500,000 Hours Old

At some point today I will turn 500,000 hours old, per this website.  (Or 30,000,000 minutes old.  Or 1,800,000,000 seconds old.)  I'm guessing it will happen 3 hours and 40 minutes after the site says, since to go back to that date would be to go back to midnight and I was born at 8:20 pm, but splitting hairs here.  A couple years ago I turned 20,000 days old, and a few years before that I turned 50 years old, but I think this is about the last of the notable round numbers I will achieve in my lifetime.

Why We Hate Cable Companies

So, I called the cable company this afternoon to cancel our cable television, but keep our cable internet.  I was firm but pleasant in my approach, but it did not go as planned, of course.

The customer service worker I spoke to first and told what I wished to do referred me to their retention department, as I expected.  I deflected all offers of discounts and remained steadfast in canceling our cable tv while keeping the cable internet and eventually he stopped trying the various offers to have me keep cable tv.  He then turned off the cable tv and the internet also went out.  I kept him on the line until he got the cable internet to came back, but I was far from finished and also had a few questions about my bill.

This current billing period is for May 2 until June 1.  Only after turning off the cable tv and my questions did he let me know that they do not pro-rate for their monthly services and I would be liable for the entire bill.  That would be over 3 weeks of cable tv services I would have to pay for but not receive.  Unacceptable, and I told him so.  After that exchange it took some time but he said he got my cable tv reinstated through June 1 but the cable tv boxes would not work, we would have to have the app downloaded to our phones and cast to the smart televisions.  Again, I found this unacceptable and I asked to speak to a supervisor.  He responded that may take up to an hour, I said I would wait.

In about ten minutes he checked in with me to make sure I was still there - yes, I'm not going anywhere. After about another ten minutes he "found" a ten dollar discount he could give me.  I said I would rather continue to wait for a supervisor.

Eventually  - and I never did speak to a supervisor - he was suddenly able to turn on our cable tv again through the cable boxes, so now our services were the same as if I hadn't called at all.  But he did say he end-dated our cable tv service for June 1 but I should call on May 29 to be sure, for some reason.  And you can bet your bottom dollar I will call that day, if not the day before, and for their sake I hope I'm in a good mood that day.

What a run-around.  

I entered the call in a good mood and was very pleasant yet I was misled, lied to, and delayed over and over.  I likely may have been able to end it today and get it pro-rated if I stayed on the line for another hour, but I had been on the phone for almost 90 minutes already so we will have the same services through June 1.  That is their tactic.  Delay, delay, delay and hope we give up and hang up.

I found the whole experience sickening and now instead of possibly returning to cable tv in the fall we will be relying on internet streaming services and over the air tv, but will also now immediately be looking into alternate internet providers, as well.

Fuck Spectrum.  I think I may try to call again tomorrow to cancel and try again have my bill pro-rated, but how much is my time worth?

Concert Checklist Trend

Apparently, this checklist has been trending on social media of some sort, I read about it on a website.  Similar to the '50 Bands I've Seen Live' trend that I posted back in the first year of this blog, I felt the urge to give my two cents on this one.

1. First concert: Dio (w/ Dokken)
2. Last concert: ZZ Top
3. Worst concert: Tesla
4. Loudest concert: Ace Frehley
5. Best concert: Pink Floyd
6. Seen the most: Kiss
7. Most surprising: Beck
8. Next concert: ??
9. Wish I could've seen: The original Kiss in the seventies

Those are my answers.  It's hard to recollect them all, and now I've seen so many online it's hard to separate them from in-person sometimes.  At my age and after the pandemic now, I expect most of my live concerts to be online.  I'm not saying I won't go out to a show, just that it's going to take a lot to get me to do it.  Livestreams are easier, cheaper, more options and just more comfortable.

Care to share your list?

