Sweet Catastrophe

I`m blogging on my wii! Does it get dorkier?

Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

Seriously, I’m getting an eBay migraine. Can I tell you how many Guitar Hero auctions I’ve bid on today? No. I can’t. I can’t count that high.

I wouldn’t be so bothered if I didn’t keep seeing these end at around $130. If you’re willing to spend $130, go to one of the Buy It Now auctions you ass! Leave my humble little auction alone!

I had a close call. I bid $103 just to jack the price back up…I had an angry moment…and I didn’t get outbid until it was down to 2 minutes and 23 left in the auction. I almost hoped I would get it, but I knew I’d regret it later. Anyone want to add the the “Jadeline Needs to Rock” fund? haha

Did I tell you guys I promptly got my new external hard drive and I’m in love with it? So far I’ve gotten the really important stuff copied over–ya know, my Lifehouse folder I actually just moved all my movies onto it. I have a few that I’d rather not delete, but I wouldn’t be devastated if I lost them so I’m okay with them just being on there.

I played a movie from it just last night with no problems! I was plugged in to my usb port for like a week straight with no use, it was just in standby mode, chillin. I had no problem whatsoever waking it up. There wasn’t even the tiniest bit of lag time! Seriously, I adore this thing.

My old external hasn’t been used in probably a day. If I want to open iTunes, I’ll have to restart it to get it out of standby mode.

Oh! And I can fit my new one into my back pocket It’s about the size of a normal iPod, just a smidge longer and wider. I’ll have to take pics of my new techno-baby heh

I need to slowly move my other stuff on. It’s just gonna take a while to get so many files on there. I realized I can’t backup all my tv shows–they’re too large. That’s alright though. I won’t cry if I lose those either And actually, I think if I format them for my ipod, they’ll be small enough. I’ll have to think about doing that…

I tried to turn on the television and nothing happened. Of course I freaked out. This is a new HDTV…we’ve only had it since this summer. After some investigation, I found that it wasn’t all hooked up correctly.

It’s a huge tv, and it’s up high, and it’s hard to maneuver, and I’m going to shoot someone. Jonathan took the splitters (that weren’t his) so when Robert brings over the XBox, there’s a lot of cable shuffling. There’s the DVD player, the PS2, and the Gamecube, all fighting for one hookup. This weekend, they’re picking up all the damn HDMI switches and everything else they need, and they’re getting all this straight. I’m not playing with this anymore. I’m tired of being the nagging house-mom because they keep doing this crap.

I don’t mind cleaning up after them, I really and truly don’t. Andrew and Ryan are out of the apartment a lot more than I am. All I ask in return is that when I bitch about it, just let me. Damn boys.

I really can’t even begin to tell you how much time I spend shopping online for the best deals I can find. Nine times out of ten, I’m looking for different media–movies and cds, or some gadget.

I’ve found my newest shopping bookmark for tech bargains. I’m loving the setup at TechBargains! I’m still working out some of the ins and outs of all the features they offer (there’s just so much there) but I can’t wait to check out the reviews and comparison features!

They stay updated 24/7 with all the latest deals in technology. You can even select among a huge variety of notifications from email feeds, to text messages. All are fully customizable to ensure you’re receiving the info on the stuff you really want.

I really like that they’re not exclusive to just sales; they’ve got up-to-date info on current coupons and rebates as well. Rebates are so bittersweet–you’re not saving any money immediately, but that rebate check always seems to arrive just when you need it most.

I’ve already been on for an hour, doing different searches for things from my own wish list, and things from Ryan’s. He finally settled on a Zune, and I’m seriously considering this listing on TechBargains. I’ve got to crunch some numbers and see if I can swing it right now. I really want to get him a black one, but I feel pretty certain he doesn’t really care about the color, and if he does, we can pick up a cover for it.

Oh Ebay–the joy you bring me! My external harddrive went a little crazy on me earlier this evening, as per usual, so I decided to browse Ebay again for a replacement. I found a superthin, new, 80gb external for around $50 after shipping. I went ahead and bought it. I currently have about 50gb on my external, so I can finally back those up and maybe take this one in to see what its problem is.

After that, I was feelin’ kinda lucky so I started looking around for the GPS system I want to get Ryan for Christmas. I found it! There’s a seller who currently has about 8 up that end in less than 24 hours. Only 2 of them have bids going on so far, and all of them are under $21, WITH shipping. They’re refurbished, but Ryan doesn’t need a brand new one anyway, and they come with all the accessories he’d need and I checked feedback and it looks like they sell a lot of these refurbished GPS systems and they have glowing feedback on all of them! I’m really excited about that! I just hope it doesn’t fall through in the last hour, but luckily I should be home by then to keep an eye out. Oh yeah, and these are still in the $500 range-retail.

I checked out the mp3 player he wants as well, and it looks like I have a fighting chance of scoring one for under $50. I’m not focusing a lot on that one right now. Most of the auctions I’m looking at have a few days left, so things could take a big turn.

I’ll be excited enough if I can grab this GPS…being able to get the mp3 player would just be a bonus. The only problem will be keeping them from him until Christmas! I already decided I’d give him the GPS a little early if we go to Louisiana though. Those trips are what they’re best for, might as well make sure he’s getting good use out of it, rather than just using it around Jacksonville.  I want to snag it for a day or so to look for little places I’ve never been able to find in Valdosta. Some people swear there are some decent bakeries here, but I’ve never been able to find one!

Anyway, let’s everyone send Jade your lucky vibes now.

