it's good to have asthma sometimes
yeah, i got my flu shot today. asthma puts you into the high risk group, so you get to get it early instead of having to wait for weeks. :)
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yeah, i got my flu shot today. asthma puts you into the high risk group, so you get to get it early instead of having to wait for weeks. :)
after i dropped adam off at work, i run over to bellevue square to take care of a few things. my first stop was the apple store to take adam's sick booky in for repair. since i got there right about 10, i didn't really have to wait at all. the super nice genius bar guy was quite thrilled that i had written down the serial number and the error code that booky had. he ws also happy that adam has it boot in verbose mode so he got to see what it did (started to boot, got to the HD, had an error, and turned itself back off). so, we should get him back in about a week. apple is going to ship booky directly back to us. yet another case for getting applecare.
i doubt that anybody actually reads my blog, but if you do and you're a mac owner that is within the time limit to purchase applecare, i would highly recommend doing so.
after that, i went to lady foot locker and bought a pair of the nike shox go shoes that i had been playing with online. i'm going to give them a shot before i custom order the ones like it want it which will take 4-6 weeks. i think the shox will be extra good for DDRing.
i stopped by another store to get adam an anniversary present. he will be thrilled. :)
check out what adam sent me
of course both of my fav quotes are both from giles...
giles: "do you like my mask? isn't it pretty? it raises the dead... americans." from the episode "dead man's party"
giles: "i used to be a highly respected watcher and now i'm a wounded dwarf with the
mystical strength of a doily." from the episode "chosen"
so, i have been trying to find a solution that enables me to sync my smartphone with iCal/address book so that i can take full advantage of my .Mac account. i went to the iSync website to see if there were any options listed, and it mentioned mark/space.
i had used the missing sync when i was using a pocketpc, and i thought that it was a really good product. i saw that they now had a version that worked with the smartphones, and it was offered at a 50% discount to previous owners of the software. that brought the cost down to $19.95, so i decided to give it a shot.
the interface is great. i had planned on using the USB cable on my PC and syncing with the mac via bluetooth, but it wasn't as seamless as i would like. i got address book, iCal, outlook, and my phone all on the same page. using .Mac, i now have all of that information on fred and booky. since activesync will allow you to sync your device with 2 computers, i think that this is the right solution.
adam said that i should just stop using the PC for this and just use iCal. unfortunately, i don't like iCal as much. my primary desire to use iCal is just to be able to see the calendar and address book from any of my machines/devices. since it's all there, i can also sync my calendar and address book with my iPod too. that worked pretty well.
if you're looking for a similar solution, i would recommend looking into this.
while i really like the kimono case, i did have a few issues with it.
1. it looked a little weird with my red scroll wheel (it would look great with a gray scroll wheel)
2. the size of the 20GB iPod didn't completely fill up the case (even with the leather insert to make it thicker)
3. it slid around in the case vertically (even with the leather insert)
i did some research on ilounge.com again to help me select a case. when i bought the new iPod, one of the apple store reps said that the skins were actually pretty protective. the evo2 from iSkin got a B+ review (which is really good from ilounge.com). i looked at their website, and i decided that a black skin would be good with my black iPod.
you have to put the skin on through the screen hole which was a bit strange, but it is a good fit. it also works with plugging the iPod into my computer and the car charger without taking off the skin. i removed the belt clip because it looked a bit flimsy (and the reviews said the same thing), and i dislike belt clips as a whole anyway.
so, adam is using the kimono case. it looks really good with his iPod.
ok, i officially do not like the new version of the amazing race. it is lame lame lame. i am displeased with the locations and the fact that the tasks need to be little kid friendly. BLAH!
adam pointed me towards the chosen collection on amazon. it has all of the buffy seasons plus some cool extras. it's in pre-order now, but it really discounted. it's 40 freakin discs.
i was doing something when adam was starting to watch the intro. he made some comment about the black family. i thought he meant an african-american family, so i didn't think anything of it until i saw that the black family was an african-american family. ha!
so, my first 10 minutes of watching the show have me with mixed feelings. i think that some of the people are funny as hell, but i'm just not feelin' it. one of the things that i like about the amazing race is the exotic locations. i'm just feeling like this edition will be mostly in north america and big 'ol cities maybe in europe.
i'm going to give it 2 episodes before i decide whether or not to keep watching.
