It's a BOY!

Here in living greyscale, is our little baby boy. Still comfortably baking in his oven.

New Feature

So blogger has a pretty cool new feature that I wanted to try out. You can see it in the side bar of my blog here, called "Follwers". Basically, it allows the few of you that bother to read my blog to reveal yourselves to the world. (If you want to.) So click on the link to "Follow This Blog." try it out, add it to your own site if you want. So in the words of Amanda "Reveal your selves"

That's a bill I wouldn't want

So today, I finished my last final for the Spring semester. Namely, the final for my Math 1010 class. It was BRUTAL, but I am hoping to pull a 'B' out of the class. However, when I finished, Celeste was at Y.W.'s, with the car, so I walked to Melanie and Murray's house, and in true nerd fashion, nerded-out on CNet. :) But I stumbled across something so completely interesting, that I had to post about it, so that the 5 or 6 of you that bother reading my drivelings, can check it out too.

Back in late 2006, Mazda had a bit of an accident importing their cars from Japan. The ship they had hired, the Cougar Ace, nearly sank, and instead spent a period of time, numbering in the months, listing between 60-90 degrees. The cars for the most part, stayed put. Despite that Mazda is still going to destroy them. Basically, it is done so that someone doesn't get a bum car thinking that they are buying something new. Here is the link for those of you that would like to read a bit more. You can wiki it here too.

And, last but not least, check out the vid.

The Completion of a Struggle

So today, I wanted to write about the conclusion of a difficult struggle for me. Well, at least the very near approach of that conclusion. Namely, the conclusion of this semester of school.

If you would have asked me as recently as two or three weeks ago, back when Celeste and I were still sick, I would have told you that this semester was never going to end. That I was doomed to spend the rest of my life doing college algebra problems for two or three hours every night. This was due to the fact that when we were sick, I got about two weeks behind on all of my homework, and I can tell you, two weeks behind in an already gruelingly fast-paced math class is enough to 'bout kill you. Or at least that is what it feels like.

But finally the end is almost here!!! It is in sight! Today as I was working on some of my ridiculously copious amounts of Algebra homework, I noticed that I have only four assignments left in this class ever! (well, not counting studying for the final, and my test next week, but those are voluntary so that I can get a good grade and only count... well, -ish. :) )

Three weeks 'till freedom!

The Annoyance of Sucking.

So today, I felt what it was like to truly, and completely SUCK at something. Namely, Halo 3. My friends and I got together to play Halo 3 on Xbox Live tonight, while the women of our lives were else-where. Namely, Celeste was in SLC (well, supposed to be anyway, traffic had it's own thing to say about that), and his wife was in Hawaii. (For work, don't you wish that was you? I do.) Any who, we got together, and as previously mentioned played some wicked rounds of social slayer. But tonight was a first to me. I truly and completely sucked.

We were playing 5-on-5 first team to 50 takes all. If any of you have played Halo with me, you know I LOVE it, and that if you put me in front of Halo 1, I'll school you. Halo 2, and we'll have an even match. (I don't know the boards, but I know the weapons.) However, as tonight was evidenced, put me in front of Halo 3, and if your worth anything, you'll school me.

It wasn't a completely pointless exercise, however. There were a few bright sides that I feel are worth mentioning. First, it was fun. It was nice to hang out with the fella's again, and to get to play a favorite game of mine. Second, it allowed me to relate to my beautiful bride (who has refused to play Halo with me for a while now.) In that, when every 30 seconds someone is killing you (and you have no-clue how) it gets incredibly frustrating. I was SOOOOOOOOO Annoyed. It seemed like the game was stacked against me. I could come up behind someone, drill them in the head, and it would do nothing. They would turn around, and seemingly touch me with the finger of death, and that was it for me. I didn't get it, and I still don't. But alas, thankfully it was just a game, and I am quite sure that with some practice I could become equally adept with the 3rd installment in the Halo quest as I am at the first.

So to all other people who also suck at something ... well ... do as I did. Find something else to do, and maybe you won't suck quite as bad at it. But you never know, maybe with a little perseverance, you will no-longer suck, and will instead be the one to school me. But until that moment, let's stick to the original Halo.

