Archive for category Computer

Sooo…

Nov 11

Posted by Bobbi in College Stories, Computer, Family, Hunter, LSAT, Occasions, School | Comments off

What to talk about, what to talk about….

* We got our utility bill in the mail yesterday. It is nearly $100 cheaper than last month’s bill because we haven’t been running our AC or heat at all. It’s supposed to creep up to the 80s this week but I refuse to turn the AC on after seeing that bill!

* Took an LSAT practice test on Sunday. I did one point higher than my previous high score. This makes me want to really buckle down and get my act in gear. I can do well if I keep trying and working my butt off!

* My mom got a call from my uncle. We hadn’t heard from my other uncle (their brother) in a few years, and they just “had a feeling” that he was dead. I did some investigating online and came up with an accurate address and phone number for him. My uncles spoke yesterday and everything is fine. They were both astounded at my investigating skills though!

* The new computer is amazing. I am able to purchase Microsoft Enterprise for $7 at my school since I am an employee there. For those of you who don’t know, Enterprise is the highest suite available from Microsoft; it includes absolutely everything. I’m in love with Vista and 2007.

* The party this weekend went really well and I had a blast. At times I felt like I was the mom of the bad kid at a birthday party (I brought Hunter and he was just being very social and running around like crazy). Everyone loved him though and he slept really well that night!

* I upgraded my Wordpress to 2.7 and love the new look. I like that I no longer have to scroll down to categorize my posts and that a word count is already installed for me! I haven’t had much time to really play around with it though, but maybe tonight.

That’s all that’s going on with me. Oh, Happy Veterans Day! Off to the LSAT prep!

I am the scariest consumer … watch out, I may bite!

Nov 4

Posted by Bobbi in Computer, Issues, Product Reviews, What!? | 2 Comments

Not really, though. I am just a firm believer in if you are having a problem, you should be able to get it solved in a reasonable time and reasonable way. With Dell, this has not been the case.

It all started back in August when I was getting the blue screen of death (as it is so lovingly called) and my computer would reboot itself. After a few Dell chats, I had to reinstall Windows XP. All was well until a couple months later (the beginning of October) when I began to hear my computer beeping whenever I would turn it on.

Then, the “problem ball” went rolling: the technician took 5-6 days to call to schedule an appointment, Outlook was being awkward, I needed a new keyboard/motherboard/palm rest/memory, etc. At this point, I had gotten my mom involved because I thought part of the problem was due to the fact that my name is in no way connected to my laptop; it is in my stepdad’s name (along with the extended warranty).

Everything got fixed, as you may remember. Unfortunately, my computer started having even more problems. Instead of boring you with the stupid details, let me just summarize: Dell gave me the runaround about what to do with my computer. The tech support reps were giving me several different answers, one of which was to ship my computer to the Dell depot to have it looked at and fixed. Oh yeah, and my Inspiron 600m thinks it’s a Latitude D600 (it definitely isn’t).

Between yesterday (when my monitor started flickering) and today, I have spent over three hours on the phone with about 30 people in five different countries. That is not an exaggeration. Out of all those people, two were actually willing to help me. Other than those people I got redirected and transferred so many times between customer service and technical support! I also had to repeat my story about 5 million times (so often that I think there’s an email circulating within Dell to warn them, haha).

Finally, I got transfered to someone who sounded like they were in Central America. He asked me all about what was going on and seemed to be taking note of everything (which the previous people were definitely not doing). Next thing I know, I get on the phone with Carlos, a supervisor, and he informs me that they will be shipping me a new laptop this week. He apologized up and down for having to deal with everything, gave me his name, rep ID and dispatch number for the new laptop.

The new laptop is going to be at least comparable to my Inspiron 600m and the extended warranty will be transfered. I made sure to get as much information on this guy as possible because when I write to Dell, I want to be able them that one out of 30 people in their company are capable of actually helping a customer.

I won’t bite, but I will be sure to get heard. Can you believe my stepdad still stands by Dell after all this?!

ETA: I’m putting this under my “Product Reviews” category because this post does a pretty good job of detailing my very unhappy experience with Dell, don’t you think?

At My Wit’s End

Nov 3

Posted by Bobbi in Computer, Hunter, Issues, LSAT, Product Reviews, School, Site info, Weather | Comments off

I am still having problems with my Dell laptop. Each technician I talk to gives me different answers to the problems I’m having, they want me to ship my laptop so they can fix it but I cannot be without it due to school, and their customer service/overall phone system STINKS to put it mildly. I am doing my best to be calm and rational whenever I am on the phone with a Dell representative, but honestly, it’s getting more and more difficult to do so.

I added a Wordpress Wall to my sidebar. Use it if you don’t feel like commenting. I like random notes and thoughts, so feel free to add to it.

Also, what do you think about this layout? I wasn’t sure about it at first but now it’s kind of growing on me. I like the wood background and the colors. I hope you do too!

It’s nice and warm here again (high 70s this week). I wore pants to class and couldn’t stop thinking how hot it was. See, cold weather spoils me. There’s no way I was meant to live in Florida, haha.

Tom and I are still trying to look for some discount furniture because there are just some bare areas in the apartment. Being a fresh-out-of-college grad and a still-in-college student, we’re looking at thrift stores. I figure that everything will match one day. Just not right now.

I don’t have class tomorrow but instead have to work on a paper for my Criminal Law class. The paper is based on cases where defendants have used postpartum depression as a defense for murder. I will enjoy writing that paper only because I get to argue the issue and learn about different cases. It’s due on Thursday.

