Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Best Buy
A couple of months ago, I went in to the Hillsboro Best Buy to pick up some Amazon Gift Cards. As I passed the laptops, I noticed an Asus that had the new Sandy Bridge processor for just over $1200. It was not the cheap $400 Acer, it is a state-of-the-art gaming rig. I decided to think about it and talk with the wife about it. And after much research and deliberating, I decided to get it. So, the next day, I go in during my lunch time to purchase said laptop. After waiting for 30 minutes, standing in front of the laptop, waiting for someone to help me, I finally get a manager who wanders by from the backroom. He asked me if I need help and I replied with a curt ‘Yes’. He stated that he will find someone and thanked me for my patience. In which I replied with a ‘Patience running thin’. A short time later, a young girl comes over to help me. She greeted me and told me that she was from the phone area and knew nothing about ‘these machines’. I smiled and told her that I knew exactly what I wanted, which was this laptop. She wondered off to find a computer “expert” to see if they had any in stock. (notice the quotes) She came back a few minutes later and told me that they were out of stock, but the Beaverton Mall store had two. In front of her manager, I thanked her and said that she was the only person in store that actually tried to help me. When I got to the Beaverton store.. It was exactly the same thing.. I purchased my laptop from the AT&T girl.. I just don’t get it..
Last Week, my girls started school and had some homework that they needed to print off of our very very old printer. But, hey, it still worked.. sort of.. Blue was more of a green, red turned out to be yellow, and black was more of a dark gray. These were the colors no matter if it was a new ink cartridge or an old one. So, I finally bit the bullet and went to purchase a new printer. Best Buy had the all-in-one that I wanted and it was even on sale. So, during my lunch, I stopped by Best Buy to pick up the printer. After searching, I finally find the exact printer on a back end-cap, but there are none around it. But, I can see that they have some in overstock. So, I try to find someone to help me get one from overstock, without pulling a Jackie Chan maneuver. No luck.. Everyone that I find is either rushing into the back storeroom area or trying to help a customer. So, after 30 minutes of wandering the computer area looking for someone, I leave frustrated and printerless. That is the final straw. I told my family and friends about these stories and if they were going to get something, purchase it from Amazon.
Good Bye Best Buy!
Friday, February 25, 2011
EVE Online
There are some aspects of the game that I do like. Skill Training is real-time.. meaning, if it says it is 11 hours to complete, it is 11 hours, either when you are online or offline. There is no grinding for XP or a specific skill. I like that a lot.
And, we have to deal with the me Issue. I have a strange sense of needing to have value if I pay money for something. So, if I am forking out cold hard cash, I want to feel like I am getting my monies worth. So, when I am playing EVE, I have to play EVE. This is wrong, since I ignore everyone around me. I at least have to have fun with the game and be so incredibly pissed off at it all the time!
Also, there is no End-Game. There is no master purpose or Quest for the holy grail.
I guess I am tired of the constant unprovoked attacks.
Monday, January 17, 2011
New XBox in the house!
Went to BestBuy and bought a new Black XBox360 with a 250gb drive. Hooked it up and started downloading all of the content that I had before... waiting.. waiting.. waiting.. after several hours, I decided to go to sleep.. There were still about 25 items in the "pending download" state. I guess having it for so long, I acquired lots of stuff.
On a side note, I do have to rant about BestBuy for a second. I have been a big supporter of BestBuy for a long time. Have purchased many many many things there over the many years. So, on Sunday, my family and I went in and we were greeted by the door guard, but no one else. Even though, there were many employees there. I rushed back to the XBox section, grabbed an XBox from the shelf. There were 3 employees there, just standing and chatting. They did not say anything to me or even break their conversation. Did not really need their help, but, it would have been nice to be acknowledged. At the check out area, there was one guy, who was apparently buying the store. The guy was purchasing several large items, so it was going to take him a while. So, I stood, holding my XBox... and waited.. and waited.. I saw the girls wandering around looking at stuff, while I continued to wait. Another BestBuy employee wandered the area, cleaned up some papers from a register and then wandered off. And.. I waited.. Finally, the guy finished up his transaction and I was up. I was seriously thinking about putting it on her counter and walking out. I was pissed off by this.. it was just frustrating.. It is not like I could not get this somewhere else or they had such a good price on it. It was a standard Microsoft price, $299.. I mean, I could have easily have ordered it from Amazon, with free shipping. It just means that I would have not been able to play that day. Looking back on it, it would have been a small price to pay for the level of frustration that I felt inside that store.
My point is.. Customer Service.. If you are in a service industry, you need to own it - breath it - live it - Do it! I will think twice about shopping there again.
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Bye Vesta... Hello Fiserv...
Well, about a month ago, I left Vesta and went to work for Fiserv. I am doing the same type of work, the same work that I have been doing for over a decade now.. But, not for IT.. I work for the various Product Development groups. This includes Engineering, Development, Integration and the QA groups. I am in charge of the Product Development Datacenter, from Architect / designing to implementation to maintaining. The overall environment is small than what I am used to, but there are a lot of good challenges to resolve. I do have to say that these people here are a lot of fun to work with and for. They really enjoy their work and it shows. Everyone is working on the same team mentality and willing to help out whenever possible. My Director is awesome and look forward in working with him for a long time.
