Category: Life

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. ;)

Sweet Relief

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It’s so sweet that my husband allows me to verbally abuse him in order to blow off steam after a frustrating day at work (which lately seems to be every day). He is very understanding when I end up snapping at him due to the irritation that builds up all day; then I come home and he’s the only one around to lash out at.

Tonight he took it in stride and even took me to the mall so I could get some retail therapy. $40 later I had a cute powder blue hoodie from Kohl’s, and a bracelet, necklace, and lightweight cardigan from New York & Company. I feel much better now!

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Hey, did anyone else get their coupon from Mars for the Real Chocolate Relief Act? I’ve been going to the site every Friday and yesterday I got two of the three coupons I requested. They are good until August 21st but I doubt they’ll last long. Chocolate is a nice stress reliever.

Ticketed

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Last weekend my brother came to visit and when he went outside to leave, found two $25 parking tickets on his windshield written within one minute of each other by the same cop. The first reason was he was parked with the left wheel to the curb instead of the right, and the second reason was because he was too far from the curb.

We felt responsible since he had asked us earlier in the day if he should move his car and we told him not to bother. I thought the way he was facing wasn’t correct, but I didn’t say anything because I second-guessed myself and thought maybe it was just me being overly anal and not necessarily against the law. My brother didn’t think much of it either since he lives on a one-way street where it doesn’t matter if the right wheel isn’t against the curb.

We originally went down to the police station just to pay both tickets but as we were walking to the building I started getting mad thinking about it and asked how to contest them instead. I realize they are two separate infractions, but they are listed together as one reason next to the check box so I think the cop was being a bit of a jerk about it. To add insult to injury, there’s an out of state car that’s been parked on the street overnight for going on two weeks now who hasn’t been ticketed at all. The rules are no street parking between 2am – 6am for vehicles that don’t have a city parking sticker, so I included that as one of the reasons I felt they should waive one ticket.

Today I got a response in the mail and at first got mad because the piece of paper stated that my request was denied. But then I noticed that there were two papers, one for each ticket, and one of them was approved, so that means we only have to pay one of the tickets! Hooray! Joe was surprised they agreed to waive anything, so that goes to show you it pays to at least ask. Also, we’ve learned a $25 lesson for the next time my brother comes over.

Cut Off

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Yesterday evening we took the Ford Escape to rent a movie and grab dinner. As we were pulling out of the garage, Joe mused on when our free Sirius satellite service would be disconnected as it marked the one year anniversary of purchasing the vehicle and we hadn’t opted to keep the service after the free period.

We got our answer a little later on the way to the restaurant when in the middle of a song the service stopped and a message popped up on the screen to call Sirius to reestablish it. The time? 6:38 pm, which I would say is about the same exact time a year ago we signed the paperwork and took the Escape home. I guess Sirius doesn’t mess around. “No satellite radio for you!”