Zune Up for Grabs

Well, since I get to write about what ever I feel like, I am going to do a bit of a sales pitch today. Due to the whole iPod fiasco, I am left with nothing but my Zune... Which most unfortunately, I personally do not enjoy using. I miss my scroll-wheel terribly. So I have decided to offer my Zune for sale. It is nearly new, and only has a few scratches on the screen. They are not noticable when using the device, but are viewable when the device is turned off. It is a black 30 GB Zune, and I still have all of the cables, boxes, and connections that it came with. It retails for $200 (according to Circuit City), and I am offering mine for $125. So you can save $75, and get it used!! If anyone is interested, please contact me, or leave a comment below and we'll see if we can come to an accord.

A Standards Compliant Microsoft?

Wow, this has got to be some of the nerdiest and most exciting news I have heard of in a long-time. Unfortunately (and possibly fortunately) most people shouldn't ever notice any of this, but we coders have beat our head against the walls so many times because of this, that news like this can nearly make us giddy with excitement.

Drum Roll Please....
Internet Explorer will be set to standards compliance mode by DEFAULT! ARS Technica posted an article earlier today about this, which is quite an interesting read, and provides much more of an in-detail look than I will be providing here. But in a nut-shell, what I am hoping that we will see with such a change from Microsoft, is a greater accountability to the industry as a whole to be compliant to standards, and easier to work with. For anyone who has developed anything for the Internet before, they have dealt with the nightmare that is balancing a page between FireFox and Internet Explorer. FireFox often leans toward the standards side (ish) and Internet Explorer tends to... well... they just like doing their own thing. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those "Microsoft is Evil" kind of guys. In fact I congratulate them on their success, and am trying to find a way that I can emulate such wide-spread success within my own life. But that is a whole separate topic.

The thing that I am most eager to follow, and see the outcome from, is how this effects developing a consistent user experience across the main two browsers. One interesting curve that we could see also come into play, is the currently-in-beta FireFox 3. I personally have not tried it yet but I have read some promising reviews.

The numb joke

So last night my sweet wife decides that she is going to be super nice to me. I am studying for a Math test that I have to take today, and just working along, when she sneaks-up behind me, and leans up close to sneak a kiss. I was pretty excited, I mean who doesn't like a surprise nice little kiss. Well, as she kisses me, I smell piña colada, and just assume that it is her chapstick, as her lips feel pretty slick. Then the smell starts to bring back memories of being stuck with a needle at the dentist's office, and it hits me... It wasn't any chapstick she was using, it was topical anesthetic... I hurry and pull away as she has a wicked grin on her face. But then her smile starts to fade, as she too starts going numb. I start laughing, and ask her if she remembered to put Vaseline on her lips first (knowing that we don't have any). She says no, and grabs a tissue, desperately trying to wipe it off. I laughed for ages, as her practical joke to make my lips numb back-fired, and made her more numb than me... Ahhh, so to any-would be practical jokers out there, remember to take steps to prevent the joke from getting you worse than your intended target.

To DELL with it UPDATE...

Well, after being sick all week with a particularly nasty version of influenza, I've finally gotten a hold of Dell customer care to try to resolve my problems. So after 15 min. of boring hold music, I spoke to relatively nice man named Sam, who seemed genuinely concerned about my issues. However, he insisted that he could do nothing, and didn't know why Tech. Support referred me to them. So he sent me back to technical support. After waiting a while longer, I finally got through to a new agent, this time by the name of Mike. After a while of plunking around on his computer looking for 'parts numbers' he finally came back saying he thought he found it. Next thing I know, I've been hung-up on, and I've got to call back. So I wait 5 or so minutes, waiting for him to call back, at which point I give up on him, and decide to call back on my own. Well well, luck me! I get the same guy again. He promptly promises to ship out the sticker that I need right away, and promises to send me an email with dispatch information, and fix some new problems that I found last night from the incompetence of the last tech that came out to fix my computer. Well, I haven't gotten any emails, or any phone calls, so I am crossing my fingers that they will just show up, so that I don't have to call back again.

So what are the new problems you may ask? Simple, when the guy put the motherboard back in, he didn't bother to make sure everything was lined up correctly, and broke the two side USB ports. So I explained my frustration with that technician, and Mike promised to research the problem, and make sure to send a different technician when he has my motherboard replaced AGAIN. And for those of you who don't know, this is the THIRD motherboard that I have gone through with this computer, and it is only 1 1/2 years old... WOW.

For now I've got my fingers crossed, and we'll look forward to seeing how well Dell pulls through. I'll post more on this, as it continues to develop.

