Finally – a restful Sunday!

For the first time in quite a while, I feel rested following the weekend.  I’m tired and could easily take a nap, but I’m not to-the-bone exhausted and feeling miserable like has been the case recently.  Its probably because of the awesome Sunday Carrie and I had, which consisted of getting out of bed before 6 (if memory serves – I didn’t pay much attention to the clock) eating breakfast by 8 and bouncing around the house getting small, easy tasks done.

At around 12, we headed out to Best Buy so I could spend my B-day gift card I received from her parents and then on to go ice skating at 12:30.  When we got home at around 2, we decided on pizza and salad, after which we took a nap for a little over an hour until around 4:30.

The rest of the evening consisted of us doing nothing, more or less, with me formatting and reinstalling XP on her PC and getting it on the network, and her doing some baking.  We didn’t get to bed until around 10, which is late for us, but even with that, I still feel more awake and energetic than I have in I don’t know how long.

That’s good, too, as I was worried I was gonna be tired, a problem that would compound itself this week, as I have 2 hockey games to watch, both of which are later than normal.

Oh, and go Wings!

PC Upgrades, Problems

I decided it was time to do a few much needed upgrades to my PC, and ordered an LCD monitor, keyboard and RAM.  I also purchased a new wireless mouse.  None of these were really impulse buys – I’ve been mentally shopping for the monitor and keyboard since early last year, since my keyboard has been slowly getting worse, as keys don’t always spring back as they should and so on.  And the monitor I’m retiring I purchased refurbished in 2002, and it was a deal then – under $200 for a ‘flat screen’ (i.e. not as curved as most, but not completely flat) 19″ CRT.  It wasn’t in great shape cosmetically, but I took it apart and painted it black, using Fusion paint.  It worked very well, and no one ever questioned that it came from the factory as a black unit (giggity).

As far as upgrading the monitor goes, I really didn’t want to move to LCD.  Without spending big, big bucks on a professional grade LCD, it seems to be a universally accepted truth that there is a considerable loss of crispness and such as compared to CRT displays.  Naturally, because I’m cheap, I didn’t want to spend much, so I opted for a 22″ widescreen Acer, that was very well-reviewed.  After making the swap yesterday, I’m extremely impressed.  Not only is there not much difference between the quality of my old CRT and this Acer, but the amount of screen real estate a 22″ widescreen provides is staggering compared to a 4:3 19″.  I’ve long known that widescreen offers more usable screen area, since it more appropriately matches our horizontally-biased field of view, but even that didn’t prepare me for how much space this thing provides.  My Vista desktop is huge and gorgeous.  I’m very happy with that purchase.

The keyboard I got is a Logitech G11, and I like it as well, though I’ve really not had a chance to get used to it, or to use it in low light where it being backlit would be advantageous.  But so far, so good.  While on the subject of input devices, the mouse I purchased is a Logitech as well, though I’m not certain of the exact model.  I’ve used both Microsoft and Logitech mice & keyboards over the years, and while MS makes a fine product, I’ve generally been more consistently impressed with Logitech’s offerings.  They’ve got a customer for life.

And now the problems…

I also purchased 2GB of G-Skill RAM (2×1GB) for the desktop, simply to extend its life a bit more.  And when it comes to Vista, 2GB is analogous to 1GB with XP.  Anything less can be annoying and sometimes frustrating.  Anyhow, I popped the new sticks in and couldn’t even boot.  Repeated BSOD’s right after post some times, then if it ever got beyond that point, it would BSOD while loading Windows.  I’d get the progress bar for a few seconds, then BSOD.  At first I thought the problem was the RAM, so I replaced the old sticks, and then BSOD’d further into Vista’s boot sequence.  Turns out I had another problem with the monitor, as I had left both the VGA and DVI-D cables attached, per Acer’s instructions.  Removing the VGA solved that.  However, when Windows would greet me with the safe mode prompt, my keyboard wouldn’t function.  That’s actually been a problem in the past, though once in Windows everything functions properly.  Anyhow, using a different USB port solved that.  After correcting those other issues (VGA, USB), I reinstalled the new RAM, and sure enough, BSOD after post.

