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I’ve never watched CSI Miami but these clips of David Caruso One Liners are hilarious. Some of my favorites:
-You don’t spend a thousand dollars on clothes …that you’re never going to wear. |
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This Thanksgiving weekend a series of unfortunate events occured at Hell’s Kitchen. My beer was purposely hit by unnamed friend, causing it to overflow. Unnamed friend decided to do this again several minutes later on a fresh beer. The hit knocked the beer out of my hands and to the floor, spilling 75% of its contents. This was unacceptable. Unnamed friend was the most sober of the group. He should have known better. I gave him a choice: Finish the remainder of the beer, or have it poured over his head. Unnamed friend then commanded me to finish my beer and said I wouldn’t dare pour it over his head. Strategic error, I’m afraid. If he was the most sober of the group, I was the least sober. And two of my beers were now wasted. I gave him the options two more times, with the same reply commanding me to finish my beer. I was left no choice but to pour it over his head.
There was an initial anger period, but I believe we worked it out last night. We each explained our views, mine backed by this recent Miller Lite commercial titled "Man Law Overflow." Not cool to spill another man’s beer for fun. It was brought up that I had also wasted beer. But my action was in retailation. Unnamed friend maintains that if another beer is spilled on his head, he’ll be swinging at the pourer. I believe a "don’t waste beer" truce has been established to everyones’ benefit. Fair enough. I don’t instigate these things. But when pushed I will retaliate with equal measure. Fair warning. |
Been going back and forth trying to get the Noble registered for legal road use. It has been a struggle. I went to the local DMV who game me a possible list of documents to send to the Richmond DMV. I sent them all off before Thanksgiving with a nice letter and my phone number listed several times, asking them to call me if they needed anything else. Eleven days later I got the documents back with a letter stating that I was missing one document and to write a larger check. No problem, and I would have happily overnighted the additional documents if they had simply called, avoiding another week delay. Also, it appears that they coordinate the entire inspection process. That is different from what the local DMV and Richmond phone rep told me. Anyway, I got the other doc and cashier’s check together in about an hour. Since there appeared to be confusion with the DMV offices, I wanted to meet someone from the Richmond office face-to-face. I drove up on Tuesday and spent about an hour asking the normal teller questions until he asked the real processor to come downstairs and look over my stuff. Success. I spoke with a nice woman who took the documents upstairs and had a supervisor look over them. Everything is there. I asked about the process and next steps. Her answer explained the confusion. The lady that used to process all specially constructed vehicles (for 20 years) recently retired without properly training a replacement. New staff is trying to figure out how it works. Also, a new computer system is making processing difficult.
I asked for the bottom line. She saw my frustration and was nice enough to give me her name and office phone number. I am supposed to call in three weeks if I have not heard from them. In the meantime, a sad Noble M400 sits in the garage.
The motherboard was supposed to be ordered on the 22nd. I haven’t heard from Alienware or an on-site tech. Today is the 30th (9 days later) and no contact from Alienware, so I called back. They requested 48 hours to find out what happened to the motherboard. NO. I transferred to customer service to get a faster answer. The wrong motherboard was ordered. That problem was not fixed; instead nothing was done. I doubt they would have ever noticed or followed up. I have less than two weeks remaining on my 30-day return warranty and they have not been able to make the machine work. I am not confident in their ability to fix it anymore. I asked to return the machine for a full refund. Policy states a 15% restocking fee. I said NO, it was defective on day one. It never worked. Thus far tech support has not been able to fix it. I’ve spent hours upon hours on the phone with tech support. No restocking fee. Get a supervisor. Same 15% restocking fee from the supervisor, no budging. I expressed my extreme disappointment in Alienware. She said she will personally call the on-site staff and order the correct motherboard. I will get a call four days from now about on-site tech support. I shall reserve further thoughts.
-Grouchy Travoli
I’ve spent hours on the phone with Alienware. They are now sending a new motherboard and a tech out to install it. I’m less than happy with the whole experience. The old computer is back up and running. I am typing on it now. The new machine is in the corner of the room collecting dust.
As far as the Noble goes, I got a package from the DMV yesterday. They sent all of my information back with a letter stating that I am missing two pieces of information. Looks like I’ll be driving to Richmond in the morning to straighten that out. I’d really like to be able to legally drive the car before Christmas.
I’d be posting more, but I am currently sitting on my bedroom floor typing from my old computer. The new Alienware is sitting here borken. It did not boot out of the box, and after hours upon hours of tech support, reformats etc, they are sending a replacement hard disk. More soon.
