I'm down on the farm in Ventura, Iowa, my hometown. I installed the air conditioners for my grandmother today, fixed a wobbly front step, and got her Quicken working again too. I think the phone company must have upgraded their lines recently, as the computer connected at 50 and 52K when I dialed in. That makes downloading the numerous updates and patches their computer needed a little more reasonable than back when the most we could get was 26.4K.
Oops! Looks like Apple let the cat out of the bag a bit early about their PowerMac G5 systems that will probably be announced on Monday. Last night, this screenshot was captured of the Apple Store, giving away some details of the new machines. I think some web guy saved to the wrong folder, and is probably cleaning out his desk while we speak. I'm glad this happened, in a way, because I think Apple is dumb to cloak their products in such secrecy. They're only computers! Dell doesn't do that, my Dell field rep shows me the roadmaps from time to time, and I know months in advance what new products are in the works, some of the features they'll have, and when they'll ship, down to the exact day, it lets me know how to plan our PC purchases, rather than play the waiting and guessing game with Apple, and never knowing if you're about to get screwed because a newer revision will be released next week.
I'm cleaning out the basement, selling off some of my miscellaneous technology things on eBay, check them out: Cobalt Qube 2700 Server
Cisco ATA 168 Voice over IP adapter
I was saddened to see that Gregory Peck died yesterday. I might have to pick up a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird this weekend, it's been on my DVD wish list for about 2 years, just haven't gotten around to buying it, though it's in the top five of my favorite films of all time. "Miss Jean Louise, stand up, your father's passin'."
That scene still gives me chills.
I don't know if you've ever tried to cancel an AOL account before, but it's a pain. They have uber-scripts for their service people for every possible situation, to try to entice you to stay. I no longer needed the one I'd been using for travel, so I called up to cancel today, and I was dreading the 20 questions game already. So, I devised a scheme to get me off the phone quickly, without being a total jerk to the customer service slave, I figured there had to be some scenario in their scripts that didn't lead to suggesting another level of service or pointing out a way they could continue to bill you for something: Him: Why would you like to cancel your account? Me: Uh, I sold my computer, and I'm not getting another one. Him: So...you just sold your computer, and you're not going to go online? Me: I'm also moving to Europe. Him: You're moving to Europe? Me: Umm, yep, that's it, I'm moving to Europe.
Only took me 3 minutes to cancel my account, that's a record.
Oh, and I didn't sell my computer, and I'm not moving to Europe.
