Computer Crash

So I'm sitting at my desk at work last Thursday and my wife calls.  "My computer won't start up - all it does is beep over and over in groups of seven beeps".  This is a computer (a Dell Vostro laptop) we bought in mid-December and already it's failing?  Not good.  Well, at least the next day warranty is good for another 250 days or so.

If you are a techie, you know that beep codes at system start up usually mean some sort of catastrophic failure has happened inside that thing.  So when I get home that night I start researching the problem on Dell's support website.  They say "make sure the RAM, disk drive, and CPU are all seated properly".  OK - this makes sense.  So I follow the very helpful on-line owners manual which I downloaded to my machine at home (which I built myself) and crack that puppy open.  Unseat and re-seat all components.  Reassemble.  Power up.  beep beep beep beep beep beep.  Sigh.  Call Dell.

Now, something else that techies know is that much of Dell's phone support is handled in India, and you hear the horror stories of barely understandable phone reps trying to go through the troubleshooting scripts.  I must say that this was not the case for my call.  While I believe my rep was from India, I could understand him very well, and he asked me good troubleshooting questions (although there are only so many questions to ask when the thing won't boot!).  I may have had a little advantage in that I have worked with a lot of folks from that part of the world so I'm more used to the accent than many people are.  It only took about a half hour to go through the troubleshooting and set up the tech support visit.  I didn't think that was too bad.

I also have to say that Dell's "Next Business Day" service so far has not materialized.  It's mid-afternoon of the following Monday as I write this and I still have not heard from them.  After they didn't call me on Friday I had them change the contact information since there would not be anyone at home to receive them this week.  I hope that didn't reset the counter or this thing might not be fixed until Friday, at the rate they're going.

I'm also quite astounded that this computer has failed so soon.  I have been using and recommending Dell computers of all types for ten years at least (and been through a half a dozen of them myself, including three laptops), and this is the first catastrophic failure I have ever had.  Perhaps the law of averages has caught up to me?   We'll see if there are any more problems with this computer - I hope it isn't a lemon!

So my poor wife is relegated to one of the kid's computers, and trying to work through the web interface for her email, and using OpenOffice Writer instead of Microsoft Word to create her documents.  Well, it shouldn't be too long and she'll be back up again.  I may have to look for some disaster recovery possibilities to get around this in the future.  Hmmm - virtual machines anyone?

Romney = More Big Government

Yes, the Republicans have come to Michigan - well, at least Romney and Santorum have.  Therefore, the "vote for me" ads are now saturating the airwaves.

Mitt Romney has one that talks about how Santorum admits he's no longer a deficit hawk and thinks earmarks are a great thing, and we should vote for Mitt because he will get rid of Obamacare, and his test to see if we need to keep a Federal program will be "whether we are willing to borrow money from China to pay for it".

Umm, excuse me Mr. Romney, but isn't it borrowing that has gotten us into the economic mess we're in in the first place?  You're telling me that you are willing to continue to saddle future generations of Americans with huge debt loads?  That's your great plan for reforming the government?  Mr. Romney, that isn't reforming government, that's more of the same.

If your ad is truly reflective of Santorum (which I doubt), then all you have done is prove to me that you are as clueless as he is about what the problems are in DC, and you have no vision for solving them.  Why would I vote for that?

Another example of economically challenged Socialist Democrat thinking

Perusing an article in The Detroit News today reporting that Chrysler is pulling out of talks with the fedgov for several billion dollars in new loans to pay for retooling to produce more energy efficient cars.  It appears that Chrysler is tired of the fedgovs foot-dragging and haggling over the amount of the loans and will finance the retooling themselves out of their own resources.  (Full article here)  To which I say:  Bravo Chrysler!

It seems that the original loan request (in 2008) was for over $8 billion, and the last number for the loans (from early 2012) was reported in the article to be under $2 billion.  The article also mentioned that epic failures of fedgov handouts to companies like Solyndra were a factor in the administrations delays and reductions, especially in an election year.  No surprise there!

Then, reading on, I notice that Michigan's own Sen. Debbie Stabenow was quoted from Jan. 2011 saying the projects Chrysler was working on would save 520 million gallons of gasoline between 2011 and 2015.  And I got to thinking:  How much is 520 million gallons of gasoline?  It sounds like an impressive number, but is it really?

Answers.com tells me that the percentage of gasoline that can be extracted from a given volume of crude oil varies based on the amount of sulphur in the oil, but the best case seems to be around 50%, so it takes 2 gallons of crude to make 1 gallon of gasoline.  So its 1.04 billion gallons of oil to make that 520 million gallons of gasoline.

