Follow up on the Installing Software? post:
If you do have to call tech support, do yourself and the technician a favor: CALM DOWN!
I deal mostly with students that are installing software so they can work at the dorm or at home to finish their assignments on time. I know the pressure they are under, I've been up against deadlines too. But some people act as if they don't get the assignment in on time, they will fail and they have no hope of success. However, I have flunked courses, retook them and passed. Unless you are studying to be an emergency room surgeon, just how important is this work?
Stress can keep you from having a proper perspective on things. When discussing your problem, relax. Also, prepare for your call. Is the software giving you an error message? The message will have information the tech will need to research your problem. Keep the message up on your computer, or clipboard the text of the message into Notepad. The tech might have to ask you to send him or her the message in an email. Also, you might take some quick notes on what happens when you take the actions that cause the problem to appear.
I'm writing this because I actually hung up on a potential client this week. She had installed AutoCAD on a Mac notebook, and it was acting strange. For those that don't know, Autodesk, the company that makes ACAD, decided long ago to stop producing ACAD for Macs. They only produce it for Windows operating systems. To run ACAD on a Mac, you have to load Windows. I'm not sure if Autodesk supports ACAD in this setup. But that's not why I hung up on her.
I hung up on her because she needed to calm down. From the way she was acting, I believe that if I told her to calm down, she would have just gotten more upset. You could hear the tension in her voice. She talked fast, and threw a lot at me with each breath. If I didn't answer right away, she would start talking again and not give me time to think. When I did tell her that a virus could have gotten on the Windows side of her system, she contradicted me. Macs are NOT immune to viruses! It's just that hackers have easier targets in PC's. If Macs were as popular as PC's, they would have the same virus problems that PC's do. When I realized that she was making me nervous, and she wasn't likely to listen to anything I had to say, I hung up.
On the flipside, I had a very pleasant surprise yesterday. As I have mentioned, I work at home. I record information about the calls I take in a database that I access by a remote connection to a 'puter at the main office. Someone from the office brings my paycheck to me. But they have to deliver checks to other employees in the area, so it's not like they have to come out of their way to get my paycheck to me. The drive directly from the office to my house takes about 15 - 20 minutes. When I used to drive to the office, I would stop at a C-store for something to drink, and the trip was about 30 minutes.
I get a call from Barbara at the office. She asks if I'm going to be home about 30 minutes later. I say I was fixing to go somewhere, but I should be back by then. She tells me she would leave the office about 11:00. She then explains that they're being audited on Monday, and the accountants can't find the W-4's, and she needs to come by with a form for me to sign. In the back of my mind, I though, "Yeah, right!"
I run my errands, and get back in time. I'm actually sitting in my room about 11:30 when I hear a car door slam. I grab my pen just in case, and head towards the front door. Instead of a form, she had a cake, balloons and a birthday card signed by the people at the office. I haven't had a birthday cake in years. Usually, birthday celebrations at my house consist of ordering in pizza, and a card that might be handmade. The cake is chocolate, with lots of butter cream frosting, and it is so rich and deliscious!
I didn't get pizza, but Mom and I went over to Bixby because she wanted to get some fresh okra at Conrad Farms, then we went around the corner to the Apple Barrel Cafe, where she treated me to lunch. We both had catfish, which neither one of us has had in a while.
Just a few minutes ago, while typing in the previous item, I turned off my radio. I listened to the Tulsa University game against University of Texas - El Paso. TU won, 77 - 35! There's been talk about TU getting ranked in the Top 25, and now with a win this big, and 7 - 0 record, and other teams in the Top 25 faltering, it should happen. If it doesn't, well, I'm not saying it's time for pitchforks and torches, but...
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Not a bad birthday
Well, I didn't get to see much today in the way of directly observing severe weather. But I did get to follow some of the coverage of storms that blew through my area. I am still listening to the weather net on the Tulsa Amateur Radio Club's UHF link system at this time (2200 CDT). Storms have moved out of Okahoma, and I suspect the net will end soon.
My problem with storm watching right now is a real estate issue - location, location, location! I live close to the bottom of a ridge line that runs mostly north and south, and the ridge is to my west. Another ridge that runs east and west lies to my north. The ground to my east gently slopes uphill, but the treeline of a creek sits about half a block away. Lots of trees to the south, too. So, unless something is almost right on top me, I can't see diddly, or the storms!
Not long after 1 PM, I made my run (walk, actually) to the PO and then headed towards one of the two convenience store for something for a special b-day lunch. As I approached the local car wash, I noticed a young police officer WASHING a brand new patrol unit! I stopped and told him he must have really wanted it to storm! We talked for a bit about the storm threat for today. I had talked to him some last year when I volunteered to do some spotting for the town. (That hasn't worked out so well, due to my limited transportation options.) I found out he is taking over as Chief for a year as the regular Chief is going to Afghanistan for a year as a consultant to the police forces there. I told him that I might be able to get a car soon, and then I can start working on helping the town put together a spotting program.
