Pauls Rants & Revelations

Disgruntled about Geek Squad and the rumors flying around them? Well take heart; another will rise to take their place as Top Geeks.

As I was cruising around the web, I was looking at how many people actually had problems with Geek Squad. Not just the rumors and stories floating around on Digg and various message boards, but also in the newspapers. It seems that the one story about a GS member recording a customer in the shower with a cell phone just opened the floodgates to all the horror stories about their services and prices.

An alternative, I thought, was needed in lieu of the smartly dressed support specialists, and I believe the answer is a company called 888 Geek Need. While I have not had reason to call them, they seem to be a reasonably intelligent service handling the majority of common computer issues. Instead of coming to you house or haunting the nearby Best Buy, Geek Need is a phone service much like every other computer support service you have encountered. At $1.99 per minute, I am not sure that I would have need to use it; but then I’m more savvy than the average computer user and can usually solve my own problems. But for the majority of folks out there, it is a major help to just call someone and get a walk-through on fixing their system. Plus it also give them the chance to be part of the solution so that they only have to call them once and if the problem recurs, they can fix it on their own.

I am trying to find a way to more thoroughly test their service, but am at a road block. Perhaps I could send my friend a virus? Or accidentally remove some of his more important software drivers? Then I could conversationally suggest he call 888 Geed Need to fix the problem. But could I really do that to a friend just to test out something?

Yea, I probably could. After all, he did stiff me on a Christmas present 4 years ago.

If you have a need, head on over to the Geek Need support site to see what their about. Also, if you have any horror stories about Geek Squad please feel free to share them. I have never used their service (and probably never will) but I love hearing stories of loss and suffering…regarding computers.

Oh, and Doug? If you recieve any strange emails from me, just go ahead and run whatever I attached, OK?

-Cheers

OK. So its not really wacky, but can you think of a W word that goes with weather widget?

Anyways, I came across this weather widget from iBegin that webmasters can use on their sites. Normally, I am not too keen on weather, but this widget caught my eye by its simplicity. Below is an example of the code it produces:

Pretty simple, huh? The interface to create it is just as simple and the options for it give you complete control over the look.

While I can’t really justify putting this in the sidebar here, as it’s already a bit overly crowded, I am gonna redo the design of the blog so allow more interesting widgets (such as this) to be displayed.

What use does this have you say? It only shows the weather in the webmasters hometown? Well, you can add a search box (there is in an option for this) to allow visitors to search for their local weather.

Now if only there were a widget to allow me view satellite imagery and zoom in on Europes nude beaches. That would be something for the sidebar.

-Cheers

Posting! Actually, paid posting. I have been using Payperpost, a blog marketing service, for the last few months now and I have to say I’m digging it. Ive made a little under $100 for all the posts that I have done (about 10 or so) and the total time I have used was about 2 hours total for all of those posts. Mostly I have used the money to buy nights out for the family, but I have picked up some books and such for me as well.

Also, from the PPP forums I have found a good many tricks and tips about getting better posts and all around good writing info. A lot of the posties are quite good writers and really enjoy giving out their knowledge (and I, strange as it may seem, enjoy using it). I have even made a few friends among the posties and we always enjoy trying to out-do each other for writing the best posts.

If you get the chance, or want a little extra cash, head on over and sign up. Its a great way to earn some extra cash and perhaps learn a thing or two.

-Cheers

Some of the really great times I had with me and my friends was our war weekends where we dress all in camo and go out to the woods to have a massive paintball fight. Granted, I generally was on the losing team, but it was still a fun time.

I recently thought it might be fun to start into it again. I found a site called Ultimate Paintball that offer the top brands (which I guess are the top brands; its been a while honestly). Generally I would go for the cheap ones, but the Tippmann paintball guns are looking very interesting. I’m kinda new at this (it’s better than really rusty) so if anyone has a good eye for paintball guns please drop a comment.

Maybe my son would like to get into it too? But I could just see my wife when we both come home dirty and bruised. I don’t think she would dig it as much as we would.

-Cheers

If Google can be added to the dictionary, could this word also make it past the Oxford scholars?

Foobs are everywhere today. You see them on the street, in magazines, on television. They are in the minds of everyone (male and female) whether it be for entertainment or self interest.

