Author: Josh

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Mac ‘n’ Cheese

This is probably going to make John’s weekend and get a reaction from my mom that wouldn’t be much unlike telling her I’ve decided to become a lesbian…

I think I’m going to switch. I came home this evening and turned on the PC in the office so I could print an e-mail. “Can’t access mail.janicek.com”. I checked the LAN settings. “Limited or no connectivity”.

I power cycled the modem and router. No luck. I swapped CAT5 cable. No dice. I had the iBook in the office with me so I could research my dilema. I found a couple websites that I thought might help.

So I download the Windows registry patch on the iBook, load it onto my thumbdrive (instant process) and inserted the thumbdrive into the PC to open the .reg file (not-instant process). I install the registry update and reboot the computer. I pinged Google and got a response. I opened Thunderbird and retrieved my e-mail veeerrrrry slllllllloooooowllllly. I tried to open the e-mail that I wanted to print. I think it’s still retrieving as I type (on the iBook).

For kicks and giggles I opened Firefox. I have Google.com set as my home page. Google’s header image is still trying to load. You know Google.com, that search engine website with the graphic intense 10k header image!

The Windows PC in the office is a great machine. It has a 2.8GHz Intel processor, 1GB RAM, a couple huge hard drives. Windows XP SP2 had to be installed a few times for the system to work like it should… but it’s all been a royal pain in the ass. What makes a pain in the ass royal anyway?

I couldn’t begin to tell you how many phone conversations and e-mails between my mom and I involve reinstalling XP or reformatting a drive. My mom’s a computer nerd/wiz, by the way.

So I’ve decided that I’ve done my time. I’ve built computers from the ground up. I’ve troubleshooted hardware, software and networks. I’ve collectively spent more time working on Windows-based computers that I have actually using them.

It’s true, Macs just work. (shut up John)

Without going into great detail, I can vividly remember the last September when Elise gave me the iBook. I plugged it in, turned it on and it just worked. The first thing I did was opened Safari and started surfing. I think OS X’s Network Utility popped up and asked me if I wanted to join my wireless network. Since then everything has been smooth sailing. The iBook did crash once… that was when John was doing something Super-Mac-nerdy on it.

I’ve really grown to enjoy the Mac experience since having purchased an iCurve and an Apple keyboard. I’ve never owned a notebook computer so getting 1) my first Mac and 2) my first notebook made for some frustration – primarily due to unfamiliarity with a trackpad. Now that I can use the iBook in a desktop environment the experience has been more than great.

I’ve really enjoyed having an iBook and have even been seriously considering a Bluetooth dongle mod (if that’s not a cool name for a rock band, I don’t know what is).

So what ties us to Windows? Familiarity? Market share? Compatability? Microsoft Office? I can use my Mac for anything. I bring it to the office all the time. I don’t have Quickbooks installed so I don’t do company finances, but I could. I have Microsoft Office on the iBook so I can open, edit and create anything work- or home-related.

My Fulfillment Manager asked me on Tuesday what she should purchase as far as a laptop. She said, “Josh, what kind of laptop would you buy?” I asked if it was for her. She said yes. I sold her on a new 15″ iBook. She was worried about things like Microsoft Office, e-mail, usabilty, etc. She’s going to the Barton Creek Apple store tomorrow and buying one. Her “friend” (I don’t know if he’s a boyfriend) received the advice I dispensed and researched new iBook because, so I’ve been told, he’s a computer nerd. Now he’s thinking about getting one as well.

So I’ve decided that I’m going to wait until Apple begins shipping units with Intel microprocessors and most likely get myself a nice, large iMac.

With said new iMac I’m going to use GarageBand to produce Bluetooth Dongle Mod’s first single.

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Refurbished Airport Express

I bought an Airport Express almost a year ago because I’ve always liked to play music on the stereo from a computer. In the past six months the AE has been like a dog with a gimp leg – it cut out on my so much that I pretty much gave up on it. Well, the gimp-legged dog died on me while we were on vacation (when we got back I noticed that the green light wasn’t on). I took the dog to the Apple store and after a week and half, I had a refurbished Airport Express. After a quick setup using OS X’s Airport Setup Assistant I’m streaming music to the stereo again.

