Some Non-trivial Things That Annoy Me.

[publiusr]

All the best.

[Gillianren]

I asked a friend for his mailing address the other day so I could send him a Yule present. He won't give it to me. He lives with his parents, for financial reasons, and his mother censors his mail. I think it's pretty clear she's undiagnosed but diagnosably mentally ill, and I really worry about my friend. He lives with them for financial reasons, and I can't think of a living situation he could be in instead that would be healthier. He can't afford to live alone, and he doesn't have a lot of friends. Just getting roommates has its problems as well for him, even in the After Time. But I think he's going to have to figure something out at some point, because he told me recently that his parents are both in their 70s, and from what I can tell his father's in worse health than his mother.

[PetersCreek]

A couple of recent IT woes in the life of a COVID teleworker:

One morning last week, my work laptop took for-stinkin'-ever to boot. I thought maybe it was because IT was pushing a patch out but when it finally booted, it also took a really long time for the desktop to populate. Starting my work apps (VPN, Outlook, Teams, etc.) was also maddeningly sluggish. I rebooted a couple of times, did a speed check of my network, then called our help desk. After waiting on hold for 20-25 minutes and spening another 15 walking through the issue with the rep, the ticket was elevated to Tier 2 support, who would call me later. But they didn't. During the couple of hours I waited, I poked around some more and discovered the problem: the AC adapter cable was plugged in but noooot quite all the way. I'd think that the laptop's power monitor would see external power as a binary state. Either it's present or not. In this case, there was apparently an intermediate state that the software couldn't handle. When I pushed the plug in that last 2 mm or so and rebooted, all was well.

This week's Monday brought another lovely morning. After my morning drive down the hallway to my home office, I booted the laptop and tried to establish a VPN connection to our network but no dice. Everything was fine when I shut down on Friday but that morning, the machine claimed it had no Ethernet connection and therefore, no access to the Internet. I spooled up my personal PC and checked the home network. No indication of issues, 196 Mbps down, 9.7 Mbps up, and all of our WiFi devices had solid connections. I also performed the obligatory reboot. Nope.

So, I called the help desk again and spent almost 40 minutes on hold. I couldn't really do anything else, after all. I expected to be told that the agency network was down but that wasn't the case. The rep asked me to check the network settings that I had already checked, asked if I had rebooted, then threw his hands up, saying that the problem had to be with my home network or ISP. Riiiight. I checked it out nevertheless, spending some quality time checking and swapping network cables, resetting the network switch and cable modem, and I even removed an old WiFi router that was no longer used. Still nope, so I rebooted one more time and the problem was gone. I thought maybe something that I'd done did the trick in combination with the reboot but I learned differently the next day. IT sent out a mass e-mail instructing people who couldn't connect through VPN to reboot their machines twice. Evidently a patch they pushed out did a number on the network adapter in certain machines.

[Roger E. Moore]

My computer broke months ago, just after my July birthday, and I was unable to fix it or get back into CosmoQuest. I am using a public library computer now, and thanks to Solfie, ToSeek, and PetersCreek, I can get back online!

[Swift]

My computer broke months ago, just after my July birthday, and I was unable to fix it or get back into CosmoQuest. I am using a public library computer now, and thanks to Solfie, ToSeek, and PetersCreek, I can get back online!

Welcome back

Here's a summary of what you missed.

[Roger E. Moore]

Welcome back

Here's a summary of what you missed.

AUGH I fell for it!

[Van Rijn]

My computer broke months ago, just after my July birthday, and I was unable to fix it or get back into CosmoQuest. I am using a public library computer now, and thanks to Solfie, ToSeek, and PetersCreek, I can get back online!

Good to see you back, I was wondering why you weren’t posting.

Any plans to get a replacement computer? If you just want to access online sites you don’t need much.

[Roger E. Moore]

Any plans to get a replacement computer? If you just want to access online sites you don’t need much.

My wife just fixed up one of her computers for me to use. I still like surfing at the local library though (no cats walking on my keyboard).

