Factoid #1: It's no surprise that I'm rediscovering music I'd forgotten I had. Working with my online musical library means that tunes I'd downloaded or moved over from CD are once again coming to my attention.
Factoid #2: I've been doing well over the past week or so. I've been keeping busy (on purpose), and there are places and people and things that I allow myself to dream about ... future-type places and people and things ... places and people and things that I'm 120% sure about. However, so as to not drive myself TOO crazy, I try to keep the daydreaming at a minimum and keep it to myself.
So, for instance, it'd be unlike me to write that while I was electronically flipping through my music collection, I found myself listening to a song and thinking "Gosh, what a perfectly lovely song that'd be to use in a wedding".
It was written that I would love you from the minute I opened my eyes.
And the morning when I first saw you gave me life under Calico skies.
I will hold you for as long as you like. I'll hold you for the rest of my life.
Always looking for ways to love you. Never failing to fight at your side.
While the angels of love protect us from the inner most secrets we hide.
I'll hold you for as long as you like. I'll hold you for the rest of my life.
I'll love you for the rest of my life.
Long live all of us crazy soldiers who were born under Calico skies.
May we never be called to handle all the weapons of war we despise.
I'll hold you for as long as you like. I'll hold you for the rest of my life.
I'll love you for as long as you like.
I'll love you for the rest of my ... for the rest of my life.
Yeah, it'd be unlikely for me to write that. But I'm 120% sure it would be.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Geniuses or Geeks?
First off - geeks. All the way. No question. All the brains and NONE of the superior, condescending, smarmy attitude. Give me a geek every day of the week. (Ok if the genius in question also happens to be a geek - ala Johnny Galecki's Dr. Leonard Hofstadter? Oh yeeeeah, I'd bend the rules for Johnn ... I mean for Leonard.)
Secondly - a pondering that I've been chewing on. If you created a customer-facing product, and you wanted it to seem accessible and friendly to your average consumer, why would you then tell said potential customer "oh and if you need help, talk to one of our Geniuses?" I mean - doesn't that make it seem like the product is so confusing and befuddling that it takes a GENIUS to make it work? Or am I just being slow here? After all, I'm no genius.
Here's what's going on:
I have three products from the company that makes the portable music devices - so clearly, I'm a fan. All three products are used in various ways and none of them have ever given me a lick of trouble. Until now. See - I have a new home laptop and wanted to have the same musical library on my portable devices live on this new laptop. And it WAS working on it too, for a while ... but I noticed that my purchased file wasn't matching up. One of my devices said I had 297 purchased songs, while the laptop says that I have 93. So there's a significant chunk of music that's gone missing. Now rounding up by one whole penny, that's $204 worth of missing music ... and seeing as how I have only legally purchased music (heck - I fully admit I'm not smart enough to know how I'd go about downloading anything illegally), that's $204 I'd rather not spend again.
I gathered up my three portable music devices and my laptop and headed to the store that solely represents the company behind the devices. I was greeted immediately at the front of their door and barely started to explain my issue when Trevor, the bouncer at the door, asked if I had an appointment with one of their Geniuses. "No", I said. "I KNOW this is user error and I'm hoping that if I could just be shown the steps I'm not doing correctly, I'll be able to fix the problem on my own." I then went into a Readers-digest version of what was going wrong but barely got into the problem when Trevor interrupted "oh - yeaaaah - we can't help you. You see - while you're clearly NOT stealing music, what you're describing is how one WOULD do that and so we are legally not supposed to assist. However, if you go online and download this freeware product called notgonnanameithere.com, you should be fine." "Really?" I said, incredulously. "Because I'd have NO problem being charged for a fix - I'm just not all that comfortable and this IS your product after all."
After realizing that Trevor wasn't gonna let me anywhere near his precious geniuses no matter what the cost, I walked out of the store and I'll admit - I was feeling a little bit more comfortable with trying to troubleshoot the problem on my own. After all, while they wouldn't do it for me, I had been given a lead for a fix.
