Useless Conversation

[Rasix]

My in-laws are officially on their own now for computer issues. They ask for advice on laptops.  I give them min-specs, I give them vendors, and I give them reasonable price ranges. They're going to ignore everything and just buy some shitty laptop or 2-in-1 from Walmart. Then they'll come running to me in 2 years when they can barely run Word on the thing because all of the spy-ware, malware, bloatware and fucking Norton do not fit into the tiny amount of RAM they decided to go with.

This applies to my sister-in-law but is the same conversation I have with her dad:
me: "The machine you are thinking about buying is outdated now. I'm not talking about games or anything taxing, what you want to buy will barely run Word and a web browser at the same time"
them: "Yah, but this is cheap."
me: "You are a lawyer. You have no significant expenses in your life. I know this."
them:  "CHEAP!"
me: "Seriously, you'll just have to buy a new one in 2 years or be stuck with the same crippled piece of crap you have now.. "
them: "CHEA.."

This would be her first new laptop in SEVEN years and she won't break the $700 barrier and instead is thinking about buying a goddamned iPad and just using her dad's computer when she has to work at home. I tried to explain to her how this is a bad idea professionally and if I was on the IT staff of her law firm... CHEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP.  

[Merusk]

Heh, I got to that point with my sister 3 or 4 years ago. Always an Office Depot or Best Buy black Friday special.  Always must be under $800, then doesn't run shit in a year and a half and they replace it in 2.

I've tried explaining that if they'd outlay the money up front for a decent machine they wouldn't have to buy one for 5 or more years, but nah.  At this point I just say, "yep looks good" to whatever they throw at me and let 'em be.  Brother in Law is a VP of Tech at a national bank and I know he makes 6+ figures. He can afford it. (Yes he's one of those tech VPs that only manages things, doesn't do the work.)

[Sir T]

Yeah. I FINALLY got my mother to take her laptop to a place I know that have students learning how to fix laptops and technical support. They love it when people bring in laptops as they can tear apart them and work on a real machine they have not seen before, and they will only charge you for parts. SO, after hearing for the 5th time about the fact that she doesnt want to give it to me because "I gave it to *local "computer expert" that is anyone bar me from our shitty town* and it cost me 100 and it took over a month" I finally persuaded her to let me take it there.

62 eur. AND that includes them getting a new power supply that she wants. And it would be back to her inside a week.

I glow with "I fucking told you so" ness.

[Nebu]

On a similar note:

Imagine someone waiting 45 mins to see you, getting your opinion, paying you $120 for your opinion, and then completely disregarding your opinion. 

You now understand what the practice of medicine is like. 

[Rasix]

I gave up with my parents.  But they never complain, and they really don't have a lot of money, so it's no use anyhow. My dad likes fast internet, so he at least listens to my suggestions for their network. Every once in a while I'll boot up their computer and clean up all of the garbage my nephews leave on it.  Those kids free-to-play the shit out of that thing.

[Paelos]

On a similar note:

Imagine someone waiting 45 mins to see you, getting your opinion, paying you $120 for your opinion, and then completely disregarding your opinion. 

You now understand what the practice of medicine is like. 

And Tax Planning or Financial Planning.

[Miasma]

My parents got a tablet so at least now I don't have to fix windows and drivers and peripherals.  Since programs can't just install themselves with an 'Okay' box all the useless bloaty garbage programs they somehow manage to install on the PC aren't an issue either.

They still insist on completely powering down the iPad instead of just closing the cover to put it in sleep mode though.  The one minute boot up each time they want to use it defies one of the best benefits of tablets but oh well.

[Numtini]

If it's android I've yet to see one that won't run down the batteries if you don't turn it off.

[Ingmar]

I don't really have that problem with my Android tablet. I mean yeah *eventually* the battery will die, but its really only during active use that it drains at a noticeable rate.

[Lantyssa]

Imagine someone waiting 45 mins to see you, getting your opinion, paying you $120 for your opinion, and then completely disregarding your opinion. 

You now understand what the practice of medicine is like. 

That's exactly like my job, except replace the patients with my bosses.

[Salamok]

I don't really have that problem with my Android tablet. I mean yeah *eventually* the battery will die, but its really only during active use that it drains at a noticeable rate.

I can leave a fully charged ipad in a drawer for over a month and it will still have more than 50% battery, f I leave the nexus 7 in a drawer for a week it will be completely dead.

[Ingmar]

If you leave it for a week unused in a drawer it was probably a waste of money for you in the first place.

[Salamok]

Just part of work's testing and development "lab", they go unused for a month or two then experience a few weeks of heavy use.

[Yegolev]

Editing documents on a sharepoint is awful.  What the fuck, Microsoft?

[Numtini]

I stopped at the grocery on the way home and had some tourist flip out on me. I'm just walking down the front of the store to get some lettuce from the produce section and they apparently thought I was stealing their spot in line. This woman literally waves her finger at me saying "nah uh uh... I've been waiting for this register" and I'm like, go the fuck home. If you're this stressed out by vacation, it's no vacation. I mumbled, "um, I'm just walking to the produce section." Geezus. I've been here fifteen years and for the first 13 I never had an issue with the touristas. Yeah. They drove really goddamned slow and had their blinker on for two miles before finding the street they wanted to turn onto, but the last two years they've been all ragey and angry.

