Technophobia

Friday, October 26, 2007

So.

I called to activate the Blackberry that I was given. I should start by saying that while we have 6 shiny new Blackberry units sitting in our vault, my boss gave me a used unit. Nice, huh? Admins don’t rank new things, apparently.

Anyway, I let it charge up before calling to switch from my phone to the Blackberry. Got that taken care of in no time and then I spent a few frustrating minutes trying to make a simple phone call. No go. I was getting these weird messages about Emergency Calls Only! when attempting to call home. So I clicked around the menu to check things out and see if there was something I needed to do to get the phone part working and got to a menu that showed the battery status (it was at 90%). But I still couldn’t figure out how to get things working right and decided to “reboot.” I powered the phone off and pushed the button to turn it back on and got no response. Nothing happened. She’s dead, Jim.

Now I had two useless phones and it was late and I had to get home. So I brought both home with me to try again this morning. The Blackberry still won’t power on. And since I need to have a cell phone, I called to reactivate my old phone that works just fine, thank you.

I emailed my boss to see about getting a different unit. We’ll see if he breaks out one of those new ones in the vault for me.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

The afternoon has been more of the same from this morning, but slightly different and slightly better.

I’m getting ready to get a Crackberry. I have no plans to set up the email function. I know. You say, “Why bother then?” I want the other functions.

I am wondering how long I’ll withstand the siren call of email on my phone, though.

Anyone want to put in a guess?

So the frustration this afternoon has been my attempts to create an online account with Nextel/Sprint (a phone call to customer support was required and the techie even had troubles) in order to upload my address book from my current cell phone so that I can download it to my new phone when the time comes. So far all I get is this funky welcome screen. I cannot get into any sort of account page at all. I either get this other sign up page or logged out. After wasting 30 minutes I gave up. I’m going to try again at home because I think our network is part of the problem.

If I can’t get anything uploaded, then I’m going to have to write all of my contacts down. How old school.

Harrumph.

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Making progress on business things:

1. I’ve finally gotten the BoaW blog going. With much technical support from Jaynee, I must add. I decided to go with BlueHost for my hosting and WordPress for the content management. So far I’m pleased with both, although the WP installation was a challenge - hence the tech support from my sister.

2. I have over 100 inventory items made. I plan to list a few more today in my Etsy shop, which will get me over the 100 mark there. But don’t let that stop you from shopping! [UPDATE 3:00pm] - I’m back down to 97 items in the shop - a faithful shopper bought some stuff! Thanks, friend.

3. We’re just three weeks away from the craft show in South Carolina! There’s still so much to do to prep, but I plan to work on that today with intensity. I haven’t started to tag my stuff yet and that’s the most time consuming thing to do. My time with Mom to plot out our booth was fruitful. We have a plan in our heads anyway.

Friday, September 07, 2007

The Cooties gave us the video baby monitor that they used for both CootieGirl and CootieBoy. Since their kids are now toddlers, they didn’t need it. We have been grateful to have it as well as the traditional audio monitor we got.

We have the video monitor in the kitchen and too often Beau and I spend an entire meal watching Jesse sleep or play or whatever he’s doing in the crib, if he’s in the crib while we’re eating. We laughed about that last week when we realized that almost from the time we started eating to the end of the meal we barely spoke a word to each other because we were engrossed in The Jesse Show.

Imagine our dismay when the video crapped out the other day. The audio still works perfectly, but the picture no longer works. We figure we burned out the tube.

So a-hunting I’ve gone - checked Craig’s List first, but there are no video monitors listed in our area. Then I went to Ebay and hit pay dirt. I’ve got the winning bid (currently) on the exact same system at $20. However, I know that with 4 days left I may have to bid higher. I’m willing to shell out more - they’re not cheap brand new. But it’ll be nice to get it for under $50. We’ll see how that goes.

Because we need our Jesse TV.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Last night I managed to post a recent picture of Jesse and a longish video over at Whiny Complaints. However, I think there’s a problem with video because YouTube isn’t showing it’s active yet. Unfortunately, I’m blocked out of YouTube at the office, so I can’t fix the problem until I get home tonight. This really means that I may not get to it until about 9pm tonight after Jesse has gone to bed.

But the picture is cute, imho.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

My first call to Comcast to check on the status of our internet ended in disconnection when the technician (a woman) remotely rebooted our modem.

My second call ended satisfactorily after the technician (a woman) confirmed that the problem was resolved and stayed on the line with me while we worked out the problem I was having logging into my account with them.

