Little more my speed.

The blog has been really light on the robot side for a while. A few events I normally attend were canceled or rescheduled. But - all hope isn't lost. I think.

Last year I didn't attend the Maker Faire. I didn't know about it until a month after it was over. Which was such a bummer because the MythBusters were there.

Hopefully - I will have pictures of something that everyone else in the world hasn't already covered.

Watch the Maker Faire trailer here.

Is it me - or is this guy trying to look like Johnny Depp?

Simple Things.

Oh my goodness readers! I actually went to see the indie movie Simple Things - and I can't tell you enough how happy I am. Initially we weren't sure if we were going to just show up to take pictures, or actually stay for the movie. Their web-site really made the difference for us. I'm glad we stayed -- it was really good.

The cast and directors were so kind. Michelle - I can't thank you enough for letting me take photos!

I was completely thrilled to get a shot of Joshua Leonard. I could tell having his picture taken wasn't so much his thing. He seemed kind of shy, hanging back from the rest of the cast photos, and I'm very grateful he posed.


Click to enlarge.

Cast of Simple Things.


Click to Enlarge.

Left-to-right: Cameron Bancroft, Edie McClurg, Mickey Jones, Bellamy Young, Andrew C. Erin.

More cast pictures.


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Producer Tosca Musk.


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Mickey Jones, Tosca Musk, and Big Mike Griffin.

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Mickey Jones, and Sam Hennings.


Gratuitous use of full spectrum mode. No flash. I'm sure a few of the cast were looking at me thinking "she knows she can't get that shot without a flash - right"? I could have benefited from some image stabilization.


Click to enlarge.

Director Rowdy Sovall. Director Mexican Sunrise.



I wish I would have gotten to see this film, but they weren't running anymore showings. This was a picture of Rowdy - his wife and new baby.


Click to enlarge.

This thing freaks me out, and I don't know what to do about it.

Like many of you in California - you probably live on a concrete slab. We just don't do basements here. There are probably all sorts of reasons for it. Right now - I don't care why.

Now I find myself with somewhat of a crawlspace. Not a down on your belly - cave crawling space - but a knees and elbows crawl space. I never really liked it from the beginning. Even though as far as crawl spaces go, its amazingly clean. What I made up in my head about it was much worse than it was.

A few months ago - every so often I would hear this vent rattle. Heater off, nothing running. But a distinct (loud) rattling noise. So my first impulse is to kick the door - because I don't want to open that shit. I don't know what's trying to get in. Mice - raccoons, zombies.

Whatever it is - I don't like it and it has to stop. But the heater needs to breath. Now I completely understand why horror films are so effective.

More Celebrity Watching.

From time to time a Film Fest swings through town. As usual - I went to take photos. Last year here.

First let me say - I actually get freaked out by these things. I'm a little out of my element. Put me anywhere near technology and I'm fine - but put me in a room with people who do movies. I freak out. And I'm not even star struck. I just feel sort of weird taking photos of these people - even though we paid to get into the event.

Freaking me out even more? I wasn't in the door a minute before a publicist spotted my camera and started talking to me. Last year - no publicists. So - I completely wasn't expecting that to happen.

This year was a bit different. It was smaller, and much harder to spot who the movie people were. Usually I have my husband as backup spotter - but even he was having a hard time this year.

Outside of Wayne Knight I was lost.



And - Wayne clearly seemed to not want his picture taken. I couldn't get a clean shot to save my life. As a matter of a fact - I couldn't tell who was more uncomfortable. Me - or him.

Really - I don't know who these rest of these people were. It would have been nice if the film literature gave a little more information on who was there.





I know the guy in the center is Koshiya Kubo. He was there last year.

In the forefront - Rowdy Stovall. Director of Mexican Sunrise.



Andrew C. Erin. Director Simple Things. You should watch the trailer. They did a really good job on the web-site.



Still not sure who this guy is.



Now I'm debating on going to one of the films on Friday - so I can get freaked out all over again. At least the literature for that tells you who will be attending.

Not a big fan.

Like all weekends... this one was well - busy.

The project? A ceiling fan. Seems simple and boring - right? Yeah - I wish.

This project has been a year in the making. Believe it or not.

When we first moved into this place we took one look at this fan and said we would just rip it out.



That was until summer hit. Then we set out to find a suitable replacement. Not only was it hideous - this thing made a loud ticking sound. I'm an insomniac. We couldn't run it at night for fear that I would slowly go insane.

So - the problem? 8 foot ceiling, over 6 foot tall husband. That cuts your choices for fans about 95%.