I’m dualy excited because now I can now run speakers out onto the deck. I almost had Elise convinced that we needed an Altec Lansing IM7. She told me to hold off to see if I could work something out by running speaker wires from the stereo in the living room out to the deck. Now that I have a rejuvinated Airport Express I can have tunes out on the deck. This weekend’s project will involve running speaker wire through the attic to the outside.

[an hour later: The AE is ‘skipping’ again. I posted a thread on MacNN’s Forum (after fabricating an aluminum foil satallite dish to bounce back cordless phone signals) to see why I can’t get constant streaming music. I hope I get a better response than this.]

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Come Dell or High Water

Dell sucks

I’ve severely disliked Dell for a long time now. I don’t like Dell. I’m stuck with a Dell server and desktops at the office but I will never buy another Dell product.

We paid off all of our bills and got out of all of our lease contracts months ago. That was a joyous time – we all celebrated in that we would never have to deal with Dell again.

Today Dell called and stated that we owed them money. Dell called a month ago on an invoice for two Inspirion notebooks that we didn’t purchase.

Two laptops were fraudulently purchased on our account in early May. We disputed the charge.
Dell’s not-for-free tech support was called in the middle of May. The call today was to pay for the tech support phone call.

Dell is like a scab – it’s annoying, bleeds if you pick at it and you can never seem to get rid of it. And it tastes bad.

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Slow weekend

The work week ended late on Friday after a company meeting. I left the office at 7, got home at 8, changed clothes and drove over to John & Christine’s. Christine made an enchilada casserole for dinner. John showed me his finished office in the backyard. I told John and Christine about the massage I got in Cabo San Lucas.

I woke up on Saturday and jump started the trusty Shadow from the Jeep. I unclamped the jumper cables and the Shadow just would go. It was like a sickly dog. It spat and spittered. I tried to ride it up and down the street to get it juiced to no avail.

Elise and I drove over to Kasson’s, picked up a new battery and stopped for lunch at Rosie’s Tamale House. Seeing how it was tax-free weekend we went to Academy so Elise could pick out some new tennis shoes. Seeing how I’ve tennis shoe shopped with my wife in the past and know how intense a process it is, I dropped her off at Academy and I spent an hour at CompUSA.

I called Elise to tell her I was on my way to pick her up. She had narrowed her choice down to two pairs of shoes. She made her decision shortly after I arrived to pick her up. We went home, I poured the sulfuric acid into the new motorcycle battery and realized that I didn’t have a charger.

The day went away and that evening we went to Brad and Kim’s wedding shower at Michelle’s house.

We got up on Sunday and I went over to John & Christine’s to borrow John’s battery charger. We loaded trash from John’s garage into my monster truck and we hauled it to the dumpster behind the Salvation Army.

I went home and made the mistake of letting the wife find the remote for the TV. I was subjected to two hours of a show called Bridezilla! on the Women’s Entertainment Network. I guess I could have gotten up off of the couch and done something but the cat was laying on my stomach and we were putting off going grocery shopping.

I couldn’t tolerate another episode of Bridezilla! so we went to the grocery store. Grocery shopping on Sunday is always a pain. Everybody grocery shops on Sunday and the HEB we shop is always packed.

We went home, put away groceries and I smoked a beer can chicken while Elise made a corn and basil soup.

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In the nick of timeshare

Elise and I spent a week in Cabo San Lucas last month and we had an absolute blast. We had so much fun that we decided that we will one day return to Los Cabos. So much fun and a desire to return that we bought a timeshare…

You’re probably thinking, “WHAT?!?!”

Yes, we bought a timeshare. We toured a beautiful resort, were subjected to an extremely high-pressure timeshare sales pitch and were sold. We signed on the dotted line and I put a significant down payment on our credit card.

