irrigação

irrigação, originally uploaded by ricardosilva.
heres a nice random pict that popped up on my screen.

OnStar

dsc_0331, originally uploaded by ikishk.
"How can I help you little one?"

Another bad experience at Mesa Rosa constituted an email...

Hi. My husband and I went to the Mesa Rosa location in Round Rock for the second time this evening. Our first experience was not pleasurable, so it had taken us three months to decide to give it another chance.

To start, my husband's straw was dirty. I'm not sure if it had fallen on the floor or if somebody with dirty hands had touched it... but that just wasn't nice. I tried to order your #4 combination platter and asked if it was possible to substitute Flaquitos for the two tacos which were supposed to be included. Our waiter said she would check and get back to us. He then told us that "they said" this could not be done... I then asked, "even with an extra charge"... so he had to go check on that. Next, a woman, whom I assume was the assistant manager, came over and said that it was not possible to substitute flaquitos and that you didn't have an a la carte price for them... and asked if that was okay. I said, "no, I'd like to change my order"... she gave me a look and said that I couldn't do that and that my order was almost ready. We told her that wasn't right and that the order wasn't supposed to have been submitted until this was sorted out. I was able to change my order to just the Flaquito dinner. When they brought our food out, my plate was fine... however, my husband's was wrong. He had ordered the combination enchilada platter and had ordered it with double rice. Instead they brought it out with beans. When he told the server that this was wrong, she gave him a dirty look and repeated that what he said in an annoyed tone.... she did finally take it back to "fix" it.... however, all she did was scrape the beans off of the plate and put rice in its place. :\ During this time, the couple behind us was being served. The server dropped her mitt on the floor and then picked it up and dusted it off, and used it to serve the table -- touching their food with the dirty mitt. At the end of our meal, the other manager came by and apologized and said that I was told the wrong info about flaquitos, etc and we told her about all of the problems and she said that she wanted to comp our meal.... oddly, she comp'd only the flaquito portion. We weren't really looking for a free meal.. at that point we just wanted to leave... we just find it odd that it was partially comp'd.

Needless to say, we don't plan on making a return trip to the Mesa Rosa Round Rock location at any point. It is rather sad as we eat out frequently and live right around the corner. We would've rather waited for an hour for a table at Chuy's than have the experiences we have had at your restaurant.

Sincerely,
...

Stupid parents and their lawsuits

I was watching the news yesterday, and there was mention of a suit where 4 parents of 14/15yr old girls are suing myspace because they met an online predator there. why go after myspace, why not the backbone myspace is on, level3. when not sure the electricity company supplying myspace, the backbone, HIS isp and HIS computer. why not sue pizza hut for the pizza he got delivered while the girl was in his house. why not sue the guys HOA for not noticing a pedophile in their midst. why not sue Compaq for allowing this guy to get online. why not sue netgear for allowing a predator to gain online access.

i can go on and on and on in relation to how relevant myspace is to this situation. sure, they met there, but if it wasn't there, it woulda been AIM. gonna sue AIM? PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. these parents lack parental skills and are looking for a scapegoat, plain and simple.

so, why bring this up again (since I'm sure its been commented on a million times), well, today's idiocy:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006600086,00.html

Boy slips under car in his Heelys KIDS were warned to beware of trainers with roller-skate style wheels in the heels after it was revealed a boy suffered brain damage when he slipped in front of a car.

Trendy 55p Heelys shoes -- worn by X Factor's Ray Quinn -- have been a must-have Christmas gift.

But their US makers face a multi-million pound lawsuit after Carlos Procell, 10, rolled back in his as he crossed a road and was hit by a car.

The schoolboy suffered serious head and chest injuries and has been in hospital for a month.

His New Jersey family is suing for compensation, saying the shoes should be fitted with brakes.

Last night Roger Vincent, of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, urged children here to take care.

He said: "Use common sense. Read the instructions and safety tips."

"In the US case, the boy was wearing his Heelys to cross a road. We'd advise against that."

hey idiot, the sole of the shoe is the break, retract the wheel.

Anemometer Froze

So it seems when the sleet and freezing rain came around 6am, my anemometer and rain bucket froze in place. Eiother that or the batteries in the units blew up.... guess we'll see when we thaw out. Yet another reason to not get an OS WMR968!

Samsung DVD-R145

Stay away from this unit, its crap. I just bought a 4k TV from you, the least you can do is give me some decent support for a DVD player! Here are some of my communications with Samsung support, which is also turning into crap:

Initial support request email dated 12/28/06:

I got this DVD player in hopes it would be good, for the price. I've since thought otherwise. I have a child, hitting pause on a DVD is normal. Having that pause turn automaticly into a 'Stop' after only 5 minutes is HORRIBLE. To put salt on the wouldm hitting play after this happens doesnt even compensate for the fact it will miss about 3-4 secs of audio and 2-3secs of video. this is REALLY disappointing. Another problem is with DivX playback. there are horrible lipsync issues if you pause/ff/rw ins the middle of ANY divx file. you have to watch from start to finish, or its just not worth it. FF and RW is very 'sputtery' as if it was a digital file on a computer, not a dvd being FF/RW.

