How NOT to get customer support

Yesterday as I was trying to get information from the SONY support site, I clearly found the wrong way to ask for product information. Typically when trying to find support, the desire to put up with a bad site to solve the problem at hand is very different from a shopping experience. In my case I bought my product at BestBuy but the only way for me to get help is on the SONY site as this is a brand new product and Ms. Google did not offer me any advice. Let's walk thru what I mean.

I went to sony.com and found the support site, besides the fact that side-pull menus are bad this is the menu path to the support site:

I just happened to have my product model number but the main support site is so colorful that my eye is drawn to the 6 boxes in the middle, none of which help me. The good news is that the bright orange  "GO" button also draws my eye and so I enter my model number of "SVF14N13CXB" and click on the "GO" button.

It takes me right to the correct place with every thing I need, or so I thought. Turns out I need some individualized help so I try the "Chat Now" link.

I see they have automatically filled in the model number, which is really nice:

The customer experience is just as I expected and is just about as simple as it can be. I find entering my email address a bit suspect but over the past few days I see how it is helpful in saving the chat transcript for later reference so I over look that part.

This is NOT what happened to me yesterday as I had to walk thru a horrible process of entering my product number is huge hierarchy of existing SONY electronic products. I wonder what prompted them to fix the form and allow a free form model text box entry? Too many customers complain or did someone in customer support try to help a customer and saw and reported the problem? It was definitely not useful. I saved the screens to show just how bad it can be...

Instead of a text box I have to select from a hierarchy:

After scrolling thru the manageable list, I find "Personal Computer" and click on it to see my choices under it:

At first the list appears to be alphabetically sorted, but when I see products starting with "V" followed by some starting with "S" I realized I have to take my time and look for my model number in the whole list. I finally find my model number at the bottom and then realize this list is ordered by historical release date from oldest at the top to newest at the bottom, so my model is near the bottom:

Then I see that it has filled my selections into a very interesting looking drop down menu in the chat form:

Fully expecting to be done with the torture form, I am then presented with a set of choices that are just not the best way to build customer confidence in your site:

Besides the fact that it did not help me, having a bunch of identical links definitely appears to be a bug. I give up and try the "Chat Now" button and then I am presented with yet another form:

It is kind of sad that I have spent so much time so far and gone thru three different screens and still not gotten any personalized help. The last screen makes sense as the support team wants to know the specific model number when the process of going thru the product hierarchy only filtered the model down to a family of products.

This perfectly illustrates the current solution to this for customers is to allow them to enter a model number and verify it after they entered it as it is so much easier.

From concept to reality in 6 weeks - part 2

Now that I have a Windows 8.1 Pro machine setup with all of the patches, the next step is to get the Windows Phone 8 development environment up and running. Hopefully this is easier than the day I spent on get my new Windows laptop running.

First thing is to get the Windows Phone SDK 8.0. The first decision of the day is to figure out which Microsoft page to use. We have the main download center Windows Phone SDK 8.0. There is also the developer center for Windows Phone SDK 8.0. I choose the one on the development center page as it has an update to support new emulators since SDK 8.0 was released on 30-Oct-2012. I found that date on the main Microsoft download site and realized that it is a year old. That is good for me as that means I am not on the bleeding edge of Windows development, which for me is somewhere I never want to be. The download link is an installer, which was only 1 MB in side so it downloaded quickly. It comes with a Visual Studio Express 2012 Edition. On the developer site it states that the actual download is 1.6 GB, which is the size of the download that the install retrieves I assume. I immediately went ahead and downloaded the SDK 8.0 Update at the same time.

After getting Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Phone (VSE) up and running, I decided to go ahead and sign up for a free developer account, since the initial download is free for 30 days and then you have to have a Microsoft account. I used the same Microsoft account I signed up for before purchasing the laptop and the same one I use to login to my laptop. To do this, when VSE came up I clicked on the "Joining the developer program" link on the Start Page. Guess what happens when you click that link? I got a Script Error! You have to be kidding me. That brings back bad memories of my past using Microsoft products. I quickly clicked on YES button for the question "Do you want to continue running scripts on this page?". I then see that VSE has loaded the register page in a tab within VSE that is actually an IE window that points to part of the developer Publish tab for the Join the program page.

Next up for me is to get example code as that for me is the best place to get started to learn what I can do. Last week I read up on the API and visual components to Windows Phone 8. It turns out that I can get all of the samples in C++, C# and JavaScript in one place. I need some Nokia map examples as that is the most important thing I must get working this week. I jump over the here.com and look for sample code there. Last week I learned that the big difference between Windows Phone 7 and 8 is the switch from bing.com maps to Nokia here.com maps. Finally some good news, when I see that Nokia here.com map sample source code is available on GitHub. I know how to do GitHub, but have never attempted it on Windows. Things are starting to look up as there is a GitHub client for Windows. The download and install was painless as I already had a GitHub account so I logged in using my personal account. I then skipped back over to the on the Nokia developer page and used the Git URL to download all of the maps samples. So now I have all of the Microsoft and Nokia example source code on my laptop. Now let me load a couple of them and see if I can run the emulator...

It has been around 10 years since I used Visual Studio, so this is going to be like starting all over again. I decided to go back to the Windows Phone 8 page and try to work thru an simple example before I get to crazy with the samples. Instead of a way too boring and overused Hello World example, Microsoft choose to show how easy it is to open a web browser in Windows Phone 8 as their first example. I am just going to reserve my comments on VSE as the initial shock is just going to be too great to want to compare it to the slow Eclipse for Java or Apple Xcode for iOS, which are the only two other IDEs that I have used in the last 10 years. These tools take a while to master and each is different and just takes a while to get used to. Maybe by the end of the week I can make a better judgement call on the differences.