I’m still not impressed that it took 6 days to resolve whatever the problem was.

In the meantime, the cable signal in the kitchen crapped out on Sunday night. That box is the regular digital converter. We have an HD/DVR converter on the main TV in the basement that is working fine. Anyway, I called yesterday morning to ask about the lost signal and was assured that there was a problem in our area with certain boxes and that we should be back up “momentarily.” Apparently, “momentarily” is at least two days because this morning we still have no signal with that box.

Yesterday afternoon I moved that box to the bedroom where I hooked it up to this tiny TV/radio that my mother gave us that used to hang under a cabinet in her kitchen. Since I have the Tivo in the kitchen, I’m just running the cable directly through that - it meant resetting the Tivo, but it’s working fine.

My next call to Comcast is to request a credit to our account for the loss of service. We’ll see how far I get with that.

Oh, and the router still isn’t working for some reason. I think it’s the dynamic IP that Comcast uses - it wants a static IP. I’m emailing my Dad for help on this one before I call Linksys.

We’re more than a little frustrated.

[UPDATE 11:30am]: Beau emailed me from his computer to say that he got the router working. Woo!

[LATER]: One more thing, my friend MD told me about this article that she had seen about Comcast and arbitration. She opted out. I just opted out as well.

Monday, August 13, 2007

On Saturday when I called Comcast to inquire about the status of my trouble ticket, the gal I spoke with assured me that the problem would be resolved by “the end of tomorrow,” which was supposed to be yesterday. I called yesterday evening and was told that their technicians didn’t work on Sunday (I don’t blame them for wanting a weekend, however...).

I’m afraid that I lost my temper a bit and informed this gal that the gal I talked to on Saturday assured me several times in our conversation that the problem would be fixed by the end on Sunday, which marked the end of the 72 hours since the ticket was opened. And that if their technicians didn’t work on Sundays then the help desk folks should not be making those kinds of customer service assertions, therefore they needed better training.

*insert the sound of crickets chirping and the sight of tumbleweed blowing through the ghost town here*

I said the last because before I was connected to the woman I got a recorded message informing me that all calls are recorded for training purposes.

This gal gets marks for patience because she let me lambaste her with my ire and assured me that I would receive a credit on my bill for the time I have been without internet. Color me skeptical on that one given the track record so far.

Anyway, she also assured me that I would get a phone call once the problem was resolved tomorrow (Monday).  I think I grunted, “Mmm hmm,” and said I was sure I’d be calling back on Monday to follow-up and be told that tomorrow really meant Tuesday. And so on and so forth.

Again with the chirping crickets while she counted to 10, I’m sure. I’m well beyond 10 on the counting for patience scale.

No phone calls so far today and I’m gearing myself up for my phone call in a few minutes where another hapless help desk chick (I’ve only talked to women in my many phone calls) will be the recipient of my anger. Pray for her.

An update will follow, I’m sure.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

After much work by Denis and Jaynee, Mom, and my Dad and me, Tea For All Reasons is now an official online store. If you’ve had my mother’s teas before, now you can place orders from the fabulous webstore. And there’s a bunch of other interesting stuff, including her blog.

Go check it out and do some shopping!

Internet is working, but I still can’t install the Comcast software. It’s weird. I plan to call them later, but I don’t feel like dealing with them right now and since I’m able to access the internet with no problem I’ll wait.

Doesn’t it seem odd that I can use the internet without having their software?

This post was typed on my home computer. Woo!

Friday, August 10, 2007

My help ticket has been assigned. I’m told that when I call back and am told it is closed that I should be able to continue installing and get internet.

Color me skeptical.

Not happy.

Thursday, August 09, 2007

I’ve spent over an hour on the phone with Comcast between the three phone calls last night and this morning. There’s a problem with the modem and I’m unable to install the Comcast software to get internet working. I’m told it may be fixed by the end of today, but I’m not holding my breath.

In the meantime, I got the laptop set up to test the aircard and that’s working beautifully - we get a much stronger signal for our cell phones here and the aircard is strong, too. So at least I can work tomorrow.

I’ve taken today off, so the plan for today is to work on unpacking the boxes in the living room and the bedroom as best we can. And I’ll tweak the work area in the basement a bit more, too. Since I know the aircard works great down here, I’m going to go ahead and set up my work-work area knowing that I won’t have to work in the dining room anymore. That’s nice.

