December 26, 2010
Offline Email - Putting ALL my eggs in one basket. : No Hat in Particular
I've been organizing lately and I figured I would tackle the biggest challenge of them all - my email.
This is not a simple matter of tagging and deleting - I don't mean that - I mean can I get my email archive in one place in a portable and backupable format!
Over the years I have used many POP email systems - primarily my CWRU email account and my Earthlink email account. For simplicity sake I have had my CWRU email forwarded to my Earthlink email and that email has been saved to one local computer.
I had used Eudora for a while then I moved to Outlook Express and later to Thunderbird where it has resided for years - this isn't how I check my mail mind you - it is just where I store it.
I also had some old AOL Personal Filing Cabinets out there with a lot of email too.
Of course now everything I do runs through GMAIL and I access everything online but I really wanted to have once nice archive of my email. I started saving all of my email *yes all* back in 1990. Actually its not true I delete almost all alerts - I keep all true correspondence (and most of my email lists).
So the first question was - which email client would I use? I don't like Outlook because of their PST files and I didn't want to stay in Thunderbird because it was too slow and not easy to get out of. I almost went back to Outlook Express but they have a mailbox limit of 2GB!
So... after much research I opted on Windows Live Mail. The reason is not because it is the best program but because it stores each email individually as standard EML files and this bodes well for future migrations.
Now I have several sources of email to deal with:
My Thunderbird Files
My Old Outlook Express DBX files
My Old AOL Files
My GMAIL Account
The Gmail account was the easiest - just setup the IMAP settings on the client and tell it to download. And wait for it to download the 52,000 files which I know is about 4GB (because it tells me on the bottom of the page).
Outlook Express was almost as easy - I placed my DBX files back in the identity folder in windows and when I opened Outlook Express it could see all my old email. I then told Windows Live Mail to import my Outlook Express email and viola I have my first archive complete.
Thunderbird doesn't have a native import/export feature but there is this add-on which allows you to export the files as individual EML files. I did that for all of my folders and then went into Windows Live Mail and told it to import those folders and viola I have my second archive. I wish I could tell you it was fast - because it wasn't. I wanted to go carefully through all of the folders and then I took the EML files and organized them into different folders before I let Windows Live Mail import them.
For the old AOL PFC files I purchased a copy of ePreserver. Since I wanted to maintain control of things I first went and cleaned out my Outlook Express folders again (to start over) and told ePreserver to put my mail into Outlook Express - I also told it to ignore duplicates which is good because I had like 10 copies of the PFCs and I put them all together. Once all the email was in Outlook Express I went back into Windows Live Mail and imported Outlook Express again.
I also went and moved all the source files out of the way - I really ONLY want one archive of all of my mail.
Now here is the real challenge - I am sure - VERY sure that I have a lot of duplicate emails and will start looking into tools for doing duplicate removals. But alas that is for another day!
Total number of emails is about 280,000 and about 13GB total.
Posted by jeb2 at 01:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 09, 2010
I just got a free 55" TV or why Best Buy rocks! : No Hat in Particular
So here is my story - its a little long but kinda wacky and involved a lot of good fortune and some pretty fine customer service!
So several years ago I was in the market for an HDTV. I had a budget and I knew I wanted the largest screen LCD I could get within that budget. I planned on spending the day driving around pricing and looking - I like to purchase these types of items locally instead of online because I like to see what I am getting and for the instant gratification.
I started at HHGregg (where I didn't expect to buy) and found a nice 52" Samsung for $1900 (it was on sale). This was going to be the baseline for the day.
I went next door to Best Buy and they had the same TV but no price tag on it. I had two salespeople helping me and one of them turned out to be a manager. They came back and told me that the TV was on sale for $1900 (same as HHGregg) but alas it was their last one. The manager said he would knock some of the price down if I took it - and when I asked him how much he said I could have it for $1400. This floored me (and also the other sales person). He suggested I get the extended warranty (which I am now told is really called a Service Plan) but did warn me that if they ever failed to fix the TV that instead of replacing it they would just give me a $1400 credit (which I was fine with). He also told me he would give me 10% off anything else I purchased that day. So I got a nice stand, my cables, and an antenna (for free HD over the air).
Anyways - its a great TV - 52" is very nice and I have been happy with it. However about a year ago it failed to turn on. I called tech support - they sent out a guy - he reset something and it was fine.
Then a few months ago it failed to turn on again and they sent out another tech and this time he replaces some capacitors. In fact he even replaced the good ones to be preventative.
Then last week it broke again! So I called and they told me that they were going to fix it again and that if it broke a 4th time that they would do something 'else'. This time the guy that came out said he needed to order parts and that it would be a week. To be honest at this point I wasn't thrilled - I mean I knew it would be fixed but watching TV on my computer monitor in the meantime was a little less than thrilling. I was happy though that I had purchased the 4 year plan and that I was covered till 2012.
