Margie's computer is fry'd!

[Scott]

Margie's computer is down. The power supply is fry'd. I applaud her effort at increasing processor speed by plugging the computer into 220 VAC. However it does not work that way so NO ONE else should try it. Home Depot has agreed to pay 1/2 the cost of the new computer for selling her the adapter that allowed her to plug the computer into the dryer outlet. She has a new HP Pavilion Pentium 4 - 2 Ghz computer arriving the first week in November. Until then she requests that you use one of the following "stand-by" methods to reach her.

1) e-mail Barb to tell Rich to tell Matt to tell Margaret to tell Margie.
2) e-mail Buz who will tell Kathy to tell Ken to tell Matt to tell Margaret to tell Margie.
3) e-mail Scott to tell Jill to tell Jane to tell Justin who will ftp message to http://www.kraftfam.com. Matt will retrieve message and pass it to Alexandra who will tell Margaret to tell Margie.

All of these use the M&M morning link between Margie and Margaret. I spoke with Margie yesterday and she said the M&M link has not been reliable lately, but she will try to fix the "Tele-Margaret" routing, which seems to be the weak path. Margie is also working with AT&T on a direct solution ... although the complexities of communication through the land line based telephone system using a point-to-point switched "bridging" approach (i.e. direct dial) seems prohibitive at this time ... so she still prefers the "third party" networked approach.

DO NOT try to reach Margaret directly thinking that you will shorten the number of links the message will have to travel through. Margaret is a "double call screener", caller ID and answering machine! I have tried the "direct Margaret" approach and it is less reliable then the - oil soaked wood in the gas fireplace - run up to the roof with a blanket - smoke signal approach. Also DO NOT expect Margaret to read posts regularly as she is overwhelmed doing Alexandra's homework for her (4 hours nightly) and taking care of her apartment based miniature Marine World exhibition all-the-while justifying turtle captivity to an in house vegetarian.

When asked to comment on the new HP Pavilion Pentium 4 being shipped to her, Margie said: "I don't know why I need a new dryer, the one I have works just fine..."

[Scott]

I just spoke with Margaret to try and diagnose the ongoing problem with the Tele-Margaret path and the M&M link. She said she has multiple messages machines....

In summary it is lucky Margaret can even find the phone when it rings! (It took me 5 phone calls, 3 messages and 4 re-dials to reach her ... a total of 3 days!) Margie wants to bypass the tele-Margaret and use AT&T. She has talked to AT&T and feels there is a solution, or a solution is near.

Margie also says, that Margaret not only screens calls but often does not hear or just ignors ALL incoming calls due to "overload".

It would be my suggestion that we NOT rely on the Tele-Margaret path or count on the M&M connection. Matt and Rich are the ONLY reliable communication links in the family capable of final delivery of messages to a N-Calif based recipient. (Not including Margie, who when on-line with her computer is more reliable than the NORAD link at Cheyenne Mountain thanks to e-mail forwarding and her natural orgnizational skills...)

Matt is willing to personally deliver messages after work to Margie until such time as she is back on-line. Matt is very reliable with the moto:

"not rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor bar shall keep me from getting the message through no matter how far!".

We expect Margie to be back on line no later than Tuesday evening, 11/5/02. Matt will NOT be using the Tele-Margaret anymore. We are considering using Alexandra as she has proved to be quite phone worthy and shows potential as a direct replacement for the Tele-Margaret (i.e. plug and play).

Barb is reliable, however the actual message sent may have little resemblance if any to the one delivered. A big step up from the Tele-Margaret ... but should only be used if the delivery of a message is more important than the content of the message delivered.

I am considering getting Margie a back-up computer and maybe mirror her drives. Also a better UPS and hot-swappable power supply would be a good idea.

I don't want to go through this again

[Scott]

I just spoke with Margie and the AT&T link is NO good. It is set on forward-5 rather than forward-4. Standard Cell cut-off is 4 thus you hear a "forward on 4" and "new ring on 5" so you can't hang-up and NOT get charged if you don't want the machine.

