Another Frustrating Day

This morning I purchased a Seagate Backup Plush Hub hard drive. I am always worried about losing my 96,000 plus photos and videos. 

I talked to my friend Lar yesterday and he says he always backs up his photos. I have my photos and videos on iCloud but I don't trust it. I'm waiting for the day, which will come, when the news goes out "Whoops!  iCloud has been hacked by ransom ware and you'll have to pay $$$$$ to get your photo and video files back!"  Why not, just about everything you have on the Internet has been hacked at one time or another. Why even my photo has been hacked and is now being used by some Middle Easterner on a dating web site. I suppose I should be flattered but I'm not, I feel violated. 

I spent hours today trying to configure the new software to my computer. I even inveigled by friend Mike to make the trip to Casa Tipton-Kelly to help me. Now mind you, Mike is much more knowledgeable about this computer workings than I am. After a couple of hours of trying to get it to work, I suggested we call it quits. It was dark outside and I didn't want to keep Mike from dinner with his husband.  

After Mike left I went on You Tube to try and see if there was an instructional video where the instructor wasn't such a ham to see if I could figure out to get this software on my computer so I could back up my photos and videos. No luck with not getting a ham (what is it with some of these guys on You Tube? Do they all think they're going viral? Not everyone is a Justin Bieber). What I did find out though was I got the wrong software. I got the "PC" instead of the software for my iMac computer. Slap on my head. 

I take it back to Staples tomorrow for a full refund. Wish me luck. 

Computer Problems

That's right folks, computer problems right here in River City.  I spent all morning watching the Apple rainbow spinning Wheel of Death.  Hey Apple, just because you colored the dreaded hung up symbol with rainbow colors, doesn't lessen the impact of dread when my computer is hung up.

The past several months I've been doing ever increasing disc repairs and yet the Spinning Wheel of Death returns, slowing down my momentum.  I finally put a call into Apple support this morning, which, by the way isn't as responsive as they used to be (I had to wait 16 minutes this morning before anyone even picked up the phone).  But once I had someone ("Dan") on the phone, he was pleasant and helpful.  I explained my problem to him that my Time Capsule backup was stuck all morning.  I also explained that this was happening with increasing frequency.  Of course the first thing he asked me to check is what version operating system I was on.  I am on the latest.  So that's not the problem.

I purchased this iMac computer in January of 2010.  Yep, five big years ago.  And as we all know hard drives only last about three to four years.  Or at least that has been my experience.  

I have a 2 terabyte storage capacity on this iMac.  I'm using up more that 1 1/2 of that storage already and rapidly closing in on using up all that storage.  Yep, my photos and videos and iMovies.  I don't do Garage Band or iTunes, just photos and videos folks and I.AM.RUNNING.OUT.OF.SPACE.

Time to bite the bullet.  After I'm done this blog entry I'm on the phone ordering a new iMac with a 3 gig storage and faster processing speed.  

Wow, that was a fast five years.  Now next year I'm up for my colonoscopy.  My last one was in 2011.  Another fast five years.  

Life After Steve

My friend Larry and his cat Thorne on FaceTime this morning

I am still saddened by the death of Steve Jobs.  I only just recently discovered Apple products this year after years of urging from my friends Larry (pictured above) and Don V.

This past year I have purchased an iMac, TWO iPhones and TWO iPads (one for Bill and one for me).  Our lives are infinitely better now that we are freed from the traps and quicksands of the Windows based operating systems and the second rate computers like Dell.

No longer do I have to call my Computer Guy to make a house call to fix the latest freeze up on our computers just because we happened to hit the wrong key.  I've saved hundreds of dollars plus countless hours of frustration now that my daily living experience is no longer dependent on Mr. Softee's (Bill Gates of Microsoft for those of you unaware) non user friendly software.  In fact my Computer Guy mentioned to me a few months ago that he "hadn't heard from me so you must be happy with your Mac."  YES I AM.

I am  truly saddened by the death of Steve Jobs.  I felt like I lost a personal friend who cared about me.  Steve Job's genius was creating a product that was user friendly and "fun to use."  No longer did we of the naturally non-tech persuasion have bow down to the arrogance and domination of a few nerd computer geeks who had their hands gripped tightly on our balls.  FREEDOM BABY!  That's what it's all about.

My only hope now is that Apple doesn't deteriorate into the usual Corporate Bog that happens to most companies when the original founding genius dies.  And we all know what that is.  Meet those quarterly goals, maximize the top executives' stock options and screw the public.  We'll know when this is happening when Apple outsources it's Help line to India.  If you call Apple Support and you get a person on the other end of the like that says "Hi!  I'm Brad.  Can I help you?" and Brad has one of those happy, tongue tied, high pitched Indian accents, then you know the End has arrived.

In the meantime, the next time the corporate executives do a new Apple product rollout, leave the jeans at home.  That only worked with Steve.  Jeans on you guys looks just plain weird.

Patience Ron, Patience

Waiting in line at the Comcast office in Lewes

I hate to start out today with a blog posting bitching and complaining (not really) but here I go.  I really, really do try to post something positive and uplifting everyday to bring a smile to the faces of my faithful blog followers.  But with the way today has started out I have no choice but to BITCH.

The morning got started off all right.  I drove the ten miles down Rt. 1 to Rehoboth Beach and took my early morning walk on the boardwalk.  That always refreshes me, a brisk walk on the boardwalk with all the other strange people (me included of course), listening to the waves crashing in on the dull brown sand that is Rehoboth Beach (no whites sands of Myrtle Beach, SC on this Delaware coastline).

The drive home wasn't bad.  It was when I got out of my car that I spotted not one, but TWO dings on the back door of my NEW RED SUBARU FORESTER.  Yes folks, I now have THREE DINGS on my NEW CAR.  I blame the dings on the tight parking slot that I have to occupy when I go into work at the hotel in Lewes.  Hey, when those guests hit the town loaded down with luggage and bicycles all over their vehicles, I'm lucky dings are all I get when they unload.  I won't bitch anymore about the dings.    Of course I am upset and frustrated (I am very anal) but it is what it is.