To Dell with it

Wow, this must be the month of getting jacked around my technology companies. First the whole Best Buy Fiasco, then my computer at work dies, and I've spent a full week trying to get my Adobe ® Creative Suite ™ to activate, to no avail, then my laptop needs to get some of the feet replaced on the bottom. No problem I say to myself, I've got my 4-year, accidental coverage complete care warranty. Dell will take care of it. So I log-in to chat with their support (good luck understanding anyone that you may get on the phone...) thinking that it can't be that hard to get three new feet shipped out to me. Apparently it is. Silly me, you would think that they would know what feet go on it seeing as they built the blasted thing, but apparently not.
The first technician I spoke with was friendly enough, and agreed to ship those parts out to me ASAP. Sweet! I go to work the next day, and lo-and-behold this HUGE box shows up from Dell. What's this I wondered to myself, as I opened it to find not three little rubber feet, but two, and not even of the same size!!! Also in the box, was a return shipping label, what did they want me to send back? Did they think I puled of the feet for fun, or did they completely miss the part where I told them that "the feet FELL off." So, I figured I must have gotten the resident idiot there in their technical support department, so let's try this again. I log myself into their chat system, and explain my problem to Elvis (seriously, that's what this guy has on there for his name. And I thought Elvis was dead... He's not, he's just adopted an Indian accent, and working for Dell.) Elvis promptly apologizes, and agrees to ship out the correct feet. The next day I go to work again, and a padded manila envelope shows up from Dell. Sweet! Finally I can get rid of the stupid rocking that happens every time I type on a solid surface. I proceed to cut the top of the envelope off, and pull out the contents. And what's this? ONE foot, that must have been less than half of the size of the previous two put together. Boy, no wonder Elvis gave up music, apparently he can't count for beans. By this time, I am starting to get highly annoyed with it. Who would have thought that three little rubber feet would have been such a big deal? So I log myself back into their chat, where I speak to a man (assuming) named Ricky. Good ol' Ricky I thought, there have been tons of great people named that (I mean who doesn't love Ricky Ricardo?), this guy is going to be the one that finally gets it right I tell myself. I explain the problem, as well as the incompetence of the previous two technicians. Well, says Ricky, I'm going to dispatch a technician with the feet (for three stickon rubber feet?) and an entirely new bottom just in case I send you the wrong feet again. Great, this guys already winning me over with his confidence. Replacing the bottom has me a little worried however, as my stickers for my copy of Windows Vista that I purchased as an express upgrade when I bought my computer, were on the bottom. I expressed this to Ricky, and he promptly replied that it would all be taken care of, and that I had nothing to worry about. This was Saturday morning, and I was told to expect the technician on Monday, Tuesday at the latest. So Monday rolls past, Tuesday rolls past, Wednesday rolls past and I start to wonder what is going on. So I log back into their support chat, and who do I get but good old Ricky again... I explain to him that apparently the technician is MIA, and that they need to send out a search party for him. So Ricky asks me to hold on while he researches what is going on. He comes back a few minutes to tell me that according to DHL the shipment has been picked up by the agent. That's strange I thought, I just checked in two minutes before I got on and it had been sitting in West Valley since Monday morning. So Ricky pulls up the tracking page in our chat window, and tries to explain to me that the shipment was picked up Saturday (the same day he dispatched it by-the-way, boy that's some fast shipping.) in Houston - Cypress, TX. No wonder I haven't seen the technician. Texas is a long way from Utah. So I then have to provide him with some technical support, and explain to him that he shipped it from TX, and it said shipment picked up in Houston because that is when DHL picked it up, not his agent, and if he kindly scrolled to the top, he can plainly see where it said in the current status that it was AWAITING pickup in West Valley City. So he tells me then that I have to call the company that they use for their on site service. I call them, and they are baffled why I haven't heard back from the technician already. Phone numbers are all correct, so the guy tries to call the tech. He can't get him to answer his phone, so he leaves him a message. About 5 hours later that afternoon, the guy calls back to see if the technician has called me back yet. Nope I said, haven't seen, nor heard anything. He tells me that he is going to do a "monitored" call (whatever that mean, but imagine that it can't be good for the technicians reputation.) and that I should hear back from a tech within the next thirty minutes. Well the tech calls, and we schedule an appointment for the next day. The tech calls me the next day at the appointed time, and tells me he is on his way. Twenty minutes later he calls back lost, and it takes him about three more phone calls before he finally makes it there. So I hand him my lappy (as I have affectionately named it) and leave him to do is stuff. An hour later he has replaced the bottom, and says he is done. I ask him about the sticker. He tells me "I just do hardware stuff, you are going to have to call Dell back." not a problem I think to myself, they said they would take care of it. He goes on his merry way, and that night I get on with Dell. Now, Quinnon, my fourth technician is a complete JERK! He tells me that he cannot replace my sticker and that I am going to have to contact customer care who _MAY_ replace my sticker. Well, had I known that I would have told the tech that took a week to get there to get lost, and I would continue with my shipping fiasco until they finally sent me the right feet. but it was too late, my sticker is already in the mail on it's way back to Dell. So then I take a closer look at my computer as my fan's are running an abnormal amount of time and notice that the idiot did not bother to put my blue tooth module or door back on. CRAP!!!! This is getting ridiculous! Quinnon promised to ship me out a new blue tooth module, and door. (We'll see how he does, as I should get it Monday) so now, because of their incompetence I am left without a sticker, and a blue tooth module (so much for hot syncing my cell phone.) And now get to call their customer care center, and deal with that whole fiasco. All I can say at this point, is I better get someone who speaks English as their FIRST language. And all of this, I am starting to learn by doing some research, is what is commonly referred to around the blog-o-sphere as "DELL HELL". This sucks. I'll update as soon as I get a chance to call them on Monday, as they are not open on weekends, and they are also only available during regular business hours, so I have to loose time from work to deal with the mess they made. I wonder how they plan on compensating me for that??

