So, I have a problem. I have two live accounts, one under my usual email and one under my old hotmail address. I wanted to merge them, or barring that, kill the one under my usual email address so I can reassociate the old account with my new address.

So I contact Microsoft support.

Here is our conversation:

Pedz: Welcome to Microsoft Customer Service Chat. Please give me a moment while I review your question. Would that be alright?
me: sure
Pedz: Hi Katrina.
me: Howdy.
Pedz: You can delete the other account but it will be on that account’s process since it’s not a Microsoft product.
me: Hmmm.
me: Well, I’ve tried closing the [usual email] one, once I disconnected the new computer from it.
me: But it won’t let me.
me: SOmething about making sure I’ve stopped all billing transactions. But I don’t have any.
Pedz: Please contact the email client, retstak.org.
me: Uh. That’s my personal domain.
Pedz: I see.
Pedz: We can only provide links if it’s a Microsoft product.
me: yes.
me: but that’s the email address I have a live account under.
me: I have two live accounts. One under the retstak.org domain, and one at the hotmail one.
Pedz: I understand but that’s not a Microsoft account.
Pedz: You only associated a Live account under that email, right?
me: Okay. So who do I talk to about Live accounts?
me: yeah.
Pedz: You can still access your Live account separately, right?
me: yes.
me: that is, my login for the live account is that email address, but it gets me into a microsoft live area.
Pedz: Try this link.
Pedz: That’s the direct link to close an account.
me: Okay.
Pedz: I hope the above information would be beneficial to you in resolving this issue. Did I fully address your question?
me: I think so.
me: :)
Pedz: Thank you for using Microsoft Customer Service Chat. Please feel free to come back again. We are available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.

I really love technical support…

There are many tools in a system administrator’s arsenal. But none are quite as awesome as the bent paperclip for manually popping CD drives. :)

It’s always a bit sad for me when I discover that an alum of my beloved alma mater has passed on. It is doubly sad when the death in question is connected with the horrible events in Benghazi on Tuesday.

The Ambassador to Libya was J. Christopher Stevens, Cal ’82. He majored in history, the same major I would graduate with eighteen years later. I know there are Berkeley alumni around the world, doing amazing and fantastic things, but we’re all connected in some crazy way. I was already sad over the events in Libya (and throughout the rest of the Middle East), but this just adds another small connection to the event and a reminder that we’re all connected to each other in ways we may fail to realize or understand.

The life of Ambassador Stevens represents everything we hope for in our students. He majored in history to learn about the world, and then he used that knowledge to make the world a better place. We are proud of his career. His death is a tragedy, and we mourn his passing.
History Department Chair Ethan Shagan (link)

(I have other degrees of separation to another man killed in the attack, and that one is also bothering me because I’ve thought seriously about joining the diplomatic service as an IT professional. I may or may not write about that later.)

Yep, another fanzine. You can get it here:

Rhyme & Paradox #1½ [PDF]

Or if you want to read past issues, you can go here: Rhyme & Paradox main page

My thanks, as always, to Bill Burns, for hosting.

Here’s a teaser of the cover:

The photo is credit Patrice Dufour, and can be found here on stock.xchng, a nifty free for non-commercial projects stock photo site. When I saw this one, I knew it would be perfect for this issue of Rhyme.

Now to get the rest of the layout done.

So, we’re at my uncle’s house, passing around my welder’s goggles I bought to keep my eyes protected during the height of the eclipse. It wasn’t my turn, so I turn around, away from the sun, and suddenly gawp. “Look at the rocks!”

Here’s what they looked like — click through, it’s definitely more obvious on the Flickr page, especially on the back of my uncle’s shirt:

They looked like that, because they were under a tree, and the sun looked something like this:

(That’s shot on a cellphone camera through a pair of welder’s goggles, so my apologies for the size.)

Yeah, it was definitely worth it to go to Redding this weekend to see an annular eclipse.

There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create
[...]
And time yet for a hundred indecisions
And for a hundred visions and revisions
Before the taking of a toast and tea.

(And this is here only to keep LJ from completely munging up the text when I post it…I hope it will work.)

Something showed up in the mail today.

It is a totally awesome hat. It keeps my head warm. It is in my favorite color. It slouches quite admirably. It has a sweet band design. And it was made by the completely amazing lirazel, whom I heart so very much and wish I lived much closer to.

(And the instructions which came with hat were hilarious too.)

I’ve spent all afternoon wearing it despite the fact that the house is way too warm for a wool cap. :) I feel pretty darn special right now.

PS: I don’t think I’ve shared a picture of me wearing my new glasses yet either, so well, that’s me in my new glasses as well.

Since it’s my car, it’s a fracking pain in the rear.

Yeah, some $#*(&(*#$&@ went and spraypainted my car. There’s also a streak of orange down the passenger’s side, and some lovely green on the driver’s side, but the headlights are the worst victim, and the most frustrating part of the whole thing.

That said…it’s spraypaint. I don’t know what they’re going to have to do to fix it. *sigh*

It’s a sweet gesture, Sobe Bottle, and I appreciate it, but…I think the relatives would be a bit freaked out by the idea of my marrying a drink beverage bottle.

Presented without comment.

So every once in a while, I get a bug in my head about reading the labels on things and seeing just what the companies that make various processed food items think is a reasonable serving size. Tonight, I decided to try it with the ranch dressing packets. I glanced at the box: Serving Size ½ tsp. Okay, I think to myself, fish a half teaspoon out of the silverware drawer, and put it on my salad.

Wait, whu, that’s not much at all. That sucks. There’s not even enough there to dab. They have to have messed that up. Maybe it was tablespoons. Back to the box.

No, that’s definitely teaspoons. But, wait, what is this…

Prepared: 2 tbsp.

And then it all becomes clear — the half teaspoon is a serving size of just the powder, not the prepared mix of powder, milk, and mayonnaise. Whoops.

I think I need to retake reading comprehension.

(Hey, at least I can laugh at my adventures in stupidity.)

It’s Girl Scout cookie time. But Ebony’s already laid claim to hers — not because she likes cookies, but she likes the height they afford her.

Or well, maybe you have a better caption. Let’s hear it.

So, you all saw the picture of the Capitol Building at one end of Capitol Mall. You may have asked yourself — what’s on the other end? This.

To be specific, this is the Tower Bridge, crossing the Sacramento River between the City of Sacramento and West Sacramento. It’s a drawbridge — it raises up, and allows the boat to pass underneath.

What’s under the bridge? Subject for another time, but you might have an idea after seeing this photo from last spring.

What’s on the other side of the bridge? Wait until baseball season, my friend!

This statue is at my doctor’s office. Every time I come through there, I sorta admire her. No matter what the weather, she’s enjoying a good book.

But I am concerned about her inability to turn the pages.