youfailed.us

As soon as I saw anything about the Switch 2 I knew we had to get it. I mean, it’s the only way to play the latest Mario games and me and the kids have had SO MUCH FUN with Super Mario 3D World over the years I just can’t imagine not playing the latest. We loved that game so much we that we purchased at least 3 or 4 times, once on the Wii U, once digitally on the Switch, and once on a game card or two. And that’s just one game. We also loved Super Mario Odyssey (and I’ll still never get over the ending and how I finally figured out I could become bowser . . . me and Embrie LOST IT!) and don’t get me started on how many times we bought that.

As I kid, I didn’t have a “Nintendo”. My first consoles were XBox (it could play media! it was more than just about gaming!) and a PS2 when I was in my 20s or 30s. I really only cared about GTA. That’s also why I got a PS4 later and why I might get a PS5 next year. I’m not really a gamer. When the Wii was first announced I’m pretty sure I was at E3 or at least watching E3 or some big conference like that. I thought the name was dumb but I was super excited. It was a console for CASUAL GAMERS like me! The Wii was so important and so hyped for me that my friend Jim and I setup a tent outside of Target to wait in line to get it the morning it was released. I’ll never forget the joy of that purchase followed by the pain of some guy that just walked in 10 minutes after the line was gone that also bought the Wii. That console was in short supply for years! Sooooo worth it! I remember toting it with me whenever I was visiting someone. I swear I sold at least 100 of them.

I was also hyped about the Switch when it came out but I didn’t wait in line. It was so unremarkable I don’t even remember when I bought it, only that I bought it within the first few months. It was in short supply and maybe the lack of hype existed for a reason.

The Switch 2 was different . . . it wasn’t even about the console itself or even the launch game . . . I never really cared for Mario Cart. The core driver is that I wanted my kids to feel that hype I felt back in 2006. I wanted them to get to play the same console the youtubers were playing! I wanted them to be part of the hype. Playing it and being excited about it 2 years later just isn’t the same.

I tried to pre-order it. No luck. I signed up to purchase it right from Nintendo. As a subscriber to their “online” for as long as it has existed, along with our play time, I thought for sure we’d be first up. Nintendo said nothing.

Launch day was June 6th, a Thursday, but many retailers like Walmart, Best Buy and Costco said they would have a stock on sale at online at midnight on Wednesday. Best Buy said they would open stores late and sell it but no other retailer made that claim. Later on I saw they meant midnight Eastern time so 9pm AZ time. I set an alarm to buy at 9pm and it was disappointment all around. Walmart had a countdown to when it was on sale and then at 9pm the site changed nothing and I couldn’t even find a link to the console let alone buy it. Costco changed nothing and it wasn’t for sale. Target also had nothing. Best Buy also had nothing online. I was . . . disappointed.

Earlier I had joked with the kids that we were going to go to Best Buy at midnight to try to buy it. I thought for sure they knew I was joking and would just go to bed at 9pm like usual. When I was looking to buy the console online, I noticed that Best Buy said it was going to go on sale at 9pm. Dexter came into the office to let me know he had his shoes on and was ready to go. After all of the disappointment with every other retailer I gathered the kids (who were UNUSUALLY excited for an adventure) and we were off! Dexter was nervous at first and checked with me if we could go back home if he was scared. I assured we would go back home but also showed him that other people were outside and we were in no danger. Just seemed so strange to me because it’s not like we live a sheltered life . . . we go on night time bike rides a few times a year!

I tried to temper expectations . . . not for them . . . but for me! I kept saying over and over there was no way we would get it.

When we arrived . . . the lines were LONG. I dropped of Embrie to jump in one while I parked the truck. Dexter and I went to the front to see what each line was for. Luckily the line Embrie was in was the right line. One was pre-orders, the other was for buy now.

While we were parking, Embrie was frantically calling. They were handing out vouchers and she wanted to know if we get the bundle or the console! Luckily, the guy handing out vouchers said she wanted the bundle and gave her the bundle voucher. We got #53 of 55. Things were looking up! Not even 5 minutes in and we have a reason to stay! And she got the 3rd to last of the bundles all because she was willing to jump out of the truck!

We waited for over 2 hours. The line was moving! It was promising. It seemed they were taking people from each side of the line. But after getting closer to the front, we could see the pre-order line was NOT moving. We didn’t know WHY until we got inside.

The were only letting one family in at a time even when they had many many associates there. It made very little sense. But once inside we understood why . . . they couldn’t sell the console! It was a HUGE mess. The only way to buy anything was to get the Best Buy app and do a self checkout. They couldn’t check people out at the register! They kept getting an error about how the item wasn’t for sale yet. The line for preorder wasn’t moving and my guess is they tried to sell pre-orders using the app and it didn’t work so they all had to wait till after midnight.

