Zen of Tofu

This morning is a sad morning. I tried waking my MacBook from its deep sleep, only to be presented with the beachball of death. Seeing that I could do nothing else, I turned off my MacBook like I always do when there is a freeze (very rare). When I took the MacBook to school with me and tried to turn it on, after a few tries to access the hard drive, I got the even more evil flashing question mark! Noo!

From what I have read, this is due to either a dead hard drive, a corrupt system file, or a missing boot file. Either way, that beach ball of death was responsible and now I have to wait until I get home to see whether I can recover my system, recover my files, or if I’ll need a new hard drive. So sad.

On the bright side of things, my whole system was backed up thanks to Time Machine, so whether I can recover my system or not, everything will be back to normal and all my files will still be there waiting for me. All 70Gb of files.

Wish me luck!
- Slightly Scared

written by tofu \\ tags: Mac, Tech

Do all the people in tech support believe that every customer is totally clueless? Do all the people in tech support read off of cue cards when walking through procedures? Do all the people in tech support ever listen to what a customer has to say and respond accordingly? Are people in tech support really people?

Recently I have been having continuous problems with my ISP, which I will not name, and I’ve had to call in for tech support at least three times a week for the past three weeks approximately, to have things resolved. It all started when they decided to remove my line card for my DSL service. It took me a week of constantly getting on their backs about the problem, before I got the little green DSL light to shine bright again. Then I found out that their computers were not accepting a connection from my DSL modem. Lucky me. After getting back on the phone again they said it would take two days before the problem would be resolved. After many headaches and phone calls I finally got a connection — but there was a catch — I was getting a mere 128KBps when I was paying for 5MBps. Huge difference in speeds. (After a lot of complaining I got upgraded from 3MBps to 5MBps at no extra cost, my monthly payments were reduced, and I got two free routers!) By then I was already at two weeks with either no connection or sub-par connection speeds. Again I got on the phone to try and get the problem rectified. This time I found out that the line card they re-installed could only accommodate 128KBps and no higher, so it would take another 48 hours for them to replace the card with one that can handle 5MBps. And then tonight I had to call them again because even though they upgraded my card and I could connect to the Internet, it was STILL at sub-par speeds. Pathetic! So tonight I called again and got possibly the worst tech support representative of all time.

With a heavy accent I have grown accustomed to understanding, she walked me through the client-side procedures that I have done at least four times in the past two weeks. I even asked her right off the bat if she could send me to a tech level two technician, who would understand my problem right away in all likelihood, but she insisted on going through the procedures before escalating my case. So I was patient and went through the usual painstaking steps knowing they would prove nothing. (Talk about a leakage in the economy — waste of time!) After all that she puts me on hold and escalates my case as I was clearly showing signs of losing patience and annoyance. She put me on hold for twenty whole minutes! (Probably because she was annoyed at me too. At least it was mutual.) After she gets back she says the profile of my line is sub-par and will be urgently upgraded in 24 hours. Hallelujah! The entire time I wasted was not in vain! But I can’t celebrate too much yet, as the problem and 24 hours has not passed as yet. I expect it to be done as soon as possible, or else they should expect another call from me, and this time I know how to play their game.

Now tech support is usually supposed to be friendly, helpful, and empathetic, but it turns out more often than not that the level one tech support reps of my ISP are just pathetic! The lady I got tonight had to be new at it, or else there is just no other excuse. When walking through procedures she was clearly reading off her sheet and not even contemplating what she was saying. She expected my PC to reboot in less than 5 seconds and for me to click as fast as she spoke. My blackBook can’t even reboot that fast! And she would read the procedures as if she was reading the news — brisk and brief enough to be unable to keep up. Luckily I had done all the steps a week ago so I knew where to go and what to do. What was even worse was when I tried to get her to understand the problem I have been dealing with the entire three weeks and she would simply stay silent for a few secs, say “hello” to make sure I’m still on the line, and then begin again with “What you need to do next is…” and totally disregard my statement! Not only is it ignorant, but very irritating! It’s like talking to a robot! If that’s how the level one tech support reps are trained, then they might as well hire chimps! Act, rinse, repeat. Not only was she the most annoying rep I have received to date, I almost wanted to file a complaint, and I’ve never felt like doing that before! Maybe I’m being a little idealistic, but there should be more rigorous training sessions in place to have these non-technical reps learn what they recite!

