jeffpollard.net

1D10Ts

I ordered a set of new aftermarket headlight assemblies from a company called Matrix Racing late last week. They had a so-so website..not the most professional e-commerce site I'd ever used, but certainly not the worst. For those of you scratching your head and thinking, "What was wrong with your current headlights?" here's an explanation: The 97-00 Tacoma factory headlight assemblies all suffer from a common problem of get "chauky" or "milky" as time goes on. Sure some of you out there have noticed the front of your headlights getting whiter and "milky" as time goes on. You may also notice that many of the new cars (including the 01-present Tacos) coming out have a newer headlight assemblies that are crystal-clear and don't get milky with time. These new headlights are crystal clear, which should allow my headlights to shine even brighter on the road...and they'll look much cleaner, too.

So, back to my story. So I ordered these headlights and paid via Pay Pal. A day or two later, I received notification that my order had been received and was being processed. A couple days later, I received notification that the item had shipped via UPS and received a tracking number. This morning, I received this email from someone at Matrix Racing:

Hi Jeff,

We were unable to get these lights in a timely manner, so we refunded your payment. I apologize for that. We've been trying to get these since middle of January, but the manufacturer hasn't produced them again. If we can get more, we'll email you. Thank you for trying out us.

Alex Lozano

Matrix Racing

Ohhhh kay......I logged into my Pay Pal account and, sure enough, all of the money I sent for the headlights had been refunded to my account. I then hopped back to the UPS tracking website and put in my tracking number for the already "in transit" shipment. It just left Van Nuys, CA yesterday morning and is scheduled for delivery to my house on Feb. 28th.

So...I don't get it. They're out of stock, so they refunded my money. But what I want to know is: What will be delivered to me on February 28th? Whatever it is, it's gonna be FREE!!! WOO HOO!!!!

Out of a rut

For the past couple of weeks I've felt like I've been stuck in a rut. Stuck going through the same motions every day and just not really having much fun doing it. A couple of factors made me feel this way:

Tax Headaches

What a good feeling it is to finally have my taxes done. After American Idol last night, I pulled out the ole' tax forms. Let's see, we had W-2s, 1098s, 1098-INTs, 1040s (with schedule "A"), and WD-40s. Ok, maybe not the last one. But..I DID have my most favorite tax website, which made doing my taxes less of a headache this year: TaxAct.com. I did my federal taxes on there last year and it was a breeze. I filed all electronically and my refund came within about 10 days and was directly deposited into my checking account. It doesn't get any easier than that.

This year's taxes were a bit harder, since Olivia and I bought a house and aren't married. After wading through page after page of legal mumbo-jumbo on the IRS.gov site, we decided that one of us would claim the house and the other would not. We also decided that neither of us could could legally claim "Head of Household" because the other person(s) living with you must be a relative: Sister, Step-brother, Uncle, etc. Since Olivia is my 3rd cousin (twice removed), we both filed as "Single" and I claimed the house. I would say it definitely helped my return.

You know, the cool thing about TaxAct.com is that you don't have to be a tax genius to figure it out. As you go through the process, you are asked questions. During the "About you" section of the process, I came upon a really funny question. Here's what it looked like:

The funny part is, they asked me this question last year and I remember thinking this was a pretty entertaining then. It's just funny seeing it written out like that.

Our snow is quickly melting away, thank goodness. I was getting tired of helping people get un-stuck because they couldn't drive. I think I set a new personal record by helping 3 different people get their cars un-stuck in this latest snow storm. Ya know, some people just shouldn't be allowed to drive in the snow. Period.

Snowy Weekend

Here's our view when we opened our door Monday morning:

That's the result of three days of sleet and freezing rain. It think it came out to around 6-8" of the cold schtuff.

Ghetto Deck Uneasiness

Today was a pretty cool day. Almost. Last Wed. night I finished up all of the new Show-N-Shine updates and the new design. As far as I can tell, that site is done being updated fopr a while. Hopefully.

Also, I got to flex my creative muscles at work by designing and putting up a Dating Disasters survey on our Intranet. Employees were asked to submit their worst dating stories and the winner would be selected by a company-wide vote on our Intranet! (Pollit to the rescue, again) I was really happy with the way the whole thing turned out, and I think the empoyees will enjoy it.

So, what a fine day. And then work was over and I walked to the (ghetto) parking deck. I disarmed my truck as I walked towards it as usual. Two chirps and two flashes: "everything is OK", says the truck. I open my driver's door and notice that the rubber molding is coming off the door jam. Strange, I thought. As I pressed my finger on the molding to snap it back in place, my eyes focused in on a new blemish just barely outside my door jam and my heart dropped down in my stomach. I stood and inspected the blemish. What would cause such a blemish? My mind raced through a million different things. "Have I ever noticed this before?" No. "Was it there this morning when I got in my truck?" No. Screwdriver. A screw driver could cause damage like that. I partially closed the driver's door and exmined the marks just above the door and the rubber molding. They lined up. This was no accident. Someone had tried to break into my truck today.

