Never give up. Never surrender.

[ehowton]

As long as there is injustice, whenever a Targathian baby cries out, wherever a distress signal sounds among the stars, we'll be there. This fine ship, this fine crew.

I was given a simple task: Order business-DSL for my two sites, for a wireless implementation project off domain. No problem. Unfortunately, most telecom's refuse to publish their phone number online. *sigh* Once that hurdle was overcome, the order process was just as easy as when I used them for my home setup, and, as it turns out, just as fux0rd. My boss was pressuring me to get this accomplished quickly, as we were behind on project deadline. Great. Why something they don't involve me with until it's dropped in my lap is my responsibility, is, I suppose, why I'm here. I was downright gleeful when I was told the installations could proceed as early as the next day! My boss would be pleased. We use our own cabling company, so the would follow up the next day to extend the line from the DMARK to the server room, both sites. That all fell apart this morning. Come to find out, they'd only scheduled one site for the line to be run, even though I'd scheduled our vendor for both places today. And when I called about this, I get the run around, along with the news that my office was responsible for the self-install modem which would be shipped separately? I didn't order a self-install modem. Why was I told I could get a quote when someone else told me you don't give quotes? I didn't give you shipping information or an 'attention to' contact for a modem delivery. HOW DO YOU DO BUSINESS WITH BUSINESSES? I just wish, sometimes, people on the other end of the phone would take more responsibility. I run across it every now and then, and it's always refreshing. If I passed the buck like these people do, I wouldn't have a job.

It's like throwing gasoline on a flame.

Spoke to Bill for 30+ minutes yesterday. It was the most fun I've had in weeks.

Are you enjoying your Kep-mok blood ticks, Dr. Lazarus?

The reason I enjoy watching Office Space is because it has a tendency to shift my paradigm and see work in it's proper perspective, for a time at least. It usually wears off, but damn what a new outlook on life and work when you show up (late) the next day after watching that movie.

You know, with all that makeup and stuff, I actually thought you were SMART for a second.

So I've been shopping for a mac mini for galinda822. Funny thing about Apple - they set all the prices in all the stores. You cannot buy an Apple without Apple telling you how much you will pay for it. An interesting news article on chrisbarrett77's personal site blog in which Apple announces that Best Buy will start selling Macintosh computers. Unfortunately for us consumers, that means nothing at all, since the price of Apple computers at Best Buy will be the same price as everywhere else you could ever think to buy an Apple. Because there's no competition in price, there's no 'best' place to purchase. And another Apple oddity: Whenever they release a new or faster product, the old product it replaces - STAYS THE SAME HIGH PRICE AS THE NEWER MODEL! Fantastic. So, let's take stock of what we know: Brand-spanking new Intel 'solo' core mini's with half a gig of RAM and aircards are $599. New older-model, busted-assed G4 mini's with 256MB of RAM and modems are $599. Used mini's are $599. Hmmm, whatever shall we get her? Grrrrrr.

Sorry, I was - door was a little sticky. Did you see that? I'll get one of my boys up here with a can of WD-40.

A couple of weeks ago I posted concerning the number of comments I have rec'd on this site ordered by lj user. While most sane persons view this as an interesting but totally useless tidbit of triva, other, less sane people begin posting multiple, single-word comments to drive up their ranking. Riddle me this, Batman - How can you drive up your ranking if I begin deleting multiple, single-word comments?

Well, the Protector got super-accelerated coming out of the black hole, and it, like, nailed the atmosphere at Mach 15, which, you guys know, is pretty unstable, obviously, so we're gonna help Laredo guide it on the vox ultra-frequency carrier and use Roman candles for visual confirmation.

Comments

Mac.....

[galinda822.livejournal.com]

What to do! What to do!

I'm very excited about finally seeing "Office Space" by the way!

[jesskd26.livejournal.com]

I just wish, sometimes, people on the other end of the phone would take more responsibility.

Most of the time, we wish we could too. I've heard the horror stories from customer service reps at my previous employer. Customer calls in with a problem that you would think could be corrected fairly quickly, but company policy dictates you have to put in a "trouble ticket", which most of the time never even gets looked at. The customer calls back a week later, with the same exact problem, and you still can't help them because company policy is inefficient but will never, ever be changed. So, a lot of the times, we do want to help you, but on the same token we want to keep our jobs which would more than likely be lost if we stray from the "rules".

[celtmanx.livejournal.com]

ARSE!!!!!!!!!!

Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!!!!!!!!!!!!

[celtmanx.livejournal.com]

Was it Professortom and Scurveydurx making all those single-word comments?

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

NI!