The most boring day EVER

Today, has officially been the most boring day of work I have ever had. This morning, my computer decided that it didn't like working any more, and gave me a Blue Screen of Death. My computer has been giving me problems for a few days now, but it all culminated in the death of my machine. I therfore spent the ENTIRE day staring at my screen re-installing my operating system. There has to be nothing more boring than staring at the screen clicking "next" mindlessly. I could have been a monkey it was so simple. Thankfully, last night Celeste got copies of a bunch of the Tennis Shoes Among The Nephites series on CD for me for valentines day. So rather than just sitting there I thankfully had a release of listening to those to stave off my boredom. But then again, had my iPod not been broken, it would have been even better, I would have been able to at least play a game or something.

The Best Buy Scam

Today I experienced the biggest load of bunk, that has again convinced me that best buy is a store that I will NEVER again purchase from, and that I will pursuade everyone that I know not to visit. The first time that they attempted to jerk me around, I figured it was just the employee that I had to deal with at the time. But now I have discovered that it was not just the employee that I had dealt with on that occasion (while attempting to purchase an external HD), but rather it is the corporate mind-set that seems to plauge the place.

My Gripe with them today is thus: a year and a half ago, I purchased an iPod video from them, and the salesman convinced me to purchase a protection plan. Which I did, as he had told me that it would cover most anything that happened to my iPod, and that it would be a good investment. Foolish me, I listened. Today disaster struck from within my iPod, whilst it sat on my desk at work, something went wrong. The screen freaked out, and I couldn't do anything. Never fear I told my self, I had wisely invested in a protection plan and everything would be ok. Even if they had to send it away to be repaired. Little did I know, that this plan was nothing more than a plan to extort more money from me at the time of my purchase. I took my little iPod in to have it looked at, at which point the proceded to tell me that they would not fix it, and it was somehow my fault that the iPod self-destructed while sitting on my desk. I couldn't take it. I turned my back smartly on the man, and walked out. I would have regretted anything that I would have said in my anger, so I held my toung. But now I speak out.

TO ANY WOULD BE BEST BUY PURCHASERS:
Beware the scams they try to sell you, the seem nice at first, and then they do all they can to jerk you around later. It is all a tactic to get you in the door, lie to you, take you for what they can, and then give you the shaft later on. This is not a first-time experience for me, I have had them do this to me multiple times (stupid me- I guess I am too trusting of the honesty of others). So I urge and caution anyone who reads this to BEWARE!

Self-Welcome

Hello to anyone and everyone that might care. I've been toying around with the idea of starting a blog for the last few months, and I suppose that it is finally time for me to get down to it... So here goes nothing. There probably won't be too much to start off with for now, but I will update with ramblings as the days go on.

This blog is going to be about two of my favorite things... Coding and boating, and what ever random things I feel like talking about. Who needs much more than that? I am happiest when I am doing either of those things, especially if by beautiful este is with me. :)