Sunflower Seeds And #1 Neighborly

It was apparent by the mess outside the back door this morning that the sunflower had indeed gone to seed and those seeds had been discovered.  Squirrels had been getting at it this morning, while the cats watched diligently and silently from inside the porch and bedroom window, just feet away.  If I was going to harvest any seeds to plant next year the time seemed to be now.

Thankfully only a small part of the seeds had been pilfered so far, so I was able to get a good amount rubbed off into a small box.  They do seem a bit moist yet so I'll have to let them dry out before storing them until spring.  My mind starts to wander thinking about different places to plant them in spring, but no sense thinking about that as it is still about 7 months away yet before they'll be planted.

And while I'm thinking of it, I mowed the whole lawn today.  Only notable for the few times I've had to mow this year.  I believe it's only been: May, once; June, 1/2; July, 0; August, 1 1/2; September, once - today.  So I've mowed the whole lawn only 4 times and the back yard an additional 2 times through September this year.  Incredible, really, just absolutely incredible.

*          *          *

In other news, Madison was fashionably ranked number one on yet another list.  This time it is for the Most Neighborly City in the US, 2023, after being ranked second last year by neighbor dot com.  Madison has consistently made these kind of lists and has often topped these kinds of lists in the last several years.  No matter where you live it's easy to take what is local for granted, but there are actually a lot of good things about this area.  I often seem to find more and more to take for granted around here.  More lately, I've been trying to make an effort to take more advantage of many local amenities, but there's always more that get missed.  We have a really good zoo in town that I haven't been to in years, and I feel bad about it every time I think of it, for example.

*          *          *

Finally, it's the new fiscal year this weekend.  Normally not very notable but we're headed for another government shutdown at midnight due to the intellectual toddlers in Washington, and for the second straight year I have to work on a weekend.  Tomorrow afternoon I have to sign on for a few hours to get some end-of-fiscal-year work done and do some testing due to system updates for the fiscal year changeover, and I'm really not happy about it.  And since I work on government contracts but for a private company we will have business as usual if the government shuts down, but without funding it will be hectic catching up on payments once the in-fighting in the Senate and House gets resolved.

We all have to work together if we are to survive.  The way things are going now, we're doomed.

New This, New Thats

I don't believe we've had any rain since I posted about it last, but we did have a couple minor air quality warnings that didn't amount to much.  Mostly in the 'Moderate' category so nothing like what we had a couple weeks ago.  It's still a thing and still affecting other areas too so we may get another bad spell, we'll see.  Anyway, a few new things happening around here lately.

• A couple months ago we got a new vacuum, a Bissell Pet Hair Eraser, and boy does it get up the cat hair.  We've stuck with Oreck for a long time now, but I'm glad I decided to try another brand.  This small house, and I still have to empty it halfway through - and we only have the two rugs, no carpet!
• Speaking of the cats, they got a new cat tree same as the old cat trees.  Availability of them have been sporadic, so a year or two ago when I saw it available again I ordered another.  We had a nice one when they were young that they outgrew, now we're on the fourth cat tree of this type, one of the few cat trees I've seen that I'd say is for adult cats.  They've not been as hard on them as they've gotten older, 11 years old last April, so not sure if we'll need another.  The old one from the front windows is now the porch cat tree, I disassembled it just enough to put it back together with the best of the used sisal rope pillars as I've done before.  The cat's don't care.
• 
  A few months ago my wife's phone, same as mine at the time, bricked.  She just woke up and the phone was dead, but luckily and thanks to Amazin we had her another phone late that very day.  Since then, my Pixel 3XL has had a couple hiccups.  Nothing major, just acting up slightly, and I was due for an upgrade so I got a new Pixel 7A.  Now, transitioning to a new smart phone is always a pain in the butt, right?  Not anymore.  First off, Google pretty much owns me - gmail, blogger, youtube, chrome, fitbit - all that and more.  Much of the reason I got us Pixels last time.  But upgrading from an older Pixel to a new one is the easiest transition you can imagine.  The new phone showed all the same backgrounds, and all the icons in all the same places like it was the same phone.  You have to download them again, but they make that really easy, too.  I think I'll be sticking with Pixels as long as I have a smart phone.
• But, on September 14, 2022, Google notified me that I had used 50% of my 15GB storage.  Now last week they notified me that was up to 70%.  How?  I've deleted a ton of old emails and drastically reduced the amount of pictures I take since then.  Now I will go through my old pictures I have in Google photos and delete everything unnecessary - I'm up to January 2017.  I'd always taken many more pictures than needed so I could pick and choose the best ones, thinking it's all digital anyway, but that seems to have caught up to me.  And I DO NOT want to have to pay for storage.  The alternative is to just not back up my photos in Google, just on my hard drives.  Also a real possibility.
• Not a lot to report on the new trail camera yet.  I tried giving it a go a few times with no success until I finally figured out the new SD card had a little switch to protect it that I must have nudged after the first use.  It's currently out in the garden watching over the pepper plants which have gotten munched on by critters, likely rabbits, due to how dry it's been.  The peppers are now caged again and I haven't had any other use for the trail cam yet so I've let it be for now.
• Later this week I have new sandals coming, a new kitchen faucet, and a new baguette baking pan.  I found a new recipe for french bread that is supposed to be very versatile and it makes a lot of dough so I expect to have a couple baguettes, some buns or rolls, try my hand at pepperoni rolls, and maybe a round loaf.  So a day of baking coming up this weekend.

