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August 25, 2001
Bloody Hell!
I just went to the registration system's page online because I want to see if I can switch my math class from four to two, and they put another fucking hold on my account. ANOTHER ORIENTATION HOLD! Damnit! They don't even acknowledge that I went on Thursday?! Those bastards are going to kill me yet, and I haven't even started the school year. I wanted to get this switched if possible before Monday so I didn't have to sit up there for an extra two hours, but it doesn't look like I'm going to be that lucky. Fucking bastards. I should've just dropped out completely :P.
Posted by ladyx at 11:49 PM | Comments (0)
August 24, 2001
The Orientation Chronicles.
Well, I had my orientation today, and it was the absolute worst four hours of my life.
It all started at the crack of dawn; well, at about 7:20 since that's when I woke up. I ended up leaving a bit late for the school because I wasn't in any rush to get there, and by the time I got there, and found out where the place was, they still weren't finished with orientation check-in, so all was good, I suppose.
The first thing I did was start sifting through all of the useless crap they stuff in your orientation folder. Stuff about emergency contraception and "things to do while in the UP" have no real bearing in my college career, so I deemed these as junk. By the time I was done, I only had about four papers in the 1lb folder they had given me (seeing how I couldn't find any recycle bins and I didn't just want to throw out all of the papers, I ended up keeping them :P), and the lady started her speech. I didn't really pay attention; instead, I just fipped through the course listings and tried picking out classes in the short time I had to do so. I already had a rough idea of what I wanted/needed to take, it was just a matter of getting them all situated with specific times and dates that I didn't have, so that's pretty much what I did during her speech. Every once in a while, I caught what she was saying; the part where she talked about how friendly everyone was and how we're never afraid to stop and say 'hi' to a stranger we pass on the sidewalk prompted me to curse at her under my breath. Then she split us up into little power groups and sent us off to other rooms in the building with orientation leaders.
My orientation leader was an idiot. Plain and simple. I knew things that he didn't about that school, and I haven't gone there for about four years now (while I was still in high school). Oh well, instead of making him look like more of a moron, I left him alone and just let him talk about how friendly the UP is. He was from Detroit, and made a comment about how people actually stop for you when you're trying to cross the street up here. All I could think of was "you don't want to press your luck with me, pal." Yeah, I'm mean, I know. I just didn't want to be there at all, and was taking out my crabbiness silently on everybody in charge of the orientation.
After that was over, they sent us to find our department advisors. I walked across the campus to my building, and waited for the advisor to take the CIS kids out to talk to us. She talked to us; directed a few comments to me in regards to a couple of questions I had, and let me go off to register since I already knew pretty much what I wanted. I walked down to the secretary's office, told her my social security number, and was all set to go...or was I?
As it turned out, she told me that I wasn't enrolled as a student this semester. Wha?!? That's impossible! I just filled out the application and went through all of that junk this past summer to get admitted! Nobody even told me I had to do anything else when I talked to them about orientation! After explaining everything to her about how I was planning on taking summer courses, but changed my mind, she called the Re-entry office and they told her to send me back over there to fill out an application and re-apply to the university for the fall term. Since I didn't attend summer courses, I had to re-apply. Uh, ok, so be it.
I hiked across campus again, got a couple of lovely blisters on my feet in the process because I didn't put socks on before I left home, and felt the 'burn' in my legs since I was so lazy this past summer...which was all my own fault, but anyway. Got to the administration building, went into the payment room where they gave me an application and said "bring this to the third floor." Filled it out as quickly as I could, and brought it to the Re-entry office. After a couple of minutes, the lady came back and said "you need to bring this down to the office of admissions...down the hall." Ok, grabbed my application, and hauled ass down the hall to the office. Brought it to one of the secretaries in there, and she said "you have to bring this to the Re-entry office down the hall." Ugh, I explained that the lady down there sent me down here, and told her my lovely sob story about nobody telling me I had to reapply, I couldn't register until I went to orientation which I did today, and how I had my tuition check all filled out and in my wallet. She brought my application to the processor, and about five or ten minutes later, she said I was admitted and I could register. However, I had to submit transcripts from my old college and my high school. Oi...I told her already that I had just had my college transcripts sent and recieved notification that they had arrived there, but I'd get the high school ones there as soon as possible. She just told me to check back in a week or so when things have cooled down since my file was just skimmed. Then she directed me one floor below to the Office of Orientation in case I had any questions.
