Foreign Support

How frustrating.

4:50:18 PM System
You are now being connected to an agent. Thank you for using Dell Chat

4:50:18 PM System
Connected with Deepa Balakrishnan

4:50:23 PM Deepa Balakrishnan
Thank you for contacting Dell Customer Service Chat. My name is Deepa. How may I help you?

4:50:28 PM matt
hiya

4:50:42 PM matt
i just placed an order for a ********

4:51:00 PM matt
and it tells me that it will not ship until February!

4:51:06 PM matt
is that a normal delay?

4:51:20 PM matt
over two months seems extreme.

4:51:23 PM Deepa Balakrishnan
I have not received a response in over a minute. please respond within the next two minutes to allow me to continue our chat.

4:51:31 PM matt
hello?

4:51:35 PM matt
Deepa?

4:51:40 PM matt
are you a bot?

4:53:21 PM matt
you posted your first message at 4:50:23 and i posted my first message at 4:50:28... looks like five seconds to me.
4:53:23 PM Deepa Balakrishnan
As there is no response within the last two minutes. I will be ending this chat session. If you need additional support, please contact us at www.support.dell.com. We will be more than happy to assist you.

4:53:23 PM System
Deepa Balakrishnan has left this session!

4:53:24 PM System
The session has ended!

Ugh. It's a shame, but I waited 15 minutes in a queue for this help.

Oh, Jesus!

The Family celebrated Thanksgiving Day at Mo and Bill's house this year. It was a great day, and the kids had a lot of fun playing with all the cousins. Mo is an Episcopal priest, and her prayers before our meals are always a treat. There was so much food, and we all stuffed ourselves. Even the kids ate well for a change.
By the end of the night, it was pajama time. My Wonderful Wife carried one kid and I carried the other up to Paddy's room to change them for bedtime. Little Bubba was exhausted, so getting him into his PJs was fairly easy. Big Sis, on the other hand, was still riled up from all the holiday excitement. We finally got her head through her pajama top, but she struggled to push her hand through. "Oh, Jesus!" she stated plainly.
Well, in my head, there was nothing plain about it. I couldn't believe my ears. Where the heck did she hear that before? I can't imagine where she could have picked that up. And she was actually using it in context, too. I was shocked.
And then she pushed her hand through... and in her hand was Paddy's little Jesus action figure. It was like a little Buddy Christ. You couldn't imagine my relief.

I'm the Director

I just got a pretty decent promotion at work -- I'm now the Director of Quality Assurance. It means I am basically a manager who manages other managers and their projects. Since becoming Director, I walk around the office shouting "CUT!" and "ACTION!", and at the end of the day I state, "That's a wrap!"
My Wonderful Wife is tiring of my "bossy" attitude.
Anyway, I try not to talk much about work on this site, so if you are interested in hearing more drop me a line!

Another Pitcher passes

What's going on here?? Oakland starting pitcher Joe Kennedy collapsed and died late Thursday night at the age of 28. It's odd hearing about this after Cory Lidle died last year. I just find it shocking when young people pass, especially when it is seemingly for no "good reason".
Anyway, Joe Kennedy played for five teams over his short career, with a Win-Loss record of 43-61, an ERA of 4.79 and 558 strikeouts. I think he was always just short of great, and never played for contending teams that could have backed him up better, or provided better run support. We'll never know how great he could have been.

Back from Connecticut and the longest three hour trip ever.

We had another fun trip to CT this past week, visiting family and spending the Thanksgiving holiday with the cousins. We packed Bill and Mo's place for the big event and I think the kids had a great time seeing everybody again.
In order to cut some travel costs, and to work around the usual horrible T-Day traffic, we decided to fly back to the Deep South early on Friday morning. The plan was sound, and it proved to be a good one: with kids in their sleepers and GrandDad driving, we made it to the airport in record time. The Westchester County Airport was barely buzzing with activity -- I think everyone else was at the Kohls or Best Buy. With lots of extra staff around obviously bracing for the holiday crowds, but without any lines at check-in or security, we were quickly loaded up onto the plane, ready for our 7 AM departures.
And that's when it all went, um..., south.
After an announced "short delay" to have the maintenance crew examine something that failed the pre-flight check, we were actually deplaned and sent to baggage claim to grab all of our luggage. Our flight had been cancelled. It's 8:30 AM now, and instead of being home before lunch, we were stuck in a small town in New York. While the Wonderful Wife worked over the Delta staff at the check-in counter, I exercised the kids by running them through the stanchion maze at security.
Eventually, it was determined that the best way for us to get home would be to wait in the airport for the 3 PM flight. Ugh. Somehow we'll have to occupy ourselves for six hours in this tiny airport.
Breakfast in the airport diner, naps on airport furniture and delivery pepperoni pie from a local pizza joint and we made it through the day. And Big Sis documented it all herself with our camera.

I like her perspective.

She's a fan, what can i say.

My daughter thinks Laurie Berkner is the biggest star in the whole world, and I'm starting to believe it to. She loves to sing along, and sometimes acts like she is the one in the videos.



Dang, that kid is cute. It's even funnier that the proper name for the state is actually "Al Abama".

I am assimilating into the Deep South

You might have read about I was considering a change of vehicle. Well, the decision was easy since I have been living in the South for son long. I haven't actually read the particular law, but I have been told that all Southerners need to own a pickup truck.
Yep.
So, I didn't get the GMC Canyon after all.
But I got the next best thing. I ended up getting the Chevrolet Colorado which has the exact same body style. The bonus was that i got to buy a 2006 leftover at a significant discount. Sweet!

Anyway, a year later, and I love this car. My first car was a Dodge Ram 50, a tiny version of a pickup truck. I loved it then. I love it now. I think I was born to live in the South.