Adventures with Dr. Lady Cutie Troublemaker

I’ve been meaning to blog about this for forever, but I just haven’t had the time. I did, however, get around to writing a short letter of complaint to Verizon regarding the version of Verizon Navigator created for Blackberries. It’s godawful, and I don’t see how they can’t know that. Here’s what I said:

I bought a Verizon Blackberry instead of an iPhone because I loved the VZ NAV software I’d used with my LG phone so much. I got the Blackberry and was brought back several builds to Verizon Navigator version 2.9 (having used version 4+ on my old LG phone). Once the NAV software finally DID upgrade a few months after I received my Blackberry, it was TERRIBLE. There’s a 30 second splash screen (hello, I’m LOST!); frequent lack of contact with satellites; when it DOES work, there’s a time lag meaning I miss turns; and no text prediction (I type in “RAL” and even though every place I go is in Raleigh, your software can’t predict the second half of that word in the city field!). Was this build even beta tested? I am extremely disappointed and regret even getting the Blackberry. I loved VZ NAV so much, and you’ve really blown it with this build. I feel like I’ve wasted a lot of time and money on this product, and before, I was preaching the wonders of it to EVERYONE. A product this flawed should never have been released. I’ve now bought an external Garmin GPS for my car and have uninstalled the VZ NAV from my Blackberry. I expect others will do the same if you don’t improve the performance of this product VERY soon. I’m a big Verizon fan, but this was a huge misstep for you.

One thing I noticed when rewatching my video is that I failed to mention that this version I’m demonstrating in the video is actually the latest UPDATE of VZ Navigator. Yes, I had that v. 2.9 before, but I did upgrade a couple of months ago, as soon as that software was available.

Starting a business is difficult. While there was a pre-existing business in place, it was just one woman doing her thing. While she does have an office that is set up and a billing person, neither the office nor the billing structures are set up for me. More importantly, there is not a large group of people sitting outside said office asking for my services. Nope, I have to go find those myself. The woman I work with has been AMAZING regarding marketing. She has new ideas every day. I get these cute emails all the time. She thinks she’s annoying me with them, but honestly, I couldn’t be happier about them. She’s thinking about the part of a business that, for whatever reason, my mind doesn’t think about on its own. So I’m happily (at least usually) entering back into the world of professionalism – reading the latest research/information about ADHD (since I presume to know something about it and am now a bit behind), making lists, and generally “Getting Things Done.”

I’d pulled out my old PDA again and was starting to use it for listmaking, but all the software for it is pretty outdated. Since it was upgrade time for me with Verizon, I opted for – drum roll, please – a Blackberry (aka Crackberry). I love that I can just throw tasks, ideas, and appointments in there with only a couple of clicks, and it’s all sync’d up with my online stuff. MAGIC!

Crack

There are now two phones in my purse at all times: one for work calls and the other which contains pretty much everything I need to do my job: calendar, address book, email, even MP3’s to listen to. I even went so far as to download some free online talks about ADHD to get my mind back in the right mode of thinking. It’s HARD when you’re out of the game for a while. I’m SO glad I did that, because what I learned from listening to it a few days really caught me up so much, so that today, when I met with a psychiatrist who will hopefully be sending referrals my way, I sounded as if I had been thinking about all of these things all the time for the last year, rather than about things like getting a job and the licensure exam.

Your future self will thank you if you get this program. It’s free today only. You have to install and activate it today. I just used it to back up my Windows drivers (Select all -> Backup). I then zipped them all up into one file and emailed them to myself. I have spent several days “upgrading” from Vista to XP, and finding all the correct drivers is a matching game of the highest order. By doing this, I know that if I ever need to reinstall an operating system on this laptop again, I will have a MUCH easier time of it. This was found on Giveaway of the Day. I don’t download programs from there very often, but this one has gotten really good reviews, and it’s exactly what I’ve been looking for.

Download here: Driver Magician

Don’t forget that you must install and activate TODAY! It’s a tiny program, so it only takes a minute to do this. l After unzipping (which can be done just by double clicking), install the program. Select Register Later. Then double click on the orange Activate button. Voila!

For many of you who read this blog, you won’t need to watch this, because you’re already VERY aware of what Twitter is. For those of you still in the dark, here’s a cute little video for people still wondering what that Twitter thing is in my sidebar.

I have learned the most delightful and helpful thing. I was tired of being sent invitations for apps I knew I’d never add, so I sent Facebook support a message about it.

Here’s what you do. Instead of just clicking Ignore, click over to the main page of the application to which you’ve been invited. It should be hyperlinked. Once you’re on the main page for the app, look over on the right side of the page. There’s a “Block This Application” link. Since learning this last week, my Facebook life has gotten much more manageable, much more peaceful.

So to review: Block the application AND click Ignore, and you will never get another invitation for that application ever again.