The whole process took approximately four hours. After signing our names stating that we agreed to this, that and the other, we got up from the table and started to make our way back to our hotel. We looked at each other with puzzled looks on our faces.

“Did we do the right thing?”

“Sure. I think. Yeah. I don’t know. Did we?”

We went to the presentation having promised each other that the final word would be “no”. That didn’t happen. My gut told me “no”, but I didn’t listen to my gut. Neither did Elise. Our salesperson was awesome. She got us hook, line and sinker.

I had buyer’s remorse the moment pen hit paper but the devil on my shoulder told me we could do it.

We returned to the States and reality set in. I told Elise we weren’t buying a timeshare. We discussed the issue briefly and Elise was behind me all the way. Now it was time to go to battle.

I e-mailed the customer service manager at the resort. I wrote a polite and professional claim letter stating that I wanted our down payment returned and that we wanted to cancel our contract. I stated the reasons for our decision and documented everything perfectly. It was the perfect claim letter.

Three days later I receive a response stating that according to our contract we could not get out of the timeshare. I was kind of expecting that sort of response. I was still dead-set on not paying a single red penny (or peso). I was started doing a little legal research and was psyching myself up to hire a lawyer.

I did some extensive research and came across a great article from the L.A. Times. I followed a few links and found the most helpful information at Mescam.

Luckily I was immediately proactive in the pursuit of cancelling our contract and retaining our “earnest money” when we returned home. Mexican law states that timeshare buyers have a five day “cooling off” period. During that time the customer can cancel the contract with little or no questions asked.

In the meantime there had been a few exchanges of e-mails between the timeshare resort and your humble narrator. My e-mails were very polite and professional. The responses I received were blunt. The last rebuttal I received from Mr. Customer Service was, “I am sorry but there is not much to discuss, please look at the New Owners Verification Form Number 10..” That basically meant: “You’re screwed, we got your money and you’re going to have to pay.”

The gloves came off:

I am writing you again today to cancel Josh and Elise Janicek’s contract #XXXXXX for one Bi-Annual Junior Suite at the XXXXXX Resort and Spa that was purchased on 7/25/2005 and to get a FULL REFUND for the $X,XXX.XX which you have already charged to my MasterCard; account ending in XXXX. I am providing you with notice that I have cancelled this contract within five working days from (the delivery of, or the signing of) the contract IAW Article 56 of ARTICLE 56 OF LEY Federal de Protección al Consumidor. (Article 56 of the Federal Consumer Protection Law states: “The contract will be perfected within five working days from the delivery of, or the signature of the contract, which ever occurs the latest. During this period, the consumer will have the right to revoke his consent without any responsibility. The revocation will have to be by means of warning or delivery of notice, in person, by registered mail, or another method of average reliability. The revocation according to this article, will terminate the contract. In this case, the costs of shipping and insurance will be the responsibility of the consumer. If the contract is for services, this article will not be applicable if the date of receipt of the service is less than ten working days from the date of the order of purchase.”)

I am aware that my right to cancellation and a full refund is non waivable (the buyer cannot give it up) and even if the buyer is convinced to sign a document to give it up (waive the right) that waiver is not valid and the buyer still has the 5 day right. Any argument you have claiming that my enrollment fee is non-refundable is invalid according to Mexican law and this has been verified with PROFECO.

I have been in contact with other Americans and know what my rights are under Mexican law. If you plan on sending me an email stating “As indicated in our agreement – you may cancel your membership at any time but the enrollment fee is non-refundable”, I am afraid I cannot comply with your request. You must comply with this request by law or face fines. Please do not send me an email saying that filing a complaint with PROFECO will tie up my refund for months. I know this is not true.

Any attempt to refuse this request will be immediately forwarded to PROFECO. I am also sending a copy of this e-mail and previous correspondences to PROFECO.

As indicated in the dated e-mails below, I have made a good faith effort within 5 working days to resolve this issue and request a full refund in a professional, polite manner and with full intent.

Please comply with the law, cancel my contract and send me my refund immediately.