That feeling lasted right up until the VERY FIRST window from stillnotgonnanameithere.com popped up. "You have too many libraries and we cannot tell which device maps to which computer. Please type in the correct mapping justification in the next 8 seconds but be careful - if you get it wrong, we'll erase your devices, reformat your laptop and you'll be marked forever as a failure" said the window. (No, not really, but it may as WELL have said that.) Sooooooo I shut down and decided to sleep on it for a night. Perhaps I'd have a stroke of ... well, genius in my sleep.
Alas, I did not.
The next day, I again gathered up my toys and headed to the local "1st-place Purchase" store. I was greeted at the customer help desk by Kevin, who listened and - get this - TOOK NOTES!! - as I explained my problem. He then said "so fixing this would mean that your three devices and your laptop all had the same music on them, right?" "Exactly!" I said. Kevin and Tanya then spent 40 minutes - with me right there with them - as we three tried things we could think of. After that time, Tanya said "Yanno, I think we should open a ticket for you. Can you leave these items with us?" "Sure", I said. "Take your time . Heck - clearly I've been dealing with this for months now so there's no rush. I just want it to work." Kevin said he'd call me before his day ended to let me know what they'd done and what they could recommend. He also asked if a $30 charge could be added to the ticket, because he had a suspicion that they had a software package that could help with the problem. (Kevin would call, as he promised, to say that the software cannot work with my "bit size" and has already credited my account.)
I've had a day or two to think about this:
The place that CREATED the items in question would not let me talk to anyone significantly knowledgeable without an appointment, pointed me to a freeware product that isn't even connected to their company to fix the issue, and sent me on my way without ever even turning on my laptop.
The place that I purchased the laptop from, however, took my issue as a personal challenge - something almost fun for them to track down and solve, and they even offered to give me a loaner laptop while they trouble-shoot the issue. I'm typing this on my new laptop and have all my musical devices back with me. The problem still exists but I now hear from Kevin and Tanya at least twice a day as they continue to try to think of solutions. It's incredible customer service - especially when you consider that they've each spent several hours of their time pondering and surfing and researching and thus have charged me a total of 30 minutes of labor hours, which I'm more than happy to pay.
So Geeks or Geniuses?
The geeks shall inherit the Earth. (And, let's face it, it'll be a friendlier place when they do.)
**************
*Note: No real products or stores have been named in this rant but I think ya' should be able to figure out the cast of characters anyway.
Secondly - a pondering that I've been chewing on. If you created a customer-facing product, and you wanted it to seem accessible and friendly to your average consumer, why would you then tell said potential customer "oh and if you need help, talk to one of our Geniuses?" I mean - doesn't that make it seem like the product is so confusing and befuddling that it takes a GENIUS to make it work? Or am I just being slow here? After all, I'm no genius.
Here's what's going on:
I have three products from the company that makes the portable music devices - so clearly, I'm a fan. All three products are used in various ways and none of them have ever given me a lick of trouble. Until now. See - I have a new home laptop and wanted to have the same musical library on my portable devices live on this new laptop. And it WAS working on it too, for a while ... but I noticed that my purchased file wasn't matching up. One of my devices said I had 297 purchased songs, while the laptop says that I have 93. So there's a significant chunk of music that's gone missing. Now rounding up by one whole penny, that's $204 worth of missing music ... and seeing as how I have only legally purchased music (heck - I fully admit I'm not smart enough to know how I'd go about downloading anything illegally), that's $204 I'd rather not spend again.
I gathered up my three portable music devices and my laptop and headed to the store that solely represents the company behind the devices. I was greeted immediately at the front of their door and barely started to explain my issue when Trevor, the bouncer at the door, asked if I had an appointment with one of their Geniuses. "No", I said. "I KNOW this is user error and I'm hoping that if I could just be shown the steps I'm not doing correctly, I'll be able to fix the problem on my own." I then went into a Readers-digest version of what was going wrong but barely got into the problem when Trevor interrupted "oh - yeaaaah - we can't help you. You see - while you're clearly NOT stealing music, what you're describing is how one WOULD do that and so we are legally not supposed to assist. However, if you go online and download this freeware product called notgonnanameithere.com, you should be fine." "Really?" I said, incredulously. "Because I'd have NO problem being charged for a fix - I'm just not all that comfortable and this IS your product after all."
