Technology Fails Me Again

Once again I've been having problems with almost all the gadgets in my possession, to the point that I'm even considering crossing that path to Apple!

- My Sony Vaio laptop (had it for about three years):

Won't even boot up into Windows (we're talking Windows 8 here). When it does, it freezes, or I get a whole lot of notifications telling me various key files are missing. Admittedly my laptop was fine when it was running Windows 7, and Windows 8 up till the last couple weeks. I didn't exactly install Windows 8 properly though, having reformatted my laptop before realising that for Sony Vaio laptops you have to download some sort of install app that will sort out the drivers for you. In the end I had to install the drivers individually, missing some along the way.
Bottom line, my laptop is dying on me!

- My Galaxy Note 8 tablet (had it for a few months) :

Battery life is meant to be at least a day. Lately, the battery has been dying on me within an hour, sometimes in a matter of minutes! Just today, I turned it on after charging it, and I witnessed the battery drop from 100% to 65% within about two minutes! Fortunately I have warranty on it so I'll be taking it back tomorrow!

- My Samsung Galaxy S3 phone (had for just over a year):

I've had problems right from the start. From the LED light not working, to constant freezing problems, now my phone keeps overheating whenever I keep 3G on! I was originally waiting for the Note 3 but now I'm a bit weary of Samsung.

What's going on Samsung!

Now I'm considering buying a new laptop for under $2000. It looks like the options will be Macbook Air vs some Windows 8 ultrabook. Time to get investigating!

Don't Trust Kids with Whiteboard Markers

I've been trying to improve my fashion sense by wearing better clothes than just a t-shirt and shorts, which I guess isn't too hard to improve on...

This has seen me wearing pants at church recently, and today I thought I'd wear my mustard coloured chino's that I bought on sale at Hallenstein's (TMI) for only the second time.

Not a good idea around kids...

This little girl who had been scribbling all over the whiteboard with a red whiteboard marker in a room I was in ran up behind me and dotted me on the back of my pants! She then attempted to do more damage, and I had to restrain her and confiscate the whiteboard marker off her.

Unfortunately the damage was already done!

When I got home, I tried putting some washing powder on it and scrubbing with a toothbrush, but it's still there! What am I supposed to do now!

Technology Hates Me

Once again, technology has bit me in the backside.

I switched my phone off to save battery life, and when I turned it on later tonight, it told me my microSD card was damaged, and that I needed to reformat it!

I tried putting it in the computer, and got this message:

Nooo!!! The last time this happened was when I was in Hong Kong! Fortunately I was able to recover almost all of my files.

This time around, I've tried some data recovery software but it can only recover about 500 out of 3000 files, and some of them are damaged!

I don't know whether reformatting my card and then trying again will make any difference. That's what I did last time.

I'm just hoping Google+ auto-uploaded most of my photos and videos so I haven't lost all of my memories from the past year or so.

This should teach you all a valuable lesson: BACK EVERYTHING UP!

Old Already?

I didn't realise Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 is already outdated..

Why Does Technology Hate Me?

I think I've had it with Samsung, Android or maybe just technology overall.

Today while I was in Hamilton picking blueberries, my phone (Galaxy S3 for anyone wanting to know) gave me some notification about my microSD card being disconnected/dismounted, and I didn't really think much of it, as it happened once or twice with my previous phone (Galaxy S2) and I just had to restart my phone for everything to be fine.

I restarted my S3, but to no avail! My phone didn't even recognise that there was a microSD card in it! I tried taking the card out, wiping it, blowing the slot, leaving the phone turned off for a while, and still nothing!

Tonight I put the card into my laptop to make sure it wasn't the card's problem, and it was working fine! I'll have to try put another microSD into my phone to make sure it is my phone's problem.

This isn't the first problem I've had with this phone since I bought it earlier last year. Let's see..

1. The LED light wouldn't switch off, so I had to send it back to Samsung to get it fixed. I didn't get my phone back for three weeks because Warehouse Stationery didn't send it off straight away.
2. When I received my phone back from them, my 'home' button was stiffer than it was before. I've been tempted to return it to get it fixed again, but I'm a little weary of how long it will take.
3. I kept getting pop-up boxes telling me that some Samsung service had ended. Fortunately that stopped after I upgraded to Jelly Bean
3. I upgraded my phone software to Android Jelly Bean, and now my phone is extremely laggy! The camera would also keep crashing too, telling me that it failed to record! I probably should have done a clean install.

