Yume no Naka

I had a dream and in that dream, I dreamt that I was on a smoke and dust filled battlefield, I could barely see if there was any of my comrades still alive. As I looked about I then saw in the distance several dark apparitions, marching through the fog of war as if searching for those warriors who had fallen bravely in battle that deserved their place in heaven.

つづく ( To be continued... )

The Ultimate Clock Radio!

Just received my new clock radio from Creative Labs yesterday and got it unpacked and setup last night. I really like the sound quality but the LED status lights are a little bright to try and fall asleep. I ended up cutting up the protective plastic and painting it black then put it on top of the area where the LED's are. Good 'nuff. Dark enough to fall asleep by, with the radio, falling asleep in stereo is a good thing.

The SoundWorks Radio 730 has Radio Data Service, Alarm Clock as well as a built in Sub-woofer. I looked at the SoundWorks Radio 830HD, but couldn't justify spending over $300 for something like that (yeah, I know... I did spend over $200 for the 730...), just for a couple of stations in HD, I just couldn't do it. If I do, it'll be a regular HD bookshelf stereo system. I'm sure by that time, they'll be more stations broadcasting in HD.

My next major upgrade is looking like my TV, but I still have time before they discontinue broadcasting in Analog, hopefully by the time I do get a new TV, the prices will be a lot lower than they are now.

つづく ( To be continued... )

Creative Labs, Electrical Devices, T.C.

In my last entry, I wrote about Creative Labs, then someone named T.C. commented that I'm unhappy with any electrical device I've owned, but that is not the case. I've been very happy with all of my electrical devices, I'll even research the hell out of it before making a purchase to make sure it will fit my needs, have the features I want and support my budget. All of the Creative Labs products I've owned and currently own, I've been very happy with. However when making purchases directly from Creative Labs, their sales support is truly terrible. Any other company, the response would be quick, usually within an hour. Not Creative, it takes them 1 whole day which is unacceptable, especially when dealing with shipping.

It wasn't just this recent issue, there have been at least 2 previous issues with notification and shipping. I recently sent my Vision: W in for repairs. No status updates or notification that it had been shipped back to me or what was repaired. Just silence for over a week then it shows up on my doorstep, literally, just placed there by the shipper. What if I had been away for a week or two? I wouldn't have known my device was shipped back to me, someone could've walked off with it...

In January of 2005, I had ordered a set of earphones directly from them, which showed it was in stock. After checking back the next day, my order showed that the earphones were out of stock and still got charged for the purchase. After having to call them a couple of days later to find out why, somehow they were able to find a set and send them. In 2002, I had order a power adapter for a Nomad mp3 player and was sent a carrying case for a different mp3 player.

I have owned, in the past, a SoundBlaster 16, SoundBlaster 32, SoundBlaster 64, a SoundBlaster Audigy, the Audigy 2, the Cambridge SoundWorks DTT 2500 5.1 Speakers, a Creative MuVo Tx, a Creative Nomad, the Zen Micro, Zen Travel Dock and Sub-Woofer and recently the Zen Vision: W 60 gig and the Zen Stone. For the office I have a set of 2.1 speakers, the SBS 380 and soon the Cambridge SoundWorks Radio 730. I would have gotten the 735 but it only supports the iPod, if it supported the Vision: W, I would've gotten that.

A year ago, I was having issues with the headphone jack on the Zen Micro, I had sent it in once before while it was under warranty and got it back repaired. Then, several months ago, I was having the same issue with the headphone jack, it was out of warranty, I knew that, I would've been willing to pay them to repair the headset jack cause I was going to give it away to a friend, it works fine, just when you use a headphone, only one side will work at random. Did creative response? NO, nada, nothing, so screw that, I fixed it myself, I didn't want to, but I did it so that I could give it to a friend.

So, when I buy electrical devices, I usually name brands, this way, I know the quality of the device is what I'm also paying for. My expectations are higher because of that. If I buy a 2nd rate name brand, I don't expect much of it, I get what I pay for. I've expected Creative Labs to have higher standards of quality, higher standards of service and willing to please the customer so that they'll be loyal customers and willing to promote Creative Labs through word of Mouth.

Creative Labs should advertise themselves more to the American public for product recognition, most people, you ask about mp3 players, they'll say an 'iPod", when you mention Creative Labs, they'll say "Huh?, what's/who's that?" Stores here do more to promote the Apple product than they do for Creative Labs, if they do carry them at all. They need to stop thinking like their the only thing in town, listen to their customers more and think like their in second place all the time cause right now, it seems like their in 5th place.

