Technology

Survey says? Wait, what?

Posted on by backuphill

Just when you think you have seen (or heard, your choice) it all, something happens that sets a new level of absurdity. Ridiculousness. Stupidity. 

I took a survey yesterday that asked me if I owned a zebra. Yeah, you see (photo above) and read that correctly. A zebra? Since when is that even legal?

What’s worse is that it was nestled in there so nicely with all the other choices, which happen to fall into the category of “technology.” So, um, who wrote this survey and what were they thinking? Fire that person!

OK, so here’s the weird thing…I also got a survey from the same place asking if I owned an ostrich (amongst other choices of random household items). Is someone playing Candid Camera with me? Am I being Punk’d? 

Oh, and what happens if I answered that I did own a zebra? What kind of questions would appear on a survey related to “zebra ownership”?

Something I already know

Posted on by backuphill

man wearing white shirt and gray dress pants sitting on green stool

Photo by Bui Cuong on Pexels.com

Ever gone to one of those “trainings” where they train you on something you already know?

Yeah, me too.

So you spend three hours doing the “bobs”…that’s the fun activity where your head nods up and down while you fight dozing off and keeping your head upright. Some people call them the “nods” but I just call them the bobs because it reminds me of a fishing bobber that tries to stay above the surface of the water as the fish pulls it down…think of this as your head trying to stay out of the fog of sleep.

Anyway, here’s to hoping your Friday isn’t ruined by someone telling you something you already know.

 

Temperature control

Posted on by backuphill

amber blaze blur bonfire

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Too hot. Too cold. Too hot. Too cold. Too hot. Too cold. Too hot. Too cold. Too hot.

The battle has begun.

It’s the “I’m too hot” and “I’m too cold” season. The season where your body can’t decide what it’s going to do so you spend lots of time trying to find the perfect temperature.

It’s cold outside, turn up the heat or build a fire. Now it’s too hot inside but too cold outside.

It’s cold outside, so bundle up to keep warm. Now you have too many layers on but you’re afraid if you take them off you’ll get cold so you don’t remove them only to stay too hot.

It’s cold in the house, so you add more blankets to the bed. Now you wake up in the middle of the night sweating. You throw them off, only to wake up shortly thereafter to pull them back up because you’re cold.

The office is cold but you don’t want to wear your coat while you work. You wear your coat while you work and then you’re too hot.

See? Constant battle. Push-pull. Hot-cold. Happy-miserable.

 

Political ads suck

Posted on by backuphill

i voted sticker spool on white surface

Photo by Element5 Digital on Pexels.com

I know it is two days late and a dollar short, but who cares.

I know you all agree with me so I am kinda preaching to the choir here, but political ads suck. They are everywhere during political season (mind you we just left one election cycle and the next presidential cycle is about to begin shortly), radio, tv, internet, next to the road, in the mail, social media…and and now also in my texts.

I kid you not, I got a text on election day reminding me to vote (and how to vote on an initiative). So, now we are going to get bombarded in the future with text messages from campaigns…

I didn’t sign anything petition so other than my public voter registration I am not sure how they got my number but this is a bad sign. A bad bad sign.

I should have taken a screen shot of it so I could post it here to prove it, but I was so pissed I deleted the second I opened it to read it. #smh

Anyone else get political ads via text this cycle?

Software updates

Posted on by backuphill

adult camera casual clean

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

“We’re sorry, the software update over the weekend broke the software. Your job will be impossible until it is fixed. Please be patient as the squirrels work magic to make it work again.”

OR

“Daylight Savings, in conjunction with a software update over the weekend, has broken your software. Please freak out and give us a call.”

Damn, we have a bad case of the Mondays today….

Dremel Multi-Max anything but max

Posted on by backuphill

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Don’t you hate it when things just stop working? Yeah, me too.

I received this thing as a gift for my birthday one year. It didn’t get used for about three months and then it got used whole working on a remodel of a birthday. It was a helpful too, except when it wasn’t working.

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Right from the start there was something wrong with the variable speed switch. Shake it, smack it with the ball of your hand, hold it just right and it would work. Finally I resorted to jamming a small shim into the switch area and it worked great at full speed. The problem was the shim couldn’t stay there forever since the tool obviously wasn’t designed to work that way. Total time in use, maybe an hour when all said and done?

The project ended and it got stored away. As you can see, it didn’t get abused or anything of the sort.

I dug it out to use it the other day. Doesn’t work at all now. Dead. Removed the shim, nothing. Put the shim back in, nothing. Now what? Obviously it is out of the warranty period. Totally disappointing it doesn’t work.

So, who’s the tool now? Dremel or me?

Robo calls and I swear

Posted on by backuphill

apple device cellphone communication device

Photo by it’s me neosiam on Pexels.com

I am on the “Do Not Call” list. So why are you calling me?

Oh, wait, you’re a robo call for a contest I didn’t enter telling me I won a prize that doesn’t exist.

It would be nice if we could just block anything that was initiated as a robo call. Issue solved. Yes, I could block that number that looks like it is from my area but then another number makes the same call two days later.