I immediately walked around the truck and inspected for any other signs of attempted break-ins. Nothing. It wasn't until later that I discovered the other peice of evidence in this story: a small area on the lower-right side of the driver's door window had been brushed clean of all of the salt and grime that's been building up on it for weeks. In other words, someone wanted to see if my door was unlocked and they couldn't see through the dirt and 20% tint, so they cleaned it off with their hand.

Even 7 hours after discovering this, my hands are still shaking as I type this I'm so mad. I haven't felt victimized like this since Mom and Dad's van got broken into in Baltimore when I was younger. Boy, I was shaken by that incident..and it wasn't even my own vehicle.

All night, I've been mentally preparing myself. Preparing myself to be really paranoid over the next few weeks. Preparing myself to be scared and angry (Note: already there). Preparing myself for another possible attempt. Since the person was not able to sucessfully break into the truck, I'm guessing they walked away with one of two thoughts:

1. Well, I couldn't get into it, plus I saw a red blinking LED..it must have an alarm. I'll move on to an easier target.

2. Well, I couldn't get into it today. I'll bring back bigger tools tomorrow.

It's really a shame that our Martin parking deck charges $80/month parking. This is definitely at least strike one for the Ghetto Deck. I'm not even sure I'll give it any more chances. Do I pay the extra money and move up to our building (where I can't even be sure security will be any better) or tough it out in the ghetto deck? It's been 2.5 years without an incident.

I'm on edge...and it sucks. That scooter down there is looking pretty appealing.

A yellow one!

Lookie what was sitting in the parking lot outside our house this morning:

Sweet. I almost ran out there, hopped on it and rode off..just out of habit.

Rockin' with Shania

Before I go any further, I want to clarify that I am in no way turning into Chris Rhines by posting a photo of Shania Twain on my site today. But, I do have to admit that I am totally hooked on her latest album, Up!

If you haven't heard about it, she did something that I've never seen another artist do: she released a 2-CD album with two versions of each of the 19 songs. The first CD in the set has the 19 songs in a rock/pop format and the second CD has the same songs in a country format. What a cool idea. I think this symbolizes the general movement in the music industry. Some country is starting to sound more like rock/pop; some rock/pop is starting to sound more country. The previously-drawn line between country and rock/pop is definitely blurring and her album proves it.

One of the coolest things about "Up!" is that it's produced by Mutt Lange, who (some of you may know) has produced a few of the best Def Leppard albums. In fact, MOST of the songs have a VERY distinct Def Leppard-ish sound. Imagine what it would sound like if Shania recorded songs from "Hysteria". That's kinda what it sounds like. Very cool.

Here's a link to the Amazon.com listing for the page. Go listen to some of the tracks. It's probably the best CD I've heard in recent memory.

I've also been playing a lot of NASCAR Thunder 2003. I'm not in my second season of my career after a HORRIBLE first season where I finished something like 38th in points. I only had a couple of top ten finishes: Talledega and Michigan. Jeez, listen to me. I'm talking like this is a real thing or something. It's so much fun, even though my crew hates me for beating the crap out of my car EVERY RACE. Oops.

Guess I'd better get some work done. I started down the long road of my latest project here at work this week: I started writing a big document that I'm calling "MacOS X Survival Guide". It's a self-help guide to OSX so that when our users make the migration, they're not totally confused. Now, whether they'll read it or not is another story. I hope this is not done in vain. If nothing else I'll distribute it somewhere on the Internet so someone can actually get some use out of it.

Also, here's a photo of my graphics card art that I did over the weekend. Oh, and by the way, I found an old PowerBook 520c here at work that will never be used again. Looks like that will be my next project...

Have an "Up!" day!

Artsy Weekend

I had an...artsy weekend. It was filled with projects that we've been planning for a while.

Saturday, we went to Lowe's to purchase the final components for my silcone art project. No, I'm not making mammogram mural or anything sick like that. I'm taking a bunch of old video cards and mounting them in an abstract fashion to make..art! We spent a few hours Saturday night and then a few more hours on Sunday to get our final product. I think it turned out pretty cool. I'll post some photos of it tomorrow.

The other big project this weekend was painting our downstairs bathroom. We picked up two tones of this really cool olive-brown-khaki paint Saturday and did the work Sunday. Olivia's idea turned out really cool. Photos of that to come in the next day or two.

Other than that, I played lots of NASCAR Thunder 2003 and finally scored a top 10 finish at Michigan (YAY me!).

And now, it's Monday. Bleh. Work. We spent this morning cleaning up the back room, which was a sluggish start to the day. Hopefully things will pick up a little.

By the way, the Joy of Tech comic is really good today.

Snowy Late Friday

As promised, our friends aat the Salvation Army picked up our junk yesterday sometime. It was nice to come home to an empty porch and foyer. It's a good thing they picked the stuff up yesterday, too, because the snow started shortly after dark and continued until past midnight.

We woke up this morning to find a good 3 inches of snow with a hard, ice shell on top. Olivia was lucky enough to be relieved of her work duties today, while I went to work 2 hours late. Getting the extra sleep was awesome. Why can't I go to work 2 hours late everyday?

We learned this morning (and Adweek.com confirms) that we didn't make it to into the next round for the Capitol One advertising business. What a disappointment. It's a $170 million account, which would have been great for us.