Saturday night my friends got together to watch The Exorcist, which I had never seen before. In the very beginning, the old priest is in Iraq and almost gets hit by a horse cart. That’s when my freaking out behavior began. One of my friends was like, “Are you serious?!” I had a pillow over my face the majority of the time we were watching the movie, and was pretty freaked out until I (finally) fell asleep. Thankfully, though, I was able to push the stuff I had seen (twisting head, demon face, etc.) out of my mind last night. Usually things like that plague me for a few days.

Nothing else is really going on … oh! Hunter went to the dog park again yesterday and did very well again. He’s finally understanding that the other dogs just want to play! and not hurt him. He runs around and loves getting chased. We’re doing better with getting digging under control, but we’re still not sure how to stop it completely. We’re thinking about buying some mulch, but at $2.63/bag at Walmart and needing about 30 bags to mulch the backyard, we have decided to hold off for awhile on that!

I better get going. I’m still waiting for Dell to call back, and then I’ve got to get dinner started, followed by laundry and some LSAT practice. Ciao for now!

Break Time

Oct 21

Posted by Bobbi in College Stories, Computer, Gators, Issues, LSAT, Lazy, Product Reviews, Reading, School | 2 Comments

My criminal law test went pretty well today. I don’t feel bad about it at all. I should get the grade back tonight or tomorrow at the latest. Totally not worried about it, though.

I have about an hour to study for my Private Security test (which is tomorrow) before I have to hop in the shower and prepare for my LSAT prep class, which is tonight from 6-10p. Then, I’ll probably come home and study a little more before I go to bed around 11. Lately I have not been getting nearly enough sleep, but I kind of enjoy being up a little later and getting more done. I have the rest of my life to sleep – that’s my logic, at least.

The Kentucky game is this weekend and I’m contemplating selling my ticket, but then again I might not, who knows. I kind of don’t want to go so I can just RELAX at home. It’s a 12:30p game, so no tailgating (way too early for alcohol) and I’ll be exhausted and unable to do anything for the rest of the day anyway. I’ll decide after I see where our seats are located in the stadium.

Speaking of tailgating, the LSU game ended up being pretty ridiculous. If there was an award for most drunk during a football game and it came with big football trophies, I can almost guarantee that I’d win it for the last game. I’m not going to go into any more detail, except to say that I am DONE with tequila. It gets you into trouble, that’s for sure.

I’ve still not heard anything from Dell. I can’t exactly say that I’m surprised because the level of service I’ve received in the last week has been anything but satisfactory. I mean yes, my laptop is functional, but if we’re paying for a warranty, things should get fixed not only in a timely manner, but also when Dell promises they will be fixed. I just sent an email off regarding the problem, so we’ll see what happens.

Back to studying for meee :)

Computer is… Back!

Aug 18

Posted by Bobbi in Computer, Cooking, Hunter, School, Weather | Comments off

Many blue screens, two reinstallations of Windows XP Professional, another blue screen and driver updates later, I have my computer working again. It has been one HELL of a weekend for me and my Dell Inspiron 600m. I spent about 4 hours total chatting with a Dell representative. The first reinstallation wasn’t a completely clean reinstall, so we had to start over. Then this morning, I received the exact blue error screen that I was receiving in the very beginning, when this entire problem began. After all that, it seems that the only thing that needed to be done was update the drivers (which I could’ve done on my own). After researching this problem, I was convinced it had something to do with the wireless card on my laptop; sure enough, it was. Too bad it took four Dell people to finally pinpoint the problem (despite me asking about the wireless card drivers in the very beginning). Anyway, I’m just glad everything is back to normal. It’s nice to have a fresh clean slate of a computer to work with, too! I have everything working and looking the way that I want.

So, is this tropical storm going to affect my first week of my senior year in college? I hope not. I’ve had enough of a break. I’m ready to go back to school and focus on something. Four hours of work a day isn’t enough to keep me busy. I’ve decided to drop my ASL 3 class; as badly as I want to take the class, I feel like 16 credits (one of which is Business Finance – one of the hardest classes to take at UF) is too much. I need all the other classes for my major or minor, so ASL 3 is really the only one that I can drop. I can always take it in the spring, though (when all my other ASL friends are taking it). Tom and I are keeping an eye on this storm and if need be, we’ll go home to help our parents prepare. If not, we’ll just make sure we have gas in the cars and cash and we’ll be set here in our apartment.

I made the BEST spaghetti sauce over the weekend. I used a jar of spaghetti sauce that I bought from the store and added to it – ground beef, chopped onion, minced garlic, baby portabello mushrooms, spinach, italian seasoning and pepper. It turned out really nicely and we had enough for leftovers. I ended up having an old friend over for dinner last night and that’s what we had (along with a salad and homemade garlic bread). It was a yummy dinner!

Hunter is growing so much. I really love having him despite how difficult he can be to control sometimes. We took a long walk earlier and he did so great; didn’t pull on the leash and wear himself out, didn’t freak out at cars, and best of all, didn’t stop completely when he got afraid of random noises. Now that Tom is working in the office full time again (he was out doing field work the last couple weeks), we’re getting serious about looking into puppy classes. Tom will do that (since I have school and work to worry about) and I am hoping it will really help him bond with Hunter. Hunter listens to me a little better than he listens to Tom, and I think it’s because Tom is at work and I spend more time at home with him. Speaking of Hunter, I really need to post some new pictures of him!

My list of things to get done today is waiting for me, so I better end this right here. I hope you all have a wonderful week! :)