Either VAIO VPCCW1FFX/L lasts one month or I got a lemon

I'm publishing this here just in case Sony decides to censor me and as a placeholder on where to continue troubleshooting later.

Pros: 4GB of RAM, discrete video card, looks purple
Cons: HD seems to be faulting after just 3 weeks, no recovery CD/DVD
Review: I saw this one at the Sony store on Las Americas outlet in San Diego and immediately snatched one as its blue color looks purple, it had an NVIDIA discrete card and plenty of RAM.
I happily used the computer for about 3 weeks with no hiccups and was rather happy with it.
Then this morning I was greeted with an un-bootable system, "UNMOUNTABLE _BOOT_VOLUME" BSOD over and over.
I called support and spend well over an hour punching F2, F8 and F10 and selecting different recovery options, none of them worked. In the end I've been told I need to reach a support center (there's none in Zacatecas) and pay for a recovery CD/DVD that Sony "forgot" to put on the box.
I've torrented a "Windows 7 System Recovery Disc" but when booting from it now I see "Status: 0xc00000e9 Info: An unexpected I/O error has occurred".
My gut is the laptop has a faulty HD. I just hope Sony would stand by its product, help me recover my data and get me a new HD or laptop that would work longer than a month ='(

Twitter y suéteres Monterrey 2009

Per request of my beloved wife this entry would be in Spanish.

Desde el año pasado tuvimos la inquietud de replicar la excelente iniciativa"Twitter y suéteres" de @Bumen, @pawis y @jazminfajardo.
El año pasado reunimos 10 suéteres, que ya no nos quedaban o gustaban mucho. Esperamos este año con su apoyo multiplicar ese número.

La idea es sencilla, todos tenemos suéteres que ya no nos quedan, no nos gustan, etc.:

• Encuentralos.
  
• Lavalos (de ser necesario)
• Anóta tu nombre o @twitter, talla, si el suéter es para niño, adulto, hombre o mujer en un papel.
  
• Cólocalos en una bolsa transparente junto con el papel.
• Llevalos a Starbucks Plaza Real los domingos (22 y 29 de Noviembre; 6, 13 y 20 de Diciembre) de 10:00 a.m. a 1:00 p.m. donde @nelisalr, @alex_mayorga o algún otro voluntario estará encantado de recibirlos.

Los suéteres recolectados serán entregados a un asilo de ancianos y/o casa hogar el día 21 de diciembre de 2009, todos son bienvenidos a acompañarnos en la entrega.

Dudas o preguntas pon un comentario en esta entrada, en twitter @nelisalr @alex_mayorga o por mail.

Si tienes un blog por favor republica este post.

Tweet the vote .mx 09 (#ttvmx2009)

While driving for hours yesterday I presented an idea to @nelisalr that said it might not be a very good one because it might discredit IFE I disagree and believe this might bring a bit more of transparency and citizen involvement in the process.

Here's the idea for your consideration: Let's all "Tweet the vote"!

I'm confident that most people in Mexico would indeed go to the polls this coming Sunday. I'm proposing that we not only do that, but keep watching closely when the polls close, the results are tallied and published (this should start around 7:30 p.m. depending on how fast our neighbors can tally our votes).

I suggest that you go check and tweet the results on your poll using the following format:

PAN XXX PRI XXX PRD XXX PT XXX PVEM XXX PC XXX NA XXX PS XXX (CPM XXX CSM XXX) CNR XXX VN XXX EDO DT SEC TC #ttvmx2009

The (2-4)-character acronyms represent the various parties and (coalitions) as they are registered at the IFE CRN stands for "Candidatos no registrados and VN means "Votos nulos".

EDO should be replaced by the 3-character state code that corresponds to you according to ISO 3166-2:MX

DT should be replaced by the 2-digit district code that corresponds to you according to where you vote.

SEC should be replaced by the 3-digit section code that corresponds to you according to where you vote.

TC should be replaced by 2 characters depending to the type of voting poll according to where you vote. (BAsica, COntigua, EXtraordinaria or ESpecial)

For me this would turn into something like this:

PAN XXX PRI XXX PRD XXX PVEM XXX NA XXX PS XXX (CSM XXX) CNR XXX VN XXX ZAC 04 475 CO #ttvmx2009

Obviously you can also snap a picture to "Flick the vote", post this on your wall to "Facebook the vote", blog about it to "Blog the vote" or anything else you see fit.

I'd like to clarify I fully trust my neighbors and the IFE to do a stellar job on July 5th, 2009. I'm proposing this to make the whole process more fun and involving for the citizens not counting the votes themselves.

Nulling your vote in Mexico?... NOT

A lot have been written and said on how "cool and hip" would it be if we all go and null our vote in the upcoming election here in my beloved Mexico this July 5th, 2009.

