Why move? Well, the place, while originally decent (5 years ago) has repeatedly developed problems over the past 5 years, and just gotten worse when it was sold to another company.

This place was built, probably somewhere in the 60’s or 70’s, and the wiring has just not been update since. While that was good back then, it’s just not good now. For example, the entire place has 2 prong outlets (no 3).

While to most people this might not be a problem, hey, it is to me. This is especially bad during the summer, when certain things just go “off” because the circuitry is supposedly “overloaded”. Why? Damned if I know, and damned if I care.

Of course, this problem only aggravates electrical failures in devices (such as PC’s, TV’s, etc) which can not stand to be just “shut off” improperly. It wouldn’t be so bad, if the individuals actually did something about the problem, but every time I’ve said something about it, I get the typical “It’d cost too much to fix” BS. That is NOT the way to keep customers, whatsoever.

That’s just one gripe though, with the company, and (honestly), not even the major one. I could deal with this problem, IF they provided competent management services. Instead? Well, just take a look at what’s been going on the past 3 years since this company took over the property:

When the current management company took over the property, they immediately informed us that they would no longer be picking up cable bills (something that was in the lease). Of course, I immediately called them and informed them that they were obligated to do so, and it took 2 weeks to get them to live up to the existing lease. Not a huge concern, but you can not alter a lease in any way, shape, or form without signed consent by all parties.

When the current management company took over the property, the neighborhood (apt. community) was reasonably quiet, reasonably decent, had a mixed variety of culture in it, and it was a decent place to be. Now? It’s basically become a “hood”. I’m not talking about the surrounding complexes which the management has no control over, but I’m talking about the complexes which the management has FULL control over and refuses to take action over. They’ve turned a decent complex into a “hood” and it’s just gone to shit quickly.

When the current management company took over, they replaced the existing apartment managers with their own (duuh). The first one was ok, at least she tried to work, but she didn’t last 6 months. The next one (current), Maureen Garlich, is absolutely as lazy as all hell and refuses to work whatsoever. A few examples of this:

Shortly after taking over her management position, tenants were informed that there were to be NO CALLS to the management line whatsoever. WTF?!?!?!? Maintainance issues were to be addressed by a separate maintainance number (which she should be maintaining), disturbance calls were to be made to the police (WTF, she won’t even do her job and keep her tenants in place?), lockouts were to be referred to (get this), a LOCKSMITH! Again, WTF? How the HELL is a locksmith supposed to know whether or not someone is legally supposed to be entering my apartment? They’re NOT. Of course, this also violates the lease terms and conditions I originally signed, which state that the tenant is to call the LANDLORD for lockouts, and is entitled to have their door unlocked once per year for free, afterwards it’s $45 (which is still cheaper than a fucking locksmith).

Another classic example of lazy, crap attitudes from this senile old bitty:
A year or two back, I had a problem with my light fixture. The bulb had burned out, and none of the replacement bulbs were working (thus it was a fixture problem). This was a bathroom fixture, and the only one in there, so taking a crap @ night, well, let’s just say it wasn’t really happening too well.

Being night, I waited until the next day (I’m reasonable), and called her to have maintainance come out and fix it. Since she is the manager, it is her responsibility to manage and co-ordinate these things. I let it go when she didn’t call back by two (like she said), and sat around till 530, again, no worries.

Come 6,7 pm, I still hadn’t heard back from her, and so I called again. Since it was after 5, went straight to voicemail, because, well, she had the phone turned off. I left a very unpleasant VM (she had the chance at pleasantry and blew that out of the water by blowing me off). Since it was a Friday, I didn’t get a call back till Monday. Her excuse:

I forgot

Seriously folks, THAT was all I got! It got resolved that day, but come on now, if you can’t handle even the most menial part of your job, then you CAN’T do your job!

Fast forward now 3, 4 months. Same scenario, different fixture (I did mention it was an old apartment, right).

I started calling the line @ 1pm, got sent directly to VM, then got the “this inbox is full” message, for an hour and a half straight. An hour and a HALF! That’s just unheard of. If you are going somewhere, leave the cell phone with someone who isn’t. It’s not like you can just walk the hell away from paying customers!
When I WAS finally able to, I left a voicemail and said she needed to call me back by the end of business the next day, or have someone out there to deal with it by then. Of course, again, more than reasonable, allowing a day and a half to address the problem.