So then - how many gallons of crude oil does a tanker hold?  Off to Wikipedia for that one.  The largest tankers in the world, the TI Class, hold about 130 million gallons of crude.  So it's 8 trips of one of those tankers to reach the 1.04 billion gallon mark.  Use the largest vessel for the most economic method of transport.

Our friend Democrat Debbie spreads that out over five years, so that's 208 million gallons of crude per year, or less than 2 tankers full of crude oil which would be saved per year by all this federal largesse.  2 Tankers full of oil.  2 tankers.  OK - 1.6 tankers, to be precise.

Friends, this is why socialists should never, ever be put in positions of power. Because to support this kind of spending means one of two things, ultimately:  either they can't do simple math to find out if something they want to do is economically feasable.  Or, they have another agenda in place, to which the economic realities of the universe are secondary.  Well, I suppose there could be a third option:  they're just stupid.

Hmmm.  Wonder which one it might have been here for ol' Democrat Debbie?

Edited to Add a little more math (2/17/12):   At the $3.119/gal price I saw on the sign coming in to work today, that would be $1.6 billion in gas saved over 5 years (520 million times 3.119).  At $3.50/gal it's $1.8 billion.  So the socialists in DC were going to spend anywhere from 2 to 8 billion dollars to save 1.6 to 1.8 billion.  You math-whiz types - tell me if this is a good return on investment or not?

Thank You, Carlos Guillen

Sports Post:  Yesterday it was made official - Carlos Guillen is no longer a Detroit Tiger, after signing a minor-league contract with the Seattle Mariners, the team he broke in with.

Carlos - you were terrific.  You played with heart and passion and you showed up every day.  You didn't whine and complain, you just went out and played where they put you.  And I will always smile when I think of you completely getting into Jeff Weaver's head last year when you hit the homer off him.  That was just wonderful!

I hope your body lets you have a full season this year - if anyone deserves it, it's you.  Thanks for wearing the 'D' with pride and professionalism.

Happy Birthday, Michigan

Quietly celebrating 175 years of statehood for Michigan today, created out of "The Toledo War"

Tigers news: Victor Martinez out for the season

What a kick in the teeth - this guy was money for Detroit last season, and tough as nails.  The perfect guy to hit behind Miguel Cabrera.  So now the question is who takes his place?  Here is the list that the Detroit News came up with, with their 2011 stats:

Carlos Pena, Cubs, .225, 28, 80
Vladimir Guerrero, Orioles, .290, 13, 63
Johnny Damon, Rays, .261, 16, 73
Prince Fielder, Brewers, .299, 38, 120
Yoenis Cespedes (NA)
Carlos Guillen, Tigers, .232, 3, 13

I tell you, if I'm the opposing manager, the only guy I don't walk Cabrera to get to is Fielder.  Maybe Guerrero.  Those other guys hitting behind Cabrera means you are losing a ton of offense, especially since you are then counting on guys like Worth, Inge, and Kelly to be big RBI guys, which they have never been.  The only proven reliable hitter they have in the lineup after the 5-hole would be Delmon Young.  I might still walk Cabrera to get to Young, but I have to think a lot harder about it.

Fielder is an interesting thought even as a 1-year rental.  Since they both play the same position, you could split the defensive tasks between Cabrera and Fielder, and they might both be a little fresher come playoff time.  They both play every day, just one or the other of them plays defense.

I know - that's a crazy and expensive scenario.  But interesting.  And you don't waste a season plugging in utility guys in that spot.  You have to figure VMart's salary this year is covered by insurance, so you might give Fielder 10 or 12 million on a 1-year deal for a shot at the World Series if no one else signs him.

Sugar Bowl proves UM a fraud

Once again, UM shows the world what a fraud they are and how undeserving they were of a BCS bowl bid.  Less than 200 yards of total offense?  Are you kidding me?  Va. Tech handled you guys, but couldn't handle themselves.  Any team with a decent defense can stop the supposedly Heisman-worthy Denard Robinson (as Michigan State has proved 2 years in a row).  There are a couple of nice players there, but please - UM is living on its reputation (which the current crop of guys did nothing to deserve) and nothing else.  They didn't beat anyone substantial and got handled by the better teams they faced.

Fraud-verines.

More Anti-Gun Illogic

I'll let my friend Aaron over at The Shekel say it, because he does it so well:

The Shekel - Coins, Law and Commentary: When Misguided Belief In Magic Regarding Guns Overcomes Rational Thinking

Who are these guys? A Look at OWS.

I'm just spreading the word here, via Lagniappe's Lair (and many others!)

