Stupid Tech Support Customers

Once upon a time, I was trying to help a customer, but he was a dumbass. :) Ok, actually it wasn't just once. Unfortunately it seems to be a recurring nightmare. What follows is the first in what will be a series of stupid tech support customer stories.

disclaimer: If you do not think this customer is stupid, you yourself may actually be stupid.

disclaimer disclaimer: The above disclaimer may only apply to you if you are a computer programmer, or otherwise skilled in the ways of the 1's and 0's.

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Customer: "I am trying to run your demo software, but I keep getting an error." [error snipped for reader's sanity]

Me: "To fix this, go to the Tools menu and select 'Configure Libraries'. Then choose [snipped] and click 'OK'."

Customer: "I took all your advice but it still does not work."

Me: "Can you send me a screenshot of your 'Configure Libraries' dialog? You can take a screenshot using the 'Print Screen' button, and then paste into MS Paint."

Customer: "Here are some screenshots:"

[Customer gets out digital camera, takes pictures of computer monitor, sends digital pictures to me in an email]:

Could Congress Please Keep its Eye on the Ball?

Am I the only one who wonders why a congressional committee has time to discuss Roger Clemens (and other athletes') use of steroids, while there is a recession in the works, an aging baby boom generation, wars in the world (not just in the middle east), wide-spread poverty and hunger, global warming, renewable energy shortages, over-dependence on oil, and NCSU hasn't won a major ACC championship in 20 years? I mean seriously, can we please get our freaking priorities straight and let the damn baseball leagues deal with their own problems?

Lori McKenna Live!

5 or 6 years ago, I was cleaning my apartment with the tv on in the background. I wasn't watching the tv, but a song started playing on the show that was on, and the song (not the show) immediately caught my attention. The singing voice was so striking. Extremely expressive and painful, I ended up watching the rest of the tv show just so I could see the credits and find out what angel had this extraordinary singing voice. It was Lori McKenna.

I searched her out on the Internet and found out that she played only in the New England area, but I found some other songs of hers through her website and WUMB (public radio in Boston) recordings. All amazing. Fast forward to 2007 and Faith Hill records three of Lori's songs on her CD Fireflies (including the title track), Lori McKenna opens for Faith and Tim on tour, and Tim McGraw produces Lori's album Unglamorous. Pretty impressive! I always knew I had a golden ear and could pick out a star from a mile away (now I know its much further than a mile...how many miles from NC to Mass?).

So last night I got to see Lori live, at her show at the ArtsCenter in Carrboro, NC. The show was just Lori, Mark Erelli (backup vocals, mandolin, and guitar), and Russell (electric guitar) in a small theatre with a max seating of something like 300. I sat less than 10 feet from the stage at a table and drank a local brew while listening. Very nice! :)

If you want to check it out, I took a short grainy video of one of her songs: Written Permission. She apparently categorizes her music as country these days, since she signed with Warner Bros:

Technorati Tags: Live Music, Lori McKenna, Music

My Rat Terrier Anna Says "Hi!"

This is Anna, my 8 year old Rat Terrier.  She doesn't howl very much, so I thought this was really funny.  I think my favorite part is right near the end, after the alarm stops, she just freezes.  She's so frozen that it almost looks like the video is over, but its not.

Great Triangle Area Blogs

I found two great Triangle area blogs lately - unfortunately one of them seems to be dying:

Triangle Hike - places to go hiking in the Triangle.
GoGoRaleigh - all kinds of interesting nuggets about the goings on here.

There hasn't been anything new on the Triangle Hike blog since September, but maybe he is just taking the winter off. Anyway, what is already there is enough to entertain me for a while with 8 or so hikes.

Order Up: Cooking Classes

As a part of my "do new things" goals this year, I'm signing up for some cooking classes: Asian and Indian. Each one is 3 1.5 hour sessions, so it should be fun! Mmm...I love food!

Radiohead Meets "Family Guy"

My friend James loves Radiohead, and he introduced me to their music.  I like it because its really chill and relaxing.  But when I told him that one of the songs from their latest "In Rainbows" album (particularly the songs "Reckoner" and "Nude") reminded me of the old guy from Family Guy, James said, "I'm gonna be angry with you if that image sticks".  Well...here you go James:

Bud Commercial

This should have aired during the superbowl, I think its one of the funniest tv commercials I've ever seen.  I feel inspired to start my own swear jar.  I'd never seen it, but I saw it over on the blog of "the other me" (aka, the bastard that owns my .com domain name :P).

Its That Time of Year Again

Its that time of year again: time for the young girls of America setup in front of the grocery stores to prove that parents love their little girls more than their little boys. :) Yep, you got it: time for girl scout cookies!

Back on the Saddle Again...

I haven't been running much lately (ok, more than just lately...like for the last 6-8 months really), but I have been busy keeping in shape other ways. Most notably probably is Ultimate Frisbee which is a really good aerobic workout. Anyway...today the volleyball games that I had planned fell apart due to weather, so instead I went for a run. Probably the last 3 or 4 runs I been on were in the 2 mile range. But this time I set an intimidating goal of 8 miles, and I met the challenge. It was a great feeling of accomplishment when I crossed that last mile marker. Yay!

Tom Petty

Just got my tickets for the Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers show at Walnut Creek in Raleigh. Woohoo!