Everything In Between | What A Slacker!

Posts filed under 'Everything in Between'

I Want It Wednesday: Lego Deathstar

Add comment June 25th, 2008

The Lego Star Wars Deathstar has reached new heights with the new Battle inside the Death Star™! This is not just a Lego model it is a playset to beat all playsets (and maybe it should at a $400 price tag). Look at everything this cool Lego set has to offer.

Includes 25 heroes, villains, droids and creatures!
Includes 6 new and exclusive minifigures and droids only found in this set: Luke Skywalker™ (Stormtrooper™ outfit), Han Solo™ (Stormtrooper outfit), Assassin Droid™, Interrogation Droid, Death Star Droid and 2 Death Star Troopers™!
Also includes Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi™, C-3PO™, R2-D2™, Princess Leia™, Chewbacca™, Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight), Darth Vader™, Grand Moff Tarkin™, Emperor Palpatine™, 2 Stormtroopers, 2 Emperor’s Royal Guards™, R2-Q5™, and mouse droid!
All-new Dianoga™ trash compactor monster!
Movie-authentic Death Star environments include the Superlaser control room and target monitor, Imperial conference chamber, TIE Advanced hangar bay with moving launch rack, Emperor’s throne room, droid maintenance room, detention block, trash compactor, and much more!
Rescue Princess Leia from the detention block cell, then escape through the secret hatch to the trash compactor below!
Reenact the final duel between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader in the Emperor’s Throne Room!
Death Star measures 16” (41cm) tall and 16½” (42cm) wide!
TIE Advanced measures 3½” (9cm) wide!

Recreate the action and adventure of the Star Wars™ movies with the ultimate Death Star playset! This amazingly detailed battle station features an incredible array of minifigure-scale scenes, moving parts, characters and accessories from Episodes IV and VI on its multiple decks, including the Death Star control room, rotating turbolaser turrets, hangar bay with TIE Advanced starfighter, tractor beam controls, Emperor’s throne room, detention block, firing laser cannon, Imperial conference chamber, droid maintenance facility, and the powerful Death Star superlaser…plus much more! Swing across the chasm with Luke and Leia, face danger in the crushing trash compactor, and duel with Darth Vader for the fate of the galaxy!

Shop the LEGO Star Wars Collection

Excel File Hell

Add comment June 20th, 2008

What the hell is wrong with Microsoft? Why in the world would they change the default file type of one of the world’s most used office programs?

Microsoft Excel 2007 (as well as Word and Power Point) now have an XML based file format. The new Excel file extension is .xlsx, which of course cannot be opened with any of the older versions of the program.

Thank god I remembered we had one computer in our office that was new enough to have the latest version of the software on it. (I forgot because I never use the Microsoft Offfice 2007 products because I simply don’t like them.) At first I wasn’t sure that it would even be able to save it as the old version as the company that sent me the file could not figure it out and told me that was the only available file format.

I really hate the new tabbed browsing with in the new office programs and where the heck did they go with the good old fashion text menus?!? They hid them is what they did. I finally figured out how to find their help file (tiny little question mark was eluding me). The text menu where you have the option to choose SAVE AS is now hidden behind the little office logo at the top of the screen on the left-hand side. Who would have thought to look there? Not me. Can you make it any harder folks?

For those of us that do not have access to a brand spanking new version of Excel Microsoft has kindly [insert sarcasm here] created a tool (not sure if this is available for Word or Power Point) for us backward people who cannot upgrade every time they release a new, improved [insert said sarcasm again] version.

You can download this lovely little Excel 2007 to 97-2003 conversion tool at Microsoft.com. Even though it is free it does come with a cost. You will have to install all the updates for your version of windows before installing the converter. Which can take you a few hours, if like me, you are a little behind on your XP updates (who know they were up to XP Service Pack 3, not me).

For those of us with little time there is also an online converter, but this might not be an option if you too have a confidential file you need to convert like I did. However, unlike the Microsoft compatibility pack you do not need to have Microsoft Office installed on your PC to convert the file.

I am pretty sure that if I am going to have to continue to use the newer versions I am going to have to pick up a copy of the book Office 2007 All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies.

Don’t Bother Seeing The Strangers

Add comment June 7th, 2008

Went to see The Strangers last night and quite honestly I was disappointed. The previews and critic quotes they splashed across the screen let me think I would be “messed up for life” and “unable to sleep for weeks”. Well I slept last night without any problems.