2 weeks later, STILL nothing. So, it came time for rent, and I mailed them an unsigned, un filled out check, stating that if they wanted my money they were going to have to call ME back and apologize for ignoring me for two weeks, and fix the problem, then they’d be paid rent (sans the time they didn’t do their jobs). Their response?

You never left a message

Despite showing them PROOF of leaving a message, they refused to admit that they got a message (I had phone records from that day, everything), and they demanded full rent, which, of course I was forced to pay (I’m not going to give up an apartment just because some crazy, senile bitch doesn’t want to do her job).

I could go on and on about the incompetence of this woman. From refusing to take charge of the properties she supposedly manages, to trying to break leases by doing things such as modifying them willy-nilly to refusal to actually just do her job in a timely fashion. Another perfect example of this, the last one, and I’m done here:

A couple years back, during Christmas time, the laundry room was suddenly “closed”. Without notice, it was abruptly closed, with a sign saying it’d be back open shortly. Umm, ok, great, but they’re responsible for maintaining these facilities and keeping them running, right?

A month later, still nothing. 6 weeks? STILL Nothing. Oh, they’d repainted the place, made it look all sparkly , shiny, and new, but it was STILL barren , you couldn’t wash or dry anything.

2 months (yes folks, 2 months) after closing the laundry room, they finally re-opened it, with machines that worked. Was an explanation offered? No. Was an apology offered? Not at all. It was simply expected that individuals would ignore the fact that this bitch was too lazy to get off her ass and do her job. Now, I can see a week’s delay, honestly, as things aren’t “instant”. However, 2 months is way, way too long to keep people waiting.

The last time I went in to do laundry, there were even MORE problems with the facilities. This time, it wasn’t service affecting, the driers had just been broken so you couldn’t pay for laundry. This had been going on for a month or so, and it’s still going on 3 weeks later (I can survive 3 weeks easily between laundry loads ). Still not a MAJOR concern, but a HUGE, HUGE lack of respect and concern for tennants and clients.

Last summer, on going into the laundry room, I noticed my key didn’t work any more. Why? Because the lock had been broken. So, what was ONCE a secured area was not so secured. It’s still this way, close to a YEAR later. Again, incompetence and ignorance abound here.

So, given all this, is it reasonable for me to have qualms about moving into another place with this company (who uses this senile old woman to manage virtually ALL of their apartments)? I know she’s rather old (I’ve seen her facebook, and she’s going on 69), and I know I can expect the same pathetic performance from her at the new place.

While we all deserve second chances (I’ve had more than my fair share of them, so I’m a HUGE fan of them), I think she’s had her fair share of second chances, and history will just continue to repeat itself if the problem is not effectively resolved! By resolved, I mean the old broad has to go! She’s grossly incompetent for the position.

What would you do in this position? Also, hey, if you KNOW of any 2BR apartments (even 1BR would be good) in the Waterloo, IA (pref close to West/Covenant) for reasonable rates, please, please, let me know. All you need to do is comment to this story to let me know, or get me a way to get in contact with your management company. Just leave out the following companies:

North Star Realtors / (Calvin and Sandy Horn) – Seriously under-qualified people, a team who can not manage their own tenants well enough at all
Metro Investments – Current company that I’m looking at dumping because of the crazy old broad.
If you get a referral bonus of some kind, make sure to let me know your name or how to get that to you, and if I decide to go with your company , I’ll follow the instructions you provide to make sure you get that

Anyways, I’m tired, I’m sick, I’m cranky. Thanks for reading all this, and I’m really, really looking forward to reading some useful responses here, even if it’s just your own advice on what you’d do here.

Peace out, kids!!