Along with this,

- my very first phone the Sony Ericsson K800i joystick button wouldn't allow me to scroll down, which meant I'd have to scroll to the top of the menu and then come back up the menu from the bottom.
- my HTC Desire began looping the start-up screen.
- my Samsung Galaxy S2 kept freezing, with a Samsung service fail pop-up box constantly appearing after I updated to Gingerbread.

Don't get me started on laptops as well! I just upgraded my Sony Vaio to Windows 8, only to find it plagued with these little problems, such as the cursor jumping around as I typed. I called Sony, only to discover I wasn't meant to do a fresh install of Windows 8, but was meant to upgrade my laptop via their Vaio Utility software. In the end I had to install each driver one by one, and then was met with even more problems after when I was told my battery might have problems! Fortunately people on the net had faced this problem before and provided a workaround.

Is it just me, or do I attract problems?

Stuff Happens

Even when you think you've come to terms with something it still hurts quite a lot when it does actually happen.

Waste of a Day Off

So while yesterday was a good day, today was a not so good day.

It started off good though! I woke up early despite going to bed at 3am last night (it must be a habit now!) and contacted a few dentists to find out how much it would cost to get my teeth cleaned. It turns out it would be around the $150 mark. One nearby dentist said they do a free consultation and then give you a quote, so I booked an appointment for 6.15pm later tonight.

I then thought I better go return my library books since they're due today so I can avoid getting another massive fine. I'm pretty sure I've paid over $50 worth of library book fines in the past year! I decided to drive to the library just so I could practise my driving skills, as you do.

I parked the car in the West City carpark, locked the car and was about to walk off. That's when I realised I was missing something...the car keys were still in the ignition!! Unfortunately I locked the car good so there was no way in!

I called Aonghas to see if there was a spare key at home, but my mum had gone out and had taken the set of keys with the spare! I tried calling my mum but she wasn't picking up her phone. Aonghas decided to ride his bike down to the place he thought she'd be, but her car wasn't there.

While I was waiting for him, I was standing on the path at a distance away from the car just so nobody thought I was leaving and also...so nobody could associate me with my poor parking skills!

He then rode over to meet me in the car park. We decided the only thing we could really do was to wait till our mum came home, so Aonghas got an extended parking permit from Customer Services inside the mall just so our car didn't get towed away (I only parked in a 90 minute spot!)

We just went back home, hoping no one would notice the key in the ignition and steal our car!

I had to walk down to the dentist later on in the day to get my teeth checked. After five minutes, the dentist told me I'd need a clean and TWO FILLINGS! I asked how much and he said $150 for the clean and $180 for each filling = over $500!!! Boy are dentists expensive!

Hacked!

This morning I had to lead children's worship, so I stayed up late last night till 3am practising a couple Chinese songs (looks like I'm not very good at dancing and singing at the same time, especially when I'm singing in Chinese!).

I also tried to come with something meaningful to link all the songs together instead of just singing one song after another:

In the Bible Jesus told his followers about two men. One was a wise man – he listened to Jesus and built his house on rocks. Another man was foolish – he didn’t listen to Jesus and he built his house on the sand. Who knows why he did, maybe he wanted to get a nice view of the ocean!
When the rain and the storm came along, the house that the wise man built on the rock stood firm and didn’t crumble. As for the foolish man’s house on the sand…well the rain came down and as the flood came up it washed his house away!
Jesus is the wise man who knows how to build good houses. More importantly, He knows the right way for us to live our lives, so if we listen to Him, we won't get into trouble like the wise man. If we ignore Jesus' wise instructions and try to live by our own rules, we may have a disaster and no one else will be able to help us. 

SING WISE MAN BUILT HIS HOUSE UPON THE ROCKS 

Hands up if you’ve ever felt saaaaad, like when when someone at school was being mean to you. You know, sometimes these kinds of things happen and you don’t know what to do, but one thing you can always rely on is Jesus being there for you, as long as you let him into your heart.
With Jesus in your heart, you can stay strong and overcome anything!
So the song we’re about to sing is about a time when Jesus got on a boat with some of his disciples. Now a storm came along and as Jesus slept in the boat, the disciples started to freak out! Jesus reassured them everything would be OK and Jesus being Jesus, he calmed the storm and everything was OK! 

