Felt Up

But does it suck?

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:00:00 PST

I heard something so fantastically amazing while out in public yesterday that I had to write it down as soon as I'd left the store to retain it verbatim. It was a vacuum cleaner salesman's attempt to convince a lady to buy a particular model, he'd bought the vacuum himself..

"..because my wife kills vacuums faster than a soldier can kill an enemy combatant."

AM I RIGHT?

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:00:00 PST

Just in case you didn't know/forgot...

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:00:00 PST

Most of the felt in Felt Up is actually...

...Photoshop. Whoops! =B

Wind: From west at 32 mph, gusting to 55 mph

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:00:00 PST

** Warning! **
This post contains spoilers.

It has been a few years since I read the book, but I have haunting memories of Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle when we get weather like this. There is a steady fall of icy pellets, and the trees are being flailed about like a old sock in a dog's mouth. The wind's howl is enough to give you a fright, but I stuck my head out there and let me tell you: It's not good!

In the book, a substance called ice nine is released and takes over the globe, freezing all water and turning the land into a horrible desert of ice, snow and tornadoes.

I am already planning on a good location for my oubliette.

Ack! Unfortunately the internet has disappeared. Well, I guess this post will just have to wait. Scarey weather - internets = not fun times.

[11 hours later]
Hurray, it's back! My life can continue now.

Totally Corny!

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:00:00 PST

One of the interesting things about Paul is his odd habit of chewing on exposed arms. His favorite time to do so is at night when I'm asleep. He just sort of nibbles at them with his incisors, as if my arm were an ear of corn.

It doesn't hurt and he's never drawn blood, but sometimes I have weird dreams of being slathered in butter.

Ch-ch-ch-chaaanges

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 00:00:00 PST

Life has changed. It's tough being on my own now. The bunnies live with my parents now. My new apartment seems excessively lonely and empty with out the various lagomorph sounds, but every one benefits from this scenario, and I get to see them a whole lot still.

Here's my new room mate, Paul!

maybe a tad passe

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:00:00 PST

I have weird video game mash up dreams sometimes

like the one where I am throwing pikmin through portals to get me ship parts.

End of the year post

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 00:00:00 PST

..well, at least my hair goes into a ponytail now.

The hats are made of felt :B

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:00:00 PST

Tumor Bunny

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 00:00:00 PST

I had to watch my two and a half year old niece while my sister and brother in law went Christmas shopping for her. She seemed very entertained by the bunnies and my small collection of Simpsons books.

Later on, we got out some paper and she wanted me to draw some stuff for her, such as Triangle Man (a TMBG song that she loves) and rhombuses (her favorite shape). Then she wanted me to draw her a bunny, but after drawing the bunny she seemed distressed, as if I'd done something wrong. "TU-MO TU-MO!" she pleaded over and over. To me it seemed like she was saying the word 'tumor'. She does manage to get on the computer on her house quite a bit and click a few buttons, I thought maybe she had found her way to the webcomic Tumor Bunny.

So I drew a tumor on the bunny, which seemed to make her happy.

When they came back from shopping I was told by the child's translator (my sister) that she was actually saying "two more".

Whoops!

More like MEH-jito

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 00:00:00 PST

So we have some rum, and I got totally stoked because I started growing some mint plants this year, so all I needed was lime and club soda and I could finally see what a mojito was like.

After trying a variety of recipes I found online I was not at all impressed with them. I thought maybe it was my mint, for the drink did not seem that minty despite thorough muddling. So I went to the store and purchased some of those fresh herbs they have in the produce section.

It was still rather "meh".

On some online forums it says that you should really use Cuban mint to make a good mojito, but it's hard to find the variety here in the states.

And now to do some stereotyping, I shall portray Cuban-mint yelling at me for being a capitalist and smoking a cigar, while wearing a Castro-esque hat!

I think the only way to find out where I'm going wrong is to go to some public location that serves drinks and get one from there. Sounds dangerous though. Think I'll just stay home and ponder.

Inescapable?

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 00:00:00 PST

Biggest rut ever. Maybe too big to even be called a rut. A seemingly seasonal depression.

And now it's snowing. We may get 9" by tomorrow.

I'm not sure that I can take 9 inches.

*childish giggle*

Newegg: The Final Chapter, Hurray!

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 00:00:00 PDT

After my email asking what was up, I got another automated email about a tracking number, this time for a new motherboard being sent in my direction, 2nd day air, no less.

The next day the motherboard arrived! The box contained all the parts, I installed it, and it works great. Sent the old motherboard back to Newegg with the shipping label they sent me (which means I didn't even have to pay for shipping). That night a Newegg representative sent me a very courteous email making sure everything was cool, and it was.

So, even though the whole thing took a really long time, things were finally resolved and my faith in Newegg has sort of been restored. I can put the whole thing in the past and move onto happier things, such as:

Yet another Newegg rant

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 00:00:00 PDT

Well, Newegg.com has done it again.

