We’ve all been there.  The dreaded call to tech support.  Heck, at one time in the not so distant past I might have been the person on the other end of the line.  The big difference to me is that every time I find myself having to place a call for support the tech takes me through the same old boring set of things under “let’s try a few things first” column of time wasting activities.  I hate asking for assistance only to learn the solution was on page 20 of the manual.  I scour the internet (thank you Google) for answers long before I try the 800 number.

Today as an exception because I already knew what I needed.   Seems the family PC in the kitchen didn’t survive the short power outage last Monday and needs a new power supply.  I always give the OEM the first try but their site was completely useless when it came to parts replacement.  Sure they offered tons in the way of upgrades and peripherals but a simple 350 Watt power supply was nowhere to be found.  So I bite the bullet and gave their online chat a try.  I knew whoever was on the other end would start off with a battery of questions on our journey through their Flowchart of Doom.  I was very disappointed that after giving them the same info I used to search for the part they asked me info which should have been readily accessible to them as tech support.  I mean, why ask me what power supply came with the computer?  Your company makes the computer for goodness sake.

The best was soon to come for as my tech excused herself from our chat while she looked up the power supply info for my computer she asked me one of her pre-canned questions used to pretend the tech is truly engaging with you, the caller and wants to form a “connection”.  Unfortunately it didn’t go over as planned.  Take a look and have a good laugh.  I know I did.

Perhaps on the next call or chat it’ll be best to stick with questions about the weather.  That or go with, “How about them National’s, right!!”

Pretty sure I know what this tulip is thinking. Trust me, bro, it ain’t gonna happen. Not under my roof. :-)

I was looking through my site’s set of stats.  Truthfully, I’ve never been one to stress or obsess with how many or how few visits this blog gets.  Originally, the whole thing was restricted to those who registered and I only let family and close friends do that.  It was my way of keeping everyone up to date with what ever was happening with me.  In other words is was a place to share what my kids were doing and the latest pictures of them.  Then some friends asked why didn’t I just use FaceBook so I did and the blog collected cyberdust.  Then stuff happened to me or I saw something in the real world or online that I wanted to say something about and I thought why not put it on that space GoDaddy was auto-renewing as a favor to me every year.  Then my good friend Tee Morris practically dragged me kicking and screaming to Twitter.  And then I found neat plug-ins that could tie it all together if I were so inclined.  Then a Twitter friend, Odin1eye, who I’ve come to trust and admire talked about the increase of visits his little corner was getting and I went looking for another plug-in for that and here we are.  I can see how many visits the place of mine gets.

It’s right there on my Dashboard whenever I happen to stop by myself to create a new post from a PC (not often.  Go ahead and check for yourself), whenever a new comment is waiting my approval (that happens even less) or when I check for updates to WordPress or one of the plug-ins installed.  But I was looking at the stats and say it tracked what searches led people here. Nearly all of them had to do with the game Word with Friends which speaks more to the popularity of the game than my blog but that’s cool anyway.  What caught my attention where some really odd ones.

I’ve had more than a fair amount of free time and I’ve spent quite a bit of it online studying for and passing tests and what are known as professional certifications. I have a few more lined up under my desirable column and for motivation recently made a friendly wager with a very close friend. The basics of it is a race to see which of us will add five new certified skills to our “portfolio”. I’ll share updates on that as they come but for now that’s not what the whole “Planning Ahead” is about.

It’s about Christmas which is right around the corner. Well, at least the advertising for it is. See, I’m originally from New York and growing up there was this store whose spokeperson and store was named Crazy Eddie. The man’s prices were insane and so were his commercials. Truthfully, I don’t know why i got to thinking of him or the store but if you’re so inclined head on over to YouTube and prepare for a serious flashback.

Then I remembered that sometimes there are “Christmas in July” sales events and realized I’d better get my list ready. Good thing that whenever my brain started locking up from hours of reading and CBTs it was a simply thing to open another browser tab and look at nice, shiny things. Since most of you are too polite to ask and I’m too old to start dropping hints I thought it best to just, you know, present what would make me super happy to receive any time.

Mind you, this is in no particular order.

1. Zoom h4n – I’ve no immediate need for one. Seems all my friends have a nice digital recorder. Perhpas if I had one I could enter the world of Podcasting? Chalk this one up to peer envy.

2. This is an Invicta Reserved SubAqua Venom model 6116 and is absolutely stunning. It would look great on my wrist or alongside my other 10+

3. Pens, fountain pens in particular, are works of art and this one is no exception. This one happens to be the Waterman Edson Diamond Black Fine Point (I don’t have a fine point model yet. An omission I hope to rectify.) Fountain Pen.

Well, that’s about it.  Any of these will do.  What’s on your list and don’t go trying to make me feel bad about my short list by answering “Peace on Earth”.  Please.