[Hornblower]

Last night I placed an online order for a home fitness machine with a well-known manufacturer. The checkout pages had a boneheaded color scheme consisting of black text on a dark gray background. It was difficult to read the text to see which name and address fields were which. I would cheerfully wash out the checkout page designer's mouth with a greasy sample of the soap I made in high school chemistry lab. I don't want to hurt the poor schlub with a caustic sample; just make it unpleasant.

[Gillianren]

A friend of mine has been pressured by his parents to come home for a month. He's really uncomfortable about it, but he got messages from his father last night basically telling him that his father risked the disease all day every day (their family owns a store, and his father works twelve-hour days), and he will suck it up and come home like a dutiful son. And it was basically cave to their pressure or else be cut off from his family. It's really not okay.

[Swift]

A friend of mine has been pressured by his parents to come home for a month. He's really uncomfortable about it, but he got messages from his father last night basically telling him that his father risked the disease all day every day (their family owns a store, and his father works twelve-hour days), and he will suck it up and come home like a dutiful son. And it was basically cave to their pressure or else be cut off from his family. It's really not okay.

Wow! That's harsh.
It reminds me of an old Tom Lehrer quote (though he was making a joke) "I've suffered for my work, now its your turn".

[Gillianren]

They also told him it was "just" his anxiety talking.

[Trebuchet]

My wife had a hair appointment yesterday. Getting her hair done is the only time she goes out, unless we go for a drive and stay in the car. The hairdresser is being very careful with Covid precautions and is the only other person in the shop while she's there.

Anyhow, the hairdresser was upset yesterday. She had a 93 year old customer whose hair she had been doing for many years. She would go to the lady's home to do it. The lady had to go to a nursing home temporarily for something. Meanwhile, an employee of the home went on vacation to Florida, came back and went to work. She infected at least four patients at the home.

The 93 year old lady became the first Covid fatality in my small county.

[The Backroad Astronomer]

That sucks Trebuchet. Right now I am overtired because my sleep schedule is really off and I misplaced my glasses yesterday and made my eyes tired. I had a number of little naps. to overcome this, ye I found them. Right now I am wondering if I should carry on in my interest in astronomy or just quiet or that could be just being tired. One good thing today I found a pen I didn't was missing in the wood pile this morning, Time for sleep soon before I do anything.

[Selenite]

Meanwhile, an employee of the home went on vacation to Florida, came back and went to work. She infected at least four patients at the home.

The 93 year old lady became the first Covid fatality in my small county.

Ugh, the overwhelming culpability I would feel if that had been me.

Last week the CEO of one of America’s largest health care corporations sent out an e-mail:

In an email to over 50,000 staff last week, Sanford Health CEO Kelby Krabbenhoft said he didn’t need to wear a mask because he’d recovered from the illness and that using one was a “symbolic gesture.”

“For me to wear a mask defies the efficacy and purpose of a mask and sends an untruthful message that I am susceptible to infection or could transmit it,” he told staff in an email obtained by CNN last week.

The e-mail didn't go over well. This CEO and Sanford Health have since parted ways.

[Trebuchet]

The sheer stupidity of the human race continues to amaze me.

ETA: Sanford health is headquartered in South Dakota, a state whose governor remains a Covid denier while her state ranks second in cases per million.

[Swift]

ETA: Sanford health is headquartered in South Dakota, a state whose governor remains a Covid denier while her state ranks second in cases per million.

Please don't go there; that's getting into a political discussion.

[Jens]

There was recently some discussion of Windows10. A non-trivial annoyance: I upgraded my computer from 7 to 10 and one of the user accounts disappeared. The usr folder is still there, but can’t be accessed as an account. I gather it may be because it was a local account. But can’t figure out how to fix it...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Noclevername]

Hello again!

The laptop is dead, long live the laptop. New one is my early Xmas present.

The Non Trivial part is, it took my entire recent file of extensively updated stories I was writing. And I've lost the stick containing the prior versions.

