A Day in the Life

So tonight my sister called me with a computer problem. She said, “Can your hard drive just stop working or something because I turned on my computer and all of my documents and pictures were gone”. Well this was weird, and I didn’t really know what to say. I asked a few questions and everything appeared to be right. I told her to just come over and we could take a look.

When she got here we turned on the computer and it prompted her with the normal Windows XP login. When all of the personal settings were loaded (which took forever), the desktop was blank and the My Documents lead to a blank folder with the sample Music and Photos. It basically looked like a virgin install of XP.

Well I accidentally clicked on the Picasa icon and the program started up. Right away, the program started finding all of the files on the hard drive. As it turned out, all of the files on her computer weren’t gone, Windows had just gotten all messed up. Somehow, and I don’t know how yet, the registry or something was changed, because a new used file had been created named ‘TEMP’ and all of the shortcuts were remapped to those folders.

Even though I don’t know exactly why things got all messed up, at least the files were not deleted. That would have been the worst. We backed them up to an external hard drive and then tried to run a virus scan and spy ware remover. They both ran and of course found nothing. Likely I will just reinstall the OS and all of the documents so her computer will be healthy again. So even though It isn’t fixed, Picasa helped us find the missing files in a jiffy. Thanks Picasa, therefore, thank you Google!

I’m sure Zac will want to add his two cents about this movie, but I’ll start it off. Amistad tells the true story of a group of African slaves that revolt against their captors while on their way to America on board the Spanish ship La Amistad (means friendship in Spanish. Ironic?). When they reach America, the 1830s American government must decide who they are and who they belong to. At this point in time, the importation of slaves has become outlawed, and only American-born Africans could be enslaved in our country. Matthew McCounaghey plays the lawyer assigned to the case, and the story follows his attempts to communicate with the captives and find out their story. Through Cinque, one of the African slaves, we view the cruelties with which they were treated as their own countrymen captured each of them from their tribes in Africa, and the cruelties which befell them on board the ship. I would recommend this movie to anyone who is remotely interested in the history of our country. I am not sure how accurate it is, but it really caused me to think about the freedom we have in this country and how far we have come since the early days of America. The acting was great, and the story was gripping. However, there are a few parts that may be disturbing to some, even in the made-for-TV version (which is the one we watched). Altogether, a great show.

My bother and sister-in law have a one year old son. It was exciting during the summer to be around him and watch him grow and develop a personality. Unfortunately, Andrea and I have been few months now and we only get to see him through photos. I have noticed a theme developing with my nephew that I am very concerned about. I even have photos to prove it! I think that my nephew is becoming a hippie.

1. He is a grass eater.
   
2. He is a tree hugger and kisser.
   
3. He needs a haircut.
   

Now don’t get me wrong. I think my nephew is a cute kid, but come on now! He is being placed on a road that will lead to lawlessness and disrespect. I don’t think we want to relive the 70’s in the 21st Century.

I think I will need to take him out over the Christmas break for a haircut, and some good old fashioned non-hippie activities (like chopping firewood and eating red meat).

After some comments from my family I have decided to post a photo of myself at my second birthday (I’m the one on the left). I guess I turned out okay, but we can not be too careful. Now is the time for vigilance!

Remember elementary school picture day?

 When Mom did your hair extra pretty and told you not to mess it up, the whole class marched down to the auditorium to have their pictures done, waiting in line nervously and practicing that dazzling smile that wouldn’t be as dazzling in the actual photo, and thinking, “that’s it?” when the photographer took a whole 1.3 seconds taking your picture? I experienced it again yesterday. I had to have my picture taken for the staff directory, and it was pretty nerve racking. I did my hair all nice, but of course I made the appointment at 11am, so I had to wait 2 hours once I got to work, trying not to move too much for fear that it would get all messed up and frizzy. And I wore black, despite my urge to “be different” and wear some fun color. And yes mom, I took off my glasses But the good part about this picture day is that the photographer took 15 0r 20 shots, so unlike school pictures, I get to choose which one they show everybody! No retakes for me, no sir. There is BOUND to be one good shot out of 20.

About a year ago we broke our couch. We were upset at the time, because when we called customer service to see if they would repair it, they simply told us to take it to the nearest IKEA location which was in Las Vegas, NV. Well as much as Andrea and I wanted to be smashed into our car for 5 hours to return our broken couch, we just couldn’t seem to get it done. We told ourselves that we would do it at the end of the summer so the IKEA in Draper would be open. So we placed a series of textbooks which we could never sell back under the broken section for support and just kept on using it!

On Halloween night, after the cute little kids stopped trick or treating, and the punk teenagers who don’t even dress up started coming by, we stopped handing out candy and tried to take the broken section of the couch back to the store. We disassembled our sectional, loaded it into the car and set off for what we were sure was going to be a horrible experience trying to return it. These feelings were due to a large extent because we no longer had the receipt. I likely threw it away. Also we bought the couch over a year and a half ago.

When we got to the store it was basically a ghost town (pun intended). We unloaded the couch and went to the customer service line and took a number. We didn’t really need to take a number because we were the only ones there. After explaining the situation, the lady helping us went upstairs to talk to a manager and to see what they could do. About 20 minutes later she showed back up with the manager. Well another 40ish minutes passed and they eventually printed us a new copy of our receipt and informed us that they were simply going to replace our couch with the new one since it was a new model. The only problem was we needed to bring in all of the couch parts, not just the broken section.

We spent the next day trying to find someone who could help us move the other couch pieces. Eventually my friend Kevin was able to come and help us with the move. So today he and I spent our morning loading the couch and its pieces, driving to Draper and coming home.

I was amazed at the friendliness, concern, and desire to remedy the situation that the IKEA customer service representatives showed. I have often heard that bad news get circulated about a company more than the good does. This is my simple attempt to remedy that situation.

Basically IKEA has won me as a customer for the future!