After realizing that Trevor wasn't gonna let me anywhere near his precious geniuses no matter what the cost, I walked out of the store and I'll admit - I was feeling a little bit more comfortable with trying to troubleshoot the problem on my own. After all, while they wouldn't do it for me, I had been given a lead for a fix.
That feeling lasted right up until the VERY FIRST window from stillnotgonnanameithere.com popped up. "You have too many libraries and we cannot tell which device maps to which computer. Please type in the correct mapping justification in the next 8 seconds but be careful - if you get it wrong, we'll erase your devices, reformat your laptop and you'll be marked forever as a failure" said the window. (No, not really, but it may as WELL have said that.) Sooooooo I shut down and decided to sleep on it for a night. Perhaps I'd have a stroke of ... well, genius in my sleep.
Alas, I did not.
The next day, I again gathered up my toys and headed to the local "1st-place Purchase" store. I was greeted at the customer help desk by Kevin, who listened and - get this - TOOK NOTES!! - as I explained my problem. He then said "so fixing this would mean that your three devices and your laptop all had the same music on them, right?" "Exactly!" I said. Kevin and Tanya then spent 40 minutes - with me right there with them - as we three tried things we could think of. After that time, Tanya said "Yanno, I think we should open a ticket for you. Can you leave these items with us?" "Sure", I said. "Take your time . Heck - clearly I've been dealing with this for months now so there's no rush. I just want it to work." Kevin said he'd call me before his day ended to let me know what they'd done and what they could recommend. He also asked if a $30 charge could be added to the ticket, because he had a suspicion that they had a software package that could help with the problem. (Kevin would call, as he promised, to say that the software cannot work with my "bit size" and has already credited my account.)
I've had a day or two to think about this:
The place that CREATED the items in question would not let me talk to anyone significantly knowledgeable without an appointment, pointed me to a freeware product that isn't even connected to their company to fix the issue, and sent me on my way without ever even turning on my laptop.
The place that I purchased the laptop from, however, took my issue as a personal challenge - something almost fun for them to track down and solve, and they even offered to give me a loaner laptop while they trouble-shoot the issue. I'm typing this on my new laptop and have all my musical devices back with me. The problem still exists but I now hear from Kevin and Tanya at least twice a day as they continue to try to think of solutions. It's incredible customer service - especially when you consider that they've each spent several hours of their time pondering and surfing and researching and thus have charged me a total of 30 minutes of labor hours, which I'm more than happy to pay.
So Geeks or Geniuses?
The geeks shall inherit the Earth. (And, let's face it, it'll be a friendlier place when they do.)
**************
*Note: No real products or stores have been named in this rant but I think ya' should be able to figure out the cast of characters anyway.
Monday, July 27, 2009
It's 3am and time to yowl.
I have the best alarm clock. It doesn't require batteries or any electrical source whatsoever so I'm not worried about being reliant on power. It doesn't require dusting, either - it is self-cleaning. What's more - it's entertaining as hell, honestly. The only feature I don't have is the ability to program a wake up time.
Yes, today is a cat-related blog entry.
Hobbes has taken to making sure I'm up by 6:15am, which is neat since my alarm USED to be set for 6:45am. So I'm officially getting up earlier daily (including weekends) to do less work each day (less PAID work anyway). What's more is that he's also decided to move his 10am "yowling" to 3am. I don't know what it was about 10am that made him yowl, and I have NO idea why it's now a 3am activity. Other than his new 3am yowling, he is for sure a non-nocturnal cat. He curls up at 10:30pm and I can typically find him in exactly the same position at 5:30am, when I hear the paper being delivered. I'll glance over at him and he'll glance over at me and we'll both decide to sleep for a bit longer. The next thing I'll feel is him oh-so-carefully walking up the side of the bed, being careful to somehow not put his whole weight down with each step.
