Author: Karel Kerezman

Case Opened. Case Closed.

In February I ran into a tricky problem having to do with tracking the movement of agents in our RMM (“Remote Management & Monitoring”) system. I opened a ticket (01916099 just for the sake of record-keeping) with the vendor.

I updated the ticket in April asking if anyone was going to get back to me.

I updated the ticket in May asking if anyone was going to get back to me.

Along the way I pinged our account rep who insisted someone would get back to me.

Today? More than eight entire months later? Someone got back to me.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. I will be closing this case now.

Fern, from the FREIREN anime, eloquently expressing the same reaction I had, only far more calmly.

Fine, fine customer support they’ve got over at [redacted]. Lovely. Their ticketing system won’t even let me reopen the ticket, despite a button being labeled for such. And they wonder why clients are jumping to other vendors’ products.

15 October, 2024
Satisfactory: Concrete From Hammerspace

Satisfactory 1.0 introduces an entire game mechanic that wasn’t in any of the Early Access versions. And I don’t mean the (erstwhile) storyline.

We’ll address all of the stuff around the Dimensional Depot Uploader shortly. Please be patient.

Meet the Dimensional Depot Uploader, which allows you to dump materials into a kind of Hammerspace. Neat, huh?
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9 October, 2024
Noah Lefevre: Century of Song

“101 Songs that Shaped American Music”

There’s an old line which goes something like, “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” It’s hard, incredibly hard, to convey one’s thoughts and information about one medium in a whole other, wildly different medium. Just ask any of those YouTubers trying to get their takes about film and song across, I imagine they’d agree.
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7 October, 2024
Satisfactory: A Few Weeks In

The release of 1.0 hit just a few weeks ago, and I’ve played… a lot. Not every day, though! In fact I took several days away from the game over the last week or so. Burnout is real and to be avoided.

With that said, I have finally hit my actual favorite part of the game:

Of course, true to form, after taking the above screenshot I almost immediately removed this station so I could move it over a few foundation tiles’ worth and raise it a bit higher above sea level.

Trains!
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2 October, 2024
Pixel to Pixel

It’s phone refresh time for everyone on my Ting plan. Spud’s phone just up and bricked itself after several years of stalwart service, so I got his replacement sent out and that seems to have gone well. And then I started thinking, hmm, it has been a while since my Pixel 4a (5G) fell out of regular updates support. And Vyx’s phone has been giving her fits for a while.

So… new phones for everyone! She’s got a Pixel 8a due to arrive soon, and my Pixel 8 arrived today. I can’t really say if I like it better than the 4a (5G) or not yet, but the only annoying thing about it so far is that I can’t find a way to get rid of the “AI Wallpaper” app it comes with. Yuck. I got Signal, Duo, Discord, MediaMonkey, and Medisafe installed and settings/music/etc migrated with no particular difficulty, and my Jabra 65t earbuds are paired & tested.

I originally wanted to get a face-on shot so there’d be a partial reflection of the old phone in this picture of the new phone… but the autofocus kept locking onto the reflection. So you get a 3/4 angle view instead.

In spite of my advancing age (and the decreasing visual acuity which comes with that) I’m happy that this is a slightly smaller phone. Fits in the pocket easier, doesn’t feel quite so bulky to grasp. And with the font sizing features I can make the phone more-or-less usable by my “old person eyes” even before I’ve got my readers on. Helpful, that.

All things being equal I’m going to miss the 4a, it was quite the workhorse, but eventually it will give up the ghost and now I’m freshened up for the future. Yay?

26 September, 2024
Satisfactory: Ironworks Again

I planned to use this website to write more about Satisfactory. (Among other things.) What’s stopping me? All the free time I could be writing, I’m spending in the game. So, my love of the game gets in the way of my plans and principles yet again. Same as it ever was.

Anyway: At just about the 24 hours (in-game time) mark in the new save, I completed my Ironworks.

There’ll be beautification done later, after I’ve unlocked more of the cosmetics. I want a roof, walls, supports, all of that good shiny stuff. But for now? It doesn’t look too shabby!

I’ve been referring to various purpose-built factory sites as [whatever]works since my very first play-through about four years ago. This one’s the best I’ve built yet. Which you’d expect given all the practice over the years, I suppose, but I really do feel good about this result. Let’s get into why.
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20 September, 2024