Google is taking over the world :)

So maybe they are, maybe they aren't. Personally, I don't think they are. I also happen to think that searching the internet has become a gazillion times easier since they arrived. Anyone remember Gopher? Yeah - just shoot me now if I had to go back to that.

I finally went ahead and joined their AdSense program. What it does is put some ads at the bottom of the page - that way if you don't want to see ads, you won't - yay! After some time, it will begin to post "content related" ads on the page. Basically, it looks around to see what I'm talking about on the site and puts ads relating to those topics. I actually think it's an insanely cool tool, but I'm a geek at heart :)

So if you find something interesting, feel free to click on the ad. And even if you're a personal friend of mine, please do NOT keep clicking the ads in an attempt to get me money. That sends off a red flag, and then I don't get credit for any of the "real" clicks I did get. So, please just click an ad once if you're interested. If not, don't worry about it. I'll always keep the ads at the bottom of the page so they don't pester anyone. I'm not trying to get rich off of them, but I figured, eh... what the hell, and decided to give it a shot.

On to other topics...

For those of you that care, yes, I'm still sick. My voice is almost gone and I feel like I'm ready to die. Ok... maybe not really ready to die, but you get the point. See the previous post - being sick still sucks. It really sucks because I do tech support over the phone for a government agency and the calls rarely stop. Those of you in tech support, or those that have done so in the past, can all feel my pain. Not only are you being driven insane with the single celled organisms that shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a computer, but now you have to repeat yourself over and over with a throat that is on fire.

Speaking of having to repeat one's self over and over, let me give everyone out there that ever plans on calling into Tech Support a few hints.

1) Do not be an ass! I know that your computer, file, email, etc just died on you and you are very frustrated, but do NOT take it out on the person that you're calling for help.

2) Be polite and friendly - it'll get you much further!

3) Follow instructions!!! I don't care if you've already rebooted your computer 10 times before calling me. All our calls are recorded and gone over for Quality Assurance. It is a required step for virtually any problem you are having that is running a Windows based operating system. Deal with it.

Now to go into a little more detail for each of the bullets above.

Number one absolutely kills me everyday. I don't care how old I end up becoming, I will never understand it. How can people think this way? "I'm absolutely screwed if I don't get blah working right now, yet I'm going to be a total ass with an attitude to the person I'm calling in hopes that they can help me." Un-fucking-believable, yet I deal with it every single day I'm at work.

Let me give you a hint folks - with these callers, I give them ONE chance to follow my instructions to troubleshoot or fix the problem. Just one! If it doesn't work, or they won't follow instructions, I send a ticket to either their local technicians or the team that deals specifically with that particular application. I guarantee that they have just added at least an hour to getting their problem resolved... most of the time it's actually closer to 3 hours.

Yet if someone is polite and follows instructions, I'll stay on the phone with you for an hour if I think we can get it fixed. I don't care how long it takes - I'll do whatever it takes to get you back up and running as fast as possilble because I can work with you.

This doesn't mean that you can't be irritated. That's simply stupid, because as a tech I know how frustrating these systems can be at times. Hell, I'll even sympathize with you. Just don't direct that irritation at me, and under no circumstances do you ever want to give me a condesending attitude. You've instantly bought yourself a ticket number at that point.

Ok - guess I kind of rambled into number 2 as well. Good enough. This brings us to number 3.

I know everyone out there has varying degrees of expertise with computers. I've been doing tech support for over 6 years at this point (kill me now), so I have a pretty good idea of your basic knowledge level within just a few minutes of talking with you. If I'm fairly confident you know your way around a computer and you don't give me any attitude, I'll give you some leeway and listen to what you've done already. If I think you barely know how to tie your shoes without drowning in your own drool first, I'm more than willing to help you, just please follow instructions.

If I tell you to reboot your computer, just do it. Don't argue, don't bitch, and don't whine about it. It's an insanely common first step in troubleshooting. Know why? Because over 85% of the time, no matter what your problem is, that will fix it. Argue with Microsoft, not me - I'm not the one that programmed it. After that, the troubleshooting steps we take will be much more specific to your problem, so please just bare with the reboot. We have to do it, so suck it up and do it - you'll save us both a lot of hassle and headaches.

Wow - think I've rambled quite enough for today.

One last note to any of the folks that left SWG after the first big combat change and got your invites to reactivate your account for two weeks - go give it a try. I might actually go back to it - the game is much more fun now. Hell, I might even drop my WoW account and go back to it after my trial period runs out. :)

Getting sick sucks...

I don't imagine anyone in the world actually enjoys getting sick, but it truly does suck. Especially when your job requires for you to be on the phone all the time. That sore throat might have gone away in a couple of days, but now you're stuck dealing with it for at least a week. Ugh!

Ok - on to other things to try and help me avoid thinking about yakking...

Before I go ranting and raving about no particualr stuff in general (as I imagine I will in the near future), I'd like to talk about something I truly enjoy and thus need to spread the message - Firefly!

This was absolutely one of the greatest shows of all time, yet like many others, I never actually watched it until it had been taken off the air and put in DVD form. The BDM, Serenity, came out on DVD last week and is an awesome way to end the story. I absolutely hope that it will be continued in some way, but if that has to be the end of it, it was nice to be able to tie up a number of loose ends.

Joss and the cast, along with a ton of Browncoats around the world, deserve a round of applause. It was a great series and a wonderful movie. There were so many great things said in the movie, all related to the movie itself, and the fate of the show. I loved it.

"Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall... tells you she's hurt 'fore she keens... makes her a home." - Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion)

It's a beautiful quote and is fitting to both. The movie never should have been made. The show should have died and gone away into the night, but love is what kept the dream alive. Hopefully love can bring it back again.

And so it begins...

Over the last few weeks, as things in life have been taking a temporary turn for the worse, I've begun to think I need a place that I can simply ramble to my heart's content. Too many things in life get bottled up, and in the view of the world, we should keep them that way.

Admittedly, there are many things that we could do, and in my younger days, I probably would have resorted to quite a few of them. As I begin to get older though, I realize that there are a large number of consequences that must be dealt with. Don't believe me? Tell your boss to piss off because they don't know squat about the technical aspects of your job. See what happens. No matter what (at least in my life), the Piper always gets paid.

Now before I continue a blog of things that are currently on my mind, many of which tend to be negative in source, I should state a few things first:

1) This is simply a tool for me to get things out of my head.

2) 90% of these things would be bottled up inside until I took the time to either:
a) Deal with them internally
b) Shove them to the far corners of mind and ignore them
c) Find a much more polite way of externalizing them

3) If you happen to be the topic of one of my posts (and you are unable to keep yourself from reading the rest of it), BE WARNED!!!! This is my venting tool, so there are things I'll say in the heat of the moment! Don't worry about it - skip the post and go along.

Basically, this means that the things I state here may not be nice, polite, and at times may even be downright cruel. I'll apologize in advance for anyone reading this, but these are all things I might "say without thinking". If I go on about work, friends, spouse, etc... Deal with it. This is simply me getting things off my chest, and like most of us in this life, there are times I'll rant and rave about something that in reality is so insignificant that it doesn't warrant the emotion I attach to it. Again, deal with it. This blog is for me to get things out and nothing more.