In order to build my first Windows Phone 8 app, I just followed the steps on the page how to create your first app for Windows Phone. All went fine until I tried to run the app in the emulator. I got an error message that I did not have the emulator configured correctly. I guess I missed one of the BIOS settings that I was careful to make sure my laptop supported. Then I tried exit VSE and saw the most meaningful message that I have seen today, a big red (X) icon followed by "0x80131500". That was so helpful it hurts. When I clicked OK on the error dialog, I saw the same "0x80131500" in the Error List at the bottom of VSE. If all else fails, then click on the window close button and everything was magically fixed by closing VSE.

Now I need to check the BIOS settings, so I bring up the instructions on my Mac laptop so I can read them when rebooting my Windows machine and need to check the BIOS settings. I then find the system requirements page and find the page that explains issues with setting up Hyper-V for emulator. Now I have a problem as I have to figure out how to access the BIOS on my Sony VAIO laptop, since the article mentions "", or "" or "" as typical ways to get to the BIOS on reboot. I would prefer not to try multiple times as that is just painful. I head over the Sony's site and find out the PS4 is now available. That is helpful but I don't care. I try "Support" at the top of the page and then select Electronics, since my only options are Playstation or Entertainment. I am clearly not in a playful mode nor do I feel entertained. The only clear choice on the next side pull menu is Product Support which leads me to a very confusing page. Thankfully I know to get the model number for my Sony laptop, so I enter SVF14N13CXB in the box in the middle of the page and hope for the best. At least I am taken to the correct page as I see my computer name at the top Fit 14A / Flip PC. There is a big search box on the right, so I entered BIOS and hope that something pops up that is useful. I click on the top most link and unfortunately for me I see a page with "Permission Denied" in big bold letters followed by "An illegal parameter was received" in small text below it. That was not helpful at all. I went back and clicked on the next link and the same think happened. Then in act of desperation I click on the link to chat with a Sony rep. It takes me to a form that looks simple on the surface, but then I have to enter my product and that is just as painful as it can get. I have a very small box that has tons of options. I search thru the whole list and then pick "Personal Computer", which opens a few choices. I select "Laptop PC" since that is what I believe I have but now computers are getting confusing as I have a laptop that pretends to be a tablet! I am so happy I know the model number as how I get to scroll thru a very large sorted list looking for it - problem is that the list is not sorted alphabetically so it makes it very hard to find. I cannot enter the number so I have to find it in the list, categorized in a way I don't understand. I finally find my model number at the bottom so it must be ordered historically. When I wait patiently for a bit, then I see a dialog popup with the same text repeated five times. I click on the top one and it takes me to something not useful at all as it is a patch to the BIOS and has a date of 10/21/2009, so something tells me that is not helpful since my computer was just released this year. I then decide to give up and chat with someone. I click on the live chat button and then I see a screen that tells me the product I entered does not exist which was a generic series of "SVF14N1SERIES". At least now I am presented with some choices that are close to what computer I have. I find my model number and enter into yet another chat. Hopefully the customer experience will get better now that I am chatting with a real person. I found help within one minute, so at least Sony got that part right. I was told to follow instructions on the BIOS page sent to me thru chat. The only thing I found in the BIOS menus related to the Hyper-V emulator settings was "Intel(R) Virtualization Technology" was disabled under the Advanced menu. I enabled it and then saved the settings and exited, hoping this was all I need to change.


Now that I have conquered changing the BIOS settings, I reboot the laptop and switch to Desktop view. I just cannot remember how to open programs in Desktop mode as I have to find the VSE program to start it again. Since the start menu is gone in Desktop mode and opening Windows Explorer required me to search for a file name, I am kind of hosed. I remembered where VSE saved my project file so I navigated to it and double clicked on the VSE project file in "C:\Users\Rick\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\MiniBrowser". When I tried to run the emulator it failed again.

I went back into the chat window and refreshed it so I did not have to wade thru their chat screens that prove usability matters and definitely leaves an impression when done incorrectly. I sent the Microsoft link to the SONY support person and he sent me instructions on how to enable Hyper-V on SONY laptops using Windows 8.1 Pro. I tried to following the instructions and found out they did not work as they were Windows 8 Pro instructions and I needed Windows 8.1 Pro instructions. At least the SONY support person waited for me to go thru the steps and the chat window did not expire like with other hardware sales people I chatted with on Friday. That is a good plus for them that is started to out weigh the bad chat screens I had to go thru. After following the instructions with some chat help and rebooting my laptop, I restarted VSE and this time I remembered that I needed to use the search charm and search for "VS E" and it comes right up. When I re-launched VSE, I saw a different error message about permission denied and when I clicked Retry button, a system prompt came up and when I accepted that message, the emulator ran and I see a Windows Phone on my laptop. Success and time to go home!

Day one - get computer working.
Day two - get Windows Phone app running in emulator.

first impressions of Windows 8

I should at least comment on what I see as I begin to use Windows 8 for the first time...

I have been using computers for 30+ years, so I should be able to figure this new beast out. I want to try it out for a bit before I switch to use Desktop mode which is familiar enough that I can get my work done ...

