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Hey, I just registered this blog with Technorati. So now what? Something about badges? Or RSS feeds? 

Dell “Support” Sucks!

I’m just a little pissed at Dell. I have a two-year old Dimension 8300 and have lost the use of 6 of 8 USB ports — 2 in the front and 4 in the rear. They just died one day. Only my keyboard is operating on the remaining good port. If I hadn’t been able to borrow an old PS2 mouse from work, I’d be up the proverbial creek.

This happened back in early June and things still aren’t fixed. I got the extended warranty (thinking it meant something) and still have 2 years of coverage but am just not able to get results from Dell’s technical people. I’ve had 3 chat sessions with them, after each of which I had to perform some procedures that they outlined for me. They wanted me to print their instructions but, yes, you guess it, my printer’s not working either. Of course, to perform the procedures, which I copied in longhand from each emailed chat session log, I had to logoff and break my connection with tech support. Needless to say, all the tests I ran (which I think I ran correctly — no one to check with since I had to logoff, duh!) showed everything to be working properly and none of the procedures restored the ports.

My last attempt was via a phone call. I got some guy I could barely understand. I know he was speaking English and doing his best but his accent was so thick I just couldn’t get past it to the content he was trying to impart. It was maddening! I gathered that he wanted to walk me through reformatting my hard drive and then reinstall my OS and other software but that was/is just overwhelming to me. The prospect of reinstalling two year’s worth of security patches, etc., is incredibly off-putting. And everything would have to be backed-up onto CDs or DVDs and that whole Roxio formatting thing just makes me nuts.

So clearly, part of the problem is me. I just haven’t got the heart or stomach or liver for going over all the hurdles that it’s going to take — especially when there’s no guarantee that doing so will produce the desired result. In addition to lack-of-requisite-vital-organs, I haven’t got the time for this either. I have all I can do to just use a computer. I never signed on to be a repair guy.

I wish they’d just send out somebody to troubleshoot and fix the damn thing. Or at least install a menu on the phone support number that allows me to select a native English speaker. Or had a warranty policy that stated, for example: if our suggestions for you to fix the problem yourself are beyond your tolerance or ability, we will come out and fix the problem (because we don’t want you to think you paid good money for a worthless warranty).

I’m going to take a day off work in early October to give this one more go — and after that, I don’t know what…. My brother swears by Apple — has a laptop (MacBook Pro ?) he loves. Maybe that’s where I’ll end up.  Or maybe I’ll just crack my case and install a board with USB ports.  I think Best Buy sells them pretty inexpensively.

A bit of irony: I work for the government and do a bit of procurement. Not just the buying but the actual selection and justification for purchasing. In the past six months I’ve purchased over $25,000 worth of Dell computer products. Unfortunately, I can’t use the tech guys at work to repair my personal equipment (possible ethics violation). But it sure is tempting. ;-) 

In the meantime, my recommendation to new buyers is: don’t get the extended warranty. Save your money and then, if necessary, call the Geek Squad to fix any problems that may arise.  Or maybe just go with an Apple. (See 10/4/06 post)

Prosser — 1st CD now available

If you like guitar and cello music, go to the Prosser link on my blogroll and check-out Eric’s and Dylan’s first official Prosser CD.  It will be released in stores about mid-October but you can buy it now through their website via Clickpop.

And if you live in the Seattle area, you can see them perform at some of the local venues there.

Benchmade vs. Emerson Folding Knives

I just got a Benchmade 551SBK Griptilian knife (Mel Pardue design) with a 3-3/8″ black BK1 coated 154CM stainless steel ComboEdge blade with thumb studs, 4-5/8″ black Zytel handle, super smooth and strong “Axis” lock, and black stainless steel reversible pocket clip (right or left hand, tip up carry).  It’s a very impressive piece of work — opens with just a flick of the wrist.

But I have to admit I was (still am, in fact) considering getting an Emerson Commander (or Mini-Commander) with the “Wave” feature.  Aside from design/style, I think the only differences may be blade thickness and length, locking mechanism, handle material and cost.  I really like the deep finger notch on the underside of the handle.

Am wondering if anyone can offer any insight about which knife might hold up better through so-called “hard use” and why the Emerson’s are a bit more expensive. 

People who put the “ass” in “class”

It’s bad enough that many dog owners don’t pick-up after their pets.  But it seems I have a neighbor who bags his (a woman wouldn’t do this) dog’s shit, in a rather haphazard way I might add, and drops the bag in my trash can on days I’ve placed it at the curb for pick-up.  Not only is this lazy and irresponsible, it’s disrespectful to the trash collector who has to reach his hand into my trash can to extract bags of legitimate trash.  He doesn’t need or deserve to be fishing his hand around in some dog’s poorly bagged shit.  And I don’t need to have him thinking I’m the one who booby-trapped him. 

So if you’re the perp and  if I ever catch you in the act, I’m going to make you clean the inside of my trash can with your tongue!

Any Pool Sharks Out There?

I’m talkin’ about billiards.  Would like to get some opinions about cue sticks. 

Specifically, how does one determine the weight of the cue.  I know, you weigh it!   Ha-ha.  But seriously, do you just go by what feels good of is it more scientific than that? Will somebody please cue me in?

And what are some quality brands besides Viking.  Or does it even matter?

Some books I’ve read recently, some I’m reading, and some that are, well, just sort of stacked up around the house waiting to get into the queue….

