Christ Centered Gamer

Sweet. ^_^ I'ma try and get it. Sounds like I might actually be able to find a place that everyone that would be playing would like, which would be very useful in enticing people to play.

Sometimes you just want to tell people "You're just being cranky. Go take a nap and get back to me"?

Chozon1 wrote: Sun Nov 05, 2017 8:23 am Sometimes you just want to tell people "You're just being cranky. Go take a nap and get back to me"?

Sometimes I want to tell myself that.

No comment. >_> I try to warn people when I realize I've got the grumpies, at least.

Life is miserably when the humidity is off the charts?

Chozon1 wrote: Mon Nov 06, 2017 9:33 am Life is miserably when the humidity is off the charts?

That depends. A nice summer rainstorm is always welcome.

It was like...70 degrees outside yesterday. Beautiful temp. But so humid that the air clung to your skin like wet clothing, and if you stayed in one spot too long the area got warm and moist. Terrible.

If customer support promises two days, and three weeks later I have heard nothing, I am justified in screeching at them, yes?

Chozon1 wrote: Tue Nov 07, 2017 10:35 am It was like...70 degrees outside yesterday. Beautiful temp. But so humid that the air clung to your skin like wet clothing, and if you stayed in one spot too long the area got warm and moist. Terrible.

70 degrees? It snowed here! Where are you, Texas?

Chozon1 wrote: Tue Nov 07, 2017 10:35 am If customer support promises two days, and three weeks later I have heard nothing, I am justified in screeching at them, yes?

I would say so. Unless they have a reasonable excuse for the delay (e.g. "The ship that had your product caught fire and sunk. Everyone on board died. So sorry, but we'll arrange for the company to send you a new one once we're done planning all those funerals....") But even so, they should have notified you about the delay and given you a new ETA.

Mississippi. It's on the 40's now, though. XD Mississippi in the Fall/Winter. I'd like some snow, really.

My mom's kindle is screwing up the point of being useless. Customer support has been promising 'just a few days' for the last three weeks. If the guy does not call me back tomorrow, I'm bypassing support and going straight to the complaint departs. This is ridiculous.

Forged in Fire, the tv show?

Chozon1 wrote: Wed Nov 08, 2017 11:20 am
My mom's kindle is screwing up the point of being useless. Customer support has been promising 'just a few days' for the last three weeks. If the guy does not call me back tomorrow, I'm bypassing support and going straight to the complaint departs. This is ridiculous.

Usually Amazon has a pretty good customer service department. What is the Kindle doing, and how old is it?

Chozon1 wrote: Wed Nov 08, 2017 11:20 am Forged in Fire, the tv show?

Never heard of it, but since I don't get direct television reception, that's no surprise. There are a lot of shows that I have never heard about. What is this one about, and is it on Netflix?

I know, right? I've placed my faith in Amazon customer support for years and have not been disappointed until now.

The kindle is screwing up in all manner of ways. After playing games (downloaded from the app store, mind.) for an indeterminate amount of time, it will freeze the game, say 'Amazon appstore required' and boot her out of the game. When she follows the prompt it opens the appstore and shows everything is completely fine with both the store and the game.

Recently, it's started kicking her out of books and apps with a black screen of immobility, and running incredibly slow. It's...last years model, I think. It isn't very old.

Anyway, after a few weeks of this, my mom got tired of it and asked me for help. Since I've done the customer support spiel several times and knew the general gist, I went ahead and tried a factory reset and uninstalled/reinstalled the games fresh on my own accord, to try the first obvious solutions. Still screwed up. Four weeks ago I contacted Amazon and they had me uninstall/reinstall the appstore, unregister/reregister mom's account, and several other things before telling me 'I will file a ticket with the appstore team and they will get back to you in no more than two or three days'. OK, fair enough, I can live with that. So could mom.

A week later, after no contact, I contacted them again. Same stuff, same 'two days'. We were still willing to give them a chance.

Three weeks later, with no word, I called (part of that time our internet was out, so it wasn't worth calling anyway). At 3 in the morning, since my Mom's kindle just farted out four times in a row and really frustrated her. I got a response, but the plot--much like my cloud of ire--thickens. Not only did I spend an hour on the phone with support, Brad--which is probably an assumed name, judging by his accent--informed me honestly that he had no idea what was wrong. he could see the ticket in the system, and was very sorry it was taking so long. "I will call you again in no more than two days," he finally said. "I've updated the ticket and I've got the app team on it. I can't do much more than that, because all of the solutions being suggested won't help you. Sorry."

