Author: kathleen

I found this out the hard way the Friday before New Year’s.

I bought a beautiful Sony Viao computer from the Microsoft Store in Frisco Texas. My first worry is that the store would be closed since it was a Holiday store and the holidays were kind of over. My first step after discovering the screen was broken was to call Microsoft Assure to find out what to do to and they told me I had to take it to Austin.

Thankfully, the Frisco store has been converted to a “specialty” store. It was still open.

However, when I scanned the receipt, I didn’t scan the bar code. Little did I know the bar code was all important. There was an advertisement between the money part and the bar code part of the receipt. Also the employees at the Microsoft store couldn’t find the receipt in their system.

So I had to go back on Saturday. Did I mention that Frisco is about 30 minutes from my house? Then you have to walk through Nordstrom’s to get to the store.

They told me they would “overnight” it to the Austin store. Remember, I told you the Friday before New Year’s.

I got an interesting call today.

When I got the Notebook, I got an Assure Plan. I’m glad I did. They are counting this as an accidental break, and explaining Sony counts it too. The tech even said he can tell from the case I haven’t dropped the machine. However – Sony won’t repair them as manufacture defects.

The tech said they are finding that they are breaking when people put pressure on the center of the back of the screen – just where we’ve been taught to carry notebooks.

Moral the story:

Don’t carry the new touch screen notebooks around while they are open.

I’m finding SnagIt by Techsmith invaluable lately.

I’m doing a presentation for my district for Computer Science students next weekend. I need some of the verbage from the college board site so I’m grabbing what I need with Snag It and putting it in “gag” Power Point. I really ought it put it in Moodle instead.

Probably will by the time I get done.

I’m also got to a bunch of the A+ materials for my students on the Moodle site. I find printing everything with the SnagIt print driver and saving it all as jpegs works best. I find Word gets in my students way—takes to long for them to open.

We have a new business in the neighborhood. A postal center. We had one years ago, but that part of the shopping center got torn down and I never really felt the need. However, I get a package a week and having them laying out on the front stoop for most of the world to see doesn’t work for me. Plus driving over to the UPS Center or the FedEx place isn’t that much fun. The post office is just down the road but their hours are pretty much the same as mine. Will be especially good for medical supplies.

I’d pulled up in front of the place the other night, and swore their sign said it closed at 5:00. Whoops, doesn’t work. I rarely get into town before 5:00. But I went in today and asked anyway. Nope, they close at 5:30 and once they get organized they hope to stay open until 7:00. They were even running a special on boxes, and its right near the door. No more packages sitting at the stoop!

Pleasant people too. I have box I need shipped out, just hoping to find another one to go with it. Long story for another blog.

Should also solve the problem with someone wanting to do phone insurance fraud too.

Love to support local business.

When we bought our house, it came with a security system. I was never happy with the company, especially after it was taken over by ADT. Plus couldn’t get my husband to arm it.

Recently I tried to get it upgraded so I could arm it over the internet and they couldn’t give me a date when I was off. I switched to a local firm and boy am I happy. It works on its own network, wireless, they provide new batteries though we will have to see how that schedule works.

Best deal, is that I can turn it on and off from my phone.

Disappointed. Tried to take my Sony, Vaio which I have Microsoft Assure, to the Microsoft Store in Frisco Friday night. I had a scanned receipt but didn’t scan in the bar code (that is fixed now). They couldn’t find the receipt in their database.

Took it back in Saturday with the paper receipt. The Microsoft Store in Austin didn’t get the computer until today. They indicate they are shipping it to Sony and it could take as long as 9 days to get it back. <sigh>

I had set aside money for a new PC from the curriculum work I did this summer. My first plan was to buy it during at the Microsoft Store at the Mall of America when I travelled to Duluth, but Microsoft announced that Windows 8 was coming out.

So I waited and purchased it at the “Holiday Store” in Frisco. Didn’t have a big selection, but I liked the Sony Vario they had. I have been traveling all over Dallas with it since I bought it, and haven’t had any problems. Until Friday. I had it in the living room on my computer desk and it had been working fine there.

I unplugged it and moved it to the dining room so my husband and I could both look at it and my husband noticed it had a crack across the screen. I didn’t really see it until I stood up, but realized that the left side of the screen wasn’t working. It’s a touch screen.

I have a Microsoft Assure protection plan and I went to take it back Friday but I couldn’t find the paper receipt and the people working the store couldn’t find their receipt. Well, actually had MOST of my receipt but not the important bar code.

I went back home and found it in a stack of paper in my office and scanned it again, so I do have the all important bar code now. The manager said she could find it in their computer but that the other employees didn’t have access.

The good news, is they are no longer a Holiday store (though it still says that on the Microsoft site), but they are a specialty store now). They still don’t have a repair center or an answer desk so they had to send it to Austin.

They are supposed to ship it back to the house when they are done with it. The manager thinks they will replace it.

I just got project 26 funded from Donor’s Choose. I have only asked for a few things for my classroom for my school in the past few years: AP Review books (since I only have a couple of students), and staff development for AP Classes. Everything else from Xboxes and Robots have come from two sources: Junior League of Dallas and Donor’s Choose.

It’s funny but a lot of my Donor’s Choose projects have achieved funding on days that I have felt discouraged. It isn’t easy being a teacher, and it even harder when you are the only one in your building who understands your subject and what you are teaching. In fact, there are less than 10 teachers in my district who teach what I teach, and none try the same mix I do. Of course, they all have that problem, though the teachers at Townview have it a bit better.

I just want to thank anyone who has ever given to anyone via Donor’s Choose and want to urge those who haven’t yet – hey, it really is a good deal. But if you don’t want to go through that organization, feel free to stop by a local school and see what they need.

I’ll never forget the day I was in the office and a former student gave a check to refurbish the baseball field. While he didn’t go to pro-baseball, it got him to college and it upset him to see the field in shambles. We’ve been able to keep it in good shape ever since.

Showing the Web Design kids how to post from an email.
 
Kathleen Weaver
Donor’s Choose Projects at http://www.donorschoose.com/kweaver
DALLAS ISD
PROUD!
 

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