we had dinner with sara and one of her co-workers, flora, at cheesecake factory. it's always great to see sara, and flora was really nice. they were up here for a realtor training class thing. jodi wasn't feeling well, so we'll have to get together again when she's feeling better and sara is back in town.
went to illusionz and played about 50 min of itg again. i didn't play with my ankle brace on, and my ankles felt pretty good after. my knees were sore, but so were adam's. i think that i'll be able to play some every weekend as long as i only play one day a week. my scores were pretty good, so i guess i can't slipped as far back as i could have after the ankle injury.
so, adam's iPod is back from their service center again. the tracking information given to me by the service center showed that it was delivered to the store today. well, we got there and they couldn't find it. we also learned that the "repair" this time was to reseat the HD cable. gee, that worked so well last time. kendall at the tech counter was super nice and helpful. russ, one of the managers, was awesome. we explained all of the problems and the fact that they've done the same "repair" twice. he said that if we experience the same problems again, he'll do a replacement flat out instead of making us send it in again. we even have something on an official best buy form stating that with his signature. the worst part was that the handwriting on the form from the service center looks nearly identical to the one we got when it was returned to us a few months back. i KNEW that was going to happen. even russ thought that was strange... hopefully it will actually work this time, but if not at least russ will take care of it.
let's see...
called best buy to see what was up with adam's iPod. they "fixed" it again. yet again they jiggled the HD cable and then restored it.
found out that apple is releasing a hardware update for the mac mini. it should come out any time now. it has an improved bluetooth/airport unit, faster HD, and a faster dual layer DVD burner. if it comes in within the next week, i can exchange mine. worst case is that i have to pay the restock fee. i thought that i was pretty safe because apple's changes usually happen during the january and july macworlds. they just introduced my model and upgraded it in july. BLAH.
adam got a speeding ticket on the way to work today.
i returned a couple of the sweaters that i bought at EB, and i used the money to purchase a couple of shirts at LB.
yeah. blah. i am tired. i was able to find we love katamari for adam at game crazy, so i walked over there and bought it. i also got to try out the new mortal kombat game while i was there. it was pretty rockin. i think that says a lot since i'm not a huge video game fan. on the way back home, i stopped to get a cheap manicure which made me happy. my nails are now red. i love red. :) i am also pleased cause i am wearing my batty lounge pants. i love my batties. :D
big brother was not the slightest bit shocking. i think the most shocking part was that janelle voted for ivette. i am sad that it is over for the season.
now, rock star inxs made me ill. i hate JD. i hate his lounge singery voice and his attitude. i didn't think that marty was right either cause he sounds too nirvanaish. i will not be buying any inxs music now.
suck.
yes, i want indian food. weird. mmm garlic nan. a 7x8" piece of nan is only 4 points. :)
last night was fun. we had dinner with jay and john at krapteka. they hadn't been there in ages, so they really enjoyed what they ordered. we came back here after dinner and adam helped john to add some memory to his "new" laptop and get winxp installed. jay and i discussed purchasing domains, and jay went ahead and signed up for one of netsol's packages.
migraines suck. i've taken 2 imitrex and it hasn't gone away yet. i did the laying down thing which didn't work. i feel horrible and spewy. suck. maybe i should go see the neurologist i saw for the nerve damage in my hand.
i got a USB thumb drive since it seems that i cannot actually use my iPod shuffle to hold my ITG scores. i played 1 game today so that i could get data on the card. it looks like it worked pretty well. i'll have to wait to go back until next weekend to see if it really works. it will be nice to have my scores tracked and possibly take screenshots if i have an awesome game.
i'm glad that i have a week to recover because i am SOOOOOO sore. the muscles that surround my rib cage and abs are owie. i think that it's from all of the jumping and twisting.