Then I walk in the door and Bill tells me he's having problems connecting to the Internet.  OH NO.  Since I ditched Verizon's LOUSY DSL service last March and went to Comcast I have had NO PROBLEMS.  That need today.  I won't take you through the torture of all the phones calls I made this morning.  I'll sum it up this way, I kept losing the solid green light which indicates an Internet connection.  After an hour and a half and several phone calls, I scheduled a service appointment.  I was told the earliest they could come was NEXT FRIDAY.  Oh no, that won't do at all.  That would mean I would have TO LIVE WITHOUT THE INTERNET FOR A WHOLE WEEK.  EEEEEEKKKKKK!

So I put my Thinking Cap on and called back and suggested "How about if I take the modem down to the local office and exchange it for a new one?" See, what I was thinking that the MODEM WAS BAD.  The woman on the other end of the line from Comcast thought that would be an excellent idea.  Whoopee!

I unplug and disconnect my feeble modem and tell Bill that I'm going down to the local Comcast store in Lewes exchange it for a new modem.  He said he would drive me down. I'm figuring this will take minutes.  I think you know we're I'm going with this.

We pull up to the Comcast store at Five Points in Lewes.  I grab my Chinese made modem and enter the Comcast "store" (or whatever they call it).  Oh uh.  The line of OTHER COMCAST customers stretches to the DOOR !  The nice young woman who works for Comcast (she said she was the "greeter" - are you kidding me?) said there would be a forty minute wait.  OMIGOD.  So I settled in for the wait.  That is the picture you see above.

The wait went by fast because a gentleman came in behind me who was equally disturbed when he realized that he had also stepped into the Waiting In Line Quicksand.  He said Comcast had called him and told him his modem was old and he had to replace it.  Wisely (he told me), he didn't bring his old modem with him just in case the new one didn't work.  Of course he wasn't too thrilled about standing in line to fix something that wasn't broke.

My turn finally came and an elderly lady behind the window very efficiently took care of my situation and I was out the door, after saying "Goodbye" to my friend who was in the store to replace his modem that was still working!

I get home, take the new modem out of the box (which was assembled in Viet Nam - which for some unexplained reason made me nervous - sorry, I mean do disrespect Tai - my Vietnamese blogger buddy).  I plug in everything.  Pretty blue and green lights start popping on and off.  I go to my computer to see if I can connect to the Internet.  Viola!  A screen appears to lead me through the initialization of the new modem.  Way to go Comcast!  I don't have to make another phone call to activate my new modem.

So here I am, updating my blog.  Half the day is shot but it could have been worse.  I now have an Internet connection.  Now if there was someway I could get rid of those two new dings in my car door.

Back on Line

I'm back on line folks and not a minute too soon.  So much to discuss.


Well, it turns out the problem with the Internet connection was inside.  My telephone cord went bad.  Just like that, it went bad.  I didn't touch a thing.  


Vicky, my Verizon service person (who I know quite well now from her numerous visits for my numerous service calls) checked the DSL speed coming in my house.  I have a direct line from outside the wall into my home office.  That speed was 7 MP.  At a loss at what to do now, we switched the telephone line inside that goes to the router.  Viola!  That worked!  


I am humbled.  I was wrong.  It wasn't Verizon's fault but my own negligence for having a bad telephone line.  Uh, and just how was I to know that.  Well, "things happen."  


So I'm back on line and now it's Catch Up Time.


I have a lot to write about the TSA and their Security Theater at the airport.  I will do that in a future blog posting.  I'll probably do that tomorrow after Bill and I return from Sam's Club in Dover.  This is our last shopping trip before the Christmas Deluge which begins Black Friday.  When all the Christmas shopping craziness starts we stay and home to keep out of everyone's way.  Nobody needs two doddering old men hindering their Christmas shopping experience.


Now it is time for me to watch "Dancing With the Stars".  Yes, I finally have local (aka network) TV!  I want to see what all the fuss is about Bristol Palin and if she really is that fantastic dancer the Palinites keep voting back week after week.  


Hey, I don't care if she wins.  Reality shows aren't really reality shows anyway.  They're nothing but popularity shows.  That's fine with me.  They're scripted just like any other TV show.  They're about as "real" as professional wrestling.  

Incompetence

So yesterday I called Verizon.  I jumped through all the required hoops regarding my poor Internet connection.  The technician said he would send me a new modem.  


I got the modem today.  IT IS THE WRONG MODEM.  I needed a wireless modem (as I told him repeatedly yesterday).  So what do I get, the single modem.


I call Verizon again.  I jump through all the hoops of the telephone menu system that Verizon requires one to endure.  I'm hitting the pound (#) button over and over again.  Then I get a real person.  They promptly put me on hold.  I take out my journal and make my daily entry (I have the time).  


A technician comes on the phone.  I explain my problem.  He puts me on hold while he "checks my account".  I'm on hold a LONG TIME.  He finally gets back on the phone and says he's going to connect me to the billing department.  He tells me they will take care of replacing my modem.  Now I'm in the vortex of hell.


After holding I get someone obviously from India.  The heavy accent in which I can only understand every third word or so.  The women sounds like she's talking from the bottom of a well.  She asks my address.  She asks my name.  She asks for my telephone number.  Here I go jumping through the hoops again.  Finally we get to the problem at hand.  She tells me it will cost me $60.95 to replace the modem.


SAY WHAT?


I impatiently inform her that I have a service contract.  She asks for my address again. AGAIN!  I tell her "I already gave it to you!  Why do you want it again?"  She says something I cannot understand.  I tell her she has a heavy accent and I cannot understand most of what she is saying.  There is a silence.  Then she tells me she needs a mailing address. 


Then we get into the charge.  I ask her "Why am I being charged for a new modem?  I have a service agreement on this modem that I have ALREADY PURCHASED."  She puts me on hold.  She comes back.  She tells me there will be no change.  The new modem will be delivered within 3-5 business days.  




She asks for my e-mail address so she can send me a return label for the wrong modem that they sent to me.  I'm still waiting for that e-mail.  