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It is cloudy but I took a few pictures of the Noble M400. Enjoy. |
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Dear Dell,
I know you purchased Alienware earlier this year. I sit here typing on an Alienware computer, purchased four years ago. It is aging. Call of Duty 2 slows to ten frames per second in certain situations. Granted, that is because of the high resolution I run and age of the video card. But, any other resolution looks blurry on this screen. Because of this dilemma I ordered another Alienware machine. I needed something a little faster; something that can handle 15,000 Outlook e-mail messages sitting in the inbox. Something a little more stable. A video card with 1024mb memory, and two gigs of ram. It arrived today, which made me very happy. The last system was four weeks late. Plus one for Dell ownership. Sadly though, I have a bad first impression of the product. The computer case has only two USB slots on the front. My old Alienware has four, all of which are currently being used. I’m going to have to buy a USB hub now. The new keyboard (black one at bottom) lacks volume and media controls. The new mouse (black) is crap. Unlike the nice color matched five button Microsoft mouse that came with my last system, this one is a simple black two button POS. It is as cheap as it gets. I’d only expect that from a bargain $299 Dell system, not your higher-end CPU costing eight times as much without a monitor and speakers. And the brand new black t-shirt needed to be screen-printed with white one more time. The ink isn’t covering the black cotton. Cheaped out again with the flagship brand. Dell, these were the details that kept Alienware fans happy. They paid extra for the cool case and to know they were getting the best product possible. That meant finding top-notch peripherals. Cheaping out on USB ports, keyboards and mice is a bad, bad idea. It makes me assume the computer’s internal components are of the same lower quality. I know the computer industry is notoriously slim on profit, but the Alienware brand was one of the few that was able to thrive with healthy margins due to these brand details. Hopefully the machine will be speedy when I start it up tomorrow. I’ll post more then. BTW - Yes I know I am missing my caps lock key. I pry it off every keyboard I own. |
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I awoke at 5am Friday morning and headed to the Norfolk airport for a 7am flight to Cincinnati. Normally I’d barely be able to function at 5am. But Friday I pretty much jumped out of bed. Some hours later I took a ride in a Superformance GT40 replica while the 3M protective film rep finished up on the Noble. I can’t really describe the GT40 ride. The word "brutish" comes to mind. Definition from Wordreference.com: "Resembling a beast; showing lack of human sensibility." But truly, words can’t describe it. 580hp of madness. Go click on the pics here for beautiful hi-res shots.
Anyway, mid-afternoon the Noble was ready and I was on my way with a three-day Virginia DMV Transport tag. 540 miles later I stopped in Alexandria Virginia for the night (thanks sis). And 200 miles later on Saturday the Noble was home. The car runs beautifully. Even though the seats are custom carbon fiber with four point harnesses, I didn’t get a backache like I do in the Infiniti G35. Also, I barely noticed that I had skipped out on ordering a radio with the car. The turbo V6 was plenty to listen to. Only one glitch thus far: the air conditioning isn’t blowing cold air. I don’t hear the compressor coming on. I’m supposed to have a call with 1G Racing tomorrow on this matter. Hopefully it is something simple to diagnose. Sunday and Monday brought lots of rain. The sun finally returned today. I washed the Noble but neglected to take pictures. I will try to do that tomorrow. I had to wash the Mini Cooper and take some pictures for a potential sale. There is only one garage space, something must go. The bad news: I have to wait a few weeks for a DMV-assigned VIN plate to arrive. Apparently the only folks that can do this are in Richmond and it must be by mail. Then I get to make an appointment for an inspector to come view the car and pass it as road-worthy. The waiting is frustrating. I want to drive it around, finish the breakin period and have some fun. No wonder the market for pre-owned Nobles is so hot. Who wants to wait months for it to be built and titled? Justin - I called Jimmy to get your number as I drove back past Richmond. His cell phone was dead. Hopefully I can get it on the road soon and we can meet up. Thanks for the trailer offer. And the wait continues. Hopefully pictures tomorrow. |
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Nitrogen Triiodide is some unhappy stuff. Touch it gently with a feather and it reacts violently. How did they get that stuff on those pads to begin with? I’m pretty sure they didn’t pour it out like salt. Ah, watching the video again they mention that it is only this unstable when dry. Makes much more sense.
I can’t think of any use for something this unstable. Even the great Wikipedia lists no uses. |
