internet a few weeks ago. That has been resolved and we even got a refund for the day we were without service.

On top of that, the loader/ejector for the CD player in our truck stopped working last fall, and now it looks like the driver's side door speaker is done now too. We have had both speakers in the front doors replaced years ago because they both blew, and the truck was still under warranty. Shortly after that, Chevy issued a recall for the front door speakers but since we had new ones, I didn't think anything of it...but I am now wondering if they just put in the same type that were in there before and these two should have been recalled (might have to call the dealership about this one). So that is frustrating for me to say the least.

Then the hand blender that I have loved for several years decided it was done. I found this out while in the middle of making a smoothie for dinner which made the smoothie not all that smooth. I have found a replacement online that might be even better since there was no way to fix this one.

The other day, I got a hair up my ass about wanting to play some games on the Wii. I turned the Wii on, and after a few mins, got a disc read error. I followed the instructions on the screen to no avail, and started Googling. Looked like my problem was based in the fact that I tend to leave a DVD in the console all the time, and that there is a retaining clip that can be rubbing on the disc causing it to not get up to read speed. So I dissembled the entire console, and did all the bending recommended in many tutorials and YouTube videos but this still did not help things. The sound to me, sounded like it was coming from a different spot than just the retaining clip. So after fiddling with it for several hours, I decided to look at how much it would be to change out the DVD drive (since it is basically just like the ones in a computer and I have installed plenty of those).

I looked online and it was easy enough to find a replacement drive for much cheaper than replacing the entire console or buying an upgrade (Wii U), so I ordered it, and it is on its way. Right now, the Wii console is in parts all over our entertainment center with items taped in place so I don't forget where things go.

Keep your fingers crossed that the DVD fix works, and that at some point, I am able to get the speaker and CD player in the truck fixed. I don't want to change the CD player out myself since it is connected to the alarm system for the truck and I don't want to mess with the door speaker either since our doors are all electric and I would hate to mess something up that major (especially on the driver's door).
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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Just Stuff

Internet And Cable Woes

We have Charter for cable, internet and voip phone at our house. Yesterday, I noticed a company person working on the box that our connection comes through. Unfortunately at the time, I was in the middle of a lot of yardwork, so I didn't realize until almost 7pm that we had no phone, internet or cable in the house. I called Charter on my cellphone and they tried to reset our cable box remotely and couldn't make a connection and realized that a tech was going to have to come out. Fortunately, they had an appt available first thing this morning.

The guy came out this morning, opened up the box at the curb, discovered that the guy from yesterday had disconnected our connection, and labeled our line with the wrong address. He reconnected the box, and then came to check the service. I didn't think, at the time that we should do a speed test, and I totally should have. Previously to this, I was getting 45 mbps download and almost 6 upload on the PC that is hardlined connected to the modem, and 30 mbps download and almost 5 upload on the laptop over the wireless connection.

Note that we pay for 30 mbps which is the fastest you can get through Charter on broadband cable. Currently we are getting 11 mbps download and 4 upload on the hardwired PC, and only 4 mbps download and 3 upload on the wireless laptop. I connected the PC directly to their modem (taking our wireless router out of the loop) and no difference. I connected the laptop directly to their modem to prove to them that it wasn't an issue with my PC (they tried to say that it was), and the speeds were not any better. They made an appt to have someone come tomorrow morning to look at it. I was hoping they would help me to release my IP address since I am pretty sure I have a new one and that can affect the speed as well but they said they couldn't do it.

Since coming home from the Grower's Market, I decided to try one more thing. I moved their modem into another room and connected it to the coax and then connected the laptop directly once again to make sure it wasn't just the line running into the office, and the speeds in the other room are not any better....so it has to be something at the street or the box on the side of the house. I have done all I can do here without a key to open the box on the street. So I am hoping that we can figure something out tomorrow...fingers crossed.
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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Making A Cup Of Coffee

Google Is Dropping Reader

This is horrible news. I use Google Reader every day for keeping up on the things that I am subscribed to (blogs, news, etc) and as a diagnostic tool when volunteering on the Blogger Help Forum...what a great loss this will be.

I seriously don't know what they are thinking...why would you push customers to another service even if there is a decline in users...there is still a huge following. I truly think they are making a mistake with this one.

It is funny that for as much as I like Google, I only use about 5 of their products religiously and Reader was one of them...sad to see it go...
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Five Years Ago on In My Words...Perspective

T-Mobile Outage Reporting

This is the report I filed today with T-Mobile because I really think that some improvements could be had...my phone battery is draining so fast because it is searching for the network.
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This morning, I had perfectly normal coverage for voice, messaging and data on my phone using the Monthly 4G plan on T-Mobile. At 8:30am PDT, my signal completely disappeared. I rebooted my phone several times thinking that perhaps it was a hiccup on my end, but this did nothing.