Why is it that I have the feeling that I'm going to be charged for this modem?  Huh?  Huh?




So here is where I am now.   The old modem is now working, albeit I still have a very slow Internet connection.  I'm waiting for my replacement modem which may or may not work.  


I wasted another two hours on the phone this morning with Verizon.  My arm is hurting.  My appointment at the orthopedic unit is 35 minutes from now.  


I'm outta here.

Internet Connection Blues

Stay cool Ron, stay cool.

Hey folks, I keep losing my Internet connection. 


Thank you very much Verizon.


Here's my choice, Verizon or Comcast.  Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. They both suck.


Bear with me.  The new modem will arrive in two days.  If that doesn't work then I will dump Verizon and go back to Comcast.  I hate Comcast.

I'm Back..............with an iMac!

Monday my Dell computer crashed. 

Tuesday I spiraled into semi-deep depression.

Wednesday I began to climb out of my well of frustration, despair and anger.

Thursday I bought a new iMac computer. 

Friday I moved my Dell computer out of my office and setup my new iMac.

Today I am writing about this Week That Was.

I decided on Wednesday that I would leave the world of Mr. Softee (Bill Gates) and Windows operating systems.  I also decided that I would never buy another Dell computers.  Of the five computers I have owned in my lifetime, three of them were Dells.  Every one of them crashed.  My other two computers were a Tandy (the old Radio brand) and a Gateway computer.  I sold the Tandy and the Gateway computer I am still using. Doesn’t say much for the quality of Dell computers does it?

Thursday morning a Dell technician came by the house and installed a new hard drive on my crashed Dell.

Thursday afternoon Bill and I got in his Jeep for the 39 mile (one way) trip to Dover and Best Buy.  Not for nothing to they call Sussex County Lower Slower Delaware.  Nothing is close down here except for those poor miserable chickens in their wooden cages going to slaughter at the local processing plant.

At Best Buy (after a side trip to Sam’s Club) we were greeted by a slovenly,not too knowledgeable  salesman who was missing his bottom two front teeth (which I had a difficult time not to keep looking at that gap between his other yellow teeth – why is it that the sales clerks in reality never look like the ones in commercials?) 

I eyed up the iMacs and quickly decided that I wanted the 27-inch version.  A good friend of mine purchased an iMac a couple of years ago.  He told me he loves it but if he had to do it over again he would get a bigger screen.  I decided not to make the same mistake and I’m glad I didn’t.  I’m sitting in front of that big screen now and I like it. 

I made the purchase, got the three-year warranty (which I will always do after my experience with my Dell), and also purchased a standard keyboard.  The iMac comes with a wireless keyboard but it is too small for me.  It is the size of a laptop keyboard.  That doesn’t work for me because I type with all ten of my fingers.  Fortunately my Mother insisted I take typing in high school (back in the Fifties when boys didn’t take such “girlish” courses) and I’ve been typing ever since.  With the small laptop keyboard I can’t keep my normal fast typing speed. 

Yesterday afternoon and into the night I was glued to my iMac learning the new system.  I still don’t know how to set the mail up.  I’m not pleased with the built in speakers.  I need a sub-woofer for that deep bass boom-boom for my music.  I plan to buy the Bose speakers that area available for the iMac.  Then I should be set for life.

Now my next job is to try and recover the files that I had backed up daily on my Maxtor external hard drive.  I’ll have to load the Maxtor software into my refurbished Dell and go through the process of restoring those files.  I don’t think I can restore those files directly to my new iMac because it is a different operating system.  I’ll restore them to the Dell and then copy the files (mostly my digital pictures) and move them to my iMac.

I have my work cut out for me the next few weeks.  I hope my old brain can handle it.  

Computer Crashes

My computer crashed this afternoon. It crashed while my Computer Guy was working on installing my Palm Pilot software on my Dell computer with a Vista operating system.

I purchased a Dell Inspiron 518 computer in December of 2008. I quickly discovered that I could not transfer some of my software programs from my Gateway computer with Windows XP to the Vista operating system of my new Dell computer.



Several times throughout the past year and a half I have had my Computer Guy working on the problem. He thought the problem was finally solved and all I needed was a Bluetooth adaptor. That I got and that is why he stopped over today. But, as it turned out my Palm Pilot is apparently not equipped with Bluetooth. He said he thought it had an infra red system (whatever that is.)



He was trying different approaches to making the Palm software working on my Dell computer when we noticed the computer got hung up. We rebooted the computer. We got the Black Screen of Death and this message in white text:



“Notice – Hard Drive Self Monitoring System has reported that a parameter has exceeded it normal operating range. Dell recommends that you back up your data regularly (which I do with a Maxtor hard drive.) A parameter out of range may or may not indicate a potential hard drive problem."


Press F1 to continue, F2 to enter SETUP.


He didn’t know what this message meant and I certainly didn’t either. This was the first time I’ve seen this message.



After several more exercises in turning off the computer to get it to boot up again, we received the message every computer user dreads:



HARD-DISK DRIVE FAILURE



My Computer Guy tried to get the computer into a safe mode but even that wouldn’t work.



He suggested that I call Dell. Here we go. I knew I was in for a torturous afternoon of frustration and I wasn’t disappointed.



After going through all the menu options on the phone I finally get a life person. Her name is “Monica”. Uh huh. Sure. “Monica” had an Indian accent and sounded like she was talking from the bottom of a well. As I said before, here we go.





“Monica” directed me through a series of tests. I kept coming back to the same error message. After an hour and a half of tests “Monica” asked if she could put me on hold.



“Monica” comes back on the phone and tells me that since my warranty is still effective (thank God I got that warranty) that they will replace my hard drive. First she tells me that they will send me a whole new tower with all the software installed just the way it was when I purchased the computer a year and a half ago. Then she calls me back and tells me that they will only be sending me a hard drive replacement but they will send a technician to install it for me. That is a blessing because I’m not the technical type.