There are hugger fans - but I wasn't that crazy about them. And just a little rant - what the hell is it about the ceiling fan manufacturers? I'm not on a boat so I don't need a nautical theme. I'm not at my grandmothers house - this is 2007. Can we have anything that looks modern? And I don't live in a church. I don't know what houses they are making these for - but most houses are not cathedral size mansions.

Another sticking point was - it would be nice if it had a remote. You know I am going to wake up in the middle of the night - freezing.

So we looked. And looked. And looked. Expensive fans, cheap fans. It was becoming the point where we just have to choose something we didn't like.

That was until last weekend. It was a magical weekend. Everywhere we went people were helpful. A nice gentleman at OSH overheard us commenting that a certain fan we were going to buy didn't have a remote. He took us over to an isle and showed us a Universal Ceiling Fan & Light - Remote Control.



We couldn't believe it. I mean - we had looked at fans for months. On the internet, at the hardware stores. At big box stores. Light stores. I mean everywhere - and we had never seen this product.

It slips right into your mounting bracket like this:



Then inside the fan housing:



Which attaches obviously to the ceiling:



Well - after you become pissed that the contractors that built your house can't put a junction box in so its recessed into the drywall. Yes - that is a chop stick making my fan level.

And you have an oddly artistic shot of an ordinary fan.

Day after day of Oppressive Sun.

I'm pretty sure the sun is burning out. The sky often seems filled with fire this year.

This is exactly what the sky looked like. I never do anything to my photo's - which is why sometimes now with the new camera you will see an occasional dust spec.

My dumb-ass comment of the day.

So - I'm in the camera store again today. Buying a flash for the big-ass lens I just bought - and the checker is asking me if I want to get some kind of reward card. She begins to tell me I can get money off prints, and I actually say the following:

"Oh - I didn't realise you guys did prints here"

My husband looks at me - the checker looks at me. Then does a sweeping hand gesture towards the back of the store.

She sarcastically says " um - that's why we have this big lab back here".

Which I totally deserved. I'm in a feakin camera store.

The thing is - I'm not even young enough to successfully pull that kind of tard comment off. Clearly I know people used film. I guess I just got so used to everything being digital that I forgot that some die-hards still use film.

Just when I'm getting to the point of not feeling quite so out of my element just walking into the place - I go and say something stupid like that.

A big thanks!

To Mommy De Gallo for letting me know my site was screwed. All should be fixed now.

I thought word verification was suppose to keep the spammies out - but apparently even they are getting past it.

A crush on glass.

I never thought I would say it - but - I'm going to put up glass tile again.

I don't know what it is.. but I just can't keep away from it. So when I ran across these - I had to buy them.



You see - glass tile is easily the most complicated product on the face of the earth. And if you have never installed this stuff before there are all sorts of things you don't find out until you are in the project. This is why it took my husband and I - 10 months to do this shower. Thats right. 10 months. It was the most painful project ever.



As a matter of a fact - from planning to completion - was almost a year and a half. My first post about it.

The main issues? Light refraction as you can see in this photo.



Also a problem - depth of color. Unlike normal tile, glass tile has depth quality that you have to take into account. This makes grout color really complicated. It sort of makes the color bleed into the glass tile.

We thought we would just go with white - like we saw at the home improvement stores, but it looked horrible. Like paste. Eventually we wound up mixing our own color, but it took 17 tries to get the color match correct.

Hopefully this time it will go better. At least those bubble tiles never got stuck in my head and made me want to put them up.

Other tile posts here.

For the love of Microfiber.

I still remember the day we bought our sofa. Well.. it was only a year ago - so maybe that is a little dramatic.

I wasn't crazy about it. Hated the color.

We had friends coming in from Seattle, and we had just moved into our house. We were under pressure to buy something quickly. So - I was probably in meltdown mode.

We had already chosen the couch -we'd given up on finding something we loved, and were ready to settle for something we didn't hate. My husband was handling the bill, and I took a quick spin around the showroom to see if there was something else I liked. When I came back my husband was prompting the salesman to show me something about the sofa material.

The gentleman pulled out a fabric swatch, and a bottle of water. He then poured it on the swatch. Like this:



At first I didn't get it.. My husband cheerfully says "it is micro-fiber - so stuff doesn't soak into it".

I'd read about micro-fiber a great deal. It was going to be the fabric of the future, but I hadn't actually seen it yet - and I didn't fully understand its benefits.

After seeing the demonstration - I was sold.

You see... my husband is a bit of a spiller. And not just any kind of spiller, but a champion spiller. He can't just spill a half full glass of water - it has to be a full mocha late. Though honestly - it has been a very long time since the last episode. The sofa has been sitting in pristine condition. Until this weekend.

