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Jennifer D. Wade Journal

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Blog posts September 2007

Lost and Found

Let's see.  Penn State lost another one.  The Philles lost and the Mets won so they're now tied again for the lead in the NL East.

But, thanks to Harold, I found out that one of my five mystery songs, "Eldorado," was done by Drum Theatre.  And, all by myself, I managed to find another one on the list.  In 1987, "Still in Love" by Jaki Graham cracked the Top 100.

HERE is a link to the music video - she's walking along the docks (I think) and, conveniently, there are also back-up singers in the vicinity!  You can also watch the video below.  Warning - it may take a while to load completely. 

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El Dorado

Here's a little bit more about one of the songs mentioned in the previous post.

"El Dorado" (or possibly "Eldorado") sounds like it could have been played in a dance club.  It's upbeat with chorus that goes:  "El Dorado is a story that you're told.  If you need a dream, you'll find a land of gold.  El Dorado."

Definitely not Neil Young or ELO.

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Name That Tune

As part of my computer crash recovery efforts, I've been rebuilding my musical database - an accounting of all my CDs and cassettes (stop laughing!) and the music included on them.

The cassettes mostly date back to my college days in the 80s when I made quite a few mix tapes.  In the folly of my youth, I noted the titles of the songs, but not the artists.  So, for the past week or so, I've been scouring the Internets to discover who sang what.

I've searched on Amazon and iTunes, where I could listen to samples and compare them to my versions.  I've searched on Google et. al. for strings of lyrics.  I've looked at charts of hits from the 80s.  And, I've searched the recesses of my own memory.

At this point, I think I have matched all but 5 songs with the appropriate artist.  The five I'm missing are:

"El Dorado"
"No Other Love"
"Still in Love"
"Heat of It"
"Firestarter" (or maybe "Fire Starter")

If I had to guess, I'd say these songs got some radio airplay in the UK around 1986 or 1987.  I've looked at Top 20 charts from those years, but none of these songs seems to have gotten that high.  So, if you have any thoughts about who might have sung these almost-hits, I'd love to know.

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Five for Fighting

OK, I know that's a hockey reference (and a musical one), but the Phightin' Phils have five more games left to fight for a playoff spot.  Last night, they got the second of the two losses I thought they could afford in the final 10 games.  So, I think they have to win out if they want to get in to the playoffs.  They might be able to afford one more loss, but I'm not sure about that.

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Down to the Wire

OK.  Here we go. 10 games left.  I know I wrote the Phillies off about six-weeks ago but, by some miracle they still have a chance at the playoffs.  My feeling - based on no formula whatsoever - is that they need to win 8 of these final 10 games.  If they lose two games during this weekend series with Washington, they're done done.

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Oh No, It's O.J.

So, you're coasting along at the end of what has been a fairly uneventful summer news-wise, when all of a sudden - BOOM! - there's O.J.  In a story that can make you shake your head in about ten different directions, Simpson now faces the prospect of finally doing some serious jail time.

My thoughts about the case are this:  First of all, from what I can see, everyone involved in this case is shady - from O.J. to his alleged accomplices to his alleged victims.  Shady, shady, shady.  By my count, we have, so far, four suspects under arrest, two suspects on the loose, three victims and about 20 different versions of what happened.  The stories here seem to change by the hour.

Secondly, what are any of these people, shady or not, doing with O.J.?   Just because you're shady, doesn't mean that you're stupid.  Except, maybe, in this case.

Third, O.J. needs to STFU.  He did not help his case any by blabbing to the media that he was running his own "sting" operation.

Fourth, while the 10 felony charges he currently faces make this out to be a "very serious crime," I get the feeling that police and prosecutors filed every charge they could think of in an attempt to see what sticks.  And also to keep O.J. from fleeing - because no one wants to see that again.  I mean, Ford doesn't even make Broncos anymore, do they??

Fifth, can the Goldman family just stay out of it?  You proved your point in civil court, which needed to be done.  Now, it's time to move on.

And, sixth, won't it be ironic if THIS is the thing that finally sends O.J. to prison?  

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Here's What Happened

Or, maybe I should say, here's what I think happened.  It's all Apple's fault.

When I got home Thursday night and sat down at the computer, I discovered a prompt to download an updated version of iTunes + QuickTime.  So, I began the process and, while the download was downloading, I checked email, etc.

