Here's what I wrote on the "contact us" section of the rgrta.com website today after a very frustrating morning. True story below. My backpack is intact and so is my arm (though a little sore from being jerked).
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Funny story: My bus broke down, so I hoofed it to the next stop (corner of main and winton). Busses kept whizzing by my stop. I couldn't flag them down. :( I even went so far as standing in the middle of the road, but to no avail. (NOTE: the driver didn't even slow. The impact from the bus hitting my bag almost took me off my feet. If I had been any closer, hospitals and lawyers would have been involved :/)
So, I called the rgrta phone number to figure out where I could catch a bus that would stop. (888-288-377). The schedule option couldn't understand me (odd, I've never had trouble with an automated phone system before.) After 10 minutes looping through the phone system, I decided I'd have to bother an operator.
I called the number above again and hit 0 to get an operator. I was put on hold in the queue and waited. And waited... 20 minutes later, one of the busses actually stopped! I boarded and spoke with the driver. Turns out the other busses were headed for the garage (1100 E Main was displayed)! I figured busses that wouldn't stop would be labeled "Not in Service". Haha!
Is there a flowchart for how to navigate your phone system? It would be great if I could get schedules using the phone's keypad instead of voice because the system just doesn't understand me.
I don't think there are operators though... I've tried dialing several other times today and after 30 mins in the queue each time, I've never reached an operator.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Cash Money Money
I had a crazy day today. It started well! I was productive, had a great lunch with some developer buddies, and was enjoying the sun...
Out of my window I saw a car accident. It's kind of unreal when it happens right there in front of you. A car tried to pull a u-turn on main street across three lanes and ended up meeting head on with a pickup truck. They had to pry them apart...
That wasn't the crazy part though.
An hour later, around 2:30pm, I saw two guys stash something in a nook by my building. It's a really difficult to see nook, unless you happen to be on my floor, in my building. I called the cops and they sent someone down to check it out. The officer arrived just as someone else arrived... the other guy smacked the railing and kept walking. I didn't assume anything. The officer asked me what it was, and I didn't have a clue... I just pointed him to where it was. The officer carefully kicked the leaves off to reveal a bag. The officer then opened the bag and muttered, "whoa". "Whoa what?" I asked. He replied that it was a bag full of money. A LOT of money. There were only a handful of people that walked by while the cop and I were there. He was photographing the area and waiting back to hear from dispatch if the money was related to any downtown robberies. Eventually, I went back to my office and the officer went back to his car.
No sooner had the cops left, then the people who stashed it, and the people who had come to pick it up, came back to the site. Seriously?! Who the heck comes back to the scene after something like that? The bad news? They had each walked by individually while the officer and I were talking. They've been walking up and down my street since... I called the cops again, but they are always gone by the time the officer is there. Carazy day man... I'm not waiting at the corner bus stop (they keep walking by) or taking my bus home today.
Out of my window I saw a car accident. It's kind of unreal when it happens right there in front of you. A car tried to pull a u-turn on main street across three lanes and ended up meeting head on with a pickup truck. They had to pry them apart...
That wasn't the crazy part though.
An hour later, around 2:30pm, I saw two guys stash something in a nook by my building. It's a really difficult to see nook, unless you happen to be on my floor, in my building. I called the cops and they sent someone down to check it out. The officer arrived just as someone else arrived... the other guy smacked the railing and kept walking. I didn't assume anything. The officer asked me what it was, and I didn't have a clue... I just pointed him to where it was. The officer carefully kicked the leaves off to reveal a bag. The officer then opened the bag and muttered, "whoa". "Whoa what?" I asked. He replied that it was a bag full of money. A LOT of money. There were only a handful of people that walked by while the cop and I were there. He was photographing the area and waiting back to hear from dispatch if the money was related to any downtown robberies. Eventually, I went back to my office and the officer went back to his car.
No sooner had the cops left, then the people who stashed it, and the people who had come to pick it up, came back to the site. Seriously?! Who the heck comes back to the scene after something like that? The bad news? They had each walked by individually while the officer and I were talking. They've been walking up and down my street since... I called the cops again, but they are always gone by the time the officer is there. Carazy day man... I'm not waiting at the corner bus stop (they keep walking by) or taking my bus home today.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Magnetism
The left side of my body has recently become highly magnetized. Maybe it's the fact that I consume plenty of iron and work in front of a computer, maybe it's the fact that I sleep north-south, or maybe, it's because I love my ladies and they adore me. :)
Annabelle is on a solid, mixed diet of food and milk. This morning at around 6:30am, she had exhausted the milk supply. Cheryl, spectacular keeper of the watch that she is, struggled out of bed to fetch some more rice milk from the fridge. No sooner had she left the bed than I felt *bumbadum jiggle jiggle oomph*. The baby slid all the way from the other side of the bed, firmly attaching herself to my left side... still asleep. :D We slept for another 20 minutes then got up for breakfast, books, and the wonderfully creative world of our two year old. :)
Night before last, I went to bed before the ladies. This happens fairly frequently because Cheryl is usually on a project or enjoying the downtime by the time I resign, so she stays up 20-30 longer. She had been working on a sewing project, so she made it to bed well after I was asleep. When I woke up in the morning, she was fast asleep in the crook of my arm, (the same area that Annabelle frequents). (Side note: between the period and this side note, Annabelle called me over for a brief tower building session on "Daddy lap! Daddy lap. :)".)
