So I’m still sick. Actually, it’s getting worse. I took Monday off, when I was still relatively okay, but now I’m at work, because I don’t want to blow all my sick days in one shot (though I might take Friday off since it’ll give me a chance to rest up before Friday’s show).
I’m trying to prep up a new preview mini of my anthology for this weekend. So how’s that going anyway? Well, unfortunately, I’ve been so busy (plus I’m so easily distracted these days) that I’ve hardly had the chance to write and send any of the stories I’ve promised to folks. And as time goes by, the window of availability keeps on closing as they get other things to do instead. At least I have enough for another preview mini, and I’m aiming to get assembled by this weekend. It’ll feature K. Thor’s story, which I shown a tiny bit of around here a while back, plus one from MK, who I believe is just finishing hers up.
Also, MK somewhat eluded to in her recent LJ post (I’m glad she’s loving the Amber Spyglass btw!), I’m still not 100% sold on the name Unlucky, especially after one evening while hanging out with Dave in which I explained to him that I never learned how to ride a bike, despite the fact that I one one. It had training wheels, but they were not applied correctly; one was higher than the other, which prevented me from learning balance, which is the whole point of training wheels in the first place. Dave thought this was the saddest thing ever, and suggest I call my collection of stores Never Learned How To Ride A Bike. And I’m pretty tempted…
Last night I tried doing the cover to the latest mini, but its just not coming together. A question that almost everyone I know seems to ask is why I don’t draw that often, and basic answer is that its very hard for me. Its a nasty combo of being rusty, yet still being a perfectionist (which I know is dumb, since my stuff is far from perfect), and this latest thing, which is one tiny pic, is taking forever. I also spent last night writing something up for Nerdiquette, but like a total retard, I accidentally erased it when in the midst of reinstalling OS X (10.3). I think being sick also didn’t help my drawing or writing efforts last night.
But yeah, I’ve decided to give Tiger the big F.U. and go back to Panther on my eMac. I’ll miss spotlight and the revamped Mail client, but I seriously cannot take anymore of this shit. The widgets are cool for about three seconds till you realize that most are absolutely worthless, and hog up your system, even when they aren’t being used. I’ll be losing the RSS functionality of Safari, but as most people know, it never really worked in the first place. As for Automator, don’t even get me started. I seriously cannot think of single good thing about Tiger since I first installed it; its been a fucking pain in the ass since day one, and everytime I think I have things under control, something fucking goes haywire.
And it’s not just me. Yesterday, Jason’s PowerBook was also crippled due to the 10.4.5 update (which I’ve tried my best to warn everyone about), though his problem has turned out far worse; for whatever reason, the hard drive in his machine just flat out died shortly after the upgrade. And Jason, much like myself, is also obsessive about the condition of his Mac, hence why the update is the main culprit in my mind. Though aside from fucking up my machine and Jason’s, I’ve discovered that its also had a nasty effect on many other people’s systems. And the one thing that seems consistent is the age of the machines. Again, Apple is fucking people over with computers that are over 18 months old (as I’ve stated many times before, it used to be that if you bought a Mac, it would last you literally 4 to 5 years… no more). And once again, Apple has released a debilitating update right before they’re set to unveil new products (next week will possibly see the rumored iBook Lite and the new all touch-screen iPod Video… yup, that new shiny video enabled iPod is already obsolete it would seem). I also suspect that with so many damn versions of the OS to keep track of (one for PowerPCs, one for servers, and now one for Intel Macs), that the bug testing is getting more and more lax. Once again, fucking Apple….
So Jason stopped by SVA yesterday afternoon (well before he had to show up for the Flash class that he teaches in the evening), and I tried to see if I might be able to extract the info on the HD, but to no avail. Once again, another major annoyance when dealing with Mac issues is that lack of resources online. Yeah, PCs suck, and they break down all the time, but its so easy to find helpful info for whatever situation. We tried to boot the machine up via utility discs, the network, and even from another Mac via Firewire target mode, but to no avail. And with no options left, Jason reluctantly went to Tekserve.