Well, the Kingdom Hearts series is my favorite video game, but this bit from MC Chris comparing Kingdom Hearts II to Resident Evil 4 is just….too great. It always makes me laugh out loud.

Someone put the audio together with actual scenes from the two games. I’d say aside from their spelling, they did a really good job! [Warning, language]

For those of you on LJ who aren’t seeing the video, do yourself a favor and go watch it on YouTube.

So I sent in a message to tech support, providing tons of details about a problem. The simple answer I got was that even though their system was showing I had something installed, they couldn’t find it when looking at my source code.

*sigh* If you’d bothered to read the full message I sent, maybe you’d have noticed I mentioned working with that code recently. Hmm…maybe you could look for that example and see if the code is working there, if so, well it’s obviously there. It would’ve taken glancing alllll the way back to, gosh, just page 2?

So you just added to your workload by putting me off until tomorrow, and added to my dissatisfaction.  How genius of you. Also, let’s not even think about the point you looked over in that IF I didn’t actually have the code properly installed, there’s still something wrong with your system since your system is showing that it is. Hmm.

I just HATE when tech support/customer service automatically assumes I’m an idiot. I once had to take my computer in to be worked on because the motherboard had been literally burnt (long story.) When all was said and done, they asked if I wanted to bring in my Norton Antivirus disks so they could install them for me. Um…no, I don’t think I’ll give you any reason to charge me more for set tasks and hours of labor on something I’m perfectly capable of doing on my own. No joke, our conversation was no less that 25 minutes of them trying to convince me that it would be hard and I might mess something up. Thanks, but I’ve uninstalled and installed Norton quite a few times. It doesn’t take a genius. I have boobs, but I assure you I’m quite capable of handling technology.

There was one member in particular of the Geek Squad at Best Buy who I would avoid when I went in. He’d always talk to me like an eleven year old who’d been living in a bomb shelter until just last week. Oh gosh, it’s not plug-n-play?! How ever shall I figure out how to do this?!

I’m certainly not saving myself any time when I do this, but I always assume customers have a basic understanding of things. I wait for a blank stare before I slowly start dropping in levels of how I’m explaining things. It’s just insulting when you automatically talk to the person like an idiot. Wait till you’re sure they really are

Okay, so I had a major scare while making my Freeze It commercial. I decided to play Lifehouse with the credits so I leaned over to turn on my external harddrive and….nothing happened. Holy crap! I had a mini-panic attack. No joke. The majority of my pictures are there and about 98% of my music (over 4,000 songs) and pretty much all of my videos are there. Basically, my external is my media drive. I know it’s basically retarded to simply store them on my external, and not have backups, but it’s no worse than storing them just on my computer and not having a backup, so, ya know. I got the external so I wouldn’t overrun my old computer’s small amount of memory. That’s not really a problem with my new computer, but now there’s no point in moving it all back, ya know?

I unplugged the power source from the actual drive, still no go. *On the verge of hyperventilating* I unplugged the power cord from the outlet and that finally did it. It powered on! *Whew* So now I’m pretty sure I’ll start actively looking for another external to actually use as a backup source. How geeky will that be? An external drive to backup my external drive! Woo!

After that, I finished my movie and went to click one final editing button and the whole thing froze. Greeeeaaat!

I gave it some time, closed some other programs but nothing worked. I finally shut it down ’cause I was definitely running out of time on my reservation. Thank God for autosave! I only had to re-edit my music when I opened it back up! Oh and my credit to Lifehouse for the music somehow disappeared, but oh well!

So here’s hoping none of my technology actually breaks! I’m not really sure what I’d do if I lost all of my music….oh what a sad day that would be.

For my typing class, we had the option of purchasing the software for home use. I picked it up online for less than half what it cost in the Bookstore. Anyway, I knew I’d need it to keep up with assignments over the Oklahoma trip. I’ve taken to actually leaving class early on a regular basis. I’m just more comfortable at home, where there’s no one to berate me for not sitting with my feet perfectly straight, or my fingers on the home row keys. I’m sorry, I’ve had a highly respectable typing rate since Elementary school and I have no need to stick to home row keys. I’m perfectly capable of typing without looking at my hands, and I’m much more comfortable with my technique.

Anyway, the sound options are locked on the software, and I had a feeling it was due to my instructor’s settings, but I emailed the company anyway…….after an overly extensive search for any contact information–thank God for search skills! This is the idiotic exchange that occurred:

Issue: I want to turn the sound off of my home edition of this software, but it appears to be locked. What can I do?

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Hello Jade,Sound controls are located under the Edit drop down menu then select Preferences. This menu is accessed after you load your profile in the upper left hand corner. If these preferences are locked sound can also be turned off by either the volume control on your speakers or Windows volume control in the lower right corner by the system clock.

Thank you.

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Right, so in me stating that they’re locked, I obviously know how to locate the settings. I’m also not computer illiterate, so I know how to turn the volume off on my computer. I want to know WHY the settings are locked, and how I can change the settings on this software I’ve paid for. I should be free to listen to music or whatever else I choose while working with this software.

Jade

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Hello Jade,

If these preferences are locked at your install the options would only be able to be changed by instructor.

Thank you.

Could someone not have sent this simple sentence to me in the first place? I can’t imagine how annoying it is to work in any sort of Tech support, but it’s one of my biggest pet peeves to have someone overlook my competence and go straight to speaking to me like I don’t know keyboard from a mouse. The original response was obviously sent after simply noticing that I had a question about my volume settings. No need to read the actual question! <Annoyance>