To T.C., it may seem like I'm never happy about the electrical devices I have, but is in fact, never satisfied with the ones that I purchased, mostly because by the time I can get the latest gadget, there is something new coming or already out. At the time, I may have underestimated my personal requirements. Another reason may have been because at the time, the device that I've complained about may have done exactly what I wanted but a new version of the device may have been released that may have improved features, like for example, my digital camera.

At the time, it was very good for what I was doing, but even with research, as I used it more, I found the performance didn't perform as I needed it to.

つづく ( To be continued... )

Anything Gummy, Creative Labs and the Constructions almost done...

My name is Tekbandit (hi, tekbandit) and I'm a gummy-holic.

Once I get my hands on a bag of gummies, doesn't matter what kind of gummies, I'll eat them non-stop till it's gone, usually in about 3-4 hours. With Halloween coming up, the bags of gummies are huge, which makes for a lot of gummies to consume.

Ok, so now I've ordered my radio directly from Creative Labs... on Friday morning so that it would make the shipment that afternoon. Most, if not all companies, even the smaller companies, if you place an order before 12 (depending on which time zone), your order makes it for the afternoon pickup. Not Creative, it takes approximately 24 hours for your credit card to be confirmed. I order from newegg and my card gets charged within a minute of clicking on submit.

Now the weekend passes and it's Monday. I check with Creative Labs to see if my order shipped. I check almost every hour and still hasn't shipped. I emailed their sales support at least 3 times asking about my order. With Newegg, I get a response within the half hour of emailing them.

Now, I'm a really big fan of Creative Lab products, but after this lack of response and support, I'm looking at different products for sound and audio devices/cards. It was after 11 CDT that I had seen it was shipped at 9 PM PDT and I still didn't get a response from their sales support. The next day, after I already knew it was shipped, I get an email that it was shipped... WTF!!!!

Well, my purchase is on it's way, this is the 2nd or 3rd time this has happened. Creative Labs has the potential for being a great company but with the service the way it is, their really putting themselves out of business.

The ceiling in my room is finally up, all that it needs now is to mud and paint. One other thing is that he's planning on covering the load bearing beam with sheet rock, instead of screws, he's planing on using liquid nails (basically glue it up). The main thing is that it's now warmer, quieter and a little more brighter.

つづく ( To be continued... )

Under Construction...

Well, my room/apartment/house (part of it) is under construction. My friend who owns the house is putting up the ceiling. It started out funny cause we started the day at Menards, picking up supplies for putting in the ceiling. I wanted the ceiling to be sound proof (or at least dampened) so he ended up picking up some sound damping insulation. After we get back and drop off the supplies, he took off to pick up the dry wall jack to hold it up while he secures it to the ceiling...

Just as we start, I asked, "what about the lights and the cooling/heating ducts?" cause he only was supposed to have it for about 4 hours. He then realized... "Damn, I completely forgot" so he ended up calling the rental place back and putting in for a 24 hour rental. We started at about 11 and as of right now, we've got 2 panels up and still got about 20 percent more insulation to put up. At about 6, he realized that the ceiling duct was not the right one, so we ended up going back again to Menards and picked up the right one... at that point, I was just too tired to laugh, so we'll pick it up again at 7 the next day...

Since he had to turn off the electricity to take down the lights, only the electrical outlets work at this time so at least I have my computer and a lamp... I should take some pictures... it's funny in a tired sort of way...

つづく ( To be continued... )

In addition....

Showing the softer side of me...

From icanhascheezburger.com



and from cuteoverload.com



Just had to share these with everyone...

つづく ( To be continued... )

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy!!!!

I'm happy when I'm upgrading my computer... I have 2 DVD burners in today. One is a Lightscribe DVD burner and the other is a Super Multi DVD Burner. Both have black bezels so it'll match the case. In a way, I'll be sad to see my NEC DVD burner go, it's been really good to me and hopefully the new ones will be able to give me the same, if not better performance than the NEC.

With October in full swing, so has the Office candy project. So far, these past 2 years, I've brought in Halloween candy for everyone to take for the whole month of October. I found that having candy is better than trying to stuff turkey into a container, also it lasts longer.

