Apples and Oranges

Dazzle finally got around to calling me back.  They're shipping me a replacement CD for the broken one that came with their product.  It's about time, I was getting ready to ship the whole product back, and make it their problem...

I received the WordPerfect 2000 Service Pack 4 CD from Corel today.  Apparently the reason you have to call them up with your serial number is because they actually send you a new Disc 1 for your WordPerfect 2000 set.  It's not a patch, it's a whole new installation.  I'm making an .iso image of it now, so I can share this with everyone else on campus.  What a pain...

Macintouch has a great little discussion regarding the pricing of Apple computers versus that of Dell's offerings. 

I've worked as a support person in both Macintosh and PC environments, for several years. I consider myself to be a PC person, but I follow the Mac world quite closely, and am looking at a future iBook purchase for myself right now. A lot of the pricing comparisons that have been thrown around the Dell vs. Apple discussion have overlooked two areas that I consider quite important, the monitor and the warranty. Many of the comparisons overlooked the cost of the monitor, and the difference between the warranties offered by Dell & Apple. Here's my two cents, and my idea of a fair comparison:

Dell Dimension 4100

• Pentium III 866mhz
• 64MB SDRAM
• 17-inch Trinitron FD Monitor
• Rage 128 video card
• 20GB Hard Drive
• 12X DVD-ROM Drive
• 3 Years Next Business Day On Site Service & Warranty
• SoundBlaster 64V Sound Card
• Harmon Kardon Speakers
• 56K Modem
• 3Com 10/100 Ethernet card
• Microsoft Intellimouse
• Microsoft Works w/Money 2001

Dell is also including a free CD-RW right now, but I'll leave that out.

Total Price before shipping and taxes: $1308

Apple PowerMac G4 400

• Motorola G4 400mhz
• 64MB SDRAM
• Rage 128 video card
• 20GB Hard Drive
• DVD-ROM Drive
• Built-in Gigabit Ethernet
• 17 Inch Digital Monitor
• 56K Modem
• Harmon Kardon Speakers
• 3 Year AppleCare Warranty
• Apple Pro Keyboard
• Apple Optical Mouse
• Appleworks

Total price before shipping and taxes: $2126

I felt that by giving them both 3 year warranties, as well as the flat Trinitron monitors was fair. I added Appleworks to the Mac config, because you can't get a Dell without at least Microsoft Works, and the bundles do fairly similar things. The Mac has the edge with the faster Ethernet, and the digital monitor, but the PC has a pretty good price in comparison, especially if you got it now with the free CD-RW option thrown in. Many people would say that the Apple mouse is better than the Intellimouse. That's debatable, but I'd use neither for my own computer, I view them both as inadequate compared to the Intellimice with the Optical technology.

Dazzled

I just got off the phone with Corel, I had to order Service Pack 4 for WordPerfect Office 2000.  You can't download this service pack, you have to shell out $9.95 for Corel to send you the CD.  When this CD arrives, I'm going to make an .iso image file of the CD, and make it available to all the other tech people on campus, and probably anyone else who wants it.  It's ridiculous to have to pay for them to ship me a CD when I should be able to download the file, I don't care how large it is.  I politely expressed my displeasure to the customer service rep who politely ignored it in turn.  After taking my credit card number, he promised me the CD in the next 3-5 days.  I'm not holding my breath.

J Dylan's grandmother passed away earlier this week.  I'm driving up to Ventura tonight, so that I can attend her funeral tomorrow.  Marcia was always very nice to me, and was one of the hippest "old people" I've known.  I always think of the time that I helped JD. and his sister paint some trim in his grandma's house, I was bored, and it seemed like a fun project.  A few weeks later, she saw me, and insisted on paying me for helping her.  I tried to decline, seriously, I didn't want money for helping her out.  We were at an impasse, until JD. finally elbowed me in the ribs and told me to shut up and take the money.  I did so, but only because he told me she'd feel bad if I didn't.  Marcia will be missed by all.  Here's her obituary, as run in today's issue of the Mason City Globe Gazette:

MARCIA J. SHAFFER

VENTURA - Marcia J. Shaffer, 84, Ventura, died Monday (Jan. 1, 2001) at the Oakwood Care Center in Clear Lake.

Funeral services will be 1 p.m. Thursday at the First Congregational Church in Clear Lake, with Pastor Thomas Healey officiating. Inurnment will be held at Memorial Park Cemetery in Mason City at a later date.

Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. today at the Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel, 101 N. Fourth St. in Clear Lake.

Memorials may be given to the First Congregational Church in her name.

Marcia was born June 9, 1916, in Mason City, the daughter of Pearl Morrow and Pearl Mae (Oxley) Hickok. She graduated from Ventura High School in 1934. She attended Iowa State Teachers College and taught elementary school in Dows and Coulter, Iowa, for 3 years.