I know flat design is in but it sure it hard knowing what I can click on tap on. The good thing is that my new laptop came with a 4 page color quick start guide to help me get started as I would never guess I have to put the mouse in the upper right hand corner to see the Windows dock - sorry I mean list of charms. Who thought calling icons on the screen charms was a good idea? I thought charms were those things that girls wear on necklaces or on their wrists. Then again icons are not small like drawings on the screen either. I miss my Mac Finder Spotlight as on Windows 8 I must search within a context. For instance in the quick start guide it states that I must click on Search charm and then Settings and then search for Windows Update. So very sad.

My favorite so far is when I installed the VAIO updates as it automatically switched me to Desktop mode instead of the Start screen. Of course I had to wait for the standard Microsoft progress screens of downloading and installing for endless minutes. Kind of amusing that anyone would want to see the Desktop mode as all I care about is that my updates have worked. The standard Windows Update is all I care to see. It is pretty odd when the laptop goes into sleep mode as I have to get used to the clock and default drawing of Seattle - wait a second I can change that. It is pretty easy to customize the lock screen background as they have 5 different drawings/photos to choose from - I guess when going to flat it is also time to simplify all of my choices! The default color scheme and stylized drawings available for the Startup screen are pretty odd, but easily to change to one of the provided ones.

I did like the 5 or so screens when I first turned on my laptop as it helped me immediately get WiFi working and since I already had a Microsoft account, which I setup yesterday to access some of the developer documentation, I was able to get on the internet right away. Until of course I started applying updates, which left me plenty of time to blog!

By the way, who came up with the 5 dots that fly in from the left, collect together and then fly off to the right as a way of showing progress? I guess that matches the new spinning dots I see while waiting for updates to be applied while restarting my laptop. Change for change sake I assume.

So I bought a Windows Pro 8, since Windows Phone SDK requires it. I open the nice box and low and behold I see instructions that look good but don't work. Inside the box is a card with a product license key. I have to find out where to enter the code since the instructions don't work. Thankfully I have my mac to enter this blog post and search for answers - wait I have some version of IE available on my VAIO machine so let me try it. That was easy as I just entered "windows 8.1 upgrade" in IE and with two clicks I was on the Windows Store and waiting for the Windows 8.1 download - nice. Of course very nice would have been if when I ran Windows Update then 8.1 would have been an optional choice which I could have checked and it would have been done auto-magically. For now I just want a working computer, so nice will do.

While waiting for the 8.1 download, time to get back to figuring out how to use Windows 8.  Wait, I can try to switch my laptop to be a surface. I look thru the paperwork and find instructions on how to do that. So I can use it in 3 modes: Laptop mode, Viewer mode, or Tablet mode. Viewer mode has less steps and is first so let me try it. Pretty easy with instructions, but I have a problem. My display is up side down. I finally realized it is not an iPad as it did not automatically detect the orientation change. Unfortunately no mention how to get the display to do that, so enough of Viewer mode as that does not help me. Tablet mode was pretty easy and I can see how that would be useful as the screen lays right on top of the keyboard. Maybe one did I will have the Windows Phone emulator working and can demo this to my customer by pretending the laptop is a mobile tablet with their app running on it. When I moved the display back into position, the display automatically switched so maybe the first time it does not work! I surely hope not and expect this to not work again in the future  when I need to use it that way!

Now I did it. When I was messing around with the display I no longer see the Windows 8.1 update screen. I reopened IE and I see my last search right there waiting for me. I got back to the Windows Store and it says I can download the update. It cannot be that bad can it. No it is not, in the upper right hand corner I see green text on the white background telling me something "Updates (20) installing 8.1..." and when I click on that I see a screen that shows 20 medium size boxes with green borders that contains icons and text for apps to be updated - each has a green checkmark in the upper right hand corner. Not sure what that means - have them been installed or ready to be installed or available to be installed? What else would I see there? Maybe a red border with a red "X"? If I click on a box then the green border and check mark are removed. Now I see what they are trying to show me. If I click on "Installing Windows 8.1..." text in the upper right hand corner I see Windows 8.1 is installing. That is odd behavior that I have to toggle back and forth to get an idea of what is going on and what will happen next. I am hoping after Windows 8.1 is installed that the 20 app updates will be installed, but I have no indication that it will occur without me doing something. It down download 8.1 and automatically start the install so maybe there is hope. I would guess I am a couple of restarts away from that happening anyway.

I do like the simple IE in Start mode as I definitely understand that surface users do not need to see a bunch of window decoration when viewing a web site since the web site now takes up as much of the display as possible - nice. I can do this on my Mac but that is an advanced feature and to know how to get out of that mode on my Mac is not totally obvious.

I am now hoping that within 3 hours I will be have a computer ready to install Windows Phone 8 SDK on and my goal is to have my first app running by the end of today - please Microsoft help me achieve my goal and don't get in my way. The good news is that I have plenty of time to memorize the Windows 8 Getting Started guide since I am stuck at "Setting up 83%" for a while - wait it just jumped up to "Setting up 87%"! I thought it was installing Windows 8.1 but it is telling me it is just setting up something. Then all text disappeared and now all I see is a spinning dots and then a total black screen - no wait after a minute it switched back to the spinning dots. Then I see "Getting devices ready" followed by a bunch of screen flickers. If only this was much faster I would not have to be commented on every odd thing I see. It is only because I never have this problem with my Mac. Switching from OSX Lion to OSX Mavericks was an hour and it seemed like an Apple eternity and that jumped one who operating system level as I never installed OSX Mountain Lion. Wait a second, going from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1, how hard could that be as that is a minor version change. Apparently pretty difficult as I have been waiting for an hour now. I am encouraged now as I see "Applying PC settings 25%"; however, the only problem is that I have absolutely no idea how many steps are left or how many I have waded thru. Besides, what does that statement mean that it is applying PC settings? Maybe it is almost done? One can only guess and hope.

