Tag: desk

Tech Support…

On By Michel McDonaldIn Humor, JokeLeave a comment

A friend sent this email to me today, it’s hilarious.  I’m copying and pasting it into this blog post, editing it a bit to make it easier to read.  This ought to give you a good chuckle.

This ought to make you feel better about your computer skills!

Tech support: What kind of computer do you have?

Customer: A white one…

Customer: Hi, this is Celine .. I can’t get my diskette out.

Tech support: Have you tried pushing the Button?

Customer: Yes, sure, it’s really stuck.

Tech support: That doesn’t sound good; I’ll make a note.

Customer: No , wait a minute. I hadn’t inserted it yet… it’s still on my desk… sorry…

Tech support: Click on the ‘my computer’ icon on to the left of the screen.

Customer: Your left or my left?

Tech support: Good day. How may I help you?

Male customer: Hello… I can’t print.

Tech support: Would you click on ‘start’ for me and….

Customer: Listen pal; don’t start getting technical on me! I’m not Bill Gates..

Customer: Hi, good afternoon, this is Martha, I can’t print. Every time I try, it says ‘Can’t find printer’. I’ve even lifted the printer and placed it in front of the monitor, but the computer still says he can’t find it.

Customer: I have problems printing in red..

Tech support: Do you have a color printer?

Customer: Aaaah………………..thank you.

Tech support: What’s on your monitor now, ma’am?

Customer: A teddy bear my boyfriend bought for me at the 7-11.

Customer: My keyboard is not working anymore.

Tech support: Are you sure it’s plugged into the computer?

Customer: No. I can’t get behind the computer.

Tech support: Pick up your keyboard and walk 10 paces back.

Customer: ! OK

Tech support: Did the keyboard come with you?

Customer: Yes

Tech support: That means the keyboard is not plugged in. Is there another keyboard?

Customer: Yes, there’s another one here. Ah that one does work..

Tech support: Your password is the small letter ‘a’ as in apple, a capital letter V as in Victor, the number 7.

Customer: Is that 7 in capital letters ?

Customer: I can’t get on the Internet.

Tech support: Are you sure you used the right password?

Customer: Yes, I’m sure. I saw my colleague do it.

Tech support: Can you tell me what the password was?

Customer: Five dots.

Tech support: What anti-virus program do you use?

Customer: Netscape.

Tech support: That’s not an anti-virus program.

Customer: Oh, sorry… Internet Explorer.

Customer: I have a huge problem. A friend has placed a screen saver on my computer, but every time I move the mouse, it disappears.

Tech support: How may I help you?

Customer: I’m writing my first email.

Tech support: OK, and what seems to be the problem?

Customer: Well, I have the letter ‘a’ in the address, but how do I get the little circle around it?

A woman customer called the Canon help desk with a problem with her printer.

Tech support: Are you running it under windows?

Customer: ‘No, my desk is next to the door, but that is a good point. The man sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a window, and his printer is working fine.’

And last but not least…

Tech support: ‘Okay Bob, let’s press the control and escape keys at the same time. That brings up a task list in the middle of the screen. Now type the letter ‘P’ to bring up the Program Manager.’

Customer: I don’t have a P.

Tech support: On your keyboard, Bob.

Customer: What do you mean?

Tech support: ‘P’…..on your keyboard, Bob.

Customer: I’M NOT GOING TO DO THAT!

The Contortionist Bicycle

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, TechLeave a comment

I have seen folding bikes before but this thing is amazing.  It folds up to the height of the wheels and is very compact.  You can take it to work with you and not even worry about locking it up, you can just hide it under your desk or if you don’t have a desk, lock it up in the break room.  You could probably even lock it up outside in the parking lot to one of the handicapped signs.  3 companies are already looking to crank out thousands of copies of this bicycle and charge maybe less than $700 each.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9_XEgGQBkQ

Walnut Hollow Hot Tool Issues

On By Michel McDonaldIn craftsLeave a comment

July 15th 2009:

I just emailed Walnut Hollow with this query but I wanted to post it here as well.

I have a Creative Versa-Tool wood burning kit.  Sometimes the points get black from being used so much or maybe from being turned on for extended periods of time.  The points I can sand with a very fine metal sandpaper which I usually use when needed but the threads on the points also get black.  I can use a wire brush to get the black off the threads on the points but what about the inside of the tool?