Next week, I'm planning on getting a new clock/radio. Theres this one from Creative Labs, produced by Cambridge Soundsworks. It's called the Soundworks Radio 730. Cambridge Soundworks has a newer model, the Soundworks Radio 735I, but it's geared towards the iPod owners. What really got me interested in the 730 (and the other models have the same feature) is the RDS feature. RDS displays the station ID, song and artist that is currently playing. The other feature I like about it is that it has a sub-woofer built into it.

Another Item I want to get is a Dymo Rhino labeler. I was looking at getting the Rhino 6000 Hardcase kit which includes the data cable and software with a nice case to carry it in. It's made for labeling router racks and other areas for computer networking and also has a shrink wrap tubing cartridge for making labels out of shrink wrap tubing. Although I just may settle for the Rhino 6000 without the hardcase kit and just get the data cable and software separate. Although they have a price listed on their site, I'm sure I can find an online retailer that would have it for less than if I were to purchase it directly from Dymo.

For some reason, I feel like the Tim Taylor of the computer world... it's computing power and computer tools... .

つづく ( To be continued... )

Finally got the pictures up of the new computer case

I've finally got everything tweaked and setup. I'm taking a break for now, but I'll eventually start cleaning up the cables in the case. Just to make it easier to get inside and not have to fight the clutter of all those cables. I'm also planning on upgrading the speakers again. I want to go from a 5.1 to a 7.1 surround speaker system. Also looking to upgrade the DVD writer drives. Currently I have 2 beige drives, ones a writer, the other one is just a reader. I was thinking of getting both writers, one of the drives I've been looking at is a lightscribe drive and the other is a Super Multi drive.

To see what the new case looks like, click here.

つづく ( To be continued... )

IT'S ALIVE, ALIVE!!!!!

Eventually I'll have pictures, but I've gotten a new Full tower case with a new sound card. The parts arrived this past Wednesday and with this cold I'm trying to get rid of, the transplant was slow but deliberate. I took my time moving things over from the old case and now it's just a matter of making things look a lot nicer and hook up and re-adjust some of the cables... basically tweaking things.

Once that's done, it's clean up the workspace... with all the shipping boxes and tools, my living area looks like a Mad Scientist's laboratory.... MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... *ahem* I digress slightly... I think I have my Halloween costume...


つづく ( To be continued... )

Home is not always where your hat lies...

I dreamed that I was back home. Not as in where I'm living now, but back to the place where I was born, my hometown, my birthplace. I was pretty happy that I was back home, but then after of visiting a couple of places, things started to change and what was a pleasant dream, started to turn into a nightmare.

For some reason these past couple of weeks I've been having nightmares. I don't remember the details of most of them. I remember the most recent one, but it fades from my memory.

つづく ( To be continued... )

Welcome to the Computer Upgrade club...

First rule of the computer upgrade club: Make sure your fully awake.

Second rule of the computer upgrade club: Make sure you have lots of time.

Third rule of the computer upgrade club: Make sure your fully awake.

I upgraded my computer... "Again" and this time, added more memory for a total of 2 gig from 1 gig. Added 2 more hard drives, this time Hitachi Deskstar SATA drives, one 250 and the other 320 gigs and also upgraded the power supply from a 450 watt power supply to a Hiper 730 watt power supply.

After opening up the case, I realized that I don't have enough space for the additional hard drives, so for now, in keeping with the geek tradition of computer upgrades, the side and top are off of the case, the hard drives are just sitting in the case... I'm currently looking at 2 different cases to upgrade to, one being the Cooler Master Cosmos 1000 (RC-1000) or the Gigabyte 3D Aurora, both are still full towers like my current one. I'm kind of leaning towards the Cooler Master PC Case.

Once I got everything installed, I installed Ghost 12.0 that I had also purchased for this upgrade so that my Operating system settings and configurations would remain the same. I was able to image the new drive but had some difficulties with the drive order. It took me about 2 days to resolve that and it's a good thing that Ghost 12.0 had created a backup cause I ended up having to restore that backup in order to get Windows up and running again.

At this time, everything is set the way I wanted it to.

Update: I got my Zen Vision: W back some time ago, instead of repairing the LCD (as they claimed it was the cause of the issue) they sent me a new one as a replacement. No complaints there. There are little things that appears to have changed as far as the hardware revisions, cause there are certain videos that I used to play that can't anymore and it seems that after re-converting the videos, no matter which format I have them as, the video is out of synch with the audio.

つづく ( To be continued... )

My Zen Vision: W is sick...