That they were open at all and that the staff worked hard through something they didn’t have control over and gave us that voucher to get us excited is why I changed my Google Maps review from 1 star to 5 for Best Buy. I generally haven’t had good luck with them as a retailer but I don’t want to get into that. It was awesome they saw the Switch 2 launch the same way we did and they were excited to sell it as soon as they could. They didn’t force you to buy a bundle with a controller and game and some cheap accessory. When we first went to purchase, I WAS going to buy about $200 more in stuff just to say thanks for being open . . . but having to get the app and buy it that way didn’t sit well after they convinced me to get a Best Buy Credit Card that I couldn’t use in the app.

Nicely done workers at Best Buy! You are the best and we are so glad you were there to have us and it was more exciting than any line at Disneyland. Boo to IT and management for not having a work around for the broken cash registers. You failed Best Buy but also you were awesome and the front line employees saved you once again. Thanks Best Buy.

I just did an interview where the company used “HireVue” (https://www.hirevue.com/) . . . one of those hiring tools where you do an interview but are recording video answers instead of talking to a person.

I was avoiding it like crazy thinking it was so impersonal and just didn’t feel real. But once I did it I actually really liked it and wish all the first interviews worked this way. 

Here are a few reasons I liked it:

1) They present you with a question and you can look at it and think about it as long as you want. There is no awkward pause after someone asks you the question. You can read it as many times as you want to really form your thoughts.

2) Once you click record, you get a little timer that tells you how long you have gone. It limits your time so you really can’t ramble. That helps a ton!

3) As you answer . . . you can look at the question again! This means that while you are answering you can make sure you are sticking to the subject! That really really helps. I don’t like to admit it but sometimes I forget the original question and when I’m done with a thought I’m not sure if I answered the question and with a real person it’s not like you can be like Pam and ask “what was the question?”. 

4) You can record your answer again but I never even used that feature . . . I was fine with whatever I said even if it wasn’t perfect. Hopefully they are understanding!

5) There was a coding challenge! Which is what made the the most nervous. I did the sample one and the answer was fairly easy so I was hopeful that the real one wouldn’t be that big a deal. It was a little bigger and took me like 20 minutes but I was totally fine with it and it was actually a fun challenge! DM me and I’ll share if you are interested. But anyway it was unlimited time and I just didn’t feel like I was making someone wait on me as I was looking up stuff and thinking and it was just SO MUCH BETTER than white boards or some shared VS Code thing that we used to do. It was in Python which I haven’t written in awhile. It was easy enough to just go look up how to define a function and do loops, etc. I think I legit did well at the challenge in that I thought through it myself, wrote some functions so the code looked clean, etc. I didn’t write test cases but whatever. I figured it out and didn’t just have some AI do it. And it’s been awhile since I wrote any Python but I knew it well enough to figure it out. That’s a good sign right?

6) The questions were really good and one of them was after the coding challenge . . . they asked about my approach to solving the problem so I just said “I don’t do a ton in Python so I had to look up how to make functions and for loops but once I did that I just kept making changes a little at a time checking for errors and fixing stuff as I went along . . it was actually fun!”

Anyway, I think I did well but who knows. Most importantly I won’t be afraid of doing a HireVue interview ever again!

Sheldon

Many years ago I got a regular Dyson vacuum that plugs into the wall (DC17 Asthma and Allergy). I have a registration email from Dyson I got on 5/20/2009. It still works. Over 15 years! All I have ever done to it is empty it and clean out the rollers of hair n stuff. It does “smell” in that it has that yucky vacuum cleaner smell whenever you use it but I just thought that’s how it was and if you wanted to avoid the stank you need to buy a new one ever few years. We don’t use it nearly as much as we should but it gets used often.

More recently I purchased a Dyson V8 Absolute SV10 which is a cordless vacuum. I figured that if it was easier, we would vacuum more! And the robot ones at the time just wouldn’t work for us. It was about $250 on a Black Friday sale on Nov 30, 2019 (I found a receipt from Paypal to Dyson direct!). Originally it was $450 and I even got some kit that was valued at about $60. Also got a V7 at the time and I imagine it was $150 or less. I just didn’t get why the V8 would be much better and I wanted to compare. Plus, my kid was at the age she would want to use one too. So why not have two! There were not really any serious competitors at the time and these were “the best” except for the latest and greatest from Dyson.

At first, we used them all the time! They were just so cool and easy to use and you didn’t have to drag around a cord and then roll it back up. I loved them and wanted to leave them out all the time so it was easy to get to them. After awhile, I lost the battle of leaving them out and my idea of where I wanted to mount the charging station (right in the front hall after you entered the house!) was DOA. “You are not supposed to leave the vacuum cleaner out!” I just didn’t get it and didn’t care what you were supposed to do. I wanted to do what was practical!