So I called the Contact Us number listed on T-Mobile's site after searching all the pages for a place to report an outage. I wanted someone to confirm for me that there was an issue in my area so I didn't have to keep worrying that something was wrong with my phone. The first machine that answered hung up on me because I didn't give it an account number. The second time I called back, I just said Customer Service over and over and finally got a human being.

The VERY FIRST THING I asked was if they could check to see if there was an outage in my area. I had to give them my phone number and go through a ton of troubleshooting of my phone before they said there wasn't a problem in my area. At some point they realized, even though they were looking at my account the entire time, that I was on the Monthly 4G plan and transferred me. The second person made me go through all the same loops to include taking out my sim chip, always assuming that there was something wrong with my phone rather than with the network. I explained to them that I had perfectly normal coverage, and then I just didn't, and I hadn't changed anything on my phone...but they still did not seem to believe that it could be a network issue on their end. I was then transferred to technical support and went through the same troubleshooting all over again, to included repeating the removal of my SIM chip. While talking to this last individual, he decided to file a report with engineering and this is when it was FINALLY discovered that there was a trouble ticket already submitted for my area and that there was an outage that was affecting all TMobile customers in my area. I do not know why, when I asked all three individuals repeatedly if this was a network outage, none of them saw this ticket but I spent 44 minutes on the phone, rebooting, removing sim cards and batteries and checking settings on my own phone that I could have been doing other things if someone had just been able to check the trouble tickets from the start.

I do not know how the ins and outs of your system work, and what would have kept any of them from seeing this trouble ticket from the beginning, but there has got to be a better way to let customers report an outage in the area (or even just look up that there is an outage). If I had been able to check the website to see a notice or even had a form to report the outage with a possible message coming back saying that they were already aware of this problem, I would have saved not only 44 minutes of my own time but also that of three of your own customer service reps.

It really shouldn't be this hard. I did request the number of this particular trouble ticket so that if I do call back (if it isn't restored in 72 hours), I will have a reference point to start with. I also was transferred back to the Monthy 4G people so that if I do end up without service for three days or more, I can get my account credited since I am paying for 30 days of service at a time.

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 Eight Years Ago on In My Words...Customer Service Miracle

Problems With Aliens

I have watched this movie a number of times and I do really like it, especially Bill Paxton, but each time I watch it, I am struck by a few things that I just have to document.

1. Subfloor 3: you see them go down to subfloor 3, a bunch of stairs but you never see them come back up the stairs.

2. Taking of magazines: when the Lieutenant tells Apone to remove the magazines from all the soldiers, several of them reload. Wouldn't he see them doing this on their little helmet cams? And in reality, why didn't they just explain at least to the SGT why they couldn't fire in there rather than making them think he was just an @ss.

3. Acid for blood: Okay (this one applies to all the Alien movies) you see people blowing away the aliens with guns and all sorts of weapons that would make the aliens bleed...so how come they aren't bleeding through the ship all over the place? There would be hull breaches all the time, right? It seems like when they are trying to leave via the tunnel system in Aliens, the blowing away of one would make the path completely impassable for any aliens coming up behind the first.

4. Antagonizing the alien: I mentioned this one in a Facebook post at some point in the past, but in this movie in particular, there really is no reason for Ripley to light up all the eggs as she is leaving the "hatchery"...all she does is make her own trip back to the landing pad, that much more difficult. We already know that the entire site is going to be demolished in a thermonuclear blast within minutes so there really is no point to it, and it frustrates the crap out of me every time she does it.
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Last Year on In My Words...Frustration

Bravo Focus Features

If there is one thing that irritates me about renting movie discs, it is the tease that most of them are doing these days (particularly anything produced by Sony) regarding special or bonus features. Special features are part of the fun of renting a movie and the stinginess of the movie industry is just astounding.

It seems like to me, if you aren't going to let a user see the special or bonus features, then don't put the icon on the disc. I hate clicking on it thinking I am going to be able to see them, and then you get that nasty little note from them stating that "this is only a rental disc, and if you purchase it, you can enjoy the special or bonus features",...jackasses.

So I have gotten in the habit now of not even clicking on those links anymore because the mean message irritates me so. Imagine my surprise when I went to take a shower after a movie tonight, while the credits were running, and came out to see the disc on the bonus features page. And then I hesitatedly pushed the play button, and the bonus features actually played!! Isn't that nice?

