So like remember when we used to co into the Apple Store and sneak in a blog post? Like I even, while working on Union Square in SF, would fun across the street on my lunch break to get my blogging fix. Of course working in that environment I had a lot to blog about… like that Sexy Santa Run. Good times. They had a computer lounge area in that Apple Store, which the homeless guys always were taking over LOL. I bet that is long since gone.
Anyhoo, here at Apple with a friend looking into a new Macbook Pro… Filling my time all old school, with you guys. Heh heh!
Blogging is still fun. Where I found all the time for it, not sure. Heh.
And so I said to myself, “Self, (that’s what I call myself when talking to myself) you should blog something today”. And here we are. How are YOU? I am good. I have had a HUGE two weeks. Huge. Yes, in all caps.
First we had to suffer through the Fourth of July. Ugh. Bad times. Let’s not talk about it. Then it was Pride Week here in the lovely San Diego. The weather was amazing. I actually didn’t mind being unemployed that week to be honest. Haha. Now if you know me, I have boycotted all of SD Pride since moving here. After San Francisco and all that, well, it just never was important. Plus I was in my relationship and all… We did our own thing. Anyhoo, I had a great Pride. Friday I did what we call “Top of the Park”, which is a weekly men’s martini night atop one of the more glamorous old hotels in the gayborhood with an amazing view. It was packed, but we were spoiled as my Hungarian BF works there and was bar tending for the event. I was with a friend from Palm Springs and his pal, a comedian from New York. We had a blast mingling and chatting with the mens. These guys knew like everyone I didn’t so basically we knew a lot of people. HA! After that we dined across the street at the fabulous Jimmy Carter’s. It’s Mexican food. I know you can’t tell by the name. Also they have a full bar now. With the right glasses and such. Give them a go if you are in town. Amazing mole. Of course I had to whisk my out-of-towners to my favorite place. Urban Mo’s. It was amazingly packed. A line for tables around the block. We were seated in like 5 minutes. I LOVE THAT PLACE. My friends, as well as myself, were impressed. We drank more, looked at the pretty people, ect… it was cool.
Saturday I called Time-out. I stayed home. My guy was working again and I didn’t want to crash his friends weekend. Invites from my people were nonexistent. I have no idea what they all did. Sunday tho. OMG. You guys. I have to preface this.
I WENT TO MY FIRST EVER CIRCUIT PARTY.
It was amazing. The San Diego Zoo Pride Party. So gorgeous. A great venue. Had a blast. Danced my damn face off actually. Long story. Then an AFTER PARTY. Me. I haven’t done that in YEARS. All my SF days came flooding back…. It was fun. We were safe and had a great time. Finished off the evening with an early breakfast at the Denny’s.
Anyhoo, now I have the Lion installed on my iMac. We have been playing touchy-feely all day. I love Lion and my Trackpad. I haven’t been at my desk this much in years…. LOL
So I had to go get another iPhone today. This makes my 3rd iPhone 4. Haha. Long story. What happened was the ear speaker stopped working. It was funny because I discovered it yesterday when I tried to call and order Thai food delivery. I did all the stuff you are supposed to, yanno, to trouble shoot it at home. Synced, updated, ect. And nada. So I had to march down to the Apple Store and get it sorted out. They couldn’t fix it. New iPhone. Ugh.
I don’t mind getting a new phone. I DO mind being disconnected from my life as it syncs and crap. I am totally stressed about it. The last few weeks I have LIVED in that phone. I did sync it last night so all my *everything* should pop back up and be fine. BUT IT’S TAKING FOREVER!!!
The internet was getting wonky. Wifi was spotty. Load times were increasing. The whole “at home internet experience” was deteriorating.
Then, last night, KABOOM! In one dialog box the entire internet was lost to me.
First I panicked. Then I called my ISP. Then I called them again. THEN, after a few hours, I got reconnected, but wifi was gone. I marched my Time Capsule in to the Apple Store. They said it was fine. It wasn’t yet. In the meantime, internet had slowed to a crawl again. I called my ISP again. They decided it was time to send a dude, the next day in fact. Today. I almost missed the dude, since they ALWAYS take your number down wrong and so I never got the 30 minute warning. I caught him as he was leaving. Whatever. Another hour and a new modem later we were back online. Time Capsule, however, was not. What are the chances of both going to shit at the same time?? Only me…. So my afternoon (6 hours in fact) were spent trouble-shooting the Time Capsule thing.
Long story short: I ALWAYS buy the Apple Care. Have never, in two iMacs 3 iPhones countless iPods and shuffles, have I ever used it. This Time Capsule is the only purchase I have made and NOT bought Apple Care. So of course I needed it. I would have been covered. I would have not spent all this TIME.
Ai dios mio!!!
SO anyhoo, I eventually wiped the whole thing clean and reset as if it were new. And now it works.
