Technophobia

Monday, May 25, 2009

A couple of guys at my church parodied this to go with the message a couple of weeks ago. Hilarious.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Ever wonder if you’re maximizing your Netflix DVD rentals? Now you can get a good idea of whether or not you’ve used your rental plan with Netflix wisely with the Netflix History Analyzer.

Here’s my assessment:

Your results

* You’ve rented 98 DVDs over 24 months from April 30, 2007 to April 14, 2009.
* Your plan costs $16.99/month so you’ve paid $407.76 total.
* Your average price per rental was approximately $4.16 each.
* Average rental costs elsewhere are $4.00 each (not including late fees).
* You’ve overpaid approximately $15.76 over that time period or $0.66 per month.

Here’s some more about your renting habits…

* You kept each rental for around 22 days on average.
* The longest you kept a single DVD was 102 days.
* You rented about 4 DVDs each month.
* You’re not taking full advantage of your current plan. You could be renting 19 DVDs each month.

I think I’ll have to reassess post-maternity leave. I think my rental habits in the next month or so will help our stats.

[via OTB]

[UPDATE 4/22]: I redid mine going back to 2004 when I first started using Netflix. Much better results.

Your results

* You’ve rented 268 DVDs over 59 months from May 24, 2004 to April 14, 2009.
* Your plan costs $16.99/month so you’ve paid $1002.41 total.
* Your average price per rental was approximately $3.74 each.
* Average rental costs elsewhere are $4.00 each (not including late fees).
* You’ve saved approximately $69.59 over that time period or $1.18 per month.

Here’s some more about your renting habits…

* You kept each rental for around 21 days on average.
* The longest you kept a single DVD was 173 days.
* You rented about 5 DVDs each month.
* You’re not taking full advantage of your current plan. You could be renting 19 DVDs each month.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Any other parents know the general lifespan of the typical baby monitor? We do - it’s about 2 years when the receivers are left on pretty much 24/7.

A few weeks ago we discovered that the receiver in our room was not putting out any sound. We could see the lights move when Jesse made noise, but could hear nothing at all. Just last week the receiver in the basement crapped out, too. Again, the lights play when there’s noise being made, but not a sound is emitted from the speaker.

We had planned to keep using that set in Jesse’s room and buy a second set for the baby’s room so that we could hear the baby, especially when we’re in the basement. Now it looks like we need to buy 2 new sets of monitors. The video monitor is set up on the main floor.

This is one of several reasons why we would like a one story house someday.

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Item 1: I haven’t been able to send email via Thunderbird since we switched to Verizon FIOS. I needed to know the SMTP server info. So finally, today I set up an online account with V-F and got the server info, but it’s still not working. I then spent about 45 minutes on hold with no response by tech support and eventually hung up because I have things to do and I can’t spend all morning on hold on the phone.

Item 2: I mentioned yesterday my need for a free FTP client. Turns out it needs to be SFTP, so I downloaded WinSCP, but I’m not able to access my host FTP. So I submitted a trouble ticket and I’m waiting to hear about that.

I’m really not in the mood to deal with this kind of stuff today.

[UPDATE]: Item #2 is fixed. Turned out to be a password problem - even the host techie couldn’t get in using my password. So they fixed that lickety-split and now I have FTP access to the backroom of the blogs.

As to Item #1, I’m not happy with Verizon and reluctant to call them back only to be placed on hold again. I also need to talk the billing section because they have not implemented any of the discounts that were promised at the time we set up service. I’ll eat some lunch and then try calling later this afternoon.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

So with the server migration of my blog, the host internal ftp is no longer available. I need a recommendation for a good, free, easy to use ftp client so that I can do stuff behind the curtain with the jenspeaks.com based blogs.

For instance, I’m in desperate need of updating both this and Ticklish Giggles blogware, but I can do it without ftp access.

Leave your opinions (with links, please) in the comments. Thanks!