So I wanted to mention that Focus Features was the producer and they deserve a huge BRAVO!!
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Six Years Ago on In My Words...I Got Lucky

Facebook Break

Last week, my sis decided to take a break from Facebook...a serious break, like she deactivated her account kind of break. While I don't want to do anything like that, the same day, I decided that I wanted to back away from it quite a bit.

I thought that after the elections the political crap would slow down and Facebook would go back to its normal stream of ecards, cute baby pictures, and actual updates from friends and family, but NO SUCH LUCK!

I am sick of all the political crap, and it wouldn't even be that bad if people didn't resort to name calling, hatred and putting everyone in a fucking box. I am not a box person....in fact, I have always absolutely detested being put in a box and have always gone out of my way to make sure that everyone around me knows I do not like being put in a box, and do everything in my effort to not be available for box status.

At this time, Facebook is nothing, but a box labeling place and I am sick of it, so I am staying away. I have a few places that I visit online, that auto post to Facebook and that is fine...I will continue to auto post my reading and my fitness, and perhaps even a few posts from my blog...but for the most part, I will be limiting my visits to Facebook itself.

This isn't an issue of time wasting...as I don't really spend much time there normally...it is just a matter of it being filled with negative crap that I don't need to see everyday. I joined it to stay in touch with family and friends and all of that gets hidden beneath all the politics and advertising so it just isn't worth much of my time. One of my closest friends says she only checks in once a week or so and finds that it is better because she sees the updates from those she wants to see, and is more easily able to ignore the idiotic crap. Perhaps that is what I will do, but right now, I haven't been on there for a week and it feels pretty good to not have that negative aspect in my life.
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Five Years Ago on In My Words...Done Messing Around

Amazon Kindle Fire 7 Inch Review

I am sorry, but all the hype about the Kindle products is just that. I am in the process of setting one up (thankfully it is not mine, I'll stick with Nook, thank you very much), and am so disappointed in it. It seems like the only reason Amazon even had this product made is so that they could push their sales on you more than just over your computer. Really the fact that the ebooks are proprietary, there is no charger for the wall included and that every time you turn it on, you are forced to deal with stupid ads just solidifies my belief that Amazon has gotten too big for their own britches.

I am trying to set this thing up so my Dad can use it for listening to his music (which he has on iTunes and isn't planning to move to the Amazon music store) and for searching the web. He received this device as a gift (didn't ask for it) so please no comments about how he shouldn't have gotten an ereader if he wasn't going to use it for reading...the point is that it is advertized as a tablet more than an ereader and the issues I have with it are not about the ereading part of it...it is about the money grubbing lack of consideration that Amazon seems to have for their customers.

Seriously? An over 11 hour charge to use the computer for this thing is just ridiculous...hopefully the charger for my mother's Nook Tablet (yes it was included in the box) will work for this thing too, because if they have to spend even a cent more on this, it is a cent too much.

Amazon, you should be ashamed of yourself.
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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Another Disappointment from Sony

Letter To Fox Television

This is a copy of the letter I wrote to the Fox Network today...I wanted them to know that I stopped watching any shows on their network due to their greedy idiocy (not that they care).

To Whom It May Concern:

I have been a loyal Fox customer for many years and I know I am not alone in this when I say how disappointed I am in Fox right now. Not only did you drop the ability for your loyal customers who might not be able to watch a program when it airs, from watching a show online the next day, you are no longer provided as an On Demand option on my cable network. I can only imagine that this comes from greediness on the part of the Fox network.
 

What I don't understand is how this benefits you in any way. The average person can watch any Fox show without even needing to have cable or dish service, for free with commercials (which is where you make your money). If the same user were to watch the program online the next day (as of last year), they would still be watching it for free and they would still see the commercials (so you are still making the same amount). Now, if they happen to miss that particular show, they have to wait 8 days to watch it (which means they can't watch the next show that airs since the shows are 7 days apart so now they are perpetually stuck having to watch online over a week late, over and over), it is still free and they still see the same commercials (so you are still making the same amount). So all you are doing is pissing off your customers, but not really making any extra money from the entire thing (except what you might be making from the 3 companies that have signed on to this new program you have). On top of this, a customer like me that pays for HD cable (a step up or two from standard cable), can't even get any Fox shows On Demand, where I would see the same commercials and you would make the same amount.
 

