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    « February 2008 | Main | April 2008 »

    March 31, 2008

    links for 2008-03-31

    March 25, 2008

    Only Apple, Inc.

    Hi this is GHR, my mother is sick today so please excuse me for the short post.
    On the bad side, my mom's old PowerBook G4 had to go to Apple to get the logic board replaced. Unfortunately, they don't have any logic boards available to replace it for a long time.
    To start from the beginning, my dad bought the computer for my mom's birthday about five years ago. It was the first generation of the PowerBook G4 platinum, and she was happy with the seventeen inch screen. As all computers are, this one was unlucky from the start, the computer was defective, the screen was phasing in and out of sync, the colors would change and look kinda like the first generation color screen computers.
        So, we went to the Apple store to get it fixed, they decided to take it in for three weeks and fixed it. And so, for four years the computer was serving my mother well. Ultimately, computers fail and become a lemon compared to a piece of gold, and about two months ago, the laptop was crashing and demanding a forced shut down (kernel panics). I took a look at it and found that there was a bad memory chip, which did solve the problem for two days, and of course, again it went on a frenzy of restarting on its own.
        I took a look at the panic logs, which only a mac expert child could figure out between two highly educated people (one of them being a computer software engineer), and i saw that the causes of the kernel panics was a faulty Airport Extreme Card, the wireless card built into the computer's logic board. And so, I took it the Apple Store and got a genius to take a look at it.
        The genius looked at the computer all around and started to claim that we could be liable for the defectiveness since we took into ourselves in replacing the hard drive three times, which would be something that is very likely to shock a chip and reck havoc to the computer, since there were marks of screwdrivers between the cover and the base and some screws missing. And I asked her, how much would it be to fix the thing. Her response: "Well, if it is found to be our defect in manufacturing, then it will be covered in around the $300 range, however, if it isn't our fault, then we charge you full price for the parts (around $1700 for a new logic board and airport card and the work) and no warranty would be set." So, I took it into my own hands to tell her, "send it to Apple, if they find it is our fault, then have them call us and ship it back, otherwise, we'll pay 300$ and get it fixed."
        Since then, my mother has been using my laptop, a PowerBook G4 15", which was better equiped than her laptop, and it is a year younger than hers. And so, she has been using it until...

    At 3:00 pm, today, we receive a call from Apple, the factory and labs for repairs, telling us that they find that it is a manufacturing defect in the logic board, which they need to replace. However, the woman tells us that the logic board is back ordered and cannont replace it, so, since they wanted to keep with the agreement of fixing the laptop or replacing it, they decided to replace the laptop with a brand new MacBook Pro 17". Somebody pinch me, is it really true??? She told us that it was within the agreement and only charge us the repair cost of $350!!!

    I told her about the excellent news and my dad didn't hesitate to accept this offer. Only Apple would do something like this, for a five year old computer to have a faulty logic board and cause it to be replaced with a standard similar computer of the same screen size (but much more memory and processing speeds by 2 times) at no extra cost.

    Take that PC! Only Apple will do the job.

    links for 2008-03-25

    March 24, 2008

    links for 2008-03-24

    March 22, 2008

    links for 2008-03-22

    March 21, 2008

    links for 2008-03-21

    Tomorrow I'll be back

    Thanks you guys who visited, I will be back tomorrow, I guess. For nobody can tell the future, right?

    Take care, I need to read about Obama's statements. I have been out of it.

    DSC00036

    March 20, 2008

    links for 2008-03-20

    March 19, 2008

    links for 2008-03-19

    March 18, 2008

    links for 2008-03-18

    March 17, 2008

    links for 2008-03-17

    Saint Patrick's Day

    ©All rights reserved, Tina Oiticica Harris, 2008
    We have had our lean corn beef, rye bread, light mayo, mustard, salad and tomatoes, and diet Coca-Cola© for drinks, except my husband, who drinks water. Tomorrow he works while our son, the "shamrock of our eyes" is on spring break.

    I'm slowly but surely going back to the pre-spinal tap phase; meaning I can't really move around. It's a bit frustrating every time I think, "Well, I am going to the big living room," and remember I depend on the kindness of my family to get moving.

    I'll be back tomorrow, I hope in full Hillary-swing, as usual. Click here to watch the unarguably most successful Irish band in recent history. Below, tea roses and double gardenias.
    ©All rights reserved, Tina Oiticica Harris, 2008

    Tea_roses

    March 15, 2008

    links for 2008-03-15

    March 14, 2008

    Did You Hear... I Know, I Know!

    Craig Ferguson has become a fixture for us to watch, recorded, of course. We didn't know about him until recently. He's great; he's not a pasteurized version of humor.

    I hope his show continues. In the meantime, it's springtime here. I have a difficult post to write and I keep on postponing it. It's about the passing of my friend since 1981, Dr. Uschi Drolc. Some other time, okay?

    I was amazed at the amount of sex scandals in the  Los Angeles Times of today,  March 14.  The NY governor is old news. Then there was the death of a presumed serial killer and the shocking revelation a vice-principal accused of molestation at some other LAUSD school was transferred to another school and, oops! he did it again, it seems.

    This news certainly pales the s*it list at SAMOHI.

    My big behind is hurting from the four spinal taps given on my sciatica nerve. I want to leave you some photos of spring and a song I love, by Tim Maia, Primavera (Springtime.) Then, back to bed for more fun and games.
    Plumtree Double

    links for 2008-03-14

    March 13, 2008

    Miscellaneous News from Home and Arnaldo Baptista

    After the scandalous "cyber-bullying" sh•t list of kids and sexual practices, SAMOHI-Pals moved on to kids burglarizing the neighborhood.  Then there was the  search for tutors, which is more of the same. Why go to a public school in which only the bright and an•l kids have a chance and then pay for tutoring?

