The Gripe Thread
New AnRe, new gripe thread.
How come no matter what browser I try I can’t update my Facebook status, but I’m watching people in my friends list update theirs? BUT WHO WAS PHONE?
This is weird… I thought I had posted this earlier today. I guess I’ll try again:
It’s true that Mac users rarely call in for tech support, and when they do, they generally have an idea how to run the computer they own, so they are just calling for information on the name of the wireless network they should be trying to connect to or whatnot.
However, there is another class of Mac user, the person who should basically never be allowed near technology, because even preschool-ready Macs are too complicated.
Case in point, the other day a lady calls in for help connecting her Mac, and she starts out by saying that she has wired her Mac into the router to try to get a wired connection first (because the Apple people told her to) and now she’s trying to set up a PPPOE connection. I explained that there’s no need to set up a PPPOE, then I tried to get her to look for the wireless symbol at the top of her Mac. I tried to describe what it looks like - a slice of pie, or a tornado, a wedge shape. She says “You mean the apple?” Wow. So I tried to see if she has connectivity through the wired connection (which she should, there’s no setup involved) and she doesn’t. I spend 25 minutes trying to troubleshoot with her trying to find out why the wired connection wasn’t working, when I come to find out her computer ISN’T wired into the router. I was taken aback. “Your Mac isn’t connected to the router?” “No, should it be?” “Well, didn’t you say that your Mac was connected?” “Yes, it is!” I didn’t bother trying to figure that one out. I eventually managed to help her find the wireless symbol, so I asked her what networks are listed. “None.” I asked her to read off what she see’s there, and she reads the menu off to me and finally gets to the wireless networks, and her wireless network is there. With as much patience as I can muster, I tell her to click on it. Then I give her the pass key to type in, and she’s connected. The call ended up being 30 minutes long. 30 minutes! For something that, on a Mac, takes maybe a total of two minutes.
What gets me is that she probably spent 30 minutes with Apple, who led her to a PPPOE connection for some reason - and when I asked her why PPPOE, she was like “Well, I didn’t know how to set up DHCP.” Huh? But beyond that, for her to even be there, she had to have told Apple that she was wired in, when what she wanted was to set up a wireless connection. ugh.
Fucksticks. Fata’s picture broke again.
But now I think I see why. Give me a couple of minutes.
EDIT: Hopefully that’ll do it.
Anyway, sounds like a failure to communicate. Sure her Mac was wired in - it has a wire from the computer to the wall socket, right? To someone not familiar with the terminology - and there are a lot of people not familiar with terminology - it might make perfect sense.
Is remote access a possibility? If you could see and take control of her desktop, you probably could have done it for her in half a minute.
No, remote access is not possible on Macs. Our remote access software only works on PCs.
The point is not that, the point is that the woman in question was a moron. She couldn’t find a wedge shape at the top of her Mac. She thought I meant the apple symbol. At least with PC users, if you say “Can you click the start at the bottom of your screen?”, they don’t say “You mean the clock?”
All right, well, I once asked a guy what web browser he was using and he replied that he didn’t understand my newfangled terminology. Some people just don’t get this shit. You’re in tech support, so you should expect it or be used to it by now.
Anyway. My tire got a nail in it, so I dropped it off at a tire place on my lunch break and walked back to work from there. That’s not what my gripe is about, though. Seeing as how it wasn’t raining at the time, the tire didn’t blow out, the leak was slow enough that it was still safe to drive on, I wasn’t late getting back to the office, the garage wouldn’t charge me for patching the tire… it all happened about as well as a nail in your tire could happen. My gripe is that, at the end of the day as I was walking back to the tire place to get my car, I came across two little boys playing by the road. “The road” in this case was one of the main thoroughfares in the city; South Fortuna Boulevard, with four lanes of traffic with a grassy median in between. And it was definitely rush hour. It appeared that the boys had come from a not-particularly-classy mobile home park which was set back from the road a bit, behind some retail buildings. The boys were about ten or twelve. One of the boys had a soccer ball and was swinging it as if he were going to throw it into the road, but the other kid was like, “Don’t do it! No, don’t do it!” It didn’t look like the kid was really going to do it, so I didn’t pay them much mind as I passed. I get about ten feet away and I hear shouting. I look behind and the ball was now in the median, and the kid that was pretending to throw it was now dashing across the street to get it. The other kid was freaking out.
Fortunately this little idiot at least had the brains to throw the ball and cross during a lull in traffic, but more cars were coming. I dashed back, planning to signal traffic so that they wouldn’t hit the kid, but apparently they saw what was happening too and came to a stop. The kid had reached the median, so I stood in the road while the kid crossed back, all the while yelling at him about what a stupid thing that was to do. With him back on the side of the road, I turned around and started walking again, but kept an eye on him. The other kid was like, “I told him not to do it!”
