Done day before yesterday (20090812)

[mdlbear]

0812 We
  & Colleen couldn't sleep; I slept badly.
  * up 8:10; coffee; drugs, nose, teeth
  * water day
  * send up Helpbook & Parachute by express mail to BGM
  * 10ish buy plane tickets for Seattle
      Depart   	Aug 20 	Thu 	Nonstop 	SJC-SEA 	3419
 	Depart San Jose (SJC) at 10:50 AM
        Arrive in Seattle (SEA) at 1:00 PM
      Return   	Aug 24 	Mon 	Nonstop 	SEA-SJC 	1745
 	Depart Seattle (SEA) at 7:30 PM
        Arrive in San Jose (SJC) at 9:35 PM
  * OpenSourceWorld http://www.opensourceworld.com/ (Moscone West)
    Open Source World/Next Generation Data Center/Cloud World
    First time I've been to a free event and felt cheated.  Worthless.
  * RSVP Linux Picnic at linuxpicnic.org (RSVP'd for 1 person)
  & Bought a set of Lake Wobegon dice from (coworker) David Stork
  & 8:30 stupid Kindle has corrupted its memory again
    ! Started to yell at someone who asked if I was OK.  No, I'm not.
      Hugs helped, but I'm scarily close to the edge.  
      The kindle is One More Damned Thing Needing My Attention
  & called Amazon.  Tried to stay calm and polite.
    =>factory reset, download all books again.  H8.
    The books were really there, but it seems that doing anything other than
    copying one file at a time fails one way or another.
  * RSVP for Colleen
  * Walgreen's: buy briefs
  * bed ~11pm

Wednesday was mostly not a good day, although I did buy my plane tickets for the Seattle trip next week, which was good. I went to Open Source World/Next Generation Data Center/Cloud World in San Francisco. The trade show occupied about half a floor of Moscone West, and wasn't worth the $7 I paid for parking. First time I've been to a free trade show and felt that I hadn't gotten my money's worth. I went through the entire show twice in an hour and a half.

I did get a stuffed gnu and a copy of Introduction to the Command Line at the FSF table (the .orgs were stuck off in a badly-signed room). The book is also available online here at en.flossmanuals.net

I think the gnu's name is Richard. He is currently perched astride my desk lamp, gazing disapprovingly at my box of unsorted receipts.

In the evening, Colleen's Kindle lost its memory again. As it turns out, the books were there in its flash, it just couldn't see them, so I was able to pull them out and restore them. I had to do it one by one, because any attempt to copy multiple files in either direction caused it to drop the USB connection. It required a full reset to factory defaults, too. The store is unusable.

I stayed calm and polite on the phone to Amazon's tech support line in spite of the idiot's claim that it had something to do with the third-party books Colleen had downloaded. Sorry, no. The Amazon store is not usable from the Kindle, though it's probably ok on the web.

I nearly lost it completely when someone asked if I was OK in the middle of this fiasco. Shouted "No, I'm not", caught myself, and repeated "no, I'm not OK" in a calm voice. I'm still appallingly close to the edge.

Comments

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

(hug) The gnu looks cool.

I'm very sorry about the Kindle. The reference to "lost its memory again" makes it sound like this has happened before, which would make it all the more frustrating. I agree with you that downloading third-party books shouldn't make any problems for a Kindle that is in good shape; I have had zero problems doing that.

Amazon customer support has mostly been pretty good, in my experience, but I do wish they would teach their Kindle people a bit more about the Kindle. Most of them don't know anything beyond what is already on their website, and some of them don't even know *that*. This has generally not been a problem for me, except when I was trying to transfer some Analogs from the old Kindle to the new Kindle--and eventually I found out through trial and error that the Analogs aren't DRMed, which solved my issue. But I can see how it could be a big problem in situations like yours.

You are under a lot of stress from other sources right now, which naturally makes enduring what would ordinarily be manageable stresses that arise randomly in life much harder. I wish I could tell you something helpful, but I can't except for--don't blame yourself; just do your best; you're really doing a pretty good job (at least as far as I can tell from here.)

*hug*

[mdlbear]

*hugs*

"...you're really doing a pretty good job..."
Thanks. I can usually remember that, but sometimes it just gets to me.

Since everyone MAKES errors

[capplor.livejournal.com]

the next best thing you can do is catch yourself and fix it promptly. Honest, that's more "people" skill than a lot of folk have demonstrated.

Re: Since everyone MAKES errors

[mdlbear]

Yes -- I'm ok with that part of it; I did catch myself, though it's the kind of mistake that can really hurt someone, being yelled at for no reason.

What I really don't like is being so close to the edge that that kind of thing happens in the first place.

Re: Since everyone MAKES errors

[capplor.livejournal.com]

Yea, I know, but sometimes stuff happens.