The garlic will be early this year due to the weather.  My wife checked it last weekend and it was almost ready to come out of the ground, so we'll be checking it again this weekend.  And the sunflowers are doing good.  Well, one is doing great, another not too bad, and two others seem stunted but so far I'm letting them grow to see if anything will happen.   I just went out to grab a picture, and it is now officially taller than me!  As you see here, the leaves always seem to get a bit droopy in the late afternoon sun, but they always come back.  Cheers!

Correction edit:  My wife picked all the garlic while I was on my walk this afternoon.  I just noticed now!

Spring Blogday This-And-Thats

It's starting to really feel like Spring around here.  Plants are coming up, trees are budding, and there is a new green hue starting in the lawn.  Even some crocus have survived the foot of snow and hungry rabbits.  I should really have been outside last night having the first fire pit of the year.  I can touch upon that in a bit, but I think there's a few different things in my head to come out.

• Allergy season is upon us, and after years of escalating allergies I'm using Flonase this year.  I started on it about a month ago and it seems to be working as my wife has mentioned her allergies several times recently and so far and I haven't noticed anything, really.  When I think of how miserable I got at times the last few years, well, I really hope this works well for me.
• A month or two ago I was notified by Google that I was halfway to my free storage limit.  A lot of storage left, but it has drastically changed how I take pictures.  I take much fewer and take the time to delete the bad ones now, when I just snapped away without a care before.  But I think my worry may be misplaced.  I'm years away from the current limit at this rate, and my time is finite.
• Okay, weather.  We've taken a turn for the best and will have temperatures up into the seventies later next week.  Yesterday was alternately clouds and sun and got into the fifties, today should be similar.  I considered having the first fire of the year last night but I was tired, it's still pretty damp out in the yard and firepit, and the wind was pushing my limit for a fire.  This evening looks to be better, but I might make other plans on the fly today.
• Also this morning, I'll be making baguette for the 3rd weekend in a row.  Good practice, and really good bread.  If time allows I'm considering making a second kind of bread, as well.  But it being early on Saturday morning it may not happen, honestly.
• And THIS was interesting recently.  First time that's happened to me, has it happened to you?

Oh, and as of today when this posts I've been blogging for 14 years.  In some ways it feels like longer, in others not so much.  I'm glad I still do it, I enjoy the outlet of writing and being somewhat creative at times, and I'm thankful for the few connections I've made that encourage and support what I do here.  After all, it wouldn't really be worth it if no one read or provided occasional feedback.  Thank you.