So here I am now on my 9 year old Gateway computer. Now here is what is interesting. I purchased this Gateway computer in February of 2001 after my brand new Dell computer failed. That’s right. I had just purchased a $2,500 Dell computer and I couldn’t turn it off. Every time I turned it off it came back on itself. I called Dell and I was told I had “too much on the start up function.”  Say what? It’s a brand new computer. I didn’t put anything on the startup.



I wrestled with Dell and their Help line for about a week with that computer. While I was trying to resolve that problem I purchased a “cheap” Gateway computer for $1,000. I began using that Gateway computer. That is the computer I’m on now. In fact I became so comfortable with that Gateway computer that I gave my Dell computer to a good friend and he had the drive reformatted and purchased operating system software from Staples.

In December of 2008 I thought I should get a new computer because I didn’t know how long my Gateway computer would last. It was already seven years old. Most computers only last about three years. My previous computer was also a Dell. I purchased that one back in 1994 for $4,000. That one only lasted three year before it crashed.



So the obvious question is “Why did I buy another Dell when I already had two that crashed?” The answer is: I’M STUPID. Or, I’m a GLUTTON FOR PUNISHMENT. I AM A CLOWN.

What is even more frustrating was the Dell computer that I purchased in 2001 had the Windows Me operating system. That’s right, I was fortunate enough to buy new Dell computers both with the worst Microsoft operating systems in the history of Microsoft. Yes, I purchased Dell computer with Windows Me and Vista. Man oh man, if I only knew.



So now I wait “three to five business days” for my replacement hard drive to be delivered to my front door. Now why is it that I have this queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach? Could it be that I have lost all faith in Dell? Long ago I lost faith in Microsoft.

I should have done what my friend of lo these many years did and bought an iMac. That’s what he did when his computer crashed with a virus that the Microsoft system was unable to stop. Yes, I should’ve listened to him.



Guess what my next computer is going to be? That’s right Virginia, an iMac.

Saturday Morning Coffee

Some may wonder how I come up with the subject matter for my almost daily blog. I say to them, EVERY DAY LIVING!

For instance, today's blog features me (who else?) at Zorba's Restaurant in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Once a week Bill and I go out for breakfast at Zorba's, a hole in the wall restaurant just outside of downtown Rehoboth Beach. This morning, while waiting for our friend Bob, I asked Bill to take a video of me (who else?) having a cup of coffee. I don't know about you, but I find this video fascinating. Perhaps because it is ABOUT ME!

I’ve often thought if I had a digital camera and this cool little Flip video camcorder, how many pictures and videos would I have of my everyday living? Perhaps it is just as well I discovered these wonderful technological marvels late in my life. I doubt if I would have a computer hard drive big enough to hold all of those files.

One thing that does give me comfort though is the fact that perhaps, sometime in the future our descendants will look at these picture and videos and wonder how we could live in such “primitive” conditions.

These moments of life that I have recorded are a small legacy I’m leaving behind before I blast off into the Great Void of the universe. If nothing else, short videos like this offer a clue to my personality more than any picture could. This is a lot more than I have of my ancestors.

I’ve often wished I could go back in time and visit my ancestors and to know what they were like. All I have are frozen images in photographs and names and dates. Occasionally there is something in writing about the person in our past. But unless we have known them personally, all we’re left with is that stoic, two dimensional pictures.


This morning, with this short video, I have left a three dimensional portrait of myself. My legacy.

ALERT!  I tried to upload the video to my blog posting but, unfortunately, with the latest so call upgrade to my Blogger I can no longer upload videos OR spell check.  You tell me, where's the upgrade? 

So, if anyone wants to see my video, you will have to go to my Facebook account.  I'll post some still shots from the video to this posting.  Frustrating to say the least.

Another Day of Recovery

This morning I woke up to the bright light of a new day. The snow is still here but I feel the worst is over.




More snow is forecast for Sunday but it doesn't appear that is another Major Winter Snowstorm.



On the news last night I saw a statistic where only once in every 100 years does Philadelphia have 25 inches or more of snow. The last two weeks Philadelphia has had 25 or more inches of snow.



I don't know what the average is here where I live on the coastal plain of southern Delaware. I do know it is very unusual. All this snow and digging out brings back the bad old memories of my winters in Pennsylvania. I never thought I would experience those days again.



I was very angry at the Other Half yesterday for his constant mocking of me shoveling snow and then making blasting me at the end of the day as to why I was out driving around in our development when I was only helping our HOA person in charge of the snow removal. I blasted back. I've had it with the snow and the inconvenience that it causes.



I hit another snag this morning. I took a picture of the area at my front door to show what it looked like before I start shoveling the snow. I put the camera card in my computer and it doesn't work. Just another frustration. The drive is shot. Oh well, I has the USB cable. I'll use that and try not to let this latest snag ruin my day.



I would love to go out to the store and get a fresh supply of bananas but I'm not sure if I want to chance it on the still ice and treacherous roads.



My friends Bob and Jim are going to be rescued from their snowbound doublewide on their 22 acres of wooded seclusion. Bob's nephew is driving from Maryland to dig them out.



I heard from my friends Paul and Jack last night. They made the move before the second storm from Jack's place on Rt. 24, where they were without power and heat during the first snowstorm, to Paul's place in Ocean City, MD. They are in a safe place.



My brother John called from his home in sunny and snow free Greenville, SC yesterday. He told me our brother Isaac, who lives in the family home in PA, is still snowed in but does have power now. John told me that the snow has collapsed all the metal awnings on the house and the big metal awning next to the detached garage. Isaac is facing some substantial repair bills.



Most of my holly trees are gone. There were just sticks when we moved in here in November 2006. Over the past three years I have lovingly fed and trimmed them to a healthy, bushy green delight. I look out back now and I do not see them. They are gone, under the snow. I'll probably replace them with Leland Cypress trees this spring.



I am so tired of this snow and its aftermath. I'm looking forward to life going back to normal. I keep telling myself, each day will get better. And it will. Now to get that USB drive fixed. It's always something isn't it?