Thursday, September 02, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Global Warming.. Fact or Fiction
I saw this and was reminded of a debate that I had with a couple of friends of mine… Okay, it was an aggressive conversation.
The past decade was the hottest ever recorded and global temperatures are now rising at a rate of about one-fifth of a degree Fahrenheit every decade, according to the annual "State of the Climate" report issued by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). More than 300 climate scientists in 48 countries used a wide variety of data to measure 10 indicators of warming, including air temperatures, sea temperatures, Arctic sea ice, glaciers, and spring snow cover. "These independently produced lines of evidence all point to the same conclusion: our planet is warming," said NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco. The NOAA report said every decade since the 1980s has become progressively warmer. Deke Arndt, the co-author of the NOAA report, said that although 1 degree F of warming since 1950 may seem small, "it has already altered our planet" by melting glaciers and sea ice, causing more intense heat waves, and sparking heavier rainstorms. The data showing that the 2000s were the hottest on record did not include data from 2010, which is so far the warmest year ever recorded, with extreme heat waves in the U.S., Russia, Europe, China, and the Middle East. The NOAA report said more than 90 percent of the warmth generated by burning heat-trapping fossil fuels has been absorbed by the oceans, which will radiate that heat back into the atmosphere for centuries to come.
Source: http://e360.yale.edu/content/digest.msp?id=2527
It reminds me of a movie quote - It takes a geological event to heat a million gallons of water by six degrees in 12 hours.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Nothing Is Ever Easy!
However, Today I canceled my Verizon account...AND THE TROUBLE BEGAN!!! Once the account was terminated, Verizon email stopped. Apparently, you have to have an active account. I called Comcast and they were little to no help. They told me to contact Verizon. So, I did. I talked to them, explained the situation and was willing to pay to keep the email alive. The Verizon tech was not even willing to hear of it. It was like.. How dare you leave and then want to keep your email. So, I am basically screwed and my wife is pissed, since we did not have anything in place to change the email address in the hundred of contacts, sites, and payment places out there.
I am not very happy with Tony and Comcast for what I feel is not being truthful.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
April 2010 MSFT Patches - LOTS!
Bulletin ID | Bulletin Title and Executive Summary | Maximum Severity Rating and Vulnerability Impact | Restart Requirement | Affected Software |
Vulnerabilities in Windows Could Allow Remote Code Execution (981210)
| Critical
| Requires restart | Microsoft Windows | |
Vulnerabilities in SMB Client Could Allow Remote Code Execution (980232)
| Critical
| Requires restart | Microsoft Windows | |
Vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Media Services Could Allow Remote Code Execution (980858)
| Critical
| Requires restart | Microsoft Windows | |
Vulnerability in Microsoft MPEG Layer-3 Codecs Could Allow Remote Code Execution (977816)
| Critical
| May require restart | Microsoft Windows | |
Vulnerability in Windows Media Player Could Allow Remote Code Execution (979402)
| Critical
| May require restart | Microsoft Windows | |
Vulnerabilities in Windows Kernel Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (979683)
| Important
| Requires restart | Microsoft Windows | |
Vulnerability in VBScript Could Allow Remote Code Execution (981169)
| Important
| May require restart | Microsoft Windows | |
Vulnerability in Microsoft Office Publisher Could Allow Remote Code Execution (981160)
| Important
| May require restart | Microsoft Office | |
Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange and Windows SMTP Service Could Allow Denial of Service (981832)
| Important
| Requires restart | Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Exchange | |
Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Visio Could Allow Remote Code Execution (980094)
| Important
| May require restart | Microsoft Office | |
Vulnerabilities in Windows ISATAP Component Could Allow Spoofing (978338)
| Moderate
| Requires Restart | Microsoft Windows |
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for March 2010
Bulletin ID | Bulletin Title and Executive Summary | Maximum Severity Rating and Vulnerability Impact | Restart Requirement | Affected Software | |||
Vulnerability in Windows Movie Maker Could Allow Remote Code Execution (975561) | Important | May require restart | Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office | ||||
Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Excel Could Allow Remote Code Execution (980150) | Important | May require restart | Microsoft Office |
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Mass Effect 2 Review
Combat is still point and shoot, but if you are bionic, you will be able to use powers, similar to those in the first game. However, you can use your abilities to arch around corners or walls. This is very handy when you are ducking behind a box and launching powers against someone’s shields.
With all of this said, I only have a couple of criticisms.
1. Max level is 30, which I achieved about half way through the game.
2. The Citadel level is really small. I would have really loved to be able to walk around more the old haunts, even if there was construction going on.
3. Can’t believe that Ash or Liara will not join your team.. I mean.. come on...
Overall, LOVE IT!!! I have played it more than Dragon Age (another Bioware product)
Oh.. Yes, there is romance and some sexual themes, after all it is a Bioware Game! I will now have to try it without importing a character to see what the differences are.
