Useless Conversation

[Sky]

Still, at best we get a coastal rain deluge on top of the last one. And we're on vacation next week, dammit. Well, it's not like we're going to VT this year.

[Minvaren]

On that note, INC storm to gulf coast!

[Lantyssa]

I'm hoping it comes here.  My lawn is so dead.  Looks more like the eastern gulf coast is going to get it though.

[Merusk]

Texas is just undergoing it's final transformation into a total desert.  Trying to raise a lawn is going to be expensive or futile.

[Furiously]

3 days until my Disney world vacation!

Brown derby caesar salad.  MGM land. Must eat one.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Oh yay!  Katia is "supposed" to make it to the East Coast sometime next weekend, right about the time I'll be in NC visiting the in-laws.  The ones who live about a mile inshore from the intercoastal waterway.

SON OF A BITCH.  Did it get changed to make landfall now?  They were originally predicting it was going to miss us.
 

No idea, but I think that was one of the predictions was to make landfall.  My luck, it'll come ashore and we won't be able to leave on Monday, necessitating a longer stay with the in-laws (not entirely horrible) and more charges for the kennel.

[Mrbloodworth]

3 days until my Disney world vacation!

Brown derby caesar salad.  MGM land. Must eat one.

MGM land?

[Furiously]

One of the theme parks. Epcot, MGM, magical kingdom, wildlife....

It's where tower of terror is.

[Merusk]

It *was* MGM Studios when there was an MGM, but changed shortly before they went under.  Now it's "Disney's Hollywood Studios"  Being that it's BW's first trip I can understand why he's confused.

[Mrbloodworth]

Second trip!

I know we have reservations at Mama Melrose there. Doing the whole Fantasmic! Dining Package thing.

[Lantyssa]

Brown derby caesar salad.  MGM land. Must eat one.

I can't imagine MGM land tasting good.  I'd suggest the salad.

[Soln]

So bummed.  My order with Newegg placed before noon yesterday is now only estimated to arrive next Tues.  Even I though I can pay for 2-3 days shipping, they apparently don't have a contract with UPS for Sat. delivery.  And unlike Amazon, they don't give you an estimated delivery date when you checkout, so you can't change it until ships.  At which time you can't cancel the order.  Derp.  Very disappointed.  I wanted to use the long weekend for a system build.      

[Sky]

Try calling newegg. It hasn't always worked, but it almost always does. They're good folks, for the most part.

[Merusk]

Second trip!

I know we have reservations at Mama Melrose there. Doing the whole Fantasmic! Dining Package thing.

Ah, my mistake.

And yes, the dining package is phenomenal.  I can't hype it enough for people who go.   Hm.. since you're going this time of year you got it included with your room, didn't you?

[Soln]

Try calling newegg. It hasn't always worked, but it almost always does. They're good folks, for the most part.

I did. 

"We don't have a contract with UPS for Sat shipping."
"But I paid for 2-3 day delivery before noon on a Wed."
"We take a day to process an order."
"I paid for expedited processing.  And it says it shipped, "left your facility", the same day.  Wed."
"We don't have a contract with UPS for Sat shipping."
"But it's not shipping, it's delivery."
"We don't have a contract with UPS for Sat shipping."

I'll call again, but so far the conclusion is Newegg sucks.  They should tell you in the checkout pipeline your promised ship date and estimated delivery date. 

[Merusk]

Order from Amazon today, Refuse the newegg package when it arrives on Tuesday.

I agree there's no reason for them not to show the arrival date on the order page.  That's unacceptable these days and would only have been marginally acceptable 5 years ago.

[Sky]

Or even talk to a supervisor and tell them you're going to do that.

[Soln]

Called back.  Wasn't rude.  Wasn't helped.  Another young women expressing helplessness.  I don't think my CC would be able to absorb another order, so I guess I will need to wait.

This was actually my first time ordering from Newegg.  Leading up to this, I was really impressed with their site's research ability, unboxing videos, search and comparison features, and generally all the techniness.  But the checkout has been very disappointing.  And the lack of fulfillment info -- "we can't give you any shipping info until maybe 8hrs from placing your order" -- is just baffling.  I know from my day job that's not the case. And there was no price difference, even with minor NE rebates.   And people here are usually very positive about them, so I wanted to try them out.   Well, not again prolly.   

[Trippy]

Amazon has "Guaranteed Accelerated Delivery" and they do Saturday deliveries but they are the exception not the rule. I'm totally spoiled now by Amazon Prime* and now that Amazon sells a lot of computer components that are Amazon Prime eligible I use Newegg less and less.

* I've said it before and I'll say it again: Amazon Prime is in fact the greatest thing since sliced bread

[Viin]

Yay Amazon Prime.

[Mrbloodworth]

Second trip!

I know we have reservations at Mama Melrose there. Doing the whole Fantasmic! Dining Package thing.

Ah, my mistake.

And yes, the dining package is phenomenal.  I can't hype it enough for people who go.   Hm.. since you're going this time of year you got it included with your room, didn't you?