The first half hour (felt like an hour) was really, really slow. We were treated (insert sarcasm here) with background information on the couple that was about face unspeakable horror. The next thirty minutes we were treated with some suspenseful scare tactics, which were almost enough to make me never stay home alone again especially out in the country. But then along comes the last half hour of this. The brutal murders we were told happened were actually rather lame and tame. It just brought you way down from the fear you felt earlier. It was a big let down.

Comcast Still Sucks - DVR Has Black Screen AGAIN

Add comment June 4th, 2008

My sucky Comcast DVR is at it again. Just like before it has a completely black screen. I have a date with the folks at Comcast to come out and look at things. (This all came about because I posted how awful Comcast is. Someone in the corporate office must have a Google alert for the terms Comcast Sucks and/or Crappy DVR.

Well they are scheduled to come here between 5 and 7 pm. I’ll let you all know what they say about the DVR with the black screen of death (this is happening every time I try to watch something that has been taped or if I try to rewind or pause live TV).

Honestly, I am glad it is doing it again so I have something to show them. Otherwise it would have been no different that my telling the over the phone.

What I hate the most about this is that they have no customer service at all. The people I spoke to were nice enough, but they cannot offer rebates, refunds or free services to make a customer fell better about staying with a service that is as sucky as Comcast is.

I am looking into getting a TIVO if I stay with Comcast, if I leave I will look at DirectTV with TIVO DVR service.

Want to know why Comcast sucks so much?

Wii Let the Downloading Begin

Add comment June 4th, 2008

Wii lets you download old school video games by buying points and using those points towards those downloads. Technically you are not buying the games you are licensing the games so I am not sure what will happen should Nintendo ever pull that license. I guess your Wii would just stop playing the games. Which really kind of sucks. Also you cannot play your games on other Wii systems. Again this sucks. I “bought” it I should be able to play it where ever, when ever. So what good is saving the games to an SD card if they can’t travel? Okay, so I’ll still download as it is easier than digging out the old NES to play Zelda.

Talk About Coming Out of the Closet

Add comment June 1st, 2008

A 58-year-old homeless woman was arrested on Friday in Japan for trespassing. She had been living in a man’s closet for over a year.

I know I don’t go into every room in my house every day, but how the heck could you have someone living in your closet for over a year and not notice them?

She was finally discovered when the homeowner noticed that food was missing and installed security cameras.

I have been toying with getting some IP cameras myself. Perhaps this will finally push me to get them. Who knows who might be living in my attic!

from yahoo news

Sweetest Contest This Summer is at Cold Stone

Add comment May 31st, 2008

Cold Stone Creamery is holding a delicious contest. Before I get into how cool and wonderful this is let me tell you it is for young adults 13 to 19 (which sucks for me because I would have so been there). Okay, so now you know and if you are between those ages you can do this.

All you have to do is go a Cold Stone Creamery and create your best combination of ingredients. Once you have the ultimate yummy combo name it and head to the internet. Yep take your ice cream to the masses.

Sign up for the Awesome Cold Stone Contest online. Here’s where the fun part comes in get all your friends, both from the real world and the internet, to head to Cold Stone and taste your creation. Once they have given you two thumbs up have them vote online for you and your yummy ice cream concoction. In a competition kind of like those I have seen on the food network your entry will be judged first by the masses then if it passes the public opinion then you get to face the judges at Cold Stone.

I have not even mentioned that you are competing for over $30,000 in prizes! The iMix America contest has already started so get out there and create the ultimate ice cream mashup and get to promoting yourself online you only have until June 5th! Oh, and good luck.

Comcast Cable Sucks Here’s Why - Part 4: The Costs

Add comment May 31st, 2008

Comcast has a load of problems (crappy DVR, crappy channels and crappy customer service), but the worst thing about them is their price. And it keeps going up. I wish there was a little more competition in this industry to keep the prices down.

What really gets me hot under the collar is that the prices keep going up and they never offer current customers any kind of break. Just today I saw a commercial for the internet and phone service together for $49-something. I pay almost that now for my Comcast cable plus another $5 for the dang modem. So I guess I should be given the phone for free huh? Also cable modems only cost about $100 bucks so why do I have to keep renting it? Haven’t I already paid for it like three times by now? Yet when I called and asked if I could buy it they would charge me the price of a new one!

