I'm back

Well, that was a lovely unplanned blogholiday. Thanks to my ISP for their outstanding incompetent boobery. I think I might need a new phrase, but that one sums them up way too well.

So while I was away, what's been happening? I learnt that I don't control everything around me. Pretty scary. I like controlling everything around me, but I've learnt I can't.

Know what else - I like me. I'm not sure where it has come from, but all of a sudden, I like who I am. I don't know if I've ever been able to say that before in my 30 odd years, but I can, and I mean it. I've noticed that I've changed the way that I walk, and I'm not waiting for anyone else anymore. I can take on the world, and if I need to, I can win. I'm not alone if I need help either.

I can honestly say that I'm happy. And I like it.

Snippets

My modem no longer has a drinking problem. It has had a feed of bacon, eggs and hash browns and been to rehab. I'm so pleased. Dial up isn't my friend, unless I"m really desperate.

While I've been away ...

Random men have been adding me as friends on Facebook. I guess it is one way for guys to meet women. On one hand, my ego loves the attention, but on the other hand, I think it is pretty creepy that they are trawling their friends profiles looking for women. I'm keeping my profile very limited, so only my friends can see the contents. And every friend I have I've met in person.

My family just got bigger. All of a sudden my mum is the youngest of 6 instead of the youngest of 3. My grandfather was a conman, with a taste for serial monogamy. His children have now identified 4 different names he used. Mum is very excited. I've lost count of all the excited phone calls and conversations with her. And the emails. My goodness. She is repeating herself a lot in her excitement. My stepfather is excited - he thinks he is going to see what mum will look like in 10 years.

Nothing new on the work front. They want me, but they can't afford me for a few more months. I don't know if I will go then - it will all depend. I might be happy again. Things may not feel as right as they did. They have poached my favourite sales guy though, and he is another good reason to go there.

My boyfriend's work hours have changed. They suck. He is now on the afternoon/evening shift. It is not relationship friendly. On the plus side, I get to have dinner with him on Sunday nights. On the minus side, I'm already noticing that the time we get to talk during the day is reduced. We are going to need to find a way to keep our communication up, because I'm noticing a difference and I don't like it. Any suggestions?

I'm madly working on the questions for the annual fund raiser for my parents church. This will either be the 4th or 5th year that we have done it, and it is really popular. I love doing the trivia nights, and have way too much fun trying to come up with evil questions.

Helpful hint

Beer and modem's don't mix.

If I'm not online for a while, it is because I don't love dial up.

Fingers crossed I get it sorted soon.

Addiction

I think I'm addicted to Facebook. I've been using it for about a month now and I'm having a bit too much fun with it. It has been just a bit much fun adding friends, sending items for gardens, buying my friends fish and drinks, and having way too much fun gossiping about people changing their relationship status.

Who are my friends on Facebook? My boy. My sister. Everyone in my team at work. My boss in Sydney. My friends from my old job. My sisters friends. People from school I haven't seen since my 21st birthday. My work clients. Friends I've lost touch with and haven't seen since they left the country in 1999. The HR consultant who employed me in my current job. Every single person on my list, I've met at least once.

MySpace is sooooo 2006. I keep getting random friend requests from people I've never heard of, and the amount of spam I get on MySpace is absurd. I'm just not interested. If it wasn't the only way I've got to keep in touch with some of my younger cousins, I wouldn't be there at all anymore. I prefer the layout of Facebook, so much cleaner. Nothing on Facebook has made me want to throw the screen out the window from the vile clashing of colours and flashing images.

I'm enjoying reconnecting with people I don't see enough. It has been really fun hearing about people I haven't seen for a very long time, and finding out just what they've been doing with their lives. Some of the choices have really surprised me, and some have done exactly what I thought they would. For me, the best bit is seeing people happy with the choices they have made. That or they are really good actors.

On the first day of winter

I woke up and sprang (sprung?) out of bed before the alarm went off at 6.15 this morning. Much to the disgust of the cat who had just hopped onto the bed and hoped for a cuddle and me to stay in bed and keep him warm while he slept. Foiled again.