I went down to the orientation office just in case I missed something along the way. There, this girl whom I knew from high school that graduated after I did (grr :P...great way to make me feel cheap), registered me for my classes. I got into all of my first choices which was amazing, and ended that session with 12 credits (the only class that I really wanted to take that was full was Intermediate Spanish I, but that's ok; it'll give me a chance to brush up on it before I get back into it right away).
After that was done, I headed back down to the first floor to pay my tuition and orientation fee, and find out when I could pick up my laptop. Well, the lady I talked to (who was the same one that gave me the application and directed me up to the Re-entry office) couldn't figure out how to get me validated so I could pick up my laptop (she assumed it was because I had just been admitted as a student about twenty minutes prior to my meeting with her for the second time), so she directed me to the Dean of Students office in the university center which was across the steet. Ok, no problems there, either.
Got to the DOS office, presented the girl there with the reciept from my tuition payment, and she fiddled around with the computer for a bit. She then told me I could pick up my laptop on Sunday. I asked her if there was any possible way I could've gotten it today, but she said no (even though the lady at the orientation meeting said we could pick them up today if we paid in full...grr again). Oh well, I didn't put up a fight at all. I was just glad to have my classes registered and be pretty much set. I agreed to Sunday at one.
I can't wait to see what buying my books is going to turn into. If I end up the target for international assassins again, I'm going to be really pissed off...
Posted by ladyx at 11:56 PM | Comments (0)
August 21, 2001
Dreams. Jail. Dreams of Jail.
Eh, I had a bad dream last night... I was in jail for two years. I don't even know why. For some reason, I had a fairly nice cell to myself (if you can call any jail cell "nice") -- I guess I had friends in high places -- but it still freaked me out. Then when I got out, I didn't know anybody. My "friends" didn't remember me, nor did my family. Eh. Now I'm tired, since I didn't get much sleep.
Posted by bard at 10:36 PM | Comments (1)
Top 10 Vacation List (part 1)
So, I went on vacation last weekend and I always keep a travel journal. I always sum it up with a top 10 list, a sad attempt at making something bad humorous. I did have fun though. Worse thing, the job I applied for called while I was out and wanted to set an interview for today. I called them back just now, got an answering machine. I hate those things. I sounded like an idiot, "I got a call on Friday requesting that I come in for an interview. I was out of town and didn't receive the message until today. I am available for an interview today if you still want me to come in."....ugh, they probably will never call back now. Oh well, onto the top 5 things I learned in SAN ANTONIO TEXAS...I'll post the other 5 later.
- "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" is the best song ever!
Okay, you may disagree. It may be well be the worst song ever but one thing it does is wake people up on a long car trip. I popped in my 80s CD which starts with GJWHF, goes to "Material Girl", "Like a Virgin", "Papa Don't Preach", "She-Bop", etc. And my mom have me this look as soon as the opening of GJWHF came on and said "what in the hell?". It was the best fun of all. I like the song, however by the third time it played (there are 5 versions of the same song on that one cd) I was sick of it and she was royally pissed off. It was fun! - Texas is just another word for hell.
I swear, this is the worst state ever. I already knew this fact before, but I thought I'd warn all of you. The Highways are torturous, they have more Wal-Marts than Arkansas and they refuse to put signs up to tell you where the hell you are. It's sick. I saw more cowboy hats than I see here in Arkansas. That, in and of itself, is scary enough to keep me away. - "The just built these roads overnight!"
Not really something I learned, but a fun quote. My mom and I got lost going back to our hotel from Seaworld for 3 hours one night. The next morning, she said this as we were going back to Seaworld. As I pointed out how easy it was to get there, she claimed that none of the roads had been there the night before and, "this street wasn't this big last night. It was a one way street! I swear". Along with "I know it wasn't here damnit! I can see."....uhh, yeah, sure mom. - Whales swim faster than 250 miles a minute??
I want to be a whale trainer, I always have. Funny? Not really. But it is a kick ass job. I talked to the trainer guy and he said I could be one too. I just need to learn how to dive a little more gracefully and brush up on my swimming. All you need to have is animal experience, be able to execute graceful dives (not good, I'm a expert cannon baller), free dive to 25 feet, be SCUBA certified, have a degree in something and swim 250 feet in a minute. Apparently, you don't have to be very smart because the first trainer told me it was 250 miles in a minute and I said "that's not possible...not even a whale can swim that fast?" and he laughed and said that whales were faster and all I needed was a little training. Hot damn, I want that kind of training. I should sign up for his school. It'd be faster to swim to San Antonio than to fly in that case! I'd have been there in about 5 minutes. - People are evil.