We'd let our youngest bunny Saffron out of her cage to run around in the living room. She's only just discovered that she was big enough to jump up on the furniture. She started exploring our couch, playing peek-a-boo among the cushions. After a few minutes, she flopped down with her feet behind her, facing the TV set, as if she was ready to watch an afternoon of Tivo with us.



It was so damn cute, it made my husband and I go "Awwwww" in unison. It was so sweet we both need insulin.

That was until we realized that she'd just peed on the couch.

Now this girl had just come off of three months of restriction from her last bit of bad behavior: peeing on our comforter. (Restriction == not letting her on the bed or the furniture, and watching her like a hawk on the carpet) We hadn't had an incident since then, and we thought she'd grown out of it. Truthfully, all our other bunnies have become really well potty trained after they are a year old. So it's a bit of "an issue" that this girl doesn't seem to get with the program. Makes me want to rip her ovaries right out. She is the only one not neutered. And aparently - it makes a difference.

Anyway - now I am in love with micro-fiber. I would have rather tested it with a latte, than my pet peeing on it - but I was super happy to have it. It worked like a charm.

Happy Easter! Don't buy a bunny.

Standard Disclaimer.

Rabbits are about as smart as your average cat, and as social as your average dog. If you aren't prepared to dedicate 10 years to this pet, and learn to understand complicated health problems. Don't buy a bunny.

But- it is Easter - what else am I gonna do but post a bunny picture.

Alienware does something that makes me happy.

Hey... it can happen.

First - I would like to point out that I am not someone cares much about getting something for nothing. As a consumer I am very conscience of how much things cost companies. If something breaks - I am very happy if a company makes me whole.

So - when it was determined that my graphics board was half dead,(here) I expected to get a very similar board. A GeForce 7900 series. The tech rep did say the board would be smaller, which would help with air flow. These things can run pretty hot.

We installed the new board, and it wasn't being recognized. So my husband went to look at the packing slip and realized they had sent us a GeForce 8800. The fastest board on the market.



We installed the new drivers - and now I am happily using both of my monitors. Upgrading my board was way more than I expected or hoped for.

As someone who has had a less than stellar experience with Alienware, I really have to give them credit.

Now if I can just figure out why my computer crashes when going into power saving mode - I'd be in bliss. This is a new problem since installing the board.

My customer support nerve is still a bit raw - so I'm going to give it a day or so before I tackle that.

I'd fire you all - and replace you with machines.

There are few things that piss me off more than supermarkets. Okay - maybe that isn't the truth, but supermarkets are way up there. Peoples excessive personality ticks really seem to come out in stores.

But that isn't the reason for my rant today. Today it is unions. Thats right - I said it.

This is the scenario.

I'm in my usual 10 items or less - find the fastest way out routine. I carefully check my 5 containers of wheat grass for bar-codes. Yeah - I don't know who eats that crap either. But someone must - because it is always in the store, and the healthiest grass you've ever seen.

Apparently the whole world has bunnies or people must really consume a lot of this stuff. Anyway. This is what I'm buying:

5 containers of wheat grass
1 Baby Simethicone (bunnies sometimes get air in their bellies)
1 still warm loaf of French Bread.

We proceed to the self checkout line. Now - I would not have attempted this if my grass didn't have bar-codes on them. That would be downright sadomasochistic.

I scan the first bar-code. Of course - an error pops up. The handy person manning the machines tells me they aren't in the system - and asks if I know how much they are.

In my head I think - um.... no. It has a bar-code. Thats what bar-codes are for.. to tell the checker how much things cost.

Since I don't know how much they cost - we wind up getting into another line. I make a comment to my husband that you would think that everything with a bar-code would be in their system. Anyway....

At this point there are 3 people in front of us, and we begin to wait.

After a few minutes of animated eye movement - yes, my husband and I can have a whole conversation with our eyes - a gentleman in front of us strikes up a conversation. Apparently he had been watching us.

He says the following:
"I am glad you chose not to use the self checkout machines. Each one of those things cost 4 people their jobs". He says " I'm in the union".

First - I didn't really choose not to use the machines. Second - because you are in a f-ing union - I bet 4 more checkers would not make this line go any faster.

Normally - I might have said something agreeable. But I couldn't even feign that because in my head I was having all sorts of sarcastic thoughts. So I uncomfortably laugh and don't say anything. Then - I look over at the self checkout machines. 1 out of 4 is being used.

Also note - we are in the fast checkout lane, and we have been in line for 5 minutes at this point. I look around to see if I can get into another line. There are now about 10 people behind us. Every line stretches out into the isles.

Finally the checker starts ringing us up. Well sort of. She starts calculating the wheat grass in her head out loud... and I wouldn't call her a math wiz. I look at her in a confused way because I wasn't sure what she was calculating. I really had never seen a checker not scan every item. At least not short of being in a country store. My husband finally gave her the total, and she makes a comment about not wanting to burn up the buttons on the register.

