Category: Tech

iPhone update & pet stuff

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So it’s been just over a month since I got my iPhone and the novelty is beginning to wear off a bit, thank god. Because I really was spending way too much time using it! Now I am back to reading during my lunch break instead of screwing around on my phone and I feel smarter already. ;)

I think the one thing the iPhone has afforded me is more time to keep in touch with friends without being tied to my computer. Last thing I want after working at a computer all day is to be in front of mine at home. There are days where I don’t have to boot up at all. It’s a beautiful thing! Between Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook, I can keep on top of what everyone is up to but still have time to relax. Although I must admit the evenings just fly by. I don’t even know what I’m doing since it’s not cooking healthy meals or working out, two things I SHOULD be doing daily. When the Fall shows begin I’m going to be even a bigger lazy ass if that’s possible.

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Is it bad that I don’t want my pets anymore? Don’t worry, I won’t be getting rid of them, because that’s irresponsible, but the work to keep their cages clean is completely out of proportion to the joy they bring. In other words, I am finding them to be more trouble than they are worth and when they go to the hamster wheel and sewer (lol, just kidding) in the sky, that’s it. I’m holding out for a cat.

The rats especially make me question what I was thinking. They are much better than a hamster in that you can actually interact with them, but there’s no good place for their cage and I feel bad that they don’t have a bigger one. In addition, after Joe shampooed our carpeting we don’t want them running around on it anymore so I have to lay out a blanket and surround it with the makeshift wall we created from some boxes. That makes it difficult to interact with them. And even worse is that for whatever reason they are making my house smell like mothballs which is seriously annoying me. I can’t figure out if it’s the litter I’m using (Yesterday’s News) or just them. I have a brand new bag of litter to go through and after that I’m going to see if the smell gets better.

Oh and on top of that, I feel like my breathing has been getting weird lately. It almost feels like I’m developing asthma. If it gets any worse I might just have to find them another home but we’ll see if it comes to that. As much as they annoy me, I think I’d be upset if I got rid of them because they are like relatives – you love them but don’t really like them. That is how I am feeling about the rodents in this house lately.

Making Progress

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Joe is working on the guest bathroom today since it’s raining out. Yea, it’s still not done, but we’ve run into some issues with the stupid wall. I’m also pissed that the paint color didn’t come out looking like the sample. It looks like purple instead of grey but whatever. I’m so sick of this project that I don’t care what anything looks like anymore as long as it’s done. Seriously, I have no patience for remodeling projects.

In happier news, Friday after work we had friends over which was nice. One of them used to be an electrician so he helped Joe replace the switch by our front door. We couldn’t get it to work properly because it turns out they had the wiring wrong. Nice. Then we had pizza and the guys drank like they always do. I seriously don’t get the appeal of beer. It’s disgusting.

Yesterday we went to see G.I. Joe which wasn’t too bad. After the show we were stopped and asked to take a short survey and we scored two free movie tickets out of the deal which was cool. We had lunch at Chipotle and then walked around downtown Geneva eating ice cream. It’s a real cute area.

Ugh. I so don’t feel like blogging lately as you can tell by the lack of updates. I don’t know what it is… maybe spending so much time in front of a computer at work has started to make me hate sitting down in front of my computer at home. The last two weeks we’ve had working lunches so I’m completely behind on my podcasts and reading because I never have time to do either.

I’d rather be on the couch on my iPhone than sitting at my desk. I did want to write an entry about some of the cool iPhone apps I’ve discovered lately but I lack the motivation to do much of anything lately. Joe and I even discussed hiring a maid so I don’t have to clean the stupid bathrooms anymore but I doubt we’ll do that because I’m too cheap and now that our wireless bill has doubled, I don’t want to spend any more money than I have to.

Oh, we’re going to run to the store and get a light for the guest bath. Hallelujah it might be done soon.

* This entry was brought to you by a cranky Nicole

iPhone 3GS

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So it’s been a week since my beloved iPhone arrived and I can’t help but wonder what I ever did without it. I haven’t been on my computer as much since I can do my surfing and keeping in touch on the phone. It’s so nice when we’re out to be able to look something up right away than try to remember when I get home. In general I just feel more productive with the iPhone.

The first thing I did when it arrived was take a picture of the box and then the contents inside (once I removed the phone). Then I plugged the phone into the wall to charge and “went back to work” as I was working at home and it was delivered about an hour and a half before my shift was over, right at the end of my lunch hour. :(

When I talked to Joe and he asked what I had done with his new phone (just a regular flip phone since he has a Blackberry through work), I sheepishly admitted it was still in the box. “You’re just concerned with your own phone”, he remarked. Of course! But I did then take out his phone and plug it in to charge after our talk. We also had to call AT&T later on that evening to get his old number ported over since they had assigned a new one to his phone.

The rest of that evening was spent customizing my phone with apps I had already downloaded, as well as syncing my contacts and e-mail. Poor Joe was neglected to the point that he even had to make dinner! But he understood how excited I was so he didn’t get mad at me.

