Another one bites the dust...

I had every intention of actually blogging about Christmas finally, but I guess I will get to that later. So Bob, my wonderful laptop, has a defective battery. Yeah, just my luck my expensive toy is broken. I've been getting a warning that I need to consider replacing my battery, for whatever reason it would continue to read at 100% after having used it for several hours.

I don't typically purchase extended warranties for products as often they are a ripoff, however for the computer I went ahead and did so. With the warranty Best Buy replaced my battery with a new one that has an extended life, sweet. I haven't used that one yet, because wouldn't you know, the next day after I went in to report the problem, the battery seemed to be working fine again and I had gotten no further errors. I was frustrated and wondered what was going on. In the end I chalked it up to what we call electronics in our home, stupid pieces of junk.

Tonight however, the battery started acting up again. I decided to contact HP customer service as the computer is still under their warranty as well. I was on hold to speak to a tech for twenty minutes, then spent fifteen minutes performing tests and trying to determine what was really wrong. Then another twenty minutes on hold waiting for a hardware tech. Only to find out there was another test that had to be performed or I would be charged for the new battery. In the end I spent over 90 minutes with customer service. The end determination? The battery is defective and needs to be replaced, huh, like the warning that it has been giving me saying to replace the battery, nah, we need tech guys to figure things out.

Oh well, in the end I will have two brand new batteries, and just one of them pays for the extra warranty that I purchased. I guess I made a good call this time.

What really gets us is how often this seems to happen to us, almost any new thing we get we seem to have major problems shortly thereafter.

-X-Box - quit working after 1 month
- James' computer Robby - screeching noise after first day - processor was improperly seated
- Toyota Sienna - defective after two months
- SanDisk MP3 Player - died after 2 weeks
- Microsoft Zune MP3 - severe hardware malfunction after 3 months
- TV - does not respond to remote - have had it fixed three times over four years
- Firewire/USB PCI card - failed on install, USB's worked but Firewire never did
- Robby the computer - motherboard failed and took all data on hardrives with it after three years
- Refrigerator - failed after six years
- Microwave hood - failed after five years
- My laptop Bob- battery failed after two months

I think we must be unlucky!

Seriously!?!

Yesterday I was going through the months budget and realized that we had a bit more money left than I had expected. Well wouldn't you know that today that and the money that we were planning on using for a fence just went sailing out the window.

I got home earlier and James told me that our freezer and fridge wasn't working. He checked the compressor and found out that the relay was bad. Apparently Whirlpools made in 2003 have a problem with their relays burning out. There are whole forums of people out there that are having the problem this month, crazy! He replaced the relay and started the fridge up again, but apparently it had already damaged the compressor, awesome...

So anyways a trip to Lowe's was in order. We got a nice new one, and for the heck of it, while already shelling out my firstborn and a leg, I am getting the microwave replaced. I am tired of having to use a microwave on the counter instead of the great invention of one over the stove.

So yeah, I think I will stick to not looking at the budget and getting excited for a little extra, each time I do, something goes wrong.............

December books

This month found me once again spending more time with Bob than with the good books of the world. I did manage to read a few good ones though. At the end of the month I did start reading Persuasion and I am having a hard time getting into it. I did however get about 20 new books between my birthday and Christmas, so once I put Bob down, I can get a lot of reading done.

I did make my reading goals for 2009. I finished a total of 31220 pages. I made the goal to first make it to 25000, and then I upped it to 30000. I think that for next year I am going to keep the goal at 30000. With having a baby later in the year I am not sure how many pages I will get done, but here goes...

Prophecy of the Sisters - 352
Michelle Zink
This was an interesting tale of sisters who as the title stats are part of a prophecy. The prophecy is a world ending type and they each must learn of the part that they play in either the fulfilling or the ending of it. Overall, the story was good and I look forward to the sequels to see where the author takes us.

Dreamhunter - 384
Elizabeth Knox
In this tale there is a place that only certain people can enter, while in there they receive dreams that they can they project and share with the world. As usual the government intervenes and causes all types of problems in this. The story is fun and I am looking forward to seeing how it ends.

The King in the Window - 416
Adam Gopnik
I received this book at our book club party in December and found it to be an enjoyable book. Apparently there are wraiths that live in the windows and villains that live in mirrors. An American boy living in Paris is chosen as the new king of the Window Wraiths and has to save the world from the man in the mirror. The story had it's flaws in some of the execution, but the overall story was pretty good.

Total for December: 1152
Total for 2009: 31220

Total books for 2009 - 85
Average of 7 books a month