drumminguy.com

A few weeks ago, Anne started getting weird errors on her laptop. Mostly in Office programs. One big one was that her outlook .pst file was corrupted. I tried to copy it, no go. Move it, no go. She just kept getting errors all of the time when shutting down Office, IE, and even the machine. I was pretty sure that the drive was going bad. So I tried to do a OS repair. That errored out. Not good. Then, I tried to do a new install. No go. Only thing left was to get a hold of Dell and see what they think. Yippee

I don’t like calling because I don’t like to be treated like an idiot on a computer. That’s what most phone tech support people do. Plus, it’s a little hard to understand them sometimes. So I got on live chat.

Tech #1: Nandini. This one wasn’t getting my replies. So that was 10 mins wasted by waiting my turn in the queue and then a “hello? hello?” for five minutes.

Tech #2: Pawan. This guy just wanted to keep trying to get the OS installed. Over and over, we kept trying. Nothing was working. For almost 2 hrs we tried. Finally, he sent me a link on how to install Vista on a new drive and call me in 30-60 minutes. I told him it was almost midnight and this wasn’t going to work. I’ve tried this already. So we setup a call back for the next evening. I followed the directions, word for word, and it didn’t work.

I didn’t want to wait so I chatted again the next morning….

Tech #3: Taranjit. Same as the first time. He didn’t get any of my replies. Disconnect and to the back of the queue again.

Tech #4: Varun. Again, they wanted to get the OS on the machine. I explained to him what we did the night before and to please review the chat log. I was tired of answering the same damn questions over and over. So I started copying and pasting the previous chat log when they would ask the same questions. And then…. we got disconnected.

Tech #5: Harpreet. Again, we started the OS install that wasn’t going to work. At one point of failure, he asked me to take the DVD out and clean it!!! Finally, after many failed attempts, he asks if I have my resource CD. We boot onto that and run the disk diagnostics. Guess what….IT FAILED!!!

04/16/2008 08:32:54AM Derek Hammond: “uncorrectable data error or media is write protected”
04/16/2008 08:33:23AM Derek Hammond: “error code 0F00:0244″
04/16/2008 08:33:25AM Agent (Harpreet_178139): “Do you get any Error Code apart from this error?”
04/16/2008 08:33:30AM Agent (Harpreet_178139): “Okay.”
04/16/2008 08:34:30AM Agent (Harpreet_178139): “Please allow me 2-3 minutes.”
04/16/2008 08:34:38AM Derek Hammond: “k”
04/16/2008 08:34:43AM Agent (Harpreet_178139): “Thank You.”
04/16/2008 08:38:06AM Agent (Harpreet_178139): “I appreciate your patience. I am still looking through my resources and would request you to allow me another 2-3 minutes to look into the issue.”
04/16/2008 08:38:13AM Derek Hammond: “k”
04/16/2008 08:41:11AM Agent (Harpreet_178139): “Thank you for staying online.”
04/16/2008 08:41:22AM Derek Hammond: “sure”
04/16/2008 08:41:28AM Agent (Harpreet_178139): “Could you please name the CDs that you have received from Dell?”
04/16/2008 08:42:23AM Derek Hammond: “operating system, drivers and utilities, webcam manager, mediadirect”
04/16/2008 08:43:00AM Derek Hammond: “do you still think it’s a software issue?”
04/16/2008 08:43:17AM Agent (Harpreet_178139): “I would like to inform you that, i am going to replace the Harddrive. Will that be fine?”
04/16/2008 08:43:25AM Derek Hammond: “absolutely”
04/16/2008 08:43:29AM Agent (Harpreet_178139): “No, it might be hardware issue.”
04/16/2008 08:43:40AM Derek Hammond: “i thought so”

I know that they have to exhaust every possibility that won’t cost them money. But how can you justify paying someone to keep pushing OS installs when it’s not working? The drive cost them $181. How much did they pay the techs in that period of time? Even in India, it had to be more than $181 bucks. You think?

• Baseball = fun
• coaching baseball = fun
• coaching my son playing baseball = fun
• coaching my son playing baseball in 38 degree weather with drizzle = not so fun
• coaching my son playing baseball in 38 degree weather with drizzle during a double header = not too fun

Baseball season is in full force but you wouldn’t know by the stinking Indiana weather. We’ve yet to have a practice where the ground is completely dry. This week looks pretty good so we’ll see.

Oh… we are 1 - 1. I’m thinking the weather had a little to do with the second game. Some of the kids couldn’t throw the ball because they were unable to grab it. FROZEN HANDS!!!

…and Josh hit a triple.

I’ve become a big Foo Fighters fan. I hated Nirvana but love Foo. Josh really likes them and Anne is starting to like them too. I’ve always wanted to see them live but never came any closer than Chicago.
All that changed this morning. I got a Conceco Fieldhouse notification that pre-sale tickets for the Foo Fighters was today at 10. So July 23rd, I get to see them. It might be in Conceco, but it’s still the Foo.

Breathe out, so I can breathe you in.
Hold you in.

Disclaimer…this post is about….poop
That title is from a Limp Bizkit song called “Nookie”
I’ve been thinking about this and I still find it just too funny.
We’ve been struggling with potty training Morg. It’s hit or miss (no pun intended) with that kid. Sometimes he just refuses to go to the potty. The other night, there was clear evidence that he needed to go. So I put him on the potty and would not let him get off. I then went into the next room so he could do his thing. He cried for a couple minutes and then there was silence. He then began yelling, “I POOPED! I POOPED!”
Ok so here is my observation. The thought of seeing any other persons leftovers is just plain nasty. But why is it when you see a toilet full of your kid’s, it’s a celebration?!?! I mean we were singing…dancing…all for the sight of poop.

This guy has a ton of these. TOO FUNNY!!!

I just read today from one of my many nerdy news feeds that the highly anticipated Clone Wars animated TV series will air on the big screen first!!! August 15th will be the premier of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. It’s not like The Clone Wars shorts that came out a couple years ago, it’s a CGI version that looks incredible. Then, in the fall, the series will start on Cartoon Network.

I decided to switch to the black Pearl bass drum head that came with the kit. However, I really dig the vintage shield. So I ordered a new shield from Vintage Logos. I think it looks pretty good.

So says my darling wife.

So over the weekend, she says that we are going to go get my birthday gift. I will have to pick it out, but it’s something that she wants me to have. I really didn’t know what she was going to get me. Then on Sunday, while enjoying a Jimmy John’s sub with the boys, she tells me where we are going. I couldn’t believe it. You see… she has been a little upset with me since I sold my last kit a couple Christmases ago. She always told me, “How can you be Drumminguy when you don’t have drums?”

She’s right….as always.

Pearl Vision VSX Gun Metal Sparkle 10,12,14,22
DW Curved Rack
Pearl Eliminator Hi-hat stand
Custom Buddy Rich Badge Bass drum head (my initials)
Roc N Soc throne
and no cymbals. haha

Like Star Wars? Like Coming to America? You’ll like this. A HA!!!

I signed Josh up for baseball today.