Monday, December 01, 2008

Starting today we were required to update one of our passwords to a 12 character monstrosity that includes at least one of each of the following:

1. Capital letter
2. Number
3. Symbol (ie, @#$&!)

And the reuse of previously used passwords is restricted to waiting until the 21st round of passwords. Oh, and we’ll now be required to change our passwords in 60 days instead of 90 days.

I have passwords for more than a dozen systems and some of those systems have two levels of passwords. What makes them think that they’re actually increasing security by making it so much harder to remember all of the passwords? Because at some point a cheat sheet is required just to avoid calling the help desk several times daily to get your passwords unlocked because you entered them incorrectly too many times.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Beau and my mother confirmed that they have access to the blog now. However, my Dad can’t access it from work now.

Let me know if something seems wonky to you, please.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

1. Still no word on the house. We had to counter offer - best and final - we assume because the other offer was the same as ours. So we upped our offer by $6K thinking that the other folks will have upped by $5K.

[UPDATE 4:00pm]: Beau called our realtor. Our realtor had called the seller/bank and was told that a decision would be made late today or early tomorrow AM. He got the impression from the conversation that the two offers were very close, but that maybe we edged them out. But we’ll find out when we find out either way.

2. It is so aggravating that Gmail access here is so spotty. I can get in with no problems at random times during the day and not at all other times.

3. It turns out that Verizon FIOS users can’t get to my blog lately. I’m working on a solution with my host, but since I can’t get into my email the process has halted because I don’t have the link to the trouble ticket handy. The technician talked about migrating to a new server location, which means the blog will be down for the time that takes.

[UPDATE 4:00pm]: The lovely tech person helping me with the FIOS issue, which I believe must be a DC area thing only, will be migrating my blog to a new server overnight. Who knows how long it will take to resolve, but let it be known that your access may be spotting for a bit.

Friday, October 10, 2008

I was told to expect the FIOS technician between 8 and noon. He arrived at 8:15am. Awesome.

He is currently in the back working on installing their boxes to the house and then the work inside will begin. No internet at some point, but I’m working from home so I’ll report progress later.

[10:20am]: We have internet! Woo!

He’s hooking up the cable boxes now. It is all very exciting and now we need to save for an HD TV.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Again, I cannot access Gmail this morning. I get a 404 page, so there is definitely something going on. It’s frustrating.

Dad, I wanted to email you about your former employee - he pled guilty yesterday, is cooperating with the feds to find the kingpin, and will get a minimum of 5 years and I’m guessing will be deported upon release. Apparently he had 80Gb of data on his home computer, but his ISP turned him in because he tapped into a known sketchy IP address that was on a watch list.

From the Mommy Files, Beau and I were talking about the Duggar family and I said that as much as I love being a mom, if we were 20 years younger and I didn’t get so sick when pregnant I’d totally be up for having 4-5 kids. Not 18, but a nice large brood of kids. That said, I’m thrilled with our 1.3 children because I never expected to have any children at this age. I adore Jesse and I’m falling more in love with the little lemon in my belly every day. Thank you, Lord, for this unexpected blessing.

Nutella = French Vanilla Coffeemate + coffee (decaf) = deliciousness. And it’s way cheaper than *$.

I’ve got a case of the Thursdays.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Is Gmail down or am I just not able to get to it?

[4:20pm]: I’m in now. Thanks.

Friday, October 03, 2008

1. I remembered #5 from yesterday - just a general complaint that my lower back is already hurting after sitting for too long. I fear the pain yet to come as the baby gets larger. Oy.

2. On the debate, I am ashamed to say that we turned it off about 40 minutes in. I was worried because she kept ignoring the moderator questions to discuss her own agenda items. I didn’t think that would work well. Turns out that I was wrong and should have stuck with it, apparently. I think he was completely charmed by her, as well and I like that he openly laughed when she was funny, even at his own expense.

3. *$’s Signature Hazelnut Hot Chocolate is deadly good stuff. Just a subtle hint of the hazelnut with the rich chocolate - it reminds me of Nutella. Which reminds me, Beau was supposed to buy me a jar of Nutella. Honey, will you add that to the grocery list, please? [ADDED LATER] Also, please add hummus and pita bread. Thanks!