Played nicely and let my brother have first shower and pottered around - read some blogs, had a giggle at the person who found my blog by searching Google for "bottling stringbeans", filled the kettle to make coffee, fed the cat. Discovered why the cat was so uninterested in his breakfast. Nothing like a partially decapitated possum under the dining table to start the day right. I'm stunned he managed to do it in the half hour between being let out and me getting up though. Little bugger. More bells for him. 6 this time I think. I've just worked out who the possum reminded me of, Nearly Headless Nick from the Harry Potter books. Yep, I'm rereading again.

Managed to shower and head off to work. Mmmmm, foggy. A very crisp morning though, which turned into a really lovely day. Of course, now that the weekend is here, we've got a forecast for much needed rain. I look at my Google homepage, and see on my weather radar that the rain is on it's way now. Woohoo!!

Pick up my two pieces of Vegemite toast and coffee to start the morning right at work. Mmmmm.....coffee. Time for the morning desk calendar duel with my lovely colleague. Today "The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain" Thank you Ms Parton, so very true. I really love our quote duels, and miss them when they don't happen though. While I had those few days off earlier this week with my germ infestation, she was sending me gorgeous emails like "

We are all stars and we all deserve to twinkle – MARILYN MONROE
Hope you are feeling better – get lots of rest and keep warm.
Can’t wait to see you when you have got your twinkle back!

That is one of the reasons I love my job and the people I work with.

Another crazy frantic day at work - nothing like a Friday to start the month with. Total lunacy. I stayed back a bit to clean up my desk and make sure I had everything packed up ready for my trip to Sydney next week. I might live dangerously and do the equivalent of cutting off my arm and leaving my laptop at home. Last time it was the beginning of this. I don't ever want to go back to that happy place.

Had the drive home from hell - what normally takes half an hour in peak hour tonight took 1 hour and 40 minutes off peak. Damn you Collingwood for playing at the MCG on a Friday night. I hope you lose. I hope that anyway, but today I really mean it with a vengeance.

Got home and burst into tears at my brother when he wanted to rearrange the furniture to turn on the heater and dry his clothes. All I wanted to do was crash on the couch and watch trashy television for 10 minutes. I know my brain is having moments again now though - I've just reread this paragraph and discovered that I wrote weekend instead of heater. Excellent, brain, connect the right bits please.

What does the weekend hold? A bit of running around, picking up a doctors certificate and getting my car's wiper reservoirs checked. Laundry. Packing and a flight to Sydney. Quite possibly some quality time at the stupidmarket picking up basics for next week. Dinner and quality play time with the boy.

Right now, it is nearly bedtime. It is 9 degrees here, or 48 if you talk Fahrenheit. Bit chilly. Bring on the hot water bottle and the cat I think.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Getting reacquainted

I think I'm officially a geek. I've been a very happy little Vegemite reacquainting myself with the laptop, and setting up everything that I want to use the way that I want to use it. Nearly there.

While I was away I managed to post my 100th post - to think I didn't even notice because I worked out how to email myself. I'll have to go back through and work out which it was.

I've been looking at some of the stats for how people have been visiting this blog (I told you I was a geek), and I think I can safely say that music is the key way people are finding me - see the list below for proof. I'm pretty proud that one person typed "I hate hewlett packard" into google and found me. I am not alone. To the optimist who typed "the appeal of paris hilton"into google - good luck - I don't think I helped you, but I hope you find your answer. I know one of the searches was me (not the hp one) because I had some spare time at work, had a mental blank for the url of one of my favourites, googled myself (yes, I'm tragic) and visited you from the link on my homepage.

12.50% build me up buttercup baby
6.25% what film had schools out for summer in the sound track
6.25% world party private revolution
3.13% who sang the song boys,boys,boys,(summertime love)
3.13% schools out culture beat
3.13% who wrote buttercup baby?
3.13% why do you build me, build me up, buttercup, baby, just to let me down
3.13% why do you build me up buttercup, baby
3.13% why do you build me up buttercup baby just to let me down
3.13% why do you build me buttercup baby
3.13% why do you build buttercup
3.13% song wake up australia
3.13% why do you build me up (build me up) buttercup, baby
3.13% engagement daryl braithwaite
3.13% the appeal of paris hilton
3.13% why wont you build me up
3.13% who wrote the song build me up buttercup
3.13% this is what it is
3.13% why do you build me up buttercup
3.13% why do you build me buttercup
3.13% build me up buttercup baby just to let me down
3.13% why do you build me up, buttercup baby just to let me down?
3.13% why do you build me buttercup baby just let me down
3.13% the monitors singing in the 80's
3.13% why do you build me up build me up buttercup baby
3.13% daryl braithwaite engage
3.13% i hate hewlett packard

So many people want to know about build me up buttercup though - I am not the only tragic in the world!!!!