Your timely response is greatly appreciated.

Booyah!

Half an hour later I get this response:

“The refund of the deposit will be issued within the next 15 days as stated on the contract.”

I called the credit card company, told them what I was doing and disputed the charge on my account – just to be safe.

We learned about timeshares the hard way. I’m sure I’ll have to deal with this for a while longer. That’s okay, I was prepared to battle for a year.

Los Cabos is beautiful as was our vacation. I was scared that we were going to be left to look back on our vacation in a negative light.

I’m pumped to do the Cabo Wabo again. Next time we’ll go to timeshare presentations. Hell, we’ll go to ten presentations and hoard all of the free goodies like deep sea fishing, sunset cruises, ATV tours, parasailing, free food and drinks.

Next time we’ll say “No”.

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Elise should work at the Genius Bar

I check Apple’s website every so often because I’ve grown to like not having to worry about viruses and spyware on my iBook – that and I really enjoy the iLife suite. I checked Apple’s site yesterday and got excited about the new Mighty Mouse. I got over that pretty quickly as I realized Apple is years behind in mouse development.

So after ten months I decided to hook my iBook up as a desktop. I connected my monitor and mouse and soon realized that switching to a Mac would be so much easier if done in the desktop environment. I walked into the kitchen and told Elise about my new dekstop experience with the iBook. I Googled Bluetooth mice and keyboards and found myself on Apple’s website again. I decided against Bluetooth peripherals and checked out new iBooks.

“DAMN. Elise.”

“What?” She proclaimed, thinking that I was really upset about somthing.

I read off the specs for the current iBook.

Elise said, “See, I told you. I knew I should have waited to buy you the iBook because one day they’d have the G5 thing with a 66-inch monitor, built in toilet and a thing that changes your oil.”

I’m still laughing…

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86

I’ve worked in the restaurant biz, off and on, for approximately five years. I’ve asked three people: a general manager, a clubhouse manager and an executive chef what the origin of the term “86’d” was. I know in practice it means that your out of an item, nix, no more.

Chefs would yell, “86 the t-bone”. That meant the kitchen cooked the last t-bone and the waitstaff needed to know this should a customer try and order it from the menu.

But where did “86” come from? Here are some interesting answers from Restaurant Report

The term 86’d goes back to the first restaurant Delmonicos. It refers to the ribeye steak that was sold there. It was item 86 on their menu and was sold out one night, hence the term 86’d.

The reason is because of the old specs used to bury the average person—-the hole is “6” feet deep, and is “8” feet long. Hence, being called “86d” was not a good thing…but a “gone” thing…

[I]t was borrowed from the policy of “86ing” someone when that person has had too much to drink. He/she is no longer being served. 86 refers to article 86 of the New York State Liquor laws that define when someone should not, legally, be served in places that sell alcoholic beverages.

In the old days of soup kitchens they prepared enough soup for 85 people. Obviously if you were # 86 there was none left. Since the use of 86 to denote a menu item that is not available.

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Returning to work from vacation

Returning to work today, to put it lightly, sucked. Big time. Hard core. Grande. Mondo bollucks. I remember being a kid and how I would wimper myself to sleep on that last August night before having to go catch the bus in the morning for the first day of the new school year.

Today I woke up a few minutes before the alarm. I could feel the glow of the blinds from the early morning through my eyelids. I was hoping that I would wake up and hear the waves crashing onto the beach in Cabo. No luck. The alarm sounded and I immediately rolled over and kissed Elise on the head and told her that I loved her. Vacation was officially over.

I walked to the beach, err, shower and started my Monday.

I soon found myself in the truck driving to work. I didn’t bother turning on the radio. I didn’t want to hear the usual morning crap banter from the Austin a.m. shmucks. I didn’t want the distractions. I didn’t want the stress. I didn’t want to think about anything much more than what Saul told me when I asked when we were going to start catching fish… “No worries”. I left the window cracked and drove the hour to work, listening to the wind and thinking about the awesome vacation Elise and I had last week.

