Desperately seeking Stata

I like Stata. I find it easier to use than SAS and more functional than SPSS. All of my data are in Stata format, all of my analysis routines are coded in Stata *.do files. In short, I need Stata to do my statistical work.

One of the first things I did here at WVU was to order an upgrade to Stata9. I have Stata8 loaded on my dead-laptop, and the installation CD is somewhere in my box-filled apartment. So, the order was placed on July 19th. It shipped on the 20th and Fedex claims that they delivered the package on 7/25. Unfortunately, they did not deliver the package to my office, department, division, school, or college. Oh, someone signed for it, but I don't know who that is. [I searched the University directory with no luck].

So, we chalked this up as a Fedex screwup. The people at Stata were very nice about this and shipped a new order, this time using UPS. According to UPS' tracking system, the package should have arrived yesterday. I waited all day long for my box of geeky delights. But, at 5:00 p.m., the package was no where to be found. Sighing, I chalked this up to the heavy traffic. [Students are returning to school this weekend, Morgantown's population nearly doubles when the students return].

But today, when I checked the tracking status, I discovered that the package had been delivered early Friday afternoon. Of course, it was not delivered to me. I looked up the name of the person who signed for the package... at least it appears to be in my building. But no-one called me, or brought it to our department. So, Stata waits for me in someone else's office and I won't be able to rescue it until Monday.

I called UPS's customer service to complain. They told me that the package was delivered per their policy. "Your policy is to deliver packages to random people in a multi-floor building?", asked I. The customer service person then starting banging on her keyboard and said.... oh dear, I see.

To make a long story shorter, I am expecting a call from a UPS manager on Monday. Hopefully by then I'll have the software safely in my possession.

oy

Electronic Resurrection (part 1)

I do believe my mp3 player is back from the dead. After spending way too much time fiddling with it... [time when I should have been finishing syllabi], I decided to reformat the device's hard drive. That seems to have done the trick.

Of course I now need to re-rip & encode most of my music.

*shrug*

Electronic Woes

If you know me at all, you should know that I am an undesevering geek. That means that I love techy toys, but am not at all qualified to care for them. Since moving to Morgantown last week:

1. My Laptop Computer stopped accepting power from the AC Adapter & my battery went dead.
   
2. My mp3 player (which I love) refuses to boot up.
   
3. My new office computer was not connected to a printer.
   
4. I lost a jump drive with a relatively important paper on it
   

Perhaps this is God's way of telling me to step away from the technology. I've already decided to forego an internet connection at my apartment & now with my laptop functioning as a really expensive coffee table item, I suppose any writing I do at home will be on a yellow legal pad with a blue ball point pen.

Who knows this might even be a good thing. But I'm pretty bummed about the mp3 player; hopefully I can straighten that out.