Two days in one.  Magical.

Day 10 … sometimes I forget I have a mustache.

Day 11 — I’ll shave tomorrow, get the nice fresh ‘stache-on-its-own look.

BTW, happy birthday April!

Day 9.  Jonas started calling me “Officer Diaz” because he thinks I have a cop ‘stache.  Maybe.

Didn’t really have time to update over the weekend, so here are pictures of the ‘stache for Days 6, 7 and 8.

Day 6 – LOL, I look a little special in this one.

Day 7 – Time to shave the stubble.

Day 8 – Full on ‘stache.

We’re currently at $245.01.  Almost 1/4 of the way to our goal … please donate!

Sorry, didn’t get a chance to update the blog, but I did take my daily picture.

Day 4 — Lookin’ good so far.

Day 5 – Now we’re talking.

As always, donations / support much appreciated.  Please donate!

Starting to shape the ‘stache.  I think I’ll be able to fill it in nicely.

As I’ve said before, we really appreciate your donations (ALL of which are going to the American Cancer Society).  Please donate, any little bit helps!

Still pretty smooth … but … the stubble is starting to show up.  Slowly making it happen.  Please donate … support a great cause!

The growing of the ‘stache officially began today for the Grow-A-’Stache fundraiser I’ve been working on.  Here’s the blank slate upon which my awesome man hairs will grow:

I’ve also convinced several of my Fraternity brothers to join in for this good cause.  Here’s a chart that will track the group’s progress as a whole (will also be updated daily):

We appreciate any donations to support this cause.  To donate, please click here.

Thanks!

Mustache-growing fundraiser … I’m gonna make it happen.

Here’s the idea:  for every $20 we raise as a group, we let our mustaches grow for a day.  This means that if we manage to raise $600, we let our mustaches grow for about a month.  If we raise $6k, well, we let ‘em grow for a year (haha, maybe that’s too much)!  Of course, we’d probably have to set some limit.  LOL, can you imagine if someone decided to donate $20k?  MUSTACHES FOR LIFE.

Rules

1.  Everyone starts off with a clean shave … no beard, no mustache.  Just you, baby.

2.  Once the first donation(s) come in, we’d start growing the ‘stache.  You MUST shave all facial hair except for the mustache.

3.  Raise funds for a  month (minimum).

4.  Grow the mustaches for a month (minimum).

5.  Take a picture of your mustache every day.  Pictures will be posted online somewhere to track progress (maybe even on this blog).  Beautiful.

6.  Set a goal for amount of funds to be raised … $1000?

Marco suggested proceeds should be donated to Make-A-Wish Foundation … I think that’s a great idea.  I’ll try and contact them to see what’s the best way of going about this.

Anyways, I’m still in the pre-pre-pre-planning stages of this, but I’d love to get involved (and maybe even get the Fraternity involved) and raise funds for a great cause.  If you wanna join and help raise some funds while growing a nice ‘stache, shoot me an e-mail or FB message.  Also, if you have suggestions or ideas on how to go about this, feel free to let me know!

Gym farts are the worst.

When I’m at the gym, there’s honestly nothing that pisses me off more than a silent sneaker wafting around, produced by some anonymous individual.  I mean, I know you’re straining and stressing when lifting weights, but it’s pretty damn easy to hold it in.

I went to the gym the other day and was laying out on an inclined bench doing some chest exercises.  There were a couple of other dudes around, minding their own business, too.  The fan was on.  Weights were clanking.  Things were fine.

Suddenly, some girl decides to grab a bench and place it about 2 feet behind my head.  “Whatever, she’s not in my way,” I thought, as she decided she would be doing some sit-ups.  Suddenly, out of nowhere, my nose was karate-chopped by the worst, foulest, gag-inducing, smelliest fart I’ve ever experienced.  If Hitler and Helen Thomas were to have a baby together, and that baby were to take a dump on your head, it probably wouldn’t even smell this bad.

My energy was literally drained.  The weights were impossible.  I looked around and saw all the other guys making “holy-shit-that-stinks” faces.  I think at one point, my heart could have quite possibly stopped (though, I can’t verify this, as this could have been a side effect of the Hitler-Thomas fart).

Now, this may not have been AS bad if the girl was at a reasonable distance from me.  Unfortunately, like I said, she was sitting about 2 feet from my head.  I’m almost positive that shit-particles found their way onto my face.  Unbelievable.  The icing on the cake?  This wretched anus of a woman was blushing like crazy, but that didn’t stop her from looking around and trying to draw everyone’s attention to her, just so she could also make the “holy-shit-that-stinks” face as if to say, “Oh, wow, do you all smell that?”

YES.  OF COURSE WE SMELL IT.  IT’S YOU.  YOUR ANUS.  WIND COMING FROM YOUR SPHINCTER.

Gym farts are the worst.

