Something remarkable happened to me the other day. I am well aware that remarkableness is a relative term and that by sharing this event which I found remarkable I might be exposing myself and my life as somewhat less than remarkable to the naked eye, but one must take risks to tell their stories, yes? Yes! On we go...
It was in fact a day of remarkable things in succession, so as Julie Andrews sang in the meadows of Austria, "lets staht aht thee very beegining...a very good place to staht" (phonetic british is a specialty if mine)
Remarkable thing #1:
In my lazy haze that was Sunday, and I should add that it was a particularly intense lazy haze owing to the fact that I had Monday off as well, I actually went to the gym. I consider a lot of things on a daily basis, specifically ones that would benefit my health and it rarely makes it beyond that initial thought process. But today...today was different. Despite my mental efforts to put the consideration to rest, I still wanted to go. And so I went, just like that.
Remarkable thing #2:
This was the first time I'd been to the gym since the summer just about, and if I went any more recently it was most assuredly a one-time deal. So I figured 10 minutes of cardio tops and I'd be wiped out for sure. So I got on the bike and started peddling. I peddled away listening to GLEE song after GLEE song. 25 minutes later I was still going and didn't feel the usual urge to vomit. So I did 5 minutes of cool down and completed 30 minutes of cardio!
Remarkable thing #3 (the main event)
So while on the bike, which was facing the indoor track giving me prime people watching opportunities, and soon into my ride I spotted a tall, dark, handsome type wandering around the entrance to the track and so my eyes wandered with him. The more I watched him, the more familiar he looked but I couldn't place him. It is rare, on campus, for me to see a familiar face because outside of the chimp lab and the psych building I really don't know anyone. But here it was, this strangely familiar face. And I don't mean familiar like I've seen him walking by at the same time each day suggesting we have similar schedules prompting us to cross paths on a daily basis, but a more distinctive familiarity, like I knew him at some point. It wasn't until I finished my thirty minutes that he hit me (and so did the shame of the realization). He was the real life embodiment of "Brent Hardstock", a Sims character I had created! Dark, shiny brown hair, deep blue eyes, and full lips. But it went further than that, his face had the same sturdy shape, a sharp angled jaw line, prominent cheekbones which created a line angling in towards the mouth, a gently sloping nose that still had a masculine rigidity to it and a prominent bridge meshing with a firm brow-line. His shiny, rich brown hair was even styled the same, trimmed rather short and clean cut with a hint of shag. I chuckled to myself and imagined myself going up to him while he was doing his squats and informing him that he had a virtual doppelganger created my moi, who lived in the town of Sunset Valley in a quaint starter home with his wife and new baby. I would also be sure to mention that if he improved his charisma and body skills one more points and maintained steady relationships with his 5 friends, he would surely be in line for a promotion in the Athletic career track.
Moral of this story? I need to get out more.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
One for mom's scrapbook...my first blog!
Note to reader: To avoid my incessant ramblings, skip ahead to paragraph 3. :)
So I have had this blog set up for quite some time but it has remained empty, accumulating virtual dust amongst the bowels of the interweb. I seem to have perpetual bloggers block. Well...no more, my friends! (I use the term friends loosely seeing as I don't know that any of my friends are cognizant of this new outlet for my thoughts) I tried blogging once (yes yes, not a very steadfast effort...) and made it a full paragraph with the beginnings of a second. Then my gnat like attention span snapped to something else, as it so often does. I managed to save those almost-two paragraphs onto a desktop sticky note in vain hopes of returning later and picking up that train of thought. Upon further consideration I decided to just start fresh and in the words of Kristin Chenoweth from her guest role on GLEE,"maybe this time...".
Hello kids, today's blog will be a grievance against the Western Digital tech support staff!
So I have this pretty, petite (I know what you're thinking...I'm not talking about myself) 500 GB hard drive that I got after maxing out the memory on my laptop with less-than-legally downloaded tv series. Most sane people use their hard drives for back up purposes...it's the smart thing to do. Well I used mine to store some extra junk in my trunk and free up my laptop hard drive. So I would tote the little external around, plugging it in when I wanted to re-watch Sex and the City episodes for the umpteenth time...a nice "plug and play" system if you will. I suppose I dropped and prematurely disconnected it one too many times and it decided to crap out on me.
Going slightly out of order, was anyone else aware that data-recovery services were so insanely expensie? 700-2400 dollars WITH the Western Digital 10% referral discount?? What on earth could possibly be that important?
Anywho, I call their tech support service for the first time. And I was not shocked, but rather annoyed, to be talking to someone with a thick middle-eastern accent. Let me pre-empt this by assuring anyone that I mean no disrespect and have nothing against those people in general but rather due to my hearing deficit, talking to people with accents on the phone is most inevitably a painstakingly difficult process. But this man not only spoke in an unintelligable accent, but he possessed no skills of normal conversation fluency.
Tech support: Ok miss, I want you to open disk utility.
Me: (Short pause while I open disk utility) Ok
Tech support: (silence)
Me: Ok
Tech support: (silence)
Me: Hello?
Tech support: Yes?
Me: Now what do I do?
Tech support: Did you open disk utility?
I estimate this exchange took 1-2 minutes. There was absolutely no semblance of conversation flow. I also enjoyed asking him questions or repeating his instructions for clarity.
Me: blah blah blah blah blah? (I even included a hefty upwards voice inflection at the end of my qusetion)
Tech support: (silence)
Me: Hello?