The next day at work my fellow iPhone owners were excited to hear that my phone had finally arrived. One asked me “do you LOVE it?” When I replied yes, he asked, “even more than your husband”? I replied, “Not quite, but it’s a close second”, to which he replied, “Give it time. It will be #1”. LOL! He confessed that he sleeps with his iPhone next to him. I can’t blame him – it’s the coolest phone ever.

I guess right now you can call me obsessed. I’m sure eventually some of the novelty will wear off but for the time being I’m enjoying myself immensely. I’m subscribed through my feed reader to a bunch of iPhone related sites and constantly bookmarking apps I might want to download but am too cheap to pay for, hoping they will be discounted down the line. I did buy two apps so far – one that estimates battery power left for certain tasks and one that tracks um, female stuff, but there are others on my wish list. We went to Coinstar the other day to cash in some change and I got an iTunes code worth $25; we’ll see how long that lasts.

I’ve got 61 apps total and haven’t decided which ones I like the most yet other than the no-brainers like Twitterfon and Facebook. I’m trying to decide on a To Do app as well as a Grocery one. There are so many it’s really hard to choose and I’m loathe to pay for one that might not do everything I want.

What are your favorite iPhone apps? Please share them in the comments.

Apple Store

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This morning, after taking my car in for maintenance, we decided to head over to Oakbrook Mall so I could check out a perfume I was interested in at Sephora. We got to the mall early (9:30 am) so most stores weren’t open yet. It’s one of those outdoor malls and it was a beautiful morning, so we decided to just walk around.

And that’s how we stumbled upon the Apple Store which was already open. It wasn’t terribly crowded, so we went inside to take a look around. There were iPhone 3Gs everywhere! What a tease! We learned from an employee that we could have bought my phone at the store (as they were fully stocked) for the same price AT&T offered us and just ordered the service online to get Joe’s employee discount. Ugh, just stick a stake right through my heart why don’t you?!

We browsed the iPhone protective cases (but I’ll get mine at Fry’s where they are cheaper) and then I proceeded to bore Joe while I played around with one of the iPhones. I’ve never really handled one before (yet ordered one with full faith in its abilities), but it was love at first touch. My experience navigating and using the apps just cemented the fact that I made the right decision. Even Joe was impressed with the things it could do.

After ten minutes I finally managed to tear myself away, and when we passed the store an hour or so later there was a mass of people in and around it.

The next 7-14 business days are going to be the longest of my life!

Downloaded apps: 39 and counting
New favorite phrase: “If I had my iPhone, I could do that right now”

AT&T Wireless Woes

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I haven’t even gotten my iPhone yet and already AT&T Wireless is annoying me. First off, when I placed the new service order online Monday evening, I specifically put on there that both lines in the plan were being ported over from T-Mobile. Yet for some reason in the shopping cart under my husband’s phone there was a drop-down asking me for a preferred area code. I left it blank since he already had a phone number. On the next page all seemed well – it asked for information on each phone # that was being ported over, displaying both of our current numbers, and I went through the rest of the process to complete the order.

Since then, I have I repeatedly checked the order status several times a day but there were no updates to it. Until today. When I checked the status update for the umpteenth time (yes, I’m obsessed), the status was In Process with today’s date. I noticed, however, that under my husband’s phone it was showing an unknown phone # and not the one that was supposed to get ported over. So he called AT&T and waited 20 minutes to talk to a representative. The guy explained the order came through requesting a new phone number. That’s total bullshit, but whatever. He warned Joe that if he tried to change it now, it would start the processing of the order all over again. He recommended we wait until the phones were delivered and then call to make the change. He said the old # could still be ported over without a problem at that time. Fair enough.

When I got home this afternoon and checked the order status, instead of showing both phones and the phone numbers assigned to them with a status of pending, it just showed the order # and date with the following message – “We have received your order request, and we expect to begin processing it shortly.”

I freaked out and called AT&T to see what was going on. Luckily I was on hold for only ten minutes before being able to speak with a representative. She told me that the order is actually complete now (that status message is not very helpful then, obviously), but my phone is back-ordered and could take anywhere from 7-10 business days from today before being shipped. *CRY*

It’s bad enough we had to order online just to get Joe’s employee discount and didn’t learn of this caveat until Monday (had we known sooner we would have started this process last week), but now it could be two whole excruciating weeks before I get the sweet sweet iPhone? Say it isn’t so!

As you can tell, I’m feeling extremely impatient. I want my iPhone and I want it now. Shoot, I’ve already downloaded apps I want to install. It was one thing waiting the past six months for our T-Mobile contract to expire (which it did yesterday), but now that the time is here, I can’t wait any longer. Not that I have much of choice.

I just hope things are smoother from here on out. I’m already worried after hearing my friends complain about constant dropped calls. As one friend remarked, “more bars in more places my ass”. LOL! I never had to wait to speak to a representative with T-Mobile so right there the customer service is inferior. If only T-Mobile had the iPhone, I might not be treading into dark waters for the next two years…

But hey, I hear the iPhone is worth it. And I don’t call anyone but Joe anyway. ;)