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Lunch With George!
February 21, 2002 - Mimi's Cafe
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Agenda
- Motherboard Woes
- Memento
- iBook
- The Mother Tongue
- Aerial Photos
- Starring in COPS
- Compass Bank
- Bad News, Worse News
Motherboard Blues
George has had a pretty rough time trying to upgrade Toni's (and someday his) computer.
While searching for a motherboard on the web, George found a pretty good deal at EdgeMicro.com. He ordered a motherboard from their website and charged it to his credit card. After discovering at another web site that even though they're page said "IN STOCK" the item wasn't really in stock, he decided to return to EdgeMicro and see if a similar situation existed there. Not only was the motherboard he'd ordered not in stock-- NOTHING is in stock! EdgeMicro has no inventory! They do not order an item from a supplier until they have the buyer's order and credit card! George really wanted a motherboard fast, so he decided to cancel the EdgeMicro order.
Upon calling EdgeMicro's customer support line, he was told that his order had not yet been shipped, and that they would process his refund, minus the 15% re-stocking fee. George had quite a discussion with this friendly fellow! Even though they had not done any work yet to ship the board, they were still going to charge him the restocking fee (a policy which is stated on their Terms and Conditions page, as the rep cheerfully pointed out to George). George asked to speak to a manager, but was told he could not. Why not? Why, that's what the customer service representative is there for-- to protect the manager! I decided to visit the EdgeMicro Terms and Conditions page (you can get there by going to their home page, select HELP from the top navigation bar, and then click on "Terms of Sale"), and I was quite amused by the ludicrous rules. I then decided to perform a Google search for "EDGEMICRO COMPLAINT" and got dozens of hits. It seems that they were formerly known as "Computer X Press" but changed their name after their reputation was destroyed. Here is George's bottom line:
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He tried a second processor. Nothing.
He went back to the Hardware Guys page, and discovered that memory is a fluid thing... they said to definitely get the board whose part number ended in "U"! So, George ordered another motherboard, this time following the correct instructions. When it arrived, he installed it and applied power. Nothing.
George ordered yet another "U" motherboard, but before it could arrive, he discovered that when he ordered the first motherboard, they had shipped him one that ended in "U", even though he had specifically ordered one that didn't! So, he tried this "U" motherboard, but it didn't work either.
Next, George put his original motherboard and processor back in the case... everything works fine. Aaaarrg!
George decided he should post his problem to the discussion boards at the Hardware Guys web site. And one of the hardware guys (Robert Bruce Thompson) posted a reply almost immediately (see it here). He related a similar experience, and suggested that the power supply was the culprit. Even though it worked fine for the old motherboard, it might not meet the requirements of the new motherboard.
George visited Fry's Electronics, where he found the power supply he needed for $45... but a new case WITH power supply was $70! So he got a new case.
Strangely enough, when he put it all together and powered it up, BINGO! Now he just needs another case/power supply and he and Toni will have two shiny new, VERY fast computers. Oh-- and an extra, New-In-Box, motherboard, part number Intel D815EEA2U!
If anyone is interested in this item, please contact me at kactuswren@usa.net.
Speaking of "Memory is fluid"...
"Memory can change the shape of a room; it can change the color of a car. And memories can be distorted. They're just an interpretation, they're not a record, and they're irrelevant if you have the facts." --Leonard ShelbyI saw a superior film last week-- Memento. What a clever story, and an even more clever means of presenting the story. The acting and writing are top-notch. It stars Guy Pearce as a man (Leonard Shelby) who can no longer store new memories. He sustained the brain injury during the attack which also resulted in his wife's death, and has dedicated his life to finding the killer and extracting his revenge. His condition poses certain problems, and they are all explored through the course of the film. I can't say anymore without giving away too much-- JUST SEE THIS FILM!! Joe Pantoliano and Carrie-Anne Moss (both of whom starred in The Matrix) turn in excellent performances. [Since the time we discussed Memento at lunch, George rented it... he also thought it was great!]
iBook
You may remember the Powerbook G3 that I had fallen in love with and discussed during the January 24th lunch. It was everything I wanted! And just two weeks after I got it, it DIED. Oh, I guess it didn't really die, exactly, but it sure wasn't terribly useful once the backlight of the LCD display stopped working.
And when I was told by a local Mac repair shop (Mac Media) that the repair would cost at least $500, I decided right then that the only kind of notebook computer to own is one with a warranty.