She married Bill Shaffer on June 29, 1939, at her parents' home south of Ventura. They moved to Clear Lake where they started their family and lived there until 1955. Then they moved back to the family farm and lived there until 1998.

Marcia was active in helping with many aspects of farm life, gardening, selling eggs, raising lambs, unloading grain wagons, and preparing many group meals. Marcia moved to the Meadows until 1999, moving then to the Oakwood Care Center.

She was a lifelong member of the First Congregational Church and taught Sunday school there in her younger years. She was also a 50-year member of the Mother's Study Club.

Marcia is survived by her sons, Larry A. Shaffer and his wife, Kathy, of Ventura, and Arlan L. Shaffer and his wife, Cathy, of Porterville, Calif.; and two grandchildren, Jennifer Shaffer of Monticello, and Dylan Shaffer of Cedar Falls.

Marcia was preceded in death by her parents and her husband, Bill, in 1978.

I opened a brand new Dazzle Video Creator II, in order to install it in a faculty member's new machine.  This is the first one of these we've gotten, and I was looking forward to trying it out.  Unfortunately, the CD-ROM containing the drivers and all the necessary software to make the device work was broken in the box!  So now I sit here with a useless $250 video capture device, until I get a new disk.  I called their tech support line, which was not a toll-free number, unfortunately.  After waiting on hold for 20 minutes, it transferred me to voice mail, where I left a message.  The helpful voice promised me that I'd receive a callback within 4 to 5 business hours.  We'll see...

On The Job

I ordered a new mixer this weekend.  My grandfather gave me some money towards a new mixer for my birthday last summer, but I never got around to getting it.  While doing some baking this weekend, I was reminded how inept my current mixer is.  It's fine for a cake mix, but for cookies or bread mix, it doesn't do a very good job.  I'd decided that if I was going to get a new mixer, I'd get a good one, so I chose the KitchenAid 4 1/2 Quart model. 

Fortunately, Amazon.com has free shipping on it right now, or that would have set me back another $30.  Why did I buy it online?  Well, I'm lazy, for one thing.  Also, I had a $15 coupon that I was able to use, and I didn't have to pay sales tax, which I would have done if it was bought locally.

Unfortunately, I re-started my diet today.  I'd slacked off the last few months, and the Holidays were unkind to my waistline.  Now I just have to exercise some restraint when it comes to all the tasty carbohydrates that I'll be able to produce with my new mixer.

I'm back on the job, after a nice rest.  Now I've got to scramble to deliver as many new computers as I can before classes start next week.  I've got them all stacked up in my computer lab, and I need to get them out of there as soon as possible.  Since many of the faculty aren't around, I'm just dumping their new computers in their offices, and e-mailing them to let them know I'll come set them up whenever they're available to be there.

They Did It!

They did it!  The Cyclones completed their first nine-win season since 1906, besting the Pittsburgh Panthers by a score of 37-29 in the Insight.com Bowl.  Iowa State was up 27-7 at halftime, but Pittsburgh came dangerously close to winning it in the second half.  When ISU was up by only five points, I was so nervous I was sweating!  This was ISU's first bowl game win ever, and I just don't think you can put into words how much this means to the Cyclone Faithful.  I was in the stands during the 1-10 seasons, I paid my dues, now it's time to revel in the victory.  As one of the announcers said during the game, Iowa State just appeared to want this victory more than Pittsburgh did.

Congratulations to the Iowa State Football players, for showing the fans the reason they held out hope for so many years...

The Doubtful Guest

The snow is really coming down outside.  It's a good night to make some warm popcorn, crack open a frosty cold beverage, and take in the Insight.com bowl game, featuring the Iowa State Cyclones vs the Pittsburgh Panthers.  It's my alma mater's first bowl game trip in 22 years, and my only regret is that I'm not there in person to see it. 

If you enjoy listening to music on your computer, check out Kick.com.  They've got a handy little application that will display information about the music you're listening to.  It doesn't matter if you're listening to mp3 files or CD's, they both work with this little applet.  Probably my favorite feature is that it works with most audio players, from Winamp to Microsoft's Windows Media Player to Sonique, yours is most likely supported...

For Christmas, I received another one of Edward Gorey's little books.  The Doubtful Guest is great, it's full of creepy macabre humor.  Just like The Gashlycrumb Tinies, my other Gorey book, it amuses me to no end.  The illustrations of the vacant-eyed Victorian-era inhabitants of the house, and the bizarre little guest with his canvas tennis shoes, are combined with a rhyming verse that just makes me sit there and giggle.  Gorey died this year, and his creepy and whimsical talents will certainly be missed...