Then yesterday Best Buy called to tell me that the parts were not available and that they had decided to replace the TV. Now as exciting as this sounds I wanted to make sure that I wasn't getting shafted. They gave me a confirmation number and a model number. I called the local store and they told me to just come on in with the old TV and that they would give me the new TV. The new TV was a Samsung LCD 120hz 55" TV which is actually a better TV! So far so good. When I asked about the warranty the lady on the phone wasn't sure but thought that it would just get transferred to the new TV.
At the store I found out that the warranty would not be transferred and that replacing the TV was considered fulfillment of the previous warranty and that we just start fresh. She also told me if I wanted to I could purchase a warranty on the new TV for like $300. This isn't bad but I really didn't want to spend anything nor did I want to walk out without a warranty on my TV.
This is when it got fun. She explained that since corporate had picked this TV out as a replacement that in fact what I was getting was a Best Buy gift card worth $1850 (which was the price of the new TV included the tax) to spend as a saw fit! So I went shopping and found they had a lovely Sony 55" 120hz TV on sale for $1400 which I then put an extended warranty on and even with the tax I have money left on the gift card for some Blu-Rays.
So we are almost all good to go - the old TV is in the store - the new TV is propped up at the register and then BAM - the computer asks for an override because they are giving me a greater value on the new TV then I paid for in the first place - the computer finally realized I only paid $1400 for the first TV.
The manager comes by - looks it all over and explains that since corporate and their computers had made all of these determinations that he was going to let it go through and told his associate that while it should get fixed in the system it shouldn't be taken out on me (since they had indeed called me up and told ME what I was getting).
So here I am with a new 55" Sony TV with a 4 year warranty, money left on a gift card, and they even gave me my Reward Zone points!
Thank You Best Buy - you Rock!
Posted by jeb2 at 09:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 19, 2010
This is just so damn Funny : No Hat in Particular
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November 16, 2009
The Saga of My Brakes : No Hat in Particular
A few months ago my Subaru needed a brake job. As you know brakes can be very expensive and anything on the Subaru seems to cost more money.
I have helped put brakes on a car before and even once did it solo and I figured - what the hell - save a few bucks and spend a few hours.
I went out and get the needed parts - pads, rotors, grease, brake parts cleaner. I also went out and got some better tools - nothing like a set of good wrenches or a nice jack and some jack stands to help.
The front brake job went - OK. I got stuck on a few bolts (and YES I used various forms of penetrating oil - everyone always asks this) but after much fussing and fighting I was able to get it all done.
I did run into a snag where I broke a wheel lug off - but my friend Ed talked me though the replacement.
Overall I was very pleased - it did take a few days but I was able to finish the job with only making phone calls to my friend Ed for help and not for physical assistance.
The next day I was hurting pretty bad though. They say the muscles that hurt are the ones you don't use - well apparently I don't use my ass.
I was very proud when I pulled up to Ed's house the next days to show him. He then proceeded to take my lugs nuts off and tell me that I had put them on backwards (the lug nuts!). Well every job you learn something new.
--- Jump 4 months later.
So I know that my rear brakes are a mess - I can hear em crunching every time I stop. Normally I wouldn't consider doing a rear brake job but on my 2000 Subaru Legacy they are also disk brakes - so I figured this shouldn't be a problem.
First to find the rotors and pads. My local Murray's (which is now O'Reiley's didn't have them but could get them in a few days. The idea is not to wait so I called around.
My local NAPA store had this really nice guy named Norb who hunted down the parts for me at another store. So I went and purchased my pads, rotors, brake parts cleaner, and grease.
I went home and thins started to go very well.
1) Jack up car and place on stands
2) Remove tires (without braking any studs)
3) Remove Caliper
4) Remove what's left of the rear pads (they where horrible).
Now when I went to retract the calipers I almost forgot to pop the lid off the master cylinder but after I did that I was able to clamp them back without any problems.
All I needed to do now was the remove the caliper bracket that would allow me to slide the very corroded rotors off.
This was a problem. First there was NO room to get a tool in there. I found that you needed a very short tool for on and a very long tool for the other. Once I found that out I realized that the bolts just didn't want to move (penetrating oil wasn't helping).
I went to the store and got better sockets and a breaker bar but the moment I felt the socket skip over the head I knew I was in trouble.
I was 4 bolts away from getting these rotors off and they wouldn't move.
Could I give up? Put my good pads on my crappy rotors and hope for the best? Drive it to a mechanic and pay double?