Margaret tried to call when I was talking to Margie. This gave us a chance to verify that the "quick disconnect" between Margie and Margaret DOES work. However quick is a matter of opinion as it seemed to take about 60 seconds, rather than the required 4 secs to avoid the instant FWD feature (when one calls in). However, this is an order of magnitude better than the Kakie "quick disconnect" that has a theoretical minimum set-up time of 15 minutes (although I have yet to see it work in less than 30 minutes).

I did learn that the famous M&M link is not wireless-to-wireless as previously thought. Instead it is Margaret "on wireless" to Margie "on land line". Why that works is beyond me. And the thought of Margaret using a non-handsfree cellular while driving makes me cringe!

Note to Margaret: If answering a land-line phone in your home throws you for a loop, I would suggest you avoid any and all cellular communication when you are driving and pay attention to the road!

The purpose of the M&M link is to make sure Margie is ok. If no answer than Margaret would go check on her and render assistance. Although, if her response time in this case is similar to her response time answering her home phone ... Margie had better be prepared to survive a minimum of 3 days.

I have discussed with Margie the setting up of an automatic fail-safe reporting system. Thus as long as cancelled each morning by Margie by a simple push of a key on the computer it will report to Barb & I via Cell messaging that all is OK (this is FREE).

If there is no "key push" then we will NOT get the everything is ok message and we will know to respond. I can also make the server be a recipient and if no "all is OK" is received then the server can send a Cell message to Barb and I as well as others in case we forget to respond to the lack of an "all is ok" message.

Margie warmed up to the idea as it is a multi-link process and could provide the non-direct form of communication that she thrives on. She would like to see the "key push" be replaced by a pendant type button, that links via UHF to a receiver. The receiver could link via USB to her computer that could make the necessary TCP/IP calls to the server which in turn would send out SMTP calls to the Cell system that would convert these to messages to individual Cellular phones. This would provide a minimum of 5 relay levels, and make Margie feel better!

Meanwhile Margie claims Margaret is going to eliminate her MCI based voice mail, thus reducing from 3 to 2 the possible "buckets" containing her "missed/ignored" call messages (not including her office voice mail which is another story altogether). This is in preparation for restoring the Tele-Margaret.

I still feel that the Tele-Margaret should be discontinued, and the Tele-Alexandra be phased in as a, "more reliable from the get go", replacement.

In the interim, I have ordered a forwarding number from GE Exchange (Sprint PIC 555) that will fool Cells into thinking the forward ring count is 2 less than it actually is when you direct dial Margie. This should be working shortly and will feed off the Laguna "back line" for those who wish to use it.

[Scott]

I just spoke with Margie and I think I have gotten to the bottom of this whole mess.

It turns out that Margie is a "Ring Runner". I.e. when the phone rings she runs to answer it. However, her house is so big, and she is not sure where the closest phone is, that she always runs for a single phone centrally located in the hallway. This is the reason she needs a minimum of 6 rings before forwarding.

Margaret on the other hand is a "Ring Avoider". If she actually hears the phone ring, she instantly puts it out of her mind. Whether one of her machines picks up in one ring or a hundred has no impact, as she stops hearing the phone ring. Once her machine takes the message she feels that "she" has taken the call as "she" arranged for the machine to be there. She does NOT retrieve messages as she is convinced, as many "Ring Avoiders" are, that the machine will take care of it. As bizarre as this may sound it is the truth!

Thus the M&M link each morning is more than a "check on Margie's well-being" it is their ONLY way to get a hold of each other. Margie can never get to the phone in time for Margaret’s call, and Margaret never listens to a message left by Margie.

The early morning M&M link resolves this problem. Margie is still in bed so that she instantly reaches for the phone on the bed stand if Margaret calls. If Margie calls Margaret, then Margaret cannot simply avoid the ringing Cell and pay attention to navigating the most complex path to work. Thus she is forced to answer the Cell and take the call.