More comments on Windows 8 while I am waiting. After looking at the gestures illustrated in the color brochure, how would someone figure these out? Who is the target user for these surface laptops? Definitely not Apple iPad users as the gestures are nothing like those I am used to using. Maybe it is young people that like learning new ways of doing the same thing. It was amazing to watch the young fellow at BestBuy last night swipe his way around so quickly that I could not even tell the gesture he was using, so no hope in learning that way. Now I am at "Setting up a few more things 3%". The only trouble now is that the next message is "Setting a few more things 6%", so my wait will not end soon most likely. Then the most helpful message of the day "Getting ready", right at the 3 hour mark from when I opened the box.

Now I am kind of irritated because when I turned on the laptop this morning it asked me a series of questions and now with Windows 8.1 I am answering the very same ones. I am 100% sure none of those changed in the last 3 hours! This business of sending my email a code that I have to enter as part of the install process is definitely an oddity I was not expecting - maybe that is supposed to make me feel more secure. And then the message "Hi" I see on the screen - which makes it all worthwhile somehow. Instead of just being friendly, now I see the screen rotating thru the color palette with the messages "Taking care of a few things" with "Installing you apps" below it followed by "Taking care of a few things". Then I finally see my startup screen at 3 hours and 5 minutes.

Now I have to give up blogging as I see they have fixed some of the things in Windows 8.1, as now I see text "Everything ˅" above the search box which is definitely going to make finding stuff easier already! Of my gosh, so close and yet so far. When I searched for "Windows Update", I was switched from Start mode to Desktop mode. Now do I get back? They have added the windows logo on the left side of the menu bar and when I click that I get back to Start mode - wow two problems fixed that bothered me that quickly. And just when I thought I was done, it turns out I have two more updates that require yet another restart. I think is about my 5th restart, so I am close to averaging one every 30 minutes so far today. Come on Microsoft is the really the best you can do?

Surely now I am done? I am on step 5 out of 7 on the Sony Quick Start Guide. Sony has tried to get around this Start mode vs. Desktop mode confusion by adding a hardware button called "ASSIST", which automatically switches to Desktop mode. How that is putting a bandaid on top of a bandaid.

And then after 3 and half hours it is all worthwhile as I finally found a match when I searched for "Add features to Windows 8.1" as I paid $100 for Pro and now I realize I don't have to return it to BestBuy and get my money back. And I was able to enter the 20 digits on the plastic card the first time - I think I am getting better at this Windows 8 stuff. My old bad habits are returning just like I wanted to forget about them. Just when I thought everything was done - my code was verified and then it failed on the last step. I go back to the first step and I see the message "This key won't work. Check it and try again, or try a different key.". The only problem is that the key matches as I got someone else to verify, so time to call BestBuy... Who told me I had to bring the machine in and then they could swap out the card for me. When I objected, Mr. BestBuy told me to call the Geek Squad. Hopefully they can help me so I don't have to take it into the store. Bad news, I have a 9 minute wait ahead of me for the geek to rescue me from Microsoft... Turns out no they cannot. What makes matters worse is that the geek hung up on me! How rude!

From concept to reality in 6 weeks - part 1

Early this week at work I was volunteered to take an existing iPad app I designed and to build a working prototype of the same app on a Windows 8 Tablet. Seems simple enough, until I realized what I was up against in working on Microsoft products after a long welcome break. I last worked on a Windows machine 3 years ago. I have used only Apple products at home for over 10 years now. I guess you just forget how simple and lovely life can be until you re-enter the dark side of computing.

I really enjoy working on new things as that is what makes me wake up ready for work early in the morning. It can be scary at times as there are so many unknowns and not only from the technical side but also from the business perspective. I had a hard deadline of January 7th where this app will be shown at a trade conference. The Windows 8 Tablet would ideally work just like the iPad app but that is impossible since it is totally different hardware and user interface. From start to finish the original iPad app took 72 man days which includes design time and all of the time to develop it. I essentially have only 30 man days to get the same design working on a brand new version of Windows on a platform I know nothing about. That would normally mean it is time to panic.

Yesterday, I reviewed these concerns with the customer to make sure it was clear that the task was daunting and yet possible with caveats. We had to agree to set expectations that a full Windows 8 app just like the iPad app was not possible but a great demo can happen if everything falls into place. Then the first bombshell happened as I found out that the brand new physical tablet would not be in my hands until the week before Christmas at the earliest. Still not time to panic yet.

In preparing for that meeting,  I first read the Windows 8 guidelines to get a feel for what was possible. Since geographic maps are a key part of the app I am prototyping, I needed to learn about them for Windows. After some digging I discovered that in Windows Mobile 8 they switched from Bing maps, which were used in Windows Mobile 7.1, to Nokia maps. That is kind of scary, but at least HERE.com has been used elsewhere for a while and then Nokia purchased them and now they are available for Windows 8.

