• iFailed

    Things break. It can be disappointing, but it’s a fact of high-tech life. What really hurts is when the occasional breakage points to a painful truth, I’m an idiot.

    Two months ago my iPod started acting funny. My keen diagnostic senses deduced that it was a software problem. However, my honed procrastinating tendencies put off any attempt to fix the problem. After all, the odd behavior wasn’t that bad. And besides, even if it wasn’t a software problem, the warranty was up anyway.

    Yeah, it turns out I was horribly wrong on both counts. Two months ago I had one month left on that warranty.

    Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to my self-loathing.

  • Well and truly f,.. by warranties

    Palm Handheld, 90 day warranty.
    Apple iPod, 365 day warranty.
    Broken, 383 day old iPod, bundled with a broken, 496 day old Palm handheld, worthless.

    According to the Apple web site, I could send in my iPod for “out of warranty” service, cost: $249 (plus $6.95 shipping and handling), warranty: 90 days.

    According to the Apple web site, I could purchase a new iPod, cost: $299, warranty: 1 year.

    According to my budget, I could go iPod and handheld free indefinitely.

    Now that I’m well and truly depressed, I think I’ll burn a couple “old school” CDs for work tomorrow.

    “Pardon me sir, would you like a little salt for your wound?”

  • Good News

    I feel compelled to blow a little sunshine, where it don’t normally, particularly after my last post, my ode to self-pity. Lets just say that the last Xbox game I bought was the best twenty bucks I’ve spent this fiscal quarter. Beth and I have been blowing away Imperial scum like a couple of Rebel bad boys. We’ve been playing Star Wars Battlefront. We’ve played it a lot, but most importantly, we’ve played it together. I know video games are not exactly right out of Norman Rockwell, but it’s someplace our divergent tastes have crossed, and I’m going to milk it for all it’s worth.