Again, something I already knew. However, my mom enforced it. We were lost and driving around the freeway at night. I told her to pull over so I could ask directions and she saw a group of people at the gas station, just hanging around by their car (it looked like about 4 teenage girls and an adult male). She said, "I'm not going in there. Look at those people. They'll kill us both." Umm, ok. They looked pretty harmless to me. I'm pretty sure we were in no danger from them. One of them had on a "hottie" t-shirt and one of them had on "boyscouting" shirt. We didn't go into that station until they left so I can't be sure, but I think just a couple of sucker punches would have sent them down in a puddle of their own vomit. No biggie.
Posted by vixen at 06:09 PM | Comments (0)
August 19, 2001
Family.
I guess this is a common theme for me, but I don't care for my family much.
My sister is coming into town tommorrow for about a week. Joyous. So now I get to try to weasel out of dinner with the evil set of grandparents & other relatives and a boring day trip. This on top of my sisters friends coming over and not leaving me alone. And her shaving crap all over the bathtub. Her asking to copy some of my cd's again (grr.), and yelling at me when I say "no." I don't know, she's just annoying. More is sure to come... bet on it.
What bothers me the most is how much of a Big Deal (TM) this has become with my parents. They're practically bending over backwards for her. Geez, mom... you only email her every day, sometimes multiple times. You only call her once a month. And you get to see her around Christmas time, too. And when she's here, she basically just uses the internet until she makes plans to do things with her friends. And yet, you jazz up your stupid bullitin board with "Welcome home!". You buy her balloons. You make her the center of focus at dinner.
Like anything she tells you would be something you didn't read about in e-mail? And, if I really cared to talk or listen to her, I would've emailed her. Bah. Also, siblings fight. It's a fact of life. It will probably happen this week sometime. Stop with your "Why can't you just get along?" crap. I don't care if I don't see my sister that often; if she does something mean to me, I'm not just going to take it. And, no, it isn't only me who is ever at fault for fighting, either. It takes two to tango.
Eh. [END OF RANT]Posted by bard at 10:37 PM | Comments (0)
August 14, 2001
Now I know how the Newbies Feel...
I have this joke we play on newbies. Whenever they ask "How do you do . . ." I say "Just press ALT-F4 at the same time!" and normally they fall for it (I think I picked that trick up from Bard). If you don't know what it does, trust me!!! Do it. It's, like SOOO cool. You'll get all these pretty colors and a special movie and all that stuff. Just wait until after you read this rant.
Well, I'm having trouble with my DSL and I waited on hold for about 2 hours to get in touch with tech support. She was going through the normal stuff, turn off your computer, turn off your modem, etc. and then she said, "Ok, now I want you to unplug the phone cord to the modem from the wall jack." Dumb@ss me unplugs it, the cordless phone I'm on goes dead. I completely forgot they were on the same jack. I quickly plugged it back up, hoping tech support would still be there. Of course, she wasn't. Damn tech support person played a newbie trick on me.
This is karmic payback for that person I was mean to last night. I know it. I'm now waiting on hold...again.Posted by vixen at 06:10 PM | Comments (1)
August 09, 2001
Superloser Networks
I'm guessing some of you already know that I call myself a web designer. Ok, I rarely actually get paid for my work, but I do sites for people. For example, my cousin, Joe Schmoe, asks "hey, would you register JoeSchmoe.com for me?" I tell him "Sure if you pay the fees. It's $35" (then I go register it at Godaddy for $8.95 and keep the change) and then he says "Yeah, could you put something on it too?" "Umm, there's a monthly fee to have a site and you kinda should pay me to design it." "Oh come on, you're going to charge me? I'm JOE SCHMOE!" "Fine, but you still have to pay the webhost". In this way I refer people to my favorite webhosts (and demonstrate my wussness).
I used to refer people, especially people I design for, to a certain host who shall remain nameless {coughsuperusercough excuse me, something in my throat I think}. Their technical support has always sucked (they never answer email or faxes and an answering machine always picks up when you call). Who really cares? The server is always on-line and it's cheap. In 3 years, I haven't had much occasion to use tech support anyway (although I always told newbies to stay away. Newbies call tech support everyday). That's what matters most to me. However, I have changed my tune.
