CHAOS??? ... YOU WANT CHAOS???
BUT…First things first…Before we can go any farther…
A BIG SHOUT OUT to Mr. & Mrs. Terry L. Rose Sr. for having the courage and foresight to give birth to Terry L. Rose Jr. THANK GOD FOR TERRY ROSE Jr!!!
Why you ask….read on…..
I wasn’t far off in predicting some sort of Chaos, except the chaos wasn’t exactly about “Getting Outta Dodge”. It surrounded my little DELL Latitude 620 laptop. Yep, the night before we’re to leave, the little bugger started to blackout on me and of course, PANIC ensued. It’s still under full warranty, DELL will replace the culprit parts but not until our return!!!
Therefore…Departure Morning Chaos went something like this:
“Hello Terry, Chuck here.”
“Hey Chuck, aren’t you headed for the airport yet?”
“Soon… but here’s the deal; remember those screen “Poltergeist” problems I was having awhile back that disappeared as mysteriously as the appeared? THEY’RE BAAAAACK!
I was on the phone at 2AM this morning with the Dell Techies who informed me that my mother board and LCD screen need to be replaced, that this has been an ongoing issue, but they dont tell anyone until someone calls in with a problem… Ya Gotta Luv em.”
“How they gonna replace that stuff, you're on the way to Italy in 2 hours?”
“Yeah, that’s why I called, I need to borrow a laptop, I can’t chance this thing blowing up in Rome or wherever. The NOWAT notwithstanding, much of the coordination of our tours, reservations etc. depends on wireless internet access on the ship and some hotels. Worst case we'll have to use the ships Access Point but that may also be a challenge. Do you know where I can get a loner this late?”
“Well now, he says,” we can’t have that and of course the world must not be denied the NOWAT… not me at least. Not to worry, I have a laptop identical to yours that you can borrow but you'll never make it here and back with traffic this time of day, I'll meet you on the way to the airport at the Sheraton on Griffin and well swap out your hard drive for mine and you'll be good to go.”
“Man… you are a Life Saver; see you at 9:45.”
Terry met us on the way to FLL and in 1 minute we swap out the hard drive, boot up the laptop to insure all was well [welllll…so far] and he hands me another spare battery.
“You may need this”
Yeah… I'll say it again. Thank God [and the Roses’ Sr.] for Terry Rose Jr.
Sooooo… after 2 hours of hyperventilation, Chuckie and the Dragon Lady are at FLL. We quickly process check in [as quick as the laborious E Ticket Kiosk and international check in can be] past security [she DID NOT set off all the bells and alarms this time] and we grab a quick bagel and coffee. Now to find an electric outlet to start this little episode, don’t want to waste the batteries yet.
That’s when Chaos and Panic #2 set in…as he boots up, Chuckie discovers that the Wireless function on the substitute laptop does not work!!!
“Hello Terry…..”
“Uh oh…what now?”
“It’s about the Wireless Thingie on this laptop, it ain't got one.”
“Yes it does…probably the driver is not set up, I've never had to use it.”
He now walks me thru looking for the driver only to find… There AIN'T one!
“You’ll need to download a driver and of course without out internet access THAT is gonna be a neat trick. I know you travel with a thumb drive, see if someone using a laptop there will download the driver to your thumb drive and transfer it to your laptop.”
Fortunately we find a lovely lady, Sandy from Detroit, that graciously allows us to download an Intel driver from Dell.com and then the fun begins. The download rate for the 65Mega Byte file is… get this…..64kb per second!!! This means 20+ minutes to download and then...of course…
“Good morning ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin boarding Flight 1700 to Newark.” Oh Great!!!!!
Now we’re sweating this download… second by second..
“Chuckie… quit staring at the screen”, says Dragon Lady, “it’s like willing water to boil. We still have time.”
Yeah…. Right….common….common…17 minutes to go
Now they're boarding Sandy’s row…14 minutes to go…common….common
Sandy’s getting nervous, “Bring it onboard when its done I'm in Row 30,” she says.
BUT…First things first…Before we can go any farther…
A BIG SHOUT OUT to Mr. & Mrs. Terry L. Rose Sr. for having the courage and foresight to give birth to Terry L. Rose Jr. THANK GOD FOR TERRY ROSE Jr!!!
Why you ask….read on…..
I wasn’t far off in predicting some sort of Chaos, except the chaos wasn’t exactly about “Getting Outta Dodge”. It surrounded my little DELL Latitude 620 laptop. Yep, the night before we’re to leave, the little bugger started to blackout on me and of course, PANIC ensued. It’s still under full warranty, DELL will replace the culprit parts but not until our return!!!
Therefore…Departure Morning Chaos went something like this:
“Hello Terry, Chuck here.”
“Hey Chuck, aren’t you headed for the airport yet?”
“Soon… but here’s the deal; remember those screen “Poltergeist” problems I was having awhile back that disappeared as mysteriously as the appeared? THEY’RE BAAAAACK!
