Computer Struggles & A Tip

I had another post I was going to write but it’s on my computer.  Long story short, my computer power cord got caught in the mechanics within the leg rest of my recliner.  Needless to say I was a little annoyed to find out that it no longer worked.  Of course, at the time I didn’t think this would be too big of a problem.  Turns out it is.

My first thought was to fix it.  I cut the cord opened and realized it is a little more complicated than I can handle being that it’s three different sections with three different insulations makes it tough to piece back together.  Then it was time for Best Buy.  I got there and they told me it’s $100 for a universal adapter that works with most computers in different countries.  I don’t need that.  Next stop the internet.  On Amazon.com, I found a ton of ac adapters priced at $10 and up.  I picked out a couple of cheaper adapters to look more closely.  The three I looked at all said that they wouldn’t make it by Christmas.  I kind of need my computer before then.

So I called Dell, now you think this would be an easy fix.  After 4 separate phone calls (voice recognition systems don’t work well when you are talking to other people) and about 45 minutes, Dell told me that a new ac adapter would be $179.95.  What?  That’s not going to work.  Tomorrow I’ll have to contact a few people I know to see if I can get my hands on a power cord sooner or else I’m just going to have to order it online and hope for the best.  Why is this so difficult?

***Update.  Small business to the rescue!***  I called by buddy Tom over at TWM Systems in Hopedale.  He asked me what I needed and had an ac adapter there for me.  It cost me $25.  I’ve been doing business with Tom for as long as I can remember.  In fact, I’m pretty sure my whole family goes to Tom including a business my family owns.  Computers and Tom mean the same thing in my family.  The usual service, any computer problem I have, he fixes it, quickly.  I love that.  So simple.

Google Analytics Tip

I’m new to this but I just learned something I thought I would share.  This started because I wanted to know if the stats are real-time.  Well it turns out they are defaulted for a day ago but you can look at the same day stats.  As for how up-to-date the same day stats are I’m not sure rumor is there’s a bit of a lag.  I tried to test this and there does seem to be a lag, I’m not sure how long though.

So here’s your tip.  If you want to see today’s stats in Google Analytics, first click on view report so that you are in your dashboard.  Directly to the right of the word “Dashboard” you should see a date range, today it says “Nov 15, 2009 – Dec 15, 2009″.  Now click on that date and a calendar comes up.  Now select today or a date range to include today.  Voila, you can now see today’s stats delayed slightly.  Enjoy!

Tagged as: analytics tip, computer, frustration, rant