So, 100 Hundred Days are in…

And Donald Trump sucks as President. I did not vote for him. I held my tongue since the election to give him a chance. I decided that my desk at work would be non-partisan so it wouldn’t be a distraction. But he is even worse than Dubya.

• He has tried to dismantle Obamacare. Not that this in an of itself is a bad thing. But in doing so, millions would be cut off from health care. This normally wouldn’t affect me since I now have health insurance through my employer, but there was a time when I was without it. If this is the greatest country in the world, then we have a fundamental obligation to take care of our people.
• His idea for tax reform is tax cuts for the rich. Trickle down economics, it is called. Historically, it has never worked. The deficit will soar and economy will tank. And the working poor will be stuck with the bill.
• His immigration policies are bordering on racist. His idea for securing the border with Mexico is a wall. And the dumbshit thinks he can make Mexico pay for it. And there are his executive orders which are targeting Muslims (fortunately they have been stuck down by the courts). Then there are the outright racists on his staff. There are no differences between white nationalist, white supremacists, and racists.
• He has colluded with America’s enemies. Russia may not be America’s enemy, but they are not our friends either. The FBI (who pretty much violated the Hatch with that last minute announcement that were still investigating Hilary) has announced that there is a counter-intelligence investigation for alleged collusion between his campaign and Russia.
• He has refused to release his tax returns. What is he hiding? Every candidate has publicly disclosed their tax returns. I understand the average taxpayer has a right to privacy, but if you want to be the most powerful person in the world, you have to hold to a higher standard.
• Conflict of interests galore. Which we have to pay for. Where does he host visiting world leaders? At his Mar-A-Lago resort. At the taxpayer’s expense. Then there is his daughter in the White House, and him tweeting to buy her merchandise.

This post will never be a Pulitzer Prize winning piece of journalism. It is not intended to be. America is still a great nation. We still have a Constitution and a Bill Of Rights to guarantee our Freedoms (like the right to free speech being exercised here). And a system of checks and balances between the various branches of the government. Donald Trump in the White House is not the end of the world. But the world is still pretty fucked up…

Creators Update is out…

So the Windows 10 creators update is out. My computer was running perfectly on what is was running before, so of course I decided to test it out. Installation was straightforward, similar to the Anniversary Update. The one difference this time around was the initial configuration page, which featured Cortana, which I turned off.

Overall, it is still Windows 10. The Windows 10 themes are now in the Windows Store. Though most of the themes that I use and have backed up will still work. Some won’t, but they were written for Windows XP (it will take some work to adapt them for Win10, but the wallpapers at least should be available).

Overall, it is still Windows 10. It is not Windows 7, which will be a stumbling block. I miss the Windows Classic themes. There are work-arounds available, but they’re just not the same. But then again, this is the cutting edge form Microsoft. And I can Netflix and Hulu from my tower….

Vacation: Day 2

Aside form turning on the computer and my morning coffee, absolutely nothing is planned. Maybe a trip out of the house for some pizza or to Jack (ing off) in the Box later on for some victuals….

Vacation: Day 1

Ended up not working 8 days in a row. Had an early morning Dr.'s appointment on Monday morning after working Sunday night. And I was scheduled to work Monday night, too. While I was at the Dr.'s office, my prescriptions were adjusted, and I had to go parley with the pharmacist about them. On my way from the Dr. to the pharmacy, I realized that I might not make it work. I had enough sick/personal time to cover my shift, so I called out Monday. In hindsight, I could've made it, but 7 am to 10:30 at night is something that I'm going to avoid at all costs.

So Friday was supposed to be my last day of work,a nd today was supposed to be the start of my vacation. But I ended up being penciled in at Mrs. Fields this morning. Something about a funeral in Canada... But that's all done, and I still have 6 days straight off, doing absolutely nothing. Though a day trip to Ollala to visit Grandma is in the planning phase for next week....

7 minutes to go….