For whatever reason, he decided it would then be a good idea to kick the ball. It hit the roof line of one of the retail buildings and bounced back toward the street.
I dashed back again to try to intercept the ball, or at least the kid, before they went back into traffic again, but he managed to catch it a moment before I got there. I did grab him, though. I can’t remember what exactly I said, but I’m pretty sure it was something like, “Oh my God, kid, you’re stupid! Get out of here!” and shoved him back in the direction of the trailer park, well away from the main drag. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man who was apparently surprised to see some weird guy on the street yelling at two little kids who clearly weren’t his. When I looked back, the two kids had high-tailed it back towards the trailers.
Shaken, I went and got my car.
Children are stupid. It’s a wonder so many of them live to become adults.
They’re out of print. The web site of the company that made them, Synch Point, promises site updates in April 2005. Their official blog was updated as recently as the 30th of November, but even that post says “yeah, they’re out of print.”
But I just checked Netflix, and they have them, so that may be an option.
So why don’t the dumbasses print some more? Are they afraid that they are going to make some money or something? It’s probably one of the top ten most popular anime out there and I have NEVER seen a dvd copy of it. Not even bootlegs.
Hmmm…Do you think that if I got Netflix copies, that I could get SXS to make dvd covers for them?
Come on, now. We both know that they’d be printing all they could print if they were still selling. The series came to DVD five years ago or so; you had your chance to buy the DVDs then (as I did). And I highly doubt it was ever in the top ten of popularity next to Sailor Moon and Dragonball and all the rest.
Albright:
Come on, now. We both know that they’d be printing all they could print if they were still selling. The series came to DVD five years ago or so; you had your chance to buy the DVDs then (as I did). And I highly doubt it was ever in the top ten of popularity next to Sailor Moon and Dragonball and all the rest.
Come on yourself. I never had a chance to buy them because I never saw any. It’s not even as old as Cowboy Bebop and almost as popular. If there is that much disinterest in the show why does AS keep airing it?* CB has not been out of print since it first came out and the third boxed set was released just last Summer (or was it Spring?) I can still buy Evangelion, Azumanga Daioh, Slayers, Outlaw Star, The Big O and many other older shows. Why can’t I get FLCL? Okay, maybe FLCL isn’t in the top ten most popular anime ever but would be if you excluded kiddie shows (which I always do). Espyes probably has a point about it being six episodes on three full-priced dvds, but by now I probably would have bitten the bullet and bought it anyway if it were available. There are other six episode shows currently available at rip-off prices like Freedom which are virtually unknown in this market.
I realize that this is just the way it is. There’s probably just some licensing squabble behind it. It just bugs me when I have something I really like on my computer and can’t get a legitimate copy to back it up.
- I know, that’s a real bad argument. Since when does the popularity of a show have anything to do with whether AS airs it?
I had a speech in Japanese today. Sort of a final project thing, worth a lot of points.
I brought some photos on a flash drive, but since for whatever reason every single university classroom I’ve been which has both a projector and a computer requires acrobatics and/or dark arts mastery in order to get the two communicating, I wasn’t able to show them. Since I had sort of planned the speech around being able to show the pictures, I had to sort of stall and improvise until it got to the point where it was clear that the pictures weren’t happening, and then kind of go through the rest of it without the aid of pictures or my notes (which relied on the pictures).
It turns out I’m better at improvising in Japanese than I thought I was, but between my own disorganization and the distraction of the teacher off to the side trying to get the stupid computer to talk to the stupid projector, I didn’t feel like it went too well.
I’m taking the class just for fun so I don’t really need to care about the grade, but I still do.
AnRe.com is being squatted and is up for sale. I placed a bid for $100, but soon got a message saying the bid was rejected. I bumped it up to $150 and was rejected again - the speed with which the rejection messages are coming make me think the system is automatically rejecting all bids underneath a certain unknown amount. But the fact that this domain has been up for sale for at least a few weeks now makes me think it can’t really be all that hot.
Ah well. It’d be cool to be able to complete the collection (anre.com, anre.org and anre.net), but not more than $150 cool.
Dammit. Last night I decided I was sick of just piling all my recyclable stuff into a corner, so I went and got three bins from Targét to put them in. Today I filled up two of the bins with stuff and hauled them down to the recycling center. I did some other stuff, including getting a haircut, then went back home, but I couldn’t find the two bins anywhere. Figuring I must have left them down at the recycling center, I drove back down there, and… they were closed. =[
They’re probably going through a chipper right about now…
I bought some house slippers at Costco because my previous pair have been falling apart for a while now. The only size they had was medium. I tried ‘em on when I got home, but I had to take ‘em off not long later because my toes were losing circulation.
My gripe isn’t so much that I spent $22 on slippers I can’t wear so much as those rumors about guys with big feet aren’t holding true in my case.
I was going to suggest something you could still do with them, but I can’t think of a single thing to do with slippers that don’t fit other than give them away.
