Cross-posting

No, it has nothing to do with clothes or whether or not some is or is not the gender to which they were born. This about a sports card CONTEST!

Ryan, over at TraderCrack's, is having a contest and the winner gets whatever is behind door number one, er, I mean what's inside the Razor Cut Signature pack!

The contest link: GO HERE!

Just leave a comment and you're in. There are other ways too win, but I'll you find those out for yourself!

It came! It finally came!

Some time ago, I bought a Magellan 1212 GPS unit from Newegg.com. It was a refurbished item, which means someone returned it, MagellanGPS fixed it and then let Newegg sell it at a discount. Big bonus for me. That is not what this post is about, though.

Magellan has a 30-day free map update guarantee. If you buy a refurb unit, then call them within 30 days, you get a FREE ($75-80 value) SD card with the latest map updates.

I called, sent everything they wanted, and waited... and waited... I finally used their customer service online form and copied everything I had sent into that form. The next day, I get a reply that says I'm good to go for the free update, but I have to pay $10 shipping. I call the 800 number, give the info and wait... and wait...

Today, I get a package in the mail. Inside the package is another package. Why they didn't just send that one, I have no idea. But, inside, I find the SD card.

Now, I thought that the GPS unit would copy the maps from the SD card to the GPS. Nope, you boot up the GPS, press RESET and it boots the maps from the card. So, take out the card, you lose the updated maps (until you put the card back in).

That's not a major issue, except that the SD slot is also used to back up address books, etc. So, of course, I am going to see if I can back up to the maps card.

I am glad I took the initiative to contact customer service for the free update to begin with, but also as follow-up since I had not heard anything from them. Now, I just have to figure out what was updated and if it even matters for the areas in which I travel the most... Regardless, it is worth it to me!

Skilcraft Pen Information Update

It amazes me how much the Internet has evolved, specifically in the realm of the World Wide Web. Take for example, the Skilcraft Pen. Some time ago, I posted an article (here) about the government-issue pens that my father had laying all over the house when I was a kid.

The comments involve various memories, and questions about where to find these great little pens. Well, because of the power of search engines and the ability for folks to communicate and collaborate online through these things we call blogs, an answer has been posted:

Privateer writes, "if you're still reading this blog, or article, you're best bet is to order a box off of http://www.abilityone.com/, the website, for the applicable government program. If you're looking for black, medium point, its NSN 7520009357136. If you're just looking for the refills, thats NSN 7510005436792, again, just for medium point. Its about 7.50 for a box of a dozen pens, or 3.14 for a box of refills. Whats really gonna get you is shipping, which is 15.00 unless you order 50.00 worth of stuff. Hope that helps."

Whether a purchase is made or not, it definitely helps! Thank you, Privateer, for surfing in and leading folks to a place to pick up these great pens!

Sidenote: If you do a search for the pen # (7520009357136), you can find several sites selling them as well. I don't know if Privateer works for AbilityOne or not, but without his help, I would not have known the product number to look up in the first place. Again, thank you VERY much for stopping by and giving a hand, Privateer!

"Free" Big Mac - are you kidding me with this?

While checking my Yahoo! mail today, this was the banner ad (what you see above).

Notice the small print? "Complete six offers..." Are you kidding me!? For a blankety-blank BIG MAC!? What's a Big Mac cost, like 3 bucks? You want me to sign up for junk mail out the butt, plus buy more than a few things, I'm sure!? And for a BIG MAC!? Yeah, I don't think so. Times may be tough, but I can pull up to Mickey D's and get a stupid Big Mac if I want one, and I don't have to complete anything more than driving my happy butt there...

Man, that is tooo funny...

"Could you shut down your production server for me?"

Those were the words spoken by the Dell tech support guy as we tried to troubleshoot a problem with a tape backup unit we have. My simple response was, "uh, no."

But, after taking some time to let things digest, it did occur to me that I 'should' be able to turn off the tape unit, disconnect the cable from the server and turn the tape unit back on again. After all, if the cable was disconnected from the server, then as far as the tape unit was concerned, I *had* shut down the server, right?

Sure enough, the tape unit booted up and I was able to eject the tape that had been stuck for more than a week. Then, for good measure, I also ejected the second tape (it's a dual tape unit). Once that was done, I plugged everything back in, tightened down all the connectors, and fired the tape unit back up. Once I inserted the tapes, everything worked just fine.

And I did not have to shut down our production server, thank you.

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Emily has been on a major GH3 kick lately. So, Sunday night, she got Shan to play and Shan did very, very well! She had never played before and scored 97% of the notes for "Hit me with your best shot!" Rockin!

And, in the name of honesty and disclosure, Shan kicked my butt on a variety of songs. I'm going to have to practice...

Emily is getting better, reaching just over 50% on "hit me" and in the upper 40%-range for several other songs on the list! Her main issue is that her hands are a tad too small for the fret board. But she hangs in there, and doesn't give up easily. Soon, she'll be blowin the roof off the place!

Tyler does very well on medium and hard. He treats the game like a game rather than a music challenge, so for him it is more about hand-eye coordination than matching riffs to the song. I may need to try that....

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