• 9Dec 09

  This Kind of Stupidity Must Take a Great Deal of Practice

  Last Saturday afternoon I was at home watching The Legend of Neilwhen my work phone rang.

  It was a notoriously poor user complaining that she couldn't access her tablet. It kept telling her she was putting in the wrong password. Apparently she had spoken to my colleague Raphael on Friday and was told that she needed to come in to the office to change her password. So she came alllllll the way to the office Friday evening to change her password. This took her 2 WHOLE HOURS!! And that made her late for work!!! Grrrrr!!!!

  I found her anger a bit confusing since staff are told from their first day of training that their password will expire every 60 days and that they must come in the office to change it. This user has been working here for years. Every 60 days, like clockwork, she will call us and complain about a problem with her password. Every 60 days, we tell her she has to come in to the office to change it. Every 60 days, she tells us she has no idea what we're talking about and explains that she's never had to do that before.

  So she goes on to explain that her new password worked on Friday, but she could not log in with it today. Forgetting things every 60 days is bad enough, but now she has forgotten the password she created less than 24 hours ago. She then tells me that she called the automated help desk number to reset her password 3 times and each time her tablet would not accept the new password. I was pretty sure I knew what the problem was.

  "Where are you?"

  "At home"

  "Are you aware that your tablet can't tell that your password's been changed unless you're in the office?"

  "No, I wasn't aware of that"

  She then gets even more flustered and asks what she is supposed to do now. I tell her that since she's already gotten her password changed she must go in to the office to synchronize her tablet with that new password. She does not take this well. After all, she JUST WENT THERE YESTERDAY! THIS IS RIDICULOUS!

  I explain as calmly as I can that this is not new. She has always been required to do this for password changes. She manages to let out a "thank you" in a tone that suggests she is not the least bit thankful before hanging up the phone.

  Flash forward to Monday morning. I arrive at work to see this user's tablet on my boss's desk. Apparently that password change on Saturday didn't work out. Of course, since she didn't leave us whatever password she was given on Saturday and IS will only allow her to change her own password, we had no way of logging in to that tablet, so we had to call the user, ask her to call the help desk for a one use password, and then ask her to call us back with the one use password and what she wanted us to enter as her new 60 day password.

  Before we could do this, we got an email from the user's supervisor explaining that she needed that tablet "fixed" ASAP. Good to know.

  So we change the password, call the user, and hand the tablet over to her when she shows up. Case closed.

  But no, she would never make it that easy for us.

  I show up for work Tuesday morning to find the user's tablet back with us. She'd left it off again overnight. She could not log back in. So Raphael turns the tablet on and tries to log in with the password from yesterday. He gets an error that indicates the password is not current.

  On a hunch, Raphael checks the help desk log and discovered that the user called the help desk last night to reset her password. She did not inform us what this new password was.

  I really hope I am not around when this user shows up again to claim her tablet.

  • Posted Dec 9, 2009 3:49 am PT
  • 30 Comments
  • Tag
  • Print
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Digg
• 7Dec 09

  Reviewing the Dragon Age DLC

  While Dragon Age has gotten a good amount of coverage from the gaming press, I haven't really read much about the DLC that was released at the same time as the game. Since I've finished both of the add-ons I figured I should share my thoughts.

  The Stone Prisoner

  If you go to a glowing gold "this spot contains a DLC quest!" spot on the map you'll find a merchant who is eager to part with a malfunctioning Gollum control rod. Once you pick up the control rod you're sent to a new town on the map to claim your new Gollum. Unsurprisingly, the town is overrun by darkspawn. Going through the mildly interesting quest of rescuing the town will last you about a half an hour. While the actual quest is pretty disappointing, the real prize in this DLC comes at the end, when you find your new companion, the Gollum Shale.

  Shale is a really great character, and I found myself taking him along more often than most companions just to hear all his great dialogue. If you're the type of player who like to talk to your companions and find out all about them, you're sure to have a lot of fun with Shale. He also fits seamlessly into the game, having conversations with other companions and sharing thoughts on whatever location you're in, just like all your other companions. That he fits in quite naturally with the rest of the game makes sense since this DLC was created at the same time as the core game.

  After you complete a certain quest in Orzammar, and if you're on good enough terms with Shale, you'll be given another spot in the deep roads to explore. There's nothing really too memorable about this new area though. It took me only about twenty minutes to finish.

  While the actual quest portions of this DLC aren't all that spectacular, the new companion you get for your efforts makes up for it. The $15 price tag is perhaps a bit much, but since most players are going to get this free when they purchase a new copy of the game that isn't really an issue. If you're planning on buying Dragon Age used, this DLC is a pretty good reason to re-think that, which is probably the whole point of Bioware including it as DLC instead of packing it in with the actual game.

  Warden's Keep

  As I mentioned in an earlier blog, you're given this quest by someone who approaches you in camp and begs you to help him by paying EA $7 to unlock his quest. If you don't plan on getting this DLC, the guy acts as a billboard for this content every time you go to camp. It's an annoying method of including this DLC in the main game that I hope I don't see more of for future added content.

  The quest itself tasks you with freeing an old castle from demonic control. You get some interesting flashbacks that clue you in to how the area came to be possessed as you progress further into the castle. This gives you plenty of incentive to keep going if you want to find out how this story ends. Overall, it's a better quest than the Stone Prisoner. It took me about an hour to finish.

  After you're finished with your quest the castle becomesa place where you can buy supplies and store your excess loot. While having a place to store your goods is a big help for a pack rat gamer like myself, it is a shame that you're forced to pay for a feature that's become pretty standard for RPGs.

  If you're hungry for more Dragon Age you could do worse than spending $7 on this expansion. At the same time though, if you pass on Warden's Keep you won't be missing out on anything too important. It's a decent little diversion, nothing more.

  Bioware has said they'll be "supporting" Dragon Age with DLC for 2 years. As much as I love the game, I just can't see myself coming back to it every month or so to play more DLC. Like Fallout 3, Dragon Age stands really well on its own. It delivered everything I expected and then some. When I reached the end, I was satisfied. While the DLC so far has been pretty fun, I'm more eager for a sequel than more sidequests. Maybe I'll change my mind when the next batch of DLC comes out. Time will tell.

  • Posted Dec 7, 2009 5:37 pm PT
  • 18 Comments
  • Tag
  • Print
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Digg
• 24Nov 09

  Gone But Not Forgotten

  One of our RNs retired this month. I know this because I've gotten several invites to a retirement party that I have no interest in attending. The email from HR listing her termination date was also a helpful clue.

  My company phone rang at 7am on Saturday. I stumbled out of bed to pick it up and was greeted by the voice of the retired employee. She was having trouble logging in to her tablet. After putting in her ID and password she kept getting the message that she did not have access.

  I had to explain to her that the reason she did not have access was that she no longer worked for our agency. She then asked if I had the power to grant her access. I explained to her that HR was the department that entered her termination date, not me. Unlike me, HR is not stupid enough to agree to carry around a company cell phone when they are not working. Also, the fact that she is still retired would be a sticking point.

  She then asked if she should return her company tablet and cell phone to us. I told her that would probably be a good idea.

  After a few more minutes explaining to this person why people who no longer work for us are not granted access to our equipment, our conversation was mercifully ended. I was too filled with rage to go back to sleep.

  • Posted Nov 24, 2009 4:23 pm PT
  • 35 Comments
  • Tag
  • Print
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Digg

See Previous Blog Posts »