    Yesterday was a phone-calling day to clear issues regarding my E.R. "treatment" and insurance issues. I did feel a little spaced out.

    Now there is exciting news for Russian-descent children at SAMOHI. They can win up to 15 units of college work, taking Russian at  UCLA. [Ya gavariú paruski]!
    [Otchem hattashaw]!

    Our del.icio.us links  should be moving to another Yahoo service after I consult the other members of the network. Today I realized a lot of links didn't have a link to del.icio.us.

    The latest at SAMOHI is... the site was spammed. Gee, I thought it was for real. An offer for idle people to work from home. It wasn't. It was spam.

    Why not combine a trip to Rio de Janeiro with a book-signing evening with Arnaldo Baptista, from Os Mutantes? I recommend the Arpoador Inn Hotel, a beach front suite. The view is awesome. The male staff is great, the restaurant has been trying.

    Arnaldo Baptista's book signing e-mail invite is here. The date is April 30. Click to enlarge. Check it out.  Click to enlarge.
    Rebeldes_entre_virtual_2

    links for 2008-03-13

    March 12, 2008

    Why Are Brazilians So Gung-Ho for Obama?

    The nefarious influence of the USA media; it's true, it's true! and the prejudice against older women has made Hillary the object of contempt. Brazilians like them young.

    And Hillary was never a simpática woman. Who, of older voters, doesn't remember Hillary's comment, "I'm not the type of woman who will stand by her man." or something like that. I like Hillary and lament the bashing of her well-constructed image. I will continue this tomorrow.  Thanks.

    Below, my African-American son, with Mommy, 2004.

     

    Photo

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OASouvpoS9U  Click.

    links for 2008-03-12

    March 11, 2008

    Monday Morning, One A.M.

    Anarchic_Universe® by tina oiticica harris
    My husband left for a meeting in D.C. My son sleeps like a log. At a tad before one a.m. I had to go number one. I called for GHR. NADA. When he finally got to me, I was sliding off the bed. I ended up on the low pile wool carpet. I'm allergic to wool.

    I call the home-grown Ph.D. HIs proposal is simple: lie on the floor till 9:30 a.m. That's when my helper arrives. I called 9-1-1. And I refuse to tell you about the horror story there at UCLA Student-Hospital in Westwood. A dominatrix nurse, pretty-young-thing, a nursing mother, very likely, "If you walk to the bathroom with me, I'll let you have a spinal tap. No walker, no wheelchair."

    It was quite night-day-marish. The blood samples people made eleven holes in my arms to find a vein. The worst was yet to come. The chief of the E.R. a cute young cat from D.C. missed the spinal tap four times. He hit my sciatica instead(right leg.)

    My C-Pap machine broke down. I've lost track of the days. I missed my insuline shots at the E.R. and some ambitious blogger went to the corner to buy cigarettes on me. Play me Liza Minelli. From Cabaret, by Bob Fosse. Please.

    Tomorrow we have our del.icio.us links as usual, gathered by André_Marmota,  Seth A, Tom_Watson, and Tina, yours truly. I hope you enjoy them. The photo is of a ground cover that spreads like this newer generation's belief they'll never be old. Sigh.
    All rights reserved.

    Apple_flower

    links for 2008-03-11

    March 10, 2008

    links for 2008-03-10

    March 09, 2008

    links for 2008-03-09

    March 08, 2008

    For Tomorrow Is Another Day; Yikes!(Rant)

    When I say Blogsville in Brazil is a complicated issue, for pete's sake, it is!  I have worked a lot on my blogs, I like what's rest of a social life for me, having had  one illness after another since July 99,  but I don't have Hillary's stomach. So, today I got a rant-post in Brazil dedicated to dissing me. Gee-whiz. It took me only 18 months at my new address to get where I am. There is a generation who lived the days of mIRC or this or that, are in their thirties, which defines Obamaniacs (on one end and millennium kids on the other.) Add these to the juvenile bloggers, the fact I am independent and live here in the USA, of which I am a proud citizen, and use MAcs, life gets tough.

    I must thank Seth A. my oldest link and teacher of a few musts. And Tom Watson for the number of other blogs I got to know through new critics. Freaky Deaky, another old-timer, responsible for most comments, who accepted me in his team with open arms.

    I hate to think of tomorrow, when my husband flies out to an aerospace conference in D.C. He is the consummate space cadet, strictu and latu sensu.
    He is Nicolas F. Rouquette, Pile_Higher_Deeper.

    All things must pass, and all this anger will too. After all, my mother is still alive, my son is studying seriously, and my husband and I have realtime for each other after 21 years. Below, our 13th wedding anniversary. End of party, when  Martha changes, from Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf." That is my "sleazy bar." Alas!  I don't  drink anymore. We call it the "Pulp Fiction" bar.
    There, a small ego-trip and I feel better. Don't forget our del.icio.us links!
    http://attu.typepad.com/universo_anarquico/images/2007/06/13/t_sleazy_bar_2.jpg

    I Walked Backwards in the Bathroom

    I walked backwards in the bathroom. Some ribs are bruised. I must go back to bed. However, what this means walking backwards,  is that my surgery or another spinal tap must come soon.

    The latest gossip on this side of Santa Monica is homes being burglarized by kids who sell subscriptions. I know, I know, would say