I’m having issues getting the points on and even taking them off.  I have to use a pair of pliers to put the points on and take them off because it’s so tight from all the black on the threads.

So while I await their response I’m going to save this post as a draft so I don’t have to edit my post.

I am still waiting for their response but while I was waiting I decided to try my own little experiment.  I tried looking for a wire brush, it looks like a tooth brush but it’s wire instead of the normal plastic bristles your tooth brush has.  I wasn’t so lucky but I did find something that is a bit longer than the average tooth brush with longer bristles and is meant for use in the kitchen.  So I grabbed that and also a can of WD-40 meant to keep my bicycle lubed up at all times.

I sprayed some of that on 2 of my points and it soaked the In ‘N Out Burger napkins on my desk so the bottom of my desk is now an oily mess.  I proceeded to scrub the shit out of the points with the brush and even though I could see some blackness going onto the bristles, the threads didn’t change.

I then squirted some WD-40 into the chamber where you screw the points, not too much, I flipped it over and tapped it on the napkin so in case I put too much in there then it would drip out.  I then tried screwing a point on and unscrewing, you know, to grease the threads and it seems to have helped a little but not too much.  Maybe it just needs that to be done several times to get that shit out of the threads on the inside and on the points.

It’s too late now to get a response so back to the draft this post goes until I get a response hopefully tomorrow (Thursday).

July 20th 2009:
Dear Michel,

I believe that the ‘black’ on the Points and threads is due to a reaction when the metals get hot from the tool. To remove this, you can use fine grade sandpaper. As for any difficulty you have changing the Points using pliers, try using powdered graphite (found at most hardware stores) to help with changing Points on the tool. Powdered graphite is mostly used in locks to make keys slide in and out easier – works on our hot tool threads also.

Hope this helps,

Chris

Poor Lonely Laptop

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

In 2004 I got a Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop.  It has served me very well over the years and this year it was time to renew my warranty but I didn’t have the money and because it’s fairly old I just decided that it wasn’t worth it to keep paying to renew it.  Instead I could just let it lapse and if something goes wrong with it then I guess I will have to start saving money to get a new one. In the meantime it’s been turned off and sitting on my desk with the lid closed for the last 6 months.

I think that it’s time to turn it on and start transferring all the documents, pictures, music, videos etc over to the desktop just in case it does crash.  Once that’s finished then I’m going to reformat it so it’s got a nice fresh Windows installation so it’s fast again.  Maybe if it’s fast then I might use it again.  That’s one of the reasons it’s been closed all this time because I turn it on and it takes about 20 minutes before I can even go to a website.  It’s so frustrating to have to wait that long.

One of the main uses for the laptop these days is for when we travel because I have the Microsoft Streets & Trips with USB GPS.  I would much rather have a TomTom or a Garmin GPS though because it’s too hot to have a laptop on my lap during a 6 hour trip lol.

This is going to take awhile lol.

By the way, when I say it’s on my lap for 6 hours I mean as the passenger lol.  I don’t drive…

More Kodak Problems

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

Darrin bought me my Kodak EasyShare 5300 printer for Christmas in 2007.  In July 2008 I started having issues with it.  Here is my post in August for that:

Kodak All-In-One Printer

It’s happening again.  11 months after my issue originally started which was 6 1/2 months after getting it.  It’s not printing certain colors at all, it’s printing white lines in the pictures but here is a new issue, the black ink looks smudged like someone ran their hand across the paper after I printed something out.

I emailed Kodak support again to find out if they will help me the same way they did last year which was by sending me a new print head with new black and color ink cartridges.  I’m hoping they will honor their product by sending this to me again.  If not then I will just get another printer (when I can lol).

I have never had this issue with any other printer that I’ve had in my life.  My first printer was, well that was a dot matrix printer in 1989 lol.  I had nothing but problems with the paper slipping, it was back when the paper was all attached and it had those holes on both sides.  Anyway, my next printer which was in 1997 was an Epson printer, never had an issue with it.  That is until I spilled my beer on my desk and it got into the printer.  Then I bought an HP and I never had problems with it.  Then my next one after that was a Dell all-in-one printer.  The only issue I had with that was that they didn’t sell their ink at the store, only online.  Then Darrin bought me this and this is the 2nd time I’ve had the same issue.

