So why read it at all? I need something light. Something that doesn’t make me think too hard. Something that makes me laugh a bit. And as it stands I’ve read all the Bill Bryson stuff that’s out there. Sure, he’s funny on purpose and Bachmann’s humor comes more by accident but face it, a laugh is still a laugh.

This snippet comes from Tim Murphey’s review at Mother Jones:

Bachmann blames Obama for increasing the number of Department of Transportation employees making $170,000 from one in 2007 to 1,690 in 2009. Except, as FactCheck notes, "At least two-thirds of those employees were receiving more than $170,000 before Obama took office." One moment she’s lamenting the sky-high tax rates of the 1970s; the next moment she’s labeling the considerably lower tax rates of the Obama era "unprecedented." On "Obamacare," she rattles off a list of whoppers that read like a Politifact greatest hits: It funds abortion; it will cost 800,000 jobs; it creates death panels; it contains $105 billion in secret spending (there was nothing secret about it); and it would cause 114 million Americans to lose their existing private coverage (the report she’s referencing simply says that, if a public option existed, 114 million Americans would choose to switch to it.)

I can hardly wait for my library to get it.

But that’s not what this post is about. This post is about the Hilliard City Schools school levy.

Several weeks ago my son and I drove to the polls and cast our votes for the levy. That night, on the news, we were able to see that the levy had failed by eight votes. Just eight!

Eight.

This was my son’s first opportunity to vote and, despite our sadness over the levy’s defeat, it was a good opportunity to to see just how important each and every vote is. If something loses by 10,000 votes, it’s easy enough to sit and think, “well, my vote wasn’t really all that important.” When it’s eight, though, you get a better feel for the chance you have to make a difference.

Oh. Even though we’d lost by eight, there were still a bunch of provisional and absentee ballots outs that needed to be counted. When all was said and done the school levy passed by almost 300 votes.

Sweet!

Wait… I’d forgotten about this – I had kids going to private school and still voted for city-school levies. One boy didn’t enter the public school system until 9th grade.

In my other blog I often write about the three boys I share custody with with my ex wife but I don’t know that I’ve ever mentioned the new children that have come to the family via my new, improved, wife. There are several which brings the total to more than four but far less than what that f*cked up family with the reality TV show have.

And now, three paragraphs in, we’ve come to what this post is about – my disappointment over Hilliard City Schools sending my children home with fundraising materials. Even before school officially started.

This morning I wrote a check for $30 for cookie dough to one of the high schools.  I have an Entertainment Book of some sort on the fridge waiting for my attention. I have recently sponsored two children in some sort of walk-a-thon so their elementary school could have a rainy-day fund.

This all comes on top of school fees. I’m not sure what they all were, but I just got a note from a school that we missed paying for one of the high schoolers and her fees were $160.

Where were we? Let’s finish with this:

Dear Hilliard City Schools:

I am happy to vote for every school levy you place on the ballot. Especially now that I have children in the public school system. But you’ve got to quit sending fundraising crap home with my kids. They expect my wife and me and their grandparents and aunts and uncles to to buy this stuff that, face it, nobody needs.

I know. The thought is the kids will go door-to-door pushing this junk off on the neighbors. Do you honestly think I have the only kids in the subdivision? I don’t. There are hundreds of other little salespersons – and you know what… I don’t want them banging on my door trying to sell me stuff my kids are already selling.

So how do you want this to work? I continue to vote for school levies, put pro-levy signs in my yard, and correct the office loud-mouth who periodically spews nonsense about how the schools are wasting money – or – I put up with my kids bringing home fundraising crap.

You can’t have it both ways.

Not far from me – within walking distance – is an appliance store that sells things like washers, dryers, refrigerators, freezers, etc. I’ve bought from them in the past, and had every intention of buying from them in the future.

Until…

Until I was strolling around town and got passed by a Hummer that had a tag that said “Jcks Appl” that I assumed meant “Jack’s Appliances.” My assumption seemed to be verified when I would later see the Hummer parked in front of Jack’s Appliance store.