OWS Raw

The Storm Drain of Government

Reading an article today by Eric Fry, and he gave this terrific simile:

The governments of the West have come to see themselves as a financial Army Corps of Engineers — overpowering the course of nature with brute force. They respond to short-term crises with powerful, overly engineered “solutions,” without ever really considering the long-term harm these solutions may produce. Sure, the river doesn’t flood when you transform every oxbow into a concrete storm drain. But diverting nutrient-rich silt away from farmland and into the sea is not exactly progress.

Nevertheless, governments throughout the West continue building their storm drains. They continue to divert essential nutrients away from the private sector and pour them into a bottomless sea of bankrupt governments and failing too-big-to-fail enterprises. In other words, the governments of the West continue to “do more,” when “less” would work just fine.

Friends, we have a century's worth of evidence that government at every level is a bumbling fool when it tries to do anything.  It never solves problems, but only creates bigger problems, which it then tries to fix with even bigger "ideas" that will lead to even bigger failures.  But the common thread through all of it is that taxpayers are expected to foot the bill for these ever-increasing failures without complaining.

Understand that I am not one of the anarcho-marxists currently "occupying" certain parks in several American cities.  I know there is a certain amount of government that is necessary for the orderly operation of society.  Vital records must be kept.  Contracts must be enforced.  Traffic must be regulated.  Property rights must be upheld.  Things of that nature.  But the sort of cradle to grave handout mentality that stifles and ultimately chokes out the God-given creativity and dignity of humanity, not to mention taking every penny from everyone it can just to feed it's Jabba the Hut-like maw - it must be done away with.  I pray that voters realize this in time, before those who don't particularly care for voting decide to do something about it.

Tigers Eliminate Yankees

There is joy in Motown today as the Detroit Tigers eliminated the New York Yankees from the American League playoffs last night.  Lots of clutch pitching against a potent Yankees lineup.  Despite two blowout losses, Tigers pitchers held that lineup to a .260 batting average for the five game series.

Yet, to read the national media today (ESPN and CBS Sportsline in particular), the theme of the day is a requiem for the Yankees, bemoaning their loss rather than the Tigers win.  Because of course, nothing important happens outside of New York, at least in the media's eyes.  Or, in Baseball context, nothing important happens outside of the American League East (or the National League East for that matter).

I sure am enjoying the fact that the two AL East teams, those great juggernauts, the supposed cream of the league, who were going to beat up on those other teams from flyover country, are now both out of the playoffs!  It seems that the East isn't the beast it was made out to be.

So hats off to "Jimmy Smokes" and his band of baseballers - you sure have made it an enjoyable summer, and we who are your fans are looking forward to more baseball wonderfulness as you take on the Rangers.  But whoever wins that series, it doesn't matter, because the Yankees have been vanquished, and there will be at least one non-East team in the World Series.

But I do hope it's the Tigers!

Man is not free unless Government is limited

If you recognized that quote from Ronald Reagan's farewell address, give yourself a gold star. 

Now, many of you might think that this is the start of another rant against President Obama and all the other socialists that are running this country.  Although that would be an obvious and worthy place to direct more criticism, that is not where I am going with this post today.

Instead, I am directing it at Gov. Rick Snyder, and his proposal for the State of Michigan to require doctors to report to the state the Body Mass Index (BMI) of all children in the state.

Friends, this is where elections have consequences.  We all knew that Rick was a fiscal conservative and he has proven that since he was inagurated in January.  What most conservatives were willing to overlook was that he was a social liberal.  A social socialist, if you will.

The Governor appears to have no problem with big government when it comes to meddling in the private lives of individuals in this state.  Why is the business of the government what the BMI's of my kids are?  Of course, the answer from the big government Republicans is "we are paying for health care for a lot of these kids either through the insurance plans of their state employee parents or through the social welfare systems, so we have a vital interest in tracking that information, so we can form our policies appropriately".  Sounds all legal and proper doesn't it?

Well, if that sounds proper to you, then you have bought into the big government lie as well, because you have bought into the mindset that says "the government must provide the social safety net".  Or more broadly, "the government must provide the solution to every problem".  Ladies and gentlemen, this is socialism.  This is nanny-stateism at its most insidious.  It is this mindset that has let us to the edge of social, financial, and political ruin.  And unless we reject this thinking, our country will join all the others in the ash-heap of history who had freedom in their grasp, and traded it off for a bowl of stew named socialism (Gen. 25:29-34).

