Teaching old dogs new tricks

So after many years to trying to learn how to swim (yes, I don't know how to swim), I finally signed up for some lessons and a remote YMCA. I went to one of said lessons last night. I must say, I was quite nervous the entire day. I kept thinking of how I would look while drowning during the lesson. But after the lesson, it wasn't bad at all.

As I've said, I've attempted on many an occasion to try to learn how to swim. I usually end up swallowing some pool water and giving up. Most I could do was float on my back or kick a bit. I couldn't get the breathing thing right, and drowning scares me. But my instructor broke down all the moves and it wound up pretty easy. Can I swim now? A short distance, yes. But I have much practice ahead of me. I am glad I signed up, and I have one more lesson on Monday. After that, my instructor goes off for a bit, so I'll decide if I would sign up for more or just practice on my own. He gave me some stuff I need to work on, so it doesn't seem hard to practice.

Learning to swim is on my life list, so I'm pretty happy that I'm tackling it. I have quite a bit more on my list, but that's another discussion.

HP and me

After doing some evening grocery shopping (I like going to the supermarket at night, it's quiet), I went home and settled down. I grabbed my oh-so-lovely laptop and powered it on. It didn't boot up; what a surprise. I thought about how HP had left out a stick of RAM, so I started to suspect that the slot was defective. So I opened up my memory bay and removed one of my 1GB sticks. I powered the laptop on, and it booted up. Well, would you look at that. Apparently, my issue is with the slot. I think that's pretty funny since HP "replaced" my motherboard during the first repair. You would think a new motherboard wouldn't have any defective parts. Well, I needed to call HP anyway because of the missing RAM, so I grabbed my phone.

I called the HP number and waited till the automated prompts came on. Ignoring their "helpful" categories, I just said "customer service" repeatedly till the English-speaking computer transferred me to a live person that spoke "English". During the next hour, the various reps (because apparently, the HP people are soooooo specialized, they need to transfer you to different departments for EVERYTHING) apologized for any inconvenience, documented the case, asked me to check the label on my HP RAM chip, documented the case, told me they would order me another chip, documented the case, spoke with their supervisor, documented the case, asked for my info, documented the case, and oh, they documented the case. I think I talked for a total of 2 min, the reps talked for a total of 5, I was on hold for 10, and they documented the case for 43 min. Like I've said before, maybe they type with one finger, or instead of letters, their keyboards have words for keys and the keyboard takes up an entire office. Who the heck knows?

And guess what? At the end of the call, instead of telling me my RAM chip is on its way, the rep told me a supervisor will call me within 24 hours. Why? I don't know. Maybe they think I pretended not to receive my full memory and now I'm trying to cheat them out of $10. Maybe $15 for that stupid 512MB of RAM. I don't know. To top it off, they tell me my warranty is expired now and offered to extend it for two years for $130. I think about the "service" I've had with my two repair orders, and decided not to extend it. I'm tired of having to call in for an hour to get service. I'm tired of reading off a Case Number to them and have them tell me it's not a case number even thought it's printed on their HP notices with "Case Number" next to them. I'm tired of their stupidity and inefficiencies.

I just want the 512MB of RAM that is missing, because it belongs to me and they have no right to take it/leave it out/steal it. I don't care that one of my memory slots is not working. I don't care that my laptop can die at any moment. I don't care that it's only been a year. I want this to end. Then when the laptop is finished, which I'm thinking it will be soon, I'm going to spend my hard-earned cash on a reliable quality computer system. I will no longer recommend HP laptops. I will not recommend Compaq systems. I will no longer defend HP when my IT guy at work disses them (although HP does make nice printers).

Oh, and you bet I'm still going to write HP about my experience.

HP REALLY REALLY STINKS

My laptop returned from its second trip to the repair center on Friday. I didn't have time on Friday open it up and test it, so I did it on Saturday. I opened up the box and popped the battery in. I pressed the power button with no expectations whatsoever. Amazingly, after everything initialized, the screen flicked on and the system continued to boot up. I was pleasantly surprised. As Windows Vista booted up, I noticed it was very sloooow. But I attributed that to the 1GB of RAM; I had reinstalled the factory memory and taken out my 2GB that I purchased in preparation for the repair.