Irritating.

Technology exists to combat it. Technology exists to combat the technology to combat it.

Never ending cycle.

Annoyed. I swear if I ever meet someone that does this crap…

Selling rude behavior

Posted on by backuphill

close up of human hand

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Anyone out there use social media sites to sell the crap they no longer need or want?

It seems there are all kinds of sites out there these days offering the ability to sell stuff. Ebay and Craigslist were really the first ones but since then others have popped up, each attempting to make the process more streamlined and convenient.

You, of course, now have the option (I can’t possibly name them all) of OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace, Etsy, any my wife just found something called TopHatter. All have their own rules and in many ways are pretty similar. I have used both OfferUp and Facebook with mixed results.

Horror story time (OK, not really horror, but rude nonetheless)! It has not happened to me twice…you see an item you want to buy, you inquire about it, you find out it is still available, and then you agree on a time and place to meet (always in public). It used to be that a “gentleman’s agreement” was enough but apparently we live in a society with no honor.

The first occasion was actually a business going out of business and the furniture was for sale. I had to drive 30 minutes to get there but traffic was not great because of a collision. I messaged the seller to let her know I would be a couple minutes late but got no response. When I arrived at the location I was exactly four minutes late. When I walked in the door I found the two pieces I was purchasing and when I went to pay for it the lady said everything in the store had already been purchased by one buyer. I was a little dumbfounded. We had already agreed!! All she said was, “Sorry. You were late so I didn’t know if you were coming.”

The second occasion was just last week. A guy was selling a lawnmower that was near new. He lived in another town 37 miles away, but I worked near there so I asked if I could pick it up the next day since I would be going through on my way home from work. He agreed and we set up a place to meet. An hour after we agreed, he messages me and says, “Sorry, buddy, someone just came and picked it for full price.” Uh, what?? I was going to pay full price and I agreed to purchase it first!

Ok, so those are two of my stories. People not honoring their word. It shouldn’t surprise me because people suck, really. Anyway, OfferUp has a way to rate buyers and sellers but it is ONLY if the transaction actually takes place. So, for the most part, people have positive reviews since they only get reviewed on what they actually sell. There is no way to review sellers (or buyers) when the transaction hasn’t taken place, which is a big fault of the program, I believe. I am sure people have things sold right from under them all the time, but there is no way to report it. That’s a big downside to the program, even if most experiences are positive.

What’s your experience? Share your nightmare stories below.

Better than sliced bread

Posted on by backuphill

bread knife cut slice of bread

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

You know what is better than sliced bread? Bread you bake at home and have to slice yourself.

What is with the crap you buy in the store? What did they do in the process to make it taste like…nothing. It is virtually flavorless, it is light and fluffy, and it barely makes a proper piece of toast.

If you have had home-baked, fresh bread, you know what I am talking about! Sure, I may have to slice it myself and those slices may not come out all uniform or nor but it sure tastes better.

So what gives? They had to ruin bread just so they could mass produce it and slice it? Why can’t they make it taste like the stuff you would make at home?

Price match please!

Posted on by backuphill

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Competition is rough these days! Retail stores, brick & mortar vs. online, are in a battle to get your dollars because there are so many choices out there. Most stores, in order to overcome the competition, will do just about anything to get your business once you’re in the store, so many of them will price match identical goods found at other stores just so they can capture your money before you walk out the door.

Walmart won’t even match it’s own online price!

Yesterday was the strangest experience I have had as a consumer in quite a while.

My daughter wanted to buy “Grand Theft Auto V” and she was going to just buy it online from the Microsoft store as a digital download for $29.99. I said she should check around first to see if she can get a better price since it has been out for a while. So she did. As it turns out, there were several stores who had it on sale – Walmart and Game Stop, just to name a couple.

So, we jumped in the car and headed out to Walmart. We located the game in their electronics section in two place, neither of which indicated the online price as seen above. One was priced at $29.98 and the other one was priced at $59.98. These are the same game, mind you…

We asked for some help, showed the employee the price on the phone, he looked in the locked case and said something to the effect of “Well, we just updated prices so that is a bit of a mystery.” He pulled out both items at different prices and we went to do a price check. Both came up as marked. Wait, what?!? So, I asked if we could get the price as indicated online and he looked at my phone again, scrolled through the listing and said, “It must be an online only special.”

I was like, “It doesn’t say that anywhere. If it were online only, it would say that wouldn’t it?”

His response was, “It usually does.”

So, again, I asked if they would honor online price.

He said, “I don’t have the authority to do that but if you want to order it online then you could pick it up at the front of the store.” REALLY???? You’re gonna go there?

I asked for a manager. He said he called one. We waited for 15 minutes and still no manager. I asked if one was coming. He said they should be but they have to do “rounds” before they can get there.

I called Game Stop, verified they had the game in stock, left Walmart, and she spent her money there instead. No hassle.

When the physical store can’t (any employee should have this ability) to match it’s own online store price, you have a problem.

Walmart versus Walmart.com – both losers in my book!