And, she’s back!

The laptop is finally back in perfect working condition! In all it ended up going to the repair depot in Memphis twice, and then I sent it to Mr. Mike B. at the Dell compound (or whatever they call it) in TX. He had it fixed in about a day, and I am using it as we speak! I have been very sad without my computer I do have to say. I have a semi-functioning desktop (the semi part is the reason I bought the laptop originally) in my home office, and my work pc… but I try to always be a model employee and use the work pc for work puposes. Mostly.

I tried to go to my beloved Sufficient Grounds earlier, but the place was so full I couldn’t even find a table! The upstairs was taken up by a beer tasting, and it was too cold to sit on the deck. I toyed with the idea of asking another patron to share their table, but eventually decided that might be awkward and ended up heading out to WLR to the Java Roasting Co., which I had thought had free WIFI also, but it is requesting a username and password, so perhaps not. If I get to the bottom of this mystery I shall certainly report my findings. The place is pretty cute with Van Gogh prints on the walls and jazzy music, though it appears to be almost entirely staffed and clienteled by highschoolers. I feel a little old in here. The coffee is tasty though, and the advantages of proximity to Old Navy and Target cannot be denied.

Saddle Creek Grill

The name may make you think it’s like Texas Roadhouse, but it is actually a very nice place with good service and yummy steak, and the cedar plank salmon was as good as fish cooked on a board can possibly be.

Fox & Hound

If you’re into fancy beer and trendy settings head somewhere else, but if you want your Miller Lite and sports in a low key environment, this is the place.

Oyster Bar

Come for the well-priced and delicious po’ boy sandwiches and spicy shrimp creole – and if you park in the back, you can go in the back door instead of walking all the way around the building.

Edit: The name is Oyster Bar and not Oyster House, not sure what I was thinking there.

Fantastic China

Another single sentence review:

The walls are very bright, there is lots of red stuff, and the food is really good too.

Larry’s Pizza

In honor of Single Sentence Movie Reviews (and because I am sneaking this in at work while working out the issues with my personal PC).

If you like pizza, a relaxed atmosphere, buffets that come to your table, and gigantic drinking glasses, then Larry’s is the place for you.

Yet another laptop update

I received the laptop back from dell, and at first glance everything was working ok (minus the one part they didn’t have in stock which the nice little note included in the shipping container says they will send to me). In fact, I am using it to write this post. (Typing! Hallelujah!) However, there is something fishy going on with the area on either side of the track pad where I rest my wrists when typing – If I apply a certain amount of pressure in certain spots (which I keep doing accidentally) strange things start happening – weird characters appear on the screen if the cursor is in a typable spot, if I’m in an internet browser it starts trying to back up to previous pages… in fact I was halfway through a lovely long post about Larry’s Pizza when this started happening and I lost it. If I weren’t in public some choice language might have been uttered.

So I suppose tomorrow back to Dell my poor little computer goes! I’ve been very sad without it, I hate being chained to my office desk at home on my old desktop. Technically I could compose my little ramblings on pencil and paper and then take them to the computer for entry, but that is just so old-fashioned.

Kitchen Compatibility Tests?

Many thanks to jenniechris, today’s guest blogger. I have also experienced the frustration that comes from incompatible cooking styles…

L.

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I enjoy food. I mean to say, I enjoy reading about food, preparing it, learning how to make it, and doing creative things with food. It’s just more fun than going to your local fast food chain and eating the crap they peddle. So it makes sense that I would date someone who was similarly interesting in all things culinary. After all, I would want someone to take me to places that had delicious, unique things to eat, right?

The power of the internet

Not too long ago a friend of my mom’s was telling a story of her dissatisfaction with a particular company, and how she had mentioned it on her personal blog (which actually does not have any information that would allow someone to pinpoint her identity, but apparently they had compared what they gleaned from the blog with their own customer service database). Within days of her post, a representative from that company had contacted her, resolved the situation, and I believe even given her some free merchandise.

As an self proclaimed geek I am academically aware that large companies with an image to maintain continually search the internet for mentions of themselves (heck, I do it, and my online presence is minuscule), and I have heard many anecdotes like the one from my mom’s friend, but I never quite expected it to happen to me… until I picked on Dell:)

Laptop Update

I did finally get through to Dell last night, and the laptop is headed off to the repair center this afternoon. I made sure to mention that I hoped they would actually test the functionality of the machine this time instead of replacing the one problem I specifically told them about (keyboard) and then sending it back, which is what happened last time. I mean, really, if someone spills wine on their computer, shouldn’t you at least take a look around and see what else might be damaged? Especially if she is a busy person who doesn’t particularly care for calling customer service people? (And before you ask, no I hadn’t had too much, I didn’t even get to drink it.)

I had an auto mechanic who did that to me once, my car was overheating because the coolant system had problems… so I told them what I thought the problem was, they did the job, and then sent it back with me. However, they did not test the car to see if the overheating had been solved. And it hadn’t. When I took the car back they tried to tell me that I had blown a gasket (or something like that) and that it would now be a thousand dollar repair. I wasn’t about to trust them now, so I had the car towed to a different mechanic, who fixed it for a hundred dollars. No blown thingamabob, just a malfunctioning thermostat. Magically the overheating stopped.

I don’t know if the mechanic tried to scam me because I am a woman or because they just thought they could, but I am forever wary of repair persons who don’t follow through. Dell dudes, I have my eye on you.

Oh, and if anyone has mechanic recommendations for the Little Rock area I would be grateful.