Archives: May 2008

New SIM Card

As some of you know, I purchased an iPhone a few months back.  Since day one, I have been having this issue where when I restart the phone, I would get a voice mail notification icon even when I wouldn’t have a voice mail.  This icon would not go away until I checked my voice mail from the phone.  It was getting pretty annoying.  I finally decided to do some research via Google when my phone started not ringing and sending people straight to voice mail.  According to the Internet, I most likely had a bad SIM card.  Before I ran out and bought a new one, I decided to give T-Mobile a call for myself.  Here’s how the conversation went.

Customer Service Rep (CSR): “Thank you for calling T-Mobile, how may I help you?
Me: “I appear to be having some issues with my SIM card.  Calls don’t ring in on my phone and people get sent straight to voice mail.”
CSR: “May I ask what phone you are using?
Me: “I’m on an iPhone”
CSR: “Okay, we’ve been receiving a few calls about this sort of thing with iPhone users.  How old is your SIM card?”
Me: “I got a new one back in late 2004 or early 2005″
CSR: “Woah, you need a new SIM card.  SIM cards have gone from 32KB to 64KB and they have just become better overall.  Should I send one out to you?  It will be $19.99 plus tax.”
Me: “Can I just pick one up at the T-Mobile store?
CSR: “Yes, you can do that. Would you like me to tell you where the closest one is located?”
Me: “No thanks.  I know where one is located.”

So there you have it.  I went to the T-Mobile store near where I had lunch and bought a new SIM.  I had to call T-Mobile to activate it but so far, no issues.  This is how customer service with a cell phone company should be like.  Over the past 5 years that I’ve been a T-Mobile customer, I have maybe had 1 or 2 bad customer service experiences.  Now, if T-Mobile would just get some cool phones.  I guess you can’t have everything in life, right?

AZ Constitution Ammendment Ban Moves To Senate

A bill to add a same-sex marriage ban to the AZ Constitution passed the AZ House on Tuesday. Now the measure goes to the Senate before it can be placed on the ballot this fall. Read the story here and here . Here’s the deal, Arizona voters already turned down a measure like this back in 2006 and, in doing so, made AZ the only state to turn down such a measure that has been placed before voters. How many times will it have to show up on the ballot before the AZ Legislature figures this out? Anyway, Equality Arizona has all the info and will help you find your AZ Senator so you can let them know how you feel about this bill.

Amazon.com Wish List

As some of you might have noticed, I have added my Amazon.com wish list to the right sidebar here on my site.  I think it’s a good way to let those of you who would normally be inclined to purchase me a gift what I am looking to receive… smart, right?  ;)  Anyway, it’s on there and it has only a few items at this point in time.  I was visiting my site last night, checking on the page I made for the Benevolent Blogger Project and I noticed something disturbing.  For some odd reason, Amazon.com believes that Friends Season 3 is on my wish list.  Let me just say that this is no the case!  For some strange reason, it is showing this DVD collection and I have no idea why.  The screenshot evidence is below.  So, just an FYI for you all out there, I do not want Friends Season 3 on DVD.

12 Of 12 – May 2008

What is 12 of 12?

Today was a tough day for pictures and I’m not really sure why.  I left my camera at home this morning so the first few are courtesy of my iPhone.  I hope these don’t bore you too much.  Enjoy!


11:40 – Work today… I wasn’t finding what I needed!!!


12:00 – My Plant is still alive!  It recently became more patriotic.


12:02 – My inbox… stupid Michelin.


12:45 – Ha!  Caught a co-worker off guard.  No, she wasn’t pissed that I snapped the pic.


18:03 – Why is it ok for companies to send this crap out?


18:10 – My new trash and recycle recepticals.  Classy.


18:20 – A recent addition to my bedroom wall.


18:25 – Laundy and more laundry.  Not fun.


20:05 – Dinner – Leftovers, but sitll tasty!


12:18 – Dessert!


21:35 – Research for later in the week.  Eating out is expensive!


22:10 – To finish the day, a nice game of Mario Kart Wii!

First Day Wishes

Today Mike begins a new adventure with a new job.  Just posting this quick note to wish him all the luck on his first day.  I know how crazy those can be and hopefully his first is a great one.

That is all.

Survivor – Catching Up

It’s amazing how easy it is to fall out of the routine of watching a show on TV.  I used to watch Survivor each week when the writer’s strike was in effect.  The reason was that I had no other scripted shows on Thursday night that were conflicting with my TiVo recording Survivor.  Now that the strike is over, Survivor is never recorded on my TiVo.  I was relegated to watching each episode on CBS.com.  I kept forgetting to watch the epsides on the web and fell behind a few episodes.  I found myself reading about what happened in each episode and figured that there was no point to watch it.  Well, today I spent about 2 hours going through the remaining episodes on CBS.com in preparation for the finale tonight.  I was not aware the finale was so soon so I figured that I should catch up.  Let me say that it’s been pretty interesting.  I’m looking forward to a new season of Survivor when there are no veterans.  The summer season is almost ready to begin and I can hardly wait!

FTP Issues

Due to FTP issues at GoDaddy, Friday’s Song will be posted later this weekend.  I have an escalated ticket open that is supposed to be resolved in 24 hours.  Fingers crossed everything works out soon!

The Best Book Ever

I recently purchased “Literally, the Best Language Book Ever ” and I love it.  As stated in previous posts, I sort of act as the grammar police around friends and colleagues and I think that is really the reason why I love this book.  The author lists many phrases and words that we use incorrectly on a daily basis.  He doesn’t point these mistakes out in an elitist way, but comes at them from a comedic standpoint.  There are parts of this book that crack me up.  Comedy isn’t the only thing you will get from reading this book.  In all honesty, I have learned quite a bit about the phrases and words that have become common in our everyday language.  I have already caught myself breaking some of the rules written about in this book and I aim to be a better user of English grammar.

Below are a few examples from the book.  I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do.

From Chapter 2: Errors of Redudancy and Repitition – Some of these are awesome.  Do you use any of these?

ATM Machine – Brief Summary – Cooperate Together – Postpone Until Later – Qualified Expert – Seriously Consider

From Chapter 4: Contrived Words and Words Used Incorrectly

Ginormous* – “I think we all know ginormous is a combination of gigantic and enormous, which is another way of saying that it’s not a word.”

From Chapter 5: Illogical Words and Phrases – We have some good ones here.  Do you use any?

Foreseeable Future - who can see into the distant future?  If you can, please tell me the winning lotto numbers.
Help the Problem - who wants to help the problem? Example incorrect usage: “That’s not going to help the problem.”
It Goes Without Saying, But - this is normally followed by someone saying what goes without saying.  HA!

There are quite a few more amusing chapters in this book.  The author does a great job of throwing in comedy in all of his explanations.  It’s a quick and fun read.  If you’re looking for something different, I’d suggest you go and pick it up.

* Firefox spell check recognizes ginormous as a real word.

en.wikipedia.org

You know you love it.  I find myself reading random articles on Wikipedia every once in a while.  This is kind of a pointless post but I wanted to let everyone know how much I enjoy this site.  Also, I’m a huge nerd because I will read other articles linked within the current story being read.  By the way, I am just writing this as my day is ending.  I needed a break from work and I figured I should write this post real quick before leaving for the day.

You Learn Something New Every Day

I had no idea that HIV positive non-citizens are not allowed to enter this country.  We are one of just a few countries that ban entry by HIV positive individuals.  Other countries that also have this ban include China, Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.  We’re in great company.  There’s a bill in congress now that would lift this ban.  Let’s hope it passes and is signed soon!