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The iPhone and I are becoming fast friends. I’m starting to trust the virtual keyboard (I wonder what my words-per-minute is?) and trust it to handle autocorrection. I also was able to leave my laptop at my desk for some afternoon meetings… I usually have it with me for taking notes and looking up trouble tickets. It was nice strolling into the 2pm meeting relatively unencumbered.

Still… there are a few things that seem “off” or don’t satisfy my wants and needs:

• No great way to sync Exchange tasks? I browsed the app store and saw task list apps, but it’s imperative that they sync to Exchange so I’m not doing double entry
• I have to type my iTunes password in to buy free apps. Not the end of the world, but still…
• Somehow I keep dialing people accidently when all I want to so is look at their details
• Battery life may start to become an issue if I’m away from the charger for more than a day
• At night I want the ringer on but no other sounds besides my alarm in the morning. This may not be possible without manual tweaks of my Sounds every night. Research comtinues…
• I have a Bluetooth keyboard at work. Wonder if that would work with the phone… hmmm. That plus an SSH client would be really convenient
• Sure would like it if more apps supported landscape mode, especially the keyboard-intensive ones like Wordpress

That’s all that comes to mind right now. I know I’m absurdly late hopping on the smartphone bandwagon, but I can also be cheap sometimes, so this is par for the course. The one perk to my role here as early adopter is that a lot of the process kinks between Apple and AT&T appear to be worked out now

So as not to sound like too much of a complainer, tomorrow I’ll post on some of the ways the iPhone has exceeded my already-high expectations.

Filed under: Technology |

Things you don’t want to see when you’re itching to get in the game.

Filed under: Uncategorized |

We’re getting close to listing the house now. Sherri’s folks were able to help with some of the last minute projects as they passed through on their way to the Sunshine State. Today we’re able to organize our belongings into three piles: pack, Goodwill, and trash. It seems to be nearly equal thirds. The more we purge, the less to move! Still, it seems like an endless project.

Full-time work begins again tomorrow, also, so we’re trying to make the most of our time. The week should be interesting as I train my replacement and get familiar with my new cube.

And finally, I leave you with this photo I took this morning of a curious deer outside our living room window.

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So I finally relented and bought an iPhone today. It meant an hour and a half in the AT&T store and a few hundred bucks, but so far: totally worth it. In fact, I’m typing this on that iPhone virtual keyboard. Not bad. The keyboard and I, we didn’t start out on the right foot, but we’re getting there.

More to come once the honeymoon is over…

Filed under: Uncategorized |

Filed under: Pictures |

As part of Operation Let’s-Sell-The-House-And-Move-To-Florida (aka Operation Defrost), we needed to do an upgrade of the kitchen countertops.

Besides being a hideous color, they featured a burn mark and a growing split. Funny enough, I don’t have a great “before” picture, even though I 1) knew this project was coming, and 2) take pictures of many, many things.

The before:

The after:

Click the pics to make them big. Not bad, eh? The silicone around the drain is solidifying, and I’ll enlist Sherri’s dad’s help tomorrow evening with bonding the sink to the countertop. I can do the plumbing part of it on my own. Just call me Joe.

Looking ahead, the remaining projects before sale are:

• Paint front and back doors. Replace front door lock set.
• Clean and declutter.
• Replace door to garage. In progress.
• Decorate.

We’re almost there.

Filed under: Household, Pictures, Uncategorized |

Updates!

• School. School is over for now. My last class was last night and I feel pretty good about my presentation. As mentioned, further classes are on hold for the moment until we get moved and settled.
• Work. We’re struggling with a pretty serious DNS-related issue at work at the moment that’s been consuming all my time. There’s something strange about doing lookups against servers in the Czech Republic (.cz domains) and so far we haven’t learned much. Workarounds are in place, but it has me and some other sharp DNS people stumped at the moment. In a nutshell, it’s wasting a lot of extra time that I don’t have, which is frustrating.
• Home. I took today and tomorrow off from work to take care of things around the house. We’re still targeting the first of the year to list our house. When I looked at the time left and factored in vacations and weekends, I took the time off. The countertop guy was at the house this morning building templates. They should have the new countertops ready in two weeks or so. Otherwise, I’ve been painting doors (what else!) down in the basement. We’re down to the last three, thankfully, if you don’t include the fire door that will need to be painted once installed.
• Holidays. I’m almost hopelessly behind on my holiday shopping. I need to have an Amazon-a-thon very soon here so that everything can arrive in time. With all the drama going on right now — work, move, economy, OJ verdict — Christmastime has really snuck up on us. If you’re expecting a present from me and would be happy with a $50 gift certificate to Chili’s or Appleby’s, let me know. Just kidding!!! It’d be more in the $25 range.
• Television. The Dinner Party episode of The Office is a national treasure. link

Filed under: Uncategorized |

Here’s how the weekend is shaping up.

Yep. Pennsylvania.

I haven’t been writing on this site lately, obviously. It’s not because I hate you — you and I are fine, still friends. Mostly it’s because life has been a whirlwind and this sorta fell off the list.

What’s going on?

• Working on the house. We’re prepping for sale, which means we’re painting the living room, dining room, entranceway, stairway, upstairs hallway, and middle bedroom. Plus every door in the house, closet doors included. Doors are my special project. There are 21 of them. Each one has two sides and needs 4-5 coats of white paint before they look presentable. That takes time. Along with that, every knob and hinge will be replaced. Besides painting, we’re replacing the door leading to the garage with a 20 minute fire door (for code), putting new countertops in the kitchen, and decorating. I think we’re on track to list at the beginning of January, depending on the counters. Counters are the long pole in the tent right now it appears.

• School. I’m wrapping up my second MBA class. I turned in my 10 page academic paper last week, and am preparing for a 10 minute presentation either this Monday or Wednesday. Thankfully class is over December 10, which should free up some fix-up time (see above). Because of the move situation, I’m not planning on taking any more classes up here.
• Work. Work is insane right now. We just took on a very large new customer that is demanding a lot of my time. I could honestly work 18 hours a day and still only begin to make a dent in my list of things to do. Finding a balance between work and life has been difficult, and I’m managing as best I know how for the time being. In this economy I’m thankful to have a job, but wish we had a little more help at the office.
• Fun. There’s little of this to be had. It’s too f’ing cold to be outside. We don’t know anyone so there isn’t much of a social life up here. When I do find some time to watch TV, I feel guilty that I’m not working on [house|school|work], so there’s not much enjoyment. I’d try settling into a book, but inevitably my mind wanders back to [house|school|work].

With any luck, the house will come together, work will calm down some, and we can enjoy the upcoming holidays with family. Before the chaos of a 1,000 mile move, that is.

Filed under: Uncategorized |

It’s funny ’cause it’s true.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31JNEVHZxO8

Filed under: Uncategorized |

They were picked up this morning, off to their next adventure. Thanks, Craig Newmark and your list.
From last week:

From their brief vacation in Miami Beach:

The Craigslist ad that made it all happen. Comfortable and festive.

*sniff*

Filed under: Pictures, Uncategorized |