Honestly...is she kidding me? By now she recognizes I'm getting irritated. Okay - the possibility exists she might have seen my husband and I having an eye conversation. But if she was a little busier doing her job, she wouldn't have. I mean, it wasn't like she could overhear us.. she would have to be watching us.

At this point she is looking and acting like she would rather be any place else on earth. And I have to tell you I'm not really sympathetic the company is trying to hire less of these people. If you loath being a checker so f-ing much, stop trying to make me care you are at risk for loosing your job. Because I don't.

As a matter of a fact - if she didn't make it so obvious she was working as slowly as possible to justify her barely having a pulse position, I wouldn't want to use the self checkout machines so often. But now I want to use them exclusively.

Untitled.

The Sky was Filled with Amethyst.

Click for full res.

My ongoing drama with Alienware.

How much customer support time do you think it takes to get a graphics board swapped out? If you said almost 4 hours- you would be right.

So - last week I called Alienware because I was trying to get dual monitors hooked up to my Alienware desktop. Blogged about it here. The thing is, it isn't like we didn't know how to have a machine set up this way. My last machine was running with dual monitors.

We were fairly confident is was a hardware issue. But Alienware customer support wanted to have a go at "fixing" it.

First let me tell you folks. This shouldn't be an unusual request, or a particularly complicated issue to debug. Its either software settings, drivers, or a hardware problem. Thats it! But after 1 hour and 15 minutes talking to the first tech support guy - my husband finally had to tell him we would have to end the call. We had things to do, and just couldn't spend anymore time on the phone. The support guy did wind up sending us an email telling us to make sure we had the latest drivers installed and if that didn't work - we would need to have the board swapped out.

So - after updating the drivers to the requested revision we called into the support line. I really wanted to have an on-site guy come out because at this point the machine wasn't recognizing I had a sound card. Half of the video card was dead, and the machine wouldn't reboot without having to turn it off and letting it cool down.

Admittedly - the sound issue I should have caught sooner, but it wasn't a priority until I got the data closet finished. Now that I was having several problems - I might as well get everything fixed. The sound issue turned out to be a very simple fix. It was just disabled in the BIOS.

Now why Alienware ships a high end gaming system with the BIOS setting turned off is beyond me - but not a big deal. The support guy even said it happens sometimes when they are testing stuff before they send it out. Surely there must be some clever reason they need to waste a phone reps time for something they could quickly have checked. This took a few minutes to fix, and we thought it would be a good sign.

Yeah - not so much. We spent roughly 2 hours 45 minutes on the phone with this guy. Let me remind you, we had already spent over an hour diagnosing the problem on a previous call. The guy had the call notes right in front of him.

Most of the call centered around trying to get the NVIDIA Control Panel to come up. The problem was - the program would crash and wouldn't come up. This made the rep repeatedly tell us how to bring up the control panel. We would repeatedly tell him we were doing what he asked, and it resulted in a crash report.

After that - we went through un/reinstalling the drivers several times. This was all exacerbated the the fact that each time he wanted me to reboot - the machine would have to be turned off to cool down - or it refused to boot. Finally the rep tried telling us that "he couldn't reproduce the problem".

I think it was at this point I was starting to freak out. It was also right about the two hour mark. We firmly told him that just not being able to bring up the control panel didn't make a non-reproducible problem. In fact we were gaining new problems. And that the "Display Properties" setting still had my second monitor grayed out. Even though when the machine booted - both monitors would show an Alien logo, and would drop out when it was almost fully booted.

Finally after about 15 more minutes - he went to get authorization to have the board swapped. Finally I thought. But this guy wasn't done pissing me off.

Because I chose the option of having to pay for the card until we returned the bad one - I asked the him to make sure they were going to ship the card "signature required". It is a 600 dollar card and we already had a problem with FedEx.

After the rep added a few more notes - I again requested that he make sure a signature would be required. To which he replied "oh - I thought you said - no signature required". WHAT?!

And here is the absolute kicker. At the end of the call the rep asks " are you happy with the help I have provided today"? My head is spinning at this point, because after almost 3 hours on the phone what else am I going to say but "yes". I'm tired - and the last thing I want to do it talk to a manager, or get sucked into some conversation on why I'm not happy. Just ridiculous.

It constantly astounds me that companies can't figure out how much money they loose through inadequate customer support.

Other Alienware Blog Entries here, here, and here.

Update

Sometimes I have to post project updates. Otherwise I would be doing nothing but bitching about customer service - and that would make me look like someone who has nothing better to do than complain.