Not Much, You? Just Links

Hello, there!  Hope your winter is starting off nicely.  It's been cold here, just above and below freezing as is normal, and not a lot of snow yet but you know it's coming.  Life goes on, just more indoors than outdoors recently, and likely for a while now.

It's been difficult to get myself out for walks with the temperatures right around freezing so I've been utilizing the treadmill more.  The coolness of the weather and basement has my right knee tightening up but I push through as I don't believe I'm causing any harm to it, just scar tissue reminding me that it's there.  I still have the feeling of slipping on a rug on ice when on it sometimes, but I find if I keep one hand in contact with a handle and look straight ahead or down at the display it is better.  I'm doing at least 15 minutes a day at a speed that is comfortable that day, but slowly increasing the time spent as I (hopefully) get more used to it.

I don't have much to say since last post, except work sucks and I may expand upon that one day, not soon.  But I have found some links I think others may find interesting, so here's that.

The first, with all that nuke talk from ol' Vlad, is called NUKEMAP.  I remember this or a similar sight from several years ago.  It is interesting to play with for a bit, and hope it remains just that - play.

The other is a more recent find, a game called STATTOGORIES.  There are lots of different this or that games you can play there; which google searches are more popular, which YouTube video has more views, or which song has more plays on Spotify, plus tons more options.  While I'm finding it interesting I'm also finding that I'm not that good at it.

I most recently came across ChatGPT, another AI site but about dialogue, instead of this artistic AI link I shared previously.  I've not had the time to try the chat one properly yet, but it looks like it can be very interesting.  Both of these require an account, but you can join easily with your google account.  Yes, google pretty much owns me and all my information; Blogger, Gmail, Youtube, and surely more.  I'm counting on this becoming detrimental, and this AI evolving to bite us humans in the ass, to come after my time has expired, I guess.  

After that, the apocalypse can happen at any time, as far as I'm concerned.  I just won't have the satisfaction of knowing exactly what broke that camel's back.  These days, there's too many candidates to predict.

Early October This-And-Thats

It's jacket weather today, light jacket.  The air becomes crisp though the sun shines.  There's a bit of a breeze, but that's supposed to drop off in a couple hours.  I'm counting on it as I'm planning on a fire and having a friend over.

• Markings showed up around the tree stump in front of neighbor Jane's.  I'm not sure exactly what the colors mean, but interesting how they're so close to the stump.  I hope the stump-grinding crew is careful.
• The artificial intelligence that creates 'art' from your input had made the news a couple weeks ago.  I finally played around with it last night, and it's pretty neat but I want to play around with it more and get more creative with my input.  You have to create an account, but you can use your google account.  Check it out here.  If I get it to create something really cool or unusual I'll share it here sometime.
• I'd kept forgetting to mention it, but the blog emails finally stopped going out around the beginning of August.  I know many who read via the emails may not make the effort to come to the site to read, but I hope they do.  I never found a similar service for free, but TinyLetter is an interesting option.  It's more like a newsletter you sign up for, so I'd have to create that.  Maybe paste the blog into it or, more likely, send one out once a month or so with links to my posts.  Everything and nothing is on the table still, it depends on the effort I want to put forth.
• 
  I found poop in the back yard again today, and I don't have the trail cam back there.  I had it back there for a few weeks and all it caught was a whole lot of squirrel activity, no pooper.  Right now, it's on neighbor Jane's fence across from the back door, close to the ground.  My thought was to see what could be coming into the back yard down the driveway side, plus security for the garage and back door.  I've not checked those images and video yet.
• We had rain on 8 weekends in a row until last weekend.  Not washouts, but at some point every weekend.  And the porch roof started to leak a bit onto one of the new ceiling tiles.  I do have extra tiles but a little white spray paint will probably fix it fine, I did that to some of the old tiles more than once.  Several years ago I got up there and sprayed some of that flex seal stuff where the porch roof meets the house.  The porch is not the house, certainly not built to code, and will get replaced someday so we don't want to spend much, if any, money fixing it up.  So I crawled up the ladder a few days ago and gave it another good coat of flex seal.  Hopefully that will last a few more years now.
• The Green Bay Packers play in London on Sunday morning, 8:30 a.m. our time so I think 2:30 p.m. there?  The last NFL team to play a game internationally because they are one of the smallest markets so didn't give up a home game before and no other team would give up their home game against the Packers because their fans could fill any stadium ($).  Being one of the most popular teams, Packer fans travel well and are located all over the place, here and the world.  My wife is planning a fancy breakfast for us for the game and I'm really looking forward to it.  There's a lot I should get done later that Sunday, but I'm just going to enjoy the unusual morning game and we'll just have to see what happens.