This makes no sense to me and doesn't get you any extra money. At this point, I have stopped watching all the shows I used to watch faithfully on your network. I pretty much only turn Fox on for sports now since it is not worth my time to try to coordinate online viewing of shows I might not be home to watch. So the result is no extra money for you and now to top it off you are losing customers. Please stop being greedy and just provide great programming like you used to do without making us (your customers) jump through hoops.
 

Thank you for your time.
Former loyal customer,

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Seven Years Ago on In My Words...Explanation Needed

Waiting On Christmas

Along with lots of other people, I can't stand it when people jump from Halloween to Christmas. I was irritated by the idiot companies that decided to start their sales on Thanksgiving and also by all the stores and people that put up decorations for Christmas before Thanksgiving had passed. For me, Thanksgiving is an important American holiday and it shouldn't be "jumped over" just because it is not as commercial as some other holidays.

One of our neighbors had all their gaudy Christmas decorations lighting up the end of the block days before Thanksgiving, and every time I drove by, I just wanted to roll down the window and scream "It isn't even Thanksgiving yet!" You don't even need a flashlight if you walk by that house in the evening because it is so bright, I am sure you can see it from outerspace. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not a bah humbug, but I don't think that decorations need to be a competition.

So I have refrained from putting up our Christmas decorations yet. I am determined to wait until at least December 1st, which means I have a day or more left to enjoy my fall. We still have beautiful pumpkins on the porches that I don't want to throw away...I might even decide to carve them with Christmas or winter themes so we can leave them out a bit longer. I have gotten most of my decorations organized (minus the little potted tree I still need to buy) and ready to go but I am using my will power to refrain...LOL.

We have a fresh swag for the front door and 15 ft of cedar garland to put on the balcony rail when the time is right along with lights for some of the windows...nothing too crazy but enough to bring a smile to my face when I see it.
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Seven Years Ago on In My Words...Steve Terrill

$1 Million Lotto Winner Continues To Collect Food Stamps

All I can say is WOW! How does this happen? How does she even qualify her actions? I have to wonder if there is enough brain power here to even sustain human life...now she is all over the national news...no hiding from that!
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Seven Years Ago on In My Words...Parking Peeve

Frustration

Somehow, this past week, I pulled the quad in my left leg. Problem is, I don't know when I did it, and it probably wouldn't have been as bad as it has been, if I had started doing the right thing about it right off. At first, I thought it was my hipflexor and it was spasming/cramping everytime I put any weight on it, so I tried to stay off it and when I did have to walk, I would modify my gait or stance (which comes with its own host of problems). My back started hurting because I was holding my leg up off the floor.

Update Fail

So, I guess in December Barnes and Noble came out with an update to the OS on the Nook color...you could go to their site and connect your Nook and download it manually (which a lot of people complained didn't work that well), or you could just wait and it would update itself when you were connected to a WiFi spot. My Nook Color is on the WiFi network I set up, but no matter what I did (short of manually downloading it), nothing seemed to trigger it to update.

More Lost Inconsistencies

1. Okay, here are a few more for you...there seems to be an unlimited supply of tarps. I mean everytime there is a new character added to the camp, someone gives them a pile of tarps to build their hut with. I mean, was the plane carrying a cargo hold full of tarps???

2. John's dad has him go into a bank and open a safe deposit box that he has never signed a signature card for. You can't just walk into a bank with a key for a sdb and open it without being on the account (unless you have a death cert for the box owner).

3. They apparently get supply drops from the Dharma Initiative, even thirty years after the initiative has ceased to exist but yet you never see where all that trash goes....I mean, cans and boxes of food and you never see where any of it goes. Now of course, they could be burning most of it, but still, all that metal and glass is not going to just burn up in a camp fire and it isn't like they have this huge incinerator somewhere...

Lost Inconsistencies

I am rewatching the Lost series on Netflix streaming...and it is kind of cool to watch again when I know the story because you can see some of the foreshadowing that ends up part of the storyline later on, but there are inconsistencies that drive me nuts...

1. They wash their bodies off in the same pool of water that they drink from in the caves. No one would ever do this...it would contaminate their drinking water supply.

2. They never address the fact latrines need to be set up. This would have been addressed in real life almost immediately or it would have become very disgusting and unhealthy very fast.

3. Locke, who has been in a wheelchair for 4 years and never hunted before he started to with his father prior to the kidney transplant, somehow is this all knowing outdoorsman. I guess this can be written off to the "island"...but I still find it irritating.

4. In episode 25 of the first season, they carry Locke onto the flight (before the crash) but don't seem to be very concerned about the fact that he might need to use the bathroom at some point...I know that some people in wheelchairs wear bags for this purpose, and that could be the case here, but the fact that they don't even ask.

