Random Thoughts 7 (...wha happn???)
Well since I have no way of recovering the happenings of the last two undocumented and unblogged months, think I'll just ramble on about some of the things I actually remember.
Went for my NS medical checkup and they gave me a Pes B. For mild obesity. Well my figure definitely isn't svelte, per se, but I'm not that big... I'd like to think that all those weeks of training actually burnt more than just my time. Yeah I'm a little overbuilt around the ass, but mild OBESITY sounds like a bit of an exaggeration, or at least a meaner way of putting things.
Getting my internet connection up again was hell. Bought a new Linksys router, but the damn setup had to be really complicated. And I absoutely HATE tech support. If they can't solve your problem, they either blame something on your side or refer you somewhere else. And I used to think most companies employed outsourcing for their tech supports and helpdesks because of cheaper labour, but I got transferred to some guy in the States, judging from the communications lag. He asked for my name, and subsequently kept repeating it in whatever he said. "Okie, now what you do, Russell, is..." "Okie, so Russell, have you...." His voice was really really patronizing, and I don't care if he meant it or anything but one thing I absolutely hate is being patronized. Like when older people act all-knowingly and tell me how to do things I already know how to do, and it's almost like they pounce on any opportunity to impart their wisdom for the sake of my learning, even if that opportunity arose simply because I haven't had time to react or do anything in the first place.
And don't you just hate it when tech support asks you dumbass questions like "Is your router plugged in?" You'd figured if this dude could recognize a good brand like Linksys enough to buy something of that brand, then he must have at least an ounce of sense, especially sense enough to encounter a technical problem with his purchase well above the likes of unplugged routers.
So at the end, when he couldn't diagnose my problem (and referred me to another number) he said something like: "Thank you for calling Linksys Tech Support this has been *his name* serial number *his serial number*..." and something about giving feedback, as though he not only magically fixed my problem, but he also gave me the meaning of life as a goodwill gift. Rrrgh... woould've cussed at him had he not been my only lifeline at that time. But anyway I didn't call them back. Why? Cuz from all the multitude of referrals, I had ammassed a whole bunch of numbers, from phone numbers to addresses, and scrawled them on the whiteboard in my room. Then Kim comes along and wipes them all away so she can write her poems. Nearly had a seizure.
A friend of my dad's friend came over and he diagnosed my problem wrongly, saying it was due to a missing PCI driver and recommended a system reformat. I thought it weird that that was the problem, cuz I was sure it was either a hardware problem or the router, and I hadn't messed with my drivers since my last reformat so that missing driver shouldn't be a problem. Besides, if my PCI card reader thingamajig wasn't working, wouldn't that mean my graphics card wouldn't be working too? But I was game to try anything, so after I backed up my system on a removable hard drive, I reformatted my system.
It was during this reformat process that I remembered that the missing driver was the one for the internal modem, and was one i purposely left out cuz I had no use of the internal modem since I had a router. In other words, I reformatted my system for no rhyme of reason.
But now that's fixed. One of the problems turned out to be an incorrect password I was using. Now Kim's back to hogging the com and pmsing. She does constantly bug me for the Sims 2 back, but Edwin the Fortune God has yet to get it from his grandma's house.
Let's see, what else....
Saw Mel's Regale dance concert at VJ. I very vaguely remembered being at VJ once before for some seminar thingy. Anyway the concert was really really good. Mel's a really different person on stage when she's dancing. For one, she's not as clumsy on stage. Well maybe clumsy isn't the best way to phrase it, but she has this knack of getting into really farcial fixes. The Melissa Phenomenon, I call it. I used to call it a syndrome, but then I got to thinking that calling it a phenomenon would better justify its lack of a cure. So yeah the concert was really really good. So was Mel.
Another thing was Yvonne and Ah Ma's GEM of the night concert at MJ last week. Went down straight after common tests. That was good too, although the animations were a little spastic at times. The Alumni (including Auntie Seow) performed two songs. For the first one, they settled in with their guitars, except for Cheryl, who looked a bit lost, and then located her mike. Big Joe and I both laughed saying that she forgot her guitar and decided to improvise on the spot by just singing. Yeah, she was singing, and Joe turns to me and says "Cheryl can sing?" I think I remember hearing her singing on some previous occasion (ironicaly I think it was the time she was teaching Joe the guitar). Then for the second song, she played the keyboard, and I turn to Joe and I said "Cheryl can play the piano?" He was clueless aboyt this too.
But we both made one key observation: she did anything but played the guitar. And we both laughed ourselves silly at that.
And I overheard this conversation as the alumni was walking out:
".... Cheryl.... yah she's very pretty now, saw her in the toilet just now..."
"Yah with her hair down and dyed and all..."
*reserved comments*
Makes me wish I was in some sort of competitive CCA. Well, TP debates is hopeless; we always get kicked out early, and ODAC hardly sees any sort of competitive sport or anything.
