|
 |
Saturday, January 17, 2004 |
If it's not one thing, its the other! I inserted my new Sonic MyDVD Studio CD into my CD-RW/DVD drive on my new eMachines computer, and it could read the disk, but couldn't find anything on it! So I tried a few different things, including re-booting, still to no avail. Then I tried the disk in my laptop, and it was fine.
So then I thought I would share my laptop drive and install it from that, but I couldn't manage to get my laptop's shared drive to be visible on the network. Then I thought to try my five-year old Presario, and it, too, read the disc. But I had the same problem sharing it, even though I already have multiple shared folders on that PC.
Then I remembered--for some as-yet undertermined reason, my new PC does not remember the WEP encryption key--I have to re-enter it each time I re-boot. So I did that, and lo, the shared CD was visible. There was still one last glitch--after clicking install on the splash screen, nothing obvious happens. I was just on the point of exiting, when I noticed a new task had been spawned in the taskbar. That was the real install screen, it turns out.
Then the next problem: it asked for a serial number. I located that on the back of the box, and typed it in. But the NEXT button was still greyed out. I thought, hmmm, maybe company name is, idiotically, a required field. It, idiotically, was. I finally clicked NEXT and got "Invalid Serial Number". After double-checking and re-typing the serial number several times, to no avail, I looked at the back of the CD case. Ahhh, an entirely different serial number. Yes, that one worked. So, one hour later, it is installing as I write.
Oh, done installing now. I click Finish, and try to start the program. "Can not start, missing BlahBlah.DLL." I reboot, and try again. Success, finally.
5:03:47 PM 
|
|
Here is a full report on my first Hotwire experience. My summary of Hotwire's performance:
- Delivering a better price on a commodity product: A.
- Customer-friendly contractual practices: D.
- On-line customer service: B.
- Co-ordinating with their service partners: D.
Will I give Hotwire a second chance? Yes, the savings is too great to cut them off, however tempting it might be. Although I will give Priceline the first shot. I will also apply what I have learned, which I summarize for the benefit of others:
- Cover your bases. Book your best conventional, cancellable reservation in advance, then check Hotwire 48 hours before your trip. If you find something better, cancel your first reservation, then book via Hotwire.
- Be conservative when estimating your return time. I doubt they would have charged me any more if I had initially said 6:00 pm instead of 4:00 pm. But once I named 4:00 pm, they locked me in with that nasty $100 late fee. Even if it costs you an extra day on a car rental, it is probably worth it.
3:04:34 PM
|
|
Our boy scout troop went snow-tubing today. Lot's of fun, and perfect weather, short of sunshine.
12:32:22 PM
|
|
I've never lived somewhere where I've had to endure so much talk about non-play-related sports issues. And that on public radio, mind you.
Two years ago, when I was traveling here almost every week as a consultant, it was all about the Twins being "contracted". The public radio station devoted long reports to that story, seemingly daily, for weeks on end. Of course, it turned out that the Twins secured a stay of execution for one year, because of their lease contract with the stadium, then went on to win their division, thereby renewing their lease on life. That was a great and happy story, no doubt, but I didn't need to lose so much of my listening hours to hearing about the contraction details.
Now, the wasted broadcast hours are devoted to endless reportage pertaining to the maneuvers to get new stadiums for the Twins, Vikings, and UMN Gophers. Boring, boring, boring. Each new proposal, plan or idea (and there are many), gets detailed discussion. Of course, I find this extra-aggravating, because I deplore the very idea of public funding of professional sports.
12:31:03 PM
|
|
© Copyright 2005 Erik Neu.
|
|
|
