....journey into ultimate suckitude.

Obviously I've been a little down since the passage of the government health care bill on Sunday, and have been chronicling that on the political blog (and will do so after this post.  So I've been seeking escape into the wastelands of D.C.  In 2277.  In Fallout 3.  And the cool things I've done include finding the Declaration of Independence, visiting several museums (and shooting super mutants, ghouls, and robots), climbing the Washington monument to boost a radio station, and seeing the remnants of both the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial.  Strangely, I like this DC better than the real world one.

But I've also been fighting computers (unfortunately, it sucks more in the real world).  Yesterday, my phone software (critically important to working at home) took a shit on me.  So after several tries to resolve it, I got to haul ass into work, with plans to get things working later. And as it was a relatively nice day, I threw my lightest jacket on, expecting it might get a little cooler.

It was fucking snowing when I walked out the door at 9.  A blinding, driving snow that started to affect my car's performance (being I've been having issues with the distributor not throwing spark when it's cold and/or wet).  And it was bitch cold too.  So today, when I went out, I had moved to my winter coat, which, due to the fact I am a lazy bastard, had not quite made it to being packed away for the winter.

So this morning, I went to clearing out my computer to eliminate every other possible problem, then reinstalled the software.  As well, I started setting my other desktop up as a backup.  So I have the first computer up, but haven't confirmed the problem yet, when I get a request to clock in early, about an hour before my shift.  At this point, I had not yet finished the rest of the install, confirmed it was working or failed, gotten dressed, and still had to run the kids to the babysitter (25 minute round trip).

So I got that done, confirmed the software wouldn't work, got the second computer up, and raced out the door.  25 minutes later, I arrived home to confirm that the second computer was having the same issue.  And even better, another tech is having the same phone software issue.  Which eliminates it being a computer ,router, or my Internet service provider ass an issue.  It could be Windows XP, so I turn to my laptop (running Windows 7) and try to get the VPN (virtual private network) and phone software up.  Nope, can't even get the VPN working (I probably made an install mistake, to be honest), which means another compatibility issue.  At this point, it's my normal clock-in time, and I've been clocked in for 15 minutes battling the shit.  So, realizing that it won't work any time soon, I abandon ship like a motherfucker, haul ass for work (a 20 minute drive ideally).  However, I pulled out at the time Crown (local factory) and the government schools are letting out.  And due to the fact that I had to drive an extra 20 miles, 'm low on gas.  How low?  My tank holds about 12 gallons.  I put 12.006 gallons in it today before leaving New Bremen.  Fumes, baby.

And don't get me started on the fact that this means I don't eat the supper I had planned to eat two days in a row.  The best I could do was a few slices of roast beef (which I found cheap enough for my budget, finally).

So I finally get to work, get logged in and start grabbing calls.  But the clusterfuck has not ended.  My laptop is not connecting wireless now.  So I begin the process of uninstalling the VPN software I installed initially.  Windows flashes the Blue Screen of Death and reboots.  Eventually, I end up running system Restore to take out the junk.  I get those programs cleared out, but now the computer is still not connecting wireless.  And I don't have the chance until I bed the younglings tonight to try it wired. 


And yes, you're supposed to chastise me for not being able to solve an internet connection issue (as that is my job).  In this case, it would be a situation where I'd be giving the customer the boot because we don't fix a driver issue (and that's where I think the problem is.  I just don't have access to my Windows 7 disk to try to fix it.  Not that I'm in a hurry to be free of cords, because it's too cold to be outside.

 Now maybe I'll get lucky this weekend and it will get as warm as they say, because I have ice on my balls....