Minor Issues I Don't Know How to handle

[+ Lucky]

a) My partner is a volunteer at a local hospital. They have a mailing list and are often seeking donations. I wouldn't dream of adding my neighbor to this list absent his expressed consent, but he also volunteers for a do-gooder agency and had no qualms adding me to their mailing list. I don't like the frequent donation requests, especially as the agency is of no interest to me at all. Do I just continue to delete their email, or do I ask him to take me off the list?

 

b) I have never been in a job where I had to terminate others' employment. Yet my gardener spends less than 2 hours a month at my house for $90. He mows a small spot of grass and trims plants. If I could do this myself, I would save the money. Yet I hate to have to tell him he is being let go. What should I do?

 

c) Sometimes my computer motor acts like it is on overdrive. I don't know what causes this, or what to do about it. Do you?

[+ deej]

a) Do not fight SPAM with more SPAM. Ask to be removed from the list. Review FTC guidelines for unsolicited commercial email and remind them that a "remove me" provision is a fundamental requirement and that they are required to comply with your request. Not a bad idea to review your own mailing list policies and practices at the same time.

 

(Charities fly under the radar on this, but that may not last.)

 

b) assuming you already have the necessary mower and the time and inclination, tell the gardener you're cutting expenses. He'll understand. (He probably is too!) He may even offer to lower his rate.

 

c) Probably heat-related. Make sure air vents are not blocked (or covered in dust/pet hair). Buy a can of compressed air and give the computer a good blowing out. If the problem persists, take it for service (where they will perform the blowing out as a first step *anyway*)

[Guest ryan2552]

a) If the problem persists, take it for service (where they will perform the blowing out as a first step *anyway*)

Lucky, If you need I know an escort that can give you a good blowing out

 

As for the gardener in reading your remarks I did not get the same impression deej did. It seems that youre unhappy witht he rate when compared to the amount of work ... as you did say you would not do this yourself. My suggestion is explain to him how you feel. That you need him to be flexible with his fee otherwise you will have to find a service that matches your budget.

[Guest greatness]

well

 

a) Your partner is so sweet. I met a lot of nice volunteers while I was hospitalized and they were so sweet. They really make a difference so please let your partner know how woderful he is to patients! Anyways, you can ask them to take you off.

 

 

 

b) I know. Letting people go is hard but if you don't need the service then why pay for it. You are so sweet though.

 

 

c) Is it an old computer? I remember you posting about this before. There could be many reasons for it. Have someone come over and look into it. Do you have a neighbor who is good at computers? You can ask them or an escort who is really good at computers to look at it while he is staying over overnight. You can get two things done in one night. If your computer is an old PC it is normal to do that but can't tell you anything without seeing your computer. I agree with deej's comment though. See whether it works.

[+ Lucky]

a) yes, he is sweet, unless he is not, which does happen!

 

b) I can do the lawn work, but pruning is not my thing. I have never had a houseplant live, except the bf is good at that.

 

c) I shut the computer down. Then I started it back up. Problem went away. But, I do have a can of compressed air, so blew it out at the dust. I can not afford someone to blow it out for me, Ryan. Those NY theater tickets add up!

[Guest greatness]

I know you like to read books

 

so why don't you get a book about gardening? ... It should not be that hard. It would be hot to see Lucky working on his garden with his shirt off. I need a fan~~~

 

b) I can do the lawn work, but pruning is not my thing. I have never had a houseplant live, except the bf is good at that.

QUOTE]

[Guest OCBeachbody]

a) Well add your neighbor to the list. If he added you without permission, your just returning the favor. Like you pointed out you can ask that you be removed from the list. If they ask for a reason, just let them know that you have alternative methods of contacting them should you need be informed.

 

b) I would just by him a farewell gift and thank him for all his time. Just let him no that you no longer needs his services. No explanations, just say no more. I know it sounds heartless, but business is business and you should be able to let him go.... unless he is eye candy of course

 

c) As many said it could people a couple things. One how old is that computer?

It may be over heating, or there could be an issue with a lot of dust. Depending on your experience with your computers, you can remove the casing a air it out. If after a good cleaning with canned air, your are still hearing the problem, you may need a new fan or other cooling system.

