Fresh, Hot Wastes of Time

Well, maybe it is, but there’s not much going on lately so I’ll just bore you.

• There’s a huge lice outbreak at the elementary school. Rumor has it that 80 kids have teh boogs. We all hate the nit comb.

• The in-laws made it through Ike okay, although they lost power for over a week.

• I skipped my high school 20th reunion and went hunting instead.

• The mail carrier still sucks. Only both he AND his substitute suck. I just got two things I’d been waiting for in the mail today – one was postmarked 9/26 and one was 10/3.

• I’m really not getting into school like I was before. The class is enjoyable enough, but I just don’t think I’m up for it. I’ll probably take a break for a couple of semesters after this one is over.

And um… really that’s about it. Yay?

First grade of my graduate student career: 97.

Can’t get too excited, because it was on a paper that counts for 5% of my final grade. Still though, not bad.

Woohoo, resume updating time again. It was a crazy summer, but now I’m setting into a new project that’s not at all ARG-like. I think I’m really going to enjoy it.

Buzzards

Originally uploaded by addlepated

Oh hai. I can has carrion?

Seriously, WTF? There was a thumping in the chimney earlier, then we were swarmed by buzzards.

Watermelon

Originally uploaded by addlepated

I thought the watermelon was safe. I thought wrong. Hub found the remains this afternoon. The half weighed almost 2 lbs., so it had to be something strong enough to lug around a 4 lb. fruit. Could have been deer, armadillos, squirrels – who knows? All I know is that all of the eggplant have been gnawed off the vine and smashed to bits around the yard (saw the squirrels carrying them up the trees), the few green tomatoes we had before we left for Florida were no longer there when we got back, and there’s no baby fruit left anywhere in the garden.

Between dogs, deer, and squirrels, we’re not destined to reap any of the fruit of our labors.

I called back because I had one more day before my year anniversary of getting this battery and 1.5 hours of battery life ain’t gonna cut it. They forwarded me to a product specialist who made an exception for me and is shipping a new battery as I type. Now that’s what I’m talking about.

Normally Apple’s excellent with their tech support, but my call to 1-800-APL-CARE today has me flummoxed.

I replaced my MacBook Pro’s battery under Apple’s battery exchange program last September. Since then, I’ve racked up 96 charging cycles, and my battery is now at a max capacity of 4528 mAh. That’s 82% of its maximum. Two days ago it was at 4589 mAh – 83% of maximum. My battery life sucks and the battery’s not right.

I called Apple today to replace it. Apparently they have an arbitrary number that must be hit in order to do so. I need to have under 300 charging cycles (check) and be under 80% of my battery capacity. The guy refused to do anything for me at this point.

I said, “So I’m supposed to call you back in a week when this battery’s low enough for you to take action?” and the answer was yes.

They could have made a customer happy this week about an issue that obviously isn’t going to solve itself, or they could have just told me to run along and play. They chose poorly.

Perhaps I should try a Genius Bar. They’re generally very helpful. Unlike tech support dude.

Hamlet done as Facebook updates.