After the bootup and a check that everything was there, I shut down and removed the battery. I opened the memory bay to be greeted by one lone memory stick. Problem? I had two. So I think to myself, they must have taken my two 512MB sticks and popped in a 1GB. I removed the memory and flipped it over so I could read the label: 512MB. Now I'm annoyed. They fixed my laptop, but left out half my memory. What the h*ll? I held my anger as I installed my 2GB of RAM. I pressed power and was greeted by nothing. This obviously added to my anger. I looked at the memory chips and noticed they weren't in all the way, so I adjusted and the system booted up fast and fine. My landlord's internet was down, so I couldn't test the internet connection. I left it on and played some music. I didn't feel like dealing with HP that night.

After about 30 minutes, my system froze. I looked at my laptop as it played the same half second of music over and over again. I forced a shutdown and tried rebooting. Nothing. After a few tries, and remembering how it didn't boot up before because of a loose memory chip, I checked the memory bay and still nothing. I removed my 2GB and replaced the 512MB and waited a bit. It booted up. I am dumbfounded. I have absolutely no idea what kind of sh*tbox HP had shipped back to me. I put my 2GB in and figured I'll test it later. But as of this moment, I am 45+ days without a computer, HP left out/took/stole (whatever it is) 512MB of RAM from me, and I have a f'ing unreliable laptop that apparently decides when it wants to boot up or freeze up. I am down to my last shred of patience.

I will call HP tonight and ask them about 1) my missing memory and 2) the reliability of my sh*tbox. If I don't have a resolution, I will write to any HP executive/customer service manager that needs to know. If still nothing, then we'll see what I should do. At this point, I'm not sure if I want HP to "repair" my laptop. I have no confidence in them in repairing my laptop. I have a feeling that the thing will just keep breaking down until I am out of warranty, then I'm SOL.

I actually want them to refund the cost of the laptop, which I bought on sale. Shoot, they can even refund me the cost of the laptop minus the hard drive if they want; I can keep the hard drive. Then I'm going to take that money, add some more, and buy myself a REAL laptop from Dell or Lenovo. I've never had a problem with Dell, and I shouldn't have went against my better judgment when I was buying a laptop.

I will definitely update this issue here. In fact, it now gets it's own label.

What a ride...

It's been a roller coaster of a day today so far... I went in to the city to get my Invisalign adjustment rolling again. I got to sit in a dentist chair while they shoved molding plaster into my mouth. Then they shoved mirrors into my mouth for pictures. Wonderful. The rest of the morning and early afternoon has since been up and down. Oy...


Song on Pandora:
Daniel Powter - Lost On The Stoop

We don't need Patron to party!

When I was in Cali, we had decided to cook dinner one night just to take advantage of a full kitchen. While shopping, we decided to get some tequila for drinks. Thinking we would do shots as well, I started looking for my go-to tequila for shots, Patron. As I searched for the $34.99 bottle (It's so much cheaper to drink in Cali, here it's $49.99), a man in the aisle overheard us and asked what we were doing with the Patron. So I told him that we were going to make some margaritas and maybe shoot some. He then told us his recipe for his favorite margarita.

He grabbed a bottle of Milagro and told us that it was less than Patron but nearly as smooth. He grabbed a bottle of Grand Marnier and told us to use that as well. He then told us to go to Trader Joe's and get their margarita mix for $1.99 and to pick up some limes. The recipe was 1 part Milagro, half-part Grand Marnier, and two parts Trader Joe's margarita mix. I'm always one to try things out, so we grab our ingredients and headed home.

After dinner, I busted out the bar stuff and made some margaritas. Now let me tell you, it was the best margarita I've ever made. I mean, the margarita mix wasn't too sweet, and it was all-natural. No corn syrup there! Then having a high-end triple sec (Grand Marnier) was nice too. The Milagro was smooth, but still showed its presence in the margarita. Just to make sure, I sipped the Milagro and swirled it around. Slight burn and pretty close to Patron, but the price was lower! As the night went on, we did some shots. Those went down smooth. Well, for me anyway. Haha. By the end of the night, we were sauced, laughter was in the air, new friends were made, and the bottle of Milagro sat empty on top of the fridge. It was a great night. It would've been a great morning if I hadn't had a couple shots of cognac, but whatever.

Made It To The Gym

I said it, and I've done it. I made it back to the gym. After work yesterday, I met up with my brother at Planet Fitness and signed him up for a membership. I originally planned on taking him through a light CTAL workout, but he opted to just workout on a treadmill instead. After showing him the treadmills and checking his heart rate, I agreed with his decision. He might not be ready for weights yet.