I have really narrow feet myself. I’ve almost grown used to pulling my shoe laces so tight that the look like a double stitch and needing to tuck the loops in because they’re too long. I also have never found any (cheap) slippers or sandals that fit. Last year I found a pair of narrow dress shoes on clearance at a shoe store and now I’m spoiled. I’ll have to actually look for narrow shoes instead of just settling for those that don’t fit.
I inevitably have problems buying pants of any sort because stores don’t seem to want to bother and stock 30x31, so I’m forced to try 30x30 and 30x32 and decide which looks less stupid on me. (American clothes manufacturers it seems do not take kindly to my scrawny Asian build.) Bought some Old Navy jeans recently after trying two in 30x30, one in “Boot Cut” and one in “Straight,” and seeing that they fit surprisingly well grabbed two more in slightly different colors without trying them on. “They’re the same size, they should fit, I don’t need to try them on,” I think.
WRONG. Apparently Old Navy has decided to be socially responsible by staffing their quality control department with the developmentally-challenged because a different pair also in 30x30 “Straight” is comically smaller. I just want jeans that fit, Old Navy, I don’t need to look like a scene kid that doesn’t mind having their sperm count steadily reduced by your jeans that are attempting to be trendy.
Huh. Speaking of jean sizes and strange fits, I guess my waist has slimmed down a bit over the last year or so. I used to buy size 32x32s and fit them quite well, but now most of my old pants seem way too big.
So I go shopping for a new pair of jeans, deciding to look for somewhat stylish ones rather than just buying anything that’s cheap and I can fit like I normally do. While in Aeropostale I saw 2 types I sorta liked… one type in size 30x30 and another type in sizes 30x32 and 29x32. The 29x32s were a bit too tight, the 30x32s still quite loose, and the 30x30s fit perfect… but were flooded. So I leave without buying anything.
Ended up buying some Korean “medium” 30~32 sized jeans online, since someone had linked the site to me and I thought the jeans looked sorta awesome. Turns out they look and fit awesomely.
fil:
I have really narrow feet myself. I’ve almost grown used to pulling my shoe laces so tight that the look like a double stitch and needing to tuck the loops in because they’re too long. I also have never found any (cheap) slippers or sandals that fit. Last year I found a pair of narrow dress shoes on clearance at a shoe store and now I’m spoiled. I’ll have to actually look for narrow shoes instead of just settling for those that don’t fit.
I have the exact opposite problem… my feet are really wide.
I normally wear size 13, but every now and then run into shoes that are built to work with wide feet. (eg. boots, bowling shoes) With those, even size 11 is usually a bit too loose. I have a size 13 pair of boots I ordered online once… only to find out they were two sizes too big.
And the rumors aren’t working for me either, Albright. :p
Dang, you people are skinny. I used to fit in 30x30s, but ever since I got this damn desk job and moved away from home (no dog walking), those things are like putting on a corset.
Anyway, I’ll try to dump the shoes off on my sister the next time I see her.
Oh, gripe number two for today: Can’t sleep. Even though I had less caffeine today than usual.
On a more serious note…
I went to the mall in Eureka on Friday. As I was pulling into the parking lot, a police car, lit up, zoomed by into the parking lot of a grocery store next door. As I was parking, a fire truck followed, then an ambulance. A trifecta. I could see a lot of people standing around, but from where I was I couldn’t see any details of what happened. I went about my way.
Today, I found out what had happened. There was a spree of knifepoint robberies in Eureka that day, which ended with a fatal stabbing in that parking lot. The guy was a volunteer at the local teen center and had a kid with him at the time - the kid ran into the store to have them call the police. He also had a wife and two kids of his own.
They caught the scumbags, thank God, but that guy was the fifth person to be robbed by those thugs that day; nobody was able to stop them. If just one of them had a gun, one in five, twenty percent, he’d still be alive.
I’m now seriously considering becoming a gun owner more than I ever have before.
California’s pretty hippie, but fortunately, concealed weapons are still legal, provided you have a permit. In fact, a local weekly did an interesting piece about people in the area with CCW permits, and interviewed a few to ask why they had them.
You can get CCW permits, but from all accounts it’s extremely difficult in the more urban counties, LA for example being notoriously tight-fisted with them. Apparently, even retired police officers have a real hard time getting them. Diane Feinstein did and continues to get all kinds of criticism for having a CCW permit and pistol in 1995 while vigorously campaigning for stricter gun control measures. She claims to have given up both, but that’s a hard claim to verify. One of the many pages bashing Feinstein for this and other things.
Edit: Also, after reading the article, people forget how nasty knives are. It doesn’t take much for someone amped up on adrenaline, fear, what have you to fatally stab someone. England has a big problem with knife crime currently, which is something of a natural outgrowth of their blanket ban on ownership of pistols; people move on to the next weapon they can get their hands on.
