Month: September 2005

Busy Days

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The past two days have been busy with meetings and very little tech work, or anything interesting enough to run and write about. I have been feeling like I am not getting anything done, but in fact I am being productive. When I feel like I am not getting allot done I realize I am doing office work, and not tech work! not bad, but just different.

I am trying to save money the remaining week of this month. For that reason I passed up going out with John and Jay to dinner last night, but then ended up going out tonight with other friends! I intend to safe the rest of the week! Really!

I was just finishing up going through my TO DO list and email backlog. I think now (at 10 to midnight) I finally am done. I am off to bed!

Cool Custom Ring Tones

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I like talking about technology. I work with it all day, and yet I am still amazed at how some things work, and others that don’t. I have been going back and forth with wanting to keep my Treo and wanting a smaller phone. That is why I switch back and forth between the Treo and the Razr. One program that will keep me coming back to the Treo is mRing, by Motionapps. I love the ability to have distinctive rings for a type of call, a person, or a group of people. I keep coming up with cool ring tones for groups of people.

For over a year and a half I have had the carnival circus music play if anyone from work called. I always get funny looks at the office when it rings. Recently I was bored late one night during an upgrade and I programed the phone to ring with the A-Team theme song when everyone from my group calls. It is really funny. I am also programing the imperial march in for when my boss calls. That is funny for the simple fact that his character does not fit that song, but typically when you think “boss” you think something like Darth Vader!

I am trying to come up with other good tones for others.

Site Update

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I updated my August 2005 Camera Phone images to my personal site. This page is everything that I post to the mobile blog (MOB) and more. I don’t work on my personal site that much anymore. I spend my free web time writing or working on this blog. I am having a minor issue with how some pages are presenting. It looks like it is an issue with the CSS of some photo pages conflicting with the way I did the site template. I need to go back and remove individual page CSS files and have everything use the default site CSS. That means I need to ensure that my global settings are what I want. Way too much tech info, I know!

Alias

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I remember when people about the office said that I should take a look at Alias. They said I would like it. I am picky. What people say I will like (just because I like similar stuff), allot of the time I think is crap. I have also been stupid and blown people off when they tell me to look at something, and then months or years later I end up taking a look and find I like it. Thanks Mom for pestering me about reading Harry Potter way back when.

Well I finally took some peoples advise and rented the first few episodes of Alias from Blockbuster. I figured I had nothing to loose. Was I blown away? No, but it was still good. I finished all the episodes I had on disk and I plan on renting the rest of the first season, or just picking it up at BestBuy. Is it as good as Mi-5? No, but like I said it has a good story line so far, so I am hooked. It is not like there is that much TV out there that keeps me interested.

Light Friday

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It wasn’t that we were bored today (i actually got allot done) but it was a “relatively” slow day. Case in point Jayson and I were able to sneak out (not really since my boss knew where we were going) and goto the Outback for lunch. In NYC the Outback does in fact serve lunch.

We also got some time to work on a new cabinet we received for our computer room. I have to say that HP rail kits are the easiest I have ever had to install. I cannot believe that IBM still makes you screw things in and do all this work to get a kit in, but HP you just snap it in and you are done in 3 minutes. Now I have to finalize the cabinet layout before we put more gear in it.

Other than that, today was an uneventful day. And you know what? I don’t mind a few uneventful days every now and then!

Custom Order!

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Are you a custom order guy? Or gal? You know the person who orders something off the menu, then changes like 5 things about it. Lets say extra crispy this, hold the that, not allot of this, and cut the crusts off. And then you get upset with staff when they mess up your order that NASA scientists would mess up? If so, get over it. Don’t be like my mom, or Danny and get upset about it. What did you expect?

I have a theory, and it is usually accurate. Well usually. It goes like this, you can make ONE change to any order. After that you are asking for it to be messed up. You want no lettuce and no mayo, ask for no mayo because you can pull lettuce off something. if you ask for both removed you will get both. This theory is except if it is Kai going to BK for me at the drive through! Then no matter how small the change is, they will mess it up. But I digress.

Why I am going off about food order changes? Tonight I have learned (well I knew it already but I let myself believe it was not true) change requests no matter what industry you are talking about cause chaos. Why you may ask? It goes to another theory I have. Well make it a law, it is that certain. It goes like this. 95% of the people out there are stupid. They are. I am not pessimistic. Prove me wrong! Really I want you to!

Today I flew home from Portland. I got to the airport really early so I asked to see if I can fly standby on the earlier flight. They (US Airways) said the earlier flight was booked but they would put me on standby. Boarding time comes around for the early flight and I am in luck, there are extra seats. As they give me my boarding card I ask for the second time “will my luggage get on this flight ok”? I am reasured by the gate agent that she is calling the luggage people right now and it will be taken care of. There was 20+ minutes to departure so no issues. Sure enough we waited on the ground for a while. I figure, plenty of time to put my bag on.

I get to NYC and proceed to get my bag. Well it doesn’t come off the carousel. Why you may ask? Well change is the answer. A simple change like modifying someone’s flight to an earlier one caused the system to be messed up. It was a simple change, one that you would think happens all the time, but it got messed up anyway. You may be saying “Scott, it was just one bag. Maybe they made an honest mistake”. That is a good theory. It gets flushed down the toilet when I tell you a lady with 2 missing bags (and a 2 year old) also lost 2 bags on the same flight for the same reason. The US Airways people called it a communication issue in Portland. I laughed and told them I can’t understand that because the gate agent said they were going to call right as I asked. So either one person is retarded or someone didn’t do their job.

