My angry vent about a certain computer company (starts with a G)

So, I confess. I’m computer literate. Actually met my hubby while taking a basic computer programming class in college on the vm (yeah, it predates the internet - I’m as old as dirt, dig it). Now a few of my coworkers have caught on to this…

So, my coworker brings in his computer (hereafter called the anchor) saying he has a virus. He brings in all his software, including “the recovery disks!” (He says with a smile!) I take the thing home and start working on it over the weekend. Bet your cookies he has a virus/worm/evil monster, and not a nice one at that - it ate part of his recovery disk. Hubby and I do a destructive reformat on this thing, and it still has the little bugger on it. O.k. We pull out the “recovery disks” only to find them totally blank. I call coworker-turns out he didn’t make them when he first bought the computer. He calls the company that starts with G.

I end up ordering them for him and get stuck in customer service purgatory for half an hour, finally ending up emailing the requests for the disks because I am not about to pay for service on a computer that isn’t mine - I just need the freaking disks. No problem - they can have them out in 2-3 weeks. They give me a link to give them a credit card number, which I promptly do on the day they give me the link.

3 weeks go by, with every day my coworker asking if the disks arrived. On the last day of 3 weeks, I email the company that starts with G and ask where the disks are. I get this as a response:

I have created order number ….. for the Restore CD to be shipped to you. Please allow an estimated 2 to 3 weeks for the Restore CDs to be sent to you depending on the availability.

I am looking forward for your satisfaction with our service.

I respond with:

You are stating it will take 3 more weeks? I’ve already waited three weeks - I went to the secure website on receipt of the secure website address and paid. Didn’t anything get initiated once I did this?

The response I get is this:

I do apologize but you need to notify us once the information has been submitted for us to be informed that we need to use the information submitted in processing the order. In this case, we are only notified when the order has been processed.

Umm, huh?

So it is my fault that THEY didn’t process the order? I used the link THEY sent me to have the order submitted on THEIR system - can’t THEIR computer tell THEM I submitted an order - they had the case number and everything. It just blows my mind to see customer service like this in a day and age when everything SHOULD be automated.

So here I sit, waiting ANOTHER three weeks for the stinking disks, being asked on a daily basis if the disks had come.

Please, for your own sanity, avoid the computer company that starts with a G and uses a cow motif, at least if you want customer service that doesn’t use paper cups on a string or telegraphs for communication…

I’m pulling the soapbox back to the corner now.

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa…Gross-out style.

Glitter Glue Princess visited Grandma and Grandpa in an overnight trip last week during spring break.  *sniff* It was her first overnight that was REALLY overnight - the best she had done before this was sleeping over with her BFF who lives next door.  This was a really momentous occasion.

Glitter Glue Princess went with them to the Grossology exhibit at the Alden B Dow Museum in Midland, MI.  What follows are the photos that she took during her trip:

Ummm, yes.  That is indeed snot coming out of the spigot above - gross, yes?

And these are a few taken by her Grandparents…

A Birthday Post…

Be The Duck - Quack, Quack

Glitter Glue Princess is at that age where little girls begin the whole rumor spreading thing about each other. She has not been herself of late, and while driving last night she told me that a couple of girls are making up rumors about her, that the boy who sits next to her is her boyfriend, that general sort of thing. One of her friends told her about this because the friend didn’t know if they should go to the teacher about it or not. She was internalizing a lot of anger at these girls, but rather taking it out on me.

So, last night I taught her about my new bit of wisdom and mindset - Be The Duck.

I developed this while working in an atmosphere of rumors and poor behavior too.

It is like this: Ducks are waterproof - they shake their feathers and all the water just rolls away. What ever rumors, lies, and such come at you - if you are the duck, they will roll right off.

It is kind of like the childhood rhyme “I’m rubber and you’re glue; whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you”.

Quack, quack, quack. This is our new mantra at our house. She’s only in fourth grade, so we’ve got a long ways to go…

Yes, She still believes in Santa and the Tooth Fairy…

I was recalling a conversation, some months back, that I had with our little neighbor who happens to be Glitter Glue Princess’s dear friend. It was right after the tooth fairy visited, and GGPrincess was showing her the wee little note the tooth fairy always writes her. They have had a long standing communication, with GGPrincess leaving her notes when the tooth got lost at school, and the Tooth Fairy telling her about her life and leaving her little poems. As the kiddo was putting away the note in another room, she smirks at me and says “I bet she believes in Santa too”.

I look at her nonchalantly and say “But of course! He leaves her notes as well!” Looking at her in awe - “Doesn’t he leave everyone notes?”.

Being her sophisticated 10 year old self and laughing - “everybody knows he doesn’t exist”.

Giving her the most stupified look possible I say, “woooowwww! I never knew that! I thought everyone believed in him!”

A while back, Glitter Glue Princess and I were out to breakfast. She says something like, “all the kids at school don’t believe in Santa, but I don’t believe them. They keep saying things, and I just keep my mouth quiet because they would make fun of me. He has to be real, especially since I can see him on radar, and the long letters he leaves me every year. Who else would eat those cookies we make? Dad?!?”

I’m keeping this gig going as long as humanly possible…

Sorry, No Christmas Letter from Me, and Tips for Holiday Letter Writing

I’ve received multiple letters from folks this year, regarding people’s health, people moving, people’s kids, people’s grown kids, people’s work, people’s pets, people’s vacations.