So - today we will revisit a project from September. This really wouldn't have even needed to be a project if I would have with-held payment from my contractor who I had used 5 times previously without incident. It just goes to show that no matter how well you tip, or how many pizzas and drinks you buy - you can't get consistency with a contractor.

I can never really figure out the feedback mechanism for these guys. For less than 50 bucks and maybe an hours with the work it was worth it to turn me into a non-repeat customer. Really - for the tiniest of issues.

Some who read this blog probably think I am just a demanding wretch. That is far from the case. I think my problem is that I become friends with these guys and they become slackers. At any rate, since there are few projects we can't do ourselves, it becomes a super easy decision to not have to babysit a contractor - and they don't get invited back.

In this case - the contracter left us with 10 linear feet of missing sod, and a gate that is non functional. Other than that - the project was fantastic.



Luckily our neighbor was laying sod and we bartered a trade for the scraps he was going to throw away.



Before pictures here and here. Full blog entry here. This is how the courtyard looks now. We will probably get to the gate in the next couple weeks. It would be nice to use it - instead of it just looking pretty.

When Snarky Ass Attitudes Back-fire.

TheSuperficial.

You must read all the comments too!

Why do products suck so Much?

Since Saturday - the following things have happened.

Scooba breaks -

Tech Support says " Unfortunately at this time it appears that your Scooba will need to be replaced. We are no longer manufacturing the Scooba 5900 model robot. Because of this, we will be replacing your robot with a Scooba 5800 model."

But of course I need to pay to ship it back.

My Alienware video card is only partially functional. We only found this out because I was trying to hook up dual monitors to it. Since it is a dual card.. one side is dead.

Tech Support says " All of these steps are to ensure the functionality of the video card, because if the results are the same, like previously mentioned, the card will need to be replaced. If after following the previously mentioned indications, you need to contact our Technical Support Department related to this issue, please provided this reference Number."

Then - this morning my husband tells me our 6 month old Maytag washing machine is being recalled. Thankfully my husband reads Engadget. And thankfully when we just re-did our laundry room we put GFI's in. That prevents our house burning down. They don't say how they are going to fix the main problem.

But I have to say - I am pretty pissed that 3 products less than 6 months old have all had issues. It is completely ridiculous. The whole reason this blog was started in the first place was because we couldn't buy anything - no matter how high end or low end - that didn't break on a regular basis. I am just sick of it.

More about Prosper.com

Normally I don't care what people do - as long as it doesn't affect me. But I have to admit, I've got a super bug up my butt about prosper.com. Made more interesting because Mr. Snarkolepsy was somewhat intrigued by the concept. Not investing in it - just the free market side of capitalism.

Also note - I think my irritation is so high due to a family member of mine buying into every get rich quick scheme on the planet. You just can't tell them the business models don't make sense.

My immediate impressions of prosper.com were:

1. Thats a horrible idea.

2. There will be an incredible default rate.

3. Many of people were very wealthy and could not find an avenue of credit outside of prosper.com. Even people with up to 5 houses. I couldn't figure out why these people weren't under a HELOC at a much lower interest rate than they were asking for on prosper.com - other than being non lend-able through a bank.

4. If you read the loan plea's, it is impossible to see how the loan can realistically be repayed.

5. Prosper.com will probably get sued because of so many defaults.

6. People's need was more based on sob stories than any real need. Unless you think taking a vacation is a need. Some people claimed they didn't even need the money - but said " I am a little suprised at the amount of money people are willing to throw at high risk borrowers or scenarios on prosper, but people do love to gamble."

7. Borrowing money to then turn around and lend money was the most ridiculous idea ever. But yet a bunch of people were doing it.

8. Most of the loans were being funded not by large benefactors, but tons of small cash infusions. Some of these are due to the marketing people at prosper.com advising "portfolio diversification" by making lots of small loans. But some people are just ordinary people putting in small sums of money as you can see later on.

9. The whole thing just really wreaks of a get rich quick scheme.

This is the thing - I think most financial advisers will tell you paying anything with interest over 15% for more than a very short amount of time will result in a situation where you can never get out from under that debt.

So this morning I got a technorati hit on the blog, and up pops this persons blog entry.

I have to admit, I thought it would take longer than that to start seeing defaults. But now I am curious. So I started looking around and found other defaults.Here and here.

This persons blog entry states "Sometimes pressing problems require radical solutions. If you've been reading our blog, you'll have gathered that my wife and I are running a monthly deficit of $1,800. This is a LOT of money and if the situation continues, it will put us in dire financial straits. As part of the solution, we're doing the following:" Yet they claim to have invested 70,000. in prosper.com.

This whole thing is a trainwreck.

Update - For the guys who read the blog who are investors.

