The 2nd Annual Fishin' Magician Trip: I WAS ON A BOAT!

Woke up at 2:15 am to go to Algoma for a charter fishing trip on Lake Michigan, same as last year. Caught the first fish at 4:30 am, first line in. Then got horribly seasick for an hour before the Dramamine kicked in. I still kinda feel like I'M ON A BOAT. Desperately wanted to yell that, but considering the audience, decided against it. Final fish tally: 7 King Salmon, 1 Steelhead Salmon, 1 Lake Trout. Not as many or as big of fish as last year, but still a fun time.

Shuffle!

Stole this from the Onion where they do it to famous people. That's probably the only reason it's interesting, but it's still kinda cool.

The Rules: Queue up every song on your mp3 player and put it on shuffle. Record the first 5 songs that play. NO SKIPPING! Write down your reactions/thoughts like this.

1. Please Don't Go - KC & the Sunshine Band
My junior year of high school we used to play this in the guys dressing room during shows all the time as part of the KC-only mandate that was strictly enforced. It was dedicated to Mike Sherman because it was his last year. I preferred "Keep it Comin' Love," which required everybody to dance at all times when it was playing. It wasn't as gay as it sounds.

2. Can't Let it Go - The Goo Goo Dolls
Are the Goo Goo Dolls an acceptable band for a college-age male to listen to? I've never really understood if they are a chick-rock band like Snow Patrol or the Fray. Johnny Rzeznik has a great voice and they write catchy songs. This is probably my favorite song off this album.

3. Monks Chant/He Is Not Dead Yet - Monty Python's Spamalot
I've actually never seen this show, but I have heard it's hysterical. A couple of years ago I probably could have quoted every line in Holy Grail. I'm probably at about 45% now. Incidentally, the song "Find Your Grail" from this show has some crazy impressive vocals by Sara Ramirez (of Grey's Anatomy) as the Lady of the Lake.

4. Sames and Opposites - Demetri Martin
Man, two somewhat gag tracks in a row. Don't I have any other real music on this thing? Well, at least this a good comedy track. Probably one of the best from Demetri Martin, who is kinda hit-or-miss. Still, I'm not a fan of when comedians play instruments. I don't really like gag songs and that kind of thing. Either tell some jokes or play some tunes. Don't half-ass them both so you can do them at the same time.

5. Supermarkets - Jerry Seinfeld
What the hell!?!? Where is the MUSIC?!?! I don't even listen to these comedy tracks that much! Well, at least it's Seinfeld, and this is one of the best tracks off "I'm Telling You For the Last Time." Say what you will about his observational humor style, he does it better than anyone else. When he talks about drinking milk the day after the expiration date, I always lose it.

Maybe I should try this again another time and limit it to MUSIC ONLY.

On Roundabouts

There is a big 2-lane roundabout going in on the East end of the new College Avenue Bridge (which won't be done for another year or two at least) in Appleton, and the city engineers are already in panic mode. I suppose they have good reason: a bunch of roundabouts went up in a few nearby towns and the populace freaked out. Now it's starting here. People are writing into the paper and showing up at meetings to complain about the things. The city gave a little informational meeting about how to use the thing to all city employees who drive on public roads. We also got a PAMPHLET. It was very helpful. It explained that "the main difference between a multi-lane roundabout and a single-lane roundabout is that there is more than one lane running around the center of a multi-lane roundabout." REALLY!?!?! THIS SHATTERS ALL MY PRECONCEIVED NOTIONS OF THE WORLD!!!!

Anyway, as I was saying, people are starting to freak out about these things. Driving is one skill that people seem to think is just a natural thing that never changes and that you should never have to work on. Again, personal responsibility has disappeared from most parts of this world. Here is a quick stat-shot on those people who complain about roundabouts:

Avgerage Age: 68
Preferred Internet Service Provider: AOL
Preferred Car Make: Buick
Average Dinner Reservation Time: 4:45 pm
Most Popular Reminiscing Topic: The Good Ol' Days

How can you legitimately argue against roundabouts? They save huge amounts of gas and time, require less maintenance, look nicer, and people DON'T DIE IN ROUNDABOUTS. That last reason alone seems like it should convince everybody.

HP Lies, or One Man's Quest to Get His Defective Computer Fixed: Aug. 3rd, 2009

Over the weekend I find out that a class action lawsuit has been in the making for a few months now, but can't proceed until the court certifies that a class actually exists. I post a reply on the hplies forum asking if there has been any progress on this matter. In addition, hplies lists a number of service order numbers that were given free repairs in the last few months. These orders correspond to model numbers not included in the enhanced warranty, inlcuding mine. Therefore I can conclusively say that it is possible for my computer to be repaired free of charge. I also investigate the official HP support forums, which according to hplies have been subjected to scrutiny and censorship by HP moderators who delete most posts regarding this matter on the grounds they are, "irrelevant." I find multiple threads full of people posting system information about computers that have failed due to this problem and yet are not covered under the enhanced warranty. HP's information page about the enhanced warranty also contains info about the BIOS update released in November 2007, which caused the heatsink fan to run continuously in order to slow the progression of the problem. This had the convenient effect of stalling most peoples' eventual system failures until after their warranties had expired. Armed with this and other information, I call David back to continue my efforts. Unfortunately, David is unavailable for reasons unknown (lunchbreak, out of the office are given as possible excuses). I leave a message to have him call me back (still waiting on that). That is where I currently stand.

