High quality

This morning a client's server crashed for no apparent reason. It just did. It's always nice to report back to a client that reason the server crashed is "I don't know. It's Windows. It just does that." Nice.

I wish things would just work. I know I'd be out of a job, but some days that's just fine by me. Case in point:

1. Blogger Beta. I know it's beta, but I'll just leave it at that.
2. Got my music remote control thingy up and running. The PDA kept having problems with the network card I bought for it. After a lot of sleuthing, I found out that those 2 pieces of hardware are incompatible. That's just ridiculous. Had to get a different network card.
   
3. The software I got that allows you to choose tracks on the computer from the PDA has problems with iTunes playlists. No matter which song you choose from the list, it always plays the first one.
4. I bought a brand new high tech Hi-Def DVD player to go with the new Hi-Def plasma TV. They're connected with a fancy shmancy HDMI cable to provide the most super duper unbelieveably eyeball busting image quality. If I turn on the DVD player and change the TV source to HDMI before the disc is finished loading, the signal doesn't sync right and the image is red. I have to turn the DVD player off and on to get it back. They're both made by Samsung so you'd think there'd be no problems. Sometimes I have to hit the rewind button repeatedly before it's recognized too.
5. Plasma TV's have a burn-in issue. If you watch something with a static image (network logos, or news feeds like CP24 and CNN) the images can get burned into the screen. Same goes for widescreen movies that have the black bars. The instruction manual recommends that you do not watch something like that for more than 2 hours. Guess I'd better not hook up pong.
   
6. I have a PVR (like a Tivo) and every once in a while the sound gets out of sync and/or the image freezes for a split second and/or I can't rewind. I have to get it replaced.
7. I have a home theatre receiver for everything. Every once in a while there's no sound when I turn it on. I have to shut it off and on again and then it works fine.
8. I got a brand new Blackberry a few weeks ago (kill me). It freezes, comes up with errors and/or reboots. It also drops the Bluetooth (for a wireless headset) periodically - usually just as the phone rings. I have to take out the battery and put it back to get it working again. That needs to be replaced.
9. I bought a car charger for the Blackberry. It stopped working yesterday. Something else to be replaced.
   
10. Last year I bought a Bluetooth wireless headset. It wouldn't work and I had to exchange it for another one. After a year it cracked and fell completely apart. I replaced it with another, supposedly better, model which I'm pretty happy with except that the signal isn't as strong as the old one resulting in static sometimes.
11. I can't adjust the mirrors in my car anymore. The switch has to be replaced (under warranty).
12. I won't even go into all the things that have broken, shorted out, died and/or fallen apart on Q's almost 2 year old Jetta.
13. When Q bought his laptop a few years ago, he had to go through 3 before he got one that didn't have some sort of defect.
14. Then there's all the things I buy for clients that arrive DOA right out of the box.
15. WARNING - HARD DRIVES DIE ALL THE TIME!! BACK EVERYTHING UP NOW!! Manufacturers used to have a 3 year warranty on all hard drives. A few years ago they all dropped their warranties to 1 year. They dropped the quality as well.
16. A few years ago, IBM received a bad batch of capacitors which were installed on motherboards in servers and computers all over the globe. For the past 3 years I've periodically been getting calls about IBM PC's/servers crashing. When I arrive, the first thing I do is open the case and look at the motherboard. Nine times out of ten, the capacitors have exploded or leaked. IBM has never publically acknowledged this issue.
    

Things on my good list:

1. My iPod (third generation). That sucker just keeps on ticking no matter what I do to it. I'd like it to die so I can get a new one, but I know it won't - just for that reason.
2. Epson 2200 wide format printer. This sucker cost me over $800. I hadn't used it in almost 6 months due to the move and all. Usually that would mean dried ink in the print heads, resulting in numerous head cleanings requiring replacement of all the cartridges. Even then you might still be screwed. I hooked it up on the weekend, cleaned the heads once and it was 100%. I love that thing.

So if you're unsure of whether to purchase a warranty with something or not, I'll leave you with this piece of advice - if you're the type to buy extended warranties, go to Future Shop. If you say yes to the warranty (which they get the most commission on and have a quota to meet), you can get them to drop the price of many other things or throw them in for free. I went with a friend of mine to get a laptop and since he opted for the warranty we were able to get the guy to through in a router, mouse and web cam for free. It can be done, I do it there all the time. You just have to be as ruthless a customer as they are a salesman.