Thanks to this guy - you can see how the lenders are faring. This is a better link to track the lenders. Hey.. I didn't put this information out there.

But the whole thing is actually really fascinating. Most unexpected? You can not really predict who is going to default. This guy and this guy are making risky loans, but have a very low default rate. But this guy tends to lend to people with very good credit risk, and he has a very high default rate.

I have to say - this creeps me out.

This morning Mr. Snarkolepsy forwarded me this link. With my curiosity piqued I went over to the site Prosper.com. I was really curious why individuals would lend an unsecured loan to people.

My first thought was "surely I'm just being an asshole - almost everyone is more altruistic than me".

It really isn't that I am mean.. I just feel there are few instances where peoples financial problems aren't caused by bad choices. Growing up dirt poor myself - I am not big on giving away extremely hard earned money. But I digress.

So - I'm fully into guilt mode about this site. Until I start reading some of the profiles. Then my guilt turned to disbelief. I couldn't f-ing believe it honestly.

These were not the needy I was feeling so guilty about hoarding my hard earned cash for. These were mostly middle class people with homes - who are making ridiculous choices. I would even say living way beyond their means.

For instance this guy wants to pay 14% interest to fund an IRA with an $8000.00 loan.

Many people were looking for loans so they could re-loan money to other individuals on Prosper.com. Here, here and here. Some willing to pay up to 11% interest. So what - they could charge another bad choice making individual up to 27% interest.

This guy wanted a 16% interest loan so he didn't have to pay PMI on a new home he wanted to buy. Is he kidding us? And judging from the mortgage payment, it isn't an inexpensive home, but I'm guessing that kind of interest would be almost as much as PMI. But at least when you default you don't loose your home I guess.

This guy claims to have 56,000 in CD's, but is willing to pay 25% interest on a 15,000 dollar loan? WTF? And he claims to make $8000.00 to $12,000 a month.

Really - you need to go over to the site and see the reasons people are requesting loans, and see how much money these people make.

If people want to fund these people who am I to complain - just just can't believe the absolute gall of people.

A Company that understands the future.

When we first moved into this house - it was one of our highest priorities to have a room just to hold the computers - and inside that room would live an iRobot Roomba scheduler.

It would vacuum perhaps daily. And it would do so without us having to do a thing. I mean, other than set the scheduler and empty the bin. Yep - the future is fantastic.

More than any other room in the house having daily vacuuming was a huge deal. The computers, the peripherals - it all equals a giant vortex of dust accumulation.

Which says a lot because the bunnies cause a huge amount of vacuuming. But at least they are easy to move and clean around.

So - every effort has been made to make it so dust can not easily collect in this room. The wire racking in the data closet was even chosen for this reason.

We had planned early on that all the cables would travel under the bar high desks and into the closet. This is the tangled mess we had to figure out what to do with.





Initially we thought we would just mount a power strip to the underside of the desks and use a wire CD rack to contain the cables. This had a few down-falls.

All those cables together would make it hard to trace back things we wanted to move. Like if we wanted to move a monitor. The other problem was that every peripheral company wants to make a different size/shape power brick.

These are not too much of a problem if the power strip lays on the floor. But when you start mounting thing off the ground, gravity starts being a problem. Not to mention one brick can take up two power outlet spaces.



We honestly spent months and months trying to figure out a good solution.

So - this weekend it was do or die time. I need check-marks so I can create new projects.

We were just going with the cd rack and power strip plan. But when we went to mount the strips we found that the mounts on the back of them were incapable of getting them to mount. The holes were too small, or the screws you would need couldn't really hold the weight of everything. I'm sure the companies were saying "oh - you didn't really want to mount it did you"?

Plus the cord needed to be longer than the average length - 6/7 feet. So we set out to the store.

The first two store left us super frustrated. High end Monster Cable power strips were in those plastic shrink wrap containers. So you couldn't see what the backs looked like, and once you open it, you can't get it back together. We were about ready to give up when my husband wanted to look at Home Depot. I was convinced that was a waste of time, but we had been looking at power strips for months.

I was ready to freak out at that point. I get a little crashy towards the end of project days. Shopping only makes me more irritated.

To our amazement they had power strips - and they were all in boxes. So we could see the back of them.

And then something magical happened! Belkin had a product that accommodated power bricks - and regular plugs. It has a little ledge so the power bricks would be supported - and not fall from the weight of being suspended. And it was mountable with an 8 foot cord! Oh - and it didn't cost an arm and a leg.




This product completely broke open our bottleneck. We were able to run the cables down each side of the desks.



(Everything isn't really that pink - I just don't have my new filters to cancel out the sepia)

The bot can now do its thing without getting all tangled up in the cables, and our office is finally the way we imaged it. It only took 7 months, but we finally made it. Without Belkin, the result wouldn't have been as fantastic. Now watch it blow up tomorrow.