Tom

49. “We spent a lot of time talking about Africa, as we should. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease.” —Gothenburg, Sweden, June 14, 2001

48. “You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.” —Townsend, Tenn., Feb. 21, 2001

47. “We both use Colgate toothpaste.” —after a reporter asked what he had in common with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Camp David, Md., Feb. 23, 2001

46. “Tribal sovereignty means that; it’s sovereign. I mean, you’re a — you’ve been given sovereignty, and you’re viewed as a sovereign entity. And therefore the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities.” —Washington, D.C., Aug. 6, 2004

45. “I glance at the headlines just to kind of get a flavor for what’s moving. I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who are probably read the news themselves.” —Washington, D.C., Sept. 21, 2003

44. “I’m the commander — see, I don’t need to explain — I do not need to explain why I say things. That’s the interesting thing about being president.” —as quoted in Bob Woodward’s Bush at War

43. “I am here to make an announcement that this Thursday, ticket counters and airplanes will fly out of Ronald Reagan Airport.” —Washington, D.C., Oct. 3, 2001

42. “The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorize himself.” —Grand Rapids, Mich., Jan. 29, 2003

41. “I saw a poll that said the right track/wrong track in Iraq was better than here in America. It’s pretty darn strong. I mean, the people see a better future.” —Washington, D.C., Sept. 23, 2004

40. “Oh, no, we’re not going to have any casualties.” —discussing the Iraq war with Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson, as quoted by Robertson

39. “I hear there’s rumors on the Internets that we’re going to have a draft.” —presidential debate, St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 8, 2004

38. “Haven’t we already given money to rich people? Why are we going to do it again?” —to economic advisers discussing a second round of tax cuts, as quoted by former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neil, Washington, D.C., Nov. 26, 2002

37. “We need an energy bill that encourages consumption.” —Trenton, N.J., Sept. 23, 2002

36. “After standing on the stage, after the debates, I made it very plain, we will not have an all-volunteer army. And yet, this week — we will have an all-volunteer army!” —Daytona Beach, Fla., Oct. 16, 2004

35. “Do you have blacks, too?” —to Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2001

34. “This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating.” —as quoted by the New York Daily News, April 23, 2002

33. “I got to know Ken Lay when he was head of the — what they call the Governor’s Business Council in Texas. He was a supporter of Ann Richards in my run in 1994. And she had named him the head of the Governor’s Business Council. And I decided to leave him in place, just for the sake of continuity. And that’s when I first got to know Ken and worked with Ken.” —attempting to distance himself from his biggest political patron, Enron Chairman Ken Lay, whom he nicknamed “Kenny Boy,” Washington, D.C., Jan. 10, 2002

32. “It is white.” —after being asked by a child in Britain what the White House was like, July 19, 2001

31. “I couldn’t imagine somebody like Osama bin Laden understanding the joy of Hanukkah.” —at a White House menorah lighting ceremony, Washington, D.C., Dec. 10, 2001

30. “For every fatal shooting, there were roughly three non-fatal shootings. And, folks, this is unacceptable in America. It’s just unacceptable. And we’re going to do something about it.” —Philadelphia, Penn., May 14, 2001
29. “I don’t know why you’re talking about Sweden. They’re the neutral one. They don’t have an army.” —during a Dec. 2002 Oval Office meeting with Rep. Tom Lantos, as reported by the New York Times

28. “You forgot Poland.” —to Sen. John Kerry during the first presidential debate, after Kerry failed to mention Poland’s contributions to the Iraq war coalition, Miami, Fla., Sept. 30, 2004

27. “I’m the master of low expectations.” —aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003

26. “I’m also not very analytical. You know I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about myself, about why I do things.” —aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003

25. “I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe — I believe what I believe is right.” —Rome, Italy, July 22, 2001

24. “We need to counter the shockwave of the evildoer by having individual rate cuts accelerated and by thinking about tax rebates.” —Washington, D.C. Oct. 4, 2001

23. “People say, how can I help on this war against terror? How can I fight evil? You can do so by mentoring a child; by going into a shut-in’s house and say I love you.” —Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2002

22. “I wish you’d have given me this written question ahead of time so I could plan for it…I’m sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference, with all the pressure of trying to come up with answer, but it hadn’t yet….I don’t want to sound like I have made no mistakes. I’m confident I have. I just haven’t — you just put me under the spot here, and maybe I’m not as quick on my feet as I should be in coming up with one.” —President George W. Bush, after being asked to name the biggest mistake he had made, Washington, D.C., April 3, 2004

21. “The really rich people figure out how to dodge taxes anyway.” —explaining why high taxes on the rich are a failed strategy, Annandale, Va., Aug. 9, 2004

20. “My plan reduces the national debt, and fast. So fast, in fact, that economists worry that we’re going to run out of debt to retire.” —radio address, Feb. 24, 2001

19. “You know, when I was one time campaigning in Chicago, a reporter said, ‘Would you ever have a deficit?’ I said, ‘I can’t imagine it, but there would be one if we had a war, or a national emergency, or a recession.’ Never did I dream we’d get the trifecta.” —Houston, Texas, June 14, 2002 (There is no evidence Bush ever made any such statement, despite recounting the trifecta line repeatedly in 2002. A search by the Washington Post revealed that the three caveats were brought up before the 2000 campaign — by Al Gore.)