Yep. Booked everything through the Disney site. Once I step foot in Orlando, its all Disney all the time. Its great stuff. I LOVE having everything paid for ahead of time. Book 6 months out, pay off the CC, take the trip. Decadence and no debt. Care free vacation with only some shopping going to the room bill. Win win. First trip I didn't make dinner reservations, this as a mistake, now I have every day reserved. I eat well when I go.

You a local? I would love for people to meet/join us. If only for a day.

[ezrast]

A couple years ago I ordered a bunch of parts from Newegg with, shall we say, unsatisfactory results. To be fair, the source of the problem was partially Paypal's fault, but getting them to fix it on their end only took one phone call. Newegg's CS people just had no clue. I didn't/won't bother relating it because it's just your typical internet purchase horror story, but I haven't been able to bring myself to purchase from Newegg since.

<3 Amazon. Their organization of things that aren't books is horrid, though.

[Mrbloodworth]

I have never had an issue with Newegg. I have built at least 3 machines from parts ordered from them. I suppose, you just need to make sure you allow time for shipping if you are planing a weekend. Not that you didn't, but it does seem like you cut it close to the line no matter where you would have ordered from.

[Merusk]

Second trip!

I know we have reservations at Mama Melrose there. Doing the whole Fantasmic! Dining Package thing.

Ah, my mistake.

And yes, the dining package is phenomenal.  I can't hype it enough for people who go.   Hm.. since you're going this time of year you got it included with your room, didn't you?

Yep. Booked everything through the Disney site. Once I step foot in Orlando, its all Disney all the time. Its great stuff. I LOVE having everything paid for ahead of time. Book 6 months out, pay off the CC, take the trip. Decadence and no debt. Care free vacation with only some shopping going to the room bill. Win win. First trip I didn't make dinner reservations, this as a mistake, now I have every day reserved. I eat well when I go.

You a local? I would love for people to meet/join us. If only for a day.

Nope, but we'd been planning to take a trip around this time because of the meal plan inclusion.  Found out about that in '08 when we took the last trip.  Losing my job earlier this year killed the vacation savings, though, so nothing for us until next year pre-spring when they do it again. 

[Mrbloodworth]

Fucking bummer man. Maybe another year then.

[MisterNoisy]

I have never had an issue with Newegg. I have built at least 3 machines from parts ordered from them. I suppose, you just need to make sure you allow time for shipping if you are planing a weekend. Not that you didn't, but it does seem like you cut it close to the line no matter where you would have ordered from.

This has been my experience as well - Newegg is pretty good about getting things to me as quickly as I'd expect, with an absolute minimum of hassle.  The few times I've had an issue, they've been really good - cross-shipping where appropriate and not being weird about the refunds.

Every now and then they'll do something like jack up the price on a particularly popular item (they used to sell Hyper 212s for $40+), but that's the only gripe I could level against them.

[Merusk]

Fucking bummer man. Maybe another year then.

You, Yeg and I seem to be the most outspoken visitors, we can all sync up sometime.  

[Mrbloodworth]

Clearly we should do it in September, so we can all live like kings on the mouses dollar.

[Merusk]

Well then or March.  They do it 2x a year, typically, and I think that's when the other time is.   Google gave me these dates for 2012.

    January 8-14
    January 22-February 4
    February 12-18
    March 4-10
    March 25-31
    August 19-September 29 (Canada residents only)


On another note.. I'm tempted to use the insurance payout from turning my car into a salvage to buy a D7000.  Someone talk me out of it!

[Yegolev]

Blackberry Enterprise Server

Who the fuck is still running this shit ?

Jesus, the world moved on.

I can name at least one global corp.  What do "modern" IT divisions use now?

[Rasix]

Lightning strike so close to my window I could see the flash and hear the thunder at the same time.  I don't know how my family sleeps through this.

[Korachia]

Try living on a farm out in nowhere and flat country, and have it happen multiply times during a storm with all the lights gone out.. thats fucking scary when you are a child.

[Lantyssa]

The scariest was when I was a kid, playing in the court out front, and lightning hit the light post 20' away.

The second scariest was when lightning hit the building, and fried the router.  The thunder being that close startled me, of course, but what was I going to do without internet?

(Opening it up, the board had huge scorch marks where the resisters exploded.  That was pretty cool.  Shame though, as it'd been a great router.)

[Talpidae]

Blackberry Enterprise Server

Who the fuck is still running this shit ?

Jesus, the world moved on.

I can name at least one global corp.  What do "modern" IT divisions use now?

No, you're right, I can name more than one.  I'm of the view that larger corporations should outsource their entire E-mail systems to specific E-mail hosting and that smaller ones should be using more agile cloud solutions.  I also think Blackberry is a pile of shite and it's going to die in flames fairly soon.

The amount of my life I've wasted on BES is just shocking to think on, especially when you see what more modern smartphones can do besides.  Bear in mind also that I'm not part of a Modern IT Division anymore, I merely consult for them.   

[Sky]

Try living on a farm out in nowhere and flat country, and have it happen multiply times during a storm with all the lights gone out.. thats fucking scary AWESOME when you are a child.

I love storms and have been out in my share, never had a close encounter with lightning.