Here We Go Again

For the last several months I have notice that I cannot watch a You Tube video without it pausing. I’ve also noticed that the past several months that my Internet downloads take a long time to download. Here we go again. I’m about to do battle with my Internet service provider, Verizon.



Sunday I did a speed test. As I suspected my Internet speed wasn’t up to 3 MB as I was promised and what I’m paying Verizon for monthly. Instead my Internet speed varies between 200 and 500 kbps. This isn’t the high speed Internet service I’m paying for.



Here we go again. Sunday I started the series of phone calls that is necessary to resolve this problem. I don’t to bore the readers of this blog with all the hoops I had to jump through until I got a real person. The “real person” was Sanjay in India. Someone who I could hardly understand his English. That torturous phone conversation ended with Sanjay telling me I had too much on my Startup and that was affecting my Internet speed. I’m not a techie but I knew this was a ridiculous explanation.



Yesterday I took the plunge again and called Verizon. Again, I jump through all the hoops until I finally got a real person. This time it was a man from Canada. At least I could understand him. Again, I answered all the questions on his script. We did another speed test which confirmed that my Internet speed is SLOW.



This time he’s going to write up a ticket. Then he transfers me to a real technician. This guy is Mr. Smooth. At the end of the conversation, after I answer all the same questions and go through another speed test, he says “Someone will contract me if it is NECESSARY to do so.” What? I DON’T HAVE THE INTERET SPEED THAT I AM PAYING FOR!



After almost three hours on the phone yesterday morning, I am no further along than I was when I made my first phone call on Sunday.



So now I await the call from Verizon.



I’ve been here before. When I first moved here in November of 2006 I went through the nightmare of Comcast. I dumped Comcast and got Verizon. That is my only choice in the area, Comcast or Verizon. That is some choice isn’t it? That’s competition.



Stay tuned.

DIRECTV Fixed!

My DIRECTV is fixed! Juan, the DIRECTV repairman arrived at the appointed time. Juan was the original DIRECTV technician who setup my system. I was glad to see him. I knew I was in capable hands.

He had no problem with my request to remove his shoes before he went through my house. I know I'm fussy to the inth degree but I really don't want people walking through my house with their shoes on. Who knows what those shoes have walked on?

Juan quickly diagnosed the problem as one of corroded contacts on the outside lines. It took him about two hours to replace the contacts. Now I have my MSNBC back (and CNN and TCM.)

Juan and his family used to live in this development. The three of us (Bill) discussed what has transpired since he moved. It was good to see him again. It was also good to have a professional, knowledgeable and friendly service person take care of my problem.

This is a short posting because I have to go to work early today. Blare (who I'm relieving) has to leave early for a doctor's appointment. Today will be a long day at work for me but I am comfortable knowing that when I come home tonight I can watch Keith and Rachel.


Now I have another problem, my Adobe Flash Player isn't working on my Gateway computer. I can't blame this problem on Vista. Who knows what happened here? I get a message telling me I don't have the latest version of Adobe Flash Player and I need to download it. I download it and nothing happens. So what else is new? O la de da.

No Regrets, No Complaints

Here we are half way into the first month of the New Year and I think I’m finally getting back on track. I had all good intentions of starting the New Year on a positive note with happy, upbeat blog postings. But alas, my problems with the Vista operating system on my new computer changed all that. I’m not going to revisit those problems again but I will say the whole experience left me a little shaky. The whole idea of getting a new computer was to get a sense of comfort and security that I would lose all my data on my old Gateway computer. Never in a million years did I think I would encounter the level of problems I had with Vista. Those problems still aren’t over. I have yet to load my Palm Pilot information on my new computer. Why? Oh, my old Palm program isn’t compatible with Vista. This is just another “improvement” for “upgrading” to the Vista operating system.

So here I am, sitting at my new computer, listening to my music (which is working now, thank goodness), typing in this entry on my wireless keyboard, using my wireless mouse. I disconnected my wireless printer and now have it plugged into the back of my computer. Interestingly, I now have one less cord running out of the back of my computer. The “wireless” printer had TWO cords running out the back (that makes sense.) So now I’m ready to enjoy what I paid a lot of money for, my new computer. I don’t feel like that is asking a whole lot.

One of the readers of my blog suggested that I write a blog about my life now in cyber world versus a life I would have had 150 years ago in the hills of western North Carolina, from whence my ancestors struggled to make a living. While it sounds all well and nice to be self sufficient as they were, I think I prefer my life today with all its frustrations. While my great-great-great-great grandfather Major Jonathan Tipton (1750-1833) had to worry about getting the crop in and producing enough food for his family of 19 children to carry them through the winter, I only have to worry about how fast is my connection to the Internet. While Jonathan and Keziah Tipton (his 2nd wife – he would have one more before he finished his Life’s Journey) and their children huddled together in their log cabin during the winter trying to stave off the cold winter winds, I’m worried about how much higher my heating bill with Poore’s Propane (an appropriate name for a heating company I would say) is going to go up next month. At least I have the wherewithal to pay the bill. I don’t to worry about bears or snakes invading my home. The only snakes I have to worry about are the two legged kind and there are plenty of them around.

I guess it all boils down to the context. Maybe a lot has to do with what one is used to. If you never had something, chances are you really don’t miss it. Still, I would find it very hard to get used to sleeping on a wooden floor in the winter time with the snow blowing through the cracks in the log house in which Jonathan and his family lived. Even as late as 1926, my uncle Tip (Fieldon Jacob Tipton, Jr.) told me that when he was born on December 31st, 1926, that the midwife had to brush the snowflakes away from him that came in through the spaces in the wooden walls of the cabin in which he was born. Can you imagine?

What is even harder for me to imagine is if my grandparents had not moved their family to Pennsylvania in 1929, where would I be now? I don’t think I would be sitting on a fence plucking a banjo a la Deliverance, but I probably wouldn’t be too far from that scene. I’ve been down those hills in North Carolina and I’m telling you, they haven’t changed all that much from Major Jonathan Tipton’s time. What really boggles my mind though, is what would my life have been like as a gay man? Or, maybe those mountains of North Carolina were like the present day Iran, there were no gays. Then again, maybe not. They probably had big closests back then.