I’ve requested and RMA from NewEgg, and hope to get my replacements within a couple of weeks.  I’ll post an update then, and hopefully its good news.

Damn the man!

This past fall, I read the story of Michael Righi and how he got detained illegally by Circuit City, and subsequently arrested by Brooklyn, Ohio police.  Basically, what happened was Michael went into CC, purchased 2 items, and as he was leaving the store, he got the customary interception by the door person asking to see his receipt.  He refused, and was followed into the parking lot and detained there by CC employees.  Michael called the police, who upon arriving asked to see his I.D.  Michael once again refused, since he had done nothing wrong, and was placed under arrest.  Of course, he was released, as everything he did was well within his legal rights.

After I read that story, I have to admit that I felt pretty stupid.  I felt like a sheep.  I mean, I had always been more than happy to show my receipt, because it never occurred to me that I was being illegally harassed.  Typically, I know my rights and exercise those rights at all times.  So, when I came to the ‘duh’-like revelation that I had given up my rights and succumbed to such gross harassment so many times, I felt dumb.  I mean, I have long since made it a point to never stop when I purchase something with an RFID tag on it that an inept checkout person failed to scan, thus causing me to set off the door alarm.  Its amazing to me how many people actually feel bad when they trip those things!  I mean, you paid for your stuff, and now you’re apologizing because you’ve been accused of shoplifting?  Fuck that!!!

Somehow, I never made the logical connection to the ’show me your receipt’ attacks at the big box electronics stores.  Reading Michael’s story changed that, and I promised myself to never agree to show them anything, unless they were willing to call the police.  This brings me to yesterday evening…

While at work yesterday, I purchased a wireless mouse and a 25-pack spindle of DVD+R’s online for in-store pickup, so that I could quickly grab these things on my way home from work.  As I walked in to CC with my 8.5″x11″, 2-page printout of my purchase verification email, I was, as always, cordial to the guy at the door.  When he welcomed me to CC, I politely greeted him and thanked him for his whole ‘welcome spiel’.  I then walked the 50 feet to the customer service counter to pick up my order, provided my driver’s license and the VISA card I used for the purchase, signed a receipt and was on my way to the door.  Of course, the door guy prepared for his usual inspection.

Him: “Can I take a look at your receipt, sir?”

Me: “Excuse me?”

Him: “I just need to check your receipt.”

Me: “Why?”

Him: “Its store policy, sir.”

Me: “No, its actually illegal and violates my civil rights.”

He was dumbfounded, at the customers at the 2 nearest checkout lanes were now paying attention, as I was making no effort to be quiet.  He stammered, and managed to say

“I can get my manager, sir.”

Me: “Fine.  I’d love to teach him about civil rights.”

Him: “Its store policy to check your receipt, sir, and I can’t let you leave until I do.”

Me: “Are you suggesting that the Madison Heights Circuit City’s store policy supercedes my civil rights?”

This drew audible laughter from those now watching this episode unfold.  The CC door guy was completely dumbfounded, which leads me believe no one has ever informed him just how asinine the above concept was, but he surely was starting to understand my point.  Instead of waiting for him to say something, I said

“Are you going to try and retain me?”

Him: “You won’t be allowed back into the store if you leave.”

Me: “That’s fine by me.”

Now, many people will probably read this and think its a waste of time and energy, and I should have just gave in and provided my receipt.  To that, I say bullshit.  In what United States of America am I presumed a shoplifter without cause?  The excerpt from Michael’s blog below sums up my feelings on the issue rather well:

I’ve always taken the stance that retail stores shouldn’t treat their loyal customers as criminals and that customers shouldn’t so willingly give up their rights along with their money. Theft sucks and I wish that shoplifters were treated more harshly than they are, but the fact is that I am not a shoplifter and shouldn’t have to forfeit my civil rights when leaving a store.

Indeed.

Oops-A-Daisy!