I've been thinking lately that I want to post less more often.  Less words and topics in one post, maybe.  It's a thought, anyway.  Have a good weekend, everyone.

Hasn't that wind died down yet?

Pride

No, not that kind, that was June.  Pride, satisfaction, happiness, gratification, fulfillment, contentment; whatever you want to call it.  It's a good feeling, even if fleeting.  I've felt a bit of that lately, as I sat by the fire last night I looked around me and just appreciated it all.

My wife and I have a nice house, if small, that's in pretty good shape and we've made some good improvements, inside and out, so far.  We have an exceptional lawn for the area, as it was when we bought it so I've maintained that, which does take some doing.  The gardens and flowerbeds are looking good and the compost bin I built with just a vague plan to start is still holding up great and looking good.  The garage is stuffed full but well organized so even I can usually get 3/4 way around the car to get to anything anytime.  The firepit and wood rack have been a great addition to the yard and got me out of the house and outside much more during a pandemic, and still, obviously.  We live on a nice street and though the street itself is getting a little rough in spots the neighborhood is nice, calm and family-oriented.  And in a good part of town, on the bike path to easily get to other parts of town or as far as you're willing to walk or bike.  The city itself has many outstanding features that are unique, including the middle of the city is our state capitol building on an isthmus.

And, well, now Livability rated Madison as the best place to live in the US for a second year in a row.  The link is a quick read, points out some highlights and numbers.  Not that I take a whole lot of stock in the ranking, whatever number, but to consistently be on lists like these, it must be a pretty good place.  A related article here points out lots more of those lists, and more of the varied features of the city that are too numerous for me to try to list here.

It's easy to take for granted.  We live here every day, this is normal to us.  But realizing you have it pretty good in a pretty good place feels pretty damn good, sometimes.  I like to ignore the weight of the world in those moments, and just be proud of what we have.  And that's okay.

Windy

Windy today, to put it mildly.  

It's been howling in the background all day as I worked and still at this time, with scattered rain/snow, as well.  

We've had some good light jacket weather recently but back to winter coats for the next several days, at least in the mornings, with high temps in the 40's ºF.

Mentioning the wind in responding to BW's comment on the last post reminded me that I saved the link to a site that shows the wind speeds on a map for the country, aptly called Wind Map.  I've had it saved for some time but always forgot to look at it when it was windy or never found a chance to share it, otherwise, so here it is.

Screenshots were about the same time.  This shows 20.0 mph sustained but around the Madison area I got from 19.9 to 20.7 mph.  The weather map is from a local tv station's website.  Much of the country looks very windy today, actually, not just our region.

Could it possibly, finally, be blowing winter chills away?  Maybe not this week, I guess, but spring needs to feel sprung soon.

RIP Jonco

Sadly, another that I've followed on the internet for years has passed, Jonco, of the sites Bits and Pieces and Naughty Bits, among others.  His kids left a message on his Bits and Pieces site this morning.  He schedules future posts to have them published at intervals throughout the day and they left them be, so there will still be posts for a short time it seems, but their message appears pinned at the top.

