No pictures, just hate

There will be no pictures for a few days, due in no small part to Apple.

I mentioned last week that my computers power supply died. The power supply was 4 months old. The power supply was a replacement for another Apple power supply. At the time I bought the more expensive Apple manufactured power supply, because one would think that the original manufacturer equipment would be a safer bet than buying off-brand products.

Anyway.

I called Apple, they said I would have to pay $45 to talk to tech support. While the power supply did cost more than $45, I'm am not willing to pay the money unless I know there is a pretty good chance they will fix the problem. Yesterday I called Apple to register a complaint; 1. the product should really last longer than 4 months 2. Apple shouldn't charge me $45 to talk about my problem 3. how are they supposed to address this problem if they are unwilling to hear about it without me paying them 1/2 the price of the product.

Today I plan to call and register a new complaint regarding how they dealt with my prior complaint. 1. It is really not clear where complaints should be directed, I ended up talking to a sales person 2. while I didn't think the guy I spoke to was un-friendly or anything like that, he didn't ask my name, what specific product I was calling in regards to, at the end he apologized, not because I think he cared, but because that is how a complaint should generally be ended. I am not trying to complain about the man I spoke to, but about the protocol regarding how a complaint is dealt with. I've worked enough retail/service industry jobs to know that the customer is generally wrong and that the malfunction is probably their own fault. But, you (the company) have to at least pretend that you care, you have to a the very least make it seem like you are going to remedy the customers problem, you have to take down the customers information so if a solution is found, then the customer could be contacted, or maybe an apology could be issued. You have to take down the product information, I don't think i need to explain why this is important. The thing is, Apple is a company that, I thought, prided itself on customer service and user-friendly-ness, just because my computer is 4 years old doesn't mean that it is less important. How Apple treats me now affects how I will feel about them in the future. Just because I'm poor now doesn't mean I will always be. I know, because of various research, that Apple has captured markets that are generally thought of as un-capture-able, but, they should also realize that these particular markets are also poor, fickle and vocal in regards to complaining...especially, via the internet. I'm just saying, word travels fast in the jungle.

Life just got slightly easier (almost)

I may have mentioned in the past how I curse the New York DMV on a daily basis. Today I am one step closer to severing my ties with the New York Department of Motor Vehicles. This is the document that says that they have received and destroyed my New York plates. There was no mention of them reimbursing me for my registration fees (it was only registered for one day!). So, now I can stop paying New York insurance rates on a car that has never been to New York. I'm still waiting for the cars title and actually, I plan to harbor a hatred for the New York DMV until they give me a reason to feel otherwise.

Maybe I'm looking angry or maybe happy. I did have Monday off, so we'll assume it's the later.

I took a scenic driving tour. It was pretty gray out but not raining. These have always been my favorite days, on the West Coast that is.

The rest of the day I spent practicing the Organ. Unfortunately the library was closed so I'm still just playing Rain Drops Keep Falin' on My Head.

I went out for sushi with Gwenyth. This sushi is the size of my head. The waiter remembered me from the last time I was there. When I told him I no longer had a New York drivers license it was decided that I sadly had no more creds.

I can't figure out what this is a picture of so I'll talk about something else. I might actually be getting a futon. This means I can stop sleeping on the floor, not that it really bothers me that much. I think I've adjusted to the chronic pains.

The power adapter thing for the computer(that I bought 5 or 6 months ago) stopped working. I called Apple, they told me that we could talk about the problem if I paid them $40. I'm going to call them again tomorrow and register a complaint then I'm going to buy an off-brand power supply.

This is a document of the who-knows-what that goes on across the street from my work. Actually, whatever is going on, is going on slightly out of frame to the right.

These are some wild turkeys I saw wandering around down the street from my apartment. They are actually also out of frame, this time to the left. I think wild turkey might be a little gamy...

Included with the free (abbreviated section of) news paper, delivered to my door this evening, was this extra special section dedicated to preparing for my death in 2007.

Sportsman Show

Me, Maggie, David & Joni went to the Sportsman Festival at the Fairgrounds. This is a wall of deer heads. More amazing was the pile of spare deer heads on the floor below.

There was a giant fish tank filled with local fish and a fisherman giving demonstrations of various baits. He caught several fish while we were standing there. the giant fish tank smelled kind of bad.

This is a monster truck. This one is similar to the monster truck owned by the guy who sold me the now dead Volvo, except you didn't need a ladder to get into that one.

David was really into the RVs on display. Most of the RVs were equipped with sub-zero refrigerators, flat screen TVs and were generaly larger than our apartments.

Maggie really wanted to shoot a gun. The Gun & Knife Show was actually last week but, we found some guys in the parking lot who were willing to make her dream a reality.

This was a miniature NASCAR race although, some of the racers seemed more interested in crashing the cars than racing them. I was amazed at how little the carny working the race cared.

This was a pool where kids could pay $1 to catch a fish. Once you caught a fish, a man with a bloody rag would come over, remove the hook, and stick your still wiggling fish into a bag.

This is a kid holding a wiggling fish.

Wildlife Adventure had a booth equipped with a baby alligator and an albino snake. This woman was not supposed to walk into the middle of my shot.