After about an hour, the download was still not finished.  I decided to exit and try again later.  So, I exited.  Or tried to.  The cancellation process also seemed to be taking a long time.  So, I began to shut down the computer.  I exited out of the other programs by which time a box appeared to tell me that something or other was not responding.  So, I clicked on "End Now".

Only, it didn't end now.  It kept going.  So, I did what I thought best - I pulled the plug.

Well, when I plugged the power cord back in and pressed the "on" button, nothing happened.  It didn't even pretend like it wanted to start.  Nothing happened.  I looked on the back of the computer and the green "power" light was blinking, but it wasn't steady.  I unplugged and re-plugged lots of things, but nothing helped.

So, I rummaged around until I found the owner's manual and the section on trouble shooting.  Unfortunately, most of the troubleshooting recommendations were conditional upon the computer actually having power. 

So, I called tech support, which I'm pretty sure is in India.  When I explained the problem, the guy on the phone said he would send me a box so I could send them computer, then they would fix it and send it back.  Well, the thing was almost 4-years old, so I said no, I wasn't going to do that.

Then, they tried to sell me a new one.  They offered me some souped up new model which, I'm almost certain, contained a warp drive and a button that would convert the monitor into a giant HD TV.  OK.  Not really, but it sounded like it had a lot of stuff I was never gonna use.  But, what made it even better is that the guy quoted me a price and then, right away, he dropped it by $200 because I am a "loyal customer."

I don't know much about sales, but during the summer that I tried to sell time shares (that's a whole entry by itself), I learned two things:  1) As a salesperson, you have to tell the customer a story and it doesn't even have to be true.  For example, the guy could have told me that his uncle has one of these computers and loves it, plays games when the neices and nephews come over, etc.  The guy doesn't even need to have an uncle or nieces and nephews.  Doesn't matter.  All that matters is the story and that I get sucked in.  2)  You don't give a customer the "drop" right away - unless there's going to be a second one later on.  Usually, a supervisor type handles that.

So, eventually the first guy, who did not tell me a story, put me on with his supervisor.  Not only did I not get a story out of him, I also didn't get another price reduction.  So, when we got to the point where he asked for a credit card number, that's when I said "No."  Honestly, the guy sounded stunned, like he couldn't believe I just said "No."  So, I repeated it.  Several more times, and rather loudly, until I finally just hung up while he was still trying to sell me on the virtues of this computer.

Friday before work, I went over to the Big Box stores and checked out the situation.  I ended up with a less powerful model from the same manufacturer for about $200 less.  Of course, then I had to buy software ...

Anyway, I'm now back up and running.  Two of the three bugs have been worked out.  All I really need to do now is import address from my handheld to Outlook and I'll be in business.

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Did You Hear That?

That was the sound of my computer crashing.  I'm not sure what happened or why, but around 7:15 p.m. on Thursday, my computer dropped dead.  No warning.  I shut it down to reboot, but I guess the hard drive or the processor didn't much feel like doing that, so it just stayed down.  How's that for a WTF moment!

So anyway, I'm back now, armed with a new computer complete with Windows Vista and a couple two three bugs still to be worked out.  Don't you just love Microsoft?

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WTF

I don't know what's going on or why this is so or maybe it's just me, but it seems that at least once a day something happens that makes me say "WTF?!?!?!"  Just to be clear, that's "What The ... and you know very well what the F is for."

Example:  Yesterday, in what some people are calling the upset of the century, Appalachain State, a Division I-AA college football team, beat #5 ranked Michigan - in the Big House, no less!  If that's not enough to make you say WTF, how about this?  In the article that FOXsports.com posted about the game, App. State's nickname of Mountaineers is a hotlink.  Guess where that takes you?  To FOX's team page for the West Virginia Mountaineers!  WTF!  For the record, HERE is a real link to Appalachian State.

Example:  The Phillies sweep the Mets to get back into playoff contention, then promptly lose two of three to the Marlins, who had only won twice in their previous 16 games.  WTF!  As I commented on another website, the Phillies are like a bad boyfriend.  They string you along and occasionally do nice things, but, in the end, you're gonna get dumped.

Example:  Some senator who I didn't even know was a senator is suddenly not a senator anymore because he pleaded guilty to something which he obviously did but which he says he didn't mean to do - or mistakenly did, or whatever.  WTF! (which, in this case, could also mean "Wow! That was Fast!)Here's a tip:  Next time you put your hand under the stall divider, make sure that toilet paper is what your asking for!

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