HP Lies, or One Man's Quest to Get His Defective Computer Fixed: July 31st, 2009

July 31st, I start down the long, dark, winding road that is HP Customer Support. Bypassing the bottom level tech support line (which, via e-mail, has suggested I try using my computer in a cooler spot, hard rebooting, restarting in safe mode, and changing my BIOS power settings) entirely, I call the HP Executive Care Line and explain my situation. The lady repeatedly tells me I am 400+ days out of warranty, which I know. She asks what I would like her to do. I tell her, "Arrange for my computer to be repaired or connect me with a case manager who can handle getting my computer repaired." She connects me with a case manager named David (1-877-917-4380, ext. 08). I explain my problem to David, who tells me that unfortunately his computer will not allow him to set up a diagnostic/repair service for my computer. I ask him what his computer will allow him to do for me, and why he has a computer in front of him which openly refuses to perform the tasks he is assigned to complete. He tells me his hands are tied because my computer is not included in the enhanced warranty despite displaying the same symptoms as those that were included. I ask him why my computer was not included despite containing the same defective hardware. He tells me he doesn't know, that he just gets this warranty information from the warranty department. I explain that my roommate Andy's computer wasn't covered under the enhanced warranty and yet he was able to get his computer repaired 2 months ago. He tells me that while it may have been possible 2 months ago, HP has since changed their policy and will no longer repair these broken systems. I ask why the policy was changed (he doesn't know) and ask to speak to the person who made this change. David tells me that's a question for the warranty people, who he is unable to connect me with. I ask how I should go about getting in contact with these people, and David suggests I call back the Executive Care Line and ask to speak to the appropriate person. I tell David I will do this, get his contact information, and hang up. Day one comes to an end.

HP Lies, or One Man's Quest to Get His Defective Computer Fixed: July 30, 2009

Here's where I get involved. July 30th, my computer is once again running very hot while the fan screams in an attempt to cool it down. I leave the computer open on a low power setting in order to hopefully cool it down while I am away at work. I come back later that day to discover that it has become completely unresponsive, the fan has shut down, and the display is distorted in multiple places. Reddish lines chop up the lower half of the screen, and a small checkerboard-box pattern follows my mouse cursor as I move it around (this was the only input my computer recognized, although clicking was not functional). Never having seen distortion like this on my computer before, I attempt to fix the problem with a hard reboot and drain the capacitors by removing the battery and AC adapter before restarting the system. Upon powering on, my computer displays a grayish-black screen split by a few random lines, and lit up by an irregular white blob in the upper left corner. It does not proceed past this point. Mouse clicks are useless, no keystrokes are recognized, and multiple restarts produce the same screen each time. I consult the online forum/database www.hplies.com, which is dedicated entirely to this problem. It contains a list of 10 symptoms conclusively identified as hallmarks of the defective chip issue. I have experienced 8 of them, including the final "Unresponsive black distorted screen." At this point I am convinced that my motherboard has indeed been fried as I knew would happen sooner or later, and that I have a long road ahead of me. Did I ever.

HP Lies, or One Man's Quest to Get His Defective Computer Fixed: An Introduction

In late May/early June 2007, I purchased an HP Pavilion dv9000t laptop which included an nVidia GeForce Go 7600 video card chipset. I was very happy with this laptop for the first year and a half, until I started experiencing some minor problems in early 2009: freezing, distorted display, wireless connectivity loss, extreme heat/fan usage, etc. It just so happened my roommate Andy had the same computer model and was also experiencing these problems. In fact, his were significantly worse than mine, and got much worse over about a month, until soon his computer was unusuable. He discovered that our computers, specifically these nVidia chipsets, were defective, and were essentially burning out our motherboards. His was pretty much toast, and mine was definitely on its way, though for the time being, still functional. So Andy set about dealing with HP to get his fixed. As it turns out, HP had known about this problem and the defective video cards since November 2007 at the latest, and established an Enhanced Warranty Service for a small subset of the computers which had shipped with these defective parts. What benchmark HP used to determine which defective computers out of the thousands shipped would be eligible for this Enhanced Warranty remains a mystery. Not surprisingly, Andy's did not qualify, despite displaying the exact same symptoms and defective hardware as those systems that were repaired! So, after about 5 hours on the phone with different support people, he was able to secure a new motherboard for half of the original repair price. Keep in mind, this means that Andy paid out of his own pocket to repair a computer that had died due to defective hardware that was included when the computer was built. This was in June 2009. At this time, my computer was gradually worsening, a herald of things to come...