I sold the G3 Powerbook on ebay (along with all of the acccessories I had collected for it), and ordered a factory-refurbished iBook, with 3 years of AppleCare.
The iBook is much cooler than my old G3-- it's faster, lighter, and has a DVD/CD-RW combo drive. And did I mention it has a warranty?
I took it to lunch with Sandeep last week, and he fell in love with it NOT because of all the above reasons, oh no. He wants one because it runs Unix! Since Mac OS X (pronounced "Oh Es Ten") is really just a fancy GUI layered on top of BSD, you can just open up a terminal window and you're in Unix heaven.
Sandeep went so crazy that he has already ordered an iBook from the same place I got mine-- Small Dog Electronics.
The Mother Tongue
A few weeks ago, I mentioned to George that I found a copy of Bill Bryson's The Mother Tongue at the Phoenix Public Library's Friends of the Library store for $2.00. Even though I still haven't found any time to read it (this pesky website seems to take all my time), George has already ordered a copy, received it, and read it! George is a big Bill Bryson fan, and assumed this would be another winner.
He was wrong. He said it's actually rather boring. I said it was still in my "to be read" stack by the bed, but George says to put it back on the shelf.
After hearing this, I did pick it up and read a few pages-- and I found it interesting! I assume it isn't nearly as humorous as most of Bryson's work, but I think I'm in the mood to learn more about the history of the English Language. I enjoyed a passage referring to the widespread use of english by countries for whom it is not the native language. Bryson was relating a story about two European countries (neither of whom have English as their first language) who chose to speak English exclusively during trade negotiations. When asked about it, a spokesman for one said it left them both "at an equal disadvantage."
Aerial Photos
I was so excited to tell George about a feature on MapQuest which Corey was showing me... only to find out that it's really nothing new and George had known about it for some time: Zoomable aerial photographs which correspond to the map you have requested. I just had a great time finding my house on the web!
Here is George's House
Corey was telling me that if you approach the Canadian border and zoom in, it blocks out the parts of any images which are North of the border. And yes, I know that it is George W.'s house, not our George.
Four hours later, I was traveling South on I-17, on my way to pick up my kids. You know where this is going, right? Well, a state trooper zipping along the HOV lane at about 80 mph suddenly slowed and veered into my lane right behind me, activating his pretty flashing lights.
Once safely on the shoulder, I related to him that I had just been pulled over a few hours earlier. He took my license and registration back to his car where he then proceeded to read three chapters of War and Peace before returning to give me the news: He was citing me for driving with an expired registration. It seems the fact that I had already been warned four hours before and still hadn't registered my vehicle demonstrated my clear disregard for the law and the officer who had warned me. Maybe this would teach me a lesson! As I started to say something, he cut me off. "I'm not interested in your excuses. And be aware that you could get pulled over and ticketed again by every officer between here and your home," since each "pull over" is a discrete violation of the law.
I immediately registered via the internet when I got home, and the tags arrived a fews days later.
Here's what I found out they offer:
Bad boy, bad boy...
Well, sort of. On Wednesday of last week, I was pulled over by a City of Phoenix motorcycle cop. He said "Howdy. Looks like your registration is expired." I look surprised (and was!), and he said, "Well, come on back here and let's take a look-- maybe I'm readin' it wrong." Sure enough, I never renewed by tags in December. He just said "Better take care of that. Have a nice day!" and drove away! I felt very fortunate, and drove back to work (I was on my way there from Taekwondo).
Compass Bank
George brought up Compass Bank, and we agreed that they had caught our attention with their consumer-friendly approach (free use of other bank's ATMs, free checking, etc.). I wondered if they offered online banking, since I like having the ability to easily transfer cash from one acccount to the other. After lunch, I decided to do some research.
| Doctor: | "I have bad news, and worse news." |
| Patient: | "OK, Let me have it." |
| Doctor: | "Well, the bad news is that you have cancer." |
| Patient: | "Wow... that is pretty bad news." |
| Doctor: | "Yes... and the worse news is that you have anterograde memory loss." |
| Patient: | "No kidding. That's bad news for sure, but at least I don't have cancer!" |
[My apologies to George for the slight theme-based modification! You see, Leonard Shelby suffered from anterograde memory loss, which seems funnier than Alzheimer's Disease in this context.]
Copyright © 2002, Paul Wren. All rights reserved.