18. “See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don’t attack each other. Free nations don’t develop weapons of mass destruction.” —Milwaukee, Wis., Oct. 3, 2003

17. “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” —State of the Union Address, Jan. 28, 2003, making a claim that administration officials knew at the time to be false

16. “In Iraq, no doubt about it, it’s tough. It’s hard work. It’s incredibly hard.” —repeating the phrases “hard work,” “working hard,” “hard choices,” and other “hard”-based verbiage 22 times in his first debate with Sen. John Kerry

15. “The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him.” —Washington, D.C., Sept. 13, 2001

14. “I don’t know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don’t care. It’s not that important. It’s not our priority.” —Washington, D.C., March 13, 2002

13. “But all in all, it’s been a fabulous year for Laura and me.” —summing up his first year in office, three months after the 9/11 attacks, Washington, D.C., Dec. 20, 2001

12. “I try to go for longer runs, but it’s tough around here at the White House on the outdoor track. It’s sad that I can’t run longer. It’s one of the saddest things about the presidency.” —interview with “Runners World,” Aug. 2002

11. “Can we win? I don’t think you can win it.” —after being asked whether the war on terror was winnable, “Today” show interview, Aug. 30, 2004

10. “I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we’re really talking about peace.” —Washington, D.C. June 18, 2002

9. “I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn’t do my job.” —to a group of Amish he met with privately, July 9, 2004

8. “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.” —speaking underneath a “Mission Accomplished” banner aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, May 1, 2003

7. “We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories … And we’ll find more weapons as time goes on. But for those who say we haven’t found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they’re wrong, we found them.” —Washington, D.C., May 30, 2003

6. “Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere!” —President George W. Bush, joking about his administration’s failure to find WMDs in Iraq as he narrated a comic slideshow during the Radio & TV Correspondents’ Association dinner, Washington, D.C., March 24, 2004

5. “If this were a dictatorship, it’d be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m the dictator.” —Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2000

4. “There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.” —Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002

3. “Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across this country.” —Poplar Bluff, Mo., Sept. 6, 2004

2. “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” —Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004

1. “My answer is bring them on.” —on Iraqi insurgents attacking U.S. forces, Washington, D.C., July 3, 2003

After thinking about it a bit deeper, I realized that I had money on a card to do the whole thing, and bought a (second) tivo box for the front room, this one being HD, instead of just standard def. It took cable and made it look just so much better.

After taking account of my account with mediacom (was spending 135+/month before Saturday), I realized I was just pissing money away on a company that wouldn’t ever change, or satisfy my needs. So, I called and had them change a few things on the account itself

1. Drop the 8m/s cable to 3m/s (who really needs 8, anyways?)
2. Drop HBO (only watched for Entourage)
3. Swap out the box for a cablecard
4. drop a bunch of useless fluff

This dropped me down to around $100/month , and I scheduled an appointment for today (1-5) for them to bring the cablecard out and pick up the box.

Keep in mind, this was all done on Saturday night, and I confirmed it, not once, but twice. Monday night, they had an ‘auto’ system call me, and I went through the steps to confirm that I was going to be here and I wanted the setup changed. THEN, I called them to confirm and ensure that they were using Multi-Cast cards (in which case I’d only need one), and everything was confirmed properly, or so I thought!

This afternoon, after the individual was supposed to be here (1430), I get a call saying that they had no cards left. WTF? WHY did they schedule the apointment then? Because they’re idiots, I tell ya. Flat out idiots. I asked when they would have more in, Jeremy’s response :

Not until Tuesday

I told him that was unacceptable as this had been scheduled for days and I wasn’t going to go without digital setups until Tuesday. His response? There’s nothing I can do. My response?
Have a manager call me immediately
NOWHERE in that conversation did I authorize this clown to reschedule anything, and absolutely NOWHERE did I say I was ok with him moving things around at ALL!

