Asus Laptop Update

I have an update on my laptop that I am having repaired. Today I sent it out with the information provided by ASUS for shipping. I read through and followed all the directions. The destination is actually in my state so the turn around time might not be very long at all. Attached is a copy of the letter that I enclosed with the laptop for the technicians. I am still in good spirits with high hopes! To Whom It May Concern: The following is a list of the three reasons for which I am sending this system into support: The bottom left corner of the LCD screen does not meet up correctly with the Laptop at the point of the hinge. When the laptop is open even the slightest movements will cause the location around the hinge to squeak. You can visibly see a difference at the hinge when the screen is opened or closed when compared to the right side. Because the microphone is in the LCD screen, the noise interferes with its use. The laptop will frequently shut down while being used or completely and instantly power off. My first assumption was software so I restored from the provided backup. Shortly after the restore I still noticed the same problem. From observations I believe the issue may be due to heat. I have noticed when it is cooler the "power off's" seem a little less frequent but still persistent. I thought perhaps it was only when the machine, particularly the video card, was under a heavy load. However I have had the machine "Power Off" moments after a fresh restart with only a single browser window open at the time. Sometimes when a USB device is plugged in or remains plugged in it will cause the system to error and shut down. When this occurs there is a message regarding USB Power loss and a recommendation to change the settings. I have noticed the the USB ports are somewhat loose, particularly on the right side. I have not wanted to "experiment" with the USB port for fear of damaging the system. This machine is one of two identical machines from the same order. To date the other machine does not exhibit these symptoms. I am still pleased with system and ASUS, and I would like to thank you for you time and help. I hope these issues can be fixed. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me via email at xxxx.yyy@zzz.com or by phone at ###.###.####. Thanks,

Its been a pretty good day

Overall today has been surprising mellow and reasonably productive. I don't think I'm going to be able to get to the basement today but I did manage to knock of a number of my To Do List items. AMI finally has template site live and running, all I need to do now is add content. I know its only the beginning but I'm feeling pretty good about it as badly needed step in the right direction. I am somewhat proud of myself today for exercising some restraint and adhering to some of my resolutions to talk a little less and quell my urge to interject my input into nearby conversations. Today a couple of developers had a reasonably extended technical conversation in which I was trying to tune out but just kept coming back to. A couple of times I caught myself starting to look over as though to offer a comment but I thought better of it. Later I was also able to steer a meeting back onto a more positive track. Still, I think keeping my mouth shut may be harder than I originally thought! :)

Project Positive

Well Project Positive is still moving forward despite the challenges. It seems as though there is a never ending string of "strife" in front of me, but I am working not to let it drag me down. I see change coming and change has a way of making me anxious. I think above all else I am going to try and focus on a sense of calm, I just need to remember the Serenity Prayer.

God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

Its a reoccurring theme in many religious and a staple of many "self-help" programs. Deep down I think I have the wisdom to know the difference. Its the inability to completely accept those things that can not be changed that I have to work on.

I was a little lazy the first part of today. In the afternoon Randi and I played Tetris party on the Wii for a while. I am happy to report though that later in the afternoon I put myself towards the task of accomplishing a goal. I need to finish my work on the basement. So far the majority of it is framed and even wired electrically. The process requires two inspections, one pre-drywall and one post-drywall. The only thing really keeping me from getting my pre-drywall inspection was a couple of small wall sections I had yet to complete. All total I knew it was only a few hours of work but its gone undone for so long. I could tell Randi didn't really want to help and I was very tempted to put the task off myself. I remembered something I said before in my resolutions. Ultimately the responsibility is mine, getting help is fine but allowing them to become your own excuse is too convenient. In the end I only really need an extra person when I set the walls in place. The reason being is that I use a plumb-bob to mark my lines on the floor to ensure the walls are put in and standing from top to bottom. It takes one person to hold the tool and another to mark the ground. So I decided to do everything that I could up to the point in which I would need to involve another person. I was able to finish 3 wall sections and I am now ready to buy some doors. I will need the doors in order to finish a couple more small wall sections so that I will know the correct length. I am going to get the basement finished this year! My secret hope is to have it finished by the first quarter of the year, but my more realistic deadline is by June. I'll post some pictures of the basement later. With that task out the way I'm going to spend a little time working on the site for AMI before heading off to be lazy again for a while before bed.

Family

My grandparents are visiting this week from Florida so today we are spending the day at my fathers while they visit. It's been a long day but it has been good to catch up. The colts game started while we were there so I played some games with my brothers and wrote this entry while watches. I think the games are 2 to 3 hours long so I expect it will me late when we get home. Currently there are no plans for tommorow so maybe I'll just lay around and be lazy.

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A New Day cont

Well its mid-afternoon now and I am feeling much better. Work is slow and quiet and I am lamenting not bringing my space heater back to work with me. At least the office is no longer in the high 50 to low 60 degree temperature. The atmosphere at work today seems to make the day appear to drag on. I find myself the victim of one of my vices, a vice I have made note to work on this year. I sometimes get frustrated with the people I work with and in the past that frustration has caused me to speak out from time to time. My frustration is in regard to the lazy "it can't be done" attitude, when the real answer is usually that they either don't want to do it or they don't know how to do it. I've seen a lot of good ideas never given a second glance because the person being asked gave some excuse about why it was a bad idea. I know different departments don't always get along but I hate it when I see how it affects the business as a whole. The attitude seems to be, "how dare they have the audacity to want something we haven't given them". Anyway to apply this to my situation my company often markets the addition of blogging features to our clients. Interesting enough though when they accept we don't really seem to have a direction in mind. Furthermore it was noticed that our company does not have a blog itself. What better way to illustrate the very points we try to sell than to set our own example? Right from the start the response was negative. "You can't do that", "There's too much involved" etc... The excuses for why it couldn't be done abounded. No one wanted to entertain the possibilities. So I spoke up. For the most part I was a met with a "your full of shit, I don't believe you" attitude. So I did what I usually do and proved the worth to my words. I have come to realize my folly and fully understand just how much I have been consistently duped. The challenges to what I say never stop, I never get anymore credibility for the effort. Why would I? Its genius. As long as they continue to question, I continue to do, and in the end they avoid exactly what they wanted to in the first place. I know my own worth, I don't need their agreement to validate it. In the past I continued to meet the challenges not because of personal pride or merit because I believed that it was just a matter of someone not knowing that it could be done. I viewed it more as a learning / teaching experience (not in a condescending way). After a time though constant lack of creditability wears on you. So here I set cleaning up the last remnants of a blogging project that was added to my normal workload, while I wait to attend a meeting for yet another project that is also a result of this vice. These projects are too far along to walk away from, but these will be my last. Each moment of added stress will only serve to help drive this lesson home. I have nothing to prove to anyone other than myself.

A New Day

Well my first working day of the year is off to a rough start. I woke up today with a nagging pain in my lower abdomen, and I just can't seem to shake it. I don't think it's serious, just uncomfortable and annoying. In other news human resources asked me for my retirement account number. It wasn't a big deal but checking on it also showed me my losses so far. To date it looks like I've lost about $1000.00. It might seem horrible but I also realize that everything has lost. I'm not really that worried about it. I believe that the investments are good solid choices. If anything now is a good time to buy while the prices are down.

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