Wow, I looked at how long it’s been since I’ve written I thought I’d catch you up on what’s going on.
Still not working: I would say this year has not been my best in terms of what’s happened. I am only blaming Karma because I don’t know how else to explain it. I’d love analyze this year frame-by-frame to see where I went wrong but that just isn’t going to happen.
Christmas party: I went to my former company’s Christmas party – the one before this most-recent one. It was about the same as all the years I remember being there. The higher-ups get drunk, people eat, people drink, people dance, the president makes a sappy speech “this is the best year ever because of you”, and then all the employees go home with a bonus check.
G-Lady: I know I haven’t talked about her in a while but she’s been bugging me to come over and set up her new computer (that is now 6 months old). I get over there and she tells me she just got digital cable but it doesn’t work with any of her TV’s, so she’s bought a new one from one of the guys at her office. It’s a big 36-inch flat screen (NOT flat panel) TV that takes 2 guys to haul into place (thankfully I’m not one of them). So we get the TV hooked up to the cable. Great – on to the computer.
“OH”, she says, “I got a DVD player that was given to me as well. Can we get that hooked up to the TV too?” Okay, DVD player hooked up. Computer now?
“OH, I can’t be without my ‘fireplace’” she says. Apparently it’s this VHS tape of a fire burning in a fireplace. Fine, VCR is hooked up and working. Computer now?
“Let’s go to dinner”, she says. We go to this very nice seafood place and have some really good food. I’m thinking to myself ‘this is cutting into my computer setup time’ but the food is really good.
So we get back to her place and I start working on the computer. It has Vista, she wants XP. I take Vista completely off but am having problems putting XP on – seems like a hardware problem. I call the hardware support line (in India, natch) and tell them my problem. An hour later the problem is solved and I’m able to install XP like normal. It’s kind of late when we get the problem solved so we call it a day.
The next day (Saturday) I want to get as early a start as possible but we don’t get in touch until 2pm – to have breakfast. We don’t get back to her place until almost 5pm due to a shopping trip after ‘breakfast’. She bought a new office chair, some blank CD’s, a USB cable, etc.
So I spend most of the time setting the computer up the way she wants it along with all the necessary drivers. I get all the software loaded and I think we’re coming out of the woods.
“OH”, she says, “I was given this printer /fax /scanner /copier thing”. So I get that hooked up but it seems to be having a problem with the black cartridge. All other functions seem to be working with it but it will not print. She mentions calling the company and seeing if she can get a replacement. Okay, fine.
“OH”, she says, “I need to set up my iPod Nano that I got for my birthday” (again, that was 6 months ago). So I spend quite a while downloading iTunes, importing her songs in and showing her how to use it. Again, it’s a very late night and I ask if we can get the office chair set up tomorrow (Sunday). She agrees and tells me we can reconvene earlier tomorrow.
So I grab my stuff and head out to my car and I’m looking all around. It’s fairly cold outside, the rain is sort of falling and it’s dark but I’m pretty sure I know where I parked my car. It’s not there. I’m looking all around and I don’t see my car.
So I call G-lady on the phone and tell her “Uh, my car’s not out here”.
“OH”, she says, “They must have towed it because you weren’t in ‘visitor’ parking”. So she ends up driving me home with a promise to pay the towing fee. She must have apologized a dozen times on the short drive home.
I text message her my license plate. She knows who to call because she recently got towed herself (parking in the fire lane, don’t you know…). She messages back “they’ve got it”.
So Sunday morning comes and she picks me up. She tells me to drive her car to the impound lot (she’s a nervous driver). So I pay the money and get my car out of the lot but I have to follow her back to her place. Let’s just say she drove about 7 miles to avoid a half-mile piece of road – but I told her I’d follow her.
So finally we make it back to her apartment and I set up her new office chair. She’s been playing with some of the new toys and has some questions, so I stay about another hour to help her work through her issues.
When I got home I was dead tired. If you told me I won the lottery I probably would have told you to mail me the check.
Monday: At some point at the Christmas party a group of us decided to go to this Irish-themed bar in town. We had been there before and had a really good time just hanging out, talking and drinking. It was all too short for me. I felt like, as soon as I got there, it was time to leave.
Whatever it was, I knew it would happen…
Hey, I gotta wrap this up SOMEHOW, don't I?