I am of the mind that people should be able to drive whatever it is they want. However, I’m also a big believer in that everybody driving fuel-inefficient cars is one of the things that makes gas prices high. And that nobody, short of the military, honestly needs a Hummer.

Mostly though, I believe that if someone has the money to buy a Hummer and keep it running, they probably don’t need the few dollars they’re going to get from selling me a new washer and dryer.

I’ll be buying a new washer and dryer in a month – a couple of those front-loading jobs. I’ll probably get it from Home Depot.

I really don’t recall if I went to any great pains to install it the first time – I don’t think I did – but most recently I’ve moved to a new Windows 7 computer and all I did to get it up and running was to move the cwRsync directory to a folder on the new computer and tweak the batch file I use to do the backup. The tweaking involved changing the cwRsync location from c:\program files\cwRsync to d:\program_files\cwRsync and changing my personal files directory from c:\documents and settings\johnd\ to c:\users\johnd

The original batch file contained two lines and looked like this:

rsync -av "/cygdrive/c/Documents and Settings/johnd/" "/cygdrive/f/Documents and Settings/johnd" –exclude-from exclusions.txt –delete

rsync -av "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/cwRsync/" "/cygdrive/f/Program Files/cwRsync"

The first line copies everything from c:\documents and settings\johnd to the same folders on my external storage device – denoted by drive F.  After the initial copy, only files that changed were copied, thus speeding the backup up greatly. (Well, not everything is copied. I have an exclusions file that excludes some things. The –delete switch deletes files from the backup that have been deleted from the source directories.)

The second line backs-up my cwRsync folder and the batch file.

In Windows XP the folders and subfolders on drive F were created automatically. Once every six months or so I’d rename “Documents and Settings” to something else and the next time I ran my batch file a new “Documents and Settings” folder would be created on F:.

As I’ve said above, I recently moved to a new computer with Windows 7 Professional; it is the 64 bit version. Moving the cwRsync directory to the D: drive on the new computer and tweaking the batch files was all I needed to do to get the backup going again… for the most part. When I ran it, I got a permissions error when the first line ran – after that error, though, the second line ran without a hitch. The second line’s folders, subfolders, and directories were created on the F drive.

Rather than tell you of the troubleshooting mistakes I made, I’ll simply tell you how I fixed the problem. But first let me show you the tweaked lines from the batch file I use to run cwRsync.

rsync -av "/cygdrive/c/users/johnd/" "/cygdrive/f/users/johnd/" –exclude-from exclusions.txt –delete

rsync -av "/cygdrive/d/Program_Files/" "/cygdrive/f/Program_Files/"

Windows 7 has started putting user files under “users” rather than “documents and settings,” and the first line reflects this change.  The second line shows the new path for my cwRsync directory. (My cwRsync folder is installed under D:\Program_Files … there’s an underscore in the file name as I have a program in that directory that won’t run from a folder with a space in the name.)

And the fix? For whatever reason, in order to get this to work I had to create the “users” directory on my F drive. The other directories were made automatically.

The batch file I use to start the backup are in d:\program_files\cwRsync\bin\. I have a shortcut to the batch file on my desktop.

The thing that is not good about the replacement Nook I’m getting is that it is scheduled to ship tomorrow.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow!

I talked with Tech Support on August 24 and did everything they told me to do. I spoke with them, again, later that day and we decided we’d try “one more thing” after which, if it failed, I’d get a replacement. On the morning of the 25th I called tech support again, as the “one more thing” had failed. Alas, I called too early and the folks in charge of doling out replacements were not in; I was asked to call back after 9 a.m.

I did.

The tech I spoke with then tried to get me to do a factory reset one more time. I declined and after some conversation he agreed I should get a replacement. In order to do this, he said, I needed to call back in “24 to 48 hours” as something had to update in the system.

