cleolinda | Entries tagged with no moneys mo problems

So. We returned everything to Best Buy--laptop, Geek Squad contract, Microsoft Office disk--and got a full refund, no questions asked. (Say what you will about their stock or their tech support, but their customer service desk has been a treat.) So we're done with them now. They could be the best store in the world (...), but it was to a point where I just started to feel like they or I or both of us were cursed. So: done.

But I've fallen in love with that Dell Studio 17 laptop (yes, I will build it on the Dell site), and here is the artwork I want to splurge on because after THREE WEEKS OF COMPOCALYPSE I am pretty much beyond impulse control:

The screencap has a ton of extra white space around it because I can't figure out how to crop in freakin' MS Paint. OH GOD I WANT MY OWN STUFF BACK.

(

particle_person : "Of course it's purple.")

Anyway. I'm probably going to end up spending a lot more than I intended to, but when I sell something, that'll pay it off (like kings, Caroline! KINGS!). I'm to a point where I want to max out the service/support contracts--people have spoken very highly of those, and since it's a laptop and perhaps more prone to damage, I'll probably need it; also, I'm told that if you order through "business" instead of "home user," you get to talk to tech support in the US rather than in India. (Which is nothing against India; if I were Indian and I got routed to some American whose accent I couldn't understand, I'd be equally pissed.) My point is, if I max out the service contracts, I ought to be okay, they'll come out to the house in a timely fashion, they'll replace things, good times. But that's going to cost a good bit. And I want to upgrade a few options here and there, because while laptops do not last as long as desktops, generally speaking, I intend to keep it as long as it'll work, and I want to buy ahead on the technological front. Which will also inflate the price. And then, my completely gratuitous custom artwork. So... shut up, is what I'm saying.

(LIKE KINGS!)

Our current problem: data retrieval from Betsy. Because I'm going through my backups--which were helpfully saved on three different sites online and a thumb drive--and apparently I didn't back up THE STUFF I ACTUALLY NEED. I mean, the Black Ribbon stuff and the poetry (THE POETRY?!) are okay, but somehow I neglected to actually do anything about THE SHORT STORIES, which are what one might actually be able to sell. GODDAMMIT. And I've got to have my music back; the un-backed-up files just make data retrieval a bit more urgent than before. A friend of mine in town has recommended a local IT guy, so I'm going to try him--I mean, yes, I hear that you can get an external casing and put the hard drive thinger from the actual CPU into it, but... I ain't touchin' that. With my luck and inexperience? Hell no. I'll get someone to transfer the hard drives from both Betsys--I've been holding on to Betsy 1.0 all these years for that reason--and then we'll be back in business.

(Oh God. I hope we'll be back in business.)

Meanwhile, the iPhone's doing pretty well. I really don't want to spend a huge amount of time on it--the battery tends to run down like whoa--so I'm not putting a ton of recreational apps on it. But it's nice to have a way to look at Twitter and my email now and then, especially since I don't have a computer of my own at the moment. I hate "typing" on it, though, because I'm wordy and not used to expressing myself with just two fingers. I mean, it's still a shitload better than "press a number key four times for the letter D," but I can't write the kind of emails I'm used to writing, you know? So it's good, but it's not my life. I did remember that I have a little woven blue purse--from Delia's, I think, way back from college--about the size of a 5"x8" index card, so it's perfect for toting the iPhone and its little charger cord and headphones around. I mean, not that I'm doing this oh-so-fashionably 24/7, but it's good to put the phone in while it's charging, or to chuck in the thumb drive as well while I'm moving my work stuff around the house.

(Can I just say? I looked at the thumb drive and it has a capacity of 64 MEGABYTES. WHAT IS THAT. THAT IS LIKE A FINGERNAIL PARING OF FILE STORAGE. I mean, I know it's five years old, but WHAT DO YOU EVEN PUT ON THAT? [Not the backups I actually need, apparently.] I just saw a three-pack of 2GB flash drives for $26 at The Cursed Store the other day! What the hell, people! WEAK.)

So. Anyway. Things are looking a bit up, and I would dance the dance we dance when we have our life back if I could retrieve my files off the Betsys. Wish me luck on that account.