President Gerald Ford (no conservative, he) had it right in his address to Congress in August 1974 when he said "A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have."  This government, at all levels, continues to take everything we have.  Every right.  Every freedom.  Every dollar.  All in the name of enlarging the scope of its control over everyone.  Though he would never say it, this is what Gov. Snyder is doing.  The government has no business prying into the private relationship between a doctor and his patients, no matter how old those patients are.  Aren't we tired of the same old "it's for the children" rationalization for every new government program or initiative that comes along?  Haven't we learned that that isn't the reason at all?

Friends, this is not our birthright!  Our birthright as Americans is freedom, not slavery!  Freedom bought with blood and sweat and privation and death, because freedom is worth such things.

So no, Gov. Snyder, I don't want you prying into my children's personal information.  You can't know their BMI, their cholesterol, their weight, their music choices, or their reading habits.  You can't have them or their measurements.  My wife and I are the ones responsible for all these things, not you.  And the same is true for every other parent and child in this state.

Of Struts and Chryslers

Two weekends ago I had opportunity to drive my wife's van (a Dodge Grand Caravan), which I don't do very often.  This vehicle is 11 years old, has 155,000 miles on it, and is really starting to show it's age. But it still runs well.  She had been complaining about the front struts not being right and making strange noises, but I had not really driven it to see what she was talking about.

During this drive, which was about an hour of about 80% interstate and 20% surface streets getting to and from the interstate, I couldn't believe how bad it was.  It seemed that every ripple and tar strip in the road was going to bounce me off the road.  I called the mechanic on Tuesday and had it in Wednesday morning first thing.  Well, this began my education in the foibles of Chrysler minivans, circa 1996 to about 2004 (which I think they call "Gen. 2")

Wednesday after lunch the mechanic calls and says that the top strut mount is completely rusted through, and there is no way he can put a strut in there.  This is the spot in behind the wheel well where the top part of the strut attaches to the body/frame of the van.  Of course, I am now having visions of having to purchase a new vehicle for my wife in the next few days.  Then I remember a little tidbit of information I got a couple of months ago.  In my mind this is an example of how God acts in our lives and we don't even notice it.

At that time, we had had several major storms go through in the space of a week or so, and there was some serious water on the road.  My wife had driven home from her mom's after one of these storms, and upon arriving at home told me that the "transmission light" was on, and she was afraid the transmission was failing.  Well, what it really was was the "Check Engine" light, so I took it over to the local auto parts store and had them put their code reader on it to see what was going on.  It was nothing more than an oxygen sensor.  The clerk asked if we had driven it through any water lately (which obviously my wife had during the storms) and said that this was a common thing to happen.  During our conversation he said that he had owned a couple of Grand Caravans and had really liked them, but they had a problem with strut mounts rusting through.  My ears perked up at this and I told him I had a lot of rust on one my mine, and he told me that Chrysler had so many problems with it that they had made a little kit that you could install to fix it fairly cheaply.  Well, I filed that little bit of info away for later use, little knowing that I would need it really soon.  But God did.

So, back to the present, I mention this to my mechanic, and he says he will look into it, and lo and behold the dealer has a kit and so he is going to go ahead and see if it will work.  A day and a half later, after installing the repair kit (which he said worked better than he though it was going to), two new struts (completely shot, fluid completely out of them), a new tie rod on one side, and $1500, my 11 year old van now rides and handles like it's almost new again!  And I'm not making another car payment for the next 4 years!

On Saturday, wife goes out to a friend's house.  She gets back around midnight, and tells me "the (power) window won't close on the passenger side door".  Well, I wasn't going to go out at midnight to try to fix it.  We have already had trouble with these windows, and the drivers side doesn't work at all, but now the other window is stuck in the full down position.  So the next day after church I get on the internet and start searching, and wouldn't you know, Chrysler has had window motor problems with their minivans for a long time as well.  Indications are that it is a problem with the brushes in the motor, but of course you can't just buy the brushes, you have to buy the whole motor.  But I also found out that if you hold the switch in the "up" position while slamming the door, the window will move.  This did, in fact, work, and I was able to get the window up from the fully down and inside the door position to where I could pull it up and help the motor.  Banging on the motor with the handle of a screwdriver helped as well, and I got the window up.  So now the van is drivable in all weather conditions, not just when there is no rain in the forecast!

All I had to spend for that one was about $3.00 for the little door panel fasteners to get the inner panel put back on.

My conclusion is that cars are a pain, but I'm glad I don't have to walk to work.

Family Pride

I have to admit, I have been posting a lot this year about foolishness, stupidity, and downright idiocy, and I didn't want this blog to be all about that stuff, so I have been searching for some positive content that I could post.  And this morning it landed in my inbox.  This is my cousin Isaac (the fiddler) and one of the bands he plays in:

And the amazing thing is, he doesn't read a note of music.  He just makes it!