$180 is the price that i will pay for my new computer. after a year or so of pondering, i decided that i was going to upgrade my desktop Mac. i looked into the price that my dual 867 MHz tower was going for on eBay, and i saw that it was pretty close to the same that i would pay for the top of the line mac mini (1.42 GHz). i dug out the original discs and some old software that i haven't used in a while plus some old USB 1.1 hubs, and listed it all. a bidder from colorado used a BIN and paid within minutes of the auction end. soooo, my final cost for the new machine, a new applecare agreement (still yet to purchase but included in the $180), and a usb 2.0 hub is approx $180. considering the hub was about $50 of that, i think that is a pretty good deal all around for replacing my 3 year old computer.
this was also a good move because space is a big issue in my part of the office. the change will take me from a 42 lb machine to a 2.9 lb machine. even though i was going from a very upgradeable machine to one that really can't be upgraded, i have yet to upgrade any of my macs other than to add a wi-fi card or extra memory. this new one comes with wi-fi onboard, and 512MB of memory. the jump from the dual 867 to the 1.42 is huge. i feel it much more at home than i did at the store while i was playing with it. this one runs much faster even though it has less memory. the timing was also great because the tower's applecare runs out on 10/2. repairing an out-of-warranty mac can get very expensive very quickly.
gained: processor speed, onboard bluetooth, onboard wi-fi, a superdrive, and a ton more space
lost: more upgradeable, slower, larger machine w/ a combo drive and my old bluetooth adapter
so, i say farewell to my beloved towery. LONG LIVE TOWERY!
i played ITG today for the first time in months really. i'm not counting the 2-3 times that i played one song. i played for about 45 minutes, and i KNOW that i will feel like i can't move tomorrow or possibly later today. i played on both hard and medium with the difficulty level selection based a lot on number of jumps. i wore my mega ankle brace, so that is feeling ok right now. my knee is hurting a bit. i am wondering how i would do if i took the ankle brace off. maybe the lack of being able to move my ankle a lot is requiring my knee to take all of the impact. perhaps i will try playing for a few minutes without the brace next time. so, i burned about 950 calories. at least it "paid" for my mcgriddle with no meat breakfast! YAY!
holy crapola. DHL actually delivered my booky today! i guess they were sending out all of the overnight stuff that should have been delivered yesterday today!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! i am also loving apple right now because this is the first time that i have received my item back with all of my data! YAY!!!!!!!
i joined ww online today. i'm doing pretty well so far today.
i am so pissed. a DHL rep just told me that the FAA said that they couldn't fly or something last night and all of their packages go through ohio so, they all got delayed. now, i won't get my laptop until monday. it was shipped overnight YESTERDAY.
so, i went to discount tire today. $490 later, sporky has 4 new tires. i wound up going with the michelin hydroedge because the goodyear aquatreds aren't made in the size i need anymore. after driving from the tire place back home, my initial feeling is that the tires are much quieter and squishier, more comfy ride. they also look really cool. it was neat to see them pulling the old tires off of the wheels. i was amazed to see how much wear was on the old tires. wow. i'm glad that i got the new ones before the rain really started.
booky is coming home! i just talked to apple. the nice guy, charles, said that he was shipped via dhl next day. their tracking info is showing that he's currently in houston. YAY!
impossibly cute won over understated for my new key pouch,
my powerbook is now showing as being ready for shipping back to me! YAY! now, i just hope they actually get it shipped out today with expedited shipping. at least i know that he'll be back soon.
so, a week after i found out that my apple powerbook repair was on hold pending the arrival of a part, i called in to the applecare line to talk to a human. when i had talked to apple last tuesday right after it was put on hold, i found out that they were waiting on a logic board and it is normally 2-3 days to get one. the guy that i got was super nice, and he even offered to put me on hold so he could contact the repair center and find out what was going on. well, after about 10 minutes of holding i learned that there was no new information. they have absolutely no idea when they'll have the logic board in inventory to be able to do my repair. they did say that once they get the part in stock, i should have the computer back within a week. gee, thanks guys. the least they could do would be to overnight it back to me as soon as it is done.
impossibly cute or understated? right now i'm leaning toward impossibly cute. i guess we'll see how i feel tomorrow.
i called the service center to try to get an update on adam's iPod that was sent in for service. well, they said that there's about a 14 day backlog from the day that they receive it. they got it on the 9th (last friday). this sucks. again, best buy sucks. the bellevue best buy sucks even more.
so, with the rainy season coming, i decided that now would be a pretty good time to replace sporky's tires. while there is still sufficient tread left, i would feel better with new tires. so, i have an appointment on friday morning to get them done.
i've been using goodyear aquatreds for years now. goodyear stopped making them and replaced them with the assurance tripletred. well, the tripletred isn't made in the size i need. i called discount tire because adam gets a discount with his prime card, they recommended the michelin hydroedge. it's nearly identical to the goodyear assurance tripletred. the only michelins i've ever had is the stock tires from when i bought the spork. they sucked. at least these are high end, supposedly exceptional wet traction tires. i guess we'll find out soon! shopping for tires sucks.