I would still recommend the Kodak EasyShare all-in-one printers because I really like how it has the SD card slot on the front so I don’t have to upload my pictures from my camera to the computer just to be able to print a picture to a 4×6 glossy sheet of photo paper.  And I like how their software has the Kodak auto fix or whatever it’s called.

I also love that their ink is cheaper than other brands.  The black is $10 and the color is $15.  The ink package I just bought from Wal-Mart was $27 with taxes and it had 1 black and 1 color cartridge in the box.  Very inexpensive.  My Dell ink was $21 for the black and $25 or something for the color so I was spending almost $50 on ink.

I’m waiting for their response so hopefully it will be positive and not them saying well since this is your 2nd issue you have to buy a new print head but instead ok, we will send it right out to you.  I will edit this post when I get the email.

Edit: I got the email from them saying they are going to send me a new print head.  YAY!

No More Corresponding

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

Remember the day when you would sit at a desk and write a letter to someone with an actual pen and paper?  Sometimes you mess up so you have to crumble up the paper and throw it away and the trash can would be halfway full of crumbled up paper.  You wanted to get it right because there was no delete button and there was no spell check.  Then once you were finished you folded it up and stuffed it into an envelope and wrote your address and their address and put a 10¢ stamp on it then put it in your mailbox to go out the next day.  Remember that?

Well, then the internet came along and that made it so much easier to sit at your home computer (mac or pc) and you could email your letter instead.  You sat there thinking what you wanted to say so you didn’t sound too weird or something.  Now of course you could delete and spell check then the person gets it in the blink of an eye.

What happened to that?  It seems that I don’t get any emails from family or friends anymore except for the ones that are forwarded to me from other people who have either jokes, funny pictures of dogs or cats or some old lady comic strip.  Most of the emails people forward to me are all telling me about some kid who has cancer and you have to forward it to 10 people.  Or about being careful not to get out of the car with the keys in the ignition because you see a note in the back of the car.

For once I’d like to get an email from someone telling me how their day or week was.  An email saying hi how are you.  I email people constantly and sometimes they actually respond but then that’s it.  If I don’t start a conversation then the conversation never gets had.

What is the point of having email if nobody will actually email you something that they wrote instead of just using other crap people have sent them.

I think that’s one of the reasons why I blog so much because I’ve gotten to the point where nobody emails me so why should I email them.  So if I have something that I want to get out, I’m just gonna blog it and if someone cares enough to read it then they can respond either in email or they can leave a comment.

I know someone out there knows what I’m talking about.

Dead Like Me Movie

On By Michel McDonaldIn Movies, TVLeave a comment

Last night I found out that there was a Dead Like Me movie.  I saw it on Facebook as an ad in the right side.  I thought it was for the tv series that only lasted 2 seasons but it was for the movie.  So I got curious about it and was looking at the Facebook page and saw a video which was a commercial on YouTube.  It looked pretty interesting.

When Dead Like Me first came to Showtime, I saw all the billboards and there were commercials for it on the Sci-Fi channel and stuff but I couldn’t watch it because I didn’t have Showtime back then.  But then one night I was sitting at my desk a few years ago and it was on Sci-Fi channel.  I was finally able to watch it and I watched the entire 2 seasons I think in a couple of months on Sci-Fi.

Now the movie.  I don’t know when they made the movie but it was released on video a few days ago on February 17th 2009.  Why did it go straight to DVD and not go in theaters?  That’s strange.  The sex in the city movie was in theaters.

I for one can’t wait to buy or rent this movie.  I wonder if the Red Box has it at the store?  There was a video on YouTube where Ellen Muth sounded like she was on the phone leaving a message saying buy the DVD, if you download it instead of buying it you are preventing us from making more movies or possibly continuing new seasons.

Ok Ellen, I won’t download it but in this economy I can’t buy it either.  I don’t know how anyone can expect people to splurge on things like buying blu-ray and DVD movies with our economy the way it is.  I mean if you still have your job that’s one thing, go ahead, help the economy out by buying movies.  But mostly people don’t have their jobs anymore so they can’t afford to spend any of their savings on anything but groceries and paying their bills.  I for one am one of the people suffering from this economy so I definitely cannot buy the DVD just yet.