3′ish comes and goes, no call from manager, so I called the 800# again. I tell them what they’re going to do, and they basically throw a fit. Why? Well, they don’t like being called on their screwups, and they CERTAINLY don’t like having to pay for them! I told them that under no uncertain terms someone WAS coming out this afternoon. If they didn’t have the card, fine, then they were going to remove the card from the account, as well as all digital additions, and then take the box. If they DID have the card, that was ok, too, but they were coming out this afternoon, no matter what.
The response from the ‘phone supervisor’:

I’m sorry, but I’m not going to reschedule this, there is nothing we can do

Again, I told them that I wanted to speak to a LOCAL supervisor and that they were to call me THIS AFTERNOON.

Another hour’s worth of waiting, I called the toll free # again, and informed them that they were going to be taking things off of my account immediately. Those things were the extras that would have been covered by the cablecard (with digital channels, etc), and that they were going to come out on Friday to pick up the box. The guy’s response:

We will have to charge you for doing this

Of course, I am having none of that. Had they done their job in the FIRST place, they wouldn’t be making an extra trip, but since they refused to do so, they are.

After talking to the CSR, I found out that Jeremy re-scheduled the appointment INSTEAD of following the customer’s explicit instructions (have the supervisor call me), costing me on their “guarantee” (it’s only $20, but that’s not the point), and getting me into a position where I have to pay someone to do their job, which , of course, is horrific.

Lessons to be learned by Mediacom here:

1. ALWAYS make sure you have enough product when making an appointment!
2. ALWAYS listen to the customer. NEVER just ‘assume’ anything. The customer is ALWAYS right
3. Have JUST a bit of decency. If you KNOW that something is going to be running out, don’t WAIT until the last damn minute, call the customer IMMEDIATELY

I can’t believe that I’m still doing business with these fucking idiots after 7+ years. If they weren’t a fucking monopoly in the area, I’d have dumped them LONG AGO, but, unfortunately, where I live, they ARE a monopoly, which is WHY they get away with charging $45 for ‘advanced cable’, which is complete shit anyways!

Long story short:
If I wasn’t tied to tivo so much (standard dvr does NOT work for shit, and can’t do HALF of what tivo does), I’d have dumped mediacon long, long ago. These guys are the mere definition of a poorly run business. If you can get away with it, stay as far away from Mediacon as possible!

I want to take a moment and wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Enjoy time with your family, and drive safe if you are.

Tom

The snow is about 2-3 feet deep out there right now, something I don’t think I’ve seen in Iowa since I moved here (the first year was pretty nasty), the temp down to -8 (without the windchill), Christmas is definitely in the air!

I remember a number of years ago, spending Christmas on some mountainous ski resort (usually drinking some hot beverage in the lodge), occasionally being brave enough to take a few runs down the mountain. This was something I did regularly, and damnit I loved it even then.

You’d think a single guy destined to be alone forever would hate this time of year, most do. Not me. I love it! I love being able to give, give, give (not that I need a time of year for that, it just comes out more this time of year). I love the snow, I love the LIFE this time of year. Everything about it, I just love.

If ye’r lucky, I’ll put some pics up with the new camera when it gets here on Tuesday, show the absolute beauty of this place in the Winter. I’m not talking about the apartment complex (God knows it’s ridiculous, and I’m getting out of here as soon as I can), but the general area. This place is just beautiful when all covered in snow.

TTFN,

Tom

What you’ll need
To successfully upgrade your PS3 hard drive (without losing data), you’ll need a few things:
1: A Thumb Drive
2: Two DIFFERENT phillips screwdrivers (I could not do it with just one, the screws to be removed appear to be two completely different sizes)
3: A new Hard Drive (2.5″ SATA @ 5400 RPM)
4: A USB SATA Enclosure and an extra drive formatted as FAT32, with appropriate USB cables.
5: A kitchen knife (or flathead screwdriver)

Now that you’ve got all this assembled, let’s get down to the brass tacks, how to do this:

Step 1 (with external hard drive and enclosure)
To start with, put the extra hard drive in the enclosure, turn the power on and plug it into the PS3’s USB port. How to do this will vary from enclosure to enclosure, so I’m not going to go into details to putting it together.