I wanted to take it easy and only wanted to work out for thirty minutes. So I headed over to Planet Fitness's 30-minute Express Workout Area. What they have is 20 stations and a red-green traffic light. The light cycles green for 60 seconds and red for 30 seconds. So you start at any number station and work your way around in order until you wind up at the number you started. If you follow the lights, this will last you for 30 minutes. Some people say this workout isn't challenging enough, but I think the level of intensity for any workout is dependent on how much the user wants to workout.

The way the stations are broken up, there are 10 weight machines and 10 stepping blocks in the middle of the area for use between weight machines. Weight machines and their respective station number follows:

2. Leg press

4. Leg curls

6. Leg extensions

8. Chest press

10. Shoulder press

12. Lat pulldown

14. Seated row

16. Biceps curl

18. Triceps

20. Ab curl

I started on station #1, which was a stepping block. I didn't really feel like doing stepping exercises, so I decided to mix it up whenever I reached one of these stations. For the first one, I did jumping jacks for a minute. The next time I did jump rope hops. I also did lateral hops, ski twisting hops, kung fu horse stance, and kung fu golden chicken stance (left and right). Let's say by the end of this workout, my legs felt jelly-like.

With the mini cardio sessions in between the single sets of weight exercises, it was a pretty good workout. Intensity level pretty much stayed the same except for the 30-second rests in between. I think it's a pretty good workout if you're in a rush and don't want to think your way through a workout. However, if you are building or cutting, you really need 2-4 sets of a weight exercise to get the optimal benefit.

All-in-all, though, it was a good first day. So I'm looking forward to keeping this up. It's good to start to get back into the swing of things. I'm also hoping my brother will keep this workout thing going. I can't wait to eventually lift with him.

Getting Back into the Swing of Things

So it's day 5 after my return home, and I'm adjusting back to life here. It was pretty tough adjusting from California time, only because I slept later there. But it's better now. I'm slowly catching up at work, and I'm trying to tie up some loose ends on some personal things I needed to get done (one being my stupid HP laptop). Now trying to add my workout routine by going back to the gym today. Let's hope that sticks this time and I get to squeeze in 2-3 workouts a week. I mean, geez, they open 24 hours a day during weekdays! There's really no excuse.

Well, I hope by the end of next week, things have settled a bit.

Back to Action...take 2

So...uh...I guess I failed last time when I said I would get right back to regular workouts. That was actually a pretty funny story. When I wrote I wasn't sore last time, I spoke slightly too soon. The next day, my chest was quite tight and sore. The tightness wound up staying for a week. Guess I did hit it harder than I thought. But anyway, I got busy, then I went on vacation last week. So I didn't really make it back to the gym. I managed to do a BBS at home, pushups whenever I can, and squats at work during bathroom breaks. But nothing like a good 30-60 minutes in a gym.

However, today's the day! I'm finally getting over the sleeping at California time, so I'm rested again. And today, my brother will join Planet Fitness. So I'm probably going to take him through a light workout as he's never worked out before. I'll show him the basics of warming up, some basic CTAL exercises, and a proper cooldown. Hoping to spend 30 minutes, with minimal rest. I did some pushups a few days ago, so hopefully my chest doesn't complain too much after this workout. Pretty excited!

I HATE HP EVEN MORE

So I finally got my laptop back from HP's repair center yesterday. I excitedly opened the box to prepare for any backup recovery I needed to do, but was met with a laptop that had the exact same issue it had before I sent it to them. I look at their info sheet for any information, and all I found was that they had replaced the "mlb". The description of this mlb was even more gibberish I didn't understand.

So I called HP at 10:30PM. I obviously reached a call center. I explain my problem and he transfers me to a technician. I wait 12 minutes before a technician comes on. I explain my issue, and he tells me that they had replaced the motherboard and a system restore/operating system install might be needed. Now, I know that this isn't the issue, but if it had been then why didn't they do the system restore BEFORE SENDING IT BACK TO ME? Anyway. I calmly explain that this isn't the issue and tell him that the computer does not even boot up and that the screen does not turn on. He has me do the same ol' stupid discharge static buildup from my laptop, which I did before I sent my laptop in: IT DOESN'T WORK.

He puts me on hold while he checks his "resources". He comes back and says that since it's normal for them to boot up the computer before sending it back, he can only assume that it got damaged during shipment back to me. Now keep in mind I received my 14.1" laptop wrapped in a bag with four inches of foam on the ends, packed into a box that can hold a small CPU case. The box arrived in pristine condition. But fine, whatever. Maybe it did get jostled around and a part came loose (which if it did, then the repair center just did a sh*tty job). Anyway, this technician tells me I have to ship the laptop back and asks me if I was okay with it. I blankly tell him that I have to be or sit at home with a laptop that doesn't boot up. He has no response to this.

