The Blog of Jason “Jayce” Olshefsky

As the wisest of you all know, today is a special holiday because it’s my Ali’s birthday. [And in case you're wondering, she turned (2006 age)+1.] So we started things off with blueberry pancakes in the morning. And then she got some cake at work. And then we went to Paola’s Burrito Place (1921 South Ave., formerly Big Dog’s Hots) for dinner at her preference. Then she opened her gifts but we didn’t have any of the pumpkin pie I made because we were stuffed from dinner. Finishing things off we went out to Solera Wine Bar (647 South Ave.) and had some wine, meeting up with a group of friends from all different places in her life. In all, she had a great day.

I got up at 7 a.m. and put the turkey in the oven (after having prepared it all last night) and I got the rolls thawing. I got the kitchen cleaned up and then finished up cleaning up the house. I intended to go back to bed but it never actually happened. Ali came by around 10 and I got the coffee going. The flurry of activity around the house crescendoed around noon when I took the turkey out and Ali and I worked on potatoes, broccoli, gravy, cheese sauce, cooking the rolls, and getting the pies warmed up.

My parents arrived around 1 and Ali’s parents and kid sister arrived shortly after. Ali had brought her artichoke casserole, my parents brought stuffing and another pie, and Ali’s family brought pumpkin bread, wine, and squash. While moms and dads spent some time getting to know one another, Ali and I buzzed around, getting an excellent meal set up that basically went off without a hitch. I thought it wasn’t as organized as last year, but then I had no standard upon which to base things and everything I tried was pretty much for the first time. Our guests disagreed and felt it was even better (well it was just my parents and Ali last year so her family was without a point of comparison.)

It all went well and even the pies were well received (I had made pumpkin and apple — apple for the first time). Afterward it was off to Ali’s new house so my parents could see it and then everyone went home. All that work for a really great 4-hour period. It’s disproportionately skewed toward planning, but that’s the name of the game.

So Ali and I got things cleaned up a bit then took a nap. Thank goodness. We slept for 2 hours or so then got up and headed to my friend Rebecca’s party. It was once an annual thing, but last year she apparently broke her foot, bought a house, and disappeared. Well the hugely amazing party was back this year — with dozens of desserts that followed an astounding buffet that Ali and I had skipped for our own.

The friends and family there were all very good people. Ali had a great time and was glad she didn’t skip it — after all, she planned to get up early to do some seasonal work for our friends business at 5 a.m. the next day. She didn’t even leave until 11 or so — although both of us thankfully live just around the corner. I ended up consuming a steady stream of alcohol until quite late — I got home around 4:30 a.m. and considered calling Ali to see if she was up. [In fact she was.]

So it was an excellent holiday overall.

I signed up for this website called Experts-Exchange to find out why my Garmin eTrex Legend Navigator would suddenly die, leaving only a thin vertical line on the display that required removal of the batteries to reboot. I figured it had something to do with the recent firmware “upgrade” I gave it (knowing that these “upgrades” almost always have side effects like “sometimes ruins everything”, but this is how corporations make money). Or maybe it was just that the batteries were flaky.

Anyway, at this Expert-Exchange, you can sign up to the service for $12.95/month or cheaper for longer periods. Stepping back once: I had done a Google search and found this as a question on the site with two answers from “gurus” that I could reveal by signing up. There’s a 7-day free trial so I figured I’d give it a go.

So what was the “guru”-level answer as to what can be done to fix the problem? Did it include instructions on a firmware upgrade? Did it ask for more details? Did it describe a specific kind of failure that is either user-serviceable or not? Did two different people answer the question — or perhaps offer different advice?

At the risk of violating the terms of service of the site, let me just say it was none of those. The “solution(s)” even failed to include a link to buy a whole new unit. Now, it would be one thing if these answers were listed as “well, pretty crummy but it’s something”, but apparently this is the cream-of-the-crop — the very best Experts-Exchange has to offer.

Needless to say, I’ve canceled my free trial.

As a footnote, I also found this page that describes my problem and offers a link to a solution — along with some discussion absent from the page therein linked.

Ali and I went to Ming’s I (1038 S. Clinton Ave.) for dinner. We went a few weeks ago and again on Halloween but on this night we played it smart and got soup: the kind where you pick the dominant meat or vegetables and pick the kind of noodles. It’s the best thing going: it’s tasty and generous.

Last year I signed up for National Novel Writing Month but I never even started writing anything. This year I told myself I’d commit to it. The gist is to try and write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. Obviously, it’s not about writing the best novel, just a novel. My profile includes the stats for how far I’ve come so far. Yesterday I wrote 1455 words which is short of the 1667 needed to hit 50K in 30 days, but it’s a start.

I titled it “Memoirs of an Idealist”. I’m trying to embrace the philosophy of starting from a kernel and letting it grow on its own. I also have no illusions that this will be any less “semi-autobiographical” than any other author’s first novel. And in so, I’m drawing from my inner demons — the ones that wake me up at 3 in the morning and present me with an impossible situation to challenge my ideals. They follow the same theme of trying to crush my individuality, whether it’s an authority trying to make a uniform world, or some jerk trying to impose their ideals.

Writing the first chapter was painful to think back on. I just forged ahead with almost no editing. It was horrifying. I didn’t go back to fix any missing parts or to try and fill in details I thought I’d needed. But by the end of it, things are starting to flesh out. I’ve got inklings of several characters and I have no idea what they will do or be like yet.

This morning I signed up for 41 Pounds that is a company that claims to reduce junk mail by 80-95%. They basically send in your name to be taken off common advertising mailing lists. The gist is that you will get less than the average of 41 pounds of junk mail each year. It costs $41 for five years.