I called my friends who told me I had done everything but that a pro 'might' be able to heat up the bracket to loosen the bolt but that was iffy unto itself.
Since I didn't want to take it to a mechanic I wondered if I could get one to come to me?
So I visited Craigslist. And yes - apparently there are MANY roving mechanics who come to you to do the work.
Upon making a half dozen phone calls it appears that most of them are just bat-shit crazy.
I finally got a hold of someone who was very professional. He wanted to schedule an appointment and refused to make promises over the phone.
He came by on Friday in a fully equipped truck and proceeded to try and get the bolts off. One came off - three did not.
The good news is that if I had gone to a shop they would have run into the same troubles and then tried to charge me more. The bad news was it was time to cut the brackets off.
I called the dealer and they said it would take 2-4 days and cost $80 per bracket.
So he cut the brackets off (with his really cool torch) and left.
So now I can get the rotors off but I need the brackets.
I didn't want to wait the 4 days to buy it from the dealer so I started making calls to junk yards - nothing!
I looked online - nothing!
Well something. I did find if I was willing to wait a week I could get the pair for like $75. But since I have been walking to work for the week I do need to move on.
I also found out that sometimes the caliper COMES WITH the bracket. Not only that sometimes it comes with pads as well. One local parts place had the Caliper with Bracket with Pads in stock.
The problem was going to be the core fee. As many of you know - most parts charge an extra core fee that you get refunded when you bring the old part back. Well I don't have the old part anymore!
The one place agreed to give ma a partial core fee back (since I didn't need the caliper and I wasn't going to open the brake lines) and would sell me them for $67 each. This was great because then I could even take the pads back (since it came with them).
I drove there first thing Saturday morning to find that they had one and not the other (it was an inventory glitch and a missing part).
So I left. And called literally 100 places. First I was finding nothing at all - thing I started to find them but they were not going to refund ANY core fee so it was going to cost $110 each!
Then I found someone on the west side who had it for $85 each. Turns out it was a NAPA and as I was purchasing it I realized I could save a few by just buying the one and going back for the other $67 one (it was on the way home).
The guy at NAPA was confused when I told him I didn't want the caliper and he had to go in the back and take it off himself and keep it for the core fee but it all worked out.
That is until we realized that it didn't come with bolts. The bolts that attach the caliper bracket to the car. The things that wouldn't move in the first place. The guy at NAPA was concerned because they were specially hardened bolts and he didn't really know where to get them and his only ideas were closed on the weekends.
On the way back to the other parts store I stopped at a junkyard and they didn't know where to get the bolts either.
So you fully understand I am driving all over the city and paying a few extra dollars to NOT have to wait until the next week to do this job.
At the other parts place they sell me the other bracket and also have no idea where to go.
So I call Home Depot.
They put me on hold. While on hold I drive to Home Depot. In fact I was talking to associate while I was still on hold - it was 15 minutes of silence - they never came back. The in-store help was helpful and suggested I call Parma. They had hardened bolts but not metric automotive ones.
Another guy came up and said - that's off your brakes isn't it? He told me to call my dealer and that brake bolts where very specific.
So I call the dealer and surprise they are still open and they have the bolts for $5 each. I run to the dealer and when I show the lady what I want she gets a little worried. They don't have those bolts!
We go through page after page of computer diagrams trying to match the right bolts to no avail.
Finally she grabs a mechanic from the back and after they talk for a few minutes she hands me a handful of bolts and says - these are what you need. She knew I was having a long day and then added "No Charge".
So now I have all the parts but its too late to do the work.
In the am (Sunday) I got up and put the brakes on without any troubles. New parts, new hardware, good grease. It went fine.
I did run into two more little snags.
1) The roving mechanic jacked my car higher then my jack normally goes so it was hard getting it off the jack stands.
2) When I drove the car it braked GREAT but started to make the same grinding noise it had before. I later found out that the rusted out dust shield was hitting the rotor on one side (the other had rusted into oblivion) and after I removed it the car is golden!
Thanks to Kyle Wering (the Mobile Mechanic) who I will use again if I get stuck!
So next weekend - I replace the alternator/power steering belt (no joke folks)!
Posted by jeb2 at 10:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 05, 2009
Some of the best words I've ever heard: You don't have Cancer : No Hat in Particular
It is weird to post this. I almost didn't but my wife has posted some references to this on her blog and I have said enough in public that I think it will all make sense and help clear some air. Overall I try not to get too personal in this thing but this is important and I will leave the overly personal details out.
