Saturday night, they had a nighttime artillery firing. First, if you've never been to a civil war reenactment, you should probably go - just once. Second, if you've never heard a cannon fire, that would be well worth it. To desensitize, you should stand behind it the first time. Then stand to the side for a totally different experience. If you shoot guns, you know what I mean! Last, if you haven't seen a cannon fire at night, that was well worth it. I've been to several reenactments, and this is the first time I've ever seen a nighttime cannon fire. The only thing that could come out of my mouth after the first shots was "Whoa." Enjoy the video!
Sunday, August 26, 2007
living history
This weekend, Alpine, his mom and I went to the civil war reenactment of the Battle of Richmond in Kentucky. Here are some pictures from the weekend... enjoy!
fruits of labor and laundry
In my neck of the woods, gardens are usually planted in late April or early May. Given the May I had this year, there was a small window of time to get my garden planted. The first round got planted (corn, beans, cucumbers, tomatoes), but then we were gone a lot, and it didn't rain for three weeks. Seeds + water = plants. Seeds + no water = no plants. I hope this math is making sense. So, I got to replant my garden again in June. It's a small garden, and I got few second and no third plantings in... plus there was very little rain all summer. Not to mention, I'm a terrible weeder. Did you know that weeds WILL grow in drought-like conditions?
We had a plumbing problem that Alpine temporarily fixed by piping our laundry water to the garden. Two problems solved! Since the plantings were late, of course the fruits came late, but alas... here the are: six quarts of tomatoes and nine pints of green beans! Cucumbers and tomatoes have been wonderful snacks, lunches and additions to supper. I love growing my own veggies... even if it is a pain sometimes!
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Irritated
Not that anyone reads this (except Alpine, but he hears about and experiences my life every day anyway)... but I'm really irritated with technology. I love technology and computers, etc, and can usually get along with them well, but recently, not so much.
First, the CPU fan goes out in the desktop. Not a big deal... I just went to Best Buy, got some help from an employee, bought by $12 fan and went on. Not a big deal... until I came home and tried to install it. "All CPU tower fans are generally the same size. There are two diameters, and if it's the small one, it's this one." WRONG. FYI: all CPU fans are NOT the same size. My desktop has two internal fans, plus the power supply fan. The fan that actually blows the hot air out of the CPU was the same size as the one I bought, but guess what? THAT WASN'T THE ONE THAT DIED. Go figure. I look online... cannot find a single freakin' fan like mine. So I do the next best thing... I call Sony to order a replacement. Ok, yeah, I'm probably going to pay more, but if they can look at my model number and send me the exact part I need, that's worth a lot at this point.
Aside: if you've ever dealt with customer service for anything related to technology, you know that (1) you are never going to speak to someone from this country and (2) if you have an issue that strays from the handbook, you are screwed. I'm not against people of other nationalities by any means, but it is what it is, and technology is the LAST place we need to have a communication problem. Of course, it didn't used to be this way, but with the advent of outsourcing, this is what we have. Alpine wonders why I'm so far up Sony's butt that I can't see the value in any other brand... well, here are some reasons why I love Sony: First, if you buy their product, it generally works. Actually, it usually works well. Frankly, I hardly ever have any trouble out of Sony products that aren't user inflicted. The few times I have had to contact them, they have been kind, helpful AND spoken English. This time was no exception: I spoke to a guy named Chris instead of Alid (which you know is a nickname because we can't handle their real name), he spoke United States English, he didn't know off the top of his head which fan I needed but was able to utilize his resources and figure it out, AND he was nice. Now, I haven't gotten my fan yet, so I don't know how this will end, but so far, so good. (Knock on wood)
So, my fan is ordered, and I mentioned that the help provided by Sony support was worth a lot at this point... $70!! No... it can't be the cheap one, can it?!? So, this order is still in route, and that isn't fixed. If you don't know, you can't run a computer without the appropriate ventilation, so that computer is out of commission. Alpine's classes started Monday, and mine start next Monday. Perfect timing.
So, this morning, Alpine was reading the "morning paper" (blogging, surfing, etc) and shut down the laptop before heading off to school. This afternoon, he can't get onto the internet AT ALL. Crap. So, I try to figure out what the problem is... remember that I ok'd some updates the night before... notice that Norton isn't even functioning. *Sigh* Can't open Norton AT ALL. Can't get on the internet AT ALL to get some help. So I do a system restore... which seems to "fix" the problem. I tried to reinstall the updates, and dadgummit we have a repeat performance. Well, that at least lets me know what the problem is... but then the stupid laptop won't do a system restore to get rid of it again! After the 15 millionth reboot, somehow it works (even though it said it made no changes), so I am now on the internet, trying to chat with Norton to get some help.