Bits and Pieces was one of the first sites that I followed regularly, so over 20 years now.  Both the sites above are in my Favorites list and have been, B&P since I started this blog and NB since it started shortly after.  B&P is not a blog, but he did write about himself there often enough you felt you knew him pretty well.  He grew a community over there of many different kinds of people, some I followed later or have seen in other circles.   While I haven't read every entry every day in some time, it was always there when I needed a distraction or laugh.  All my best goes out to his family.  RIP Jonco.

RIP Apetor and Booster

 Apetor is a Youtuber that I've followed for many years now, me and his other 1.27 million subscribers.  I really liked his quirky, entertaining videos.  Last night I learned that he died on November 27.  Apetor made many different videos but he had a penchant for skating on thin ice, and that seems to have been the end of him.  I won't say much more here, but this short article tells more about him and how he died.  Below is the last video he made, from November 22, link here for email readers.  RIP Tor Eckhoff.

I got my booster and flu shots yesterday.  I remember feeling a little unwell after my second Covid shot, and I do not feel well today.  I'm not sure if having both at the same time made it worse, but my shoulder that got both injections is also pretty sore today.  Small price to pay for peace of mind, I think.

I've Been Probed!

After work this afternoon I sat back down at my desk for some relaxing on the internet.  Not every day, but every so often I look at my website statistics.  Today was one of those days and holy cow!  Per Google Analytics, I had 268 users for 274 pageviews yesterday?!  When I go into the details of the graph you see here, the 44 up top is searches of all my labels, then several for views of each month for certain years and some Latest Listening Pleasure posts, then the big bottom one is views for what seems to be all of my LLP posts!  

Curious, I looked at the Blogger stats and it showed 288 pageviews yesterday.  That's only a few dozen less than I normally get a month!  Oh, and notice almost all are from the UK?  What's going on over there, guys?  Could it possibly be Wargasm UK fans?  Or - probably more likely - just some 'bot checking me out?  What would you make of this?

Green & Gold

Link to Youtube video here.

Needing New Picture Host?

Back when I started this site (and the garden blog) I uploaded pictures to Blogger to post without a care in the world.  Eventually I got the message that I had used up all my storage when I didn't even know I had a limit.  I needed a new place to put my pictures so I could post them on my sites.  I wrote about that on August 13, 2012.  Now, I seem to remember getting that message from Picasa.  I don't know if that's right or what the connection with Blogger is, but all those old pictures are still on the site (though many linked photos may not be) and come up as from Blogger.  Well, unable to post pictures I got a free account with Flickr and have used that to host all the pictures I post ever since.

Well, it wasn't long ago I got an email that Flickr had been sold to another company, and then on November 13 I received an email from Flickr about important updates to my account.  Basically, no more free ride for me.  They will allow free accounts with up to 1000 photos, or I may upgrade to Flickr Pro for an as-yet-undisclosed annual fee (but I can get 30% off the first year).  My problem is that I have almost 1400 pictures on Flickr, so after January 8, 2019, I will no longer be able to upload pictures and after February 5, 2019, I will have my photos that are over 1000 deleted, starting with the oldest, unless I pay.  What this means is that after that date my pictures on posts on both my sites from August 2012 to 376 pictures later will disappear from my sites.  My guess is that would go through 2015 and include some cherished memories, but I definitely do not want to pay - any cost, every year, forever.  If it becomes relevant again, I can always re-upload to my next picture host and update the post, but it is a terrible shame because I do look back to years past on my sites.

So what do I do now?  Well, I noticed that on my phone I have the old Picasa logo.  Picasa is now Google Photos.  It does not have all those original photos that I uploaded way back when, but when I take a picture with my phone it is now backed up there.  And there's even pictures saved there from my old (first) smartphone.  There does appear to be a limit, so I still have to figure out how it's going to work over the long haul, but I think it will work for me.  And I can still use the camera and upload the ones I wish to, but I will probably start using my phone almost exclusively for taking pictures.  And after getting the pictures off my phone and saved onto the computer I should "clean up" all the excess pictures I take out of Google Photos to extend my limit.