This just goes out to tell you that you won’t be receiving one from me - I think this blog should cover my christmas letter allotment. You know what is going on in my life from this, no need to send it out with the cards.

Some letters give me a great snapshot of a family’s year, some just seem to ponder how one managed to stay alive. I’ve not received any that belong in this book, but I’m not sure how much farther they have to go to get there.

After being subjected to having read this year’s assortment, I feel compelled to make the following suggestions. These suggestions are general and not aimed at one letter or another:

1 - READ your letter after you write it, and have someone who isn’t related to you read it too. Not just for typos, not just for run-on sentences, but for content. You need someone who is not afraid to tell you that the letter is a big pile of hooey. Call me, I’ll read it and be totally frank.

A good suggestion is that if you can’t read the letter out loud, then don’t send it - this revelation came to me while listening to Glitter Glue Princesses essay work last night when she read it out loud.

2 - Please, Please, PLEASE keep your letters upbeat - this is the season of joy and giving, and the giving part doesn’t mean giving me depression. This is Christmas time, when love, warmth and the season of sharing are the best themes of all. Use them wisely and share them freely.

3 - Don’t brag - it is not becoming of anyone. Also, I don’t participate in the “my kid has more extracurricular activities and more awards than your kid” doctrine - again, not becoming, but also teaches our children no level of modesty whatsoever. I love to hear about you and your kids and your grandkids, don’t get me wrong, but walk the fine line that keeps you on the side of being modest. When your kid is the star of every team he/she is on, I begin to worry about your sense of reality.

4 - Don’t humiliate members of your family on paper either. Again, it is not becoming.

5 - If you go on for paragraphs about your diseases, you need to be dying. You obviously have a full life that revolves around more than just complaining about your conditions. I don’t want a full page about your ailments, then you tell me you went to Disney World - unless the trip was paid for by the make a wish foundation. These letters should be telling me happy things, not about your morose existence…

6 - Three pages is too long - you lost me at the end of the first page. These letters are meant to give people a shapshot of your life, not give sermons.

7 - Write the letter in the first person. Getting letters that refer to each person by name makes me wonder who the ghost writer was and where he went after living with you for a year.

O.k., now I think I’ve probably offended every person who sent me a letter, and will be promptly removed from all card lists forthwith. As I stated before, these tips are general and not aimed at one person, but please, please, PLEASE (yes, I’m begging, on the floor, and tugging on your leg), look at the following links next year for better christmas letter writing skills:

http://www.usaweekend.com/03_issues/031130/031130newsletters.html

http://scsc.essortment.com/holidaysletters_rksq.htm

http://www.christmaslettertips.com/christmas_letter_writing_advice.htm

http://organizedchristmas.com/seven-tips-sparkling-christmas-letters

I’m picking up my soapbox now and retreating to the corner….

Swimshirt done- now for some skirts & shirts for me.

I got the waist adjustment figured out using the cut to bust point and then cut to the edge radially to the side seam and open it up.  Worked like a charm - did this on both front and back due to her shape.  Fit is great, with even a bit of room to grow in.  Her mom and dad are happy with it too.  I bartered it for a day of babysitting.

Now onto my Jalie patterns and the Barcelona skirt.  Yay! It’s amazing what I can accomplish when no one is here to interrupt.

So many plans, but a necessary project first.

So, I made these grandiose plans for sleeveless shirts and skirts.  Got the new Amy Butler Barcelona Skirt and a lovely piece from her charm collection with paisleys.  But…  that is all on hold for now…

Saturday night our neighbor, L. asked if I could make Miss Kate a rash shirt like the Glitter Glue Princess’s.  Her little shoulders are getting fried from the summer.  Of course, who am I to turn down someone who I know appreciates my sewing - if I don’t start now, the summer will be over before I get to it.  We have all the fabric ready to go, deep blue and sky blue lycra.   I took her measurements and looked at the charts.  She is pretty much the same width from bust to hip, which is a new adjustment I hadn’t had to do for many moons since I used to sew for people - I’ve been making things skinny for so long for glitter glue princess, I think I’ve forgotten how to do it…  If anyone has any tips, send them in the comments section.

I have to find a way to make this look great so my little neighbor feels good about herself in my outfit - girls at this age need to feel great about themselves, and I’d hate for a 10 year old to feel constrained by sizing.

What would you do?

I have this person I’ve known for um, like 20 years now. She and I haven’t been really close since college. She has this thing of calling me when she is drunk, late at night. Well… Her “late at night” and my “late at night” are totally different things. She is calling at 10 pm, and I’ve already been in bed an hour (that, and she is an hour behind me time-wise).

I’ve asked her repeatedly not to call that late, but I seem to be at the top of her “I want to get back in touch when I schnockered” list. After multiple attempts at scattered speech in the startled awake mode, I’ve taken to just hanging up on her. I’ve seriously considered calling her at 5 am after I’ve been awake a while, just to give her a taste of her own medicine, but she is married to a cop and that could get bad quickly… But, I digress to my own personal vindictiveness.

Now, she is e-mailing me too.

I’ve been sitting on this email for 1.5 weeks, trying to think of a nice way to say “IF YOU WAKE ME AGAIN I’M GOING TO START WAKING YOU UP TOO!”. I’d like to try a passive aggressive approach with her, but I fear it won’t get me off the “schnockered” list. I’m normally not an agressive person, and prefer to bury the hatchet, but this has gone on long enough and has caused detriment to my sleep when she calls.

All suggestions are welcome.