I don't know how cats do that - how they can make themselves lighter than they really are. Minnie, for instance, supposedly weighs 9 pounds, according to the vet. When she was last there, they weighed her in her carrier and, while she was being examined, they weighed the empty carrier and did some easy math and informed me she was a wonderfully health 9 pounds. Unless you pick her up. Then she weighs about 5 pounds ... 6 maximum. (I don't believe she ever even topped 9 pounds when she was pregnant with her litter.)
Now that the three of us have fallen into a routine, I've noticed how well Minnie has trained me. While it's true she's learned that quiet meows outside my window at night make the door open so she can enter, it's also true that I no longer grumble as I'm stumbling bleary-eyed to open the door. It's been said that dogs have masters and cats have staff - and my two feline roommates prove this for certain but, lucky for me, they're both are very kind managers and we agree about most everything.
Except for the yowling. I still don't know what the 3am yowling is about.
Yes, today is a cat-related blog entry.
Hobbes has taken to making sure I'm up by 6:15am, which is neat since my alarm USED to be set for 6:45am. So I'm officially getting up earlier daily (including weekends) to do less work each day (less PAID work anyway). What's more is that he's also decided to move his 10am "yowling" to 3am. I don't know what it was about 10am that made him yowl, and I have NO idea why it's now a 3am activity. Other than his new 3am yowling, he is for sure a non-nocturnal cat. He curls up at 10:30pm and I can typically find him in exactly the same position at 5:30am, when I hear the paper being delivered. I'll glance over at him and he'll glance over at me and we'll both decide to sleep for a bit longer. The next thing I'll feel is him oh-so-carefully walking up the side of the bed, being careful to somehow not put his whole weight down with each step.
I don't know how cats do that - how they can make themselves lighter than they really are. Minnie, for instance, supposedly weighs 9 pounds, according to the vet. When she was last there, they weighed her in her carrier and, while she was being examined, they weighed the empty carrier and did some easy math and informed me she was a wonderfully health 9 pounds. Unless you pick her up. Then she weighs about 5 pounds ... 6 maximum. (I don't believe she ever even topped 9 pounds when she was pregnant with her litter.)
Now that the three of us have fallen into a routine, I've noticed how well Minnie has trained me. While it's true she's learned that quiet meows outside my window at night make the door open so she can enter, it's also true that I no longer grumble as I'm stumbling bleary-eyed to open the door. It's been said that dogs have masters and cats have staff - and my two feline roommates prove this for certain but, lucky for me, they're both are very kind managers and we agree about most everything.
Except for the yowling. I still don't know what the 3am yowling is about.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
*Knock knock* - Opportunity is at the door
The joke goes that an optimist will tell you that the glass is half full, a pessimist will tell you that the glass if half empty, and a realist will tell you that the glass is twice the size you need.
In my state, unemployment is currently hovering in the 25% range. So for every three people you meet up with, it's probable that one of the four of you will be watching "Las Vegas" reruns on FX at 11am.
As far as those four people and their outlook on their unemployment status, chances are one will be completely depressed at the thought of being let go, another will be bitter and angry and unprepared, and the third will be already interviewing for their next job. As for the fourth person, they will hear opportunity knocking.
If you'll excuse me, I need to make another run to GoodWill and then get back to the storage boxes in my garage.
In my state, unemployment is currently hovering in the 25% range. So for every three people you meet up with, it's probable that one of the four of you will be watching "Las Vegas" reruns on FX at 11am.
As far as those four people and their outlook on their unemployment status, chances are one will be completely depressed at the thought of being let go, another will be bitter and angry and unprepared, and the third will be already interviewing for their next job. As for the fourth person, they will hear opportunity knocking.
If you'll excuse me, I need to make another run to GoodWill and then get back to the storage boxes in my garage.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Survey says?
I was sitting quietly ask my desk listening to a debate of the usefulness / uselessness of "polling the audience" ... aka "business surveys". Permission had been given by the powers to be to send out an internal survey, so long as there were no more than four questions. Even with just casually listening, it was clear that the purposes of the survey were different for the two people doing the most talking.
