Moo! The Musings of a Plaid Cow

Quicken 2010

The Plaid Cow — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:19:35 +0000

Is Quicken Essentials 2010 better than Quicken 2007 for Mac? Probably. Will I switch to Quicken Essentials 2010? No way in hell. Let’s look at a couple of questions they left off the FAQ.

Can I still track my investments?
No

Not even my 401k?
Nope.

Can I export my data as with previous versions?
Nope. We prefer to have our customers locked in tight.

Well, at least you didn’t take out essential features like scheduled transactions…
You must be new here.

At least Quicken Essentials 2015 will be better, won’t it?
Don’t count on it.

Interviews With Facial Hair

The Plaid Cow — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 04:20:46 +0000

The Evil HR Lady had a post a while back about facial hair during interviews. The crux of the question is “should you shave it before an interview.

I tend to agree with one of the commenters who said “You don’t want it to distract you or cause you to worry and walk into an interview with less confidence”, but in the opposite direction. This comment agreeing to shave it, but I felt so self conscious without it when I was interviewing, I bombed the first set of interviews out of college. The last interview, I said screw it—I’m not shaving. More confidence == a job offer, and the rest is history.

The ReadyNAS Memory Test

The Plaid Cow — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 23:43:46 +0000

When Netgear says they added a “comprehensive memory test that you can run”, they aren’t kidding. It’s an eight phase process which takes a good 2 hours (for a 1 GB chip). And, you need to run it twice.

Why Yahoo Is Losing

The Plaid Cow — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:36:33 +0000

I keep reading in the news that Yahoo! is continuing to lose ground to Google. I can understand why.

Today when my wife called to find showtimes for a theater, I remembered that Yahoo! Movies always used to have good information. So I filtered on her location, by the movie she wanted to see, and came up with a list of possibilities.

Unfortunately, I didn’t know where each of the theaters were. So I looked for the “Show Locations on a Map” button (maybe on Yahoo! Maps). There wasn’t one. So I clicked on a specific theater and looked for the “Get Directions” button. There wasn’t one. So I went to Google and got a map.

And I won’t be going back to Yahoo!.

Why Indignant Consumers Fail

The Plaid Cow — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:27:01 +0000

This quote from an article on Consumerist goes a long way to showing why companies treat people badly and get away with it:

Had I not absolutely needed to make the purchases, I would have surely walked away and never returned.

If you are going to complain about treatment you received to a consumer site, you should at least have enough sense to walk away and to NOT BUY ANYTHING. Coming back for more just adds fuel to the merchant’s fire.

Billy Mays for Orange Glow

The Plaid Cow — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:34:40 +0000

Billy Mays here for Orange Glow—the only casting material you will ever need. Broken bones from a fall? Orange Glow mends them all!

Update on Slots

The Plaid Cow — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:52:07 +0000

To the two or so people who read A Plaid Strategy Guide for Las Vegas Slots on Facebook, I updated it today with levels 5 and 6.

A Party in My Pizza Box

The Plaid Cow — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:24:34 +0000

Before eating dinner tonight, I finally took a few minutes to read the front of the Totino’s Crispy Crust Supreme Party Pizza box. The pizza has toppings of:

Green Peppers
Onions
Sausage
Pizza Topping with Pepperoni Flavor

I’m not sure I really want to know what “Pizza Topping with Pepperoni Flavor” is. No more reading for me.

Apple vs. Woolworths

The Plaid Cow — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 23:12:31 +0000

There has been a bit of an outcry about Apple suing Woolworths over their updated logo. While some lawsuits are clearly frivoulous, I think this one has a bit more meat to it. Let’s ask a few questions:

Does the Woolworths logo look like an apple? Yes
Will they brand computers or other home electronics with this logo? A distinct possibility.
Would the average consumer be confused? Definitely

Assholes-R-Us

The Plaid Cow — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 04:04:29 +0000

Not have enough assholes in your life recently? That’s because they’ve all been posting on this FML thread.