the screaming pages
General
Places to Go
This page layout is based off of the Ruthsarian Skidoo Layout. All compliments should be routed to the skidoo-master.
You'll note the colours didn't change from the template to the end result..I blame it all on the template using colours I love!
with a mighty yawp
What good is owning the domain screamingpages.net if you don't rant and rave a little. Surely, something will come to mind that will burn my britches enough to have me frothing at the mouth. I hear Ponoka is nice this time of year...
spare battery anyone?
My poor laptop has been on it's last legs for quite some time. As the technology tradition (at least when it comes to computers) plays out in our home, I upgrade and Drew inherits my cast offs. After much debating, I decided to pick up a nice shiney new Dell Inspiron 630M. I have to be honest, I selected this model because it was cheaper than the pretty little Sony Viao I've had my eye on for a few years and the mac iBook I wanted is way out of my price range. Add to that the software I'd have to repurchase in order to complete ID work on an iBook, I decided to stick with my old mac desktop and continue the ongoing tradition of buying MS Win based laptops.
While I was in Manila, there was a nice little sale on the Dell I wanted, so I picked it out and arranged to have it shipped home. I figured I'd spend a few days of my two weeks in Edmonton transferring all my data and programs from the old system to the new. At the time I made the purchase, I didn't click the button to order the spare battery - which turned out to be a huge mistake.
I wanted the spare battery so I could use the laptop for a longer duration during flights back and forth from Manila. So, I did what any sane person would do. I hopped over to the Dell.ca website and selected my make and model from the notebook batteries section. I filled in all the pretty little blanks and purchased the battery it listed on the site for my new laptop. Of course, when the battery arrived it wasn't correct. Apparently, the Dell website was displaying the battery for the Inspiron 6000 series when the Inspiron 600M series was selected. I called Dell to arrange to return the battery and order the correct one. After arranging to have a RMA label sent to my email account, I was transferred to a member of the Dell sales team in order to obtain the correct battery. While the sales rep seemed to have a bit of difficulty hearing me (I know, I speak softly), I did manage to confirm with him no less than 6 times that he was ordering the Inspiron 600M series laptop battery for me. I reconfirmed this item twice after he quoted the price to me, as I thought it was a bit low, but he assured me he was ordering the correct battery for the system. I asked the agent to rush the order out to me, as I was leaving for the Philippines in less than a week. I sat back and waited for it to arrive.
After waiting a day, I hadn't received my RMA forms so I emailed Dell about the situation. In addition, I included the full path to the battery order form on the site for the Insprion 600M series and my search paths along with a brief blurb about the incorrect battery being displayed on the site. I figured it might help save someone else some aggravation if they were attempting to purchase a spare battery for the same system. A day later I received the RMA link, printed and shipped the 6000 series battery back to Dell. In the email from Dell, there was no reference to the info in my email relating to the incorrect product listing on the site.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch...
A few days later a friendly UPS lady arrived with the new package from Dell. She loved the puppies and handed over the much anticipated box. I rushed downstairs to open it and what did my wondering eyes find in the box...a power adaptor for the 600M series laptop! ARGH. I emailed Dell immediately to notify them of the error and ask for a new RMA form. I included the original email chain outlining how the battery saga began, and asked once again for help in obtaining the correct battery for the system. Dell promptly sent back a response letting me know that since I ordered the adaptor, I'd have to pay for a return if I wanted to send it back. Of course, since my original email explained that I'd been transferred to a sales agent to make sure I'd receive the correct battery for my system, that just set my blood boiling. I sent a polite but very pointed message back indicating that I'd not ordered nor did I want a power adaptor and requesting they sort out the issue. The next day I had an RMA label but still no information relating to HOW to obtain the correct battery. I printed the label and made a second trip half-way across the city to drop the package off at the UPS drop-off site and once again sent off an email asking how to ensure I obtain the correct battery.
The answer? Order it online or through the phone sales department! *bangs head against desk*. Needless to say I've sent back yet another email pointing out that it's impossible to order the battery online due to the shopping cart system displaying the battery for the 6000 series laptop when the 600M series is entered as the search option.
So now, I sit back and wait once again. The laptop is sweet and I'm really enjoying it, but I desperately want the spare battery for future trips.
switching internet providers
We've been cable internet subscribers for over 8 years in two separate cities and really haven't been that happy with the service for a long time. Trying to upload travel journals to my web site while in India was a miserable experience - you couldn't ftp to your server space from outside the network and I had to email the files back to Canada to have the pages uploaded to the site. We decided we should try switching to DSL.
I love a lot of the web based features for the DSL service provider, but attempting to get the wireless router up and running so we can cancel the cable service has been horrific. Apparently the previous owners of the house installed a specialized phone line filter in the house and now we're trying to find it. The phone company doesn't have a record of where it was installed, only that it was.
While we wait for a tech to come out and try and find the device, I'm moving the contents of my previous web site (the India travel journal) from the cable provider to the DSL provider's web space. Soon I'll need to complete the dreaded e-mail switch-over. Wish me luck.