joshuagriffis.com

So I picked a new Asus laptop about two weeks ago that seemed pretty cool. Until I realized it had a rather interesting problem. If you left laptop shutdown for about an hour or longer, when you went to try to turn it back you would get no video signal. Everything would be functioning, just no video on the monitor (although the LCD was obviously powered on because the back light was glowing). No big deal right, just get a hold of the manufacturer and fix the BIOS or get the system board replaced, right?Well that’s the funny thing about Asus’s tech support. In two words, they suck. Its been over a week and the bitches still haven’t responded to my email. There phone tech support left me in limbo for hours before I gave up.So I woke up this morning and said, fuck it. I grabbed my portable hard drive and laptop and headed off to work. I set the laptop and hard drive up in an open spot on my desk, and then backed up all the info I would want off the laptop.When I got home, I grabbed the box an receipt for the Asus brick, and headed back to Best Buy. Now I thought for sure I was going to have a fight, but when I opened the laptop and was able to duplicate the problem for their geek squad guy, I was offered an exchange with no restock fee. The only problem was there selection of latops with a dedicated video card left me with a choice between Sony, Toshiba, and Acer. I’ve never really heard much about Acer laptops (although there LCD monitors are ok), but I knew damn well I didn’t want anything to do with the other two brands. I made a joke with the sales guy telling him if my credit limit on my Best Buy card was about $200 higher, I’d just buy the MacBook Pro. He told that I could always inquire at customer service, the worst they could do was say no.I figured, well I’ve already had lovely luck over this replacement laptop, why not try it. 5 minutes later, The customer service associate informed me that they had upped my credit limit $1000. 10 minutes after that, I was walking out of the store with my new toy. Now being a Mac virgin, I was a little nervous about powering on the new system. I opened the box to find one of the most exquisitely packaged pieces of hardware I have ever seen. I opened up the little box that housed the instructions and software to find an extra bonus, a free upgrade to Leopard (top that Bill Gates)! I’m currently surfing the web while WoW installs on my toy.There will have to be a few compromises,. I won’t be able to play Team Fortress 2 for a little while, because Steam is windows only. There are a couple of pieces of software that will probably not work and I will have to find substitutes for them (if I really need them at all). I will never do any real hardcore PC gaming on this rig, but that’s not what I got it for. This is my e-mail/browsing/travel WoW gaming rig, and for that it fits the bill nicely.Being a long time windows user, I’d never thought I’d say these words, “My Mac just works.”Now on to WoW!

From left to right: Me, Matt, Shantel, Grandpa, Dad, Mom, Aunt Cindi, and Uncle Greg.

The thanksgiving holiday was fun a very relaxing. I spent time with family, and gorged myself silly. I also got in a lot of over due WoW play time. W007!

After I got back on Sunday, I hit the movies with Mraz, Katy, and John. We went to see Disney’s “Enchanted”, a reverse 10th Kingdom. Funny how all of these stories seem to take place in New York. Anyway the movie was kind of cute. It definitely did a good job of making me want to vomit in the first 15 minutes, but after that a reality based romantic comedy set in. I highly recommend seeing it at least once.

After the movie we ended up at Stake N Shake witnessing a manager and waitress trading good natured witty jabs for our amusement. All in all a good time.

Well back to work, let me hide the joy.

O-H!

Sorry I get excited when the Buckeyes beat Michigan.

So, I’ve been a bit busy lately. Needless to say, I haven’t had time to blog about it. A lot of cool things are happening for me now.

The client I was working for offered me a ridiculous amount of money to come work for them. I start officially December 3rd.

My Grandma and the girls have an annual ritual to go to Jeffersonville and shop. This year I tagged along (originally it was only supposed to be for lunch, but I ended up staying the whole time because I needed some new clothes). I ended up getting some really good deals on new clothes and gym shoes.

I have made several trips to a new favorite hang out called Momo’s. Every trip I have taken there has been a blast.

Ray is moving Cuts Off High, to a larger location down the street. He has a new business partner, and is going to be doing booth rentals. Congrats to him.

Wayne and Brie came up to go to a munch with Fightclub TNG. The group seemed really nice, so I think we are all going to look at becoming members. Wayne also helped me with a home improvement project. He is definitely the master handy man.

I got a new gaming laptop that roxorz! It is made by ASUS. Frame rates in my games went up about 6 fold.

All and all things are going great.

Added new rules 47-61.