I’ll scan in my latest bird on the weekend. I have a really full schedule Thursday and Friday. Lots of fiddly work on computers – my favourite kind of house call (and no I’m not being sarcastic). Not sure I like my latest drawing. I’m trying different pencils. To date I’ve used a couple of mechanical pencils. This week I’ve moved to regular pencils with different leads – 2h, Fine, HB, 2B, 6B, 8B. One thing I’ve noticed is the shading is a lot more subtle. But it is very hard to get the delicate feathering right. S’alright, it will give me something to do during the long, cold winter months. Bugger….

Oh… and if I’m late in posting anything this weekend, it’s because I’m at the Stamp show. Oh… I’m incredibly excited. I love the Stamp Show! Yup… I really am a serious geek, aren’t I?

And now the tweet:

From Catpaw’s Art work – birds
Rather striking little Flycatcher, isn’t he. I’ve been working on sketching leaves this week. On Sunday I went out and collected a load of them and then ironed them in wax-paper. I felt like I was 6 years old again! Cheap ass wax-paper company sure skimped on the wax though. Most of the leaves are extremely dry already because there was so little wax on the paper. So I’ve thrown some of the best leaves into a book to keep them.

Leaves are a lot harder to draw than you would think. You just know you are likely going to see a lot of leaves in the next few weeks as I practice getting them right.

Dear (@Rogers.com)Webmail Account User

This message is to the Rogers.com account owners. We are currently upgrading our data base and e-mail account center. We are deleting all unused webmail account to create more space for new accounts.We are currently performing maintenance and upgrading our Digital webmail services for your convenience. To prevent your account from closing you will have to update it below to know it’s status as a currently used account.

Confirm Your Rogers.com WebMail
Details;User Name:
Password:
Date of Birth:

You will be sent a new confirmation alphanumerical password so that it will only be valid during this period and can be changed after the
process.
Warning!!! Any account owner that refuses to update his or her account within Seven working days of this update notification will loose his or her account permanently.
Warning Code :ID67565434
Confirm Your Rogers.com Account
Contact email:upgradingservice@mail2webmaster.com
Copyright ?2009
Information Technology Services Centre All Rights Reserved.

While this is specifically aimed at Rogers users, it also applies to all internet users. This is a trolling expedition. The sender is hoping to panic you into sending all the info they need to access you email account so they can send out their spam, or use your identity to con someone else. Do not respond. Yes it looks legit on one hand but any decent internet provider would NEVER, NEVER send out such a mass email. Here are a couple of tip-offs that it is a scam:

1. According to Rogers’ own website they do “not solicit personal information via e-mail, unless the account holder has initiated contact”. This applies to virtually every Internet provider (and bank, and anyone else that has personal info).
2. If you are a paying customer, and have paid your bill, they cannot arbitrarily cut off your service like this.
3. The sender mispells Webmail. Rogers always spells it with a capital W.
4. Type in Warning Code: ID67565434 and you will get a boat load of sites that discuss this as a part of a phishing expedition.
5. Contact email is a generic address. Rogers (and any Internet provider) would never use mail2webmaster.com. Seriously, why would they use an  outside email account when they can have as many as they want for free.
6. The message is not gramatically correct. While I concede this does seem to be a dieing skill, I would expect a modicum of accuracy in a corporate mail out.
7. The time constraint is unrealistic. 7 days is not enough time for all customers to respond. What if you were away? Opps… sorry, you didn’t respond so we cut you off.

So there you are. Be wary of any email you recieve that wants you to hand over information to them. If in doubt, pick up the phone and call the company. They will be able to tell you very quickly.

Tomorrow, not so fun. I get to clean up after a Rogers techie left a new customer stranded. Simple new highspeed cable install – put the modem in the basement (where the tv is… where the existing cable is…) and set up the downstairs computer with the new email etc and make sure it works. Then set up the wireless so the laptop upstairs can log on. Did the wanker do that? No, of course not. He put the fricken modem upstairs and left. Guess what? The downstairs computer is NOT WIRELESS. So, now the wireless laptop can connect to the modem, via a cable and the desktop in the basement is now one big doorstop. Thank you very much Rogers for your stelar technical support. Is that really what you mean by “We’ll send a tech out to set you up?” Gotta love big business compentence.

To my customers credit, she managed to get the wireless part working (so now the laptop doesn’t have an umbilical cord) but kind of stalled out there. I’m going to go and set up the basement with a wireless connection and make sure the security is okay. Oh and set up their email. And check to make sure everything is running as fast as it should.

Second stop. Oh dear… a big problem. And this one breaks my heart. I love this customer! He is a sweetie. When I picked up my messages this morning I heard the words that send shivers down the spine of every techie “My computer won’t boot, it keeps telling me I have a hive error.” Hive errors are buggers to solve. I might end up formating his entire machine. I’ll have to wait and see. Keep your fingers crossed.  Needless to say it will be a troublesome call.

Saturday – I’m in an all day networking class. It’s a fun class. Lots of reading, lots of thinking.

Monday – easy day, just lessons on how to manage photos and print good photos etc.

Tues – Morning is easy, tweaking someone’s blog and helping them set it up.

After lunch … hmmm big computer problems. Still to be determined what the problem is. Only report is the computer suddenly crashes all the time. Previously stable, now suddenly it won’t stay running. Could be hardware, could be software. Top notch antivirus running so I doubt it’s a virus. It will be fun to figure out.

More fun and games in the computer world! Won’t have a lot of time to blog for the next few days so I hope this tides you over. I have to make time soon though because I have rants ready to boil over and I need to post them.

Know what solved the problem?

A missing step in the instructions.

Following the list of things to do, it was obvious I kept getting back to the password not known error. What wasn’t obvious, was a little tiny word that said more. On a whim I clicked it and voila! This is actually where the password and login information is typed in – NOT IN THE BOX MARKED LOGIN AND PASSWORD. But wait for it – it is not the Login we originally signed up with (ie: customers email address). Nope, not that simple. It was this assinine name assigned by the company, that isn’t revealed unless you go poking about in your own computer’s security settings.

Okay so the step with the userpasswords2 was helpful, but only in a very limited way. The login specifically asked for the email address you signed up with, not this useless and easy to figure out login name. Anyway, an expanded menu appeared that allowed me to type in the customers login and password and we were in business.

Does this make sense to you? The company created a virtual Pandora’s Box of annoyances and aggrevations and threw in a tiny little voice in the bottom of the silliness that said “More”. Now who in their right mind would ever design a site like that.

I tell you, some days it is not even worth getting out of bed. Good thing it’s still sunny and warm out. Mutter, grumble, snarf…