Jason tried calling beforehand, but they refused to give him a quote over the phone, since they know that their outrageous prices are enough to scare anyone away (thankfully Jason has a portable and not a desktop). As stated before, the place is run by an army emo-hipster fags; am I still bitter than I didn’t get hired when I applied to be a tech a few years back, not because of any technical shortcomings (and there were none, btw) but simply because I didn’t look trendy or “cool” enough? I guess you could say that. But what’s more frustrating are the folks who go there, because aside from normal, sensible folks like you and me, there’s a lot of annoying eccentric artist types that frequent the place, many of whom that use really old and obsolete systems and software, and who return over and over again, because they don’t know even the basics of computer maintenance and therefore must rely on constant help. Many of these folks are also very rich, so not only can they afford the bill, but totally buy into Apple’s iLife bullshit, like this one guy who overheard me bitching about the place with Jason while waiting for help. I forget what he said exactly, other than how he had to point out to me that you just have to find the right person to help, which is a totally asinine attitude to have. If you pay a shitload of money for a computer, and then go to a repair-shop to have an extended warranty contract fulfilled (one which also cost quite a bit of $$$), the last thing you need is to then hope you get a nice person who will want to help you out, instead of not really wanting to do anything or coping an attitude. And can I talk? Yes I can, because I’ve worked in retail and customer service, and there’s is no fucking excuse for people to treat customers like that. It just so incredibly easy to act nice and courteous, and this is coming from a guy who used to work in a retail shop in the middle of Time Square, selling swords and other stupid shit to the rudest tourists imaginable!!! The guy also had the gall to give me the old “Well, at least it’s not a Pee-Cee!” wrap.
Back to AppleCare real quick: its pointless waste of money. Seriously. Most people are conned into buying it due to false pretenses. How does it work exactly? It covers the cost of hardware problems over the course of three years. And that’s it. Many believe that if “something” happens, like if you have a laptop and if it drops, then starts developing problems, but that’s considered a flaw brought on by the user and Apple is not liable. And maybe that makes sense on paper, but in the real world, laptops get tossed around, so something will happen, and couldn’t that $300 piece of mind maybe? And its a bigger problem that Apple’s own folks doesn’t know this; either that or the Apple Store person who sold my roommate her iBook was simply lying to her face when saying “You’re a teacher, and you never know if a student is going to drop your computer, right? Well get AppleCare and no matter what what happens, it’ll take care of it” And then when an issue came up and she returned to get it taken care off, they all played dumb.
On a related note while waiting, one of the guys who worked there came up to me and with a smile asked if he knew who I was, and said yes, I was the guy’s who roommate came to Tekserve to have a issue resolved, and it was guaranteed to be fixed in a week (time was a serious issues since Steph is a teacher and it was the grading period), and when she came to pick it up, all the sales guy wanted to do was hit on her, to perhaps lessen the blow that they had “accidently replaced” the hard drive when the issue was something totally different, so it was going to take another two days to actually fix the original issue. So I had come in one of those days, since I work around the corner, to find out if things were on pace, since my roommate was freaking out at this point, and the person whom I spoke to (being this person) wouldn’t give me a clear answer for the fuck up, let alone his whole name (like I was some investigative reporter for News Channel 4 or something).
Anyway, Jason eventually got somebody to look at his system (and without asking us much for info, like all the steps that had been taken to tackle the problems ourselves, cuz you know, that’s not important and not actually pretty fucking important info when diagnosing any problem), and this person later determined that it was indeed a hard drive issue. I tried asking her questions about the possible cause, but when she responded to one with “Software cannot cause hardware issues, ever” (umm, right) I knew any further probing would be total waste of time. Plus I was distracted by the scene of some repair folks behind her that were looking through some pictures and having a big laugh (if those are private pics from someone’s computer that they’re supposed to be fixing… then that’s really fucked up).
The final bill for Jason was $600, half for data recovery, half for a new hard drive, which he’s going to bite the bullet and pay for. Then he’s going to sell his PowerBook and get the fuck away from Macs. Can’t say I blame him…. And one last thing about Tekserve; I know folks who write for the Village Voice and the New York Press, and mentioned the bullshit that takes place there, while both were shocked to hear of this, each said that no one would dare write a bad thing about them since they pay so much in ad revenue…
So all last night, I wiped out my HD and installed Panther back on. I haven’t had much chance to mess around with things, but lets just say, whereas before I could barely surf the web on my own network, I was able to go online with zero hassles on some other person’s network, from like two houses door down.
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And because my computer was in traction at the time, I wasn’t able to mentioned that The Legend of Zelda celebrated its 20th anniversary yesterday. So Happy belated birthday Link!
I also wanted to mention that on my lunch break yesterday, I stopped by Best Buy and saw the new Fight Night for the 360, and I gotta say, its looked fucking insane. And its the first game in a long time in which better graphics actually makes a better game; right next to it was the PS2 version, and it just wasn’t the same.
But at least I was able to scope out some new on streets pics of the new DS Lite. I know I already have a DS, and as much I’m against collecting portables… A handheld shouldn’t just sit there on a shelf, its meant to be played! And if it is, the system’s going to get scratched or banged up, no matter how careful you are. Plus, there really is a thing as having too many Game Boys, I’m sorry… I’m have to get this…
For more pics, click here.