He promptly proceeds to put me on hold for 15 minutes to process this. I don't know why it takes 15 minutes to tell the HP system to send me another box and shipping label. Who knows, maybe he has one finger on each hand and he types with a Klingon keyboard. I don't f'ing know. He finally comes back on and tells me that the box would come in 1-2 days and gives me my new service order number. He then also says that if after I get my laptop back and it still doesn't work, that I should call them and see what they can do then. I have no idea why he has so little faith in his own repair center. Maybe because they never checked it to begin with before sending it back. Did they even replace the motherboard?

So now I'm out of a computer for another gosh-knows-how-long. I've already been system-less for four weeks. I've spent an hour on the phone. What's another 2-3 weeks, right? I HATE HP.

Grown Up Soda

So I was on vacation at California, and in the middle of the week, I had went to San Francisco. While walking the cursed hills of the area, we had to stop for a bathroom and drink break. So we entered a cute cafe and while my friends went to the bathroom, I checked out their beverage coolers. While standing in awe of a cooler that held beer and wine, I noticed some interesting juices and sodas in the cooler next to it. A certain bottle caught my eye and I pulled out a bottle of Dry Cola from Grown Up Soda. It was made with all natural ingredients and contained maybe 1% caffeine. I was curious, so I bought the bottle.

After twisting the metal screwtop cap off of the glass bottle, I swigged a couple sips. The taste was pretty kick@ss. Now I'm a Coca Cola fan, but this was just awesome. I compared the taste to Coca Cola diluted with ice. It was "not too sweet". Anyhoot, give it a try if you ever find it.

Vacation

I've been on vacation since the Fourth in California, and it's been quite relaxing. If only life was like this everyday! Alas, I am just a regular schmo with a nine-to-fiver, and I will be back at the daily grind on Monday. But I'm am relishing my time here as much as I can.

California's nice. Been to LA before, but right now I'm in San Francisco. My friend lives in the O.C., so after we leave SF we'll be back there. One thing I noticed about Cali that I didn't before is that liquor is sold everywhere. I mean, EVERYWHERE. Target, yup. CVS, yup. Trader Joe's, yup (I know they sold wine at home, but here they sell spirits too!). And it's cheap!!! Bottle of Patron here is like $35 - $39. Usually $50 at home. Crazy. Needless to say, we had one night where we were quite inebriated.

Food's okay. Nothing that stands out. Although, I did have my first sweet shrimp nigiri at Tadashi Sushi at La Jolla after a day of ocean kayaking. That was an excellent piece of sushi. If you've never had sweet shrimp and you love sushi, you gotta try it. I think it's amaebi in Japanese. I might be wrong.

Anyhoot, more posts when I get back.

It's raining again...

It's raining again...well a brief thunderstorm anyway. Now I'm not sure about anyone else, but I like rain. I love it, actually. I just don't like getting my sensitive stuff wet. Back in college, I would never bring an umbrella. Never needed to, cause I like the rain. I would walk to classes in the rain and get absolutely soaked. Before class, I would go to the bathroom to wipe down my hair with paper towels.

I watch the rain sometimes. Just gaze at the thousands of droplets pelting the ground. Watch as the trees sway in the wind. It's very peaceful and calming. Next time it rains, or if it's raining right now, go here and listen to Craig Armstrong's "This Love" while you look out the window. Powerful stuff. Not the most uplifting, but almost moving. And yes, I found it on Pandora.

Countdown to vacay

It's funny how when you know you're going on vacation that you start counting down to it. No matter how much work you need to get done prior to it, there's a little kid inside bouncing on all the walls screaming, "c'mon, c'mon, c'mon!!" I mean you know how it is. There's all this daily work that builds up, so you're working to clear out what's existing, because you don't want to come back to a mountain of work. A little molehill yes, but no mountain. So I'm working on overdrive. But you can still feel this buzzing inside. This little desire to scream out, "YES!!!" It's a funny feeling.

I already know how I'm going to feel the day I come back too. I'm going to feel sucky for having a nine-to-fiver. I'm going to feel extra motivated to brainstorm ideas to get out of the rat race. I'm going to wish I was in a better place. Then I get back to my cage and run on my hamster wheel. Ahhh...the routine of life.