I love that my ladies like to cuddle whenever I'm around. :) I'm one happy dude. :D
Annabelle is on a solid, mixed diet of food and milk. This morning at around 6:30am, she had exhausted the milk supply. Cheryl, spectacular keeper of the watch that she is, struggled out of bed to fetch some more rice milk from the fridge. No sooner had she left the bed than I felt *bumbadum jiggle jiggle oomph*. The baby slid all the way from the other side of the bed, firmly attaching herself to my left side... still asleep. :D We slept for another 20 minutes then got up for breakfast, books, and the wonderfully creative world of our two year old. :)
Night before last, I went to bed before the ladies. This happens fairly frequently because Cheryl is usually on a project or enjoying the downtime by the time I resign, so she stays up 20-30 longer. She had been working on a sewing project, so she made it to bed well after I was asleep. When I woke up in the morning, she was fast asleep in the crook of my arm, (the same area that Annabelle frequents). (Side note: between the period and this side note, Annabelle called me over for a brief tower building session on "Daddy lap! Daddy lap. :)".)
I love that my ladies like to cuddle whenever I'm around. :) I'm one happy dude. :D
Monday, November 2, 2009
Windows 7 - Virtual XP Mode
Here's a screenshot of my work PC's desktop from my home computer. I'm viewing my work PC via remote desktop over a VPN using Cisco's VPN client (v 4.7, yes, that's right, a program that definitely will not run under Windows Vista) running in Windows 7 VXP. http://screencast.com/t/5WzOVFZabv8
Unfortunately, since the vpn client requires direct access to the network card, I can't use seemless mode.
Read more about Windows 7's VXP (Virtual XP Mode) here: http://techpp.com/2009/10/20/download-windows-7-xp-mode-usage-guide/
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
I Switched to 7, Should You?
This is a long post, so I'll sum things up here at the beginning. I like Windows 7 because it disappears. The new interface is intuitive, snappy, and doesn't get between me and what I want to do on the computer. I don't have to do anything tricky to get my old programs to work, and I don't have to worry about tricks to make my programs run faster. Everything just works. Period. My second major bullet point is DELL does a GREAT job of making driver installations and finding the right software easy. Just hit their website with your tag number (sticker on your Dell machine) and you have instant access to everything that came with your computer. You never have to worry about losing OS and driver discs again!
That said, keep in mind, Windows 7 is just an operating system. Computers aren't about operating systems, they're about the programs you run and ultimately, the need you meet and people you interact with.
Windows 7 is many things. To the average, minimally tech-savy user, it's intuitive and straight forward. To the business user, it's fast and lightweight (holy crap, lightweight windows!? It's true! At only 333MB of RAM, Win 7 is a major winner). To the power user, it's integrated backup, search, libraries, powerful admin tools and more. Here's what ZDNet has to say about Windows 7 vs Vista vs XP performance-wise: http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=22006&tag=col1;post-22006
Now for my system specs and personal Windows 7 experience.
===================================
David's Machine (DELL branded 435 MT)
Use: Video editing, photo editing, gaming, work, programming, daily use
Budget media workstation, mid-range gaming PC in 2008
Value/Price Paid: $2,200/$1,200 (scratch & dent deal)
Processor: Intel Core i7-940 Nehalem, 45nm, 2.7 GHz clock, Quad core w/ Hyperthreading (8cores)
RAM: 4GB (4x 1GB) Dual channel DDR3 1333MHz
Graphics: ATI Radeon 4850 HD, PCIe 16x, 521MB GDDR 5 (b-b-b-blazing)
Disk: 1TB SATA 2 (not sure what the manufacturer is), 7200 rpm
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (Formerly Vista Home Premium 64-bit)
Internet and Quick Use PC (Asus EEE 701)
Use: Internet browsing, portable media player, hulu, vacation, note taking
Ultra-portable in 2007
Value/Price Paid: $399/$399 (yup, full price)
Processor: Intel Celeron, 65nm?, 900 MHz clock
RAM: 1.5 GB (512MB onboard + 1 GB), DDR2 667
Graphics: None
Disk: 20GB (4GB onboard SSD + 16 GB SDHC Class 6)
Operating System: Windows XP Professional N-Lite 32-bit
Family Media Center (DELL branded 531c Slim)
Use: Media library (photo/video), Light photo editing
Mid-range budget class PC in 2005
Value/Price Paid: $500/$350 (refurbished)
Processor: AMD 64 3200+, 90nm, 2.0 GHz clock
RAM: 2GB (2x 1GB) DDR2 667MHz
Graphics: None
Disk: 1TB WD Caviar Green SATA 2 (silent)
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
Guest Gaming Computer (Soltek QBIC from Scratch)
Use: Gaming when friends visit, host for data recovery
Cutting-edge gaming PC in 2004
Value/Price Paid: $900/$400 (Ray is a kickass friend)
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 Prescott, 90nm, 3.0 GHz clock
RAM: 1GB (2x 512MB) 533MHz
Graphics: ATI x1600, AGP 8x
Disk: 120 GB WD Caviar Black
Operating System: Windows XP Professional 32-bit
Now on to the good stuff!