Still not working: I would say this year has not been my best in terms of what’s happened. I am only blaming Karma because I don’t know how else to explain it. I’d love analyze this year frame-by-frame to see where I went wrong but that just isn’t going to happen.
Christmas party: I went to my former company’s Christmas party – the one before this most-recent one. It was about the same as all the years I remember being there. The higher-ups get drunk, people eat, people drink, people dance, the president makes a sappy speech “this is the best year ever because of you”, and then all the employees go home with a bonus check.
G-Lady: I know I haven’t talked about her in a while but she’s been bugging me to come over and set up her new computer (that is now 6 months old). I get over there and she tells me she just got digital cable but it doesn’t work with any of her TV’s, so she’s bought a new one from one of the guys at her office. It’s a big 36-inch flat screen (NOT flat panel) TV that takes 2 guys to haul into place (thankfully I’m not one of them). So we get the TV hooked up to the cable. Great – on to the computer.
“OH”, she says, “I got a DVD player that was given to me as well. Can we get that hooked up to the TV too?” Okay, DVD player hooked up. Computer now?
“OH, I can’t be without my ‘fireplace’” she says. Apparently it’s this VHS tape of a fire burning in a fireplace. Fine, VCR is hooked up and working. Computer now?
“Let’s go to dinner”, she says. We go to this very nice seafood place and have some really good food. I’m thinking to myself ‘this is cutting into my computer setup time’ but the food is really good.
So we get back to her place and I start working on the computer. It has Vista, she wants XP. I take Vista completely off but am having problems putting XP on – seems like a hardware problem. I call the hardware support line (in India, natch) and tell them my problem. An hour later the problem is solved and I’m able to install XP like normal. It’s kind of late when we get the problem solved so we call it a day.
The next day (Saturday) I want to get as early a start as possible but we don’t get in touch until 2pm – to have breakfast. We don’t get back to her place until almost 5pm due to a shopping trip after ‘breakfast’. She bought a new office chair, some blank CD’s, a USB cable, etc.
So I spend most of the time setting the computer up the way she wants it along with all the necessary drivers. I get all the software loaded and I think we’re coming out of the woods.
“OH”, she says, “I was given this printer /fax /scanner /copier thing”. So I get that hooked up but it seems to be having a problem with the black cartridge. All other functions seem to be working with it but it will not print. She mentions calling the company and seeing if she can get a replacement. Okay, fine.
“OH”, she says, “I need to set up my iPod Nano that I got for my birthday” (again, that was 6 months ago). So I spend quite a while downloading iTunes, importing her songs in and showing her how to use it. Again, it’s a very late night and I ask if we can get the office chair set up tomorrow (Sunday). She agrees and tells me we can reconvene earlier tomorrow.
So I grab my stuff and head out to my car and I’m looking all around. It’s fairly cold outside, the rain is sort of falling and it’s dark but I’m pretty sure I know where I parked my car. It’s not there. I’m looking all around and I don’t see my car.
So I call G-lady on the phone and tell her “Uh, my car’s not out here”.
“OH”, she says, “They must have towed it because you weren’t in ‘visitor’ parking”. So she ends up driving me home with a promise to pay the towing fee. She must have apologized a dozen times on the short drive home.
I text message her my license plate. She knows who to call because she recently got towed herself (parking in the fire lane, don’t you know…). She messages back “they’ve got it”.
So Sunday morning comes and she picks me up. She tells me to drive her car to the impound lot (she’s a nervous driver). So I pay the money and get my car out of the lot but I have to follow her back to her place. Let’s just say she drove about 7 miles to avoid a half-mile piece of road – but I told her I’d follow her.
So finally we make it back to her apartment and I set up her new office chair. She’s been playing with some of the new toys and has some questions, so I stay about another hour to help her work through her issues.
When I got home I was dead tired. If you told me I won the lottery I probably would have told you to mail me the check.
Monday: At some point at the Christmas party a group of us decided to go to this Irish-themed bar in town. We had been there before and had a really good time just hanging out, talking and drinking. It was all too short for me. I felt like, as soon as I got there, it was time to leave.
Whatever it was, I knew it would happen…
Hey, I gotta wrap this up SOMEHOW, don't I?