From getting a rep that sounded like a squeaky mouse, to a totally incompetent rep, I am officially tired of dealing with tech support reps. And that ends my rant about the nightmares I’ve had with tech support. Not one fond memory has come of this — only tests to my tolerance and painstaking patience.

written by tofu

My tough week came to a close today around noon time with the acing of a Japanese auditory quiz. My colleagues and I studied hard and abolished all doubts of the soundings and meanings of those kanji characters. We even quizzed each other until we started making up new words that could potentially use kanji in their written forms. We had some good laughs, and it felt a lot like high school since we have class together four times a week in a very small classroom environment. Not only does it promote learning, but it allows us to get to know all the students in the class better than just going to lectures with them. Participation is the key, and where the marks reside.

I think I posted a strong three for four record on this weeks midterms/quizzes. Tuesday was all about computational theory with Santa Claus, (the prof. really does look like Santa) and I got to taste for the first time, the realization that thinking you know your subject is a fatal flaw; whereas thinking you know absolutely nothing about your subject leads to success (or what seems like success at first). Wednesday I learnt my lesson. I went into my logic midterm thinking I knew what I was doing, and instead I learnt how little I really do know. A rude awakening that came too late, and will haunt my mark in that course at least until the next test. Thursday brought another big midterm (Software Tools) my way and this time I learnt my lesson completely. I studied like I knew nothing and when it came to writing the midterm, I was rewarded. It makes you wonder if man is cosmically rewarded for humbleness. And finally today I stuck with the lesson and studied hard, and once again my humbleness paid off.

So why did I start by naming this post , “Shooting Percentages”? Well that’s what midterms end up being. It’s all about how much of yourself you put into your work, your mentality, and then how well you can actually perform. I’ve seen some geniuses who do horrible on tests and exams for no apparent reason. It just seems like they can’t perform or show off what they know when it really matters. They can work out all the questions, teach others how to solve problems, but somehow fall short in their own endeavours. Luckily I fall into the characterization of being able to perform and solve problems for myself, however I can’t seem to be able to teach other people very well (at least academic topics).

I’m just happy the week has come to an end and I’m still in one piece mentally. Composure and consistency are key elements in just about any job or activity, and they are all facets of the mind. I may not be a psychology major but I’ve had my fair share of experiences and I know that having your mind in the right frame can mean the difference between becoming hysterical and being as calm as an undisturbed pond. May you too find the inner peace in all your life’s callings.

written by tofu

No not, “co-depleted”, it’s “Code-pleted”.

The ideas flowing through my mind, the syntax flowing through the keys; nothing could apprehend the will to change ideas to algorithm and finally to code. Red Chinese tea flows through my veins cooling my yang and enriching my blood. Obeying the “laws”, making safeguards, and being conscious of my actions I pragmatically conjured the characters to do my bidding. Braces, brackets, and quotes were carefully paired and placed to not only divide, but conquer. Semi-colons appear where ideas distinguish themselves. With some careful placement and creativity, modularity meets sequentiality; and with a touch of declaration the pieces obey to benefit the greater cause. Essentially it is the greater cause I am after, despite what it takes of the smaller elements to meet the requirements of the bigger picture. Treat the elements with a touch of insincerity or ignorance and they will not hesitate to betray you with little evidence. The mystery is discovering the evidence, the challenge is preventing the crime. Once all is solved and order is in place, only then can the greater cause be realized — or can it? If that cause has flaws within itself then the solution cannot be blamed. The one pursuing the cause is to be blamed. May it be that the cause can be invented with accurate precision so a solution is truthfully a solution.

That’s the story of my latest programming assignment.
Time to complete: approx. 3 days (sadly)
From typing out the code, drawing diagrams, and debugging with gdb, it has all concluded to a working (and probably buggy) program.
Let’s hope for the best. But meanwhile bring on more tea!

written by tofu

Today was not the most exciting day of my break, but the good news is that I finally received my 1GB micro memory card from eBay for my K790. This means that I have huge amounts of space for pictures AND all my mp3’s for when I’m GO traveling to and from York. Now I can bring along the voices of Ayumi Hamasaki and all my other favourite artists including DJs with me wherever I go. With the help of my Bluetooth stereo headphones I’ll be tranced, mellowed, and hypnotized to my favourite tunes and melodies.

Now onto the disordered part of my day; the traffic, crowds, and intensity of boxing week shoppers. I haven’t seen this much impatience, attitude, or disrespect all at once in a long time! Sure there are some shoppers who are too timid or scared to get in other people’s way but the majority of shoppers are quite the opposite. Maybe I’m losing some faith in humanity but I do hope there’s an upswing of attitude at the end of this story. If not, then may we all be saved from our own wrath in our own special way.

written by tofu