why,

First:

Windows 7 update ... WHY THE HELL did you put in some 'sticky keys' thing by default to be on. You hear the keys being typed out which is annoying as all hell for one... and second, if you're a fast typer like myself, it would prevent you from typing double letters at all unless you either hit another random key (shift for example) or waited a (default) 1 full second before hitting that same key again.

Second:

Why is it that when you set up an auto-payment thing, that when it doesn't go through properly it takes 3 months for them to inform you that "oh hay, you owe us money for the last couple months that we couldn't get money from your set up account ... and you owe us for this month too" ... I now have a bill of almost $400 due because they didn't turn off the service in question after the first month of not getting a payment.

Third:

Why, when you go apply somewhere, if you don't get any reply back, even automated, does the company get upset when you show up a few days after applying, just to see if they got the application? .. well, maybe it was just that guy. I dunno, but still ...

Fourth:

Why haven't I gotten hired over the last 4 years of seeking and constantly applying everywhere... heck, I've resorted to having friends look up jobs as well in places that I may not have thought about myself. I've applied at so many places that if my resume gets printed out at all of the places, that would be a couple dozen reams of paper (glad I don't have to print that many out m'self, that'd be some expensive ink expenditure as well)

Well, let's see if we can't improve the attitudes around here a bit...

1) I stopped in at a small computer store that has been in the area for 2 years already. This store though, is new to the area. They stated that they're not looking for people right now, but in a couple months they will be. They suggested I go ahead and plug in my resume to them so that they have it on file and everything.

2) The person at Universal I did get to speak with said that my application did get in, but has not been looked at yet. There were too many people there when I showed up or he would have had me see someone while I was there. He said that the recruiters usually look at the applications that come in over the web within 5-7 business days ... granted I applied on Saturday, so today was technically business day 3. Hopefully I'll be able to get the job there.

3) Sticky keys was fairly easy to turn off ... albeit stupid that they'd put that on by default and not pop something up initially when you restart that says "hey we turned this feature on, and this is what it does ... do you want to leave it this way? or did you want it off".

-=-=-=-=-=-

4) FFXIV Beta 3 is now live, ... well it went live last night at 10pm eastern ... There have been some major improvements, some unwanted or 'over the top' improvements, and some fixes that we have found to be very major.

Major improvements that were wanted: New classes ... this includes the craft skills that were not implemented in the previous version. Software mouse is now much improved, mainly due to the following improvement ... uncapped FPS from 30 to 120 !! yay! now instead of walking around and seeing a solid 30 in the corner from FRAPS running ... I see it jump up into the 70's and usually steady around the 40's for my card and the settings I've got everything on (which, actually are the standard 'high' settings).

Unwanted / over-the-top improvements: Guildleves are now ... crazy. Before they were a great way to get money for everyone ... now, with the faster combat times, the skillups for people are few when you're in a big party (that they want you to do anyway by the way). If you're alone however, sure you won't share the wealth in gil for other people in a party, but the experience you get from a single kill in a guildleve is extraordanary. Before the exp in leves were about as much as if you were just grinding away on mobs. Now it is like 10 times better! I went from a 1/1 thaumaturge/physical to 5/8 thaumaturge/physical just by killing 6 monsters that were part of the initial storyline and included guildleve. This is MUCH improved over the original method where I was 2/5 after doing a full 8 guildleves and grinding on monsters for 3 hours. But that's part of the problem ... it's way too fast. Now with how fast you level, you don't get as many crystals to be able to craft.

Also in this list is the thing that they implemented towards the end of beta 2, and that is surplus ... they have not told us what this is for, but if you start off, and level up on one class, once you get it to 13, and about a quarter of the way into that level, you start getting surplus experience. This causes your experience at first to be cut by about 10% or so. Granted it doesn't seem like much, but as you go, it can eventually get as much as cutting off 100% of your experience, and all of it go to surplus ... again, we're not sure what it's for, but some people have tried to 'push through' it and actually gained surplus levels. How to avoid it? ... level another class. Sure this works in theory, but some people (like myself) are not too keen on doing the whole gathering or crafting scene. Also those of us that are hardcore caster class users ... we're limited to two jobs then, and that's not that great especially when you get both classes into surplus, then you're just SOL until you decide to take up a craft or 5.

Fixed things: Healing people now causes agro -.- Awwwww there goes our trick ... was in a party initially with about 8 or 9 people just to go from the get-go and from level 5 or so for everyone, start doing the level 10 ranked guildleves ... this would normally give us a good amount of money by doing this. But when I as a caster, came and healed people, the mobs ripped right off, and hit me once, and I died .... yay squishy ! . . . And the heal? ... only healed 10 HP ... granted this was a very low level group, so no provoke abilities were in play, and I didn't wait until good agro was established by the DD's up front ... but the monsters were also dying so fast that I wanted to get my turn in the class experience ... so yea ... partying, great ... for melees ... casters, not so much. Especially if you're a healer.

Also kind of strange that was added: option to change a spell from AOE to single target ... granted this is great, default was always AOE ... although AOE damage spells never target things that are not claimed red name for you or your party (this means even though you could gather 5-6 low level mobs around you and cast an AOE, only the current target gets the damage, and the red named (claimed) mob is always the first one you started attacking). The other problem with this: to change it from AOE to single, you'd have to click the little button that says Area of Effect .. after choosing a spell ... this means that people like m'self that play strictly with the keyboard for this game ... can't change it from AOE to single target ... Oh, and the simple fact that even if you do click it, it doesn't change it to non-aoe when it is cast. This also means that when you hit a spell to cast, you have to confirm the aoe-ness to actually cast the spell ... an extra click that wasn't needed before.

Also, now the battle regimen thing cannot be arrow-ed over to in combat, you have to click it as well to get into the battle regimen mode.

-=-=-=-=-

Still lookin for a potential female friend / partner too ^^

-=-=-=-=-

I'd love to be able to afford to get FFXIV retail, especially the collectors edition preorder, but, yea ... this surprise bill, and lack of a job really doesn't allow for it. So, if you're a super kind soul, that would love to donate anything to help me pay for this stupid bill first and foremost, and even better, if enough came in to get the FFXIV retail, I'd be forever thankful.