Installation
I popped the disc into the DVD drive and restarted my computer. It booted the install disc and asked me if I wanted to upgrade, or do a custom install. I chose custom install (I always like starting fresh). I selected the partition to install on and hit the next button. Whoa! It's already installing... that's it? Aha! It tells me that another version of windows has been detected. Since I didn't want to upgrade, the old version of windows will be placed in a folder C:\windows.old. Cool, I think to myself as I hit the next button. It's off again and running. There's a message that says the machine will reboot a few times during installation. Rather than watch the pot boil, I'll go get some food and watch a quick show on my media center.
About 30 minutes into my show, the OS is installed. I plug in my serial number and create an admin account and presto, I'm on the windows desktop. It's only been 34 minutes since I started the install... could this possibly be right? Yes, it is. I'm up and ready to roll.
Ok, so now what? I'm presented with the windows 7 desktop. It doesn't look like a windows desktop. The start menu is gone and the taskbar has mac-like icons on it. Oh no!! I'm clueless and I don't know where the system tray and quick-launch tray went!? The panicky moment quickly subsides as I hover over the icons and am presented with tooltips on the new start menu and taskbar. The interface is responsive and smooth even though I haven't installed any of my drivers yet.
I opened up IE and took the windows 7 tour: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/tour (Thank you microsoft.. very straightforward)
Then I went to support.dell.com and downloaded all the relevant windows 7 addons from Dell. The download and install went smoothly and all I had to do was provide the service tag number from my PC.
2 hours later and all my programs (video editing software, games, chrome, various utilities) are installed, I've checked my email, watched an hour of hulu, and... haven't restarted the computer... WHA!?!?!?
Windows 7 didn't make me reboot the computer after any of my program or driver installs. This is crazy. It's running smoothly, and I can verify the new video drivers are being used through ATI's catalyst control center.
Sweet, so now I should probably restore all of my data from the backup. I check the hard drive and find that it's still got 600GB of data on it. That can't be right, I must've, oh, wait. A quick run of TreeSize Free tells me my pics, videos, documents and everything else from my old PC is in windows.old. Awesome! I drag the folders to where they belong on the new PC. The folder relocation is almost instantaneous (no data actually got copied, the location just got updated) and I'm back where I was before the install. The system is fully functional, I've got my picasa albums and itunes library... wow. That was easy.
Interesting. The My * folders are now called libraries. This works out really well for me because I can add multiple locations. My "Family Media Center" does a file-by-file backup for recently updated data to "David's PC"\data. Now on David's PC, I can add those doc folders to the document library and have access to all my media center files for read-only access without traversing the network. Slick.
By the by, I use SyncToy 2.0 to echo my computer's files (videos, music, documents) to the media center's Data directory, and echo the media center's content to my data directory. It's handy to have a 1TB drive in each computer. SyncToy does a great job of keeping the shadow copies in sync.
I launched DDO to play with my Thursday night gaming buddies, and the windows firewall immediately prompted me to set the access level for that application. My choices are to disallow, allow internal network only, and allow internet access. I click internet (Public) and poof. That's the last time it asks and my game works like a charm.
The uber startmenu is so fast, I've decided not to install Launchy. (Essential app launcher for XP machines).
So that's that. My computer feels a little faster, and I like the snap effects for window placement. I didn't have to go in and do all the post-install tweaks I'm used to with XP and Vista. (Er, I did disable the pagefile... force of habit.)
Questions? Comments? Flaming Mac Banter? Questions/Comments on the machines I run in my network? Why do I need 4 computers?
Leave a comment and I'll get right back to you!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Park and Ride
Y'all know I take the bus. This morning, I got out of the shower and checked my watch, noting that the bus was, at this very instant, passing my bus stop. Yipe! I hopped into my car and drove to the wegmans parking lot at empire and creek st... Then waited for 20 minutes!! As it turns out, it takes 5 minutes to drive directly to the lot, but 25 minutes (due to the winding route) for the bus to reach it.
This reduces my overall drive time on the bus to a mere 20 minutes instead of the 45 minute long-haul that has tried my bladder daily. (All the bumping and jostling directly after a full breakfast is... hard to bear).
I plan to meet the bus at the new stop on a regular basis, giving me a full 40 extra minutes of home time per day!! (Belive me, there's a lot I can do with 40 minutes a day...)
Sent from my iPod, on the Bus
This reduces my overall drive time on the bus to a mere 20 minutes instead of the 45 minute long-haul that has tried my bladder daily. (All the bumping and jostling directly after a full breakfast is... hard to bear).
I plan to meet the bus at the new stop on a regular basis, giving me a full 40 extra minutes of home time per day!! (Belive me, there's a lot I can do with 40 minutes a day...)
Sent from my iPod, on the Bus
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