I should note that overall, I never did understand what the final episodes of Lost even meant, so perhaps in this rewatching, I will get some clarity in it all...
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Five Years Ago on In My Words...Flooring Time

Dusty and Salami Tsunami Blog

I have this blog in my blog roll...I have loved reading his stuff for years...like his title says, he has been blogging since it before it was lame...me too.

Unfortunately, he is hosted on Wordpress (with a custom domain) and for some reason (even though I actually have a Wordpress login and password), Wordpress hates me and I have not been able to comment on any blog hosted by them even if it is on a custom domain for over a year....and I have no way to tell those that I read that I am having this comment problem on their blogs....grrr. I have tried to use Wordpress customer service and this has not helped...their CS is worse than ours at Blogger...even if you do get someone to answer, they don't really read what you are saying and just respond with canned answers that have nothing whatsoever to do with the problem. I have pretty much given up on commenting on any Wordpress blogs at this point.

Today, when I read Dusty's post, it rang true in so many ways for me because of a recent traveling experience that I figured I would comment (forgetting to check who the host of the blog was)...wrote this long comment and then it didn't post...so I am posting it here...and maybe Dusty will see it someday...hehe.

"Thanks Dusty, great post. You had me laughing out loud several times.

I just recently stayed in a Marriot for a IT conference (where all 250+ of us were staying) and not only did I have a room with two huge beds for just me, I also had 8 pillows on each bed. I would move all the pillows over the vacant bed but the two I needed for sleeping each night and then the maid would move them back the next morning.

It didn't matter that I left my towels hanging up, they still replaced them everyday regardless of mine and the tree frog's wishes.

Internet connections in our rooms were 13 dollars a day (and not covered by the conference holders even though the double bed and 16 pillow rooms were), but we had free wireless in the lobby....so guess where most of the 250+ people were everyday....yep, hanging out in the lobby so we could all have free Internet. I would have traded some of my pillows for the ability to log into my email in my pjs...."

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Six Years Ago on In My Words...Epiphany

What Are They Thinking?

Wow, I just read this blog post on Netflix's blog. I added a sizeable comment as well.

They are shooting themselves in the foot in my opinion. For those customers that opt to do both options, it will become a complete and total hassle and they will be better off just sticking with streaming and getting movies from Blockbuster or Redbox...in fact, it is pretty much the same as doing that, even if stay with Netflix, only they will be paying more for it than they would if they were to go to one of their competitors.

Once the site separates, I will probably stop the DVD at home option all together since I am one of those renters that keeps a movie for ages (which is not economical for me at all) and adding in the additional cost hikes with this new requirement to maintain my queue and ratings on two different sites will just not be worth it. It will suck since there are flicks that Netflix has that you can't get at BB or Redbox, but oh well. I think this will force me to start watching more as they come out and perhaps eventually they will be on streaming. As it is right now, the movies available on streaming from Netflix are lacking and I tend to mostly stream old TV shows so I don't have to watch commercials on cable television.

I went to their site though, and subscribed to both of my queues via RSS feed so that if I do end up closing down the DVD at home portion of my account, at least I will have the list of movies I want to watch or have been recommended to me by friends.
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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Softie

Jerks On Parade

Just had to repost this on both my FB and on my blog because jerks like this need to be humiliated as much or more than they have humiliated others. How he can sleep with a barely legal teenager, refuse to marry her and then accuse her of killing his baby on a bulletin board needs some kind of punishment. So if I can contribute to public humiliation for him, I will. His name is Greg Fultz and he is 35 according to this article....maybe he will show up in some search engines for @ssholes now....haha.

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Five Years Ago on In My Words...Family Reunion

HR Bullsh1t

I think it is crap that the majority of HR departments I have dealt with in the last few months DO NOT send any kind of notice to those that have taken the time to apply for positions they have listed, when they have decided to go with someone else.

It is rude and unprofessional. Some of these companies take months to hire so just assuming you have been passed up because you haven't heard anything in 30 days is not reasonable...in fact, I did that with one and they wrote back saying that they were still working on the filling the position (this was two weeks after the projected start date) and would be emailing all applicants regardless of their decision to hire or not. I went to their site yesterday and there are no open positions any longer but I never did get an email from them.

They don't have to go into a lot of details, but at least a note so you aren't sitting there hoping to get an interview or position for ages. It amazes me that any of them can even hire anyone because by the time they make up their mind, I imagine most of the prospectives have found other jobs.

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Six Years Ago on In My Words...The Somewhat Downside