This is a follow up to my recent post, HP’s Shipping Shenanigans.

On Thursday, January 7, I got my laptop back from HP. I excitedly opened it up to find that they did, in fact, fix the problem.

As it turns out, my system had been overheating due to a clogged heatsink. I should have probably checked for this long before it was a problem, and I feel a little dumb for that. Regardless, they replaced the mainboard, and the heatsink/fan assembly. Given my previous experiences with HP’s support, I expected far less.

Not only did they replace these system components, they also replaced the cosmetic components that were damaged. Now, this was also covered under my warranty, but again, given my experience with HP, I didn’t expect them to replace these parts. After all, I had sent the laptop back before to have just these parts replaced, and they instead replaced something else entirely. Something that didn’t need replacing.

To top it all off, they cleaned my entire system of dust and debris. I got it back in like-new condition, all shiny and pretty like the day I bought it.

Wrapping up, I think it’s safe to say HP support has started cleaning their act up, at least a little. I’m much happier with them now than I have been at any point since purchasing my laptop. I may be getting another HP in the future, after all.

Today, I’m proud to announce the launch of the first iteration of my beer tasting web application, Beer Register.

I’ve been working on it for the last month or so, and it’s ready to go with some basic functionality. I will be working hard to add more functionality in the near future, including brewery information, pre-populated beer data, and social features that let you see what others rate beers, breweries, and even bars!

Visit http://www.beerregister.com/ and sign up to get started today!

I got the idea when a friend of mine, Tyler, showed me that he was using the notepad application on his Android-powered phone to keep track of beers he tasted. This was far simpler than using one of the existing beer applications or sites, which generally ask you a wide array of questions about the beer when you add it to your list.

After doing some research, I found he was correct. All of the mobile applications and beer tracking sites are designed primarily for use by beer connoisseurs. Not to say there isn’t a place for that, because these are valuable resources indeed, but something simpler would be nice.

I set out to create a site that was accessible on both computers and mobile devices that easily lets you track basic information about beers you taste, when you taste them.

In the future, I plan on releasing mobile applications as well, including an iPhone app and an Android app. Stay tuned for updates!