No More iPad Envy
About two weeks ago, just prior to our move to the new house, I was issued a new 32GB WiFi iPad at work. I’ve wanted an iPad since they were first announced and was extremely pleased when my request for one was granted.
Due to our move, and to being off the last week of the year I haven’t really had a chance to use it at work. My hope is that I’ll carry only it to meetings, and that it will serve as my communications device, hosting my email, chat, and Twitter clients.
At home I’ve made great use of it on the couch and at the breakfast table. I find that I can type reasonably well on the touch keyboard, although I do find the auto-correct feature pesky at times.
However as wonderful a little device as it is, I think I would prefer an 11 or 13 inch MacBook Air if I were spending my own money. I miss the tactile feedback of a real keyboard, and the numerous keyboard shortcuts that I’m used to employing.
Just as I don’t want (nor could I stand) having a screen as small as the iPad’s as my primary screen, I don’t think I’d want a screen as small as 11 or 13 inches either. The primary use for an Air would be as a portable, take anywhere computer. I’d want to have a beefy laptop or iMac at home as my principle computer. Of course that would open up the whole synchronization can of worms - how do you keep your digital life in sync when you have multiple devices?
A rather nice first-world problem to have.
Re-immersion
From 1983 until mid-2004, or twenty-one years, I wrote code every day of my working life. When people asked what I did for a living my answer was always, “I’m a programmer.”
Starting in 2004 I worked on a large (very large) government project solely on design and architecture. We didn’t do any coding at all. When I left that engagement and moved on into the healthcare industry in 2007 I was once again in a position where I didn’t do any coding. And since arriving here at the University I haven’t done any coding.
Yet.
My position which initially started out focused more on procedure and process is now transitioning toward the technical. On at least one upcoming project I’ll be solely responsible for all the work, design, coding, and unit testing. Toward that end I have been re-immersing myself in programming.
I’ve decided to change IDEs from Eclipse to IntelliJ IDEA, simply because I haven’t used it before and because many (most) of the developer’s I work with do use it. I’ve been exploring our code base, and working with a new virtual environment which allows work against an application server configuration identical to what our production servers run.
My programming skills are a bit rusty, but like riding a bike you don’t really forget how. I’ve used a couple of tutorials to get my mental space back into programming, and I have setup all the computers I have daily access to with the same project directory space, and IDE configuration so that I can work from anywhere.
It feels good to be returning to my programming roots. My title may have changed, and my knowledge base is certainly much broader now that it was in 1977 when I wrote my first working programs, but I am still, proudly, a programmer.
Over the Gazelle.com Barrel
Recently we decided to try and sell an HD camcorder we own. The camera was easy enough to use, and took nice videos, but the AVCHD file format it used to store the images hasn’t yet been widely adopted and transferring video from the camera to Windows operating system personal computers proved to be time consuming and difficult. The promise of taking a video, uploading it to the laptop and then to YouTube wasn’t met and so we decided to sell the camera.
My first attempt was through craigslist. As always with craigslist, the majority of the responses were lowball offers or off the wall scams. The only legitimate response came from some on in Las Vegas - and I wasn’t interested in risking sending the camera away in hopes that their payment would be good.
Having recently heard ads for Gazelle.com on the MacBreak Weekly podcast I decided to give them a try. The idea behind Gazelle is simple - you fill out a form describing your device, they make an offer based on your description and if you like the offer they send you a box and a prepaid shipping label. You send the item, they inspect it and if it is what you said it was, you get your money. Sounded good, and the offer was very generous at $324.
The box came after about 5 days and I assembled it, put the camera and all it’s accessories into its original box and packed it neatly into their box. It was in the outgoing mail the same day. A few days later I got an email asking if I had return shipped the camera yet as Gazelle hadn’t yet received it. Finally on the 24th the status on my account page at Gazelle changed to show that they had received my camera and would soon inspect it.
Days passed and every time I checked the status the inspection still hadn’t happened. On Wednesday, 6 days after they had gotten the camera, I poked the “live chat” option on their web site and chatted with Mike005. Mike005 said that there was a backlog of inspections due to a large number of transactions, and that my inspection would happen the next day. Thursday afternoon I again checked my status only to find I was still awaiting inspection. I opened a another chat and was again connected with Mike005. What are the odds?