Now if the computer is still acting up, and it is old... I would recommend getting a new unit. Current systems have greater Hard drive space, ram, and better processing.

[+ ArVaGuy]

a.) I'm assuming this is a nonprofit. You should check at the bottom of the most recent solicitation and see if there is an opt out link. If so then follow that link. If no such link exists, hit reply and type "REMOVE" in the subject line. Most legit groups would rather not antagonize someone who does not want to be bothered. Also, it costs money to send those solicitations even via e-mail so you will do them a favor by letting them know it’s a waste to continue to solicit you.

b.) Having terminated a colleague due to budget cuts, consider yourself blessed you've never had to perform such a task. However, your current situation is a bit different. The lawn care business has a lot of turnover so your provider is likely used to such situations. Could you keep the guy on at a reduced rate to continue the pruning aspects of the lawn care?

c.) All of the above posts pretty much cover what I would suggest for the potential overheating issue. But a couple of years ago my laptop's processor starting running at near constant 100% level for extended periods. Turns out malware was installed thus turning my computer into a bot for some nefarious group of hackers. Took my computer geek a week to get the computer cleaned up and working properly again.

[Lookin]

a.) What ArVaGuy said.

 

b.) If you just want to get rid of him, tell him you'd like the exercise and plan to do it yourself from now on. If you want to keep him at a lower rate, tell him you'd like to switch to an hourly rate from now on, and ask him what his hourly rate is. If he comes back with $45 an hour, tell him you'll get a couple more estimates and let him know if he should return or not. My hunch is that he will lower your rate on the spot.

 

c.) My guess is that your fan is running fast to cool off the processor. While dust and spideys may be the reason that the processor is running hot, another possibility is that there's an application that is making it work too hard and heating it up. The Mac OS has a utility program called Activity Monitor that shows what applications are running and what percent of the processor each is using. I'm sure Windows has one too and it might be called something like Windows Task Manager. Here's a sample walk-through for Windows Vista: http://www.zolved.com/synapse/view_content/23054/Windows_Vista_-_Troubleshooting_Excessive_CPU_usage

 

Chances are you'll see an application that's using 100% of the CPU's capacity. For me, it's usually Adobe Flash Player which fires up on websites that have several video windows running on a single page, or on YouTube when I'm watching a full-screen video. (The Message Center is currently free of videos, so my processor rarely heats up here, except when I'm viewing something especially vexing in the Politics Forum.)

 

What to do when you find the offending application? Well, first I'd suggest Googling something like 'Flash Player' + Vista + cpu + fan + noise and see if anyone else is having the same problem. Here's one search result as an example: http://getsatisfaction.com/adobe/topics/when_using_adobe_flash_player_10_why_is_there_high_cpu_memory_usage_100_utilization. Sometimes there's a new version of Flash Player that you can download and make the problem go away. Sometimes you can download an alternative application (although I think Silverlight puts a big load on the processor too). Sometimes you can add more memory. And sometimes you'll just have to suck it up, and wait for a new version of the offending application.

 

PS: Never had a computer virus, so ArVaGuy may have nailed it, especially if the fan noise is loud all the time. If it's intermittent and shows up on certain webpages, then I'd suspect it's an application that's causing the mischief.

 

PPS: Is there a college with computer majors nearby? A call to the department office may bring an eager student to your door for an hour or two of consulting. Maybe even stay for dinner.

[+ glutes]

a) My partner is a volunteer at a local hospital. They have a mailing list and are often seeking donations. I wouldn't dream of adding my neighbor to this list absent his expressed consent, QUOTE]

 

 

"We have a neighbor who is constantly screaming...not 24 hours a day, but periodically he stands in his yard and just yells. He has a dog that barks all of the time as well. Since his home is down the street from mine, I'm not an immediate victim, but it is annoying. Just like with barking dogs though, the cops can't do anything if they don't hear it, and then, hearing it just once hardly brings it to the level of nuisance that it really is. What do you do if a neighbor is a nut?"

 

Add the nutty neighbor Lucky!

[Guest greatness]

oh my

 

I like your avatar~~