The biggest question of the week is what do I use for a development machine? I found an article on the Windows 8 SDK requirements. I also read that using my Mac is out of the question as the emulator will not work on virtual machines, like VirtualBox. So how do I find a machine that fits the strict Hyper-V requirements? It turns out that no computer manufacturer has this information on the web. I tried Lenovo, Dell, Asus, Samsung, Acer, and Best Buy web sites. Some made it hard to even find out if Windows Pro was available and whether 64-bit machines are the default. I could write a long article on the usability of shopping for a laptop as most of these sites did not help me. I could write another long article on live chat services since I tried chatting with sales and technical staff at Lenovo, Dell, Asus and Samsung. At least the Lenovo sales person told me he did not know but would find out for me and then re-directed me to a technical person who could only find a match in a desktop machine. The number one problem with web sales chat programs is that they timeout if unused, which I fully understand. The problem is while the sales person is searching if they don't say anything and I don't say anything then the session times out and is terminated. This means I get to start all over again. One of the people I chatted with could not get on the web so my Microsoft SDK link was not even visible to them. Then I contacted Dell as I thought that may be a better user experience for me. Turns out it was much worse. I tried 5 times to chat and every time the session expired before I could get help, so I finally gave up. Most of the chat programs send a transcript of the session by email but that was 5 emails I immediately trashed. The person at Asus was the most helpful as he admitted immediately he had no idea but told me to go to BestBuy and get them to reboot the computers I thought looked good and then view the BIOS settings to see if they matched  the Microsoft specs. Finally someone who had a novel and useful idea. I wanted to complete my due diligence and chatted with Samsung and the first person I found gave me the best customer experience of all time. He told me it would be a couple of minutes and sent a message every minute to make sure the session did not time out. He pushed a link to me with an machine that met the specs. It was a bit pricey so when I asked about a cheaper model, he sent me a list of all of the models Samsung sold that matches the spec. Within 10 minutes I had more useful information that the couple of hours I spend trying to find a computer elsewhere.

Then I went to Best Buy last night with the intent to buy a Samsung computer since my chat experience was so great. Turns out that BestBuy had sold out of the model I needed that fit my budget, so I turned to find a BestBuy sales person. I had printed off the Microsoft specs and gave it to the sales person as I was disappointed in thinking I had to start a very long process to find the correct machine and I had an evening meeting I needed to attend within 45 minutes. The sales person was like a kid but he knew how to be helpful so he took me immediately to a machine that fit my needs. Not that I didn't trust him but for $1000 I wanted to make sure I got the correct machine. He looked up the Microsoft article, rebooted the machine and checked the BIOS settings. One of them was not visible, so he downloaded a standalone program to check the remaining one, followed the 10 steps and found my answer than indeed the machine had what I needed. It was just as the Asus man described and I walked out with the computer and today starts my next story...

When to give up

I have decided to resume blogging and the best place to start again is to honor the honorable god of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, who is retiring from cricket at the age of 40. I am sure he must have faults but he really impresses me with his gentlemanly attitude in the age of self glorification in the sight of money and fame. There are very few famous people I have any interest in meeting but this 5' 5" legend would definitely be near the top of my list. When professional athletes world wide are turning into tattooed, self indulgent, ego maniacs, I am so happy to finally see a person worthy of the title of hero and role model. Maybe one day in my visits to India I will get to meet him.

This all reminds me when I was 40 and retired from playing basketball publicly. I still remember the Christmas I turned 7 when I received the wonderful gift of an orange basketball rim. I can picture my dad putting up a square piece of solid plywood above the garage, painting a black square on it and then mounting my shiny new goal on it. I played basketball on that driveway for hours daily for years. Sometimes I would long for people to stop by to play with me no matter how much older they were than me. Hours on end I would dribble around the edge of our long driveway and shoot endless numbers of free throws. My life and dream for many years was to be a professional basketball player. Then I hit high school and I failed to keep growing so was just too short for the basketball team. I switched to cross country running but still loved to play basketball every chance I got. My first year of college I suddenly grew 6" and suddenly I was a reasonable height again for the hardwoods. What made it interesting is that I was always a guard when I was young as I had great ball handling skills from the hours and days of practice and was very fast. Now that I was taller, I was automatically playing forward which I had never done before. All of that self inflicted training paid off.

Well into my late 30's, I typically played basketball a couple of hours every other day. Since I never had any serious injuries related to my knees I made a huge decision to quit at age 40. I had some bad basketball related accidents. While playing in Saudi Arabia, I got hit in the mouth and lost 1/4 of one of my back teeth. In Houston, I was playing with old worn out shoes and the whole side of the shoe blew out when I tried to stop quickly,  which resulted in a horrible 6 months of pain and surgery for plantar fasciitis, followed by 5 years of wearing hard orthotics. The best thing to come out of that time was that I now have real arches as up to that time my foot was totally flat. The scariest injury was when a clumsy fellow who played nasty ran up to me from the side and bumped into my knee at full speed. That resulted in 6 months of daily swimming to rehabilitate my knee so I could play basketball again. I always seem to get injured and my wife would comment on how injury prone I was since I had to go all-out, full steam when playing. Still for me I did not have any ACL or major injury so I played basketball for the last time publicly for my 40th birthday. The only times I have played since it to teach my youngest son that someone twice his age can beat him any time I want!

Jess' pencil drawing

My daughter Jessica has been working a long time on this pencil drawing. The photo does not really do the drawing justice but it will have to do as it is too large to scan.

old softener & filter

always a battle to change the filter

new improved setup

Time to start blogging again and no better time than to document a whole day spent installing a brand new water softener and filter in the garage. My initial plan was to get up early and to finish everything in a couple of hours way before lunch time. That was a little bit too optimistic to say the least.

I never intended to be a plumber on Saturday, but all week long our water has been tasting worse with each passing day. When I shaved each morning, the hot water in the bathroom sink was very yellow and taking a shower was a smelly affair. I ever received complaints that white clothes were turning yellow, so yesterday I decided to take action.

