Month: November 2003

Finally The Day Is Here

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So number portability day is here. Now that it is over, the day didn’t exactly end up the way I wanted it to. I tried to change my number from AT&T to T-Mobile like I had planned on. After an hour at the T-Mobile store with no end in sight, I bailed and went to work. Gus wanted to goto the AT&T store to check out if they had the Treo in stock. I figured they wouldn’t so I went along for the walk. Turns out they did have them. At first neither of us were going to pay the high price of the phone, but then he broke down and got one. I then played with his and broke down and got one. The only problem is that AT&T is having huge system problems right now so I cannot get my new price plan working. It is now 12 hours later and their system is still down. If I cannot get the changes done by tomorrow after work, I am returning the phone and switching to T-Mobile like I originally said I would.

The Treo 600 is awesome though. Speaker phone rocks. It feels good to talk on. It sounds good. Now I have to get AT&T to get their act together.

Cell Number Portability Tomorrow

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After years of waiting, Cell Phone number portability will happen (or so they say) tomorrow. “Experts” say to be warry of making changes tomorrow or for the first month or so. They say that the kinks are not out of the transfer system. I have waited too long and my patience is gone, so knowing the risks I will go tomorrow morning and transfer the number I like away from AT&T Wireless’s poor service T-Mobile who has given me decent service recently. The news articles I have read say up to 25% of all requests made to transfer numbers in the first week will fail. Since I am not currently using the number I am transfering, I can take that risk. I will know in 24 hours if it worked.

Treo 600 Update

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Just my luck that it is availible from everyone (Cingular, Sprint, AT&T) except the carrier I want (T-Mobile). AT&T just announced it friday. I am not happy. The good news is even after waiting for over a month since it has been released I still want to get it whenever I can. Not sure if Gus can resist buying the AT&T version of the Treo 600. He still won’t leave AT&T even after he has huge issues with their service.

The New Mac

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So I sold the Powerbook like I said. Now what? It is not like I didn’t have another computer to use. In fact I have 1 desktop at home, a server and my Dad’s old desktop that can be built into anything I want it to be. I also have my work laptop and countless desktops to work off of when there. So why did I feel compelled to buy a computer? I missed my Mac. I sort of didn’t want to part with it, but I got a decent deal and I was thinking about a mac desktop for a while. I did the math and figured out what I wanted. I wanted a huge flat pannel monitor at home and a decently powered machine. To get another top of the line powerbook and a 20″ flat pannel would have been super expencive. To get a low end G4 Powermac and a 20″ flat pannel would have been in the mid $2500 range. Then Tuesday Apple came out with the 20″ flat screen Imac. I always said I was not a fan of the all in one computer, but this machine had some nice features. it was also several hundred less than doing a powermac and a large flat screen. Another major selling poing was the fact that it took up very little space (it really does) and it is not loud. The G4 towers are know for the noise they put out.

I tried to goto the Apple store thursday and friday but work would not permit it. I went Saturday and was instantly sold on the imac. the screen is beatiful, it is so small, and it is not a slouch when it comes to power. I think this will do me well for a desktop for the next 2 years. I know they say desktops last 3 years, but I am a realist. I used to go through desktops every year. I am averaging 2 years now, or actually 23 months since I last got my Atholon XP desktop. I go through laptops quicker.

So far the iMac is great. I got most of my software on it. I just plugged in my Lacie firewire drive into it and all my stuff was restored. I also got the Apple bluetooth keyboard. it is nice. I think the usb keyboard that I had before felt better to type on, but this is pretty good also. Now all I need is a wireless mouse. I didn’t like the mac mouse so I need a logitech one.

The jury is still out on if I want a laptop also. I like the thinkpad, but I may at some point in the future get my own small laptop that I can kick around. I will see how things go with the iMac only and my ThinkPad. The iMac purchase revolves around my desire to write when not at my desk, and I don’t like doing it on the thinkpad. I have issues with its keyboard. I know I am nitpicking, but I have to be realy cofmy when I write, especially when my hands react poorly to bad keyboards.