SING WITH CHRIST IN THE VESSEL 

So when you don’t know what to do and you’re having a tough time, there will always be someone who can help you. He’s so great he created everything around you, the Earth, the stars, your mum, dad and even your cat!
Can anyone tell me who he is? 

SING AH LORD GOD 

God loves us so much and if we truly love him we should praise him. Make sure you let him into your heart, and love him with all you’ve got – pray to him and listen to what he wants you to do, as he knows what is best for you. 

SING PRAISE HIM  

Let me know what you think! The feedback I got from a couple of kids was they had learnt all this years ago! Well thank. You. Very. Much! Apparently my Chinese eeerrrrrmmm....I admit I forgot some of the Chinese words and mumbled through those songs. I told the kids to sing as loud as they could to cover me up!

Today was a special day, as it was Ada's farewell party after the service. Ada has been at our church for a long time, and was in fact Hamish and my first Sunday School teacher when we joined the church way back in 2002.

We sang a few songs to start off, then watched a photo slideshow which was quite touching (I was in one of the photos boo-yah!), before a few people came up to share their stories. (I'll post some photos as they become available)

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zgmSTl_CEI)

Us Oddfellows had to leave slightly early to help set up tables and food for afterwards. This is where it all started...I let someone play with my phone and they got into my Facebook account and posted stuff on my wall:

People were still commenting on it even after I posted that it was a hoax when I got home! I don't think someone's messed with any of my social networking accounts since a few years ago when SHE changed my Bebo page!

As for the food, it was very nice! It didn't last too long once everyone came out!

We all had a mass group photo with Ada, before smaller groups had photos with her. Our youth group and our family managed to get photos taken together with her.

She's not leaving immediately so there's still a little time to say our goodbyes to Ada but hopefully she will do well in Hong Kong. We'll miss her!

After teaching the kids music, a few of us went to a nearby Vietnamese restaurant for an early dinner (and when I say early I mean 4pm EARLY!). I had a big bowl of meat noodle soup and felt full after it, but right now I'm starving!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLZ13oG7iCM)

A Day Without a Cellphone

Yesterday I finally signed up to Vodafone's Smart $45 plan during my lunch break. I thought that it might take less time going into a shop and doing it in person, what with the credit check and everything. I was surprised at how fast it took for the credit check to be done! 

I was asked to switch my phone off and turn it back on in ten minutes though, and this is when the problems started.

I turned it back on after work, and the HTC boot sound sounded, which I thought was weird as I had put the phone on mute. I then noticed all my text messages had disappeared.

It was not until I was on the bus that I decided to switch my phone off and back on when I started having real problems. My phone would show the HTC boot screen and make that sound, then it would go black and show  the boot screen all over again. This would just continue in a loop! The unfortunate thing was that I was on the bus as this was happening, and it was embarrassing having this sound keeping on going! I had too many things in my hands to take the battery out and so I managed to endure the embarrassment and take the battery out once I got off the bus.

I was going to use my old Sony Ericsson K800i as a back-up phone for now, but I can't seem to find it, and the old Nokia 3315 phone doesn't seem to want to charge up! This meant I had/have no phone to use all day today!

I went out shopping with my mum, visiting a couple Chinese grocery stores and then Lynn Mall. I have to say it reminded me of back in the days before we used cellphones frequently to keep in touch with others. I felt a little isolated! I guess I did bond a bit more with my mum though...

Maybe this is just what I needed - an incentive to finally buy that new phone I've always wanted. Now the only decision to make is whether to get an iPhone, the Galaxy S2, or wait longer for a better phone!

RIP USB Stick

Last Friday I was in the Pharmacy Resource Room in Grafton working on my research dissertation with my group, when my USB stick just stopped working. I tried unplugging it and plugging it back in, but the computer didn't recognise it. At the time I didn't think much of it, as that sometimes happens with USB sticks right?

Well yesterday when one of the girls in my research group tried transferring a file to my USB stick, her laptop couldn't recognise my USB stick either, and neither would one of the IC computers! I tried three computers at home and none of them would work as well! They all said there was no media in the drive! 

I can't remember how much of my USB stick I had backed up, so I could well have lost a lot of my work from the past year! Arrrgghhh!!! 

I ended up buying a new USB stick after class today before my Dessert Club meeting. I was going to buy an iPod Touch (and started to get an urge to buy the Samsung Galaxy S...but...one thing at a time...) but they haven't come in yet!