We have painters on the deck - repainting the back door and staining the deck. I talked for a bit last night with Landlord Dude - he’s thinking he’ll have to replace the front door (the molding/weather-stripping around the top half window is rotted and he can’t find a replacement that fits right). I like that he’s willing to keep the house looking like more than the rental home that it is. He’s very accommodating.

OK, to work...I’ll check in later, of course.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

I don’t know what the deal is with Blogger when I’m at work, but when I try to make a comment at your blogs I get caught in this weird loop that will not let me type anything. I can read your blogs, but I can’t comment. And then by the time I get home and manage to get online, I forget what I would have said. It’s a vicious cycle and it’s quite annoying.

Just wanted you to know.

Monday, July 30, 2007

We didn’t do much yesterday for the move. Both of us were just plain tired and so we relaxed most of the day. We may pay for that laziness this week with the last push for the move on Saturday, but we think we’re in good shape overall. The help we got on Saturday was huge and got us much further along than we had hoped.

We got some hilarious video of Jesse last night. He was belly laughing at Annie - she wasn’t doing anything other that just standing there or walking past, but he laughed like it was the funniest thing he’d ever seen. His sheer delight was awesome. So Beau ran to get the camera and started filming on the sly. However, Jesse zeroed in on the camera and what we got was more of his piercing stare at the camera instead of his giggles at Annie. I’ll try to take time to download it tonight and post it to YouTube for your enjoyment.

I’m going to get my hair cut this afternoon. I can’t stand it anymore and Jesse pulls it too much. So I’m getting it cut into a chin length bob again (it’s at my shoulders right now). I’d really like to get it cut like Chief Vick on Psych (I can’t link to the show or her because of Flash issues here at work). I love her new haircut - it’s sassy. And let me say that I continue to love this silly little show. Beau and I watched the last two episodes yesterday and I laughed my head off - he had no clue about any of the pop culture references. At one point after I laughed and he didn’t he said, “I guess you need to be pop culturally literate to get this show?” Um, yeah. Sorry, honey.

Wow, I’ve really gone off on a tanget - here’s the bundling part: we’ve decided to go with Comcast‘s Triple Play bundling of cable, internet and phone. We figure it will save us about $30-50 a month. What’s a bummer is that our new phone number starts with 571 instead of the old faithful 703. I’m a bit sad about that and those who live in this area will understand, I think.

One last thing - I’ve up to chapter 4 in Deathly Hallows. So far I’m loving this book. I just wish I had more time to actually read it.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

...but technology doesn’t love me.

So our SysAdmin uninstalled the firewall software on my laptop to see if that is what is keeping me from being able to access the remote network with the cable modem. Just tried logging on with no success. *sigh*

The techies who have been helping are completely stumped. It makes no sense.

I can get access to the internet with no problem, so the cable is working. I just cannot get logged into the remote network at all via cable. But I can with the wireless aircard. It’s so weird.

Next thing to check into is something to do with the ports. I think. At this point, I’m about ready to give up and just make my dining room my office.

*double sigh*

***Points to whomever can identify the movie from which the post title comes.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

So I can’t access the remote network from home. I haven’t been able to get in since last Wednesday morning. I was logged on and then disconnected for a lunch break. When I came back a little while later I couldn’t get in and haven’t been in since. No one seems to know the problem. My cable is good - I can get to the internet. My security token pings as it should. The network seems be OK. And yet it isn’t because I can’t get in.

On Monday, I met with our System Admin and we tested with my wireless aircard at the office. That worked and I was able to get into the network. So I’m going to take the laptop upstairs to try that. If that works, then it is a problem with my cable, but there’s no explanation since I can get to the internet.

It’s a frustrating mystery.

[AN UPDATE (2:00 pm)]: So I talked to our SA and she assured me that my account wasn’t locked and that everything should be working. She wanted me to try the aircard again and then retry the cable. This time I took the laptop upstairs to test the wireless aircard since I don’t get much signal in the basement. That works fine and it actually works great up there. That’s where I’ve been working for the past few hours.

The retry of the cable did not work. So I called the Help Desk again and explained the situation again including the latest steps tested. This guy (different from the guy I talked to earlier this morning) is stumped. He suggested that maybe my cable provider did some kind of upgrade, to which I rolled my eyes because there’s no way they did an upgrade in the middle of the day - I called them to confirm that just to cover all bases.

The next solution is to disable or uninstall/reinstall the firewall software, which our SA is going to have to do the next time we’re both in the office because I don’t have the permissions to do that.

The irony of today is that while I can access the network perfectly upstairs on the wireless card, I cannot get to any outside website. It’s the exact opposite problem.

Weird.