Now that you’ve got the drive plugged in, it’s time to back up the PS3. Go into the PS3, exit out of all applications and games, and in the XMB, navigate to Settings. In there, find the “system settings” menu, hit X, then scroll down to Backup Utility. Hit X again, then select Back Up. This should pull up a couple of warnings. One will be about trophies (follow their instructions there), another about wanting to do this, really. Select Yes, and your PS3 will start looking for a place to back up to.

If your PS3 DOESN’T recognize the drive, you have to reformat it as a FAT32 disk, or you can simply create a partition (or a number of them) using Windows on this disk that are fat32. I won’t go into the ‘howto’ of that now, but maybe later.

Step 1 (with just a flash drive!)
Plug your flash drive into the USB port
Using your PS3, go to the Game menu, then down to the Saved Data Utility menu.
Scroll down to each item in the “Saved Data Utility Menu”, click Triangle, then ‘copy’ data do your flash drive.

Now that we’ve got Step 1 out of the way, let’s go to step 2
If you used your flash drive to get the data backed up, you will need to remove it from the PS3 and place it in your PC. If it’s not in your PC and you DIDN’T use your flash drive to back up data, then plug it into your pc.
Pull up your web browser, and view this page. Follow their instructions specifically on downloading the latest firmware (to a PC), because you’ll probably need it.

Now, let’s go to step 3
On the PS3, go to Games, then select trophies. Wait for your trophies to sync!
Turn OFF the PS3, unplug it, then remove it from all devices (tv, stereo, etc)
Take the PS3 to a clean table or surface
Using your kitchen knife (or flathead screwdriver), pry the black hard drive enclosure cover off the side of the ps3. It will be a noticable cover, on the left side (if you have the ps3 front facing you).
Using the phillips head screwdriver, remove the first (blue) screw from the drive case
There will be a lever, or latch that you will need to use to pull the PS3 drive from the case itself. Using that, pull it out (don’t force it, it should come out easily enough).
Using the phillips screwdriver, you will want to unscrew ALL of the screws holding the drive in the drive tray.
Finally, remove the drive itself from the tray.
Once the drive is removed, store it somewhere safe, because you MAY need to return the system to sony, and you don’t want to give them your larger drive;)
Put the new drive in the tray, and put the screws back in. Make sure it’s in EXACTLY how it came out!
Replace the tray in the PS3, and put the latch back in, then screw the Blue screw in.
Put the cover back on the drive bay.

Now, the drive is replaced, let’s go to step 4:
Plug your system in, connect all devices, but do NOT turn it on (yet).
Find the flash drive that you used to get the PS3 system update, and plug it into the USB port
Find one of your charging cables (for controller), and connect a controller to it.
Turn the system on.
If all goes well (and it should), you will have a short pause while the system loads the current firmware, and you’ll be good to go from there.

Step 5, restoring data
Once your system is backed up, it’s time to restore your data. To do this, make sure that you have your flash drive (or USB enclosed drive) handy, and follow these steps.

Plug the drive into the PS3 USB port
For Enclosed drives, you need to go to Settings -> System -> Backup, and choose RESTORE
For flash drives, you need to go to Games -> Saved Data , choose the FLASH DRIVE, and individually copy each data to the PS3.

Now, for the caveats!
Caveat #1: The system will NOT copy all of your downloaded content. This has something to do with Sony’s licensing, and it’s fine, because you can download it again (up to 5 times per item).

Caveat #2: The system will NOT back up all game save data. There are a FEW from EA that do not back up (specifically the Need for Speed franchise), and I’m sure there are others. This is a game manufacturer choice, and, quite frankly a poor one.

Caveat #3: The system will NOT back up ANY of your ‘game data’ (the stuff copied from the disk to the hard drive), updates, etc. This is something you will need to do individually for each and every game. Had I known this, I would have simply used my flash drive, instead of buying a HD enclosure, but I had a spare HD anyways

Caveat #4: Sony claims that changing the hard drive may void warrantee. I’m sure that’s just a gimmick to get you to buy their bigger hard drive systems, but hey, you’ve been warned!

