I also jumped into the pool a couple of times this week. Unlike the bike, it’s hard to pick up swimming after a prolonged layoff. Let’s say I didn’t feel stellar going up and down the lane. It will get better.

My goal is to run the Portland Triathlon on 10-10-10. Unfortunately, my left Achilles tendon has flared up and I’m getting a bit concerned. I’m going to hold back a bit over the next few weeks and try to maintain enough base to embark on another 16-week training schedule in June.

As a Mac user, I was happy to shell out a few bucks for a program called Ascent a while ago. It’s a decent workout log and more pleasing on the eye than Training Center. I have also played around with the trial version of rubiTrack. While it looks prettier than Ascent, I didn’t find it as useful. But both of these programs are better than any desktop client offered by Garmin itself.

Enter a revamped Garmin Connect. This is basically another online workout log but now with more features and a polished look. I particularly like the activity embed feature, which is great for sharing particular workouts (see my previous post).

This is a big step forward and I look forward to future enhancements.

A couple of months ago, after trying to upgrade from Vista to Windows 7, my VAIO laptop stopped responding and I took it to the SonyStyle store where I bought it. The technician there couldn’t fix it on site and had to send it down to California. Turns out the hard drive was bust and had to be replaced.

After a couple of weeks it came back and I haven’t had any hard drive problems since then. But the technicians in California didn’t reassemble the computer correctly and the hand rest is loose. I took it back to the Sony store and was told that a technician would come out and fix it.

A few days went by with no call from any technician. I called Sony (always a nightmare) and they had no record of an “event” being created. I called the Sony store again and it turned out the event didn’t register… Finally, they got it right and said that now I really should expect a call.

Sure enough, the outsourced service technician called a few days later to set up a repair appointment.

He comes by and is ready to begin his repair, then opens the package with the replacement part, only to find a bezel for the lid. Nice… Not his fault, though. He doesn’t work for Sony and isn’t responsible for their messing up the order. He was visibly upset and irritated with Sony and called in the correct replacement part (I overheard his conversation with Sony).

A few weeks go by with no news. I finally received a call this week from another outsourced technician and he stopped by a couple of days ago. When he showed me the touch pad he came to replace I started laughing. I told him my touch pad works just fine and explained that this was the second time Sony has messed up the replacement part order. This guy made the same call the other guy did and apologized profusely. Again, not his fault; it’s all Sony.

Yesterday: A phone call from Sony tech support. Would I mind sending my computer back to their repair center? It will be a quicker fix because the part is on backorder… I’m not sure why it would be quicker to send it down to California, unless they have the spare part there. But if that’s the case, why can’t they send that to the technician here in Oregon?

I can’t part with my work computer for two weeks and respectfully declined this offer. The laptop works, but I want it fixed before it breaks apart completely or starts absorbing dust on the inside.

I’m usually don’t go into rants but this pathetic performance by a major company deserves at least a small amount of publicity. As a consumer, you’re basically powerless when dealing with arrogant players like Sony. Hopefully, someone from Sony will see this and realize that potential future customers might read this post when they research Sony products. My last post about the graphics card received hits from around the world, so obviously there are people who are interested in this topic.

If you are thinking about buying a Sory (pun intended) laptop, my advise to you (based on my experience) is to stay as far away as you can. Stick with another PC maker.

The install was somewhat goofy. Here are the steps I took:

1. Used the uninstaller to get rid of the existing driver. You should have an exclamation point showing in the Device Manager after this.

2. Ran the new installer and was asked to reboot. Upon reboot, there was no progress. The light on the switch was off and the card didn’t show up in the device manager.

3. Ran the installer a second time. There was a lot of screen flicker during this step and I was prompted to reboot. I then got a message that my Windows was not genuine! I have no idea what this was all about but simply clicked cancel and haven’t seen this message since then.

After this step, the card showed up in the Device Manager and and the light on the switch came on. I still wasn’t able to use the switch with the computer turned on.

I then tinkered with some other drivers to get my function keys working. Lo and behold, after this, the switch for Stamina/Speed also works with the computer turned on.

I now have my computer working exactly the way I want it to! It’s been a long process and I still think it’s absurd that there’s not an easier way to do this. Sony’s website gives no indication which drivers have to be installed in Vista mode to work, so you have do some searching on the internet.

I ditched Sony’s free upgrade in favor of a clean install of Windows 7 Professional 64-bit. After reading the instructions for the “upgrade” process from Vista to 7 that came with the DVDs in the mail, I figured it would be impossible to end up with a clean system.

While I love the hardware, I would not recommend a Sony computer to anyone. First, their machines come pre-loaded with an incredible amount of bloatware. Second, they don’t come with disks. You have to create your own recovery disks, which only allows you to re-create the bloat-filled setup you started with. Third, Sony’s customer support is pathetic. I base this on personal experience and general comments on forums and discussion boards. And, yes, I have spent time on the phone with a call center not located in the US. A complete wast of time.

So, what’s the gist of this post? Well, after installing Windows 7, you need the drivers to support the new operating system, which you can find and download from Sony’s website. However, as of today, the list of drivers is not complete and many of the drivers on that list do not install properly on Windows 7. If it’s a Windows 7 driver, why do you need to install it Vista compatibility mode?

The greatest omission (in my opinion) is the lack of a driver for the built-in NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS graphics card. This is inexcusable. This card was one of the main selling features of this machine. I work with an external HD monitor via the built-in HDMI connection. Without the NVIDIA driver, no second monitor.

In the meantime, I’ve some temporary solutions, including these two:

1) I downloaded the drivers for Vista 64-bit and ran the installation in Vista-mode. The install worked without errors and the device manager shows the card (sans exclamation point). The light on the Stamina/Speed switch lit up (but I could not switch between Stamina and Speed mode while the computer was turned on). I could run my external monitor from the HDMI jack and dual-screen mode worked, but the image on the external monitor was not crisp.

2) The fuzzy picture on the external monitor is not acceptable, so I just tried something new: VGN-Z820D does have a video driver for Windows 7 (visit this link). Install worked OK and the stamina/speed light is now lit up. I still can’t switch between stamina/speed mode while the computer is turned on, but sleep mode is now working correctly. I haven’t had an opportunity to hook it up to my external monitor yet. This will be the final test. I’m hopeful that the Win 7 driver will do the trick and give me a crisp image.

Feel free to share any other suggestions you might have.

We had a very nice family dinner this evening, including a good Bible reading from Luke 2 by Trek. It’s heart-warming to watch your seven-year old read Scripture.

The Johnsons are all coming over for dinner at our house tonight. Trek will be reading the Christmas story from Luke 2 for all assembled and will, no doubt, do a fine job. We practiced this morning and now he’s back to reading Genesis on his own. He has set out to read the Bible from start to finish. Not bad for a 7-year old…

P.S. Arizona @ USC is on ABC right now and the Coliseum is half empty. LA is once again showing it has the worst fans in the country. Fair-weather all the way.