Friday night I removed all of the salt from the old water softener and turned on the bypass valve so it was not being used at all. I then took photos to show the plumbers at the local Home Depot what I needed to replace and to get an idea of the total cost involved.

Saturday morning I returned to Home Depot at 7am ready for action and my list of what I needed. On arriving I got my first indication that my day would not be smooth. There was no plumber at the store and no expected arrival time of one. I found great help so tried to remember what the plumber told me the night before. Five trips and 28 driving miles later I had everything I needed - thankfully Home Depot is close by!

One of my goals was to make changing the water filter easier while replacement the broken water softener. Also pipes coming out of the moulding seemed like a poor idea so that needed some redesign. I did not want to get too radical so I bought the newest models of the same equipment so the installation would good smoothly. I would probably be still working on it if I didn't make that wise choice.

Today in looking at my handy work, it just does not look like a job that would take 10 hours, but clearly I am not a plumber and just an amateur. I really don't want it to be a hobby either but if I have to do it I will.

Jess' Painting of her best friend

Jess' Ocean Painting

Jess' Ocean Painting that she just finished today:

more drawings by Jess

These are the latest set of drawings by my daughter from her 9th grade Art class.

Salt Lake City

I had a business trip to Salt Lake City and since I will probably never return there I explored around the city in my extra time. It was surprised at the snow capped mountains visible around the city in the month of May. I took my life in my hands and ventured around Mormon Temple square. Kind of odd to see tons of 20 year old girls proselytizing every one who signed up for a personal "free" tour. Also odd to see tons of people getting married. I stopped to ask a camera man, who also tried to convert me, about why so many women were dressed in wedding gowns. He said one wedding every 15 minutes starting in the month of May. I must say that the Mormons do build impressive buildings. You must be a Mormon to go into the Salt Lake Temple but all other buildings were open to the public. The last few photos I took from the airplane as I had a great view of the mountains surrounding Salt Lake City from the air as it was the only day without any clouds.

San Francisco trip

It has been a while since I posted anything to my blog. At the end of April we all went out to see my son graduate from Ex'pression College with a B.Sc. in Audio Engineering. These are the best photos we took of the trip:

http://50yearadventure.com/SanFrancisco/

These are my favorite family shots:

Jess' pencil drawings

Somehow all of the sudden our daughter got the drawing bug out of nowhere. Pretty amazing stuff for going from little miss crafts to a young budding artist.

Jess' school project art work

For Earth Science homework this week, my daughter had to make bumper stickers for the four major Geologic Eras. The following is the results:

Duke Sarcoma walk/run

This year I attended a Walk/Run for Sarcoma at Duke. I went with my friend David Ostiguy. In the same event last year, David was the special speaker and this is what he said as he gave me his speech afterwards:



Six years ago, I was diagnosed with alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma in my right hand.  My wife and I were 26 years old and we had only been married for 11 months.  We were cancer virgins.  From the instant we were told I had cancer, I remember feeling absolutely numb.  It was not until my first chemotherapy treatment that I started to feel again.  While walking the halls of Duke University Hospital during that treatment, I remember feeling pretty good and thinking to myself maybe 10 months of chemo would not be so bad and we would soon be able to put this cancer thing behind us in no time.  Boy, was I wrong! Soon afterwards, I was back in my hospital room throwing up in front of my wife for the first time, and it would not be the last.

Fast forward six years to today, through appointments, scans, recurrences, second opinions, surgeries, amputations, chemo, radiation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, infections, fevers, hair loss, transfusions, medications, joy, laughter, sadness, anger, frustration, tears, prayers, birthdays, anniversaries, births, deaths, and the love and support from family, friends, co-workers, doctors and nurses, I would do it all over again if given the choice.  

I have learned that I have the strength, resolve, and patience to survive one of the more serious and adverse situations one can face in life.  Secondly, I have learned compassion and that being able to help others through their own adversities is so worthwhile.  Finally, I have learned that sarcoma and I share a common trait: we both know no limits.

what is a friend

It has been a very long time since I wrote anything but I think it is time to start again. Yesterday I spoke at one of my best friend's memorial service, who died just one week ago. I wanted to include what I said:



This is going to be quite difficult for me to do but I need to do it as an honor to a true friend and for his wife Leilani. I must read this script to try to maintain my composure so I can finish it all. I would like to start and end with two Bible verses that sum up how I feel.

Proverbs 18:24
MSG - Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family.
TNIV - One who had unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

I first met David ten years ago at work but did not know him personally. Almost four years ago our paths crossed again. I used to run at lunch for a work break and on my way thru the cafeteria I would see David and Bryan Hendricks eating - most times with other people from their team. Occasionally I would stop by to talk to Bryan and as time went along I started sitting down with them both to talk and watch them eat while I tried to cool down. Bryan used to be my boss at the same company where I met David so we all had a history together which was the original connection. Over many months of talking over lunch I got to know David better. At first I felt sorry for him but I soon realized he did not need my sympathy. I found out that he too was a runner and that was our second connection. Over time I came to understand that he could do more with one arm than some people do with both. At lunch we talked about football, music, biking, running and just about everything but work. After a year of talking over occasional lunches the three of us became good friends who could talk about anything together except we avoided talking about cancer related subjects. I will always remember the day he got back to work after his last amputation as he was the same David after the whole ordeal and we continued laughing and have a great time during our lunch conversations. He never wanted to draw attention to himself and his own problems.