At 10:30pm central time, I get on Live Chat with Norton and I'm number 30 in the queue. I really wanted to go to bed early tonight, but I guess that'll have to wait. I get down to 24, the go back up to 25, which doesn't make any sense. I keep yo-yo-ing up and down, and an hour later, I am number 5. Good grief. Not to mention that I haven't had good luck with their customer service in the past, and I'm pretty sure this person won't be named Chris. I used to like Norton's products, but I haven't had a real good experience with those products in the past year, either. This may determine whether or not I purchase their product again, because I'm just a little irritated at this point.
Wish me luck. If anybody cares, I'll have to post an update later. If I can get online, anyway.
First, the CPU fan goes out in the desktop. Not a big deal... I just went to Best Buy, got some help from an employee, bought by $12 fan and went on. Not a big deal... until I came home and tried to install it. "All CPU tower fans are generally the same size. There are two diameters, and if it's the small one, it's this one." WRONG. FYI: all CPU fans are NOT the same size. My desktop has two internal fans, plus the power supply fan. The fan that actually blows the hot air out of the CPU was the same size as the one I bought, but guess what? THAT WASN'T THE ONE THAT DIED. Go figure. I look online... cannot find a single freakin' fan like mine. So I do the next best thing... I call Sony to order a replacement. Ok, yeah, I'm probably going to pay more, but if they can look at my model number and send me the exact part I need, that's worth a lot at this point.
Aside: if you've ever dealt with customer service for anything related to technology, you know that (1) you are never going to speak to someone from this country and (2) if you have an issue that strays from the handbook, you are screwed. I'm not against people of other nationalities by any means, but it is what it is, and technology is the LAST place we need to have a communication problem. Of course, it didn't used to be this way, but with the advent of outsourcing, this is what we have. Alpine wonders why I'm so far up Sony's butt that I can't see the value in any other brand... well, here are some reasons why I love Sony: First, if you buy their product, it generally works. Actually, it usually works well. Frankly, I hardly ever have any trouble out of Sony products that aren't user inflicted. The few times I have had to contact them, they have been kind, helpful AND spoken English. This time was no exception: I spoke to a guy named Chris instead of Alid (which you know is a nickname because we can't handle their real name), he spoke United States English, he didn't know off the top of his head which fan I needed but was able to utilize his resources and figure it out, AND he was nice. Now, I haven't gotten my fan yet, so I don't know how this will end, but so far, so good. (Knock on wood)
So, my fan is ordered, and I mentioned that the help provided by Sony support was worth a lot at this point... $70!! No... it can't be the cheap one, can it?!? So, this order is still in route, and that isn't fixed. If you don't know, you can't run a computer without the appropriate ventilation, so that computer is out of commission. Alpine's classes started Monday, and mine start next Monday. Perfect timing.
So, this morning, Alpine was reading the "morning paper" (blogging, surfing, etc) and shut down the laptop before heading off to school. This afternoon, he can't get onto the internet AT ALL. Crap. So, I try to figure out what the problem is... remember that I ok'd some updates the night before... notice that Norton isn't even functioning. *Sigh* Can't open Norton AT ALL. Can't get on the internet AT ALL to get some help. So I do a system restore... which seems to "fix" the problem. I tried to reinstall the updates, and dadgummit we have a repeat performance. Well, that at least lets me know what the problem is... but then the stupid laptop won't do a system restore to get rid of it again! After the 15 millionth reboot, somehow it works (even though it said it made no changes), so I am now on the internet, trying to chat with Norton to get some help.
At 10:30pm central time, I get on Live Chat with Norton and I'm number 30 in the queue. I really wanted to go to bed early tonight, but I guess that'll have to wait. I get down to 24, the go back up to 25, which doesn't make any sense. I keep yo-yo-ing up and down, and an hour later, I am number 5. Good grief. Not to mention that I haven't had good luck with their customer service in the past, and I'm pretty sure this person won't be named Chris. I used to like Norton's products, but I haven't had a real good experience with those products in the past year, either. This may determine whether or not I purchase their product again, because I'm just a little irritated at this point.
Wish me luck. If anybody cares, I'll have to post an update later. If I can get online, anyway.
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