Later, as I headed south down my street, I could feel outflow from a cell to my southwest hit me in the face. When I got home and woke up my computer, it showed me the Press Cntrl-Alt-Del screen. A power spike must have struck while I was away.
Anyway, I enjoyed a lunch of salad, boneless chicken strips and nacho cheese flavored tortilla chips. The first wave, mostly rain, moved through soon afterwards. I didn't bother to look at it bacause a gap developed in the squall line and guess where the gap headed - right at Kiefer. Redevlopment filled in the line, but with rain that lasted a while. Skies cleared between 4 and 6 PM, and then next wave moved in.
Storms that first developed west of I-35 moved into Pawnee and Osage Cos. A crescent shaped line popped up in Creek Co. south of I-44 with the center of the arc near Bristow in the middle of the county. This crescent moved northeast towards Sapulpa and Sand Springs. Part of this storm developed a funnel between Sapulpa, Sand Springs, and Tulsa.
Soon afterwards, around 7 PM, straightline winds lifted, then dropped a large tent and its poles in west Tulsa in a park on the Arkansas River. A private, corporate event was going on at the time in connection with Tulsa's Octoberfest, and about 40 people were injured. The genereal manager of KTUL-TV, the local ABC affliate, was there and reported from the scene. One of my fellow hams, Fred Williams, KD5NBR, and a chaser for the station, reported in and also sent in video of the first responders and the downed tent.
The sad irony of the Octoberfest incident is that Jim Giles, the chief meteorologist for KOTV, the CBS affliate, had been very involved with the event in the past. He passed away late last year, and he had worked so hard throughout his career to protect lives.
Anyway, in between the storms, I had pizza, which has been a rare treat for me the last two years.
I didn't get any presents, unless you count the pizza my Mom paid for, and she gave me a handmade 'card'. That doesn't matter much, as I pretty much enjoyed myself today. In case you're wondering how old I am, I've reached the point where I don't mind having a birthday, I just don't care to count them anymore!
My problem with storm watching right now is a real estate issue - location, location, location! I live close to the bottom of a ridge line that runs mostly north and south, and the ridge is to my west. Another ridge that runs east and west lies to my north. The ground to my east gently slopes uphill, but the treeline of a creek sits about half a block away. Lots of trees to the south, too. So, unless something is almost right on top me, I can't see diddly, or the storms!
Not long after 1 PM, I made my run (walk, actually) to the PO and then headed towards one of the two convenience store for something for a special b-day lunch. As I approached the local car wash, I noticed a young police officer WASHING a brand new patrol unit! I stopped and told him he must have really wanted it to storm! We talked for a bit about the storm threat for today. I had talked to him some last year when I volunteered to do some spotting for the town. (That hasn't worked out so well, due to my limited transportation options.) I found out he is taking over as Chief for a year as the regular Chief is going to Afghanistan for a year as a consultant to the police forces there. I told him that I might be able to get a car soon, and then I can start working on helping the town put together a spotting program.
Later, as I headed south down my street, I could feel outflow from a cell to my southwest hit me in the face. When I got home and woke up my computer, it showed me the Press Cntrl-Alt-Del screen. A power spike must have struck while I was away.
Anyway, I enjoyed a lunch of salad, boneless chicken strips and nacho cheese flavored tortilla chips. The first wave, mostly rain, moved through soon afterwards. I didn't bother to look at it bacause a gap developed in the squall line and guess where the gap headed - right at Kiefer. Redevlopment filled in the line, but with rain that lasted a while. Skies cleared between 4 and 6 PM, and then next wave moved in.
Storms that first developed west of I-35 moved into Pawnee and Osage Cos. A crescent shaped line popped up in Creek Co. south of I-44 with the center of the arc near Bristow in the middle of the county. This crescent moved northeast towards Sapulpa and Sand Springs. Part of this storm developed a funnel between Sapulpa, Sand Springs, and Tulsa.
Soon afterwards, around 7 PM, straightline winds lifted, then dropped a large tent and its poles in west Tulsa in a park on the Arkansas River. A private, corporate event was going on at the time in connection with Tulsa's Octoberfest, and about 40 people were injured. The genereal manager of KTUL-TV, the local ABC affliate, was there and reported from the scene. One of my fellow hams, Fred Williams, KD5NBR, and a chaser for the station, reported in and also sent in video of the first responders and the downed tent.
The sad irony of the Octoberfest incident is that Jim Giles, the chief meteorologist for KOTV, the CBS affliate, had been very involved with the event in the past. He passed away late last year, and he had worked so hard throughout his career to protect lives.
Anyway, in between the storms, I had pizza, which has been a rare treat for me the last two years.
I didn't get any presents, unless you count the pizza my Mom paid for, and she gave me a handmade 'card'. That doesn't matter much, as I pretty much enjoyed myself today. In case you're wondering how old I am, I've reached the point where I don't mind having a birthday, I just don't care to count them anymore!
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