Around three years ago I was contemplating switching groups to work on something completely different and more interesting. David and I came up with a brilliant idea to work together and tried to find a group that needed us both. We did the same kind of work and both needed a new challenge and we knew together we could do anything. After switching, the first year was great as we daily bounced ideas off each other as we learned together. Several times a day we went into each other's office to share in our new discoveries. We constantly sent messages to each other about new things we learned. Up to this point after being around David for two years, I learned that building a friendship takes time and a willingness to share anything and everything that is going on in each other’s lives. In many ways David was like another son to me but in most ways just a friend who I always looked forward to talking to. I especially liked Monday mornings as that was the time we caught up on what had happened during the weekend to each other. Some people dread Mondays but for me it was time to catch up on what David had done and tell him what had happened around our house. Somewhere along the line we crossed over and started talking about sarcoma as I wanted to learn more about it since I was clearly very ignorant on that subject. Many of the terms were impossible for me to say or remember no matter how many times David told me about it. That is when our close friendship began.

These are the things I remember about David:

The day he received his special prosthetic arm so he could ride his bike again
The day he got back from Atlanta where he met tons of people who had also lost limbs as he was so excited to see so many people like him
The day he decided to take a cross country driving trip with a friend he met at Duke
The day I learned his brother was in the military like my son
The day he bought an iPhone
The day at lunch when he explained to me how icing in hockey works using the Hurricanes as an illustration
The day he got back after seeing Rush with his life long NY friends
The day he told me that my kids should listen to Rush as they did not do drugs and were not alcoholics like most bands did
The day he decided to quit wearing his prosthetic arm to work as it was very freeing for him
The day he got back and told me about his speech at his first Duke Sarcoma event
The many times he told me of the amazingly great people he had met because of sarcoma most of which were those who took loving care of him at Duke
The day when we talked about our separate trips to Stone Mountain and how we both thought it was such a great place
The day he told me that I needed to take my family to Letchworth State Park in NY as he had great memories of camping there as a kid
The day just one year ago when he told me he had to quit running because of his back
The day shortly after that when he had trouble leaving the cafeteria and I drove him in the TTA van
That same day when I got to drive his car as one of the privileged few but unfortunately I was driving him to Duke
That same day at Duke when in unbelievable pain telling me not to mind if he said something bad
The day when we walked together at my first Duke Sarcoma event
The day he got back from attending Bonnaroo and was so tired but told me every detail about the fun he had with his friends
The day we looked up the drug Fentanyl and read about it together
The day when we talked about the stages of jaundice together
The same day when I told him he looked yellow and he got upset at me
The day I talked to him after he and Leilani returned from Grove Park Inn as he loved the mountains
The day he told me he was ready to go to heaven as he was tired
Every minute of the last two visits when Bryan and I saw him at home

In the time I was around David I only heard him complain a couple of times, which is really unbelievable considering everything he and Leilani endured together. What started out as small talk in passing, developed into a relationship of sharing in life's ups and downs. I would do it all over again even knowing the ending. One of the last things I remember David telling me was that some people had told him that he was an inspiration to them and that he hoped that was somehow true. One of the most unusual experiences of my life was to see David at work for the last three weeks before he left. He came every day as to not let down the team and to try to finish what he was working on. He repeatedly apologized to me as I had to take over what he was working on and finish it. That was just a short four weeks ago. Today is sad for me as I realize I have lost a friend who I will not see again on this earth but I long for the day when I will see him completely well in heaven. I want to end with the words of Jesus, which in no way apply fully to me, but sums up what love is really about.

John 15:12-14
This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you.
The is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends.
You are my friends when you do the things I command you.

creative inspiration

Someone posted these two web sites today:

1) http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/11/24/69-sexy-portfolio-designs-to-inspire-you/

2) http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/creative-designer-resume-curriculum-vitae/

After looking at most of the web sites, I like these the best:

http://www.floridaflourish.com
http://www.atomiccartoons.com
http://www.fat-man-collective.com
http://bluepixel.net
http://bluepixel.net/whatwedo/

These resumes are a work of art and should cost money to have them in your hands:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paumorgan/4028700199/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/17687233@N03/3587644769/
http://itudor.deviantart.com/art/CV-Tudor-Deleanu-109339727
http://verine.deviantart.com/art/CV-133232646
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bulooji/3048285702/
http://heeeeman.deviantart.com/art/Personal-Resume-draft-137853267
http://dizzia.deviantart.com/art/Curriculum-Vitae-PDF-69050981
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7372907@N07/3191558047/

This is probably the best resume I will ever see:

http://theportfolio.ofmichaelanderson.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/resume-infographic.jpg

mughals

I just finished reading my 4th William Dalrymple book called "White Mughals". It was on a side of India I had never heard of before. It was like reading the background behind every Bollywood movie we had seen in the last few years. Now I understand where they all came from - the 18th century Indian lives of the wild and crazy British age. There were some pretty wild characters he found in doing his research for this book. I especially like one of the photos in his book of a Scottish man who had a salwar kameez made out of tartan material and even had a turban made of the same cloth. Such interesting British people who mixed with the native people of India. Most of them feel in love for the Mughal woman and some even had harems. Some dressed like the Mughal royalty they interacted with. This quote sums up the whole book on page 7:

India has always had a strange way with her conquerors. In defeat, she beckons them in, then slowly seduces and transforms them

On page 366 is the summary of the Mughal woman covered in the whole book:

Those are the final words we hear of Khair un-Nissa, the Most Excellent of Women, beloved wife of James Achilles Kirkpatrick, and Henry Russel's rejected lover. She had lived the saddest of lives. At a time, and in a society, when women had few options and choices, and little control over their lives. Khair had defied convention, threatened suicide and risked everything to be with the man she had eventually succeeded in marrying, even though he was from a different culture, a different race, and, initially, from a different religion. He love affair had torn her family apart and brought her, her mother, her grandmother and her husband to the brink of destruction. Then, just when it seemed that she had, against all odds, finally succeeded in realising her dream, both her husband and her children were taken from her, for ever, and in her widowhood she was first disgraced, then banished, and finally rejected. When she died - this fiery, passionate, beautiful woman - it was so much from a broken heart, from neglect, and sorrow, as from any apparent physical cause.

snowy winter

So far this winter we have had two snows in the last two weeks. The first one was really a layer of ice with some snow on top followed by more ice. Not a very nice snow for playing in or making snow men. On Friday night it was a perfect snow. Yesterday morning my wife and daughter were the first to go outside and tried to make a snow man. Then Jake and I went out to finish off the job. We rolled what we thought were huge balls of snow by packing them by hand. Jake went into the front yard and created a heavy duty ice ball. He needed help in lifting it and moving it across the driveway to make it even larger. I then heard a cry for help only to find him exhausted leaning on the snow ball on the side of the house. I rolled it the rest of the way into the back yard and that ice ball became the base for our snowman. While he was working on his ice ball, I had made threes large balls made mostly of compacted snow. It took us a while to made them flat on top so we could stack them on each other. We packed icy snow around the gaps where the snow balls met. My daughter objected to us using four snow balls and also the size of them. We added a stick for one arm and I took a photo to send to my one armed friend as a tribute snowman to him. As soon as we came inside glowing over our handiwork, my daughter and Andrew took over on what we thought was a finished product. We spent over an hour on our snowman. Two hours later they were finished with the amazing Fuquay Varina snowman. This morning as I wrote this blog I saw a bright smiling face looking at me through the window. I had to asked about the buttons and the nose, to which Andrew told me the red nose was a lawn croquet ball and the three black buttons are actually office chair coasters he found in the garage!

Stones into Schools

I just finished reading Stones into Schools by Greg Mortenson, who is also the author of the wildly popular book Three Cups of Tea. Here are some memorable quotes from this book that I really like:

pg 13
If you teach a boy, you educate an individual; but if you teach a girl, you educate a community.

pg 17
The first cup of tea you share with us, you are a stranger. The second cup, you are a friend. But with the third cup, you become family - and for our families we are willing to do anything, even die.

pg 19
Anything truly important is worth doing very, very slowly.

pg 36
When ordinary human beings perform extraordinary acts of generosity, endurance, or compassion, we are all made richer by their example

pg 191
When you take the time to actually listen, with humility, to what people have to say, it's amazing what you can learn. Especially if the people who are doing the talking also happen to be children.

He has also publisher an image gallery that is very interesting and a full report on the research for this book which also includes more photos.

week of books

I did not really know what the week would hold when I started my Christmas week off from work.

These are the books I read this week:

The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy
Lipika by Rabindranath Tagore
The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

I have already commented on the first two in previous blog posts so I will not speak of them again. I was actually rereading both the Leo Tolstoy and Rabindranath Tagore books since they are my two favorite authors of all time. It is also interesting that they actually knew each other. I have heard about Nicholas Sparks as he lives near us in the eastern part of NC and I have watched a couple of movies based on his novels which were very nice. I read his book today from start to finish and found it very interesting reading and I would like to read more of his books. His book was very easy to read and entertaining, but cannot compare with Tolstoy and Tagore who both have amazing talents to transport me into the story's scene with their wonderful way with words. My goal for the year is to read one of Tolstoy's major novels, either War and Peace or Anne Karina.

These are excerpts from Rabindranath Tagore's Lipika that I really liked:

pg 3 "a cloudy day"

Man has crossed the seas, he has climbed the mountains, he has snatched precious rubies and pearls delving into the palaces of the oceans, but what is innermost in man's heart nan has never been able to settle up with another to its finality

pg 20 "just a glance"

The power of the king, the wealth of the rich are built up on this earth to die. But it is not a single drop of nectar in one's tears which will make that moment's glance live through eternity.

pg 30 "the story-telling"

God has created man in the world of associations, therefore, he is not made of valid facts or of theories. In spite of all the best intentions no well-wisher has yet been able to lure man's mind away from this reality. Even though in desperation he tries to bring about a treaty between his moral teaching and fairy-tales, but fails to harmonize them owing to their innate antipathy. So that the stories come to an abrupt end, the moral teaching also loses its grip , and there is the accumulated rubbish.

pg 88 "the aspiration"

The Madhavi creeper with its rustling dry leaves becomes all joyous at the first touch of the south wind in spring time. Likewise the wind from a garden of paradise came to sweep over a girl who gathered twigs and a gradual awakening of an exquisite wistfulness made her whole being vibrate with a throbbing ache. All her thoughts began to wander about like bees straying from their hives, having sensed some unknown honey flavors.

pg 104 "the life and mind"

The waves of the sea are the surface layer of the sea. By raising a din they confuse the facts of the sea's deep-trodden base where lies the earth's great womb. When the waves quieten down, in that unbroken harmony between what is seen and what is not seen, what is deep-bottom and what is the top facade, the sea reigns in supreme composure.

In the same way the minute I returned from the outward efforts of my life, I found stability in the heart's inner most depth which is the primary playground of the universe.

pg 111 "the life and mind"

The tune of life sketches from one key-note to another claiming such a pitch that one does not know where its limit is to be.