Little over a week ago, my Zen Vision: W stopped working. I didn't hear the internal hard drive spin up, at times will trying to get to the recovery mode screen, it would just do nothing and the screen will eventually just fill with lines till it was all one color. After a while, it would just show Hardware Problem. That was it.

I emailed Creative Labs tech support and after a couple of replies, they said to send it in and gave me a link to setup a RMA. However it was going to cost twenty five dollars, I would pay for shipping on top of that to them. I finally got to send it out today and it ended up costing almost twenty dollars with the packaging and mailing cost. While they were replying, they kept trying to sell me stuff, What the Hell kind of tech support is that? Is Creative that hard up for sales? If that's the case, then maybe they should provide better support, quality products and aggressively advertise their products to make people aware.

Look at Apple, they aggressively advertise every new product that they put out, why can't Creative Labs? There are a lot of people that don't know that they make certain products. Some people think that they only make sound cards. Also if Creative listened to what the consumers suggest to improve their products, I believe they could dominate the field, as it is, a lot of people are switching to other products.

This past weekend, I think Samantha was mad at me for something. I went out for a while to pick up a couple of things and got back and found my bamboo plant knocked off the desk from the top of the hutch. I got it cleaned up and moved to a cup till I could get a new container for it. I found a really nice one from Bachman's and some gravel for the pot.

つづく ( To be continued... )

If never fails to amaze me...

A big barricade blocking the sidewalk with the sign "Sidewalk Closed" at the corner of the sidewalk and about 50 to 75 feet further, another barricade with another sign, "Sidewalk Closed" with a chain link fence blocking the sidewalk out to the street, leaving enough room width for a vehicle.

Typical people, seeing only what they want to see or selective ignorance keep walking on the sidewalk, then going around the fence and walk on the road just to get to the next corner, interfering with vehicle traffic, vehicles having to move over to the next lane to avoid driving close or running over them. Even if they move the fence further out, people still insist on walking around the closed sidewalk.

Also people crossing in the middle of the street with a crosswalk only 20 to 15 feet away... How stupid can these people be? I say, run them over, if they try to sue, they have no grounds for a law suite. If they need a witness, I would do it.

つづく ( To be continued... )

Evac complete, move to forward firebase in progress

As I mentioned before, I hate moving, it's like being in the military and having to bug out of a base. The part that I really hate about it is that, you can plan on how long it's going to take, but it never goes according to your time table. What was planned as a 4 hour move took approximately 20 hours to complete.

I started the move at about 2 in the afternoon yesterday and was still moving at 4 this morning. It didn't help that the humidity was so high or that the prespitation was just streaming down my face. Even with help it was a difficult move, however my friend had to leave just after midnight cause he had to get up for work the that morning at about 4, so from that point on, I was moving all by myself.

At the same time, I was cleaning the apartment so that I could get most of my deposit back, but after a certain time, I wasn't giving a damn. I cleaned most of the major areas, but the little things, I'll be paying for. I also gave up a small octogon dining table with 4 chairs and 2 lamps cause I didn't want to take anything more with me.

Right now, my lower back and arms are in a bit of pain from all the carrying stuff.

I am happy though, I'm finally out of that place and living in a way better place, quiet, clean and just better. Samantha wasn't too happy during her move, although now she seems to be a lot happier cause of all the Windows she gets to choose from to sit and watch the world outside.

つづく ( To be continued... )

I hate moving

Moving can be so stressful. Gotta figure out what needs to be packed up first, how to pack it, is there enough boxes to pack...

Just when you think your close to having everything packed, it turns out there is still more stuff left, also you tend to find a lot of stuff that you've collected over the years at one place that should have been thrown away...

I'm just hoping that I can get everything moved in time, I don't want to be in this place any longer than I had expected to leave.

つづく ( To be continued... )

A self created quote

A man who gives away knowledge freely is a fool that is quickly forgotten.

Ideas should be kept like a well guarded secret and never given away for there are those who
are unscrupulous enough to make it their own.

It is sad to know that when I go, only I will know what knowledge I had and that no other will person will be imparted with that knowledge.

The need of the one in these times always out weigh the need of the many.

つづく ( To be continued... )

and My American accent (dialict) is...

What American accent do you have? (Best version so far) Midland ("Midland" is not necessarily the same thing as "Midwest") The default, lowest-common-denominator American accent that newscasters try to imitate. Since it's a neutral accent, just because you have a Midland accent doesn't mean you're from the Midland.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

つづく ( To be continued... )

A most interesting weekend...