After the discussion had passed - with no real outcome or decision - I turned to one co-worker who had been in the debate and said "hey - is your computer working alright, email-wise anyway?" and she said "yep, seems to be". "You should call into the help desk and let them know," I said. "But ... it's fine" she said, rather puzzled. "Right," I responded "and I'll bet they'd wanna know that. After all, you were just saying that you'd wanna know all the things that were going right about your proposal." She grimaced. "Well, I do wanna know those things - but letting the help desk know that all is well won't really give them anything useful" she admitted.
"Hmmm", I said. "So you remember a couple months ago - when I called that florist to thank them for, essentially, doing their job? And how shocked they were that I wasn't calling to complain? I guess it's kinda like that. The survey either needs to be about what IS going right or what isn't." I went on to explain that I've always felt that folks have no problem telling you the things that are broken but don't always think to mention what's going right. And I think ya' CAN learn from hearing both - it's just one is more urgent than the other.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In a related "practicing the art of asking the right question" note, Kat asked the right question after my last scribbling. My response is that I'm no longer reluctant about the project because I'm no longer starting the project. The nice part of contract employment is having the opportunity to do something else.
Thus far "something else" seems to be along the lines of whittling down the things I have, stashing what I do not require in the next year or so, and prepare for shaking my own snow globe.
My survey says I swept the board and won the grand prize, and I intend to claim it.
After the discussion had passed - with no real outcome or decision - I turned to one co-worker who had been in the debate and said "hey - is your computer working alright, email-wise anyway?" and she said "yep, seems to be". "You should call into the help desk and let them know," I said. "But ... it's fine" she said, rather puzzled. "Right," I responded "and I'll bet they'd wanna know that. After all, you were just saying that you'd wanna know all the things that were going right about your proposal." She grimaced. "Well, I do wanna know those things - but letting the help desk know that all is well won't really give them anything useful" she admitted.
"Hmmm", I said. "So you remember a couple months ago - when I called that florist to thank them for, essentially, doing their job? And how shocked they were that I wasn't calling to complain? I guess it's kinda like that. The survey either needs to be about what IS going right or what isn't." I went on to explain that I've always felt that folks have no problem telling you the things that are broken but don't always think to mention what's going right. And I think ya' CAN learn from hearing both - it's just one is more urgent than the other.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In a related "practicing the art of asking the right question" note, Kat asked the right question after my last scribbling. My response is that I'm no longer reluctant about the project because I'm no longer starting the project. The nice part of contract employment is having the opportunity to do something else.
Thus far "something else" seems to be along the lines of whittling down the things I have, stashing what I do not require in the next year or so, and prepare for shaking my own snow globe.
My survey says I swept the board and won the grand prize, and I intend to claim it.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Wait ... This Just In!
Remember yesterday when I was reluctantly about to begin a research project?
Well, in the words of Emily Litella ...
Well, in the words of Emily Litella ...
Thursday, July 9, 2009
The War of 1812! Tippecanoe and Tyler too! The Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria!
I'm not a fan of researching something for the sake of just doing the research. Now, that being said, I find research rather interesting. I think there's much to be learned from research and it's not an exaggeration to say that the results of research have saved my life (2 times and counting - knock wood).
Most times, however, I need a target for doing research. I'd prefer that folks not swing by my office and say "hey - can you research the human population from 30,000 BCE to 2020?" - because the answer I'll give is "yep - I can" and it's true, I *can* research that but I'm probably gonna ask for a "why". Otherwise, "research" becomes "history" and "history" is just not a favorite subject of mine ... and I blame the teaching methods being used at the time.
See when I was in school, "History" was rolled into a larger subject called "Social Studies". Basically, from the 3rd grade on, students were fed a steady diet of dates and phrases and meaningless campaign slogans and battlefield names and the names of a bunch of men (nearly always JUST men) who shaped the history of the country. And then we'd have Summer Vacation and, in the Fall, we'd start all over again.
OH - and each year, without fail, we'd be running behind and we'd never even get to anything beyond the 50's . Honest, it wasn't until I helped edit a Social Studies book in the 1990's that I actually saw mention of the Vietnam War in a textbook. And yet, year after year and grade after grade, I read about Columbus discovering America, where he was met by people who already lived here that apparently had no clue they needed "discovering" at all.