Can't really think of much else, so maybe I'll just wait till something comes about.
Went for my NS medical checkup and they gave me a Pes B. For mild obesity. Well my figure definitely isn't svelte, per se, but I'm not that big... I'd like to think that all those weeks of training actually burnt more than just my time. Yeah I'm a little overbuilt around the ass, but mild OBESITY sounds like a bit of an exaggeration, or at least a meaner way of putting things.
Getting my internet connection up again was hell. Bought a new Linksys router, but the damn setup had to be really complicated. And I absoutely HATE tech support. If they can't solve your problem, they either blame something on your side or refer you somewhere else. And I used to think most companies employed outsourcing for their tech supports and helpdesks because of cheaper labour, but I got transferred to some guy in the States, judging from the communications lag. He asked for my name, and subsequently kept repeating it in whatever he said. "Okie, now what you do, Russell, is..." "Okie, so Russell, have you...." His voice was really really patronizing, and I don't care if he meant it or anything but one thing I absolutely hate is being patronized. Like when older people act all-knowingly and tell me how to do things I already know how to do, and it's almost like they pounce on any opportunity to impart their wisdom for the sake of my learning, even if that opportunity arose simply because I haven't had time to react or do anything in the first place.
And don't you just hate it when tech support asks you dumbass questions like "Is your router plugged in?" You'd figured if this dude could recognize a good brand like Linksys enough to buy something of that brand, then he must have at least an ounce of sense, especially sense enough to encounter a technical problem with his purchase well above the likes of unplugged routers.
So at the end, when he couldn't diagnose my problem (and referred me to another number) he said something like: "Thank you for calling Linksys Tech Support this has been *his name* serial number *his serial number*..." and something about giving feedback, as though he not only magically fixed my problem, but he also gave me the meaning of life as a goodwill gift. Rrrgh... woould've cussed at him had he not been my only lifeline at that time. But anyway I didn't call them back. Why? Cuz from all the multitude of referrals, I had ammassed a whole bunch of numbers, from phone numbers to addresses, and scrawled them on the whiteboard in my room. Then Kim comes along and wipes them all away so she can write her poems. Nearly had a seizure.
A friend of my dad's friend came over and he diagnosed my problem wrongly, saying it was due to a missing PCI driver and recommended a system reformat. I thought it weird that that was the problem, cuz I was sure it was either a hardware problem or the router, and I hadn't messed with my drivers since my last reformat so that missing driver shouldn't be a problem. Besides, if my PCI card reader thingamajig wasn't working, wouldn't that mean my graphics card wouldn't be working too? But I was game to try anything, so after I backed up my system on a removable hard drive, I reformatted my system.
It was during this reformat process that I remembered that the missing driver was the one for the internal modem, and was one i purposely left out cuz I had no use of the internal modem since I had a router. In other words, I reformatted my system for no rhyme of reason.
But now that's fixed. One of the problems turned out to be an incorrect password I was using. Now Kim's back to hogging the com and pmsing. She does constantly bug me for the Sims 2 back, but Edwin the Fortune God has yet to get it from his grandma's house.
Let's see, what else....
Saw Mel's Regale dance concert at VJ. I very vaguely remembered being at VJ once before for some seminar thingy. Anyway the concert was really really good. Mel's a really different person on stage when she's dancing. For one, she's not as clumsy on stage. Well maybe clumsy isn't the best way to phrase it, but she has this knack of getting into really farcial fixes. The Melissa Phenomenon, I call it. I used to call it a syndrome, but then I got to thinking that calling it a phenomenon would better justify its lack of a cure. So yeah the concert was really really good. So was Mel.
Another thing was Yvonne and Ah Ma's GEM of the night concert at MJ last week. Went down straight after common tests. That was good too, although the animations were a little spastic at times. The Alumni (including Auntie Seow) performed two songs. For the first one, they settled in with their guitars, except for Cheryl, who looked a bit lost, and then located her mike. Big Joe and I both laughed saying that she forgot her guitar and decided to improvise on the spot by just singing. Yeah, she was singing, and Joe turns to me and says "Cheryl can sing?" I think I remember hearing her singing on some previous occasion (ironicaly I think it was the time she was teaching Joe the guitar). Then for the second song, she played the keyboard, and I turn to Joe and I said "Cheryl can play the piano?" He was clueless aboyt this too.
But we both made one key observation: she did anything but played the guitar. And we both laughed ourselves silly at that.
And I overheard this conversation as the alumni was walking out:
".... Cheryl.... yah she's very pretty now, saw her in the toilet just now..."
"Yah with her hair down and dyed and all..."
*reserved comments*
Makes me wish I was in some sort of competitive CCA. Well, TP debates is hopeless; we always get kicked out early, and ODAC hardly sees any sort of competitive sport or anything.
Can't really think of much else, so maybe I'll just wait till something comes about.
posted by Russell Chander at 8:27 PM
