The Emoticon :)

The emoticon celebrates 25 years by Daniel Lovering Pittsburgh (AP) - It was a serious contribution to the electronic lexicon. :-) Twenty-five years ago, three keystrokes -- a colon followed by a hyphen and a parenthesis -- were first used as a horizontal “smiley face” in a computer message by Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott E. Fahlman, the university said. To mark the anniversary Wednesday, Fahlman and his colleagues are starting an annual student contest for innovation in technology-assisted, person-to-person communication. The Smiley Award, sponsored by Yahoo Inc., carries a $500 cash prize. Language experts say the smiley face and other so-called emoticons, or emotional icons, have given people a concise way of expressing sentiments in e-mail and other electronic messages that otherwise would be difficult to detect. Fahlman posted the emoticon in a message to an online electronic bulletin board at 11:44 a.m. on Sept. 19, 1982, during a discussion about the limits of online humor and how to denote comments meant to be taken lightly.

Motor Trend Secret Photos

Check out this Ford truck my friend and I saw on the way to work last week. They must be road testing it here in the cities...

Maybe I should send them to Motor Trend, although it's probably old news by now...

I kept Believing

So, Apple contacted me and I have a new computer coming, sometime this week. Diana at Apple corporate was very nice and determined that they had spent quite a lot of money shipping me new computers. In fact, not that there was anything wrong with this computer, but I will get a brand spankin' new one with more memory and a bigger processor!!!

IN the meantime, this is what happened the last time I tried to open PhotoShop:


Pretty awesome, huh?

"...Don't stop bel-ieving..."

I really can't stand Journey, but I had, "Don't stop Believing" stuck in my head and I made up some words like, "Don't stop believing that Apple is calling me back..."

Well, they did. Turns out the email I sent to the address that Dustin found online for sjobs@apple.com actually made it to Apple. After finally speaking to the friendly Apple Customer service rep that helped me originally, he informed me that I would be receiving a call from Apple Corporate Customer Service. Hmmm.

Now the waiting game. I'll let you know what I hear.

F*** Richard at Apple Support

Ahhh, blogging again. I must have my computer back, right? Well, kinda. Today, I spent one hour and 40 minutes on the phone with Apple support. I spoke to three operators of which the last I had to finally end the conversation with.

I love Apple, and I will never switch to PC, but I was VERY angry tonight. I missed my block club meeting because I was afraid I would waste another 15 minutes just waiting for an operator tomorrow.

Richard was very rude. In fact, if you ask my opinion, Richard does not live up to Apple values and stand up for the brand that he represents. He pretty much told me that it was my fault I purchased a refurbished computer and I should expect to send it back.

Here is what Apple says about their refurbished products:

Guaranteed Apple quality.

Before we put a pre-owned Mac, iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV up for sale in Special Deals, it undergoes a rigorous refurbishment process to make sure it's up to Apple's tough quality standards. We back it with our standard one-year limited warranty. And you have the option of purchasing an AppleCare Protection Plan for it.

Since I receiving this model of computer as a very generous Christmas gift, I have sent three different computers back before finally accepting the last one. The computer had been having some funny issues. Once a light started to shine out of the headphone jack, I was extremely suspicious. After trying to get Apple to send me a new computer, being the level headed person that I am, I sent it back hoping that it would come back repaired. It didn't.
After about an hour on the phone with two pleasant operators that could not help me. They finally forwarded me to an ESL operator who was not helpful. He was rude and insulting. He tried to manipulate my words. I finally cried. It did not win me a new computer.

I just composed a letter that I will be sending to Apple tomorrow. I am ready for a good sleep.

Vacation Up North

We finally made it "Up North" this summer! (Otherwise known as Horton Bay, MI) Being from Michigan, everybody there knows approximately where "up north" is. Here in MN, people also use that term. Even though they don't refer to the same places, it made me feel at home. My parents were kind enough to let Dustin and I share the cottage with Dustin's brother, his wife and their two kids. It was fun.

I had forgotten what it felt like to decide what time to go to the beach. And that's ok if going to the beach was all that we did. I actually felt relaxed when I came home. And, I had a suntan! It felt SO GOOD!

I'll post some pix shortly, but my niece declared to some small friends she made on the beach that they shouldn't worry because she'd be back next summer!

August WoLF Trip

In August, I had the opportunity to travel to Chicago for the Best Buy WoLF convention. It was Awesome this year! I was in a better frame of mind than last year's event, but on top of that, I thought it was better! I guess I really go out of it that we need to continually learn from adversity. Here is a sample of what I posted from the convention:
"One of the last bits I will add is the new friends I made and the old ones I re-connected with. Our pack added several new members last month due to a decline in our population. All I can say is that I think they are FANTASTIC. I spent a great afternoon getting to know a new member really well. Her number is in my phone already and I know I'll talk to her before the next meeting. I can tell already that our new members will be super engaged and ready to make a difference."


The other thing is that I am starting to meet other folks from around the company who may help me get to where I where I think I might want to be.

I went to several workshops including one about finding my own "brand" and about the Grameen Foundation. (please check them out if you haven't heard of them. It is quite interesting.)

The event left me very energized and I was able to hook up with some acquantinces from Ohio who reminded me that there would always be a place for me there.

Let me know if you'd like to hear more. I really enjoyed it.

New News

Boy, sorry it's been so long. I haven't blogged in a while for two major reasons.
1. My department got mad at me for blogging. Not here, but for the work sponsored site. Since my Wolf event, I haven't blogged there, either. I'm quickly losing the points that show up when you post.

2. I had to send my computer back to Apple. It should come back on Monday.

Point number two is a pretty sore point. I really wanted Apple to send me a new computer. They were very intent on repairing it instead of replacing it. I will never not use Apple, but it did not put much faith into their refurbished products. Dustin and I did, however, put that past us and purchased some more refurbished Apple products. So far they seem to work.

What are these products, you ask? iPhones, of course! And you know what else, I can't hook it up to my computer!

Bring it on. Text message me!