But I digress.
I've been given a research project ... page after page of Global-, Informational-, Ecological-, Technological-, and Design-based factoids that I'm being asked to find and report. And I'm conflicted. This being the Information Age, I know I can let my fingers fly on the keyboard and I'll find all kinds of reliable facts with which to report back. But the facts I'll be providing are, from what I can see, going to be used in a way that will be just as ... "forced fed" ... as how I was taught so many years go, and I don't wanna be a party to perpetuating this diet.
Has History taught us nothing?
Most times, however, I need a target for doing research. I'd prefer that folks not swing by my office and say "hey - can you research the human population from 30,000 BCE to 2020?" - because the answer I'll give is "yep - I can" and it's true, I *can* research that but I'm probably gonna ask for a "why". Otherwise, "research" becomes "history" and "history" is just not a favorite subject of mine ... and I blame the teaching methods being used at the time.
See when I was in school, "History" was rolled into a larger subject called "Social Studies". Basically, from the 3rd grade on, students were fed a steady diet of dates and phrases and meaningless campaign slogans and battlefield names and the names of a bunch of men (nearly always JUST men) who shaped the history of the country. And then we'd have Summer Vacation and, in the Fall, we'd start all over again.
OH - and each year, without fail, we'd be running behind and we'd never even get to anything beyond the 50's . Honest, it wasn't until I helped edit a Social Studies book in the 1990's that I actually saw mention of the Vietnam War in a textbook. And yet, year after year and grade after grade, I read about Columbus discovering America, where he was met by people who already lived here that apparently had no clue they needed "discovering" at all.
But I digress.
I've been given a research project ... page after page of Global-, Informational-, Ecological-, Technological-, and Design-based factoids that I'm being asked to find and report. And I'm conflicted. This being the Information Age, I know I can let my fingers fly on the keyboard and I'll find all kinds of reliable facts with which to report back. But the facts I'll be providing are, from what I can see, going to be used in a way that will be just as ... "forced fed" ... as how I was taught so many years go, and I don't wanna be a party to perpetuating this diet.
Has History taught us nothing?
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Keeper
So I was half-watching TV last night (really I was more listening with my eyes closed than watching actually) and a commercial came on for a device of some kind (no free-advertising today). And the thirty seconds of music that was playing in the background of this ad reminded me of a song that I always liked but ... well ... I wasn't awake enough to write down a note to myself to look up the tune later.
Flash forward to today ...
I'm surfing for like 35 minutes for this silly ad. Now, I'm pretty resourceful. I know to use different terms when looking for something - heck, I even checked the message boards that were discussing the product in question, but I was batting ZERO. The product that was being advertised seemed to only have two commercials, and the music in both was NOT what caught my ear last night. I was moments from just giving up when I mentioned it to the boyfriend. I described the music (incorrectly, as it would turn out), told him the product that was being advertised, and that all my searching had led me nowhere. I even told him that I'd started to doubt that I was naming the right product ...
... and it took him just barely over five minutes to come up with the tune in question.
He's a keeper.
*****************
Since I haven't named the ad, the product, or the specific song ... how about ya' just respond with your favorite "guilty pleasure 80's or 90's" song?
Flash forward to today ...
I'm surfing for like 35 minutes for this silly ad. Now, I'm pretty resourceful. I know to use different terms when looking for something - heck, I even checked the message boards that were discussing the product in question, but I was batting ZERO. The product that was being advertised seemed to only have two commercials, and the music in both was NOT what caught my ear last night. I was moments from just giving up when I mentioned it to the boyfriend. I described the music (incorrectly, as it would turn out), told him the product that was being advertised, and that all my searching had led me nowhere. I even told him that I'd started to doubt that I was naming the right product ...
... and it took him just barely over five minutes to come up with the tune in question.
He's a keeper.
*****************
Since I haven't named the ad, the product, or the specific song ... how about ya' just respond with your favorite "guilty pleasure 80's or 90's" song?
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