Life, Kids, Technology & that move to another continent
Not much to report over the past two days, but I wanted to write a bit since I have been neglecting writing for a bit. Worked from home Thursday & Friday. Ended up not going out tonight since it got really nasty out and most of my friends ended up not going anywhere either.
Work was hectic but nothing out of the ordinary went on.
My last post was a big rant, but I think I articulated my frustration so maybe it isn’t technically a rant? Still really ticked off. I have a bunch of other posts I am working on that I just haven’t updated in July. I just felt compelled to update that last one after I read about it today. Hopefully more updates (and backdating some older posts I started writting two weeks ago) in the next few days.
I have been a huge fan of Apple and the iPhone. I have always had my criticisms of the company. I have also said that I love my iPhone but would love to find another phone to replace it due to the restrictions Apple puts on the iPhone. This latest stunt by Apple may just get me to drop the iPhone and get something (anything) else. GV Mobile is an app I have used since it came out. It is an app that works with Google Voice. Before GV Mobile I used Grand Dialer that did similar things with the old Grand Central before Google turned it into Google Voice. Why then did Apple just decide to pull all apps that work with Google Voice? I paid for this app, now basically it is killed off? Yeah it will still work for a while but if anything in the OS breaks the app it wont work. This is crazy. How is this not big brother that Apple (or AT&T through Apple) just come in and turn off an app? And why, because it mimic’s iPhone features? So what, I choose to use those mimicked features. Thoughts are it is more likely that AT&T doesn’t want to lose revenue by free SMS via these apps. So can someone explain to me how App Stores are better for the consumer if the handset maker and the provider say what can and cannot be put on my phone? I prefer the day when i can find an app, download it and run it on my smart phone. Worked for years with Palm, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile. Now everyone has their own app stores. How is this progress for the consumer?
I was tempted to pre-order an Android powered My Touch with T-Mobile today. The only thing that stopped me was the fact that the My Touch doesn’t offer Wifi Calling (no android phone does yet). Apple / AT&T get your act together or you will lose a good customer, and I bet I am not the only one.
On a related note I was kind of pissed about what I consider similar crazy tactics by Amazon regarding the Kindle. At least Amazon apologized about what they did, and it doesn’t look like they will do it again. Apple you should learn something from Amazon!
UPDATE 7-31-2009: Finally the FCC is doing something. Questioning Apple, AT&T & Google about what is going on.
Yesterday was my mom’s birthday. My parents were at my sisters last night, so we ended up going out to dinner tonight after they came back into the city since I am on the way home. Well I can be on their way home if they go through Manhattan instead of taking the GWB. We went to the Waterfront Crab Shack. I love that place. Well I love good sea food. I had some crab cakes. It was a nice night with my parents.
I gave my mom her gift. I gave her my Amazon Kindle. She had interest in one when my sister was given one so I decided to upgrade and give her mine since it was in perfect condition. Actually when she got home and opened it up she called all mad at me since she thought I spent a ton of money giving her a brand new one since i put it back in the original packaging. I assured her it wasn’t. She wont use it until she travels so I hope she remembers how to use it.
After work I headed over to an interesting meet and greet at another office. It was nice to get out of the office for a while and socialize with some people from work I don’t normally hang out with. I didn’t stay too long, but it was an interesting meet up.
Work otherwise was busy but nothing out of the ordinarily.
This weekend was my friend’s Joe & Karen’s wedding. I know Joe from my time working and living in Baton Rouge. I know Karen since she went to the same High School as I and we have the same group of friends we kept in touch with after school. As an aside I find it interesting I hang out with Karen now, but didn’t know her at all when I actually was in HS. That is true for a few of the friends I know from back then. Ok back to the story. One of my other friends John introduced both of them to each other when he was living down in BTR. And now they got married. Karen moved down south a few years ago to be with Joe, but they decided to come back to NYC to have the wedding.
Friday night there was a rehearsal dinner of sorts, but in reality it was just friends and family getting together for dinner. We went to City Crab. On a previous trip to NYC a bunch of us took the couple their (I had to be reminded that since i was like hey we are going to city crab i love that place when they told me the venue, and couldn’t figure out why they chose that location) so we went back. I had the surf and turf. Filet and Crab Legs. It was fantastic. Afterwards a bunch of guys went out for a mini bachelor party. We were going to do that Thursday but Jayson couldn’t get out on Thursday so we pushed to Friday. Gretchen did just have a baby on Sunday! We had a good time, and that is allt he details on that subject.
Jayson ended up crashing at my place instead of having to pay for a hotel. We got up today and hung out by my place for a while before heading into the city for the wedding. There may be another post on the shopping spree we went on. We meet up with Scott (yes another one) and went over to the hotel where the wedding was.
The ceremony was nice on a deck at the top of the hotel. We just missed the rain so it was perfect timing. John actually showed up. That was a pleasant surprise since no one expected him. His wife also just had a baby so he wasn’t sure if he could get out. He did. It was a fun wedding. I even danced a bit, but not much. It was relatively small, but I don’t like huge parties.
I grabbed a ride home from John after the festivities were over. Overall it was a great weekend.
Yesterday I got a call late from my friend Joe. He is in from Baton Rouge (or nearby BTR to be exact) for his wedding. His local friends and family flew in a few days early. He gave me a call to find somewhere interesting to do. I ended up meeting up with him and his friends at his hotel. We headed out to Little Italy for some dinner at my favorite italian place on Mulberry Street. We then headed to Union Square for a round of drinks at Heartland. We were going to head to some other pubs but Karen called and we meet her and some of her friends at a bar we went to back in May near their hotel. We hung out there for a while and then everyone headed home. it was a fun night. I met allot of Joe’s friends for the first time. I will be hanging with them tonight for dinner and at the wedding tomorrow.
I grabbed a cab home and thankfully it only took me 10 minutes to get from the east side to my apartment. I decided last time I was out with Joe & Karen that I will pay the extra money for use of the Tunnel to get home, vs the 59th Street bridge. it is so much faster, especially at night. I didn’t get home till 2AM, so I am glad I took today off.
Today was hectic at work as I tried to finish up everything I needed to before I take tomorrow off. I didn’t make my goal of stopping at 5PM to begin to relax. I called at 6:30PM when I still probably had hours more work to do. You have to know when to call it a day. This week has been really long days for some reason. Usually I have busy days but I can finish up at reasonable hours at least a few times a week. This week was just jam packed with stuff going on.
I just finished work for the day! I wasn’t done until about 11:30. It was just a marathon day. I had tons of meetings during the day that lead me to be unable to work on any emails or other requests. I left the office at around 6 figuring I had hours more to go and I wanted to be home to finish up. I got home and had a quick dinner and then worked for a few more hours till a little while ago. The good news is I got my inbox to 0. I still have a bunch of action items I need to do but I looked over everything and responded to the most urgent stuff. Now I need sleep.
Today I was supposed to head out for drinks with a friend. I started having a head ache in the early afternoon so I emailed to cancel. I have a ton of stuff to do at work, a hair cut to get and I don’t feel well. That is not a great way to start a evening out. I feel bad since I haven’t been able to meet up for months. Hopefully later this month. Today was an in the office day and it was jam packed with stuff to do.
Ran and got a haircut after work and then lied down for a bit and then tried to get some more work in. Not a very glamorous day, but busy.