All these things seem like software/firmware issues which can be resolved. Every time I call up support, I basicly get told 'thats the way it is.' For $200, this is NOT the way it should be. So I have a couple questions:

1) can you help me?
2) can this timeout be disabled or extended?
3) can this FF/RW sputter be addressed?
4) is this DivX problem fixable?
5) can a stop/play 'buffer' be implimented? ie. if i hit stop, and play after that, some sort of compensation, like 5-10secs BEFORE the stop mark.
6) any firmware update for dvd-r145
7) can you actually help me?

Support reply, date 1/12/07

Sorry about the trouble your running into.

I am sorry about the pause going to stop after 5 mins. this is a feature most dvd players and vcr's have. This is preset in the unit and can not be adjusted. For the quality of the divx play back you need to consult divx. since most divix files are files people coonverted from dvd's or mpegs then shared on a file sharing network the quality can not be garantied. I would sugest buying or renting dvd's instead.

Please call us to troubleshoot this issue over the phone. Please call us at 1-800-SAMSUNG and select menu option 4,1,1

My reply to support on 1/12/07:

As a customer who just purchased a $4k HLS5679w, I should expect SOME help. I went out of my way to thoroughly explain my issues, and this reply, over 2 weeks later doesnt even touch the main issues. and this 5 min "feature" isnt on every dvd player, and should be a selectable option.

Now please answer all SEVEN of my questions. I'm really disappointed with this unit, and so far with this support. I want to be helped, not handed off. You can even get me in contact with an engineer to further explain these issues if your customer support checklist doesnt cover technically minded customers who want answers

Support pissed me off so much I'm reviewing the product where I can:
Amazon
CNET

Solar powered fan asperated radiation shield

I finally got around to taking pictures of my latest weather modification:

https://www.kishk.org/picts.cgi/20070104-01

I took a good idea, and made it better. the original plan called for a glued in fan and unprotected sensor. My version allows you to unscrew the fan housing to access the wires to swap out the fan easily, and not ontop of a ladder. Second alteration is the larger extended sensor housing.

My original sensor malfunctioned, which i think may be because of it being exposed to the air without its original housing. In this version I added a wider pvc pipe to allow you to just slip the original sensor housing in. The fan is powered via a 5w 12/24v solar panel, which in turn is wired to a 12AH batter and has a 8w diode to the 12v fan. the fan only fun when there is "radiation exposure" and a bit after until the battery gets spent.

My original setup is explained here. Additions to this shopping list are:
5w 24/12v solar panel
old directv mount
4ft aluminum "L" (to make a bracket for the solar panel)
wire
12AH batter
8v diode
anything to enclose the battery from the element (soda coolers work great)
2" -> 1" reducer
1-2ft 2" pvc
and of course, leave the THGR968 in its casing, but remove the mushroom head.

Scam buyers on Craigslist

So, you list something on CL and you get all excited when you get an email. then you read the broken engrish and offer of more money....

---------- Original message ----------
From: saragh timmy <[email protected]>
Date: Jan 3, 2007 1:53 AM
Subject: Samsung DVD player/recorder DVD-R145 - $199
To: [email protected]

** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html

Hello ...Good day, i am really suprised that you are selling the item out, i am intrested in it as well and also i will pay you extra $90 to end the bid early bcos of my urgency.I will like to make a quick purchase on the item cos i am using it as a gift to a friends son who is out of the states,he is really going to love it.My method of payment is via online Usps Money order.If ok by you kindly get back to me with your full name and address of where you want the money order to be mailed out to so i can proceed with payment immedaitely.I will take all the shipping responsibilities and i will like the item to be shipped via my fedex account once my payment is confirmed.So you wont need to pay any shipping cost cos all the shipping cost will be billed to my account.So once the payment has been approved and you have recieved the payment confirmation,i will send you the neccessary shipping documents.plz get back to me with your full name and address so that i can proceed with the payment with your confirmed email addy

Even the CL email pretext warns you of this, yet you have to wonder why they need the pretext, do people actually fall for this? Ironically, my CL listing has links to a google checkout and my own store for non-local buyers to get their stuff shipped. its like they dont even read it.... "ooo, a new listing, lets just spam it!"

I left this persons email address intact so that you may spam them. enjoy.

UPDATE: I just got another one, this time they didnt come out and say they are scammers....

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: jamal smith <[email protected]>

Date: Jan 3, 2007 10:25 AM

Subject: Treat as urgent........

To: Isaac Kishk

I am very grateful and impressed you reply my question and i am ready to make the immediate payment which is via AlertPay Money Order and for the payment to commence all i need is your payment address and your full email address so the payment can be made and once the payment has been approved by the Alertpay Money Oder Company you will receive a confirmation notification mail from AlertPay for you to be sure that i have paid for the item and after the confirmation has been recieved,the shipment will take place which will be handled by my self cuz i have an account with a shipping company(Fedex Courier Service)by sending you fedex prepaid slips.
(Note):-You might have recieved some offers from different people reg arding your item,but i will like to be the highest bidder,so for this reason i am offering $280 for the item hope you will accept my offer.So kindly send me your payment address for the payment to be posted immediately to your contact address.Thanks
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Isaac Kishk"
> To: "jamal smith"
> Subject: Re: Samsung DVD player/recorder DVD-R145 - $199
> Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2007 09:25:13 -0600
>
> yes.
>
> On 1/3/07, jamal smith wrote:
> > ** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
> > ** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
> > ** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
> > ** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html
> >
> > Hello
> > do you still have this itemfor sale....
> >

again, who falls for this sh*t? my reply? "CASH, local" even though I shouldnt have bothered, just wanna see if he'll reply :)