Tech Blog

Not sure how much time I'll be spending on this site...but I've been spending a bit more time on this one:

http://www.technobuffalo.com/00boyle/

Why I now take Zicam Chewables (strawberry)

Dear Zicam,

I recently began getting symptoms indicating that a cold is on its way, or already here. I was told by friends that I should start taking Zicam because it works. I bought the Zicam Multi symptom cold and flu Daytime bottle and last night I took my first dose. I would like to inform you that although your bottle indicates that it is ‘Virtually Tasteless’ it is not, and does, in fact, taste worse than chunky spoiled milk I once had by accident. I am currently taking my second dose while writing this email to you. I have it mixed with Coke Zero this time (last night it was crystal light) and I am forced to chase my ‘vitually tasteless’ Zicam/Cherry coke zero mixture with a special K breakfast bar. I just wanted to make sure that someone over there knows that the ‘virtually tasteless’ label on the bottle is incorrect. I have been told that cherry is better, so I may try that next time…I will definitely not be purchasing the ‘virtually tasteless’ bottle again. I realize that I do not know what all goes into your medicine and I would assume that some of the ingredients must be pretty awful tasting, so you do what you can. Perhaps you could make a brownie with those ingredients in there instead of a syrup? I think you would have more success if you could create a good Zicam Multi Symptom Cold and Flu brownie. I would also think that it would be easier to mask the taste of your awful ‘virtually tasteless’ version in a brownie.

Sincerely,

A Virtually tasteless Zicam drinker.

Skype Message

Hello Boyle

I am sorry to contact you unannounced through this skype medium. I am Ahmed Khan, Chief Executive of Barclays bank ( Emerging Markets Global Retail and Commercial Banking, here in Dubai). I am contacting you based on an urgent and confidential matter that will profit both of us if you will assist me in it. I have spent all day trying to get someone whom I will trust as a partner in a business that requires absolute secrecy and confidentiality. Actually I am searching for someone that bear same second or last name as “BOYLE”.

Please be patient while I explain this to you. It will be of mutual benefit to both of us. In 2004 one Mr. Daniel BOYLE made a fixed deposit with my bank. I was his accounts manager and also we became very close friends .He made a fixed deposit for 36 calendar months valued at UD$18,400,000 (Eighteen Million, Four Hundred Thousand US Dollars) and the due date for the deposit was January 16th 2007. But unfortunately, Daniel died in the air disaster in the May 26, 2006 Earthquake disaster in Jawa, Indonesia that killed over 5,000 people. He was in Indonesia on a business Trip and that was how he met his end.

Last Week my Bank Management requested that Daniel should give instructions on what to do about his funds, if to renew the contract. I know this will happen and that is why I have been looking for a means to handle the situation, because if my Bank Directors happens to know that Daniel is dead and do not have any Heir, they will take the funds for their personal use, so I don't want such to happen. That was why when I saw your name I was happy and I am now seeking your co-operation to present you as Next of Kin/ Heir to the account, since you have the same name with him and my bank head quarters will release the account to you. As I am communicating with you, my bank management is yet to know about his sudden death. With my new position in the bank, I have an advantage to make the money be transferred to your bank account as the Beneficiary having the money. Daniel did not mention any next of kin in his account information in his file and he was not married and has no children.

There is no risk involved; the transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of law. It is better that we claim the money, than allowing my other fellow Bank Directors to take it, they are rich already. I am not a greedy person, so I am suggesting we share the funds equal, 50/50% to both parties, my share will assist me to start my own company which has been my dream. Let me know your mind on this and please do treat this information as TOP SECRET. We shall go over the details once I receive your urgent response strictly through my personal email address, mrahmedkhanuaee@gmail.com
We can as well discuss this on phone; have a nice day and may Allah bless you.

Anticipating your communication.

Mr. Ahmed Khan
mrahmedkhanuaee@gmail.com

Caller Quotes

This is a list that I've been keeping since I started working for an IT Call Center. I started keeping it because I thought it was funny. At that time every time I heard a user say something funny, rediculous, or just plain dumb - I'd write it down on a post it note, stick it in my cube and look at them when I got frustrated. I ran out of room, so I combined them into a word document. It grows every day...

• “I hope I have the correct Address! I was told to email ‘jayoboyle’ but since that account didn’t exist, I deduced that she spelled out ‘J’.
  