Monday, February 01, 2010
Mass Effect 2 - Review
I just realized that I have not posted a review of Mass Effect 2. I guess it is because I have not stopped playing Mass Effect 2. The graphics and game play is absolutely unbelievable, down to control panels on the ship. The cinematic cut-scenes are “almost” as good as the actual game play. This tells you how well done the actual game play is inside the game. The character development and dialog is great, at times, downright funny. There is a lot of depth to each of the characters in the game, each with a sub-mission to gain loyalty. Most aspects of the original game, Mass Effect, are different. There is no inventory, you now have to mine a planet for resources, and perform research for special abilities. With all of that said, I cannot speak highly enough and have a hard time putting the game down.
Don’t believe me.. Here is a link to a professional review.
It has my vote for GAME OF THE YEAR!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Out of Band Patch - Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-002 - Critical
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-002 - Critical
Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (978207)
Published: January 21, 2010
Version: 1.0
General Information
Executive Summary
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms10-002.mspx
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Mass Effect 2
What do West Wing, Firefly, Star Trek Next Generation, Matrix, and Battlestar Galactica have in common?
Many of the main characters from these shows have a role in the new Mass Effect 2 game from Bioware. Check this link out..
Monday, November 30, 2009
Loss of the Man Cave
This holiday season, we finished my oldest daughter's new room, formerly known as the PIT. This was my office, done in mantastic ode to dead computer crap and stuff that you may need..one day.. It had this brown wood paneling and cork board on "most" of the walls. I took all of that down, remove the glue remnants, and patch the holes. There were many many holes in the wall, wondering.. where they all came from.. I even missed a few.. hundred… but, she will not notice.. I put a coat of primer and then began to paint. It is a light pink (Disney - Fairest of them all) and a darker pink for the trim. My wife painted the bed frame, chest of drawers and headboard in the same colors. Some posers and some of her stuff.. and (poof).. it is now a little girls room. Now, both girls have their own room and I am relegated to the bedroom to play the Xbox and computer on the 36" flatpanel.. I do like having the computer on the big screen, 1920x1400 resolution, with a wireless mouse and keyboard. Guild Wars looks very nice, but Oblivion looks even better.
I did manage to play a lot of Dragon Age and Guild Wars this weekend. I think that I am almost done with my main human campaign in DA. I just have to go up against the ArchDemon, which is a badass dragon. But, with me as a warrior and my damage-dealer, Morrigan, we should do fine. But, time will tell.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Let’s Talk About VMware DPM
http://www.thevirtualblackhole.com/virtual-tech/lets-talk-about-vmware-dpm
Today’s topic is going to be about VMware’s Distributed Power Management or otherwise known as VMware DPM. If you have not heard about VMware DPM before, I found an interesting video interview with Anne Holler who works at VMware as a Senior Staff Engineer. I found this interview at Vladan Seget’s ESX Virtualization site here and it is worth checking out. The video is pretty short, only about four minutes in length and gives a pretty good overview of how VMware positions DPM in conjunction with HA and DRS.
In a lot of the environments I have worked in over the years actually had most of the processing power happen at night during the backup process. Actually at one point I had a cluster that was oversubscribed to put it mildly. If you have ever driven a standard transmission then you know about the red line on the tachometer that you should not go over or the engine would blow up. Let’s just say my oversubscribed cluster was riding that line during the day and when the backup schedule kicked off I actually saw CPU% on the individual VMware ESX hosts themselves reach levels of 102%. Just like clockwork ever day when the backup’s kicked off the host would really max out. Pretty cool to watch but I digress. The point is I am not sure I would really think about using VMware DPM in my production environment. Now if I just built a brand new ten node cluster what was designed to cover the growth for x amount of time and I had just gotten started with putting virtual machines on the cluster then sure why not set that up? I would have plenty of resources available that I would feel pretty confident about that but in most places that I have worked or spent any time at there was not really that amount of spare resources and most customers were always trying to cram as much as they can on the clusters.
VMware DPM was actually introduced in Virtual Center 2.5 and VMware ESX 3.x as an “experimental” feature and only had one way of ‘waking’ a server and that was with a magic wake on lan packet. That worked great until you rebooted Virtual Center or restarted the Virtual Center server service for any reason. After the reboot Virtual Center would see the host as down and was not able to bring it back to life. That was one reason why the technology was experimental at the time. Now in vSPhere, VMware DPM actually has three different wake methods it can use to bring the host back up. Along with using wake on lan DPM will also use IPMI wake and ILO wake. One other really cool thing that was added to VMware DPM was the ability to schedule when an ESX host would wake back up. So if you know you were going to have a heavy load at 9am you could schedule the host to wake up at 8am to be pretty for the start of the business day.
So to recap, I am not sure that VMware DPM would be something I would setup and use on a regular basis. I have also worked in certain environments that the Change Control Board would literally lay an egg if they knew that hosts could and would shut down for any reason.
That is my take on this. So what’s your take on VMware DPM and are you using it currently in your environments? I would really like to what you all have to say and think on this? Inquiring minds want to know.