[Extravoice]

The Non Trivial part is, it took my entire recent file of extensively updated stories I was writing. And I've lost the stick containing the prior versions.

Hey, anybody want to read the stories I’m having published? I found them on a thumb drive that was laying in the street. Er, I mean I’ve been working on them for years.

On a more serious note... Several years ago, I purchased something called “Mybook Live”from Western Digital. It is essentially a NAS (network attached storage) drive that plugs into my router. Its main value is that it works with software on my PC to automatically back up stuff. It even keeps multiple versions of saved documents. The software was a little clumsy to set up, but saved my butt a few times.

[Solfe]

My dog does weird stuff. Tonight she woke me up out of a sound sleep. This is alarming because she only does this when my blood sugar is tanking. I'm usually shaky and pouring sweat.

Not tonight. She whined and whined to go outside. I took her out and the neighbor's garage door opened up. She stumbled outside and said she was weak and in pain. I called an ambulance and off she went. This dog who barks at everyone and everything just sat there waiting until the police arrived then put on the most ridiculous display.

I wonder if she yelled for help and the dog heard it? Idk. Now, I have a horrible headache and my brain is going a million miles an hour.

[Swift]

My dog does weird stuff. Tonight she woke me up out of a sound sleep. This is alarming because she only does this when my blood sugar is tanking. I'm usually shaky and pouring sweat.

Not tonight. She whined and whined to go outside. I took her out and the neighbor's garage door opened up. She stumbled outside and said she was weak and in pain. I called an ambulance and off she went. This dog who barks at everyone and everything just sat there waiting until the police arrived then put on the most ridiculous display.

I wonder if she yelled for help and the dog heard it? Idk. Now, I have a horrible headache and my brain is going a million miles an hour.

Sorry for your headache, but you have a hero dog.

[Solfe]

Sorry for your headache, but you have a hero dog.

I talker to her son today, she so-so. But it turns out she opened the door when she saw me.

[Trebuchet]

Is my cat trying to tell me a neighbor needs help when she walks up the full length of my body while meowing a couple of times a night? Or is she just a cat?
But give your dog an extra treat anyhow.

[Selenite]

I went out to my car after work, slammed the door shut and heard a sound similar to an ice sheet crumbling as it melts. I look back and see that my car's rear window has completely collapsed inward in a thousand pieces with just a fringe hanging around the frame.

No sign that anything went through the window externally. Some fault must have developed that just needed one little push. For now, I'm just gonna blame 2020.

[Noclevername]

For now, I'm just gonna blame 2020.

It's just getting in its last shots at us.

(I don't know what the legal or insurance situation is WRT liability for a self-destructing car window.)

[Van Rijn]

It's just getting in its last shots at us.

(I don't know what the legal or insurance situation is WRT liability for a self-destructing car window.)

My insurance covers accidental window damage and replacement or repair. Since it is a major safety issue I think it would tend to be a priority. My experience is with the windshield getting damaged when hit with a rock.

[Trebuchet]

I'm weirdly reminded of my parents' 1968 or '69 Chevelle Malibu. The back window leaked. They thought about having it replaced, but it turned out the sheet metal around it was so rusted out that the glass was holding the car together.

[DonM435]

My insurance covers accidental window damage and replacement or repair. Since it is a major safety issue I think it would tend to be a priority. My experience is with the windshield getting damaged when hit with a rock.

I'd expect such to be "covered," but do they raise your payments a bit because you obviously live in some neighborhood, or drive some routes, or have habits that are dangerous to windows? I'll bet that they do.

[Selenite]

I'd expect such to be "covered," but do they raise your payments a bit because you obviously live in some neighborhood, or drive some routes, or have habits that are dangerous to windows? I'll bet that they do.

Yeah, I bet they do too. The car's comprehensive insurance will cover most of it except for the deductible, of course. I've got the repair appointment set up.

In the meantime, I'm driving a car that looks like it was the loser in a rolling gun battle. On the bright side, de-frosting the window in the morning is no longer an issue.