About a 6 weeks ago I needed to plug back in a TV and I couldn't reach. Instead of going on the floor or moving the table that was blocking me I tried to lean over it. I mean I put my entire weight into the table so I could reach over it. Two days later I had a horrible pain in the left side of my stomach - it hurt REALLY bad. Everyone I told laughed because the appendix is on the OTHER side. I went to the urgent care. They did a CT and found I had epiploic appendagitis - which is an inflammation, I took some pills for two days and was fine. Its a funny illness because before CT they would open you up only to discover that you didn't need to be opened up. That was that.
However - they told me that the CT showed some other abnormalities and that I needed to see my doctor RIGHT AWAY and get an MRI. They saw something - something that shouldn't have been there and something that could be Cancer. No matter what happened next I had to face this realization "I'm 37 years old - and I might have Cancer."
This is also where the fun medical journey began. I don't have a regular doctor. It isn't that I don't go for medical stuff but I just go to the family practice at UH because it is across the street and you can just see whichever doctor is next in line. I called over to MRI and they said that my doctor had to request one first. I called over to the doctor and they said I had to wait till tomorrow.
The timeline was a nightmare: on Wed I was told I might have Cancer on Thursday a met with a doctor who sent me for the MRI but they weren't able to schedule it until Monday. The doctor also told me that she wasn't going to be my doctor that she wasn't taking new patients and I needed to follow up with my regular doctor. Remember, this isn't the urgent care - this is the doctors office telling me this!
Monday I got my MRI and they said the results might be done on Tuesday and that my doctor would call me (even though she said she probably wouldn't I later found out she legally had to follow through with it since she ordered the test). I called on Tuesday to find out if the results were ready and then again on Wed to find that the results were in BUT because the radiologist hadn't put the final seal on them they could only give them to the doctor and not to me. On Thursday I was able to get the doctor to call me and sort of read me the results saying that it might not be Cancer but that I needed to see a specialist to be sure - oh and they found something else that needed to also be checked.
Oh and along the way they forgot to run a critical blood test. They ran the test but never called me with the results. When I called for the results they told me they only call me if the results are bad so since I didn't get a call I should wait for a letter in the mail. Nice.
Friends of the family had the name of a doctor at the Cleveland Clinic that I should go see so I called over there and they told me to have my records transferred from University Hospital. Radiology told me to stop by and handed me the printouts of my reports and a CD (which I copied) and I dropped this off at the Clinic. The rest of my records I was told could only be requested by Fax and then they could only be sent to another hospital or I would be charged for them. They also said it would take 7-10 days. Nice.
I waited and called the Clinic (who had my wrong phone number and address on file because they bought Lakewood Hospital and merged their records) and they were very direct. The doctor wants to see you on Wed - you will have a CT scan at 2 he will see you at 3. Can you imagine that - they scan you then review it and then talk to you - all in the same day! They overnighted me a map and printed directions of where to go, what to do, and a schedule of my day.
I had my CT. Which turned into an adventure because I had a reaction to the contrast. Not as bad as the lady in the waiting room who looked like a lobster - but when they injected me I sneezed, everybody freaked out, and I got a little itchy.
The first doctor came in and told me "Clean bill of health - its not cancer". You have no idea how good that felt. She said I had to wait for the second doctor to tell me more and what to do next. He explained that what I had was "not Cancer" and there was nothing to do or could be done (there is still something there it just isn't Cancer) and that I should come back in 6 months for another CT scan. If it is the same then just check back every few years. He sent me home, joked that they would send a bill, and that I would see him in 6 months.
Tada. I don't have Cancer.
Hold the applause. No congratulations please.
I don't have Cancer. But I do have something - something that isn't Cancer but needs to be checked and rechecked. I now need to get a regular doctor - one who knows my personal history.
Also I can't take back past or future anxiety.
I know what this feels like - and it doesn't feel good.
The joke of it all is - I have (and have had) no symptoms! If I hadn't have bent over the table I wouldn't have known that I didn't have Cancer.
I try not to stress - I really don't - and those that know me know that I am always overloaded. This was a bit much. Its nice to have a release valve on it that's for sure but it certainly makes you see certain things differently.
FYI - I don't want to discuss health care reform. The asinine nature of what I went through is comparable to any other major industry crap that I go through and blog about on my other site:
http://www.theystolemydignity.com/
Thanks for listening and again please no congratulations.
Jared
Posted by jeb2 at 07:53 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 04, 2007
My Opening Statements : No Hat in Particular
Hello everybody! So before I start to really post on this blog I thought it might be useful to take a few moments and introduce myself. I’m a pretty busy guy and the goal of this blog is to help to sort out my ideas while expressing myself. Some of my coworkers were very disappointed when they found out that the title: “The Many Hats of Jared Bendis” was metaphorical and not about an actual hat collection – which I do indeed have. What follows are my “opening statements”.
Posted by jeb2 at 11:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack