Ramblings, v.2

Kinda wish I’d been posting more frequently, but I just haven’t had time. I’ll try to throw up a paragraph about each thing I remember.

• The move happened pretty much as I said it would a few posts back. I got a 16′ Penske truck with a car trailer. The truck was as close to full as I was comfortable with, and there were still a few things left out for the movers to take. Overall, I’d say the Benadryl we gave Kona worked like a charm. It didn’t knock her out, but it did mellow her a bit. She stayed on the floor, between the seats of the truck for the whole drive. Here’s a pic of her passed out on the floor. Awwww.
• I want to SEVERELY MAIM (not kill…then they wouldn’t suffer like I did) whoever decided that the rental truck shouldn’t have cruise control. My right leg kept cramping up, and I’d have to use my left foot on the gas.
• We’re staying in a small (13′x17′) 1-room apartment that was built into half of a small barn. We’ve got a bathroom, a “kitchenette” that can only be called that cause it’s got a mini-fridge and a sink, and a single closet. Oh yeah, and 15′x20′ and 5′x10′ storage units (1 each) about 20 minutes away with all the rest of our earthly belongings. Except the condo. Which we still own & didn’t move. Anyone wanna buy it? Please?
• We figured out early on that we’d have to do some rearranging and significant purchasing of press-board Walmart shelving. I’ve gotten two shelving units, one to make part of my makeshift desk, and one tall unit for the kitchenette. Once we clear out some more boxes, we’ll probably get some more.
• My job is pretty neat, but that’s about all I can say about it. The commute isn’t the greatest (45min-1hr), and the hours are early. I usually get here about 6:45 am so I can get a parking spot, and I don’t leave till 4 pm. Somehow that reminds me that I NEED to make a phonecall today.

That’s it for now. I’ve got my Xbox 360 set up and playable, but I’ve downgraded from 12 feet (projector) to 20 inches (Dell LCD monitor). I needs a new tv.

ross house, mindless prattling jacksonville, jax, kona, moving, travel, videogame, walmart

Kinda. Here’s the story.

The company I worked for was a registered iPhone Enterprise Developer. They wanted me to look into developing iPhone software to be deployed to sales pukes spread across the country. They were cheap, and I already had an iPhone, so they said to just put the beta stuff on my personal phone instead of buying me one specifically for dev purposes.

• March 17: Apple announces 3.0 beta 1
• March 18: Apple’s site is finally available for me to download 3.0 beta 1 from. I did, and I installed it on my phone.
• March 19: I got laid off.
• March 20: I checked developer.apple.com, and my former employer had removed my developer’s access to 3.0, effectively barring me from any future betas before the final release.
• April 12 (today): Fired up my phone after waking up to see the “connect me to iTunes or only make emergency calls” screen.

Plugged the phone into iTunes, and it told me that my phone’s software had expired and that I’d need a newer version to continue to use it. ‘Cept I don’t have access to download 3.0 beta 2. I could torrent it, but it probably wouldn’t activate with iTunes. So, now I’m stuck with a $400 brick.

I called Apple’s iPhone support number. After talking with a script-reader, she transferred me to a “Product Specialist”. I gave him my sob story, and he authorized a warranty replacement. Yay? I would have preferred access to beta 2, but oh well. Bye-bye copy/paste and notes syncing, wide-screen email and texting, and the bugs that cause half the apps I’ve bought to not work. He told me to just go to a local Apple Store and they’d take care of the replacement. Ok, cool. That was this morning. Well, today is Zombie Jesus day, which means ALL THE APPLE STORES ARE CLOSED!!

Kudos to Apple support. I’ve had issues with Apple products before, but their support staff always makes it right. Any problem I’ve had they’ve been able to fix. Apple and Nintendo are two great companies when it comes to supporting their loyal customers.

For today, I’m stuck with Melinda’s old Sony W580i and none of my phone numbers cause she can’t find the sync cable. I feel naked. (I’m not – I’m fully clothed at the moment.) I don’t have my calendar, no email, no games. How will I survive the next 20 hours?

Oh yeah, I’ll be packing my shit into boxes. So: surviving, painfully, and exhaustingly.

Of course this has to happen within a week of us moving to the other end of the country.

ross rant-o-matic Apple, iPhone, moving, Nintendo

And yet, it’s awesome. Cause moving means I’ll have a job again. Here’s my schedule:

1. Now till Tuesday Apr 14: PACK. Lord Jesus do we need to pack.
2. Wednesday: Pick up rental truck & car trailer, load up valuables/electronics/immediate-need stuff
3. Thursday: Me and Kona leave in rental truck; Melinda stays back to supervise movers packing efforts
4. Friday: Movers load everything left into their truck & leave. Melinda & her mom head to Appleton to do stuff, and I’ll finally arrive in Jacksonville
5. Saturday: I’ll unload the rental truck & my car, confirm the storage unit, and probably sleep a ton
6. Sunday: Melinda will climb on a plane in Milwaukee and fly down to Jax
7. Monday: First day of my new job

Jesus.

In other news, I think I’ve figured out a good app to write for OSX and the iPhone. Unfortunately, I’ll have to wait for iPhone development – I’ll need Core Data, which isn’t available until iPhone OS 3.0 comes out in June (hopefully). Ok, ok, I won’t *need* Core Data, but I’m too damn lazy to re-write Core Data stuff when all I need to do is wait a little bit.

ross mindless prattling iPhone, jacksonville, jax, moving, osx