Seven minutes before I leave the house to go to work. 7 minutes before my 8 day in-a-row work week begins. 7 minutes to go before my 8 day work week to preface my 7 day vacation.

Now make it 6 minutes….

The end of another weekend....

Laundry has been done. Errands have been run. My weekend is over, abs I go back to work tomorrow. For 8 days straight. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And that's my vacation. A whole week off. Wasn't the way I planned it, but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth....

Goodnight, people.

Happiness is…

Happiness is a 13+ minute phone call with your Grandmother. I highly reccommend it.

Today is the second day of my ‘weekend’. Then it’s working for 8 days straight. Then I get 7 days’ vacation. I think a trip to Ollala is in order to visit Grandma.

Finished reinstalling all my software on my computer today. The next time I decide to try Windows 8.1, remind me how much I hate it, and the next time I decide to play around with my computer, remind me how much of a pain in the ass it’ll be to put it back together…

So, it’s Easter today…

It was also my day off. $day-job was open today, but with a reduced schedule. I have no ego. If I need the specific day off, I’ll request it beforehand. Otherwise, if I’m scheduled I’ll just show up and work my 8 hours. At my previous location there was a concerted effort to make sure that my schedule was steady (and for almost a year, it was carved-in-stone fixed) in recognition of my Commute From Hell. But that went out the window when I transferred. But hey, when work is only a 20 minute walk you really need not worry about scheduling as much….

Today is Easter:

Now why would you think that I would not post the Holy Hand Grenade Scene? Anyway, being a diabetic, this is my answer to the Easter Bunny: Sacred Relics…

Updated the software on my phone. Ended flashing the ROM 4+ times before I realized that Googling it would help, and I was a simple setting that I needed to toggle. Anyway, My HTC 10 is running the latest Nougat ROM from Team Venom. Marshmallow was taken off for good. I am noticing that there were about 10 or so apps that I bought from the Spamazon Appstore that weren’t available yet. Copied them over from the HTC One M8, and attempted to sideload them. I got them installed, but they won’t work. I guess I just wait for update. Maybe some day, I’ll post about the the nightmare it was to acquire and activate the phone. I won’t be taking this up with Sprint anymore. Too many excuses, too much DoubleSpeak, and an offshore call center. They’re even worse than Comcast. At least when you escalate to social media on Comcast, they have their shit together. Not Sprint.

Made all my credit card payments yesterday. And I still have money left over….

Anyway, I gotta go. Day off is ending shortly, and I still have to binge-watch American Dad on Netflix…

New phone arrived today…

I thought I was past the frustrations from trying to upgrade my phone last week (balky websites & and agents who didn’t give a damn). I went through Worst Buy to order it, and unfortunately for Sprint, Best Buy was the only party involved who had their shit together….

So the phone arrived today at 1:30 in the afternoon. I put the memory card in, powered the phone on, and nothing happend. I was able to logon to my Wi-Fi, but the phone wouldn’t activate. I went to the Sprint website, and the website was ‘down for maintenence’. All day. Sprint support was really no help. Even the executive team told me to call them, which I couldn’t since I didn’t have access to a phone. And they told me to go chat with an agent, but abain the website redirected to the site maintenence. WIth all the issues I’ve had trying to get the phone, and actviate it, I’m seriously thinking that Sprint is doing this deliberately.

But nevertheless I got my HTC 10 and I got it activated. I had previously downloaded and prepared Marshmallow and Nougat ROMs for my phone. So I went and put some Sunshine on it. And once I was S-off, I flashed TWRP, and then I installed the Nougat ROM (I had previously dabbled with the Marshmallow ROM on the HTC One M8, and that ROM was based on the ROM for this phone, so I went with the new ROM). I’m still in the process of moving in, but I’m impressed with it so far. For the first time I have a working Andriod Pay (something I’ve never had due to issues with my phone being rooted), were it not for my cards not working with it, but that’s life. I will miss the IR blaster, so I guess that means I need to not lose the remote. The camera looks good, too. But we’ll save for another post. Work calls tomorrow….