"Two days? Is that...i dunno. I mean, are you actually going to call me again in two days? I'm kinda frustrated. I trust you, but it's been three weeks since my last contact with support."

"I realize that, and I'm very sorry. But yes, two days. I'll call you again to give you an update and we'll see what steps to take after that, OK?"

"Sure, I guess. That's...alright. Do you have my e-mail address on file, just in case you can't get the phone?"

"Oh, I won't need it. I'll call you again around this time. Is that all right?"

"Sure thing. Appreciate your help."

Two full days and change later, I'm sitting on the couch with the phone, waiting on Brad like the emo hero in a teenage romance. No call. On a nudge from God, I check my mom's email.

Hello Edward. This is Brad, from Amazon support. I would have called, but I did not wish to inconvenience you by calling at such a late hour. I have been in contact with the Amazon App team and they tell me that the problem arose because of the last factory reset you did and a file that was backed up. Try doing another reset, only this time don't choose to download the backups. *insert polite exit lingo*

THE HECK BRAD?! THE H-E-DOUBLE WIZARDS WANDS. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? YOU ARE SAYING THAT THE RESET I DID TO FIX THE PROBLEM IN THE FIRST PLACE CAUSED THE PROBLEM? YOU SHOULD REMOVE THE FLUX CAPACITOR'S FROM YOUR KINDLE'S, BRO. IT WOULD STOP PEOPLE FROM DOING ACTIONS IN THE FUTURE WHICH MAGICALLY CAUSE PROBLEMS IN THE PAST.

*growls under breath*

It then came to my attention that Amazon had sent mum's an email regarding the situation. I responded with...brusqueness. Not rudeness, but I did not pull punches either.

Ironically, twenty minutes after the reset, the Kindle started farting out again. XD GUESS WHO DIDN'T CAUSE THE PROBLEM BRAD?

Anger management?

Pleh. Forged in Fire is a cooking competition, only with black smithing instead of food. Four smiths are given a forge, some steel, and a set of parameters, and compete to see who can make the best knife in the time allotted. The winners of that competition are then given a historical weapon to replicate over the course of five days. Whoever makes the best weapon (as judged by the weapon itself, it's durability and quality) win's 10K. It's...Chopped, but with knives. I really like it. XD

My first thought about the Kindle would be a virus. Did you run it through Avast or another virus checker. The Kindles use a slight variation of Android, so if you have an Android virus program, it could be worth a shot. Do a completely factory reset and don't run through any backups. Install the virus program and scan the Kindle. Then perhaps do another scan after every game you re-install from the Amazon store.

As for Anger Management, I've only seen it once, but I seem to recall that it was quite a goofy movie. Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson worked well together.

Chozon1 wrote: Thu Nov 09, 2017 1:50 pm Pleh. Forged in Fire is a cooking competition, only with black smithing instead of food. Four smiths are given a forge, some steel, and a set of parameters, and compete to see who can make the best knife in the time allotted. The winners of that competition are then given a historical weapon to replicate over the course of five days. Whoever makes the best weapon (as judged by the weapon itself, it's durability and quality) win's 10K. It's...Chopped, but with knives. I really like it. XD

That sounds quite interesting! What channel is it on?

I have done the factory reset without backups, but the virus scan is a very good idea. I'll give it a shot tomorrow. It'd be funny though, as my mom never downloads anything that doesn't come straight from the appstore. XD Might explain why Amazon is hedging so much however; no one wants to admit they've got a virus on their server.

However, I discovered the real reason Amazon is being unhelpful: the warranty expired (despite customer support saying that it was still within the warranty) in March, and the kindle is the 2015 model. I wish they'd told me that in the beginning, as I probably would not have bothered contacting them. Reason I thought it was newer than that is because it's already been replaced one early in 2016 for having severe battery issues. My mom had bad luck with kindles, and it's honestly nothing she does wrong.

Also, Forged in Fire comes on the History channel. It's a good show.