[Merusk]

Because the people who can afford to go on beach vacations now are the same people who've had time to realize no matter how much money they have they'll never be happy. 

[Yegolev]

Family vacations are like jobs without benefits.

[Phildo]

I went on a beach vacation two weeks ago and it was quite relaxing.  I find that drinking helps a lot.

[Ironwood]

Family vacations are like jobs without benefits.

Yes.  Yes they are.

[Yegolev]

I went on a beach vacation two weeks ago and it was quite relaxing.  I find that drinking helps a lot.

Rub it in, why don't you?

[Signe]

Family vacations are like jobs without benefits.

Yes.  Yes they are.

You're a good man, though, Ironwood.  Benefits or no, you're loyal to your family.  Don't say anything snarky, either, because you KNOW I"m right.

[Yegolev]

A family vacation is a true test of loyalty, especially if the in-laws are involved.

[Phildo]

Rub it in, why don't you?

OK!

My friend has a timeshare in the Outer Banks and invited a bunch of buddies to spend a week down there at basically 0 cost besides buying him drinks and cooking him dinner once.

[Yegolev]

I don't give a shit about the money.

[Rasix]

A family vacation is a true test of loyalty, especially if the in-laws are involved.

I understand this. Our first Disneyland trip as a family included my wife's entire immediate family. Luckily they left the park a day earlier than us, because they're cheap. It was nice just with my wife and son, although the boy was just about partied out at that point. Dealing with 3 in-laws preferences, eating habits, and tendency to wander off somewhere gets a bit tiring. 

My parents, my sister's family, and the in-laws, of course, want to be included on the next Disneyland trip.  I think this necessitates some sort of surprise trip that pisses everyone off except my son and I. 

[Nebu]

You guys make me appreciate that my dysfunctional family hates doing things together.  Family vacations are hard enough without adding extended family to them. 

[Merusk]

I've often pondered how I'd handle an extended family vacation nowadays. I imagine I'd handle it the same way I handle most things of that nature with friends/ co-workers.

* Wander off? Ok, find me later I'm doing the thing I wanted to now.
* Don't want to eat where I am? Ok, great, you're an adult I'm going here find your meal see you after; or get your stuff bring it here where we're going to sit.
* Want to leave the park because you're tired? Ok, we'll meet at x location or see you in the evening.
* Pissed that I'm doing things this way? I care why? We're adults, there's differences and these were reasonable solutions. Stop being a petulant child or offer alternatives.

Probably comes from having done so many trips with my Aunt and Grandparents as a child. That's the way the family handled things.

[Yegolev]

It was bad enough going to the beach with those lunatics, I'm not doing a Disney park again if I can avoid it.

This weekend we are going to have just the three of us at a lake house, but logistics are always something of a pain.  I'm expected to work on wifi where my son is being tutored since it's a long way from home, so I moved a presentation I was going to do since I don't trust the wifi.  Driving separately has negatives (for my wife and son mostly) and we will have to get some groceries.  I'm sure there are other tasks that I'll need to perform during this trip, depending on the state of the house and boat.

I own a very nice home.  I'd like to spend more time in it.

[Chimpy]

Especially now that the AC works, right?

[Merusk]

Sometimes I feel like Yeg's the guy who gets the call while on vacation that his house burned down.

[Yegolev]

All my problems are first-world.  That Weird Al song?  Yeah.

That said, please don't burn down my house.

[Signe]

So everything is on a cloud now, right?  And once it's there, you can't ever take it off.  Right?  Some company calls my sister today and tells her to make an appointment with her doctor.  Needless to say, she's confused and asks who's calling.  It's a tech company named "Inovalon" that she's never heard of... me either.  From what it says online they are a "data analytics technology company that combines advanced cloud-based data analytics with targeted interventions to achieve meaningful impact in clinical and quality outcomes, utilization, and financial performance across the healthcare landscape based in Bowie, Maryland" and, it seems, Independence Blue Cross uses them to do something... data mine, legal phishing, collect private and sensitive information about anyone's everything, whatev, and they have all her medical records and who knows what else.  Maybe yours and mine, too.  It's unnerving and the number of buzz words on their website makes me very, very nervous. 

My insurance company, who already demands my medical records and history from my doctors even though it doesn't even have a medical degree and has no idea what those big words mean, just hands over my info to this company who then finds out all my medical shit and other shit too?  To do with as they please?  Is this okay?  If my private info is on someone's cloud, can I get it off of it?  Can I sue the cloud for taking my info without my permission and using it for their own nefarious reasons?  These companies are making money off of us, aren't they?  And they're not sharing.

Abagadro?  CmdrSlack?  Really?  I was already paranoid over the number of socks I've had go missing this past week, but now it's even worse.  I understand (and hate) the fact people can just collect personal info and mess with it, but now there's some tech company ringing my sister and telling her when to make doctor appointments?  She was not very nice to the woman who was just doing her job.  But, srsly, this is some tech company telling people who don't need to see their doctor to make an appointment anyway.  It just seem wrong, that's all. 

Dammit.

[Yegolev]

In the case of your particular issue, The Cloud is just a new name for what was already there.  The improvement is that the interface is better suited to stupid non-technical people.

[Miasma]

I hated that company as soon as I heard the name "Inovalon".  Their press release based wiki entry is a good example of what's wrong in the world.  Or at least US based for profit private health care.

[Signe]

I should get my own fucking cloud.