i just finished moving out of my math department office. a year ago i had 3 offices at rutgers, and now i have 0. (actually, i'm hanging on to the keys until july, just to make it a gradual process, but my desk area is EMPTY).
this morning, i got an email from a friend at church who wants to plan lunch with me and a bunch of other people in a month as a goodbye party of sorts.
i mean, sure i "knew" i'm leaving, and i've been planning on packing, moving, and preparing for indiana for months now, but i think today was the first time i "felt" it.
it's going to be a heck of a lot more difficult to say goodbye to new jersey than i've been allowing myself to think it would be....
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, May 08, 2008
holy cow!
I HAVE A TICKET TO NEW ZEALAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i've been talking about going to the next permutations conference since the location was announced last june, but it's so much more concrete to actually have a plane ticket. holy cow...
such long layovers, and such long flights... i'm getting like 9616 miles one way and 9739 miles the other way.... awesome!
the trans-pacific legs are on double decker planes with nearly 70 rows of seats... i've been trans atlantic before, but that's still HUGE.
this is really happening.... HOORAY!
i've been talking about going to the next permutations conference since the location was announced last june, but it's so much more concrete to actually have a plane ticket. holy cow...
such long layovers, and such long flights... i'm getting like 9616 miles one way and 9739 miles the other way.... awesome!
the trans-pacific legs are on double decker planes with nearly 70 rows of seats... i've been trans atlantic before, but that's still HUGE.
this is really happening.... HOORAY!
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Thursday, May 01, 2008
take THAT circuit city!
the story:
* my mom helped me get a laptop for christmas 2006. (my christmas present was she let me build my own laptop, and she paid a fixed amount, and i paid anything in surplus of that.)
* i got an HP pavillion dv6000, which is a really cute machine, and i've liked it a lot.
* unfortunately one of the common problems with this model (which i didn't know at the time) was that the power button/speakers go out...
* i have had this laptop for nearly 1.5 years now and my one year warranty was over, when i had the power button/speakers problem.
* since i'd had a good relationship with circuit city for buying equipment and customer service throughout my time in NJ, i went there to see about repairs.
* they told me up front they charge $60-$70 as a "diagnosis fee" to tell you what's wrong (i.e. to cover themselves just in case what you think is wrong isn't the only problem). i agreed, and told them that the power button and speakers didn't work. i'd talked to HP customer support and determined it wasn't a software issue, so i needed a store to take it in person and fix the hardware. they gave me a work order that said explicitly "power and main speakers don't work." they said they'd call in 3-7 days.
* 10 days later, i'd heard nothing, so i went in in person to ask. the guy i dropped the computer off with looked surprised, and went and called the shop on his iphone and chatted across the store for 10 whole minutes. he returned to me and said "yeah, so your speakers don't work and there's a lot on your desktop"
me: "yes, that's what i told you when i dropped it off. can you tell me something new? what about the power button?"
circuitcity guy: "just a second, let me call the guy in the shop again"
(5 minutes later)
circuitcity guy: "really? he was supposed to look at your power button?"
me: (wave work order) "that IS what this says, isn't it?"
circuitcity guy: "oh... ok, well, i've been on the clock for 2 hours and not doing anything, how about if i get it and look at it myself"
me: "that would be good"
... i went home and he called an hour later "yeah, your speakers and power button have bad cables, but i can't find the part myself... if you locate it, you can bring it back here for me to install it."
$60 and TEN DAYS to REPEAT WHAT I TOLD YOU MYSELF when i dropped it off.... EERRRRRGGGHHH!!!!! circuit city... never again....
* on account of his comments, my brother and i went on ebay and found a refurbished power button and cable for my model of computer ($20), and monday night i went to my friend jared's house and let him disect my computer and replace the power button.
* this morning, i turned on my computer, and the sound was magically working too! (so apparently circuit city didn't even know what they were talking about on that!)
all this is to say, i'd had a bad experience with the people at best buy telling lies and acting like they knew all about equipment that they didn't back in february... now with circuit city, i realize that they don't necessarily have any better people. if it's luck of the draw, from here on out, i'm doing my own computer repair, because the so-called "experts" are kind of crap at it...
end of rant. :)
* my mom helped me get a laptop for christmas 2006. (my christmas present was she let me build my own laptop, and she paid a fixed amount, and i paid anything in surplus of that.)
* i got an HP pavillion dv6000, which is a really cute machine, and i've liked it a lot.
* unfortunately one of the common problems with this model (which i didn't know at the time) was that the power button/speakers go out...
* i have had this laptop for nearly 1.5 years now and my one year warranty was over, when i had the power button/speakers problem.
* since i'd had a good relationship with circuit city for buying equipment and customer service throughout my time in NJ, i went there to see about repairs.
* they told me up front they charge $60-$70 as a "diagnosis fee" to tell you what's wrong (i.e. to cover themselves just in case what you think is wrong isn't the only problem). i agreed, and told them that the power button and speakers didn't work. i'd talked to HP customer support and determined it wasn't a software issue, so i needed a store to take it in person and fix the hardware. they gave me a work order that said explicitly "power and main speakers don't work." they said they'd call in 3-7 days.
* 10 days later, i'd heard nothing, so i went in in person to ask. the guy i dropped the computer off with looked surprised, and went and called the shop on his iphone and chatted across the store for 10 whole minutes. he returned to me and said "yeah, so your speakers don't work and there's a lot on your desktop"
me: "yes, that's what i told you when i dropped it off. can you tell me something new? what about the power button?"
circuitcity guy: "just a second, let me call the guy in the shop again"
(5 minutes later)
circuitcity guy: "really? he was supposed to look at your power button?"
me: (wave work order) "that IS what this says, isn't it?"
circuitcity guy: "oh... ok, well, i've been on the clock for 2 hours and not doing anything, how about if i get it and look at it myself"
me: "that would be good"
... i went home and he called an hour later "yeah, your speakers and power button have bad cables, but i can't find the part myself... if you locate it, you can bring it back here for me to install it."
$60 and TEN DAYS to REPEAT WHAT I TOLD YOU MYSELF when i dropped it off.... EERRRRRGGGHHH!!!!! circuit city... never again....
* on account of his comments, my brother and i went on ebay and found a refurbished power button and cable for my model of computer ($20), and monday night i went to my friend jared's house and let him disect my computer and replace the power button.
* this morning, i turned on my computer, and the sound was magically working too! (so apparently circuit city didn't even know what they were talking about on that!)
all this is to say, i'd had a bad experience with the people at best buy telling lies and acting like they knew all about equipment that they didn't back in february... now with circuit city, i realize that they don't necessarily have any better people. if it's luck of the draw, from here on out, i'm doing my own computer repair, because the so-called "experts" are kind of crap at it...
end of rant. :)