Bangkok 8 (John Burdett) - Really, really good. A Bhuddist, Thai detective solves the mystery while refusing to screw the FBI.  I couldn’t put this down.  Start it on a Friday night or you’ll be sorry.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (J.K. Rowling) - The 6th book in the series and I think one of the better ones. Will leave you on tenterhooks waiting for the finale.

Cod (Mark Kurlansky) - A well-written, interesting though somewhat dry (!) history of the fish.  I’m looking forward to Salt.  This one is still a Read-in-Progress (RIP).

The Millionaire Mind (Thomas J. Stanley) - Another RIP. Wish I’d been exposed to this stuff 40 years ago — of course it wasn’t around then, but nevertheless… Very interesting and inspiring stuff.  Worth reading if you’d like to be rich.

I’ll add to this list periodically….  Am still thinking about other ways to organize it.

         8/30/06 -

Right as Rain (George P. Pelecanos) - D.C. noir mystery — just started it but pretty good so far.

         9/12/06 - Well, the story picked-up as it went on. Somewhat formulaic and  predictable but still a good read.  Good enough, anyway, that I’m going to read the next book in the series:

Hell to Pay (George P. Pelecanos) - This one is really good. Got about 4-5 chapters in then got side-tracked by life. I hope to get back to it soon. (RIP)

Yes, You Can Still Retire Comfortably! (Ben Stein & Phil DeMuth) - Whoa!  This is scary.  But these guys are smart and it looks like very useful info presented in a highly readable fashion.  After reading just the first chapter I’m already thinking about all the people I want to give this book to for Christmas.  Especially young people who are growing up in a world that is, and will be, very different from the one I grew up in and the one we now live in. The defined-benefit pension is all but extinct unless you work for the government. (RIP)

Name Game

Yes, for those of you who are uber-observant, I’ve changed the title of my blog again.  You may recall that originally it was ”bloggo, ergo sum.”  Then I learned there were (and still are) several hundred other blogs with the same title and became a very despondent correspondent.  However, now that a few weeks have elapsed, my spirits have improved and I’ve sort of reinvented myself.  Yes, in translation my blog title is now:  “I wrestle Japanese-style, therefore I blog.”  I think it uniquely sums up my life purpose and blog content quite well.

LG VX8300 Cell Phone

Well, my grace period has expired and I’ve mailed-in my rebate offer, so it looks like I’m stuck with my LG VX8300 phone for the next couple of years.  But at least this unit didn’t die after three days.   Reception seems to be fine in the places I make or receive calls — not that I’m a frequent phone user or anything.  I haven’t tried it in the Metro tunnels yet, or at work (two floors underground).  And I haven’t used the micro drive either — and probably never will.

The major thing that stands in the way of my (and perhaps many others in my demographic) using all the features is the inability to make the alpha-numeric readout twice as large as it is.  I have to wear glasses for anything close and it’s just a pain in the ass to constantly be putting them on and then taking them off whenever my cell phone is involved.

 I don’t do text-messaging but actual voice calls sound fine on both ends — no volume complaints from me or the other parties, so far.  I got a headset for using it in the car but haven’t tried it yet.  However, I did wrap the headset cable around a little ferrite bead plastic doo-hickey that’s supposed to absorb radio frequencies (though not EMFs) emitted from the cell phone.  It’s sold on Dr. Mercola’s website for about $15 (http://www.sweetliberty.org/issues/health/ferrite_beads.html).  However, using your phone in speaker-phone mode is even better as it keeps the EMFs out of reach of your brain.

One thing I haven’t figured out yet is how to send a picture from my phone to my email address.  If anyone can tell me how to do this I’d really appreciate it.  (See Comments)

I can send pix from my phone to a friend’s phone okay — just can’t get them to a platform where I can upload’em to Flickr.  Yeah, I found out too late that ShoZu doesn’t support LG phones yet.  I should have checked before I bought.  I almost traded for a Motorola Razr in the last couple of days of my grace period but got lazy.  Now I wish I had because ShoZu supports the Razr and a few other Motorola models.  It also supports a slew of Sony-Ericsson phones but Verizon wasn’t offering any models of that brand when I made my purchase.  It seems I learn a little bit each two-year cycle but never quite enough or soon enough to actually make a significant techological leap forward.

Namiki Pens

Confession first: Yes, I’m a nib nerd. There, it’s out. Now on with the post. 

It’s my understanding that there are at least four yellow Namiki Vanishing Point or Capless fountain pens:

1. A “deep” yellow that was issued with an alloy nib in Japan in ~2000.

2. A “mandarin” yellow with a 14k gold medium nib, of which some 1,500 were issued in the US in May 2003. It was distributed in a hinged blue gift box. (9/15/06 - just got one of these from a guy I met at the DC Pen Show in August.)

3. A “special” mustard (ochre) yellow with an 18k gold nib which only recently has been issued in Japan. Supposedly very rare in the US.  (I think I have one of these but am not sure how to distinguish it from the pen described in #1., above.)

4. A “harvest” yellow-gold “decimo” that is narrower than the other models and which may have an alloy nib — also just introduced in the past couple of months.

I’m looking for more information about these and any other shades of yellow (for the Vanishing Point pen only) that possibly have been produced.  Am also interested in learning more about the alloy nibs, i.e., what metals are used, how many different alloy nibs have been produced, their characteristics, and why Namiki is substituting them for the traditional 14k and 18k nibs, etc.

Please comment if you have any clarifying or additional information.  Thanks!