Spooky Tivocast warning.

Who doesn't love a good warning, but what is with that face in the corner?

I'm on Tilt.

Dear Readers..for people who like to think they own more automated devices than most - I don't understand why my husband and I aren't less exhausted. I was sure these products were going to let me have the deepest ass groove ever. But.. not so much.

It was a busy weekend and sadly - I am full of gripe'ing material.

We started out the weekend by wanting to run our new Scooba that we just bought over Christmas, and have run - probably 5 times. I was actually all set to write a great review about it even.

But - when we set it loose so we could go about the business of starting our weekend projects - it wasn't dispensing any liquid.

Somehow I think we should know by now that if the very first thing we start with screws up - we should just go back to bed. Instead of thinking we can persevere only to wind up in the fetal position mumbling and rocking back and forth.

So anyway... my husband goes to the iRobot web-site. Goes through the online debugging. Complete with the time honored technical remedy of hitting the machine. Think I'm kidding? Its in the FAQ. Nothing of course fixes it, and this means a call to customer support. Fuck. Did I mention this was a Christmas present? Used 5 times...? It doesn't even have to work that hard for christ sake. We walk around in socks 90% of the time.

I of course was filled with dread. I'd been reading stories about customer support. It seemed to me that it had really degraded in the 4 years we've owned products from iRobot. So I wasn't happy at all about having to talk to a tech support rep. As if I ever am.

A full 27 minutes on hold later, we did reach a support rep. He was really nice, and really knowledgeable. Although the prescribed remedy turned out to be not hitting it - but turning the Scooba on its side and dropping it from about 6 inches off the ground. Yes.. you read me correctly.

This did actually make the Scooba start dispensing liquid. While I must say much more than it previously did. Leaving little sudsy trails.



And it became louder and made a rattling noise. Especially when it turned.

The solution also was short lived. Within about 15 minutes the Service light came on and it stopped moving. So I suppose you could say I'm a little unhappy. I'll keep you updated on what happens with Tech Support.

This is how I'm ruining the Earth.

The very first entry on this blog was about my Friendly Robotics robomower. Here. After 3 years our battery finally gave out. Pretty impressive actually.

Even though I was initially unhappy with Friendly Robotics - after 3 years it is one of the few products that has worked reliably. And - it actually has given us many entertainment hours.

Since we have had this mower quite a long time now, the novelty has worn off for us, and it has just turned into a trusty appliance. But - it draws so much attention still after all these years. I find myself being a little uncomfortable at how many people stop in front of the house to watch it. People are fascinated by it.. so I often find myself amused at people's reactions. I will go out to check it if has finished, and someone will be stopped in the street watching it for minutes.

At any rate - this is the packaging the battery took to get it to me safely. A bit much.

All hope is lost.

The winter of naps is officially never going to happen.

People are now starting to talk about La Nina. Even though NOAA isn't officially saying this is a La Nina year. So I'm not quite an eccentric nut - though to my untrained eye even I could see the weather pattern fit a La Nina year - but I can't quite gloat yet. Here.

At any rate...this month I decided I might as well get over it and start on projects. I'm still bummed I didn't get to spend the winter laying around doing nothing. I already have many projects lined up. I can only pray that the fall brings rain so I will have some down-time. But it should be fun for you Dear Readers because I'm sure there will be plenty of wigging out.

Before I can start a new projects - by a Mr Snarkolepsy mandate - I must actually tie up the loose ends of previous projects. I'm not so great about that. I love tearing into stuff - but then because I'm so ADD I loose interest. Not this year though! So this week we were revisiting the data closet. In this picture it looked done, but there was still some painting and putting on baseboards.

Then, because you can never move anything - we had a computer hardware failure. That left us a lot of debugging - and we are stalled until Mr. Snarkolepsy fixes his hardware problem. But this is where we are at right now.

She's a little OCD.

For some reason - there is something with the Velveteen Lop breed that causes them to have special sensitivity to balding. We noticed it with our girl Paisley when she started having sore hock like issues on her back feet. She has a real inability to keep the hair there. Here is the kicker - sore hawks are usually due to them living on wire.

This girl has never stepped on a piece of wire in her life. We eventually resorted to putting down plush 30 dollar towels for the bottom of her cage. Yeah - I know.. it sounds insane. Luckily she doesn't chew things like our other bunnies, or that would be really unacceptable. Sore hawks persisted.

A while back - we noticed that she was starting to loose the hair on her chin. Crap we thought - this is really a new one. We spent a while trying to figure out what we might do, because she is obviously going to lick anything we put on her right off. We thought about vitamin E or something topical like Neosporin, but we didn't like having her ingest a very large amount of this stuff. Even the vet gave us a shrug.