  
• “I have enabled myself out of (program)
  
  
• “When we try to get our computer energized up…we can’t log in.”
  “Give me a few minutes…It’s trying to generate back up now”
  
  
• “I locked myself out of my password”
  
  
• “They gave me kind of this creepy password…It had letters and numbers”
  
  
• PW RESET: qn3s6heg :
  
  me:....h as in hotel, e as in-
  user: sorry, what was after the 6?
  me: H as in hotel, e as in echo, g as in golf
  user: what was after 6?
  me: H as in hotel
  user: ok..so that's 6, the number 8
  me: no..it's H as in hotel
  user: 8
  me: H as in Hotel
  user: 8 as in hotel?
  me: H as in hotel..as in..oh i don't know..halibut..heart
  user: Oh, you mean H as in heart
  me: yes, H as in hotel
  
  
  
• me: “do you know your employee ID number?”
  User: “no, but I know my mother's maiden name.”
  
  
  
• User: “I’m having trouble creating a password”
  me: “ok, are you a faculty?”
  User: “yes”
  Me: “ok..one second please”
  User: “yes, I’m a student”
  
  
  
• Me: do you have your voicemail set up?
  User: I’m sorry, my what?
  Me: your voicemail
  User: oh, I’m sorry…I thought you said placemat.
  
  
  
• Me: “I can’t tell when you change your password.”
  User: “can you tell that I changed my password this morning?”
  
  
  
• User: “It’s not a printer, It’s a copy machine we’re printing from”(when trying to get IP address of printer).
  
  
  
• “This is a request for a help ticket. Please sink Dr. blackberry to the data service. Her phone number is….”
  
  
  
• "i received a hallmark ecard... I was wondering if there were any viruses out there."
  
  
  
• "I think I’ve hit the uber lockout for the ."
  
  
  
• Me: Do you have your voicmail set up?
  User: um…I don’t know what that means.
  
  
  
• Me: what are you trying to log into?
  User: I don’t know.
  
  
  
• User: we cannot print bills
  Me: ok…What bills are you talking about? What program are you using?
  User: The bills..the ones that we print.
  
  
  
• “I need to get my password unset”
  
  
  
• Me: “did you have your caps lock on when you got locked out?”
  User: “no…let me try it again.”
  (user tries it and it doesn’t work)
  User: “well, my caps lock is off – let’s turn it on”
  (user tries it and it works)
  User: “Oh, well that’s weird..it let me in.”
  Me: “looks like you must have had your caps lock on when you made your new password”
  User: “No I didn’t…”
  
  
  
• User: “Are there any special rules about the new password?”
  Me: “Yes. It has to be at least 8 characters and alphanumeric.”
  User: “Ok, so does it need numbers in it and letters?
  Me: “Yes.”

Update....

Just got promoted to Support Analyst....First day of full time is tomorrow. The job will be better (more diverse), and I have a lot of opportunities to learn - I just have to make sure I take advantage of them. Commute still sucks though...Turns my weeks into 60 hour work weeks...

Education Management Corporation (wikipedia)

on another note...I have discovered Stumble Upon, a cool time wasting idea. It's found me things from webcomics to sweet flash games, jumping christmas bunnies and horse quartets. I recommend it.

Oh, and how big of a Pixar geek am I? This big (links to an excel spreadsheet).

(Redbox is sweet!)

a bit misleading....

"We find that in periods immediately after a spike in anti-resolve
statements, the level of insurgent attacks increases," the study says. In Iraqi
provinces that were broadly comparable in social and economic terms, attacks
increased between 7 percent and 10 percent.
The study also found that attacks increased more in parts of Iraq where
there is greater access to international news media, which its authors say
increases the credibility of their findings.

(site) (actual paper)

I heard about this on the radio this morning, and started to get worked up. Then when I got to work I started researching it a bit, and found this in the same article from above:

"The researchers conclude that the increases in attacks are a necessary cost of the way democratic societies fight wars and say they are concerned that the research may be seized upon by the Iraq war's supporters to try and silence its critics."

We are a little bit worried about that," Jonathan Monten of the Belfer Center at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government told United Press International in an interview. "Our data suggests that there is a small, but measurable cost" to "anything that provides information about attitudes towards the war."

But he added the cost was outweighed by the benefits of vigorous debate about military undertakings."There's a body of research, which we cite … that suggests that public debate about strategy helps the military to fight wars more effectively," he said."

I know the talk radio program is really right wing, but I at least thought they wouldn't turn to blatent misleadings such as this. It's really irritating when people take things out of context and use them as the authors did not intend.

nice.

"I say a lot of things -- millions of words a day -- so if I misspoke, that was just a misstatement,"

~Hillary Clinton, about her exxageration of landing under [the threat of] sniper fire in Bosnia.