All in all, the hardware upgrade was the easiest thing about this. Getting data back on the system from 30+ games was a MAJOR pain in the ass, and restoring was quite simple. Of course, now I have a PS3 with 200+ gig free, as opposed to a PS3 with barely 30 gig free like before. More space = more fun, more games, more entertainment!

Anyways, this place has undergone a pretty decent overhaul. Finally, I found a theme that I could deal with (commercially), as opposed to my previous experience, and I find that I’m much, much happier with this thing now that the theme looks good.

The gallery is back from the dead (see the link at the top and on the sides)
The adverts aren’t gone for good, but they’re gone for a while. I need to find a way to integrate things around a bit
I’m starting to love the page more and more. Maybe I’ll keep this thing (theme) around for a bit

Tom

Not vegetables!

I’m not one of those guys that will say “Vote for this guy”, “Vote for that guy”, because, honestly, I feel this is something that needs to be a personal choice. Here’s a few things though that you may (or may not) already know, and my thoughts (which will reveal, of course, whom I’ve voted for):

Firstly, in the Pres. race, we’re left with two choices that really aren’t that good.

McCain:

1. Somewhat of a good choice, but he’s got a bad history of repeating the same old same old rhetoric, despite claiming he “wants change”.
2. A bit old for my taste (IIRC, I read he would be the oldest elected in the office, though that MAY be wrong, so don’t quote me), and Palin, I just don’t think could cover the office.
3. A bit more “trash talking” than I’d like, but maybe that’s just because there’s more trash to dig up.
4. Not too fond of the “Joe the Plumber” stunt

All in all McCain seems to have his head together, and be the more experienced and rounded out candidate for the job. However, he’s just too old and too ‘experienced’ for the job (at least that is my opinion)
Obama:

1. Can’t be trusted. He’s proved that many times, but recently by saying one thing re: campaign finances, then doing another
2. Very scary social ties. You can’t simply deny ties like that
3. MORE taxes? Yeah, that’s what this country needs. No matter how much a person earns, redistribution of wealth (read: read from rich, give to poor through welfare, etc) is NOT the solution to the problem
4. Completely inexperienced

All in all, Obama is a smooth talker, I’ll give him that, but he just doesn’t have what it takes to do the job. The man has already lied and proven he can’t be trusted, he’s promised to take money from those making more just so that those who don’t want to get a job can ‘bum’ for a while. Come on now, those people work their tail ends off for that money, there is absolutely no way you can justify taxing them more for “redistribution”.

Personally (and I’ve said this before), I think we’re screwed again this year, just like we were four years ago. Bush / Kerry was a joke, as is McCain/Obama. Either way we, as the people of the U.S. are taking it up the crapper because of politics, but at least with ONE we’re not going to be taking MORE of it (higher taxes, etc).

Do we WANT 4 more years of the same old same old attitude? No, but we have to understand that the problems facing us today, as a country, came about LONG before Bush came in, LONG before Clinton came in (though he did have a part in it), and show great lack of foresight on BOTH party’s administrations. The economy is screwed, and that COULD have been prevented when Clinton was in office, with a little bit of foresight (we’re a global market now and have been for YEARS, why was nothing done THEN about it?).

Personally, I say fire ‘em all. Trash both parties, abolish them both, and ban all current and previous (serving) members of both parties from serving ever again. Get new, fresh blood in there, who WILL listen to what their constituents want, and get rid of the party lines. THAT is what needs to happen. Of course, nobody’s got the balls to do it, so it won’t ever happen.

Taxes? Don’t make me laugh. The country collects more taxes than ever before, yet for some reason is in a pit of debt which just keeps getting deeper and deeper. Here’s a thought:

STOP KILLING PEOPLE IN IRAQ
STOP GIVING MONEY AWAY FOR HAVING BABIES
STOP GIVING GRANTS FOR STUPID, RIDICULOUS BS!
STOP PAYING ATTENTION TO LOBBYISTS

I won’t go into the rest of my political thoughts, though, it would actually do good for people to pay attention here, because if we DO keep going the way we’re going, we WILL end up more screwed than we already are!

That would conclude today’s political rant. Have a nice day, and please, for the love of God, go out there and vote next week if you haven’t done so already!