Before I begin this post, here are a couple of formulas that I’m sure are mathematically and scientifically sound:

HP Customer Support + Customer Issue = Fail

Defective Merchendise + Request for Exchange = Waste of Customer Time + Waste of Customer Money + Frustration + Loss of Future Customer(s)

HP Greed > HP’s Desire for Customer Satisfaction

Our department at work recently ordered the HP Touchsmart tx2z, a fantastic little machine that, when working, is absolutely stunning.  You can only imagine our excitement when the laptop was delivered to our office.

I opened up the box, took out the laptop, pressed the on button…

Fan turns on.  Keyboard lights blink.  Blink.  Blink.  Blink.  Nothing.

Turns out, HP delivered a defective laptop.  Bummer, but no worries, since I’ve heard great things about HP’s customer support.  Sure enough, I’m on the phone with a technician for a while, trying out different solutions, none of which get this thing to boot up for more than 5 minutes.  Give the man credit, he actually knew what he was talking about and really did help try to find out SOME solution.  However, after about an hour of trying, the laptop just decides it doesn’t want to read the HD anymore.

After having the laptop in our possession for a little more than 2 hours, it was already heading back to be repaired.  Turns out, it needed a new HD.

I’m sure you can understand my frustration when discovering that this machine your department has paid over $1000 for was DOA.  You would THINK that HP actually tests the machine prior to shipping it out in case that, well, you know, something might actually be WRONG.  But alas, they did not.

Fast forward: one week later.  We receive the repaired laptop.  I turn it on…

Fan turns on.  Blink.  Blink.  Boot!

Whoo hoo!  It’s working!  Install programs needed for work, such as the Novell client, Office, etc.  Everything is great.  Life is good.  Well, within 4 hours, the laptop suddenly decides it has no webcam.  Oh, but the best part?  The touchscreen laptop suddenly decides that, hey, it doesn’t have a touchscreen, either.  Oh, everything else is just working dandy.  But no touchscreen, and no webcam.

There is nothing worse than a laptop telling you it has no touchscreen / webcam when you’re staring right AT the touchscreen / webcam.  Driver issue?  Software issue?  I do all the logical tests.  Re-install drivers.  Did a full system recovery.

Nope.  Not working.  Rather than trying the repair center again, I decided we might as well exchange the entire unit for a new laptop, since we don’t know what the next thing on this unit to crap out will be.  And here’s where the fun begins.

Real Conversation w/HP Agent:

Me:  Hi.  This is the second time I’m calling within about a week.  The day we received the laptop, it was broken.  We had to send it in to get repaired, which it was.  Unfortunately, it decided to breakdown again a couple of hours after receiving the “repaired” item.  I think we need to exchange this, as it seems the entire unit is defective.

Agent:  I’m sorry to hear that.  Let me see what I can do.  :: CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK ::  Ok, well, it seems as though we can get another unit built on June 19th.

Me:  Wait a minute.  We ordered this machine on May 12.  We need this for our projects at work.  We already lost a week of time because HP sent us a defective unit.  You’re telling me we have to wait practically another MONTH to get a replacement for an item HP failed to fix?

Agent:  I’m sorry to hear that.  Let me see what I can do.  :: CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK ::  Ok, well, actually, the way it works, we will send you a box.  You’ll ship the laptop back to us.  When we receive it, we will start building the new one.

Me:  No.  That’s ridiculous!  How long will it take for you to ship out a box to us?

Agent:  About two days.

Me:  How long will it take for you to receive the shipment?

Agent:  About two days.

Me:  So what you’re saying, then, is that HP has essentially wasted a full week of our business’s time simply b/c they sent us a defective product in the first place?

Agent:  (Silence)

Me:  And that’s not even including the time it would take to build a new unit and send it out!  I’ve worked with several other companies before that have shipped an item w/o having to wait for the defective item to return.  Send a box and I can ship the laptop back, but you guys should start building the new unit already.

Agent:  I’m sorry to hear that.  Let me see what I can do.  :: CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK :: Well, actually, there is another option we can do.  We can start production for a new laptop on June 12th.  However, this will be a new order, so we will charge your credit card again.  Once we receive the defective unit, we will give you a refund for that purchase.

Me:  What??  First off, June 12th is practically two weeks from now.  I needed the unit, like, last week.  Second, charge the CC again?  Why should we be penalized with another charge on our card just because you guys have screwed up?  You know what, let me talk to my IT department.  Chances are, they will simply want a refund.  Maybe we’ll just get a Dell, instead.  Sure, it may not be as nice, but hey, at least it will WORK.  I’ll call back later when we decide what to do.

Omg.

I simply decided I’d call the repair center again.  I asked that they replace ALL parts (HD, motherboard, memory, webcam, etc.) since it’s apparent that just about everything seems to be failing on this machine.  Turnaround time?  4-5 business days.

Hey HP, want to know what the funny thing is?  I could probably have the system rebuilt, with HP parts, under warranty, by a third party who has to order each part from HP, in 30% of the time you quoted.

Only conclusion I can make: I’m glad this was a work laptop, and not a personal purchase.  Will I ever buy something from HP?  Based on this experience, probably only if I want something that doesn’t work and don’t care that it takes 2 months to receive the order.