My Five Friday PFFFFFFFTs...
Artful chef, gardner, photographer, poet, cat-lover, observer and reflector on life, and all around wonderful soul Nikkipolani has had a custom of putting a semi-regular feature on her blog called "Five Friday Faves". It is just what the title indicates, i.e. a list of five things to feel good about (and it's generally posted on - wait for it - Fridays).
I thought about doing the same thing, but then I realized I'm in one of THOSE moods. One of THOSE moody sorts of moods. And you know, the only way to beat THOSE is with THEM. However, being that there are none of THEM handy, I'll resort to the next best thing: a sort of "anti-faves", if you will. In other words, here are five things that are really chapping my hide on this most gray-skied of Fridays.
1. Glitchy Automatic Updates. I'm sure my most recent computer-related headache has absolutely nothing on the office solution hell currently being suffered by my sister. It's still enough to rankle. First I noticed that my wife's computer, which I hooked up to the internet only a few months ago, kept repeatedly downloading and installing the same Windows security patch over and over and over and over again. It always said that the download and install were successful, but it would immediately go through the cycle again. I looked back through the log and discovered that it had been doing it for over a month. After none of my (feeble) attempts at a solution worked, I finally grit my teeth and got onto the Microsoft support site. It turned out that there was a page dedicated to the very problem I'd been having; apparently it was widespread. The fix was easy. All I had to do was uninstall and reinstall Internet Explorer, which I had upgraded to version 7 a little over a month before (apparently when the trouble started in the first place). That took care of it, and everything was hunky dory...for a few minutes.
Actually, my wife's computer problems were solved. What happened next was that I immediately discovered that my desktop machine, this machine, had been doing something very similar. It was a different security patch, and the installation was NOT working, but my computer was still downloading and attempting to install it over and over and over and had been doing so for months without my knowledge. This time I couldn't find any useful info on the Microsoft support page, so I e-mailed them. The automated response said that they would get back to me in about three days. Guess what? They got back to me immediately! Their suggestion was to uninstall and reinstall Microsoft Office and then go through the update procedure again. I did just that, and it fixed the problem quite handily. I've got to hand it to Microsoft: so far, all my dealings with their customer service have been very positive, and they've done a good job of helping me when I've needed them to (unlike IBM or Canon [Japan], who "helped" me in the past by suggesting I stop using their products).
Wait a minute...that's something good. Ahem...
2. Over-blinged Websites. Okay, okay...I know. You don't want your web page to look dull as aluminum foil, and there is a lot of really happening stuff out there. Yes, you have a lot of cool photos, and you've linked a lot of even cooler videos. I'm sure all those ads you've linked are helping you pay the bills, and that's perfectly understandable. However, if accessing your site means having to wait a couple of minutes for all those little tidbits to finish downloading (even with broadband), and moving back and forth from each peripheral page to the main page means yet another long wait, I'm probably not going to visit your site very often...if at all.
3. Institutionalized Redundance. Look, I'm honored that you've given me this position. I'm happy to have been put in charge of this project. You know I've always done my best so far, and I'd like to continue doing so in the future. As far as I know, every endeavor for this project has produced good results till now. There have been no complaints about my efforts whatsoever; on the contrary, I've heard nothing but praise. I even heard you say - publicly - that you were happy to have me on the job.
So why have you just taken over the project yourself and moved forward on a new endeavor without the slightest word to me about it?
4. Fame-Hungry Bureaucrats. Look, I know that bureaucrats are professional dorkwads by default and should always be considered guilty until proven intelligent, but give me a break! I don't know what sort of ministry pencil-neck-geek-sans-real-life thought he was getting off on his miniscule speck of power and making a name for himself by outlawing passing on all two-lane roads, but he's in desperate need of being whipped to death with his own coke-bottle frames. Either that or he should be forced to get stuck behind a slow-moving farm tractor every time he tries to commute 25 kilometers to work. The problem is even worse now since gasoline prices skyrocketed; even though prices have come way down recently and are still dropping, you still see - and get stuck behind - "eco drivers", i.e. people who think they are saving a bundle by habitually driving at or just below the speed limit. Actually, I'd be tempted to pay good money to see them run off the road.
5. American Presidential Campaigns. Election seasons are among the few times that I consider myself to be totally blessed to be on the opposite side of the ocean. I've heard that Europeans are fond of describing American presidential elections as a "beauty contest". Yes, that does seem to fit...except for the fact that campaigns invariably devolve into really ugly character assassinations and smear campaigns. That being said, I was thankful that Barrack Obama actually tried to keep the debates rational, intelligent, and centered on issues, at least till he finally got fed up with McCain's constant mudslinging and started throwing some of it back. Any Presidential election tends to polarize the country more than any other time. This year's was particularly ugly.