so, adam accidentally switched 2 power adapters. both of the guys have been really great about it. we got the first one back tonight and refunded his shipping and handling costs. i'll take it to the post office tomorrow. hopefully the 2nd one will get here in the next few days so that i can send that to the correct person. at least it's half over...
nothing from best buy. they have the iPod but they have not looked at it because of a large backlog on iPods.
nothing from apple yet. it is still showing as being on hold because of needing a part.
the iPod case is pretty cool. i think that it will be more than enough protection. the red scroll wheel looks a little weird, but it doesn't look hideous. there is an extra piece in there, i would imagine to hold the iPod more securely in the case, but of course the instructions are in japanese only. so, i will have to wait for adam to get home. the instructions for the wheel and screen films are also in japanese.
so, sara called me a few hours ago and said that andrew was gonna be up here this week. she asked if he could crash with us tonight instead of having to get up at 5am to drive up here. of course we said sure as long as he didn't have a cat allergy. :) a quick vacuum job and wipedown of the bathroom helped us to get things in relative order to have somebody stay here. i haven't seen andrew in months. yay!
i used to hate going to windowsupdate and officeupdate. when i went to officeupdate today, i got redirected after my downloads had finished. you can check out the new thing at http://update.microsoft.com
back to the post office again to mail another international package. i've really been liking most of the international bidders lately because they actually pay quickly. at least everything lately has been lightweight, so i only have to do the short customs form.
so, i wanted to get another pair of jeans since the seven7s fit me really well and i had a real woman dollar to spend. since it was raining, we decided to go to bellevue square. i made adam go with me to LB so that i could get an opinion. well, i found some jeans so i can stop washing my other jeans as frequently. yay!
adam also wanted to check out the apple store for a new iPod case which he didn't really find. i guess he'll just reclaim the one that i've been using once my new case arrives on monday. we also went to the game store where adam bought a used game that looked fun. he finished silent hill 4 yesterday, so he needed something to use as a distraction from work and school stuff.
we then went to old navy at crossroads and got 3 of the $5 halloween shirts. they had some totally cute PJ pants, so i got some of those cause they are all drawstring waist. adam also got a new belt because his old one was too big and some nifty halloween boxers.
all in all, it wasn't terribly expensive between the 3 stores because of the $25 off at LB.
the iPod case is on its way and there is no ETA on my laptop. that sucks.
i feel crappy. adam is crazy busy with work and school now. i'm trying to work out some details so that i can try to take the CAPM at the end of the month. i need to pay the PMI fee so i can register and then go through the 340 page book. bleh. heh.
i am excited that i already got 2 things off of my list. now, here's the current list...
king cty pet registration: tags were issued but not mailed yet
CAPM book: ups shows out for delivery today
FSM shirt: ups shows out for delivery today
powerbook repair: still unknown ETA, apple says that it could ship at the end of the week
iPod case: ups shows expected delivery on monday
i would really like to see an update on my laptop repair. hopefully they'll get the logic board in today so that it can get fixed today and out the door back to me tomorrow. i miss my booky. i miss him a lot. :(
UPDATE: my FSM shirt and CAPM book just arrived! YAY!! the pet tags also arrived. so now i just need my apple related products. :)
YAY! it fits! YAY!
eddie bauer peacoat: accepted by the redmond post office on the 5th, so it might arrive today
king cty pet registration: tags were issued but not mailed yet
car registration: mailed yesterday from kirkland, so it might arrive today
CAPM book: ups shows expected delivery on friday
FSM shirt: ups shows expected delivery on thursday
powerbook repair: still unknown ETA, apple says that it could ship at the end of the week
iPod case: shipped today, no expected delivery info from ups yet
UPDATE:
the peacoat and car registration stuff arrived today
the iPod case is now showing as expected delivery on monday via UPS
so, i joined their membership program earlier this year because i was going in on a regular basis. the program would have enabled me to earn points towards discount rewards for each dollar i spent blahblahblah. when i was in getting my eyebrows done a month ago, i inquired about how many points i had. i was told that since i had asked, they would have somebody call and explain the cancellation of the program. well, i went in to get my brows done again 3 weeks later still without having received a call and asked again for somebody to contact me. well, it's been 2 weeks and still no call. today i called them back and asked AGAIN. i found out that the program was cancelled about a month ago. now, i don't care about really getting my money back. i am extremely upset about the fact that i was not notified and nobody bothered to call me back. sooooooooooo, i will not be going there anymore. if you want to go to a business that is great about talking to their customers, i would not recommend going there.