For those of you who haven't kept up with the saga, here's some summaries of the first two issues:

Part 1: I was trying to get my defective motherboard replaced, but when I went to view my RMA page, all of my 2007 purchases had disappeared. I contacted support and was told that my warranties had all expired, even though my motherboard was purchased this March, with a one year warranty. Pointing this out to the agent only had her repeat 'please contact the manufacturer for repair/replacement' ...which was ASUS, who wanted me contact the place of purchase for repair/replacement.

Weeks later my RMA page was fixed, and unlike what the support agent had told me, my warranties had not expired. I finally got to send my motherboard back to get replaced.

Part 2: My replacement motherboard arrives on September 14th and was clearly used with the manual crumpled, the contents packed very unconventionally, and worst of all it was missing a part. I contacted support again and they told me that they'd look in their warehouse for the part and to expect an email from them about it.

And now we come to strike.. er, I mean, Part 3:

Tonight I got an automated email from Newegg.com. It's an RMA Confirmation, they want me to send the motherboard back to them, not for replacement, but for a refund. RMA Reason: Unsatisfied.

On the outside, this doesn't seem like it's that bad, does it? It totally sucks though.

To me this seems a very unfriendly response from a company that has always been well known for it's customer support. They're brushing me off, telling me to take my money and leave them alone. I wasn't even worth a human response, just an automated message saying that I was unsatisfied and nothing about how they couldn't find the part. My warranty itself says they only offer a refund for 30 days after purchase, then for the rest of the warranty period they repair or replace the board. I've known of cases where they can't replace the item because it is no longer carried, so they have to refund the money, but this board is still in stock, so that's not the reason.

If I were to send the motherboard back and get a refund, then purchase the same board through Newegg.com I'd have a new, complete motherboard, but I'd be out my previous warranty, which is valid until next March. As shown in the epic part one, the warranty on my motherboard was changed from one year to 30 days after I'd purchased it, meaning my warranty would now be over with around November. To get a one year warranty I'd have to pay $14.99 more to Newegg, not to mention that the refund does not cover the cost of shipping either, which will end up being around $6.

Although, purchasing from Newegg.com again at this point seems out of the question to me after all of this. I mean, sheesh, all these problems just for one return? So it's true, I'm unsatisfied, but not with the motherboard, with Newegg. Since the missing part was trivial (the IO plate) I ended up installing it, and it works totally great and I'm very happy with it.
I'm not entirely sure what to do, I've sent a "What the heck?" email to Newegg about it the most recent happening, explaining that I was not happy about the refund and that it would cost me a large portion of my warranty. So, I don't think that I will end up sending the board back for a refund as it seems I lose out too much.

One of the options I have is buying the part from ASUS (note to self: this is it) which will end up being 10 bucks shipped. That way my warranty on this replacement board will be until March, instead of November-ish if I were to purchase a new board. Also the best part, no down time.. well, except for when I have to remove the motherboard to install the part, but that won't be that bad.

It's rather unpleasant to believe that I will have to purchase the part myself though. I have heartburn now. Sheesh.

Vegetables so hot and steamy you'll want to fork them all night long!!!

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 00:00:00 PDT

Yet another product review, this time: Glad Simply Cooking Microwave Steam Bags.

I was tempted by this product by the fact that boiling my vegetables seems to leach out a lot of their tastiness. Most vegetables I prefer raw, but some, such as broccoli, give me a horrible tummy ache when I eat them raw. I have a steamer, which is pot with some sort of thing with holes in it, and then a lid that goes on top of it all, which is a major pain to haul out and clean up just to steam a few florets.

As usual, impulse + coupon + sale = buy. I would have gone with the competing Ziploc steaming bags had they gone on sale first, but Glad was the winner.

Pros: Very easy and very quick, great results and no contraptions to clean up afterwards. Just stick your food in the bag, zip it up, look at the little chart on the bag and it tells you how long it should go in the microwave. So far I've used them to cook some fresh broccoli and frozen green beans, which I would normally boil, both came out great. The fact that you know it's going to take exactly 5 minutes (or so) to cook your vegetables saves you a lot of hassle for timing out a dinner too, if you're the type of person who likes to cook up a fancy meal with every warm at the same time.

Cons: Three out of the four times I've used them, the bag has sort of popped while in the microwave. It's horribly frightening, but didn't seem to cause any problems in the cooking. Maybe if you're a thrill seeker you could see this as a 'pro' though, since it certainly made me jump when it happened. My one major qualm with these things is that they are what they are.. disposable, which is something I'd rather not use in the long run. And even if you're one of those crazy frugal types who says "I can wash the bag out and use it again!" you're out of luck, because after you've microwaved it once the bag's seal never seals again.

They're fun for now, but after they're gone I think I'll try to find some sort of reusable alternative. A quick search on ebay for 'microwave steamer' brings up a bunch of inexpensive products that I could throw in the dishwasher after using. Maybe I can even figure out a way to rig a microwave steaming unit with some existing items in my kitchen.