He again promised me an inspection before the end of the 7th day. Later Friday afternoon I got an email from Gazelle with the subject line “Status Update - Your Attention Needed .” Opening the email I was shocked and dismayed to read:
We discovered that the Camcorder you sent in is actually a different model. Because different models have distinct values, this affects the offer we can make.
Because of this, we had to adjust our offer to $123.00 for your Panasonic HDC-SD10 SD Full HD Camcorder . Not what I had hoped for at all. No details as to the model difference they claim they found. Just that what I sent them wasn’t what I had said I would send them. And the offer is now roughly a third of what was initially made. I have 5 days (now 4) to accept or ask for my merchandise back.
The is free return shipping so there’s no cost to me, but I am now wary enough of them to wonder if I’ll get my camera back and in what condition. And, getting back means I am back to square one trying to sell it. Accepting their offer feels like giving in and letting them dictate to me. Having tried to sell it on my own unsuccessfully I now feel like I am trapped over the Gazelle barrel.
The live chat - seemingly the only way to contact them - isn’t open again until Monday morning. I’ll have just 2 days left to accept their paltry offer or ask for my camera back.
A House to Call Our Very Own
Sibylle and I are buying a house. What’s more, it is still under construction so we get to have some input into its creation and shaping. This is exciting, thrilling, stressful, joyous, exhausting, and altogether splendid. We’ve started writing about the whole process over on our WordPress.com site.
To Tip or Not To Tip
Yesterday evening, as I was waiting for carry out from the Chinese dive next to campus I tweeted this question:
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The majority of responses indicated that people tip for carry out at those establishments where they would tip for dine in service, and they do not tip at places were they wouldn’t after eating there.
So, places like Applebee’s or Olive Garden where you would tip after a meal, most people would tip for carry out. Typically at those kinds of restaurants carry out orders are handled by one of the people working the bar. The bartender does some of the activities of the server - they place the order with the kitchen, assemble a salad if there is one to be made, gather the times and bag them, and deliver them to the customer. They don’t have to follow up on the meal since that occurs away from the restaurant. For that reason some of the people who responded to my tweet said they tip a bit less for carry out than for dine in.
Last night’s carry out was from a place where I would likely not tip. There is no table service, you order at the counter and either help yourself to the buffet or wait for your food to be prepared and carry it to your table. But the next time we get carry out from Applebee’s or the area Thai restaurant I’ll probably tack on a small tip.
Just a Typical Thursday
This evening Sibylle received an email from Delta letting her know that she has been upgraded to 1st class for the Atlanta to Kansas City leg of her return trip. The date on the notice was for Saturday, August 14th and not Sunday, August 15th.
Turns out when we made the reservation back in early July we picked the 14th and not the 15th as the return date and then promptly forgot and started using the wrong date. Fortunately she will be able to complete the items on her list tomorrow, Friday, and transfer to the hotel (La Village) for one night before coming home on Saturday.
What makes this story better is what happened earlier today…
A couple of days ago we talked about getting her a reservation at La Village for the last two nights of her stay so that the bed could be taken out of the apartment, and so she wouldn’t have to figure out what to do with a wet towel, et cetera, the last morning. I made that reservation and had the confirmation copied to her email address.
This morning she got to reading it and discovered that I had booked the WRONG MONTH. Hotels.com has a great interface, but it assumes when you go to make a hotel reservation that it is at least two weeks away and not later that same week. I didn’t pay attention to the week, just the days of the week. Fortunately I was able to call hotels.com and move the reservation to this weekend. Or course now we’ve paid for one night that she won’t use, but that’s a small price to pay since she’ll be home Saturday night.
Oh, and one more thing.
When she discovered the real return date for her flight she called me on the phone. I was in the car and you can’t talk on a cell phone in Manhattan in a car any more (legally), so I pulled into a parking lot to take the call. When I put my phone back in my pocket I stuck it in the other front pocket, the one where my wallet lives.
Yeah. You see where this is going…
I returned to my office (closest place with Internet connection) and called her back via Skype. As I was setting up the Skype call, Sibylle called again so I pulled my phone out of my pocket. Now it is worth noting that it has been 105º every day for about a week now, and everything is sticky as a result. My phone stuck to my wallet and pulled it out too.
On to the floor.
Without me noticing.
Once Sibylle and I had the whole plane / hotel deal figured out and knew that she could finish up a day early and that she would be home a day early, we said good night and I set off for the grocery store. Wen I arrived at the self-check out I didn’t have my wallet.
