Tag Archives: techsupport

Temp Work in Pendleton

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Well, as of tomorrow, I’m off to Pendleton for a few days. What’s in Pendleton, you ask? [insert sarcastic comment about small town here] Ha ha ha! Seriously, though, there’s a DEQ office. Apparently the LAN Admin at this office quit recently, and while they’ve been trying to replace him, a backlog of work has built up to the point where they asked my dad to go over for a few days and try to get things running again. As this will mostly consist of installing new workstations, they’ll need some tech-chimps who are capable of following directions, so I’m tagging along.

I’m getting nervous about the possible job with Steve’s boss. I haven’t heard anything from him in about a week, and I’m afraid I let my hopes get up. It really would be the perfect job, and I know I’ll be disappointed if I don’t get it. So, even though the idea of spending a few days in Pendleton doesn’t exactly thrill me, it will let me get out and do something other than wait for a phone call or email.

They Left That Part Out

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Yet another example of computer manual writers leaving out the most important bit of information:

My boss asks me to print up some envelopes with our business address on the laser printer. He hands me a box of envelopes. I check the printer manual, and quickly find the two pages about how to print on envelopes. The manual tells me which side has to be loaded facing up, which side has to enter first, and so on. So I put in a stack of about 25 envelopes and set it printing. Then I notice that the envelopes are stacking funny. Normally, the pile is larger on the side with the flap. Now the pile is smaller on that side. I suspiciously pick up an envelope and discover that the heat from the printer has SEALED the envelope shut. The glue was still hot, so I managed to open it, no problem, but you’d think there would be a warning in the manual that after the printer runs for awhile, it gets hot, and could SEAL THE ENVELOPES SHUT. That’s a fairly important piece of information, I’d say.

Good News and Bad

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Hmmm… I’m not sure how to feel lately. I’ve had one great thing happen and one potentially horrible thing happen.

Bad News First:
I came into work the other day and my bosses asked me to talk to them. They told me that money was tight, and business was slow, and would I mind going home each day as soon as I finish my work, instead of staying the whole 8 hour shift. Now, I understand where they’re coming from, and I’d almost rather go home than have them find more grunt work for me to do, but this is very bad timing. Basically, they’re kicking me back down to 20 hours a week, and Annie’s still unemployed. This means we can’t pay bills. So basically, we’re back to square one, poverty-level income, no spending money, stress about jobs, and not knowing whether we’ll still be living in Ellensburg in two months. Thanks to the money from the Myst3 job, I’ve got this month’s bills payed guaranteed, and also I managed to find out I can get a forbearance on my loans. But next month is up in the air. Annie’s taking it more seriously and applying at a few more jobs, but next week she’ll have to apply at Jack In The Box if no one’s already hired her. If things get really bad, I might have to think about getting a second job, but I want to make sure I’m available for those days when there is enough work for me to stay all day. The worst thing about this situation is not knowing what’s going to happen. We’ve got to live minute to minute, with very little possibility to plan ahead, which is extremely frustrating for me.

The Good News
I fixed my computer! Ever since I bought it, the sound on my system hasn’t worked. The motherboard has a built-in sound card, and I even bought another sound card just in case. But nothing I did helped, and the Asus, the company that built the motherboard, wouldn’t answer any questions. After this long, I had just about given up, and was getting ready to buy a new motherboard when I found another post on the tech support forums. Turns out another guy with the same motherboard and case that I have found out that one of the mounting screws that attaches the motherboard to the case was touching the circuits and causing a short. It’s not a needed mounting screw, so I removed it and my sound IMMEDIATELY started working. It’s such a stupid problem that I’m amazed I didn’t figure it out, but I’m so happy to have my computer completely functioning that I moved on and started installing games and stuff.

Working Blind

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GOOD NEWS! Both computers are now fully functional again! After trying what tech support suggested for Annie’s video card (it didn’t work), I was telling Urn about what happened. When he heard that the computer appeared to be fully functional, just not sending anything to the monitor, he asked why didn’t I try doing it blind? All I had to do was run a flash utility from a DOS prompt, so it should be easy, as long as I know exactly what to type when. So I booted up the computer with a DOS disk, ran the program, and I didn’t think it worked, because the monitor didn’t turn on. But when I rebooted, to check, the monitor came on! Everything works again! I even got excited and checked my network settings and discovered that the reason my computers couldn’t see anything on the network was because I had them in workgroup “VALHALLA,” and they won’t work in anything but workgroup “WORKGROUP.” Stupid windows. “Here’s a neat way to customize your computer, but don’t try to use it! It won’t work!”

Anyway, I’m happy, and everything works except the stuff that hasn’t worked the whole time.

Also, I downloaded a couple of alternate shells that I’m checking out. Cloud9ine, a relatively new shell, and litestep, and old favorite, which seems less buggy than last time I goofed around with it.

I’m going to do a restore from backup in a few minutes to get some of my graphics back, so I can do hammerspace again, and keep working on my redesign for Studio Fojar.

Taking Things Too Seriously

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Some people take things too seriously. It always amazes me when I see how stressed out people get over the smallest things in their lives. It’s like “HEY! You’re alive! You’ve got friends! You’ve got food to eat and a roof over your head! Lighten up!” But of course, I don’t say stuff like that to people, because I’m a big fscking hypocrite. :)

On a completely unrelated note, our first radio show went amazingly well. I was pretty nervous when we got into the studio, but by a half hour into the show, I felt 100% better. We still have plenty of room to improve, but WE CAN DO IT, which I wan’t entirely sure of, before. This show is going to rule. Next project: Fliers and a website for it.

Computer status: Annie’s is still toast, as I’ve found no time yet where I could get Urn to help me without getting him in trouble. ;) My computer is working fine, despite the complete and total lack of all my graphics files. :(

Jester contacted me, and the themes have been approved with one final revision to be made, which I’ll have to do tonight. Then, as soon as they get the installer made, they’ll post it on the website. Hooray!

Also, I need to start making new hammerspace strips. I’ve got a bunch of ideas. :)