<< March 2, 2005 >>
this always happens

yesterday my laptop started making this grinding sound, which actually sounded kind of cool, and would change if i tilted my laptop in different directions. i figured it was just the fan, or something, since it was pretty warm when it was doing this. this morning, after being suspended all night, it still made the noise, and it sounds like it's coming from the hard drive.

since i'm going away for the weekend, and phil won't let me turn my laptop on on the plane if it is making all this noise, i need to order a new drive today. i'm not sure which drive to get, since this terrible review only talks about seek times and throughput, not important things like quietness and dropability. anyway here are the three i am looking at:

toshiba 100G: my powerbook came with a toshiba, and it was so quiet that i upgraded to their 80G drive. unfortunately, that is the one which sounds like it's giving up the ghost, and with only a 1 year warranty they don't have any confidence in it either.

seagate 80G: only 80G but with a 5 year warranty. this might not matter, as i will probably be getting a new powerbook this summer and they don't come with anything smaller than 80G.

fujitsu 80G: 3 year warranty, etc.

can anyone recommend either the seagate or the fujitsu, based on how long it takes them to die and how loud they are? otherwise i will probably sacrifice data integrity for the extra 20G of space, because that sounds like the smart thing to do.

<< March 2, 2005 >>
i hate you, at&t wireless

i got my last at&t wireless bill. even though i canceled my contract one week into the month, they charged me for the whole month. i called, and was informed that that is their policy, even though that's not how they do the first month. i got put through to a customer service "expert" who wasn't any more helpful, until i requested to talk to someone else because it's my policy to not pay for services i don't receive. all of the sudden, she could magically take $20 off my bill even though she wasn't supposed to. then she tried to talk to me about toronto, where she was a week or two ago, but was i up for that? no.

i hope none of you mail stuff with stamps. you know you can put yourself for the to: address on the envelope, and put where you want it to go for the return address, and put it in a mailbox without a stamp? i've paid rent like that for over five years. saved myself over twenty bucks!

(if you can't tell, i worked on auto* today. here is my favourite line:)

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