I raced back to work, realizing that it must have gotten pulled out with my phone, but I couldn’t find it in my office. Not on the desk, not on the floor. Nowhere. Panic.
Back to the car – not here. Back to my office – not there.
Finally, I forced my self to catch my breath and calm down. Then I saw it, on the floor on my office. It was right out in the open, just hard to see.
So.
Sibylle will be home Saturday night and I have found my wallet but lost my mind. Otherwise everything here is good.
How to Ruin the Movie Going Experience
Step One: Go to the movies.1
For reasons not explained the theater decided to follow 7 or 8 minutes of commercials with 10 minutes of music videos, sans the video part. The lights were halfway dimmed but the screen was blank as we were regaled with two-and-a-half pieces of “music.” I observed several people leaving the theater after looking back at the projection booth - presumably to ask why we were getting music instead of the movie. I used my cell phone to call the theater and complain.
Once the music was stopped, in mid-atonal wail, the previews started. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good trailer and frequent the Apple Trailers site to see what is coming out soon. But somehow the theater never manages to show those trailers. Instead you get previews of movies that ought never to have been made in the first place. And not just one or two, but nearly twenty minutes worth.
Next time the show time is listed as 5:20 I’ll know to arrive at 5:55.
Letting Go
This is an incredibly important topic, one that is difficult and hard to look at directly. People are afraid of dying and perhaps more afraid of loved ones dying. Medical science and our health care system can do incredible things, but it can also overwhelm the people it is treating and their families.
This New Yorker magazine article discusses at length the idea that we as responsible people need to discuss, well ahead of any illness or disease, the qualities of life that are important to us. Unless we face our own ends now, when they are still abstract and manageable, we won’t (most likely) be able to overcome the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that will arise when we are suddenly faced with them later; and the lack of preparedness will be hugely costly in terms of emotional suffering for all involved later.
It is not an easy read, not one that will leave you feeling upbeat or satisfied. But it is a vitally important one, and one I recommend you all take the time to complete.
How To Read a High-Volume Mail List
Over the years I have joined and left a number of high-volume mail lists and I’ve finally come up with a set of guidelines that help me to consume the entries that interest me while not getting lost in the sea of entries offered.
By high-volume I mean something like the Android Developers Google Group. Yesterday this mail list generated 207 messages in my inbox. Two-hundred-and-seven. If you don’t cull that flow frequently and effectively you’ll have 800 or thousand messages waiting for you.
So in no particular order here are the things I do to pare the list down.
No replies - no read
Unfortunately many posting to these technical mailing lists go unanswered. Either the subject isn’t descriptive enough, or the message itself is lacking in specificity. Lots of these are along the lines of “I’m getting an error, please help.” Only without proper spelling, grammar, or punctuation.
As I am a beginner at Android development I skip the unanswered messages as there is nothing there for me to learn.
Only replies are from original poster - no read
There are some posters who repeated refresh their original posting. A majority of these are people who keep pestering the group wanting to know why no one is answering their particular question. A few are people considerate enough to post a solution that they found elsewhere. I tend to skip these largely due to the increasing shrill “why aren’t you answering my question” replies.
Reply thread includes message from that “one guy” - no read
All mailing lists (at least all technical mailing lists) have a guy who snipes at everyone and everything. They complain about top-posting, or repeating the entire message instead of just the portion being responded to. Often then deride the original poster for not having availed themselves of Google or online forums or tea leaves or something. These “get-off-my-lawn” types do occasionally answer a question, but I tend to skip threads with a response from them as the holier-than-thou attitude gets old fast.
Messages include responses from the two or three gurus on the list - read
A good mailing list will include a maven or two, and perhaps a guru. These people take the time to answer questions completely, often siting sources or reference material. I learn a lot from these threads and enjoy reading them. Bonus points for a thread that attracts more than one guru provided answer.
The topic intrigues me - read
A well-written subject line can be enough to entice me to open the thread and follow it to its conclusion. Sometimes even if “that guy” is a responder. And as I run into my own issues, finding a thread that addresses it is always welcome.
When all else fails, mark all as read
These guidelines help me to triage the torrent of incoming messages from high activity groups. Even with a fairly ruthless application of these rules I sometimes end up declaring email bankruptcy and marking all the messages as read so I can start over.
Ten Questions about My HTC Droid Incedible
- So, you got a new phone. What is it again?
An HTC Droid Incredible through Verizon.