This word came to me by way of a co-worker of my wife’s. He, Carson is his name, is a very jovial fellow who is always cracking jokes (albeit most of them only worth a chuckle of 5). But this time he has hit upon, at least in my opinion, solid gold. So now onto the definition:

Foobs (n): Commonly, a woman’s breasts that have been enhanced through surgical means; often by implants or fat tissue relocation. Example: “Bill commented on her lovely foobs.”

Foobs (adj): Describing someone as fake, unnatural, or comprised of soft squishy tissue. Example: “You are such a foob.”

Foobs is a contraction of the words “fake” and “boobs”. Why “foobs”? Because “feasts” is too commonly mistaken for a large meal. That, and its sounds just plain stupid when you say it as “fests”.

Anyways, I’m currently working on obtaining the rights to use the word on t-shirts. I think that I owe Carson that much as it is a great word (as long as it doesn’t exceed $50) so hopefully it will go well.

So, now that you know the definition of Foobs, what do you think? Should it be added into the next printing of the dictionary? Do you think me mad for buying a silly word? Are you mad because you didn’t think of it first?

-Cheers

Could you actually die from a headache? Possibly.

At least, thats what I thought was going to happen yesterday when my head was pounding incessantly and someone kept stabbing my brain with a butcher knife. It actually got so bad that I had to go to the doctors office to see what they could do.

It actually started on Sunday so I had a sinking feeling that it was going to get worse. I was hoping that it would go away after the night, but I was wrong.

For anyone who doesn’t know, migraines are basically king size headaches that usually affect a specific area on you head. Frequently connecting to one or both eyes, migraines can be cause by anything from food to lights. Its also very specific to people so no two migraine sufferers have the same triggers. For one person it could be eating MSG; for another, it could be stress or bright sunshine. There is also no cure; only preventative measures. There are medicines available to help with the affects when you have a migraine, but these are expensive and don’t always work.

The outcome of my long doctors visit (about 3 hours) was a prescription for 9 Imitrex pills and a list of common trigger foods. Not exactly a magic wand fix, but it helps a bit.

I was curious, thought, why she (my doctor) only gave me 9 pills. When we went to fill the prescription though, we found that the pills to be over $30 a piece! Since I didn’t really have $300 to burn on medicine, I got 2 (which were $20 after insurance).

My usual remedy for migraines was caffeine, nicotine, and chocolate, which I used for years with success. However, I recently quit smoking so nicotine is out. Caffeine dehydrates and can cause worse headaches. And I don’t have any chocolate on hand. So it looks like I’m going to have to find another relief source.

I’m curious to know how many other people get migraines and what they use to help them. Anyone out there have a sure fire remedy they use for migraines? An old wives tale cure? A guess?

Well, the appointment with the dentist went about as well as could be expected. I was in the chair for over an hour and a half and they had to give me 3 times the amount of Novocaine that is normally given, but at least the got out all the bad stuff and threw in a new tooth. Its actually pretty cool as its blue and made of some miracle compound they use for emergency tooth repair.

Anyways, the great news is that after about 5 hours the Novocaine wore off and I found that I could eat solid, crunchy foods again without pain! I know that it sounds stupid, but its a huge thing for me.

-Cheers

I have a dentist appointment this morning. I am not at all happy about it. I’m taking my ipod with me and filling it with the loudest songs I can find so I don’t have the hear the high pitched scream of the drill.

Its funny really how such a small space can be the source of so much pain. And, according to the pamphlets I’ve read, bad teeth can cause a whole host of other bad things in your body. Not at all a pleasant thought that my cracked molar can cause an ulcer.

Well, maybe not that, but definitely something as bad as that.

Wish me luck anyway. Hopefully they wont have to remove anything.

-Cheers

I did not even notice this earlier, but Google ranked my blog here with a PR4 which is, as anyone in the blog community will say, pretty freakin’ respectable.

I’m just flabbergasted that so many people linked to my ranting. Something on the order of 3000 (thats a lot).

Now the only question is: What now? Do I get a prize? Will the big G send me a t-shirt?

What exactly can you do with a moderately well ranked blog? And I say moderately well since since google.com is only ranked at PR6. Any Ideas?