I was on the phone at 2AM this morning with the Dell Techies who informed me that my mother board and LCD screen need to be replaced, that this has been an ongoing issue, but they dont tell anyone until someone calls in with a problem… Ya Gotta Luv em.”
“How they gonna replace that stuff, you're on the way to Italy in 2 hours?”
“Yeah, that’s why I called, I need to borrow a laptop, I can’t chance this thing blowing up in Rome or wherever. The NOWAT notwithstanding, much of the coordination of our tours, reservations etc. depends on wireless internet access on the ship and some hotels. Worst case we'll have to use the ships Access Point but that may also be a challenge. Do you know where I can get a loner this late?”
“Well now, he says,” we can’t have that and of course the world must not be denied the NOWAT… not me at least. Not to worry, I have a laptop identical to yours that you can borrow but you'll never make it here and back with traffic this time of day, I'll meet you on the way to the airport at the Sheraton on Griffin and well swap out your hard drive for mine and you'll be good to go.”
“Man… you are a Life Saver; see you at 9:45.”
Terry met us on the way to FLL and in 1 minute we swap out the hard drive, boot up the laptop to insure all was well [welllll…so far] and he hands me another spare battery.
“You may need this”
Yeah… I'll say it again. Thank God [and the Roses’ Sr.] for Terry Rose Jr.
Sooooo… after 2 hours of hyperventilation, Chuckie and the Dragon Lady are at FLL. We quickly process check in [as quick as the laborious E Ticket Kiosk and international check in can be] past security [she DID NOT set off all the bells and alarms this time] and we grab a quick bagel and coffee. Now to find an electric outlet to start this little episode, don’t want to waste the batteries yet.
That’s when Chaos and Panic #2 set in…as he boots up, Chuckie discovers that the Wireless function on the substitute laptop does not work!!!
“Hello Terry…..”“Uh oh…what now?”
“It’s about the Wireless Thingie on this laptop, it ain't got one.”
“Yes it does…probably the driver is not set up, I've never had to use it.”
He now walks me thru looking for the driver only to find… There AIN'T one!
“You’ll need to download a driver and of course without out internet access THAT is gonna be a neat trick. I know you travel with a thumb drive, see if someone using a laptop there will download the driver to your thumb drive and transfer it to your laptop.”
Fortunately we find a lovely lady, Sandy from Detroit, that graciously allows us to download an Intel driver from Dell.com and then the fun begins. The download rate for the 65Mega Byte file is… get this…..64kb per second!!! This means 20+ minutes to download and then...of course…
“Good morning ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin boarding Flight 1700 to Newark.” Oh Great!!!!!
Now we’re sweating this download… second by second..“Chuckie… quit staring at the screen”, says Dragon Lady, “it’s like willing water to boil. We still have time.”
Yeah…. Right….common….common…17 minutes to go
Now they're boarding Sandy’s row…14 minutes to go…common….common
Sandy’s getting nervous, “Bring it onboard when its done I'm in Row 30,” she says.
WOW a real trusting soul! 12 minutes to go…common….common
Now they're boarding our row… 10 minutes to go…Common….common…..
There is still a line to board….5 minutes to go….Common….common….
Ok… its wrapping up….. Common ….common!!!!!!
Sandy comes back, “we still have time.”
The download finishes and now it has to copy to the thumb drive…. Common….common!!!!
DONE…We shut down laptop, hand it to Sandy, grab the thumb drive and with a Big Hug and promise that her name will forever be immortalized in the annals of the NOWAT, we all bolt for the gate.
Well Dear Hearts… that’s as much as this aging heart, two short powered and one extended battery can handle before we land and I can recharge them all and load up the wireless driver. Terry is waiting for a call and we'll document any other issues on the flight to Rome.
Are we having Fun Yet???
To Quote the Great Gilda Radner’s character: Roseanne Roseanadana
“Its AAAAlways Something!!!”
Ciao 4 Now,
Chuck and the happy Chuckie’s no longer hyperventilating, Dragon Lady.
Now they're boarding our row… 10 minutes to go…Common….common…..
There is still a line to board….5 minutes to go….Common….common….
Ok… its wrapping up….. Common ….common!!!!!!
Sandy comes back, “we still have time.”
The download finishes and now it has to copy to the thumb drive…. Common….common!!!!
DONE…We shut down laptop, hand it to Sandy, grab the thumb drive and with a Big Hug and promise that her name will forever be immortalized in the annals of the NOWAT, we all bolt for the gate.
Well Dear Hearts… that’s as much as this aging heart, two short powered and one extended battery can handle before we land and I can recharge them all and load up the wireless driver. Terry is waiting for a call and we'll document any other issues on the flight to Rome.
Are we having Fun Yet???
To Quote the Great Gilda Radner’s character: Roseanne Roseanadana
“Its AAAAlways Something!!!”
Ciao 4 Now,
Chuck and the happy Chuckie’s no longer hyperventilating, Dragon Lady.
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