With the new iMac also comes more space at/on my desk. I had a 4 port KVM with 2 desktops setup, along with a space for my powerbook and Thinkpad when I brought it home. That makes for tons of cables and a mess. I ripped out the KVM. I put my desktop in my closet near my server. It is now connected via 802.11g. If I need a windows xp box, all I do is remote destkop into it. It is faster than setting up virtual pc on the mac. I still have some cleaning up of some cables but the desk looks much better now.

My living room is a mess with all the old cables thrown around. I need to put them away neatly, and store my old 17″ flat pannel.

Movie Saturday

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I went to see Runaway Jury Saturday. It was really good. John Cusack is always good, and I didn’t realize that Dustin Hoffman and Gean Hackman were in it also. Very nicely done, and the best thing is that I didn’t guess the ending after 5 minutes.

Busy At Work, What Else Is New

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Work this week has been challenging. I got nothing I planned on doing yesterday completed. I was busy fixing other issue that crept up. Kai from our Kingston office was down for a meeting and also to just work for a day out of NY. He never did that before so we wanted to bring him down.

We are in the midst of several major projects. Remote recording of voice calls, creating a beta test for remote agents, move a mail server, upgrade NYC’s domain controllers, evaluate SMS, build a new service domain, and oh yeah we had 4 people get hired in the past week. My team is just a bit busy. Don’t get me wrong, busy is good. Overwhelmed is not. We are currently busy but quickly moving to overwhelmed. Hopefully we can get everything done without a problem.

Updateathon

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I reinstalled the OS on my ThinkPad last week. I was having some weird issues so I felt it was time to do a refresh. I like to do that every few months. Another advantage of the mac. I never felt compelled to do that on my powerbook unless I was upgrading the OS to a newer version.

With my powerbook gone, and both my home computer and work computer’s just receiving new OS’s I don’t have a single machine that is configured with all my stuff on it. My data is backed up on a firewire hard drive I cannot access since I don’t have a mac. My mail is only on my laptop and almost nothing is on my desktop at home.

Slow Posting

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It’s been almost a week since my last post. I have been busy, but I don’t think that is an excuse anymore since I am always busy. I am on the train, my most popular spot to write blogs these days. I am doing this blog from my ThinkPad. The reason is I sold my Powerbook yesterday to a friend, nelson. He had been nagging me to buy it for months. I kept pushing him away since I said I would wait until it was a year old and then upgrade. Well I didn’t make it. Not sure what I want to get to replace it yet. I really liked it, but I don’t know if I need 2 laptops. The company one I have (the ThinkPad) I a great machine, it is just not MY Powerbook. I can type faster on the Powerbook. But the ThinkPad has more battery life and a bigger screen. I am conflicted between another upgraded Powerbook or a new 20” imac. I want another Mac, but not sure if the portable is what I need.

Part of doing this blog entry is to see how I like typing on the train using the ThinkPad. My hands do cramp up, but I am still undecided on what to do. Gus and I will goto the Apple store today so I can browse the selection.

It is also important to note that Cell phone number portability is only 4 days away. Monday is the big day. I will go against what experts are saying and attempt to change my number first thing Monday.

DNS

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I spent a few hours yesterday trying to clean up my companies DNS servers. I am a perfectionist so I probably spend more time on organizing things like DNS records than I should, but like I said I am a perfectionist.

I have all but 3 domains now using our own DNS servers. When we first started up we used a company’s gear that funded us. I have wanted to move away from them for some time, but just don’t always find the time to work on the project.

Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, (And Sunday)

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I went out and saw mystic river with some friends last night. It was an “ok” movie. it wasn’t great, but the plot was good and the active was very good. we went to the outback for dinner, but after learning there was an hour and a half wait or more we took it to go (20 minutes) and went back to my friend Rich’s parents house. They were gone for the weekend and that was the closest place to the movies.

I didn’t get home till late this morning. That fact pisses me off since some dumb-ass called me at 9:45AM. Now I cannot sleep so I am up writing.

Not sure what is on the agenda for today. I wanted to goto the mall for a bit, but now I am not sure what I want to do. I will play it by ear.

This entry was written while listening to Right Now by Van Hallen