Spanky's Place

So the other day I decided to uninstall the Facebook App from my iPhone 6. I needed to clear up some space, and I was shocked (SHOCKED! I tell you!) to discover how much space the Facebook App was using. No big deal, I uninstalled the App and everything was fine, or so I thought...

Today I tried to call my Mom, but couldn't find her entry in my Contacts. "How odd", I thought. As I was looking through my contacts I noticed that not only was her entry missing, a LOT of entries were missing. Family, friends, business associates, etc. Lots of entries were gone. There were still many other entries, but most of the ones I really cared about were gone. My wife, son, daughter, etc, all gone.

It took a bit of sleuthing to figure out what had happened, but I finally realized the thing the missing (or more importantly, the remaining) entries had in common. All of my remaining entries were for people / businesses that I did not have as a "Friend" in Facebook. Every contact that I have as a "Friend" in Facebook is gone. I can only assume that when I removed the Facebook App, it tried to "clean up" after itself and removed all of my Facebook contacts. Granted, my evidence is entirely anecdotal, but the outcome is nevertheless true. If you are a Facebook friend of mine, you can assume that I no longer have any of your contact information. No phone, no email, no pic, no home or business address. Nothing.

Does this happen to everybody when you remove the Facebook App? Is it limited only to iPhone users, or does it happen to Android and Windows Mobile Devices? Will similar things happen if I uninstall other "Social" Apps (LinkedIn, Twitter, etc)? Frankly, I don't care, and I'm not willing to invest the time to investigate it. I am frustrated that this happened, but the truth is I should have backed everything up BEFORE removing the Facebook App.

That being said, here is the really important bit: If YOU are (or have ever been) a friend of mine on Facebook, you can assume that I NO LONGER have your contact information. It doesn't matter how close we are, your contact information is GONE (Remember, I lost the information for my MOM, my WIFE, and ,my CHILDREN.) If you want me to have your contact information, PLEASE email it to me. If you don't have my email address, you can easily get it by clicking on the about & contact info link over on the right. Send me whatever contact info you want me to have (email, address, phone, NAME, etc.) I won't share it, I'm not using it for marketing purposes, this is just so I can get in touch with you, call you, send you stuff in the mail, etc.

Thanks,
-Devin

Posted by Devin Olson At 10:14:32 AM Location Cascade Township, MI | Permalink | Comments (0)

I received the following email from Dell . Does anybody there even read this stuff?

I realize this is an automated system, and whenever you automate things there are bound to be issues, but this is just silly. How hard could it possibly be to whip up some @Formula or LotusScript to compose and send (or at least replace the tags using something like @ReplaceSubstring) this email?

My guess is they are NOT using Lotus Notes / Domino.

---- Forwarded by Devin Olson on 07/20/2010 04:45 AM -----
From: No_reply@dell.com
To: devin.olson @ azlighthouse.com
Date: 07/13/2010 10:39 AM
Subject: From Dell Customer Care l Service Request Number [Action.SR Number] DT01

Dear [Action.Contact First Name] [Action.Contact Last Name],

Thank you for your recent contact with Dell Customer Care. We appreciate the opportunity to address your issue.

Service Request Number [Action.SR Number]

Hopefully this issue has been resolved to your satisfaction. However, if you still require assistance with Service Request Number [Action.SR Number], please leave the subject line intact and forward this email to US_CAG_Ownership@dell.com with a brief description of the issue. Be sure to notify us of the best time to call you as well as the phone number(s) where you can be reached.

Your satisfaction is very important to us. Thank you for choosing Dell.

Respectfully,

[Action.Owner First Name] [Action.Owner Last Name]

THIS IS AN AUTOMATED EMAIL RESPONSE. PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE

sigh

When you develop an automated system ALWAYS TEST IT BEFORE GOING TO PRODUCTION!

Posted by Devin Olson At 08:10:49 AM Location Cascade Township, MI | Permalink | Comments (3)

<bitch type="driveby" reason="errorDialog" >

So I'm working in designer, and changed the properties of a table cell. It previously had a graphic image assigned as the background, which I replaced with a graduated color change. Upon saving, I received this incredibly helpful error message.

Good thing it explained what the problem was and what to do about it, otherwise I might have been confused.

</bitch>

Posted by Devin Olson At 05:14:05 PM Location Cascade Township, MI | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just thought I'd share the some of the joy that is Chkdsk.

(Sorry if I sound a bit bitchy. I hope to be back to my normal cheerful self soon).

Posted by Devin Olson At 11:57:57 AM Location Cascade Township, MI | Permalink | Comments (0)

Got this in my morning email, and just had to share.

A Japanese company ( TOYOTA ) and an American company ( Ford ) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River . Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.

The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.

Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing.

Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion.

The consultants told them, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.

Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents, and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.

They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 1 person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners, and free pens for the rower. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes, and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses.

The next year the Japanese won by two miles.

Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year's racing team was out-sourced to India

Posted by Devin Olson At 02:01:32 PM Location Cascade Township, MI | Permalink | Comments (2)

"The 2008 Olympics in Beijing will be a spectacle like we've never seen; the Chinese are very good at controlling their people and making them do what they want."
-Bob Costas

I'm pretty sure Bob will be getting a "talking to" before the next session.
-Devin

Posted by Devin Olson At 08:41:56 AM Location Lotusphere: Opening General Session (8:00 am) | Permalink | Comments (6)