We noticed that when we would pet her at night that she would lick a giant wet circle in the comforter (ewww). It finally clicked that she probably had the equivalent of chapped lips.

Since she was such a licker, she was causing her chin to become chapped. So - she would lick it more, and it was obviously causing the hair to disappear. We tried chap-stick for a while. She hates berry chap-stick. But it wasn't really doing anything. Finally we settled on good old vaseline. Thankfully she now is starting to grow her hair back. We thought she would just be bald. Go figure!

How making me happy can save you money.

Dear readers... I have to make an admission. I used to work in Tech Support. You would not be reading my blog if it weren't for one of the companies I used to work for. But that was in the long, long ago times. Now I am just a frustrated consumer.

So you see.. I understand how hard customer support is. Which maybe is why I get so completely pissed by how inefficiently customer support lines are run. You see - in tech support - you can tell within seconds who the clueless bastards are who will do nothing but drain the life from you. I am not one of them. Usually. So why does it take me 5 interactions with customer support to get my problem resolved?

Little background:
Over the weekend my network connection to Comcast Cable kept dropping in and out. About the time I would become frustrated enough to call them, my connection would magically heal itself - until this morning.

Confident enough in the idea the 2 lights on my cable modem would not increase to 4, I felt maybe I could just have Comcast reboot my modem from their side, and we could all live happily ever after. After all - it was only an intermittent problem up until that point.

With call #1, after going through all the menu's - I was exiled into a phone state filled with static. I could neither tell if I was on hold or had been disconnected.

Call #2 brought me fear that I may never actually get connected. The Comcast automated system repeatedly kept informing me that it was "trying to connect my call". I eventually did reach a support rep, and it immediately started off badly. Despite clear enunciation - it took 5 tries for the rep to get my phone number down.

Once we get through that - I describe my problem, and she begins to ping my modem. Which by that time had regained its connection. Luckily within seconds it dropped back out. This obviously perplexed the support rep. Completely incapable of diagnosing an intermittent problem I could hear her start to stutter. In my head I am starting to scream profanities, and she informs me that she doesn't see any outages in my area. Well I ask " can you reboot my modem from your side"?

A moment of brilliance pops on in her head and she asks" Oh - you want me to reboot your modem"? In my head " No- I was just hoping to chat with you about your day, and maybe diagnose my own problem" - but I only muster a sarcastic "yes". This only results in my connection fluctuating in and out.

She asks "do you have a firewall'?

At this point I'm getting pissed but I know my chances are slim of getting anyone better. This is Comcast after all. I just hope I can get her to do what I want her to do. I reply " Yes I have a firewall, but that won't make the lights on my modem show I don't have a connection".

Then she tries to punt me hoping I would go away. She asks "Do you still have the install disk the modem came with"? You have got to be joking right? So "you don't see any problems on your side" I ask?

At this point she offers up sending out a support Rep. Which makes me freak out because this means I will be without service for several days. I tell her I will take the modem down myself and swap it.

So - a half an hour later I get home with my new modem - plug it in and still no connection. The lights on the modem are reporting a fantastic connection though. I start to think "maybe those f-ing cd's do have something on them the modem needs". I install the CD, and still no connection.

Call #3 to Comcast. The automated operator again informs me she is trying to connect my call - which by the way was the message I got each time I called. Eventually I wind up being dropped.

Call #4. I get a girl named Samantha. But by this time I'm sure my voice has a mixture of pleading, and irritation. I tell her that all I want is to get on the Internet, and that I just swapped out my modem. Then something magical happens. She starts talking to me like a peer. And she knows stuff! Within a few minutes after her sending resets to my modem.. I'm able to get to Google.

At this point I am just gushing about how much I appreciate her. I tell her I have a crush on her. Yeah.. thats right. I can have a non-sexual girl crush. Chicks who know technology rock.

At any rate.. I hope I don't have to call Comcast again - for at least 30 days. But I sincerely wish they would hire more Samantha's. It is just ridiculous for it to take that amount of customer service time for a someone who is reasonably technically literate.

If you dont start letting me be a diva - I'm running away.

Several people who read my blog have made it known that I am light on bunny pictures lately. So... I will post a few over the next week or so. Then I have to take a bunny hiatus. I'm already starting to get creepy hits on the site.

To all those thinking about getting a cute little bunny for Easter. DON'T. They grow up fast, can often be very expensive and have complicated health issues. So save your money, and buy a weeks worth of latte's.

Links to other bunny pictures on this blog here.

Examples of bunny health issues here and here. Everyone is still happy and kickin.

The Rivers Edge.