The moral of this story. If I is food or flights, change is just a way of asking for your plans to be messed up.

Oh, and on another note. I do technology for a call center. We go to great lengths to make sure the customer always has choices, and can always get to a live person. it is possible to operate a Call Center like that, so NO ONE should tell me it is ok to have an IVR that does not have any way to get to a live agent. US Airways, a bit of a heads up. If I press 0, I better get a f–king live agent. if I press 0 several times I better get an agent, not an automated response telling me to try back later when I have my proper information. I am going to goto sleep tonight knowing that you are in chapter 11 for a good reason!!!

Yes I am pissed. But the agent at LGA was at least halfway decent, and I did get my luggage 7 hours later. I did however miss returning my Tux, and will have to pay the late fee when I return it.

Wedding Recap

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The service was short. I am a fan of short services. They did a non-traditional wedding. Their friend Vivian was the officiant. We held it in a gazebo right on the beach. It was beautiful. It was touch and go on the rain for a while but by the time we got to the site for the service it was not wet at all.

After the service we went to a park across from the inn where the reception was being held. We took photo’s, etc. We then went to the reception and partied. I partied a bit more than others. I lost count of how much I drank, but it couldn’t have been more than 5 or 6 drinks. I made it thorough desert, but then I decided to drop my jacket off at my room because I was hot and I didn’t want to forget it at the reception. Bad idea. The next think I know it is 2 hours later and I woke up sitting in the easy chair in my room. I had missed the last hour and a half or so of the reception.

Today I feel like crap. That is what I get for drinking. I had a head ache this morning, but I am feeling a bit better now.

Amanda’s Aunt gave me a ride to the airport. She was cool. I got to Portland so early that I was able to fly standby on the earlier flight. I am in the air now (as I write this), and I hope my luggage got on the plane. The lady at the counter reassured me that it would get on the flight. I will find out in less than an hour.

Now that I am getting back to NYC early I am hopeful that I can get my Tux back to the rental place tonight instead of paying the late fee and returning it tomorrow. I will see how long it takes to get home later before I commit to anything.

Visa, MasterCard or OTHER!

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I am an American Express Card holder. I am happy about that. Amex treats you right. I don’t remember any major problem (nock on wood) with them as a credit card company. I do remember all the good things they have done when I have had problems. Sometimes without me even asking. That is good service. Yes I pay allot for that service, but isn’t that the point?

Because I am so happy with my Amex I have decided long ago that I don’t need any other card. I mean I have a charge and credit card with Amex. Well since my bank has given me a Debit card allong with my ATM card I figure I can use that if I ever come accross a place that does not take Amex. I must say that I have been known to leave stores when they don’t take Amex. If you want my business you should take a credit card that huge portions of he popuation have, and the vast majority of stores take. Being cheap about the percentage point or two that Amex charges over Visa/Mastercard is just petty and looses my business. I got that attitude from my dad. He had a Visa card that he never used. I remember on a few occasions where we would leave stores if they didn’t take amex, even though he could use the visa card. I am the customer, I want to pay in a legitimate way using this card. If you won’t accomodate me, I am leaving. And leave we would. I am like my dad (even though sometimes I don’t like to admit it). We can both be stuborn. he a bit more than me, but as a customer I am right. Aren’t i?

I am here in Maine. More on that later. The inn I am staying at has WIFI. I was like cool. I have 2 hours to kill so let me get online and check my mail. Yeah, that didn’t work. Why you ask? Well the wifi company doesn’t take Amex. I was a bit miffed but then said ok, this is why I have my debit card anyway. So I broke out the debit card and punched in my digits only to get rejected. The credit card authorization company does not recognize my debit card as a valid MasterCard. So I am stuck with no WIFI. I am actually cool with that, but I am really pissed at a company that makes it so difficult for me to use there service. OK, I know everyone DOESN’T take amex, so I use my debit card, and you STILL won’t take the dam card. Come on. I am still not going to run out and get a Visa or Master Card. I will spend my money at a place that is willing to take it!!!

The Wedding

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I am sitting in my room (super small, but lets not go there right now) waiting to put my tux on. I am supposed to be ready to go in about an hour. Since it will take me like 20 minutes to get dressed I have time to kill. In a minute I am going to run down to the inn bar and fill up my flask. Rich & Amanada got me a flask kit with cups and stuff for a gift. It was exactly what I wanted. I am going to fill it up “just in case” for the ceremony. I wonder how much the bar will charge to fill up a 6-oz flask with JD or Southern Comfort? I will find out.

I am not looking forward to wearing a tie. Rich’s dad helped me get it ready, but I hate wearing them. I know I “clean up nice” in a tux or good suit, but they are so uncomfortable to get into. After a while I get used to it and am fine, but it is that first few minutes that I dread. I hate sweating in them:(

Flight Blogging

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Off to Maine for the weekend. So far the flight so good. LGA (can’t spell it out, so there) is actually not that busy Saturday mornings at 7AM. I did not need to get to the airport 2 hours early. I am early almost to a point of neurosis. Rich picks me up from the airport in a bit when I land. Then it is off to the inn. Hopefully there will be more to do, or less time to do nothing than I originally thought.

On the plus side the place I am staying says they actually have free WIFI. I will see if it works when I get there.