Just like the hroundhog indicated, it looks like (at least) six more weeks of dry times at Martin. Dry and scratchy, even. Kinda like after going in the ocean and getting sand in your shorts, then walking a few miles down the beach. Yeh, like that.

Oh, by the way, ORANGE ALERT! Run for your lives.

No Salvation

Driving over to a house and oicking up some furniture isn't rocket science, is it? Well, maybe not for mere mortals like you and I. But maybe it is for the Salvation Army. Today marks a milestone in this endeavor: This is the 4th day we've scheduled to have them pick up our stuff. We'll hope that my front porch is empty when I get home.

Just for fun, I'll fill you all in on the previous 3 "Salvation Days". A few weeks ago, we callled them and (after waiting on hold for a good 45 minutes) told them that we needed them to come out with their truck and pick up some furniture that we didn't need. The guy checked his calendar and then said, "OK, we can have a truck come by on January 8th. Cool. Before hanging up the phone, I give the dispatch man detailed directions how to get to our house, despite his confident "Oh, our guys will be able to find it!" ("Are you sure? It's a new neighborhood and we're not on any maps yet.")

January 8, 2003
On the morning of January 8th, Olivia and I synchronized our morning preparations so that we'd be leaving the house at the same time. One by one, we dragged the old bedroom furniture out on the front stoop. A quick visual check as I drove away from the house confirmed the ghetto-ness of what we were doing. It looked horrible having a big pile of stuff on our porch.

We arrived home that night to find *OH!* all the furniture still sitting on the front porch. Grr. So, we dragged it all back inside. Since it was after 4pm (when their dispatch office closes), I couldn't call and find out what happened. I would plan to do that tomorrow.

January 9, 2003
I didn't have time to call about the pick-up because work was pretty busy. However, upon arriving home, we found a strange note on the door. We're sorry, we attempted to pick up your junk, but you weren't home. Sincerely, The Salvation Army

I guess they told me the wrong date.

January 31, 2003
A month has passed and we're both getting tired of seeing a box spring in our living room. I call the Dispatch office and schedule to have the items picked up on February 4th.

February 4, 2003 7:30AM
The phone rings. It's the dispatch man. "Hey, we need directions to your house..we can't find your house on the map." Duh. I already gave your the directions once. So, I gave the guy the directions again. I hang up the phone and the sky opens up and begins pouring down rain.

February 4, 2003 8:15AM
I call dispatch back and tell them to not bother coming out to pick up our items today because of the rain. Since we don't have a roof on our front stoop, I didn't want the furniture to get ruined in the monsoon. The dispatch man gladly reschedules us for the next day, Wednesday February 5th. Excellent. I don't bother giving him the directions a third time.

February 5, 2003
We arrive home to find a front porch full of our furniture. The answering machine tells the tale: "Uhh, yeh. This is Salvation Army pick-up service. We're out here driving around looking for your house and we can't find it." We leave the now-dew-covered furniture out on the porch overnight.

February 6, 2003 7:45AM
I place a call to the Salvation Army dispatch office. The dispatch man is very apologetic and radios the truck driver while I am on the line.

(CB Radio)
"Dispatch to truck 5."

"This is truck 5, go ahead."

"Are you still on the premesis?"

"Yes"

"Would you please come in here so we can settle something?"

A few seconds later, I hear a door open on the other end of the phone and a conversation between two men. A few seconds later, the dispatch guy comes back on the phone. "Yeh, they were able to find your location late yesterday after they left you a message. I'll have them come by today to pick it up. We're really sorry about this."

I am, too. I'm not sure if this is worth the effort. If the stuff is still on the porch when I get home, I know it's not meant to be.

25 years later...

This weekend was a whirlwind. I'm not quite sure where it went. First it was here, and then it was gone. Did anybody see which way it went?

Saturday was a pretty productive day. In preparation for Sunday's Fam' visit, we did a thorough house-cleaning, went to Ukrop's and got groceries, and (of course) played some Vice City. Ok, maybe a little more than "some" Vice City. Ok, maybe alot.

I woke up Sunday morning to find that our Dining room had been decorated for my birthday with streamers and stuff. Very nice touch! Mom, Dad and Jennifer arrived around 3pm and we sat around talking about Hawaii plans and opening gifts. Thanks to everyone for all of the great birthday presents! We then proceeded to Outback for a wonderful stomach-exploding dinner. Have I mentioned that I love Outback?

After that, we came back to our house and I did a little Vice City demo for them. I don't think they realized how violent and graphic that game is. I think if I were much younger, they'd probably worry about me playing it. I know if I had kids I'd be uneasy about them playing it. It's all about making that distinction between games and reality. Big difference there.

After Mom and Dad left, Jennifer, Olivia and I watched Signs. Excellent movie, although not quite as scary as in the theater. I've decided that M. Night Shyamalan is one of those great John Woo-type directors. When a new John Woo movie comes out, you can pretty well bet the farm that it's going to be a great movie. I'm anxious to see what his next movie is.

And now it's Monday and I'm back at work. I've got a busy week with an XMUG meeting, a house call, and a website to put a new design and new content on. Bring it on.