It started off when I got off of work on Friday. I walked over to Orchestra Hall Plaza to see what kind of music was playing in their summer concert series called Alive after 5. The group there was playing bluegrass music, not really the kind of music I listen to but I don't hate it.

I bought a cup of beer and some butterfly shrimp and enjoy the atmosphere. I had a good buzz going and walked to the bus depot to catch my bus home. The last stop before leaving downtown a couple gets on the bus, he looks like a geek, she looks like a party girl and I notice that she has a similar bus pass that I use which is sponsored by my employer (I pay about 30 a month for an unlimited bus pass that also gets me on the train). At first glance, it looks as shes really in love with him and so I end up falling asleep for most of the trip.

Well I wake up at one point and noticed that the guy she boarded the bus with is nowhere to be seen (apparently he moved to a seat across from here and blocked by another rider) and it seems that a lot of people had moved away from her. It turns out while I was sleeping, she threw up on the bus and the second time she threw up, someone provided her with a plastic bag. At one point she loudly states "at least now I can hold my head up... Heyyyy..."

I guess the guy at first thought he was going to get lucky but after that, it looked as if he didn't want to have anything to do with her. After getting off the bus at her stop, the both of them, he went in one direction to his vehicle and she seemed to be lost but walking in the general direction of her vehicle. The guy was already in his vehicle and driving off... she was still slowly walking towards hers, carrying that bag... I felt sorry for her.

The driver eventually stopped off at a quicky mart store with the assistance of another rider and picked up a gallon of water and some paper towels, emptying the jug in order to get that stuff out of the bus and mopping up the rest with the paper towels.

Saturday I ended up sleeping the whole day away and on Sunday, ended up driving to the Northtown mall to catch the bus to go into work so that I could submit my time card that I forgot to do on Friday.

Once I got that done, I decided to walk around downtown and ended up spending some time in Gameworks and checked out a couple of games there. One game I really got a kick out of was a thing called Cycraft that had Initial D installed on it. I got my butt kicked on House of the Dead 4, did pretty well at Outrun 3, had fun with Ghost squad and did pretty badly at Need for Speed, there was also After burner ground strike and and other After burner game which I can't remember the name.

After spending an hour or more there, I walked to St. Anthony and was hoping to get to take pictures from a spot that would've been perfect, but was closed. I did get some other shots that were pretty good.

If you should get a chance, try the Strawberry lemon aid frappacino from Starbucks. It's really great for warm weather consumption and also the Frosty float from Wendy's.

つづく ( To be continued... )

Have you ever...

Have you ever woke either laughing or crying after a dream? Well, last night (or should I say early this morning), I woke up laughing because of a dream I had. I dreamed that I was trying to clean a bathtub and it was either backed up or someone had fouled up the tub and I was trying to clean it up. Someone that I knew was there and they were using the tub to brush their teeth.

I told them not to do it because it was fouled up but they said it was ok cause the toothpaste they were using would protect them. So while I was trying to clean the tub, Samantha was walking along the edge of the tub while a Siamese cat was trying to threaten me by showing it's claws, it's ears laying down.

The thing that made me laugh was the way the Siamese cat looked, when I woke up, I was laughing... Then about 5 minutes after that, my alarm went off, but I was already awake. Samantha was sleeping on the bean bag and just looked up at me like I was crazy.

So then, that was the way my day started off...

Last night I was looking for the song playing in the teaser for McNamara/Troy: Hollywood, after about an hour, I found out who the artist was, Giant Drag, playing a cover of Chris Issack's Wicked Game. I was also trying to find the song playing at the end of the Season finale of Battlestar Galactica, but right now the only version that is available was recorded directly from the TV.

So I'll keep looking...

つづく ( To be continued... )

Jury Duty

Jury duty here is really, really stupid. In Hawaii, you get notified and you show up, from there they determine if you serve or not, here, for 2 weeks, you have to call in every day. Why can't they just have a date set that you go in, they interview you and if they need you, you serve your jury duty or if they don't, then that's it.

One thing I am glad about... I'll be moving out of my apartment and into a better place. I can't take it anymore with all the dumb things going on. People just not caring about other people or the place they are living in. No respect at all. There are people there that are trashing the area, selling drugs, not taking responsibility for their guests.

つづく ( To be continued... )