Don’t even get me started on the cost of the DVR. Just suffice it to say a TIVO with lifetime service would ultimately be cheaper and work better.

The value of the services they offer comes nowhere near what they charge us. And come next year when everyone is forced into digital more people will be faced with the problems of dealing with cable. (Wonder who had their hands in getting the government to force digital on everyone? I’ll give you one guess.)

Comcast Cable Sucks Here’s Why - Part 3: The Corporate Offices

Add comment May 31st, 2008

A little while ago I wrote about how awful Comcast is and that the DVR service sucks. Well, my little post got the attention of someone at Comcast and they emailed me asking for my account info so they could look into the matter. So I went ahead and sent them my name and phone number half expecting nothing more than a return email.

At this point I don’t even know if I ever got a reply back from that email, but I did get a phone call from someone at the corporate offices (I don’t know who as I could not quite make out the name. The number was 717-771-2600.). The message immediately after that one on my machine was another one from someone else at the Comcast corporate offices named Laura her number was 717-771-2660. So I called the first mystery person back. No person on the other end only a voicemail box. I left a message. Repeated the same procedure with Laura. Same results.

Someone, I believe Laura, did attempt to call me back, but since I work so far away I am not home during their office hours which seem to be 8 to 4. I leave the house before then and don’t get home until 7 or 8 at night so how on earth am I supposed to speak with these people. I left them another message.

About a day later a get a letter from Laura saying she has tried contacting me and if they don’t hear from me they will consider the matter closed. So I call and leave her yet another message this time I leave my cell phone number to call me during the day even though I cannot really answer it while I am at work as I am supposed to be working you know. She did call. I was on our business phone with a client and could not pick up my cell phone.

Three weeks, or is it four, later and I still have not spoken to an actual human being at the corporate offices. Perhaps the day I was off for my medical tests at the hospital I should have taken the time to call them, but I was a little preoccupied at the time. Why can’t they be available to their customers during hours convenient to the people paying their bills? Hey, they contacted me first.

My conclusion is that Comcast’s corporate offices services are just as bad as their DVR service and perhaps just as over paid.

The Litter Box Wars: Littermaid vs SmartScoop

Add comment May 28th, 2008

Littermaid vs SmartScoop - it is the self-scooping litter box wars I’m talking about not a review of the expensive cat boxes. (But if you want my opinion the SmartScoop wins the review hands down so lets hope they win the legal battle too.)

For a quick run down OurPets, a company that makes great pet products introduced a self-scooping litter box, the SmartScoop last year and the makers of the Littermaid box, Salton, Inc. felt the need to squash any competition before word got out that they don’t really care about pets they just want your money over and over again.

OurPet’s was founded in 1995 by Dr. Steve Tsengas with the goal of promoting pet health, well-being and owner & pet interaction. [taken from OurPets.com]

While Salton, Inc. and its subsidiaries are leading marketers and distributors of a broad range of branded small household appliances. Salton markets and distributes small kitchen and home appliances, pet and pest products, and personal care products. [take from Salton’s website]

Which of these companies do you think has your cat’s best interests in mind and which one do you think is only out to make a quick buck? If the company’s mission statements alone don’t convince you maybe you need to take a look at the products themselves.

The SmartScoop as a large litter area it is two inches longer than the Littermaid’s usable area, which is rather important if you have a huge cat like mine. The SmartScoop is also a little higher, which can reduce the litter scattering from your cat’s digging.

The SmartScoop has a much less expensive waste bag to replace over the Littermaids plastic containers. Which raises the whole environmental issue. SmartScoops bags are biodegradable Littermaids are not (nor are they recyclable, but who would want to clean them out to recycle them any way?).

The most noticeable differences lie in the motor and the fact that it is outside of the box and removable on the SmartScoop not on the Littermaid. Which one do you think is easier to clean? I’ll tell you from experience, the SmartScoop! Since the motor is removable it is also replaceable too. That’s right if the motor goes bad you can replace just that part not the entire box.

OurPets stands behind their products, does Salton? I don’t think so. A friend of mine had gone through 2 Littermaid boxes in two years yet she could not get them repaired or replaced through the company. She finally gave up on self-scooping boxes as her experience with the Littermaid has soured her to any automatic box even one of superior quality like the SmartScoop.