I'm glad it's over, though I'll shamelessly admit the result fills me with pride. (Um...that's good, too...)
I thought about doing the same thing, but then I realized I'm in one of THOSE moods. One of THOSE moody sorts of moods. And you know, the only way to beat THOSE is with THEM. However, being that there are none of THEM handy, I'll resort to the next best thing: a sort of "anti-faves", if you will. In other words, here are five things that are really chapping my hide on this most gray-skied of Fridays.
1. Glitchy Automatic Updates. I'm sure my most recent computer-related headache has absolutely nothing on the office solution hell currently being suffered by my sister. It's still enough to rankle. First I noticed that my wife's computer, which I hooked up to the internet only a few months ago, kept repeatedly downloading and installing the same Windows security patch over and over and over and over again. It always said that the download and install were successful, but it would immediately go through the cycle again. I looked back through the log and discovered that it had been doing it for over a month. After none of my (feeble) attempts at a solution worked, I finally grit my teeth and got onto the Microsoft support site. It turned out that there was a page dedicated to the very problem I'd been having; apparently it was widespread. The fix was easy. All I had to do was uninstall and reinstall Internet Explorer, which I had upgraded to version 7 a little over a month before (apparently when the trouble started in the first place). That took care of it, and everything was hunky dory...for a few minutes.
Actually, my wife's computer problems were solved. What happened next was that I immediately discovered that my desktop machine, this machine, had been doing something very similar. It was a different security patch, and the installation was NOT working, but my computer was still downloading and attempting to install it over and over and over and had been doing so for months without my knowledge. This time I couldn't find any useful info on the Microsoft support page, so I e-mailed them. The automated response said that they would get back to me in about three days. Guess what? They got back to me immediately! Their suggestion was to uninstall and reinstall Microsoft Office and then go through the update procedure again. I did just that, and it fixed the problem quite handily. I've got to hand it to Microsoft: so far, all my dealings with their customer service have been very positive, and they've done a good job of helping me when I've needed them to (unlike IBM or Canon [Japan], who "helped" me in the past by suggesting I stop using their products).
Wait a minute...that's something good. Ahem...
2. Over-blinged Websites. Okay, okay...I know. You don't want your web page to look dull as aluminum foil, and there is a lot of really happening stuff out there. Yes, you have a lot of cool photos, and you've linked a lot of even cooler videos. I'm sure all those ads you've linked are helping you pay the bills, and that's perfectly understandable. However, if accessing your site means having to wait a couple of minutes for all those little tidbits to finish downloading (even with broadband), and moving back and forth from each peripheral page to the main page means yet another long wait, I'm probably not going to visit your site very often...if at all.
3. Institutionalized Redundance. Look, I'm honored that you've given me this position. I'm happy to have been put in charge of this project. You know I've always done my best so far, and I'd like to continue doing so in the future. As far as I know, every endeavor for this project has produced good results till now. There have been no complaints about my efforts whatsoever; on the contrary, I've heard nothing but praise. I even heard you say - publicly - that you were happy to have me on the job.
So why have you just taken over the project yourself and moved forward on a new endeavor without the slightest word to me about it?
4. Fame-Hungry Bureaucrats. Look, I know that bureaucrats are professional dorkwads by default and should always be considered guilty until proven intelligent, but give me a break! I don't know what sort of ministry pencil-neck-geek-sans-real-life thought he was getting off on his miniscule speck of power and making a name for himself by outlawing passing on all two-lane roads, but he's in desperate need of being whipped to death with his own coke-bottle frames. Either that or he should be forced to get stuck behind a slow-moving farm tractor every time he tries to commute 25 kilometers to work. The problem is even worse now since gasoline prices skyrocketed; even though prices have come way down recently and are still dropping, you still see - and get stuck behind - "eco drivers", i.e. people who think they are saving a bundle by habitually driving at or just below the speed limit. Actually, I'd be tempted to pay good money to see them run off the road.
5. American Presidential Campaigns. Election seasons are among the few times that I consider myself to be totally blessed to be on the opposite side of the ocean. I've heard that Europeans are fond of describing American presidential elections as a "beauty contest". Yes, that does seem to fit...except for the fact that campaigns invariably devolve into really ugly character assassinations and smear campaigns. That being said, I was thankful that Barrack Obama actually tried to keep the debates rational, intelligent, and centered on issues, at least till he finally got fed up with McCain's constant mudslinging and started throwing some of it back. Any Presidential election tends to polarize the country more than any other time. This year's was particularly ugly.
I'm glad it's over, though I'll shamelessly admit the result fills me with pride. (Um...that's good, too...)
Labels: griping
posted by The Moody Minstrel at
12:47 AM
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11 comments