Note: I have personal knowledge of Margaret's navigational & direction giving skills. Recently when traveling to pick up Matt at Margaret's home, she gave me "6 turn" directions rather than the "2 turn" directions I requested. It defies logic and if Margaret ever comes to visit in Las Vegas, I have 20 plus turn directions for her ready!


I think if there ever was a twilight zone, Margie and Margaret have found it.

I am waiting for Matt and his opinion at a solution.

[Scott]

I spoke with UPS today, and Margie's new computer is almost there. It started in Memphis Tn, and went by air to Kansis for some reason, Then by ground to Oaklahoma, then by air to Washington State. For some reason it then went by air to Texas, and that same night was routed by ground to Phoeniz Az. From there it has been put on a plane to CA either S.F. or Oakland, it does not say.

When Margie called into track her package and found out the multi-step routing it had taken, she had tears of happyness in her eyes!. The UPS routing made perfect sense to her. Go figure! She feels that this is an omen and that this new computer WILL live up to her expectations!

During our phone call today, Margie did mention that she has NOT been receiving her e-mail. Rather than explain to her the need for a "working" and "powered up" computer, I told her I would look into it. What are sons for!

[Scott]

After waiting all day UPS arrived during the 30 minutes Margie left the house. Not a problem she called UPS but only got a phone message. So true to form, she called me so I could call UPS. I did ... and I did it the Margie way. I called Las Vegas, and they patched me into the Salt Lake City, Utah call center. Salt Lake was able to get the Bay area manager on the cellular using another call center (four way conference). The driver was contacted who called back and said he was on his way in less than 20 minutes. This all took less than 1 1/2 hours. It involved serveral message relays, as well as a four way phone conference. Not to mention the phone call from Margie to me to pass the routing number I would need during the initial UPS call.

Needless to say Margie was ecstatic about the message routing and even more pleased when she received the computer.

I was pondering why it is we call Ron, "Wrong Way", and we don't call Margie "Long Way". Maybe this will have to change.

I understand that Margie called Matt to ask Barb to see if Rich would come over and hook up her new computer this evening. I got a message that Rich was going there anyway, and did he need to bring a new dryer hose. I can only cross my fingers and wait to see how it goes.

[Scott]

Rich could not make it. Rich had Barb call Margie who let me know that Rich would not be there setting up her new computer this evening. Although disapointed at not getting her new computer up and running, Margie was quite pleased with the message relay path used by Rich to get the message to me. She said she is holding her laundry another day. I did not go there.

I too am pleased that Margie is pleased.

[Scott]

I seems that the computer hookup will be delayed yet another day. The reasons? You would not believe it if I posted it!

[Scott]

The additional delay has been resolved. She expects to be back and posting this evening. Rich is going to be arriving shortly to help her hook it all up.

I am a bit concerned, as her message to me said she had to run and pick up some fabric softener before he arrived.

Also she received a call from Wrong-Way who wanted in on the Home Depot reimbursment deal. Not sure if he was going to duplicate the stunt to get a cheaper computer of if he already had and needed help.

With Wrong Way, and Long Way around it is hard to be bored!

[Scott]

Rich got the computer up and working and left the rest (i.e. registration etc.) for Margie to do. Margie said she was going to wait until Thur or Fri to do this. We shall see. Margie was impressed by the colors and size of the computer case and the style of the keyboard. Anything else is just "gravy" in her mind.

[Uncle Kenneth]

Scott obviously has too much free time on his hands!! Sheesh! Ok, the scenario was outlined appropriately, however the historian within demands the antecedent activities be brought to light. The original plan was to hook the old computer to the dryer and many other appliances in order that all that work-related activity could be controlled at the computer desk. Margie learned that from the latest tome required for her Moraga book club. It was written by Clifford Wong, and titled, The Wong Way. Thus, The Wong Way was used by Long Way with assistance from the Wrong Way, driving Scott nuts so that he was tempted to do The Bong Way! It all makes perfect sense, IF you possess Dawson genes!