From the get go I find this proposal nonsensical for a couple of reasons:

1. Our political system is based in the concept of "mayoría relativa" meaning that if every person but one in a district, state or country goofed up their votes and just one got it right; that wise single voter would've singlehandedly elected a deputy for the whole district, a governor for the whole state or even a president for the whole country.
2. The current system won't even make a distinction for your "voto en blanco", as it stands today it just means you don't know how to vote.

I've been "funcionario de casilla" before and that's why I understand this. Seems to me like many "political analysts" might have not been.

As an exercise go read what your neighbors have been trained to do this next Sunday on their "Manual del funcionario de casilla". It varies a bit based on the number of parties' coalitions in your district:

• One coalition (PDF)
• Two coalitions (PDF)

Focus on Chapter V "Conteo de los votos y llenado del acta" if you have to skim through it.

I don't want this post to run any longer so let me summarize. I urge you NOT to null your vote. Know who your candidates are, learn what the different parties proposals are, find your voting poll and VOTE.

I do agree that the system is a bit broken and the offers are lacking but I believe it is due to how we forget about it during 3 years and then try to fix it on election day. Go vote, make sure you remain politically conscious for the next 3 years and keep your elected representatives accountable. Hopefully we can fix it for the next one if we all participate.

If you're still so inclined to null your vote please go check page 72 in the above manuals. Helpful IFE gives you some creative ideas and examples to do so. Or better yet vote "alex_mayorga" I'd love to have more votes other than my own for this election =P

PS: it might look like a lot of reading but is for the greater good. Besides you might have wasted the same time somewhere else on the net =)

Did I somehow turned into a celebrity?

I don't really think so; but I somehow ended going to the last "Reunión Blogger Regia" and would probably be on the upcoming "Posada Bloggera 2008".
Here's the "official announcement":
"

Este 18 de Diciembre se llevara a cabo la Posada de Bloggers Regios en el Café Trecelunas (en el barrio antiguo).

Como siempre, estan todos invitados a darse una vuelta a conocer y socializar con todos los bloggers que típicamente se dan la vuelta en estas reuniones.

La anterior fué todo un exito y estamos seguros que esta tambien lo será.

Para esta ocasión debido a la temporada navideña, [...] Qué Comer estará dando algunos regalos como un iPod shuffle entre otras cosas.

Apunten la fecha en sus agendas y por ahi nos vemos."

If this keeps this entertaining, I might even post more often =P

Firefox 3 Launch Party is on

After ages of not posting, I'm back with a revenge...As you might now know Firefox 3 has been kicking for a number of hours now to achieve some impressive numbers and would most certainly secure a place in the Guinness World Records.
Given that achieving such a fine product, with more than 15,000 improvements, is not small feat and my only contribution so far were a few bug reports and vote on bugs; it's only fitting that I take responsibility and host a Firefox 3 Launch event like the ones cropping all over the world.
I've invited people from my day and afternoon job and many have asked what is all this about, so here's my plan for the perfect party for this coming Saturday (June 21st, 2008):

• Given we're probably going to drink heavily, we'll have a vehicle and driver at our disposal for all the transportation needs (obnoxious Flash music playing site).
• A generous amount of beer or beers would be ordered before hand.
• We'll start by watching Netherlands beat Russia out of the Euro 2008 in the quarter-finals.
• Throw some Wii/XBOX gaming after the game while consuming pizza, barbecue or any other fitting "party food".
• Watch Mexico trying to defeat Belize with little or no success; this might be even live if we happen to secure tickets.
• Go to either Megadeth's or Babasonicos' concert(s).
• Have some "menudo" afterwards.
• Catch some sleep.
• Visit Cintermex for some World Cyber Games 2008 action.

All the above is obviously on my wildest dream but it is feasible to some extent.
In the end we might end up being 5 or less people so my only commitment is to provide the place and a couple of beer cartons so we all get a good start; please BYOB and BYOB =)

I'm off now. See you there and please RSVP.
Everybody is welcome, so invite your friends if you feel like.

Wii "también" queremos jugar..

So looks Nintendo really is onto something. Now if they just got the pricing right. Why on earth do I have to pay almost twice here than the MSRP? Did they miss the press release?

At nearly US$450 I'm even tempted to go the 360 route even if I don't really want to and my XBMC is still going strong.

Dear Nintendo/Regginator please correct that because "Wii también queremos jugar", if you've seen the Mexican ads you'll get the point.

So Telmex... (watch out, rant ahead)

where's my 1Mb!?!?!?

And what's with that idiotic "we only support Windows or Mac"?? And all those "mysterious" dropped support calls?

I do Ubuntu at home and you sell freaking DSL connectivity, so do it and deliver as advertised.