Eventually I put an outlet in the closet right across from where I wanted to mount it in the front hall and I shoved them in there to charge one day with the intention of eventually mounting the charging stand. I never mounted the charging stand. And over the next few years, whenever I wanted one it was dead. So I would plug it in and then go find old trusty and drag the cord around.

Over time, the closet gets more and more full of junk and it gets more difficult to get the vacuum let alone plug it in. But I would still try. One day I go in and they are both plugged in and neither of them work. What the hell?? Did I make a mistake? Looking back on the price I paid, I don’t think so. Even the cheap ones cost as much as I paid for these Dysons now and they lasted a few years at least. But once again I shut the closet and got out old trusty.

Today was different. The task as hand was to clean up the closet so I could get some more stuff in there. I take out the Dysons and sure enough, neither of them worked. The V7 goes on for a second and just turns off. The V8 goes on great but then it sorta pulses and acts all strange. For a few minutes, I thought about just putting them in the donate pile and making that the Christmas present I want this year. The also had the yucky vacuum smell so maybe it was time? Maybe the competition had caught up and I could just get a cheap Shark?

I looked at prices for a new one and the top rated one from Vacuum Wars (on youtube . . . so who knows if it’s real or just marketing) and it was nearly $700. Even #10 on the list was over $300. More than I paid for the Dyson! So maybe I should look at a robot one. Top rated was $1500. “Damn it. That’s too much. Maybe I can fix these.”

I figure with the V7, it’s probably the battery. I go look it up and an official one is nearly $100! The cheap ones on Amazon are around $40. I also see from some creators on youtube that you can just replace it with a DeWalt or Milwaukee battery. Okay NOW we are talking! Can I 3D print it? Hmmm. Maybe, but the top part is really thin and fragile. $20 isn’t bad for molded plastic and some metal prongs . . . let’s go for it!

With the V8, the small content creators said the pulsing was because it was clogged and they showed how to take apart and clean almost all of the Dysons cordless models. WOW. So easy. Basically, it all comes apart and most of the parts that come into contact with dirt you can easily clean with water and an old toothbrush. I could even clean the main brush area that was especially horrible because someone used it to clean up baking powder and parmesan cheese . . . . or at least that’s what I’m telling myself.

Right now it’s all drying but I’m sure it’ll work great. I’m going to mount that one in the closet right after this post! When the battery dies, I can always adapt it to other batteries. The downside to using drill batteries is you can’t charge it on the stands anymore but the upside is that I always have batteries fully charged and waiting anyway. And that’s only if it works. Still have to try that out with the V7. Otherwise Amazon is getting it back.

In the end, I don’t know if the Dysons are worth it. I don’t have any other vacuums to compare! I wish we could rely on “the internet” and “content creators” but everywhere you go that stuff has been gamed to sell products. Even when products are sent for free and that’s the only terms it’s only human to look at it favorably and your sense of if something is worth the money is all thrown off. Even Vacuum Wars . . . that buys all the products themselves . . . probably has bias too in that they have affiliate links and selling ANY vacuum is good for them so they are generally very favorable.

What I can say is that the battery operated Dysons from years ago seem solid and something that can last a long time with a little cleanup here and there. I with my old vacuum was as easy to take apart because it sure could use a cleaning! Maybe it is! But hopefully I use it less and less.

Also, the election was a disappointment. I don’t get it. But it seems pointless to post about it. Everyone is so divided and the results change nothing. The sides don’t even agree on basic truths let alone the bigger issues and the mechanism to solve them. Even a few days later I just want to avoid the news and stay heads down on ANYTHING else.

Once again I feel like I’m missing something. Lots of praise but I just don’t see this as a net positive. Here is a link.

“Today’s vote also makes clear that the Commission will exercise its authority over broadband in a narrowly tailored fashion— without rate regulation, tariffing, or unbundling—to foster continued innovation and investment”

Let me translate. We are going to create a bunch of rules that only a place like Cox will be able to follow and we are going to allow Cox to charge whatever they want for it.

Later on is a reference to “Safeguard National Security” and to me that translates as: “when competition that is funded by sources we don’t like we will revoke their ability to do business”. Again, I get National Security is important and we certainly don’t wany anyone spying on traffic . . . but we don’t want ANY of the ISP’s spying right? Not just the ones funded by China?

Maybe the positive thing is “Protect the Open Internet” but in the end the ISPs are going to get what they wanted anyway . . . the ability to CHARGE for an Open Internet.

Very strange to me to pick on a particular company using legislation. But so many people are happy about it including most of congress, Biden, Gruber, most of the hosts at All In. Just seems so strange to be agreeing with Sacks. Even a survey of close friends gets either a meh or a good. I think that if this app gives China a way to spy on Americans or tweak the algorithm in ways to influence Americans we should go up a level and hold Google and Apple responsible and making the kind of spying they are doing impossible. And make all companies share what goes into algorithms instead of banning one company. What am I missing?