Semi-Charmed Life

Monthly Update Report #985

Recovery

It's safe to say that after a week and a half of being back home, I've finally snapped out of that nasty funk I was in when I first got back. Being in Asia was like being in another reality. It never fully hit me how carefree it felt to not have to worry about work, about things at home, about anything, until I got back. Remember Cypher, the traitor from the first Matrix movie? I find him to be a little more sympathetic of character now. I can see how being thrust from one reality to another can be a traumatizing experience.

I've also started to get back into my training regimen, but it's been tough. I didn't think being away from the gym for 3 weeks would affect me as much as it has. On my first day back I was seeing stars and nearly puked. Same on the second day. Getting back that grappling cardio is going to be tough but it feels great to be back on the mats.

I also need to start lifting again. I haven't lifted since the start of September, when I strained my shoulder playing volleyball. Jiu-jitsu keeps me in okay shape but without lifting I just don't feel complete. I think my shoulder is okay now so I'm going to give it a shot this weekend and see how it goes.

Then there's running. Or not running, rather. I signed up for a 5k for November 21st but I freaking strained my ankle while doing all that walking around in Asia. I mean jeez how fragile can a person be? Who the hell hurts themself while walking around sightseeing? I might as well be made of glass! I'm going to give it a shot this weekend and try to run a mile or two and see how my ankle feels.

Customer Service

I lost my camera pouch and my mini-usb cable that connects my camera to the computer so I made my way to Best Buy to replace them. Best Buy is just the worst! I'm not sure if the woman that was attending to me at the store was trying to help me or get me to stay away from their products.

First I asked her if they had neoprene camera sleeves. My last case was a neoprene zippered sleeve that fit my camera like a glove. She told me they did not have them. After 10 minutes of searching I found what I was looking for. I wasn't sure if it was the same size as my old sleeve but I didn't have my camera with me to check to see if it fit, so I asked her if I could take one of their S90's to test if it fit. She immediately told me that it would not fit. She said her own camera, which was smaller than the S90, can't even fit. I was skeptical so I asked her to bust out the floor model so I could try it and sure enough, it fit.

Then I asked her where I could find a mini-usb cable. She looked a little puzzled at first but then sent me over to the gaming department and said they would have it there. At that point I should have just found somebody else but instead I listened like an idiot and went on a wild goose chase in the gaming section. I eventually found it (NOT in the gaming section), but the price tag on that sucker was $25.99. Holy fuck I had no idea these little cables even cost that much!

I figured it was an unavoidable cost so I bought it but when I got back home I checked the internet and that cable doesn't cost more than $5. Yea, go fuck yourself Best Buy. You bet I returned it.

The consumer experience is not complete until you spend a little time with your favorite telephone customer service rep. Not feeling content with just a new camera pouch and cable, I decided it was time to upgrade my way out of the stone age and get an iPhone. I couldn't find an exact picture of the phone but it looks something like this:

Except it was MUCH older looking. I had a hell of a relic. I was actually fine with it, as I have never been a big cell phone guy but I figured since I was due for an upgrade, why the hell not?

I ordered from the AT&T website but after I ordered, I realized that I did not input a shipping address so it'd probably ship to my home. I wanted to change the shipping address to my office because nobody would be home to sign for the package so I called them up. I was a little annoyed when the CSR told me that it was policy to only ship to the address on the account. What kind of shitty policy is that?

Fraud, they said.

Fine, just cancel my order and I'll pick one up at the Apple Store or something.

Sorry, the order is in the process of being shipped!

What the fuck do you mean it's in the process? I just placed the order on your website less than 5 minutes ago!

This ranks top ten on my list of shitty customer experiences. You suck AT&T. I chose the iPhone because it was the path of least resistance since I already have my service with you guys. Your service was never the best, but I still stuck with you. People said 3G on the iPhone was slow, but I still stuck with you. Obviously I must not be the most intelligent customer but at least I'm loyal. This is how you treat your loyal customers?

Technologically Hip

I'm past that now. After a few days with the iPhone, I wondered to myself how in the world I ever got by without a smartphone. It's freaking awesome! My gmail inbox used to be cluttered with at least 200+ unread mail and various other crap in my inbox which I never bothered to sort, but sorting it on my phone in my spare time almost seems fun. Now that I have access to gmail, twitter and facebook 24/7 (all blocked at work), I feel like I'm constantly connected.

And oh the apps. So many! If any of you guys know any good apps for your iphones, let me know. So far really the only app I like out of the bunch I've downloaded aside from Twitter and FB are: Dropbox, AMEX, Cardstar, NYTimes and Best Alarm. Yelp  and Pandora are nice too. Shazam would be better if they didn't cap it at 5 song tags a month. The rest of the apps I have will probably see very little use.

By this time I was already in all out splurge mode. Not satisfied with only a new phone, I ordered a Kindle on Monday and it arrived the next day. Hell, I can't even use it yet because I'm not quite done with my current book (The Passage by Justin Cronin, fun read!) but if not now then when?

E-readers never crossed my mind because I have always loved books. Not just reading them, but the actual books themselves. When I was younger, the library was my favorite place and I have also always loved owning books. Those Scholastic Book Club orders when I was younger were the best! There was always a ballin ass bundled section of books that was always advertised on the last page that came with random cool shit like a flashlight or something stupid like that. It was a huge victory back then when I could convince my parents to get me that, but most of the time they were okay with shelling out a few bucks for me to get at least a book or two.

I don't have mountains of books at home or anything, but it's definitely starting to build up to the point that it's just becoming a nuisance. Maybe if I had a library like Giles then it would be pretty awesome. But as a matter of convenience, an e-reader has a real book beat. Having your whole library in one device? Pretty awesome.

With the leather kindle cover, it really does feel like a book. For me, nothing will ever beat the feel of turning the pages of an actual book, especially if it's a real page turner. And for the price that the kindle initially came out at? Hell no that does not beat a real book.

Ultimately though, the price drop of the dx model to $139 was enough to convince me to make the switch. Now I'm another convert.

Goodbye paperback and hardcover. It's been fun.

PS - Didn't intend for the post to be this long. You deserve a prize or something for getting this far!