888 (approximately) ...

hours since I've had my laptop. I'm watching it boot up now. Cross everything you have that it works now.

Oooh the excitement - I just saw the Windows icon appear. It's been a very long time since I've seen that. Eeeek, blue screen, hope it isn't the blue screen of death. Cross everything.

Still blue. Starting to feel that way.

Okay, so they left the Ultimate Boot Windows CD in the DVD drive - clever little munchkins. I suppose I should give it back, but I'm not loving them enough right now. It works. There will be no sleep tonight.

Light at the end of the tunnel (fingers crossed it isn't a train!!)

A courier tried to make a delivery to my house yesterday. Apparently it was from the nice computer repair people. Shame they still couldn't get the delivery address right. Head, meet wall.

So I guess I'm driving across town in peak hour traffic to pick it up from the freight depot.

Oh shit, it's a train
I've just got off the phone from the courier company. They can't find the laptop - it isn't lost, they just don't know where it is. Everyone else's head, meet wall. On the plus side, I don't need to fight traffic, driving into the sun glare to try and get the laptop. Apparently I would have needed to drive further than they originally said. Yippee.

Best bit, they were quite happy to leave the laptop on my front porch without a signature. Not very valuable apparently.

Head, meet wall

Today a courier stopped by my house 3 times to pick up the laptop. Oddly enough I was at work.

I hate Hewlett Packard

and I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever purchase a product from them ever again. Ever. Ever. It would be too soon if I had to deal with them in a post apocalyptic world.

My laptop is dead. The hard drive has bad sectors. I don't think putting them in the naughty corner will help. I am sad. The very little data that I have unbacked up is lost. Go on, back up yours now.

And now, the fun really begins. My laptop is still under warranty.When I called the service and warranty helpline they told me that they could not authorise a warranty repair unless I had the laptop with me and could give them the serial number. This was even though I had given them the case number that included my serial number. He even said he had it, but refused to authorise the repair. Then he said that he wouldn't authorise the repair until I had done some diagnostic testing - um, hello, it is in the computer shop, and if I didn't do it then, I would need to do it over the weekend using the online support. Hmmm, challenging, computer no start, how about I go online with it to do some diagnostic testing. What planet are these people on? I had to ask to speak to a team leader and refuse to get off the line until I did, and then he authorised my repair. I felt like a right bitch doing it, but I was so frustrated that I couldn't get any help from them. Of course, then he told me that I had to deliver the laptop for repair myself to the only service centre in Melbourne, more than 40 kilometres from my house, and 60 from my work, and they were only open between 9 and 5 Monday to Friday. Anyone else see the problem with that? I work 8.30 - 5.30 Monday to Friday. It took another 20 minutes to get the phone number for the service centre, and then he gave me the Sydney phone number.

The Sydney phone number was a blessing in disguise though - I called them and she told me that I had to deliver it in business hours myself, or wear the cost of a courier. I started thinking about it, and a lightbulb went on. One of the reasons that I chose this laptop was that it had pick up and delivery warranty service. 10 deep breaths and a lap of the floor, and I was ready to gird my loins and enter the fray with Hewlett Packard again. 10 minutes to wade through the menu options - why is it so hard just to talk to a person? Think of all the extra employment it would create. Then a different person from their support team. I gave the case details again, and asked to arrange a courier to pick up my laptop, take it to the repair centre, get it fixed and return it to me. Hold again, while I get told what a valuable customer I am. Oooh, I'm feeling the love. Yes, we can arrange a courier. Hallelujah!!! I can't tell you who our courier company are, they will need to call you to arrange pickup. Much stamping of feet and silent gnashing of teeth. My lovely colleagues kept score, and apparently I gave my address 7 times, spelling it each time, getting slower and S-L-O-W-E-R, and with more and more exagerrated enunciation. Then I got to give my mobile number. They stopped counting, but when I finally got off the phone, they sang my phone number to me. I have been promised a phone call from the courier company on Monday to arrange pick up, but if I don't hear from them it is OK for me to call Hewlett Packard back on Wednesday. I want to cry with frustration just thinking about it.