The Army had several booths set up one of which you could play a video game where you could shoot insurgents with a large machine gun. This is a picture of a portly teenager showing off for the recruiter.

We went to the bird show and saw many birds. None of the trained birds were local, most weren't even from this country. It was a pretty good show, a kid in the front row almost got eaten by a giant condor.

These deer had fur on there horns. Each deer had a little informative placards. None of the information provided explained the fur. All of the information seemed to be about the various animals point values (I don't even know what that means??).

We left after trying all of the free samples of kettle corn and so-forth.

This may be a picture of me practicing on the organ. I have to find some new sheet music, I'm really tired of playing Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head.

A good time was had by all

A party was held in honor of Chinese New Year/Presidents Day/My one month anniversary in Oregon.

This is Lupita in a hat. I took pictures even though I was pretty sure that they wouldn't come out.

One guest commented on the contents of my fridge saying that I was cheap and had pedestrian tastes (they may not have said pedestrian specifically). While I was fine with being thought of as cheap (granted, I prefer to think of it as working within a budget)the pedestrian comment rubbed me the wrong way. I really don't see anything wrong with havening milk, eggs, cheese, cheap American beer and half of a turkey in ones fridge. I actually don't think this guest meant to offend me with their analysis's and I'm a little embarrassed that I'm using this as a forum to validate the contents of my refrigerator (obviously not quite embarrassed enough to edit out my comments on the subject).

While we're on the subject I got off-brand ginger ale and it's a little funky but a real bargain at $0.75 for two liters (it's actually the same price for the one liter size). Maybe I've learned something today...

I tryed to make a party play-list with a little something for everyone, but as it turns out people just wanted to listen to John Denver and the Chipmunks Punk album.

The party was a little short on dancing but, my apartments also a little short on space for dancing.

Maggie & David brought pop corn for a festive snack. Later, they helped me get the festive snack out of my carpet.

This is Lupita in a diferent hat.

We all went to the Sugar Pine for some karaoke action.

Mounted on the ceiling is the saddest disco light ever. It's covered in who knows how many years of cigarette smoke and blinks sadly at no particular interval. It looks pretty good in this picture though.

I sang Take Me Home, Country Roads this time by John Denver. I'm not sure what song Gwenyth sang, though I don't think it was the one she had picked.

Singing and dancing abound.

After most of our party had left I sang White Wedding by Billy Idol. The night before I also sang White Wedding with the help of some guy who afterwards shook my hand and told me I was "kryptonyte" (sp).

Again, I don't know the song Gwenyth sang. This time it was the song she had chosen. She has been practicing the same song for a while now so she can compete at a karaoke competition at the Indian casino.

This is the vodka that I got for the party. I chose it for aesthetic reasons and not for the quality of it's contents.

Take me home, country roads

I went to the SPCA thrift store and bought some records (10 for $1)and some tapes. I got John Denver's greatest hits which includes Take Me Home Country Roads. I had tried to sing Take Me Home Country Roads the previous night, but for some reason I thought it was by James Taylor. Needless to say that particular bought with karaoke went less well than could be hoped. I also got a J.J. Fad tape (Supersonic was the hit, just in case you forgot).

I finally went to the Donut Hole. The woman working there was quite friendly and quite old.

Most of the donuts (besides the ones in the previous picture) were quite small and odly shaped. The donut lady squeezed most of the donuts trying to find me a less stale one. In the end she gave me two for the price of one.

This is an adapter that fits into your 8 track player so you can play cassette tapes. The adapter only had two buttons on it, play & stop. At the register (where I was not buying an 8 track adapter) the guy working the register asked if I had "found any treasures". This creeped me out a little.

I got this organ at the Salvation Army for $5. While I was trying it out in the store a woman near by said "wow, that's awful. You know some people call that music".

I noticed that if I close my trunk to hard part of the bumper will fall off.

How to cut your own hair (a tutorial)

There is some back story necessary for this post. On Sunday or possibly Monday (ok, that part isn't important to the story) I decided I needed a haircut because 1. my hair looked bad 2. I had a court date, and I think your supposed to look professional or something at such appointments, and 3. Valentines day was approaching and how are you supposed to impress the lady's if you look like a hobo. Anyway, I cut it myself and did a stunningly bad job. The following day Maggie did some damage control, mostly fixing the back. I was no longer embarrassed to go into public, but it was a far cry from a good haircut. Two days later I got Gwenyth to cut it, she did a great job and I am quite happy.

How can I be so adorable in this picture, it baffles even me. Gwenyth forbid me from cutting it myself again.

Gwenyth told me not to take her picture.

I don't know what this is supposed to be. It looks alot like my breakfast table though.

These are some Valentines candies I was given.

In case I had forgotten to take the previous picture.

I think I was trying to document my good looks in case I turn ugly some day.

Over the course of the month that I've been here my apartment has gone from clean and charming to bachelor pad to hell whole.

Adam was supposed to do dramatic reading at an anti-valentines event. This is supposed to be a picture of cookies with those chalkie heart candies attached to them. I ate many of these cookies and called it dinner.

This is some punch made from sherbet and Sprite, it was brown instead of rainbow colored. I drank many glasses, Adam declared that it looked disgusting and then he left, sans dramatic reading.