I am extremely thankful to be where I am today. Even with all my frustrations and the roadblocks I encounter in everyday living. My life is infinitely better than my ancestor’s life was back in their day. However, I do wonder what someone reading this blog 150 years from now would think of the way I live today. They would probably think “How could he live under such circumstances?” I manage. Just as my great-great-great-great grandfather Jonathan Tipton managed in his time, I manage in my time. After all, life is all about survival and reaching a quality of life that we can enjoy the short time that we are on this earth. I hope this blog posting survives for the next 150 years so someone in the future will know that this 67 year old, gay white man was happy with his lot in life. I have no regrets and I have no complaints. However, it would be nice if I could string a few days together without encountering some kind of technological problem. Just yesterday I couldn't get TCM (Turner Classic Movies) on my satellite TV. Would would Major Jonathan think?

AOL Installed!

After my angst, AOL 9.1 is finally installed on my new Dell computer. What was the problem? You might have guessed it. It was the Vista operating system that was incompatible with AOL 9.0.

While waiting for Tom (PC Guy) this morning, I search the Internet to see if anyone else was having the same problems. It didn’t take me too long to find out that I wasn’t the only one by a long shot. Back at the beginning of the year there were quite a few postings to a Microsoft forum about other users who could not install AOL 9.0 or AOL 9.1, or even AOL 9.1 VR (Vista Ready) on their computers that had a Vista operating system.

I printed out the postings from that forum and gave it to Tom when he came in this morning. Tom had asked me to call AOL for support but I didn’t because I knew that would be an exercise in futility. Many people on the forum reported that they called the AOL Help line. That’s an oxymoron, AOL Help. Of course AOL was of no help. I even called Smart Computing for help. I’m a long time subscriber so I thought for the first time I would take advantage of their much advertised tech help line for subscribers. That was a waste of time. The guy on the other end of the line blew me off.

The postings on the forum dropped off after March of 2008 so I came to the conclusion that AOL finally figured out how to make their version 9.01 compatible with Vista. Tom and I downloaded the latest version. Right away we noticed that this was going to be a SLOW DOWNLOAD. It was. It took about 2 hours to download. Tom couldn’t wait. He has a life.

Tom fixed my HP Photosmart All-in-One printer problems (I couldn’t’ use the scanner) by uninstalling and reinstalling the software. It now works, for the time being at least. This is about the fourth time this software has been uninstalled and reinstalled.

Tom left the premises. I continued to monitor the SLOW AOL download. If this was downloading to Windows XP, it would only take minutes. But no, this is downloading to an upgraded version of Windows. What has this upgrade done for me? If anyone knows, let me know.

When the download was almost done, I got an error message. My heart dropped. But, there was hope. A button appeared that said “continue?” I said ‘YES!”. It picked up where it left off. This happened three more times. Man oh man. What is it with the upgrades? Don’t they test these things before they put them on the market? Of course they don’t. This is the new business ethic, throw it out on the market and let them work out the kinks. Thank you Mr. Softee.

The download finally completed and the Welcome screen of AOL appeared on my widescreen Dell computer. Nirvana! I love the user interface and icons on AOL. I have one friend who constantly criticizes me for staying with AOL. I know AOL has problems and has no support for its users but it does have the most user friendly Internet portal. It is the one I prefer.

My joy was short lived. I got an error message. Ugh! I turned of the computer, hoping it only needs a reboot. I wait a minute and, with bated breath, I turn the Dell back on. AOL came up! My computer didn’t blow up! It works! Hosanna!

How long this will last, I don’t’ know but I was had AOL up for three hours, catching up. Right now I’m on my old Gateway computer. I have AOL version 9.0 (which I reinstalled myself without any problems.) After dinner, I’ll turn on my Dell. Oh I hope I don’t have any more problems.

What did I learn from this whole episode? I should have listened to those who said Vista sucks. I’ve also learned that the Help lines also suck. What works now is going to forums on the Internet for others who have the same problem. This is the only place where you will find anyone who has the knowledge and can help. There are good people on those forums who are unselfish and willingly help those of use who aren’t techies.

This is something I discovered last week where I work. My boss had just completed two days removing Malware from the office network computers. After finishing he found he couldn’t get the printer to work. He posted the problem in the Google browser and discovered others who had the same problem. Within minutes he received an e-mail from a person in Russia who had the answer. The Russian user sent him an e-mail with instructions how to solve the problem. My boss keyed in the instructions. Immediately the printer began printing.

This episode opened my eyes. Don’t depend on AOL, Dell, Microsoft or Hewlett Packard. They’re too busy laying employees off and outsourcing work to India where they speak heavily accented English. The Help lines will never be effective because there is no money in it for the companies involved. The AOL’s, Dell’s, Microsoft’s, and Hewlett-Packard’s of this world don’t care about their consumer. They only care about making the sale. Their priority is how many stock options and bonuses they can give their executives. Perhaps the greatest failure perpetuated on the American public in recent years is this “upgrade” Vista. Someone please tell me how my life is better because I have Vista on my new computer. Please.

I say put a pie in the face of all those who are responsible for this travesty. Think different. I next time I get a Mac.

Rules for Kids

Lately, I haven't been feeling too good about Mr. Softee (Bill Gates) because of all my computer problems with Vista. Actually, I'm not feeling too good about the PC industry as a whole, and that include Dell computers and Hewlett Packard printers. However, a friend sent this to me this morning. I thought it was worth sharing. In this once instance I agree with the Chief Nerd.

This attributed to Bill Gates but that is incorrect. It is actually the work of Charles Sykes in his book Dumbing Down Our Kids)

Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this! Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time..

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Thank a teacher!

Most of all Thank A Veteran for keeping our country free so this can be passed on to someone else.

Vista Frustration

My PC Guy just left. Well, almost all of my problems are fixed. I still cannot access my AOL account on my new Dell computer. The problem is the Vista operating system. The security controls are so tight it won’t even let me, as the administrator, create files to fix the problem. Tom will have to stop back on Friday to complete the job.