Before I go any further, let me state that everybody I spoke with at Barnes and Noble tech support was very helpful and polite. I’ve no complaint with the way I was treated and I’m even able to accept the fact that Techs sometimes need to ask people to do the same thing more than once – especially if you get a different person when you call back the second, third, and fourth times.

So, I was told to call back in 24 to 48 hours. I told the tech I wasn’t happy about this and asked to speak to a supervisor.  The supervisor, again, a very polite and trying-to-be-helpful person, told me some sort of update had to take place and that it would be 24 to 48 hours before B&N could process my replacement.

I said something like, “How can this be possible? I called yesterday. Whatever needed to happen to start an update process should have started then. This is my fourth call. The process shouldn’t be this complicated. When I call back, you’re going to take my credit card, tell me you’re going to send me a refurbed unit, and that it’s going to be three to five days before I get it. Why not take my credit card now and save me the hassle of another call?”

He could not take my credit card but said he’d call me Saturday around noon so we could take care of the order. He also said I’d get a new unit – not a refurb.

Saturday came and went with no call. I’m cool with that. Things happen.

I called Monday morning, asked for a supervisor straight away, and went about getting my replacement ordered. The supervisor I spoke with then was puzzled over why I’d been asked to wait 24 to 48 hours as he was unfamiliar with anything like that. I can’t say I’m put off by the fact he was not familiar with the call-back-so-something-can-update process – Barnes and Noble is big, not everybody is going to be in every loop right away. He took my order. I gave my credit card number. I don’t know if I’m getting a new or refurbed unit. I honestly don’t care so long as it looks new.

What I am put off by is that it is going to be tomorrow before it ships; I didn’t realize that until I got the confirmation email (I’m certain the supervisor I spoke with had told me it would be two days, I just hadn’t sunk in until I got the email).  Had I ordered a new Nook off the B&N website it would have shipped the day I ordered it.

The Nook 2 – Nook Simple Touch – whatever you want to call it has a nice look and feel to it. The little bit of reading I was able to do felt natural. The battery life is amazing, per what I’ve read. I would like to get one for my parents, wife and siblings… however, the thought of them having to go through any sort of problem resolution with it is putting me off.

Maybe if I get it, play with it, and make sure it works.

We’ll have to see how my replacement Nook works out.

(Hey, Barnes and Noble. Getting a replacement Nook shouldn’t be this hard. You guys have been selling ebooks for a good, long while. I know… I own more than 100 that I’ve bought from you for my old Palm TX. You are one of the leaders when it comes to these things. You should be better than this.)

You will recall from yesterday that I was having trouble with my Nook Simple Touch freezing.

When I took the Nook home last night I had a single .epub book side loaded into it. The WiFi was off.

The Nook worked well up through dinner time – up till then I’d read a few pages every so often and let the Nook go to sleep. Just after dinner it froze at the screen saver. I did a reboot and it was trouble free throughout the rest of the night. I did some reading just before I went to sleep and set the Nook on the night stand.

This morning it was frozen.  I rebooted. When it went to sleep it froze again.

I rebooted the Nook several times – each time it froze at the “Your Nook is Starting Up” screen.

When I got to work I called Barnes and Noble tech support. They are going to replace the Nook. (Though I called at 8:30 and their replacement people weren’t in yet. I need to call back after 9 a.m.)

So. What do we know?

• My Nook freezes with just a single .epub loaded into it.
• It runs the best just after it has a factory reset done to it or is deregistered/erased
• Once it starts freezing, it continues to freeze on a regular basis.

I’m going to continue to piddle around with this one just for fun.

(A second after I published this entry I picked up my Nook. It is plugged into the wall, the battery was at 98% when I checked two minutes ago, WiFi is off, I have one book that I’ve loaded into it… it is frozen at the Home page.  I am going to do a factory reset again.)

UPDATE: I did a factory reset and then downloaded “Pride and Prejudice” from B&N. The Nook froze within the hour at the screen saver. I will be getting a replacement under warranty.