Edit: I just wanted to clarify something.  When I say I don’t know how anyone can expect… I don’t mean any one person in particular.  I mean like the companies who are putting DVD’s out and the companies who are selling DVD’s.  It’s the same with Amazon selling their Kindle 2 for $359.  How can they expect to sell those right now?  Why couldn’t they wait for the economy to get back on track.  They can’t judge how well a movie or tv show is doing by it’s DVD sales because I’m sure DVD sales have dropped 50% or more.

Pez Dispensers

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

This Christmas I was given 3 new Pez dispensers to add to my growing collection.

I actually started this collection in 1999 when Star Wars Episode 1 came into theaters and the stores started selling the Star Wars Pez dispensers.  I decided to buy each individual Pez dispenser which were just under $1 I think.  I can’t recall.  But when we got home I didn’t have any place to put them so I placed them side by side on a very large mirror which was on the wall where my desk was so as I sat at the computer I’d be looking at Pez dispensers.

I told a few people about them and next thing you know people are sending them to me in the mail and when I visit people they are giving me these Pez dispensers.  I never asked for them but I won’t refuse it either lol.

All of a sudden I had a huge amount of these little things that I went to the hardware store to buy wood to make a shelf and found these really thin and small pieces of wood so I got a bunch and some little nails and built me a shelf.  When we moved to Bakersfield in 2000 I put the shelf up in the kitchen right next to my desk and at first there were maybe 20 Pez dispensers but now there are 104 Pez dispensers on the shelf in my bedroom.

I have 5 Pez dispensers that are in their original packaging (although the packaging is getting too old and is tearing) because they have no feet which means they are valuable.  And I have the 3 newer ones still in their tin which I will never take them out of because again, it gives them value.  When I think about it I should have never taken any of them out of their package but that’s ok, what’s done is done.

Here is a picture of all the Pez dispensers on the shelf as well as the new ones in their tin.  Click the image below for full size.

pezorange_county_pez

Dell DJ Battery Replacement

On By Michel McDonaldIn Gadgets, Music, Products I LikeLeave a comment

Darrin bought me a Dell DJ for Christmas 2004 and during 2005 I was listening to it all the time everyday, on the way to the gym or sitting at my desk or even while doing the dishes.  I was always listening to it.  But over time the battery would die sooner than it was supposed to.  Sometimes it would even freeze up and I had to just wait for it to start playing again.  I couldn’t turn it off or do anything.  I just had to wait for it.

The battery is supposed to last like 5 or 6 hours or something and over time the amount of time it actually played kept going down until eventually it only played for half hour.  Now when I unplug it, it just dies immediately and gives me a screen saying the battery is low.

I’ve treated that Dell DJ like a baby by never dropping it or losing it.  I’m a good nerd, I respect my electronics enough that I don’t get them broken or stolen.

I’ve called Dell that first year when the battery started dying and they wouldn’t help me even with my warranty.  I was too late in renewing my warranty and so when I called for help they said sorry you don’t have the right warranty for this.  I was like dude, I have a $318 paper weight now.  Thanks a lot.  They were like I know, I can understand how frustrating you are but we can’t help you.  I was like well can I just buy a new battery and ship it to you to replace it and they said yeah for like $75 or something like that.  I’ve never had the money to do that.

Every once in a while I do a search on the net for Dell DJ Batteries and I found a website that has them for $24.95 + shipping and it has the tools to do it yourself.  It says it takes a few min but a testimonial says 10 min.  I don’t care, I just want a new battery and $25 is not a bad deal.  I will have to wait until I get some money because I’m tapped lol.

Well Fed Dog

On By Michel McDonaldIn PetsLeave a comment

We have a toy Chihuahua named Flower and this little dogs stomach is about the size of a walnut.  Maybe smaller.  Well, she is always so hungry and she acts like we starve her to death lol.  When I open the fridge door she runs in the kitchen so fast because she thinks she’s gonna get something.

I hate it when animals beg because they make you feel so bad for them.  I try to trick her by pretending I’m done eating then go lay down and watch tv but she’s smart.  She knows that the food is still on my desk and she stands by my desk and looks at me waiting for me to go give her some of it.  I can just see what she’s thinking….

“If you’re not gonna eat it, give it to me”.