According to Tom, all the problems are the result of Vista. When I uninstalled the AOL software, it caused “something” to be reset. Thus, I couldn’t access the enhanced viewer on my Ancestry.com web site (used for viewing original documents like census records.) It also caused the previous downloaded version of Adobe Flash Player to disappear. He has that working again. Only in Internet Explorer though. It still doesn’t work through G Mail. Thank you Vista!

BTW, DON’T BUY VISTA! IF YOU SEE IT, RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN IN THE OTHER DIRECTION! BUY IT AND YOU WILL SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES. NIGHTMARES, HEADACHES, FRUSTRATION, AND WASTED TIME. What were they thinking when they devised this “upgrade?” Surely they were not thinking of us, the humble PC user. Geek arrogance reigns supreme.

After three hours, Tom had to leave for an appointment. He will be back on Friday to check my problem with my HP Photosmart All-in-One printer. I can’t blame this problem on Vista. This problem was caused by me when I tried to print a picture yesterday and the printer jammed up. In the process, I forgot that I’m not supposed to print the picture through the HP software but instead use the Windows software. By using the HP software, I changed the printer’s drivers. Now it won’t print. That makes sense doesn’t it?

Notice how the software companies routinely put out their “upgrades” without thoroughly testing them? They take it for granted that the market place (that’s us, the lowly PC user), will work out the bugs in their software. Business arrogance reigns supreme.

My friend Lar responds on my blog, “What a nightmare.” He’s got that right. My friend Jim says there will be a day when everything runs and I can enjoy using my computer and peripheral equipment. I say, that is a day I’m looking forward to. In the meantime, I’m going to spend a good part of the evening and tomorrow morning, updating my genealogy files on Family Tree Maker. That is my relaxation. I need it bad.

BTW, I could not include a picture in this blog posting because I get a message "There were errors during the upload." Since I got this message on both of my computers, I'm assuming it's Blogger that is screwing up now. At least I hope so.

List For PC Guy

Here I await my PC Guy (Tom) to fix various and sundry problems I have with my brand spanking new Dell Inspiron computer. Oh how I rue the day I decided to purchase another Dell but that's another whole story.

Not only do I have problems with my new Dell computer, I'm having problems with my HP Photosmart All-in-One printer. It has a mind of it's own. Sometimes it scans pictures, and sometimes not. This is about the 4th time I'm having Tom look at it. I've lost count the number of times we have installed and uninstalled the HP printer software.

Now I'm having a problem with my AOL mail software. I made the BIG MISTAKE of cleaning out my In Box (a New Year's resolution gone horribly wrong) and I discovered the "Quick Read" feature on my AOL In Box mail wasn't working. I uninstalled and reinstalled the AOL software on both computers; my old Gateway and the new Dell. The AOL software now works on the Gateway (well, sort of) and doesn't work on the Dell (so what else is new? Just another fun feature of Vista I suspect.)

Last night I had a new surprise. Now my music doesn't work on my blog nor on Playlist.com. Something to do with 64 bits versus 32 bits. What's that? Then, just to top everything else off, the Enhanced Feature Adobe download won't work for my Ancestry.com site. I need that feature to read the census records. Doesn't work folks. Again, I suspect Vista is the culprit here. No wonder businesses don't want to "upgrade" to Vista. IT'S NOT WORTH THE TROUBLE.

My simple question is? Why can't they make computers and printers that work for the average person? I'm not the sharpest blade in the drawer, but I can figure out most things. Not this time. I'm getting overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of just running this damn thing.

Below is my beginning list for Tom when he arrives at 11 am or thereabouts this morning. This is what I seem to spending most of my time doing lately instead of sending out clever e-mails, writing fascinating blog entries, and genealogy research. Something isn't right here.

List for Tom

1) Install AOL software on Dell computer

2) Add back AOL PFC files on Dell computer

3) Add MSN sign on to e-mail on Dell computer.


4) Make small font size on Google and AOL on Dell

5) Check double printer setup and wireless cords on Dell


6) When exiting “Welcome to Dell” from Google, screen hiccups over 70 times and leaves images on desktop

7) How to change short cut icons on Dell desktop


8) Hookup wired keyboard and mouse on Dell computer

9) Music doesn’t play on blog on Dell computer through Google. Can’t use Playlist.com. See note for Adobe download 64 bit versus 32 bit.


10) Cannot download Adobe flash player enhanced image viewer on Ancestry.com on Dell computer

11) Where is the refresh key on the Dell computer? One the Gateway?


12) HP Photosmart All-in-One printer not scanning – suspect drivers are wrong again since I tried to print through HP instead of Windows

13) Add back AOL PFC files on Gateway computer


14) How do I use flash drive on both computers? Want to back up Palm and genealogy files from Gateway computer – also move photos between computers on flash drive

15) Clean out some old programs no longer used in Gateway computer

What Would Our Ancestors Have Done?

Lately, I’ve been having my share of technical problems with my computer and peripherals. I now have two computers in my home office, along with three printers. One would think that I have all the bases covered. One would be wrong.

I won’t bore you with the details of my problems but basically it is that I now cannot scan photos in my HP Photosmart All-in-One Printer. I suspect it has something to do with the printer drivers changing when I tried to print a photo. Hewlett-Packard is so hot to get their users plugged into their continual stream of updates and ads; it is now almost impossible just to use the printer.

So now my problems are:

1) My new computer doesn’t have AOL software on it
2) My wireless printer is hooked up TWICE on my new computer
3) Multiple screen repeats on some Google searches
4) I need to disable the wireless keyboard and mouse on the new computer
5) Where is the refresh key?
6) How do I change icons on the new computer? Ain’t Vista great?
7) How do I use the flash drive on both computers?