This brings me to the costs. These boxes are not cheap, especially when you have to replace the entire box a $200 a pop. The SmartScoop retails for around $150 and the replacement costs are much less than that. Supplies for the SmartScoop are much more cost effective too.

As you can see the SmartScoop wins that battle but can it win the war? Maybe with our help the little guy can come out on top. Spread the word, let your congressman know how you feel about the waste of money and resources this type of litigation can be, above all else express your opinion to Salton and ask them why they are so afraid of a little market place competition. If they are as good as they think they are they should welcome some competition.

Besides I thought a person or company could improve on a current invention or patent and then claim the patent on the new and improved item (at least that’s what the infomercials tell me). So how can they really claim an infringement unless the product is exactly the same? Personally, I think they are over reacting and should go sell George Foreman Grills and forget the lawsuit, which will cost them more then if they simply welcomed the competition. Perhaps someone in their corporate offices did not do the math right or maybe they can simply throw away 1.5 million in the hopes of saving a half million dollars from a little healthy competition. Heck, if they have that much money why not throw some my way? Or better yet replace my friend’s boxes!

Boris says: What’s All The Fuss Over A Place to Poop any way?

Big Fat Stupid Heads

Add comment May 28th, 2008

I have been informed that my sponsored post will not be paid because the yutzes over at PPP think my little tirade about big corporations like those behind the Littermaid litter box trying to kill the little guy like the fine folks over at OurPet’s is a sponsored post.

I link to both parties so which one is doing the sponsoring? I have no affiliate links in the post so how am I being paid? Perhaps they need to open their eyes and look at the links in a post before saying that you don’t get paid for your hard work today because we see links in your posts. Did you read the post? Did you follow the links? I doubt it or you would have realized it is what it is, a valid original content, non-sponsored post. This little police action of theirs has actually tick me off.

If I had been sponsored I would have said “oh well they caught me” and just remove the unpaid post from my blog but this is war now. So now I stick this rant about them in between my sponsored post with them and my non-sponsored post that they cannot see is not a paid post.

The Almighty NoFollow Tag

Add comment May 28th, 2008

As bloggers we all become relatively aware of the nofollow tag. We might not know what it means or why we use it but we know about it. For most of us the nofollow attribute is automatically added to the links people post in our comments. This is to help us stop comment spamming. (I know you know what that is. What blogger hasn’t opened their admin to see a ton of nonsense and links to gambling, insurance or porn sites.)

Well, the rel=”nofollow” added to the html of a standard link tells a search engine not to follow that link. By not following the link they will not count that link towards that sites link popularity. Has this knowledge stopped the spammers? No. Does it hurt you or your blog? No. It does, however, hurt the people you would like to be linking to. Therefore I do not recommend using the nofollow tag in your posts if you wish to give that person some internet props and help out their link popularity and ultimately their page ranks.

It seems all the major search engines (Google, Yahoo and MSN) have agreed to honor this new tag. Although it appears that is not the case and it is largely ignored.

My advice to you is to make sure all your hard work in getting reciprocal links is not destroyed by those two little words. Be sure you request a link back to you that is does not contain that particular little snippet of coding. Why anyone seeking links or articles to drive traffic or exposure would choose to use that tag is beyond me.

Check out the Search Engine Journal’s article 13 Reasons Why NoFollow Tags Suck for a better explanation why you don’t want or need this tag clogging up your html code. But as a blogger the best defense against comment spamming is to moderate your comments carefully to keep that junk from even hitting your site. Your readers will appreciate being able to actually read the comments instead of all the ping backs and scrolling nonsense text.

Summertime Fun, Summertime Safety

Add comment May 28th, 2008

When the weather gets warmer and school’s out American’s head out to the waterways. Each year there are numerous accidents and even deaths caused by inexperienced boaters and in appropriate behavior on our nations waterways. Fortunately fatal boating accidents were down last year, but incidents of accidents, injuries and property damage were all up in 2007. It is not surprising to learn that this increase was due to operators not paying attention, careless and reckless behavior, speeding and alcohol use. One third of the accidents nationwide with a death involved were due to alcohol use. In Arizona alone 50% of the fatal boating accidents were alcohol related, unbelievable.

To reduce those numbers all it would take is a little common sense and some basic boating knowledge. Use your head when hitting the water. Why not check out someboating education online before heading to the dock? Above all avoid operating a boat under the influence you’ll be glad you played it safe. Boating while under the influence is just as illegal as it is while driving so why even chance it?