I have two more posts in mind for very soon that I will want pictures, so I will be trying this out probably later this weekend.  This should not affect normal blog viewing at all, unless it is an older affected post being viewed, other than the picture will open differently when clicked.  If anyone else has a better idea I'm very willing to listen!

Soooo, funny story:  I was re-reading and editing the above when it occurred to me I hadn't even tried to upload directly since that day in 2012 when I got the message about reaching the limit.  I  just tried now, and it works!  I won't need an outside image host after all!  Limits must have changed in the last 6 years?  How can I tell?  Well, Google is Blogger is Chrome is Youtube is Google Photos is Android is everything else I am, it seems.  I'll still have the loss of posted photos for that 2012-15 period, and that pains me greatly, but hopefully I'll never have to deal with this again.

American Idiot in the UK

If you haven't heard, there is a campaign in the United Kingdom to make the song American Idiot, by the band Green Day, number one on the UK charts to coincide with President Trump's visit.


Classic!

I'm laughing already but I'll love it if it actually hits number one!

EU Laws, Blogger & Microsoft

So as you may or may not know, laws changed in the European Union about cookies and data collection from websites.  When I sign in to my account I see the following message:


And when I click on Learn more, it says how I can check:

But when I do that - no matter what device or browser, signed in or signed out - it automatically redirects me to this .com site.  Thanks, Google, parent company of Blogger.  So now what?  Well, hopefully friends overseas Delcatto or Blue Witch can tell me if they got the message when they visit.  Please, guys?  Or else I'm just not going to worry about it, I guess.

I've just about had my fill of computer pains in my ass lately.  Really.

A week ago Monday there was a Windows 10 update on my computer.  When I got to the computer Tuesday it was a paperweight.  Seems that for a small number of users their antivirus stopped part of the update so it tries to 'roll back' to the prior OS but there is none anymore.  Last weekend I bought another computer, so I've had all that pain in my ass, restoring, settings, signing in from a new device so getting all those goddamn emails and security warnings.  And I still can't find a fix for the old computer.  There is a method using another computer at the link above that I can try when I get my patience back, but nothing else I've seen and tried so far has worked.  And calling Microsoft is not what I want to do, though I may need to.

I'm feeling old and pissed off and I want all you rotten fuckers (Google, Blogger, Microsoft, Yahoo) off my lawn!

Dishwasher Conclusion & Tech Support

On Thursday I worked for a couple hours in the morning and was home in plenty of time for the installation window I was given.  Before long, I received a call from the installers.  No, they weren't on their way, they were calling to see if I had the dishwasher delivered to the house because they couldn't find it at the store.  No, it's not here, they said they would look further and call back.  I called the store manager that helped me out last week and left him a message.  This had to get done today.  Soon they called back, they found it under a different sales number, probably the original.  I called and left a message for the manager that they found it, I never did get a call back from him but he may have been looking for my dishwasher!

Soon enough the installers were here.  They asked about the prior one as they were removing it, checked it over, and found that it had been wired incorrectly.  They asked if I wanted them to put it back in or install the new one, I said to just go ahead with the new one.  Installation went smoothly and we finally had our fully functioning dishwasher after weeks of hand washing.  The only thing that bugged me, and I let them know, is that when unboxing the new unit they ripped off a rubber flap that hangs down under the door and behind the kick plate.  They said it was just to try and keep noise down but doesn't really do anything but get in the way.  I expressed my displeasure, but accepted the new unit.  They left and I soon had the first load washing. 

So, this dishwasher saga is complete.  I still don't feel real good about the transaction, but at least I feel good about the product and the large retail establishment.  The installation crews, on the other hand, I don't feel good about.  The first crew installed it incorrectly and the second took a liberty with my product that I did not appreciate.  But it is done.