Well, after last week’s fiasco.

After the fiasco last week, I was not amused. Probably I shouldn’t have asked for the head of the Sprint agent in Puyallup, but in an of itself trying to place the order was an epic fail on the part of Sprint. I would’ve cancelled my account on the spot were it not for the fact that we’re leasing my brother’s iPhone, and I’d be on the hook for remaining payments. So I was stuck with Sprint, and my phone was showing its age. But fortunately, Worst Buy is a Sprint reseller. And I was able to order an HTC 10. They didn’t have one in store, but they were available on line, and I was able to do in 10 minutes on bestbuy.com on my HTC One M8 what I couldn’t do for the life of me on Sprint.com on my computer.

So, fast forward to today. UPS has my phone, and it is out for delivery. I’ve already downloaded the Marshmallow and Nougat ROMs from Team Venom (I’ve been using their ROMs ever since my HTC One M7), and copied them to my memory card. And I also have everything ready to s-off and root my phone….

An open email to Sprint:

I just sent to this to Sprint. I had been attempting to upgrade, and it didn’t end well:

<Quote>

My account number is: xxxxxxxxx. This is in regards to my phone number: (253) xxx-xxxx. I recently paid off the phone, and decided it's time to upgrade to the HTC 10.

Lately, Ive been unable to login throught the Sprint Zone app. I always get an invalid password error. And God help me if I try to login online. If I try to logon through Firefox, it just keeps bouncing back to the logon page. If I logon through Google Chrome, I can get the validation text sent to me, but when I enter it, the page just displays a bunch javascript, and I don't logon.
But Friday I was able to finally log on, and I attempted three times to order the phone upgrade. Two times, when I went to pay for it, it was displayed that my newer debit card would be charged, but it came back with a 'declined', and then I get a text that the charge was made to my other card (an entirely different card number)! You were telling me you were charging one card but actually attempting to charge the other!

But I finally got that straightened out and I placed my online order (#ow-srso-xxxxxxxxx) to be picked up in Puyallup at 4227 S Meridian Ste B Meridian Plaza Shopping Center, Puyallup WA 98373. I got there early, and I was not impressed. One employee at the counter who was more interested in having a personal conversation with the two women (family members?) than he was about helping the three other people in the store, one of whom had an appointment, and the other two I overheard talking about buying three phones. At this time any sales droid capable of rubbing two neurons together would realize that that's the time to start doing your job. Not this person. I finally get up to the person, told him that I had an appointment to pick up my upgrade (I was early, but he wasn't helping anybody else either...). He then told me that he was shorthanded, and it was take at least 20 minutes. One of the ladies he was talking with when I came up then chimed in saying it would take more than 20 and snickered. That's when I walked out. Without my phone. He called after me, but if he isn't going to do his job to begin with, then he's not going to do it at all.

So I then called customer service. I jumped through all the hoops. Only to get an agent whose accent was sufficiently thick enough that I knew that I had reached an offshore call center. I hung up.

So, what needs to happen is:
1. Order #ow-srso-xxxxxxxxx needs to be cancelled forthright. And I need the $61.00 I paid Friday to start it refunded.
2. Your website needs to fixed so that I can login without repeated attempts.
3. Whoever was working at the Puyallup store at 11:15 this morning (4-2-2017) needs to be fired, and you need to publicly acknowledge this. Ignoring customers is never acceptable.

Then, I need an explanation as why this was all allowed to happen. Why am I being treated like garbage at every turn? Why is it so impossible to logon? Why is it so difficult to order an upgrade? And more importantly WHY DID I HAVE TO LEAVE THE SPRINT STORE WITHOUT MY ORDERED UPGRADE? But failing that, just tell me what obligations (ie contract, leases) I have left on my account and what I need to do to fulfill them and move to another carrier. Unlike you, I follow through on my promises.

<\Quote>

I’ve already gotten an acknowledgement back from the VP of customer service, but if it take that kind of escalation to get a human operator who know his/her shit then the battle has already been lost…