I did in fact get my new iPhone. I guess I left the blog kinda hanging on that…
Let me just say, What a debacle! Getting a new phone should not be so hard! Seriously. That said I am so glad I went thru it. I like being one of the idiots out there “first”. LOL. So after my 3 hour wait the SECOND day I was finally next. I was so sure my activation would be fast. I knew which phone I wanted (8G, I have a brand new iPod Classic that is huge so no need for 16G), I knew I qualified for the upgrade, should be smooth. After another 20 minutes (I know, right?) a “specialist” approached me. We got to work. He fetched the phone, took my info, and entered it into the activation handheld thing. We waited. The result came back fast: “Error. Account does not qualify”
WHAT!?!
So like, he tried to be all sorry and “better luck next time” but I was NOT leaving without an iPhone. I became one of the customers that made the wait so long. I made him call AT&T. After 45 minutes of trouble shooting the account it turns out that there was some corporate discount that we didn’t even know we had that was the issue. Ugh. So we removed it and finally the phone was set up. Phew. So now I had to go back to a real AT&T to figure that out another day. Whatever. I had my iPhone!
One more step. Plug it in and make a call. I did. I called Richard. It didn’t go through. I tried again. No luck. It rang, but went to AT&T operators. Huh. I cringed. I dialed MY number. My old phone rang. Shit! They put the upgrade on the wrong phone! At this point I was politely told by a number of Apple people that I was SOL. It was an AT&T thing. AT&T told me it was an Apple thing. I was screwed!
Finally an AT&T supervisor told me to swap the SIM. After an hour on the phone, of course… But now all is welll and I am a happy boy! LOL
Look at my new Apple product! I call it iGotnothing.
Well kids. I am a little down today. I showed up at my Apple Store bright and early, like a good little Mac-boy. I was expecting the line, since I opted for sleep last night. 8:00 was when I stepped into place. In fact, it all started out really hopeful! The plan, according to the Apple associates was this: 40 people let in at a time, 10-15 minutes each. I was about number 300, but I do exaggerate. Could have been a lot less in front of me. Still, at 15 minutes each group I figured about 2 hours. Seems logical, right? We have been through the lines with Apple before. They usually don’t screw up too bad.
After about 2 hours I really was getting discouraged. I had definitely moved up, but not much. And we had been at a standstill for a really long time. Twitter kept me appraised of the issues as we went. Servers down! Servers up! Servers DOWN! Richard came over with a snack. I finally got to go look at the entire line. Wow. He waited with me for 30 minutes. When it finally looked like I was moving again he took off to get ready for work. I waited, chatted with the gal next to me, and questioned the Apple folk. They were saying all systems were a go! Twitter linked me to more stories that it was bad. iTunes servers were the issue, and folks have been having trouble with iPhone 2.0 updates as well as the Apple Store activation parade…
It was when I was reading about how folks were sent home with NO WORKING phones (after Apple DE-activated old iPhone, but could NOT activate the new one) that a woman came past the line with her 2 new phones and a warning. “Don’t let them activate you here! I have been inside since 8:15 trying to get activated!” I decided screw it. I, like so many before me, left the line. After 3 hours.
I figured dude. 3 hours and I am not even halfway… Plus my current iPhone is working fine. Rocking iPhone 2.0 too! So I can wait. I waited this long… Right?
So I must have a 3G iPhone. That is a given. The original plan was that Richard would take over the old iPhone, I would get a new one. However after viewing the complete WWDC we think it would be best just to get 2 new phones. Ridiculous right? But at only $199 each it’s not so impossible. So we started looking into cost per month. That search led to this:
As with the original iPhone, you’ll have to sign up for a 2-year contract in order to grab an iPhone. The iPhone 3G will have slightly higher data plan prices than the original model: individual users will now pay $30/month for unlimited data [2G plan was $20 per month unlimited]
Erm… Okay so my bill goes up *another* 10 bucks, like last time (I already had a hefty data plan on my SLVR). To add Richard is $30. So now we are looking at a $160 per month for cell phones. Crazy. Even I find that high, what with gas practically at $5 per gallon… So now we are looking at shutting off the land line, which I wouldn’t miss except for the DSL. You see, we never *went* cable. (Remember the “LOG OFF!” commercials?) We are on DSL and shutting of the land line means dealing with initiating cable and new computer network settings and all that drama…
Bah. I will go 3G. Richard will just take my phone. It’s more phone than he needs as is. We will shut off the land line this summer.
How many phone numbers do two old queens need anyhow?
UPDATE: I just found out (I forget where? VentureBeat! That was it…) Anyhoo, there will be NO included SMS messaging in the 3G plan. What’s that mean? Every text costs money unless you sport another 5-10 bucks on top of the 30 per month. *cries*
Because, well, technically I shouldn’t be hiding in my office reading Twitter and FriendFeed updates on my phone… Also waiting all day before I can get home and update my phone is gonna suck as well. *sigh*
temperature: 63°F (17°C)
feels like: 62°F (17°C)
humidity: 77.5%
sky conditions: overcast
conditions: clear
wind: from the S at 12 mph
visibility: 9 mi ( 14.5 km)
updated: 05/24/2012 12:51 am
fun
UPDATE: I just found out (I forget where? 
You saw it here first… iPhone Stopwatch Hits 1000 Hours (