Okay, people: I have decided to definitely buy an external (a one-terabyte MyBook, as recommended by the salesguy, and I might even splurge for the 2TB instead), cart my two dead hard drives over (one of them is the computer PREVIOUS to this one; I never did get all my files off) to Best Buy and have THEM transfer the files rather than me screw up my current computer any worse. THEY can initiate the recovery process if they want, IDGAF.

I'm also going to get an uninterrupted power source thingy, but all in good time. I mean, not that I like tossing around money like this, but there's no point in blowing money on a computer if it could get killed the next time we have a thunderstorm (which should be... oh... about five minutes from now).

Here's the thing: my sister's boyfriend warned me in April that my hard drive was "slowly dying." (We will discuss what a dumbass I am for not taking adequate precautions later.) I am pretty sure this computer is done for; all we're doing right now is looting the corpse. I'm going to need a new one. I don't have the money this red hot second, but my mother will front it. It hurts me in the thriftal plexus, but what're you gonna do.

So. I started looking at computers at Best Buy and kind of liked a Gateway (model SX2800-01) and got home with the specs and Sister Girl was like NO NO NO DON'T EVER BUY STRAIGHT OUT OF THE STORE HAVE THEM CUSTOMIZE IT FOR YOU OMFG. ALSO GATEWAY NO. I was like, "Well, my last two Dells DIED," but she pointed out that I had them for about five years each, and why did they die? One got hit by a horrific virus (not Dell's fault), and something happened to this last one but we're not sure what, after five years of me cramming God knows what onto it, and also, it gave up the ghost on Saturday after two power outages in short succession. So: in that light, we might view Dells as pretty hardy, I don't know.

("DO NOT GET HP. EVER.")

So. Here's my thing: I want lots of storage, but let's be realistic: if you've got one or more terabytes of external storage sitting around, you don't need to be a huge size queen about what's on your primary drive (although I tend to be). What I really want is a LOT of memory, and this quad-core processor I hear about... that's hot. I mean, no, I don't play video games, but I tend to multitask like whoa with programs that eat a lot of memory (TWEETDECK, I'M LOOKING AT YOU). I want a computer that will do things I haven't even told it to do yet. Besides, I figure that the tech improves so quickly that you have to buy more than you need just to keep up (five years ago, I was informed that my new 150GB drive was ridiculously oversized). I would like to pay $500 or less for all of this. I also want a money tree, a cabana boy and a pony, and I think we know what the odds of any of that happening are. So basically, I want someone to just come in and wave their hand and make this happen and I will find a way to pay for it, because "you get what you pay for," as my sister has been saying this whole time. Yes, I should have someone around here build it. No, I don't know who. Yes, there are friends of friends of my sister's who probably can do it. All I know is, this whole thing has reduced me to a jellified pile of flail and all I want is to wake up in the morning and find that elves came in the night and MADE IT BETTER.

MOAR DOLLS: I just keep staring at the Serafina Pekkala prototype. SHE SO PRETTY. I'm still just so giddy that they're actually making her. And yes, that is a Sam Elliott Cowboy Grandpa doll listed beneath her.

(I like how the site has to specify, "This character does not wear shoes." So, you know, don't call up Tonner and bitch them out when she doesn't come with any.)

Meanwhile, I found out that 100 Edwards and Bellas will be sold at the Tonner NYCC booth in a couple of weeks. You know. Early. Before you can get them anywhere else. Of course, you'll have to bring your beatstick to ward off the other Twihards in order to reach the table, but still. I immediately started shrieking "NOOOO! NOOOOOOO!" because, while I know people who will be physically present at Comic-Con and could pick them up for me, I don't have the money yet because I haven't finished my stupid e-thing to sell (which is still assuming I'd have anything left after paying off the air conditioner, which I said I'd take care of). In fact, I have a children's picture book (just the text, obviously) that I need to find a publisher for. But, of course, did not think to do this ahead of time just in case Sparkle Motion should be present at NYCC. AUGH. Ah, well. There'll still be 1900 other dolls to cut TwiMoms for.

(Oh Lord: MTV Staffers Unbox The Magical Edward Cullen Doll. I'm not even going to look. I don't even want to know.)

Re: Canadian lotteries: Grimheld Wormtongue needs your help getting some funds out of Gondor.

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