Well, you guys have read my previous post about the domain transfer and hoorah, I finally got it transferred. I thought that was the end of it.
Monday, they sent me a nice email threatening me. If I didn't reply to said email and officially cancel my account within 72 hours, they would transfer the domain back (which would be fun to see since I removed their @sses as technical contact). I tried to reply Tuesday. The email bounced back. I thought, "ok, I'll just fax them...but then I'd have to dig into my closet, get the machine, hook the fax up and move the scanner around...egh, I'll do it Friday since I have 2 more tests this week" Lo and behold I got duplicate of the email Tuesday night. I though "Hmm". Then on Wednesday night I got 10 more copies of it. I tried to email them again. No such luck. I came home today and I had over 30 copies of the goddamn thing. What the hell? Does some 12 year hacker- wannabe own that company? I'm off to all the webhost rating services. If they aren't really going out of business, I'll see that they do :-p If they are, this whole thing is even more insane.Posted by vixen at 06:18 PM | Comments (0)
Holy Hell
**Edit**: August 2003: Derek Visits Us and More of Derek. Derek, the owner of SuperUser Networks, visited our site to show his top notch {ha} customer service and decorum. If you're thinking of using Superuser.net, check this post and see if that's who you want to deal with!
**end Edit**The guy is still annoying me. I hate him! As I said, I sent him a fax because his email doesn't work. Following is the fax I sent and his RUDE OBNOXIOUS reply. To think I recommended these people to friends.
My Original Fax
Please cancel my account. Consider this official notice.
Also, please note, I think it is very rude and unprofessional of you to send the same message to my email over a dozen times. I had planned to cancel my account once I got the domain settled (as I didn't want to lose my email access) via Fax, the only way it seems possible to actually contact you (you never acknowledged any emails I've sent the years I've been paying you). However, when I got your "Urgent" message, I tried to email you at support@superuser.net and the email bounced back. It really bewildered me when I got a dozen more "Urgent" messages. You're basically flooding my mailbox with mail I can't respond to. I was going to Fax you Friday, when I have access to a real Fax machine. However the multiple emails are clogging up my inbox and downloading them is stopping me from answering my real mail.
I would also like to note that your behavior is especially unprofessional considering you didn't bother to email me when Network Solutions sent you the first 3 notifications. You promptly denied them without even questioning rather or not it was my intent to move the domain. I actually had to call Network Solutions several times, fax in proof of identification and take you off as technical contact before I could do anything because you were being such an awful jerk about the transfer. The entire process took a week instead of a day. I've dealt with a lot of webhosts as I am technical contact for a few clients and NEVER have I had a webhost who was so rude and inconsiderate when trying to transfer. If you really wanted to know rather or not it was "my intention" to move the domain, you should have emailed me instead of denying the first 3 requests. I had no problem with your services until then, I just needed more space. I've even recommended you to a few friends (noting that tech support is nil, but the service was solid). I will never, ever do that again. I'm very displeased at your arrogance. I wouldn't be surprised if a 13 year old boy was running your company instead of adult professionals.
I know very well what day of the month my account is charged on and I had planned to send a fax before then. However, even if I wasn't aware, ONE polite email would have been enough (and threatening to transfer the domain back if I don't respond immediately isn't polite). I've counted 20 of the same email so far. That is totally uncalled for.From "DEREK"
SUBJECT: FINALLY!
Thank you for your response, finally. I will ignore the fact that it is obviously YOU who is a very rude, unsophisticated and inconsiderate person of which you provided ample proof by the use of abusive wording and the manner in which you wrote your fax letter, which we will keep on file. However, your fax is what we needed to cancel your account.
It seemed to be the only recourse left for me to send multiple email messages to get you to reply to my email. If you were unable to send email to us as you claim, you should have called our 800 number to let us know.
We have received your cancellation notice today, Agust 9, 2001 by fax. Your account will be cancelled on the last day of the current billing cycle, which will be on 8/19/01. Until then your account will remain open on our server, so as you can see there was no reason to withhold your cancellation notice until the last day. After this and another email which will contain cancellation confirmation number, you won't receive any more emails from me, since the only purpose of my repeated attempts was to get you to reply and provide cancellation notice. Thank you for finally taking this step, although in my humble opinion, you really need to work on your style *****.