A few nights ago I was reading about my ancestors in the book “History of the Toe River Valley.” My paternal ancestors lived in the hills of western North Carolina from the early 1700’s to the 1920’s (when my father’s family moved out to Pennsylvania.) Some might call them hillbillies but the correct term is “Appalachian pioneers.” Their occupation was farming. They grew and raised their own food. The woman, who I believed worked much harder than the men, “kept house.” This involved washing the clothes at the nearest stream, using a stick to beat the dirt out of the clothes. A chicken dinner meant going out in the back yard to grab the unfortunate chicken and chop its head off, dip the chicken in boiling water to pluck the feathers (I’ve done this), and gut it. Vegetables came from the garden, or in the winter time, from the vegetables that were canned from the summer’s produce.

Somehow they managed without to live a full life without electricity, indoor plumbing, and PC’s! Yes, they managed without PC’s. This knowledge has put my technical problems in perspective, to say the least. I sit in a warm and comfortable house, my refrigerator is stocked full, and I wash and dry my clothes (as I did this morning) while I’m on my computer updating my genealogy files. What I really appreciate is when I have to use the bathroom, it is warm and comfortable. I’ve used an outhouse. Not a pleasant experience, especially for someone as fussy as I am.

Now I wonder a hundred years from now will one of my ancestors wonder about me and my generation? Will they marvel at the hardships we have had to endure? No doubt they will. Our ancestors probably didn’t realize that they were enduring hardships. Oh, maybe the washing the clothes down at the stream. What we take for granted now will probably amaze our descendents that we even endured such “hardships.” I predict one “hardship” that will never disappear, PC problems. As Benjamin Franklin said: “Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes. “Add to his quotation “PC glitches.” I wonder what my ancestors would have thought of my “problem.” Even more interesting, I wonder what my descendents will think.

A Frustrating Day

Last night I made good on my New Year’s resolution to clean out my mail cabinet. I had over 600 messages that I had to check and to either discard, file or respond to the messages. Until the wee hours in the morning, I diligently checked each message and made a good choice. I even discontinued some of those automatic generated e-mails. Thus, it was with great anticipation this morning that I turned my computer on, planning to start with a clean slate and have a productive day updating my genealogy files.

Now you probably have surmised where I’m going with this. Oh yes, I had a clean slate alright. In fact, it was so clean I brought up AOL with an error message that it loaded improperly. Good old AOL. They never let you down. My AOL wasn’t loading properly. What did I do except clean out my mail? How does it go? The best laid plans of men and mice go awry? Something like that anyway.

I tried my old computer. I had the same error message on that computer. I tried Bill’s computer, which is on the same network and the other two computers. I thought that maybe, just maybe, it’s at the source of AOL. But no, I could bring up my AOL account properly on his computer. No errors. Same network, different results. What could I have done wrong?

Here is what the problem was. I don’t have the Quick Read blurb on the mail in my AOL box. I checked my PC Filing Cabinet. My saved message showed a Quick Read description but if I went back into the file, all I saw was a blank envelope for that date. To the right of the blank envelope, it was all white space. What in the world now? Is this some kind of nefarious scheme to keep my Computer Guy in business for the New Year? I mean I like Tom and all but I'm at the point now where I'm going to have to put him on my payroll.

So what to do? I thought I would take the bull by the horns and uninstall AOL from my old computer and reinstall it from the CD-ROM I have of AOL version 9.0 (I had 9.1 on my computer but I don’t really need that version.) This took awhile to do but I was able to bring up my AOL account, minus all the mail I had saved on my hard drive. Not to worry though, I see a folder on my desktop that says “AOL Saved PFC.” Okay. Now what do I do with that? At least I can access my AOL account now and see with the Quick Read feature and see who sent me e-mails.

Next I took on the new computer. I uninstalled AOL 9.1 and reinstalled 9.0. I wasn’t so fortunate AOL, nothing happened. I suspected I would have a problem because the new computer operates on the VISTA system. Oh how I wish I took my friend Larry’s advice and got a Mac. AOL, Windows, Vista……….it all adds up to frustration.

To say I was spitting mad is an understatement. What to do? I asked Bill if he wanted to go for a ride on this sunny Sunday afternoon. He did. Off we went. Anywhere, just to get out of the house and this frustration and into the cold fresh air.

First we stopped at Big Bob’s and got a bucket full of sand. Bill needs that to fill in the deep indentation on our front lawn that the Ryan Home folks left when they installed the sod after repairing our drainage problem.

Next, we stopped at the American Legion Post 28 to put Bill’s name on the calendar for the American Legion van to pick him up and take him to Wilmington for his appointment at the Veterans Administration Medical Center two weeks hence. We used to call this in to Ron Robinson, the van coordinator but he choked to death on a piece of food a month ago and no one has taken his place as coordinator. We were told we had to appear in person at the American Legion clubhouse on Route 24 and Bill would personally have to write his name on the calendar.

Of course we had another hurdle to jump over before we could do this. We had to have a key to get in the American Legion club house. We had one but who knows where that is now? We never go there because of the smoking. The American Legion posts are private clubs so smoking is permitted and do they ever take advantage of it. We arrive at the entrance and ring the buzzer. Someone lets us in. As we expected, the place is full of veterans and their women folk. Drinking and pool playing is in full swing. And yes, it was a smoke filled hall.

We ask who to see to get a key. We’re directed to an office in the back. The gentlemen veteran in the back office checked his records and told us we had keys issued to us. We agreed that we had the keys but we don’t know where they are now. He says he can give us new ones for $8.00 a piece. It was a deal. He made up new keys for us and I gave him a $20 bill.

We leave the American Legion Post 28 club house, reeking of smoke and alcohol. Just like the old days when we used to go to the 247 Bar in Philadelphia. Ah sweet memories. Well, at least we accomplished something today. And, as an extra bonus the gentleman told us the name of the new van coordinator. But we’re keeping the keys just in case of another emergency.

We left and drove leisurely back home. Bill saw that I had a phone message from a friend. I called the friend. He wanted to know if I wanted to dine out tonight with our usual Purple Parrot group. However, this night we would be dining at the Stoney Lonen restaurant in Rehoboth Beach. The Stoney Lonen is known for its seafood dishes. I don’t do seafood but I like my friends. I think I need a night out to get de rattled. It’s been a tough day.