Apple Pricing

[chrisbarrett77.livejournal.com]

I know the pricing stinks with the Apple computers, but hey, when you are the only game in town, meaning they control the whole enchilada, you can have retailers charge the same price accross the board. The positives to the total control thing of course is more stability, better compatibility, and the whole, "it just works" thing. Retailers do make their individual Apple offerings competitive in other ways. Many times you will find free memory offers for up to 1 GB of RAM. Some are offering Windows XP installations for free. Also, there are some sites, the names escape me, that have book the old G4 models on sale. I will look around and see if I can come across them. I get educational pricing, which means I could get a core duo mini for 100 dollars less than list price. Lastly, I would check ebay for Apple computers that still are under Apple Care. That makes the pruchase a less risky proposition. Anyway, as Apple starts trying to go head to head with PC's again, I still wouldn't look for much of a pricing change. First, they are already competitive in pricing when you throw in all the very good software that comes with them. That stuff has to be bought seperately on a Windows machine. Amazingly, Apple has a very low profit margin on their computers, which is why I think they are the same price across the board. Apple probably gets even less of a cut if another retailer sells the item. However, that doesn't explain iPod pricing, which is a high profit margin item. But that's another story. Anyway, I hope that gives you some direction on getting a good deal on a Mac.

[drax0r.livejournal.com]

I seem to recall Sprint's business DSL people being a colossal pain in the ass too. As much as these places supposedly pride themselves on being ISO 9001 certified, process-driven organizations, they generally seem to have serious issues in that regard.

I keep trying to figure out a business case for being jackass pains in the balls to work with, but so far I got nothin.


The reason I enjoy watching Office Space is because it has a tendency to shift my paradigm and see work in it's proper perspective.

I wouldn't say I've been missing it, Bob. As you might imagine, that movie has been very influential in my life.


Regarding the minis, I'm really surprised at how well the 1st-gen 1.25GHz versions have held their value. I would expect those first models to float around $300. So much for that.


While most sane persons view this as an interesting but totally useless tidbit of triva, other, less sane people begin posting multiple, single-word comments to drive up their ranking.

What a fucktard.

[chrisbarrett77.livejournal.com]

Regarding the minis, I'm really surprised at how well the 1st-gen 1.25GHz versions have held their value. I would expect those first models to float around $300. So much for that.

I sold my iBook G4 not too long ago on ebay and got only $150.00 less than I paid for it brand new.

I also forgot to mention that Apple "buys back" leftover inventory from retailers, which would account for the fact you hardly ever see a sale...

[drax0r.livejournal.com]

I sold my iBook G4 not too long ago on ebay and got only $150.00 less than I paid for it brand new.

I wonder if I could sell my IBook G4 for close to what I paid for it and reinvest that in a mac book pro. Hmm.


I also forgot to mention that Apple "buys back" leftover inventory from retailers

Thus ensuring that its always 'just a little more' to get a new one instead. It seems to work well for them.

I'm just waiting for the dual dual-core PowerMacs....

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

The QuadraMac.

[chrisbarrett77.livejournal.com]

Supposedly Apple did the buyback thing so retailers would not feel like they were taking too much of a risky move investing in the sale of Apple computers. But who knows. It would always be in their interest to drive up prices every year or two...dammit. :-)

As for your iBook, if you still have Apple Care on it, that goes a long way to add value to your computer. If not, I would still expect to get $800.00 or so for it. Anyway, that is how I got my pretty new MacBook Pro, which I still drool over... Chris<---Geek

[drax0r.livejournal.com]

The 1yr. warranty on my iBook expired in April, and by the time they were pestering me about extending it I already had my sights focused on the new laptops.

I don't particularly need a new laptop anyway, I'm just a whore for the new, shiny tech.

[jesskd26.livejournal.com]

You, Sir, are a techno junkie. :)

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

He once shredded a Blackberry and sprinkled it on his breakfast cereal.

[schpydurx.livejournal.com]

If I passed the buck like these people do, I wouldn't have a job.

That may be, but you have to understand their business model. The idea is to get you to stay on the phone while they continue to try to be friendly by upselling you whatever little product they don't have in stock but charging your ass for it anway, so that you have to call back so they can upsell you even more usless shit.


A couple of weeks ago I posted concerning the number of comments I have rec'd on this site ordered by lj user. While most sane persons view this as an interesting but totally useless tidbit of triva, other, less sane people begin posting multiple, single-word comments to drive up their ranking. Riddle me this, Batman - How can you drive up your ranking if I begin deleting multiple, single-word comments?

If you're referring to me, I was unaware that I was leaving one word comments. I try to do you the same curtiosy that you do me: comment on your every entry. Sometimes all I can say is "mission accomplished" or "yeah" to say that my eyes passed over the words you wrote, but did nothing to stimulate me.

If I knew you were referring to me, I'd call you an ass on the spot. However, since I was your top commenter anyway, what's your point?

Ass.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Your logic was flawless. You are not the guilty dog. As always, thank you for your comments.

[celtmanx.livejournal.com]

He Scurveydurx, your talking about the Eric!!!!!!!!!!

Watch your language!!!!!!!!!

I still have a dull spoon with your name on it!!!!!!!!

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Why a spoon, cousin?

[oxy-irony.livejournal.com]

Hey, Apple's screwed up- they're doing so well with iPods and such that they must not believe they need to continue competition.

Galaxy Quest!

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

The mist of this strange planet is filing my head with such thougts...

[unixwolf.livejournal.com]

I think I need to be like an anonymous fuckedcompany.com poster and start posting FIRST!!! everytime..

Oh yea.. Most LECS are useless piles of shit.