(Though the screen looks a lot sharper – I’ve sort of enlarged the photo here.)

Anyway, I opened the box, went through set up, registered, and did all the things a person does with a new gizmo. I even went so far as to put a microSD card in it. Then I loaded some books, did a bit of reading, and put the Nook down.

My wife and I had company for a week or so, we had a couple of birthday parties, end of summer things, etc. The result was that I didn’t get a lot of time to play with the Nook. My reading was just about a page a night – and that was mostly to see if a problem I’d been experiencing was chronic… or just a one- (or two- or three-) time thing.

It would turn out to be chronic.

That thing? Each time I picked the Nook up the screen was frozen.  Either at the last page I’d read or at the screen saver. I did some Googling and found I wasn’t the only one with this problem.

I tried all of the web remedies I read about – going to far as to deregister the Nook and reset it. The Nook worked well, following this, for several days. Wait… rather than drone on about everything I did in paragraph form, I’ll put things in bullets as it will be more helpful for you and me (I’ve still not got all the problems sorted out).

• Following the second deregistering/erasing (I’ve done it three or four times now) the Nook worked for three days without freezing. The microSD card was not installed, and I’d not installed any books.
• It froze not terribly long after I installed my SD card. At the time I thought the card was flakey but now know it will freeze without the card. (I suspect it might have been a book on the card — or something else.)
• After deregistering/erasing again, the Nook worked well until I side loaded two PDF files. I don’t know if it matters but one of the books had been cropped using BRISS. This was a quick test – I deregistered and reregistered and then added the books. It took all of 15 minutes.
• An hour ago I deregistered and registered again – this time adding an .epub book and leaving it open. The Nook has gone to sleep and I’ve reawakened it six or seven times now.

Thoughts that I have:

• I use Calibre to side load all of my books. When it ejects the Nook, the Nook disappears from the Calibre menu but the Nook’s screen remains as if it is plugged into my computer and in USB mode. If I eject from the Windows 7 task bar, the Nook screen flashes and clears. (The Windows 7 Devices and Printers troubleshooting app reports that the Nook has been prepared for safe removal but is still plugged in.)
• Maybe I should eject using the Windows 7 tool.
• Maybe I should side load using Windows Explorer
• Maybe this is totally unrelated
• Maybe I had a bad PDF file.
• I did not try simply deleting the PDF the last time I deregistered/erased. I’ll give that a shot next time.
• It has not been freezing on the same file each and every time.

(Oh, before I end today’s troubleshooting installment, I should probably say I’ve talked with Tech Support and they had me do a hard reset. I did this just before the PDF experiment I mention above.)

"It’s not typical of me. I don’t know what happened. I can’t explain it."

He murdered 11 women!

How many people does he think he has to kill before murder becomes his “typical” behavior?

Important Privacy Notice: Customer Proprietary Network Information
Re: Account Number ending xxxx-xxxxx

Dear Valued Customer,

At Verizon Wireless, we value you as a customer, and we know how important privacy is to you. As a company, we have a long-standing policy of guarding personal customer information.
This notice contains information about Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI). Verizon Wireless needs your permission to share your CPNI within the Verizon family of companies, which includes our affiliates, agents and parent companies (including Vodafone), as well as their subsidiaries. This information allows us to better serve you by identifying, offering and providing the most appropriate communications products and services to fit your needs. You have the right to request that we not share such information, so please read this notice carefully.

So, what they want to do is share my information so other people can spam me.

But I have the right to request they not share my info. All I have to do is click a button in the mail telling them to not share anything about me with anybody else.

All I have to do is click a button in an email they sent me… that was obviously not a billing notice… and that I could have more easily *not* read than read.

The way this should work, my dear Verizon friends, is that you send a mail that requires me to click a button if I want to share my information.

I should opt-in.

I should not have to opt out.

You know this is how it is supposed to happen.

And I know that relying on people to opt in does not allow you to make the same amount of money you can by forcing your customers to opt-out does.