i hate ordering stuff online because i don't like waiting for it to be delivered. here's what i'm waiting on right now:
eddie bauer peacoat: ordered on 8/29, shipped on 8/31 via usps, status currently unknown
king county pet registration: submitted on 9/1, status currently unknown
CAPM book from bn.com: ordered on 9/1, shipped on 9/2 via ups, expected delivery on fri 9/9
car registration renewal: submitted on 9/2, status currently unknown
FSM t-shirt from cafepress.com: ordered on 9/2, not shipped yet
my powerbook repair: submitted on 9/2, currently at the apple depot awaiting a part, no ETA
new iPod case from powersupportusa.com: ordered today, not shipped yet
i just got an email from PMI. i am eligible to take the CAPM exam now. i just need to take it within the next year. i'd really like to do it either later this month or next month depending on how bad the book is when i get it. the book should arrive either later this week or next week. now, i just need to shell out the $300 so that i can register for the test. bleh.
2 years ago today, we left california to move to washington. i think that it's funny that 2 years to the day that we left to move here, adam starts his new job within the company.
so, we took adam's iPod back to best buy to get it repaired yet again so that we could list it on ebay. i was so pleased to get a guy that was super helpful. so, if you need a tech at best buy, go see aaron at best buy in bellevue. so, my level of hatred has gone from never ever setting foot in best buy to never buying anything at best buy. aaron made me feel so much better that i would actually consider going into a best buy. :)
somebody used a BIN on my iPod mini on ebay today.
i returned the case for the new iPod that i got to replace the mini.
it was a busy iPod day. i am glad that it is over.
since we moved in september, september is the month of renewals. i did the cat licenses a few days ago. tonight, i did the renewals on the 2 cars. i love the DOL. i was able to do both the cats and the cars online. yay for not having to stand in line. lines suck.
i didn't really do enough to make the day seem as long as it did, but it did anyway. i went to adam's office to help him pack up stuff. we took my laptop to the apple store. they said that i'd get it back in about a week, but they are gonna replace the logic board and display. we came home, went to dinner with jodi and richard, came back and listed ebay crap with jodi and invoiced adam's auction people, and then just hung out with jodi and richard. i am glad that i will get to sleep in ever-so-slightly tomorrow. i'm going to lunch with karsan and the girls tomorrow too. that should be fun.
i started thinking about how so many job descriptions for project managers want ages and ages of experience. i decided to look into any programs that PMI (project management institute) does. there's one the CAPM (certified associate in project management) that is doable. in order to do that, you need a minimum of a HS diploma (yeah, got that) and either 1500 hours of work on a project team or 23 hours of formal education. well, i have taken 2 PM classes for my degrees and 2 PM classes at global knowledge way back when. the first PM class that i took, mgt 437 - project management, was back in 2002. 4 hours a week for 5 weeks earns me 20 of the 23 needed hours. the 2nd PM class that i took, tmgt 510 - project management in the technological environment, from 2004 gets me about 4 hours per week for 6 weeks. sooooo, i have more than enough hours to qualify to be able to test for the CAPM. now, i have to wait for PMI to approve my application so that i can register for the exam. i'll have to post another update once i know more. i ordered the CAPM recommended guide from bn.com today. it should be interesting. hopefully it will be more of a refresher for me. i am not looking forward to a 150 question test in order to complete the CAPM though.
i think that i will do the LOMA stuff after i get the CAPM done.
took adam to work, got gas ($2.81/gal for regular unleaded), went to lady foot locker at the mall where i tried on 2 pairs of nike shox shoes, went to the state emissions test place (passed, of course), and petco where i bought litter box liners and a new sisal post for shadow.
i played with the nike id custom shoes on their website. i think that i am gonna order the go model in team red and silver. purty! hopefully they'll allow STFU as my personalization.
i paid the cat license renewals too. i'm glad that i could do them online. i used most of my ebay money today on the trip to foot locker and the cat licenses. :) there's some auctions ending tonight, so if people actually pay, i'll do the car tag renewals online too. heheheh