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Random Access NerdBoy's NeoNonsense Page EMAIL me... |
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Top of Page Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ Thanks to an article in the Register (now with a USA-based site), I've found a replacement (for the time being) for Computer Associates InoculateIT Personal Edition free antivirus software. I checked out a couple of possibilities, and decided to use Grisoft's AVG Antivirus, which even includes a module that checks my Outlook emails as they come and go. Installation requires a valid email address (I set one up just to handle stuf like this), to which they send a serial number. Only takes a minute. It looks good. Will it protect me from viruses as well as they promise it will? I won't know unless somebody tries to infect me. Here's hoping... I wanted to make the setup file (a largish 5-meg download) available for download directly from my site, as I'd done with IPE. But I just realized that Geocities doesn't give their freeloading customers that much download bandwidth. So phooey. Someday when I'm rich and famous, I'll actually be able to afford to PAY someone to host my crummy website. Sans ad banners. With download bandwidth. Hey, it could happen, right? Till then I'll just have to keep the link available someplace where I won't forget where I put it. Some sort of Stuf I Need To Remember kind of place. What are personal websites for, after all? Sort of a virtual desk with lots of those pigeonholes where you can wad up important papers and stick them into an appropriate spot. Invaluable. (And just why does the same prefix, in-, mean both "very" and "not at all"? Sometimes the English language is really annoying. But only mostly.) |
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Top of Page Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ Yesterday I took my car to a dealer for inspection. I knew I needed wiper blades, big deal. But much to my surprise, they managed to find $687 (plus tax) worth of things that needed to be fixed just to pass inspection, plus another $400 or so of things that might become critical at any time. Magnanimously, they offered to waive an installation charge for the ($24) wiper blades. Can you say "sandbagged"? I knew that you could. Fortunately, I work at the same company as my brother-in-law, whose nickname around here is MacGyver. He's the one you'd most like to have with you if you get stranded on a desert island. He'd have fire in a day, and indoor plumbing inside a week. He's the guy most likely to be able to, in the words of Mr. Spock, "construct a mnemonic memory circuit using stone knives and bearskins." I shlepped into his office and shared my complaint, trying to keep the whiny tone out of my voice. He told me to call the dealer right back, and tell him that I was going to pick the car up: don't do any work to it. So I did. Today after work we're going to look at the things the dealer said were bad. I'm betting they were being aggressively creative in their diagnosis. Are brake rotors supposed to disintegrate after a mere 30,000 miles? And without giving any telltale symptoms, like funny grinding noises or interesting vibrations when I try to stop? We'll see. Don't Miss The Next Exciting Episode, in which we hear our hero say "Well, golly! I don't think there's anything wrong with that at all!" Then tomorrow, after we fix whatever actually needs to be fixed, I'll get it inspected by my brother-in-law's friend. He owns his own shop, and drag races this six-second '69 Camaro. I'm pretty sure he'll be able to tell the difference between parts that are genuinely worn out, and parts that might be replaced simply to inflate a crook's profit margin. |
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Top of Page Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ I'm sure this'll amaze you as much as it amazed me (that is to say, not at all)... My brother-in-law MacGyver checked the front brakes. Rotors and pads both wonderful. He checked the tie rod ends. Perfect. He checked the transmission pan. No problem. So the smug so-and-sos at the dealership (what was I thinking?) were not merely stretching the truth when they said these parts needed urgently to be replaced. They were shamelessly prevaricating. This pushes my Christian charity near the breaking point. I not only feel personally insulted, but I feel a gigantic sense that somebody ought to do something about these scumwads' shoddy business practices. And let me be perfectly clear — the parts in question were not even questionable; it wasn't merely a matter of opinion that "I think these look worn enough to need replacing." The front-end parts were all in excellent condition. Ack! However, at least they didn't succeed in absconding with all of my hard-earned (OK, not-yet-earned, to be honest) $687 plus tax. They scammed me out of a state inspection fee and a diagnostic charge, to the tune of about $83. Then I went to the auto parts store and bought two wiper blades ($10) and a couple of brake light bulbs (around $3). And tonight I go to an honest mechanic and pay for a second state inspection, this one to culminate in that all-important windshield sticker, without the necessity of wading through knee-deep horse hockey. All I can say is, if Cortese Dodge has a "five-star" service department, then stars must be pretty easy to come by. |
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