Cancelling AOL
Awesome. Over at Insignificant Thoughts, a brave man actually cancelled his AOL account. It wasn't easy, thanks to slimy corporate anti-cancellation policies.
He recorded the whole thing. Great fun.
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June 22, 2006
June 20, 2006
On a plane, even.
Laptop goodness continues on a flight from Salt Lake City UT, to Burbank, CA. I feel like a kid in a candy store. I find myself wondering why I waited so long to get a laptop in the first place. Being that computers are such a part of my life now, it makes sense that having one that's portable would be awesome indeed.
In fact, it's a bit strange when I think about it just how much time I do spend on computers. I spend all day on them from about 8:30 in the morning till 6pm, unless we're in crunch mode at work, which means I may be there till midnight or later.
Even if I do get home at a normal time, one of the first things I do when I walk through the door is sit down at the computer. It's how I spend my evenings as well. I cancelled my cable TV, because there was just too much crap that I didn't want to watch. I can't stand "Reality TV", or sitcoms or most of the mindless drivel that I kept running into. I do like the Discovery channel and the History channel, but not $50.00 a month worth.
The only thing I use my TV for is console games and rented movies.
So in the evenings, I work on my own artwork, as opposed to the art I create at my job. Since I'm either working with 3D graphics, Photoshop, or digital photos, everything I do as far as my own artwork is on the computer as well. It's a fun time in history to be doing all of this, because it's changing so fast. I keep wondering what computers will be like in 10-20 years from now. I watched and worked with the earliest home computers at a point when graphics were pretty much impossible, and in the course of only about 15 to 20 years we're creating photo-realistic 3D computer graphics that in some cases can't even be spotted as anything other than reality.
What a wild ride!
In fact, it's a bit strange when I think about it just how much time I do spend on computers. I spend all day on them from about 8:30 in the morning till 6pm, unless we're in crunch mode at work, which means I may be there till midnight or later.
Even if I do get home at a normal time, one of the first things I do when I walk through the door is sit down at the computer. It's how I spend my evenings as well. I cancelled my cable TV, because there was just too much crap that I didn't want to watch. I can't stand "Reality TV", or sitcoms or most of the mindless drivel that I kept running into. I do like the Discovery channel and the History channel, but not $50.00 a month worth.
The only thing I use my TV for is console games and rented movies.
So in the evenings, I work on my own artwork, as opposed to the art I create at my job. Since I'm either working with 3D graphics, Photoshop, or digital photos, everything I do as far as my own artwork is on the computer as well. It's a fun time in history to be doing all of this, because it's changing so fast. I keep wondering what computers will be like in 10-20 years from now. I watched and worked with the earliest home computers at a point when graphics were pretty much impossible, and in the course of only about 15 to 20 years we're creating photo-realistic 3D computer graphics that in some cases can't even be spotted as anything other than reality.
What a wild ride!
June 17, 2006
Road Trip!
Ok, I gotta say this is the coolest thing in the world.
As I write this I am flying down the highway, a passenger on a trip from Elko, NV to Minden, NV to attend the wedding of Regina and her future husband. It's about a 5 1/2 hour drive, and these road trips used to make me fairly crazy. Currently we're about 20 miles West of Lovelock, and while there's plenty of scenery, there's not a tremendous amount of variation to said scenery. What's a geek to do?
Enter laptop goodness. I have been meaning to get a laptop for probably 6 or 7 years now, but never took the plunge. When I was recently looking to replace my cell phone, I was checking out smart phones, PDA's, and general communication gadgets, and my wife said "you've been talking about getting a laptop for years…why don't you just get one?"
Since the purchase was now officially wife-sanctioned, who was I to argue?
So here I am, in the passenger seat of a Nissan Sentra, hurtling along at a speed that shall remain unmentioned (the Wife likes to drive fast) and typing away. The best part is that the power converter plugged into the cigarette lighter means I'm not even using battery juice.
Road trips just got a whole lot better.
June 8, 2006
Tropicana Suckage
I noticed after recently taking a swig from a bottle of Tropicana Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice that it tasted nothing like grapefruit juice at all. It was like pink Kool-Aid. At first I thought it was a bad batch, because that happens to companies every once in a while.
Then a coworker pointed out that the ingredients were actually different, despite the main label still saying the same thing.
Here's a copy of my letter to Tropicana:
"I am fortunate enough to work at a company that brings in free beverages and snacks for the employees. I have long been a Tropicana Ruby Red Grapefruit drinker, but that's changed recently due to strange alterations you've made to the recipe. The strange part is that the UPC codes are the same on the "old" and "new" versions, but the ingredients are different! What are you guys doing? The new stuff tastes awful. Please let me know which version you're going to stick with, so I can advise our company as to whether or not we should continue with Tropicana product."
And here's their reply:
"Eric:
We are sorry you disliked the new version of Tropicana Ruby Red Grapefruit 100% Juice Blend.
Because of the loss of much of Florida's grapefruit crop due to hurricanes in the past several years, we changed the formula. With the new formula came new nutrition values. Please be assured that we will share your comments with our Marketing Group. Full value coupons to replace the product have been sent via the US Postal Service. They should arrive within 7-10 business days."
______________________________________
Priceless. So because there's a shortage of grapefruit juice, Tropicana decides to change the recipe and hope nobody notices. The label still says "100% Juice" followed by "Ruby Red Grapefruit." But in the fine print at the bottom, what used to say "Grapefruit Juice from Concentrate" now says "Flavored Juice Blend from Concentrate".
The first ingredient in the original juice was grapefruit juice from concentrate.
The first ingredient in the new juice? Filtered water. Since when is filtered water 100% juice?
Asshats.
June 3, 2006
Death of a Sidekick
So I get back from a convention where I've been taking pictures, and grab my Sidekick II to make a call. I look at the screen, and get one of those awful, sinking feelings.
NOOOOOoooooooo......
My trusty Sidekick sports a large and nasty crack running right across the screen, rendering it pretty much useless. At first I'm doing that thing where you tell yourself that it's probably just temporary, maybe it got too hot...maybe it's an electronic abberation that will pass...maybe......no, I'm screwed.
So I go online and find other horror stories about cracked Sidekick screens, and one guy says that because the crack was on the inner screen, and there was no damage on the outside of the screen, that T-Mobile replaced his phone. Awesome! So I send an email to T-Mobile describing the same problem, and I get this back:
"Thank you for taking the time to contact T-Mobile. We understand the LCD is cracked on your Sidekick. We appreciate how this can be frustrating, and we will be more than happy to assist with your issue. We regret we cannot replace or repair phones with broken or cracked LCD screens. We suggest you upgrade to a new phone at this time."
I love the way they started off with "we will be more than happy to assist with your issue" and wrap it up by telling me to buy a new phone. Now if the T-Mobile reception I get here in Burbank had ever been anything other than a complete joke, I might have considered looking at other phones. But the crappy customer service, combined with the laughable signal quality caused me to cancel my account.
I'll go with another carrier and another phone.
Moral of the story? Before you buy a Sidekick (or any T-Mobile device for that matter)
1) check with everyone you know in your same home/work area and make sure they get good reception. The greatest gadget in the world is worthless if it's got crappy reception.
2) Buy a reinforced steel case for it, because the Sidekick screens crack easily. When I went to eBay to look for replacement screens, I saw these:
Ouch!
Ack!
Doh!
Gaah!
Looks like there's a lot of them out there!