I let work creep into my thoughts a few times and crushed those thoughts with the notion of trying to maintain a philosophy of not letting a job define who I am.

I got to work and said hello to everyone. Everyone asked how the vacation was. I showed them all a few pictures and told them the high points of the trip. As quick as it started the excitement died down and it became a typical Monday morning. It was as if I had never left – which is good. The staff handled everything very well while I was away and I wasn’t left with too huge a laundry list, although my e-mail inbox was about to explode. I decided to hold off on dealing with e-mail until tomorrow.

I was updated on the going ons of the past two weeks – a lot of what was brought to my attention was exactly why I went on vacation, completely forgot about work and why I think everyone should take more vacations. People get so caught up in work to the point where it consumes and defines them.

When I was getting ready for work this morning I really thought about what Saul said and what is printed on a lot of t-shirts in Cabo. So when I got dressed, I put on my pressed khaki pants and a nice button-down shirt. I took a few deep breathes before kissing Elise goodbye for the day and taking on the Monday.

My flip flops and I walked to the truck and headed out to take on Monday.

With no worries.

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Cabo Wabo

Cabo Weblog
Todos Los Cabos

I’ve been to Rome, Dallas, Texas
Man, I thought I’d seen it all, oh
Around the world, searchin’ every corner
Man, I thought I’d hit the wall, ah!

There’s a sleepy town lies South of the border
You go there once, you’ll be there twice
Lots of pretty girls comin’ by the dozen, woo!
The white sand sure make a tan look nice

– Van Halen, Cabo Wabo

We just got back from Cabo San Lucas. We both thought about forgetting everything and staying in Los Cabos. So many thoughts passed through our heads as to how we could leave our jobs, have the cats shipped in and just live in Los Cabos.

It really didn’t dawn on me until a few hours after we got home. I updated the Cabo Blogo one last time and instinctively wanted to search the Web for more things to do in Cabo. I haven’t watched TV in over a week nor have I read the newspaper or any Websites.

I’m ready to go back to Land’s End.

In the meantime, here are photos from the trip.

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El Regio and bad Spanish

Elise found a gem of an eatery via her boss a few months ago and I was treated to this awesome pollo asado last night. The place is El Regio and all they serve is grilled chicken.

El Regio got its start in my neck of the woods (aka barrio) when I first moved to Austin. I never stopped to try the food because 1) I was a freshman in college and just assumed that my culinary delights were limited to Ramen, Gumby’s Pizza and widemouth Mickey’s malt liquor 2) I was a gringo and in this time that we called “the nineties” us gringos were fearful of being mocked if we wanted to exchange cash for food prepared by those of direct Hispanic decent (this was also true of lesbians).

Now that I have grown older, wiser, befriended lesbians, hispanics and a guy named Carl who has a lazy eye, I can comfortably send my wife to El Regio to get dinner. Anyway – it’s great grilled chicken. A media pollo costs a whopping $6 and can easily feed two. Get extra salsitas picosas.

I’m practicing my Espanoliolio because Elise and I will be waking up at the crack of manana and leaving for Cabo San Lucas. It’s a much needed vacation and I plan on relaxing to the point that attain a zen-like understanding of my life and the future. Or heartburn. Whichever comes first.

“Hola. Mi nombre es Senor Pollo Cabeza. Donde est el bano? El queso es viejo y mohoso. Git-R-Done.”

So if you don’t see any posts here for the next week, check the Josh & Elise Cabo Blogo.

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AskMen: VidBook

I was thinking about my first job out of college….

VidBook write-up 2001

(Vidbook.com has long since been sold. I created many of the ‘vidbooks’ and banner ads that were featured on the site. Too bad we didn’t make any money.)