The arrogant arse. I tried to email him back, but it bounced again. Probably for the best {g} However here would be my reply.
"I did not use one abusive word save for "awful jerk". You say it was your only recourse, however what I don't understand is why it was so important for me to answer the successful transfer request when you didn't even ask my input before turning down the other requests. If you don't consider that unprofessional, then I don't know what is. Also, the claim that it was only recourse to fill my mailbox astounds me. If I wanted to cancel my account at that moment, I would have as would any customer with any sense. One email pointing out that account would still be active would be enough to cover your butt if I would have said "I didn't know". You could have even used email notification to prove that I received it. I shouldn't have to drop what I'm doing and call you to cancel my account because your're worried about billing ME. Last time I checked, it was my credit card and I was the one paying for it. I should be the one concerned about my bill. Besides, as you mentioned, my account doesn't close until the 19. It wasn't an "urgent" situation until after the 19th, in which case you'd be billing me for a month I wasn't really using. As of today, you're billing me for a month you'd be billing me for anyway. I do see the urgency in spamming me.
Besides, I am the customer. It is not my job to politely answer email assault. Any professional who calls a customer with a valid complaint, or even an invalid one, "rude, unsophisticated and inconsiderate" needs a few tips on customer service. The customer is always right.
Keep the fax all you want. What are you going to prove? That I was a bad customer? I always paid my bill. However, with this email I could probably file a complaint with the BBB. Am I going to? No. Some customer someday might so perhaps you should change your "style".
Posted by vixen at 06:12 PM | Comments (7)
August 03, 2001
The World Wide Pain the Ass
Well, I've been bitching out Network Solutions to anyone who cared for the past few days. Network Solutions is the biggest and oldest company that registers domain names (like insidedelirium.com). I'm trying, trying being the operative word, to transfer one of my domains from one webhost to another.
After making me submit various forms of photo ID several times and send them a utility bill (all to prove I'm me. Honestly, I have a hard enough time being myself. I doubt anyone would forge my address, create a drivers licence with my likeness and address and steal my identity to transfer a domain called "goldblum.com" to another ISP. If such a person exists, they would be, in fact, more pathetic than I, which I find hard to fathom) and fax them several times (after replying to 30 authentication emails) I finally called their tech support after my last fax was denied because it wasn't on company letterhead. WTF? What does it matter. The domain is my name. I'm not Martha Stewart. My name is not a company. But, I digress. I told the guy on the phone "I'm not a company, but if you like, I can invent a company letterhead and send it to you." Sad thing is, he agreed "that would probably work". What kind of security precaution is that is anyway? Had I been a real thief, I would have thought of that already and sent a nice professional, fake letterhead to them the first time.
[irrating sidenote: The company "insidedelirium" gets snail mail occasionally inviting us to get company Mastercards and such. I thought it was funny the first time, but it's just sad now. If you're going to send junk mail, be sure to check out the "company" a bit first. It's obvious that isn't a commercial site. I should take them up on the offer and apply for mastercards in the name of "Vixen T. Fox, Bard Gaijin and Lady Xanax. They would probably give them to us. They give credit to dogs, afterall. "Amke Coliano" (someone who doesn't even exist) gets calls here all the time from the Army. Apparently, they are so hard up they even want inviable people to join.]
Back to my Network Solutions story, the friendly gentlemen on the phone ("I want to change my domain. I just paid you for it and I'll be happy to fax the CC bill!")...where was I? Oh yeah, he informed me that my old host has been blocking the transfer. As LadyX would, THE HELL? How can he block the transfer my domain? They said it was common for small hosts to do stuff like that, hijacking. Anyway, apparently, sometime or other, I setup a password that was associated with the account so the nice gentlemen said I should just use that and reply to YET another email that he sent. We'll see.
Oh well, anyway, I'm sorry for taking out all my aggression on Network Solutions. It's not their fault. It's my shoddy @ss webhost.Posted by vixen at 06:17 PM | Comments (0)
August 01, 2001
Bodies Suck
I hate my body. It causes me pain and stuff. My back hurts like hell, and I recently had a growth in my "belly-button" cauterized (sp?). Damn. What I'd like is to be the ghost from the old gameboy game "Avenging Spirit". Yeah. So I could posess other people's bodies when it suited my will. But anyway.
Posted by bard at 10:38 PM | Comments (0)