Cheeseburgers: real cheese, or pasteurized processed cheese food?

Chozon1 wrote: Fri Nov 10, 2017 9:33 am I have done the factory reset without backups, but the virus scan is a very good idea. I'll give it a shot tomorrow. It'd be funny though, as my mom never downloads anything that doesn't come straight from the appstore. XD Might explain why Amazon is hedging so much however; no one wants to admit they've got a virus on their server.

If she has ever browsed the Internet or checked her e-mail with the Kindle, a virus could have come from there. But I wouldn't discount the Amazon store, either - they do their best, but they don't have full control over what developers put in their apps, and the virus may have been accidental.

You know, I'm reminded of a story I heard years ago about Microsoft. It was discovered that one of the programs that comprised the Windows operating system had a pretty severe security hole in it. When confronted by this, though, Microsoft initially refused to change it. They claimed that it was something critical to the user experience, and that their customers wanted it. Wait... so your customers want to make it easier for hackers to access their data? Microsoft quickly realized how stupid their excuse sounded, and I believe the problem was fixed within a few weeks. Still, if you've ever wondered where the phrase "it's a feature, not a bug" came from, it was from that debacle.

Chozon1 wrote: Fri Nov 10, 2017 9:33 am Cheeseburgers: real cheese, or pasteurized processed cheese food?

Is this a serious question? Why in the world would you settle for anything less than 100% cheese on anything, cheeseburger or otherwise? Pasteurized processed cheese "food" doesn't belong in a serious kitchen... and probably should be relegated to the "inedible" pile.

Man, I was just going to have breakfast, but now I don't think I'm hungry any more.

As Android is a variation of Linux, I tend to not worry about viruses. I also tend to forget how much Google has butchered the original Linux framework, too. Either way, it was a good suggestion. Both AVG and Malwarebytes returned nothing though. I'm reasonably confident it's a firmware issue, but that's just my guessing. Amazon hasn't gotten back to me yet.

Processed pasteurized cheese food get's a bad rap, and I can't figure out why. I'm a real cheese person, but when I want a creamy cheeseburger, I reach for my Kraft cheese. There is no real cheese that melts as smoothly, due to the oil base. It melts into the grains of the burger and becomes almost a sauce. Real cheese melts into melted cheese, and tastes good. But not creamy and smooth.

It's also vital towards making cheese dip. Cheese does not melt. Not into a fluid. You need a medium. The 'proper' way to make a cheese dip is to make a cheese sauce with a roux and milk or cream. This is a huge pain, very finicky, doesn't always work, and adds fat. It also has a distinct flavor and texture. PPCF, again due to its oil content and relatively low amount of actual cheese, melts almost like a liquid when mixed with milk. Combine fake cheese and real cheese, and you have the best queso you'll ever eat.

PPCF, used correctly--as in not slapped onto a ham sandwich and called cheese--has a place in the kitchens and hearts of America, and the world.

Getting sick at the most inopportune of times?

Chozon1 wrote: Sat Nov 11, 2017 7:53 am Processed pasteurized cheese food get's a bad rap, and I can't figure out why.

Because it leaves a waxy, sometimes oily feeling in the mouth and tastes disgusting.

Chozon1 wrote: Sat Nov 11, 2017 7:53 am It's also vital towards making cheese dip. Cheese does not melt. Not into a fluid. You need a medium. The 'proper' way to make a cheese dip is to make a cheese sauce with a roux and milk or cream. This is a huge pain, very finicky, doesn't always work, and adds fat. It also has a distinct flavor and texture. PPCF, again due to its oil content and relatively low amount of actual cheese, melts almost like a liquid when mixed with milk. Combine fake cheese and real cheese, and you have the best queso you'll ever eat.

I will give a pass for nacho cheese, but mainly because the spices and peppers will cover the flavor of the fake cheese. Otherwise, stick with real cheese whenever possible. It's better for you, anyway. (Especially if the oils that make up the brand of American cheese are soybean or cottonseed oils. Avoid those like the plague, man....)

Chozon1 wrote: Sat Nov 11, 2017 7:53 am Getting sick at the most inopportune of times?

Best way to avoid that is by not getting sick. Proper nutrition is key... such as cutting fake cheese out of your diet.