Tech support: Yes?
Me: Did you hear anything I just asked you?
Tech support: Yes ma'am.
Me: And?
Tech support: Yes (An nonsensical answer to my quesiton)
Me: I ASKED YOU IF BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH?
Tech support: Yes you do blah blah blah blah.
The whole service call took about an hour and left me nowhere closer to fixing my hard drive. I call back another day and miraculously I get a native English speaker. He was infinitely more helpful and the conversation went smoothly. Unfortunately he informed me that I would have to take care of something before he could help me further, gave me a case number and told me to call back.
I asked tenatively, "Is their a direct extension I could call to get you?"
He replied politley, "Oh thats not necessary, any one of our support staff can help you."
Whimpering, borderline begging, I responded, "Please? I can understand you! I don't want to talk to someone else that doesn't speak English!"
He laughed, "I'm sorry we don't have direct lines. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
In retrospect, I should have gotten his complete work schedule to make sure that I only called during times he was present, increasing my odds of talking to him again. Alas...I did not, but rather admitted defeat and hoping for another miracle.
No such miracle would come because the next 2 times I had to call Western Digital about the same hard drive problem, I got two women, both middle-eastern, both with thick accents and both with no better understanding of the basic nuances of conversation. Both phone calls took between 45 min to an hour and both took several years off my life. End result, there is nothing they can do for my hard drive, I have to mail it in (at my own cost) and they will ship me a replacement.
So I have had this blog set up for quite some time but it has remained empty, accumulating virtual dust amongst the bowels of the interweb. I seem to have perpetual bloggers block. Well...no more, my friends! (I use the term friends loosely seeing as I don't know that any of my friends are cognizant of this new outlet for my thoughts) I tried blogging once (yes yes, not a very steadfast effort...) and made it a full paragraph with the beginnings of a second. Then my gnat like attention span snapped to something else, as it so often does. I managed to save those almost-two paragraphs onto a desktop sticky note in vain hopes of returning later and picking up that train of thought. Upon further consideration I decided to just start fresh and in the words of Kristin Chenoweth from her guest role on GLEE,"maybe this time...".
Hello kids, today's blog will be a grievance against the Western Digital tech support staff!
So I have this pretty, petite (I know what you're thinking...I'm not talking about myself) 500 GB hard drive that I got after maxing out the memory on my laptop with less-than-legally downloaded tv series. Most sane people use their hard drives for back up purposes...it's the smart thing to do. Well I used mine to store some extra junk in my trunk and free up my laptop hard drive. So I would tote the little external around, plugging it in when I wanted to re-watch Sex and the City episodes for the umpteenth time...a nice "plug and play" system if you will. I suppose I dropped and prematurely disconnected it one too many times and it decided to crap out on me.
Going slightly out of order, was anyone else aware that data-recovery services were so insanely expensie? 700-2400 dollars WITH the Western Digital 10% referral discount?? What on earth could possibly be that important?
Anywho, I call their tech support service for the first time. And I was not shocked, but rather annoyed, to be talking to someone with a thick middle-eastern accent. Let me pre-empt this by assuring anyone that I mean no disrespect and have nothing against those people in general but rather due to my hearing deficit, talking to people with accents on the phone is most inevitably a painstakingly difficult process. But this man not only spoke in an unintelligable accent, but he possessed no skills of normal conversation fluency.
Tech support: Ok miss, I want you to open disk utility.
Me: (Short pause while I open disk utility) Ok
Tech support: (silence)
Me: Ok
Tech support: (silence)
Me: Hello?
Tech support: Yes?
Me: Now what do I do?
Tech support: Did you open disk utility?
I estimate this exchange took 1-2 minutes. There was absolutely no semblance of conversation flow. I also enjoyed asking him questions or repeating his instructions for clarity.
Me: blah blah blah blah blah? (I even included a hefty upwards voice inflection at the end of my qusetion)
Tech support: (silence)
Me: Hello?
Tech support: Yes?
Me: Did you hear anything I just asked you?
Tech support: Yes ma'am.
Me: And?
Tech support: Yes (An nonsensical answer to my quesiton)
Me: I ASKED YOU IF BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH?
Tech support: Yes you do blah blah blah blah.
The whole service call took about an hour and left me nowhere closer to fixing my hard drive. I call back another day and miraculously I get a native English speaker. He was infinitely more helpful and the conversation went smoothly. Unfortunately he informed me that I would have to take care of something before he could help me further, gave me a case number and told me to call back.
I asked tenatively, "Is their a direct extension I could call to get you?"
He replied politley, "Oh thats not necessary, any one of our support staff can help you."
Whimpering, borderline begging, I responded, "Please? I can understand you! I don't want to talk to someone else that doesn't speak English!"
He laughed, "I'm sorry we don't have direct lines. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
In retrospect, I should have gotten his complete work schedule to make sure that I only called during times he was present, increasing my odds of talking to him again. Alas...I did not, but rather admitted defeat and hoping for another miracle.
No such miracle would come because the next 2 times I had to call Western Digital about the same hard drive problem, I got two women, both middle-eastern, both with thick accents and both with no better understanding of the basic nuances of conversation. Both phone calls took between 45 min to an hour and both took several years off my life. End result, there is nothing they can do for my hard drive, I have to mail it in (at my own cost) and they will ship me a replacement.
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