Am I asking too much? I just want to buy a product that works. If, heaven forbid, something goes wrong, I want to be able to call someone who can communicate clearly and fluently, who listens without interrupting me, and then provides me with intelligent options. Please don't treat me like an idiot, and make me think that you have policies to actively avoid meeting your warranty obligations. If I hadn't insisted on speaking to a team leader, would my warranty repair have been authorised. If I hadn't called back, would they have met their courier pick up and delivery obligations? I am a consumer of their product, and their "service" now will effect whether I will be a repeat purchaser. It isn't going to happen. Not only that, but I've blogged about my negative experience with them, my entire office knows about it, my friends and family are aware (my God, have I been boring everyone stupid?), the staff in the computer shop who have been trying to retrieve my data are well aware of it, and if anyone should ever ask me about a Hewlett Packard product, I'll be telling them exactly what I think. Bad word of mouth is very bad for business, even if they are a massive multinational corporation.

Here endeth the rant. I'm going to go and do something constructive now; like plan and pack a picnic for us to take to the beach tonight. That makes me happy, and has no technology involved.

Why do you build me up buttercup baby just to let me down

I found myself singing that song a lot yesterday afternoon after I got off the phone from the nice computer technician. My hopes were built up so high, and I really believed that I would have my laptop back yesterday afternoon.

And then, all my hopes came crashing down around me, with the phone conversation I didn't want to have. My beautiful, still new laptop is still a very unhappy camper. Right now, it still won't even acknowledge that it has ever had the Windows O/S installed, even though it still shows that lovely Windows logo, and has Windows error messages and my favourite, the Windows blue screen of death appearing. Woo!! Back to square one. Tomorrow I get to call the geniuses at Hewlett Packard again and go through the joys of their "help desk".

Most disturbing of all, is that I've learnt over the last 2 weeks just how much the internet really is a massive part of my life. The structure of my days has really changed, and I'm feeling quite discombobulated. Each weekday, I would sit down with a cup of coffee or tea, and my breakfast, and catch up with everyone's blogs, maybe post something myself, and read the days headlines. I realised yesterday that I've missed breakfast every day this week, and just how out of whack my routine is. At work, I'm managing to keep up with my emails (thanks Jelly, you've been making me smile) and do any urgent online banking, but I'm just not getting anything else done. I'm trying to plan for the 2 of us to have Easter away, and I haven't had my research and booking tool of choice available to use. I've got posts teeming around in my head, and this is actually a test email to post, so that if I do have stuff I want to say it won't keep whirling around and around in my head. If this works I can draft stuff on my phone :) Someone say geek?

I have to admit though, that I realised just how much I was suffering from withdrawal when we were lying on the bed having a cuddle last night before we went out for dinner and going through our day. I heard myself asking about his time surfing yesterday, and then said "and did you visit any good web sites? What did you do on the internet today? Does the internet miss me?" Quite tragic. I can't imagine why he kept laughing at me - no really. I also really miss the time that we talk using msn when we are both online. I know that we talk on the phone and see each other but it is just that extra bit of communication that keeps things running just a little more smoothly.

Missing in action

My posts will be few and far between for a little while. My still very new laptop has cracked it, and the hard drive has died. This means I have no computer right now. I'm not going to be blogging on the work one. I'm waiting for the nice people to rescue my data for me, and then I'll need to reinstall everything. Aaaaaargh.

I've still got some posts that I wrote last week, and I'm pretty happy with one of them, so when I retrieve them, they will be posted.

Is it bad that I invited myself to mum's for dinner so that I could use their computer and internet? Actually, don't answer that, I think I know...

Word of advice - don't buy anything from Hewlett Packard, especially if you need to ring their help desk. It is very badly named.