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Leaving Las Vegas

Friday evening Kevin, Amy, Elise, myself and another couple were treated to a nice dinner at Tremezzo in the Aladdin hotel. We all went through a couple bottles of nice wine (I didn’t order so I couldn’t tell you what they were). Most everyone had the surf and turf special: Australian lobster with a tomato-based sauce and a 6 oz. baby filet with a gorgonzola and port sauce. That sounded really good to me but since most everyone was ordering that, I opted for the grilled lamb chops with a black olive sauce. It wasn’t easy to palatte the chops. I didn’t think about it until the waitress brought our order that she neglected to ask how I wanted mine cooked. The chops were overcooked, grisselly, fatty and the sauce couldn’t hide the bad taste.

We left Aladdin around 9 p.m. and we split a cab down the strip. Kevin and Amy went to MGM Grand to watch Dennis Miller. Elise and I rode over to Luxor to see the Blue Man Group. Elise really enjoyed the show. I think I went into it with too high of expectations. It was entertaining and there are elements of the show that are mezmerizing… Like I said, I think I went in expecting too much.

We left Luxor at close to midnight. We rode the monorail back to our room at Bally’s so we could change and grab some left-over booze from our party the night before. We walked over to Harrah’s because I wanted to go to the oxygen bar that I saw when we went on our foot tour of the strip on Thursday evening. Oxygen bar was closed.

We walked back to our hotel and hit the single deck blackjack tables until 5 a.m. We busted.

We woke up early on Saturday and attended two good seminars. The first seminar was “Hiring For Success”. A lot of what the speaker talked about I agreed with. Most of what he preached I didn’t agree with. He’s a corporate coach teaching how to hire corporate employees by “throwing the interviewee off-guard” and using scare tactics.

The second seminar was “Niche Marketing”. I went in thinking it was going to be a seminar on advertising and inside sales. Instead it was an endorsement for specific niche profit centers for pharmacies. It was still an interesting seminar.

After our last seminar we went to the trade show where I handed out Wellness Works swag in an attempt to create a buzz and get some business cards. The last folder and bottle of jelly beans were handed out and that was it. We were done. We walked back down the strip and I treated Elise and me to the oxygen bar and a water massage. It was much needed stress relief after being at this conference all week.


Old Strip

After making friends with the manager of the aqua massage oxygen bar we walked way the hell to the far north end of the strip so Elise could see some of the older Vegas casinos like Stardust and the Frontier. We stopped in and bought souvenirs for staff and made the long, leg-killing trek back to Las Vegas Blvd and Flamingo Road in the 116-degree air.

A quick change of clothes back in the hotel room and we headed downstairs, through the casino to the grand ballroom for AmerisourceBergens closing party. Again, all the food and drink you could ever imagine. There were fancy Italian deli platters with peppers, olives, cheese and genoa salami, prosciutto, etc. etc. Lettuce wraps with spicy chicken, ginger and carrots and peanut sauce. Chicken satay, build your own tacos, veggie quesadillas. That’s just what I ate – there was a lot more.

After dinner we were entertained by the Doobie Brothers. Elise really got into it. I’m not really a fan, but had a great time nonetheless. The Doobs’ show ended after a couple hours, everybody cleared out of the ballroom and poured into the casinos. Elise and I ran upstairs, regrouped and went downstairs to try our luck again. I tripled our money on a couple slot machines. Elise was very impressed, insisted that I continue playing slot machines and thought I was the coolest thing since Girbaud jeans. I quickly lost my winnings. Elise didn’t find me as cool any more.

We blew the rest of our allowance at the single deck table. Vegas got us this time.


Sippin’ a G-String

We woke up relatively early this morning, packed our suitcases and went to the pool. We had a couple G-Strings (Pina colada with Midori) and panini sandwiches while we soaked up some desert sun.

We met Kevin and Amy in the lobby shortly before 2 p.m. and took a cab to the ever-so-busy Las Vegas airport. For whatever reason our flight was delayed for almost an hour. We had to catch a connecting flight in Phoenix. Our flight was delayed in Phoenix because of micro-bursts. We’re on the plane right now, an hour or so from Austin. We probably won’t get home until 1 a.m. and we both have to be at work first thing tomorrow morning.

Oh well… we had a blast on our trip to Vegas.