                                   *                      *                      *                      *

What you should see.

Shortly before they arrived to install the dishwasher I initiated contact with Microsoft tech support.  I've mentioned here a few times how a recent (well, before the holidays) Windows update changed my display to darker than it should be and I had no option to make it brighter.  When I restart the computer, I can watch the picture on my lock screen jump from regular to dark as it is starting up.  I've researched online, asked people, and cursed Microsoft under my breath (and aloud) several times.  I just can't fix it.

What I see - There is no brightness control.

I was put in contact with "Bryan," who seemed confidant we could resolve the issue.  He remoted in on the computer, and I watched as he looked at and tried all the things I did.  He did several scans and things that took time, so I was able to go back and forth from the computer to the dishwasher installers in the kitchen.  Scans found nothing.  Drivers did nothing.  Finally we did a full reinstall of Windows 10.  This was going to take a lot of time so Bryan could not stay, but he was confident this would fix it but I was given a number to call with my case number if not.  After the reinstall - nothing changed.  After several hours the computer was exactly as it was before.  Short of buying a new computer I don't know what else to try.

Update!  When I went to look it up again today for writing this, there is now a note on this help screen:


So it seems they are finally acknowledging that it is not there for some users.  But my monitor is already at 100% brightness.  Now what?  I hate to do it, but I think I'll have to call tech support back again...

Lake Monona Ice Views

I've noticed the ice on the lake the last couple weeks as I drive to and from work and I'd been thinking of stopping to take a few pictures.  Well, today as I was running errands I took advantage of the beautiful weather - sunny and above freezing - to stop for a few minutes and actually do it.  This is Lake Monona from Olbrich Park, where the Olbrich Biergarten was opened late this last summer.  The migrating water fowl, possibly including a population of trumpeter swans that I'm told is in the area, can be seen in the distance here if you look close, where the ice meets open water.




And to my right as I stood is again a beautifully framed view of the downtown isthmus and our picturesque capitol building.  I like this picture enough I've made this my background on our computer.




The ice closest to shore is mostly rough from being broken and refrozen, with the water spray freezing on the rocky shore making another nice photo opportunity.  I'm not a total stranger to being out on the ice, but it is much too early to trust it.  At least one overeager ice fisherman has already had to be pulled from the lake.



A zoomed in view to the left may provide a better indication of all the water fowl out on the edge of the ice.  Their noise actually made a quite a dull roar from where I was standing.  The Madison lakes are a popular spot on waterfowl migration routes.



And another zoomed in view of the downtown isthmus area that shows the transition from the broken/refrozen ice, to the ice sheet and then open water.  It's too early to say if the lakes will fully freeze over this winter or not.  On the left you will see the Monona Terrace convention center, a bike destination over the summer, and to the right that bit of green you see is the copper top of the Barrymore Theater, also pictured in my last Atwoodfest post.






You may also click on the pictures to see them full size on Flickr.

On a side note, this last week or so Windows had two updates that took some time to install and ever since then my display is darker than normal.  My new monitor is and has been at 100% brightness, but in my windows display settings there is no longer the choice to change the brightness.  I've tried everything I know to do to remedy this, to no avail.  Anyone have any ideas?

56

Here's one of my favorite short stories to tell.  It's been a few years now, so don't ask for the site because I don't remember, but I took an online questionnaire that was supposed to tell me how long I had to live.  What the hell, I thought.

I sat and went through this whole quiz, well more than a dozen or so questions, and detailed.  I got done and it said 56.  What, I thought?  Certainly I'm healthier than this.  I called my wife in and showed her.  It's just spitting out a random number, she said.  So I had her do it.  It came out with 93 or 94, I don't remember exactly.

How can this be?  Do it again, she said, so I did.  I went through each question all over again and answered honestly and completely.  56.  Again.

So that's it.  I have 6 more years to live.  It's on the internet so it must be true, right?