4. We get our FIOS installed on Tuesday. I’m very excited!

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Still no word on the promotion. The Chief has not made an appearance in the office yet. *sigh*

Beau’s mp3 player died yesterday. We tried to troubleshoot last night - the player won’t turn on, but seems to receive data. We reformated the thing and I was able to transfer a book to it, but it will not turn on. It is not a battery problem - it had a new battery in it and Beau did switch for a new one, too. It’s a stumper and a bummer. So he said that if I get the promotion that I can buy the one that I want for myself. I found it at Walmart for significantly cheaper than anywhere else, so I’m anxious to get an answer on the job for a couple of reasons now.

I’m not sure if we’ll be able to look at houses this weekend. We have a BBQ for small group leaders on Saturday afternoon and then church that evening. So if we go out to look, it’ll have to be Sunday, which neither of us wants to do. And it will depend on our realtor’s availability. If we don’t then we won’t see anything until after we get back from California. Man, we leave in a week for California already. I need to mail that package of Jesse stuff to Beau’s uncle no later than tomorrow so that it arrives on time.

We go to the Glenn Beck simulcast tonight and I’m very excited. He was talking yesterday about the special “The Twenty” pre-show thing that they’ve done for the theaters hosting the simulcast. Apparently, they were able to convince the theater chains to run his version for his show. So we have to get there at least 20 minutes early because I want to see that, too.

It’s a very nerve-wracking day. But in a totally good way.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Remember a few weeks ago when I said I wanted an iPod for Christmas? After doing some research with my library, I have decided that the better option is to get a Creative brand mp3 player (This is the model that I covet and have added to my Christmas wishlist). They are more compatible with the software used by libraries, and my library in particular. Wouldn’t it be awful to get an iPod and then discover that I can’t download audiobooks to it? I’m glad I did the research.

This morning I asked Beau if I could get a cheaper model now (and nevermind the other one for Christmas) so that I could use it on our trip. Because I had checked out three audiobooks from the eaudiobook part of the library website and after spending 30 minutes burning 2/3 of one book to CDs (11 CDs total took about 45 minutes to do the complete burn), I realized that it would be much more practical and cheaper to just buy the mp3 player.

At some point I remembered that Jaynee has an unused PDA now that she uses her Blackberry for everything the PDA used to do. I asked her about it and we agreed that it would work as long as I downloaded the books to my 2GB thumb drive since the memory on the PDA is small. She was going to mail that to me so that I had time to test it and work out kinks before our trip.

And then Beau reminded me that he has a small mp3 player. So he got it and we started a test download of the smallest book and less than 4 minutes later the whole book was transferred to his little Creative MuVo N200, which only had 512MB of memory. I then tried to transfer a second book and that one transferred completely in about 4 minutes. So there are 2 full novels on Beau’s little MuVo! The third is on the CDs and I’ll just use those since I have them.

And I just realized that the memory on the PDA may be enough for at least one regular novel after all. So Jaynee, if you want to bring that up with you at the end of the month, I’ll still give that a test, too.

I’m very excited. It’s days like today that I love technology.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

For years I have resisted the siren call of one beautiful modern technology item. I really have no need of it, except that I can think of one particular way I can use it that would make life slightly easier. It’s expensive and I just can’t justify the expense of it because in reality I don’t need it. But after all these years I am adding it to my Christmas wish list.

So what is it?

An iPod.

I’m leaning to the Nano, because I don’t think I want the full classic version, but I would like the viewing capability not available with the Shuffle.

My main desire is to be able to listen to audiobooks in places other than my car and not have to deal with the CDs if I am listening to a book in my car. Or I could listen to two books at once - one in the car and one on the iPod. Portability would be nice. Then there are sermons and other podcasts, Glenn Beck, and TV shows that I could watch, say, on my lunch hour instead of at home where it bothers Beau.

Anyway, it’s just a new thought I had the other day, but consider it officially on my wish list for Christmas.