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?

tagged: work richard iphone apple twitter time itunes issues warning

daniel · late morning · 1 comment · ping it

Today is a shitty day. And we are just 22 minutes in. I should actually be in bed, but I am all worked up.

I got drama coming and going lately. Apparently there is actually drama in RL. I have no idea what is going on with that really.. But I don’t wanna air the laundry here. So there’s that. Then iTunes still hasn’t approved my podcast feed, that they are making me resubmit for mysterious “technical” reasons. I have ran that feed through everything. It is now flawless. They still won’t take it. So I had to turn to feed burner. Sigh. Never ending. Now I await their approval so I can fix my iTunes download link. All for a podcast I never do anymore. Silly. But I feel attached since I was motivated to fix my SEO… Heheh.

Speaking of, the creator of that particular podcast stopped by dp.com. He even commented! Even though I was kinda bitchy in the post. Hi Wes! Now I kinda feel bad about the post… I mean, I am not going for podcasting fame. I don’t care to be “first” really. Who needs labels? Right? But now Wes has removed his label, and he works really hard on his show, whereas I just sort of talk… Sporadically.

Dude, you can totally be first.

Anyhoo. I sent him what was hopefully a nice response. He is a local guy after all. I am always looking for new local peeps! 

tagged: podcast drama itunes friends today life live it up seo

daniel · the wee hours · say it · ping it

So I wasn’t really feelin’ my lunch today so I decided to skip it and go out to eat. I would normally get take-out and just return to my desk. Not anymore. Now I have my new toy to play with! So I grabbed my phone, switched on the wifi, and strolled I over to Panera Bread. I have been boycotting this location for the past few months due to super s.l.o.w. service. I mean like really slow. Anyway, I don’t think they’ve noticed or care. Plus they do have that free wifi, so here I am.

It’s alright. I was expecting a huge difference in speed using the wifi connection instead of the default Edge that the iPhone uses. It’s not that much faster. Heh. Still, nice to see the iTunes Wifi Store and high quality YouTube. Good times yo.

And that is how I spent my lunch (dinner) break. Remember when I used to work across the street from an Apple Store and went over to blog every day? LOL.

tagged: work blog iphone itunes lunch panera bread   peppy

daniel · early evening · say it · ping it

Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow (iTunes link)

How did I miss this?? 

tagged: american idol paula abdul itunes randy jackson single dance like there's no tomorrow

daniel · mid-afternoon · say it · ping it

So… yeah. What to sayabout my birthday? I wasn’t sure. So I looked back in the archives. It appears that back when I used to be able to barter for the day off I really didn’t do much. Take 2005 as an example:

I slept in until a luxurious 10 am. I leisurely had breakfast while read blogs. Next, I vacuumed the whole house, starting at the bottom. (I don’t like to vacuum stairs while walking down backwards. I feel like I’ll fall down.) After that I cleaned up the garage a bit. I wanted to make sure all the Christmas decor fits back into the shelves. There’s so much mare this year!

After that, I threw out the poinsettias. They had lost way too many leaves to be considered healthy. While I was at it I put away the fake one that the cat always chews on. The UPS guy rang the bell, but he must have been in a hurry because he was gone before I got to the door. I was instead greeted by a box from Amazon! It was a gift from 2 of my good online friends (that I almost met in person once). Thank you soo much! It’s just what I wanted… Then I got dressed. I took my time because I had nowhere to be. I didn’t shave though, and I wish I had because now I have to today.

It was a bit after 2 when Richard got home from work. He was on the 4am to 2pm. He was very tired. We went to Target. Bickered. Went to Chevy’s for cocktails and take-out. When we got home we bickered while eating, watched Elf, and Richard went to bed. He had already been sleeping in his chair. This was like 8 or 9. I watched what was probably a re-run of Joey and downloaded a Wanda Wisdom podcast and went to bed. I listened to Wanda for about an hour before falling to sleep myself.

I think that’s everything.

Um. So yeah. This year, like the last, I worked instead. At least I wasn’t home alone plotting Christmas crap storage. Good lawd. Speaking of last year, let’s continue with the ghost of birthdays past and take a look:

Here at the home front not much happened. I woke up, dressed, went to work, survived a day of retail in December, and came home to an empty house. Richard did bring home some Chevy’s take-out, which was nice. And for the special occasion I got flan. Not that I didn’t appreciate the flan. Lawd knows I love a good flan!

Sheesh. Is December over yet? Stick a fork in me people. I am done.

So it turns out, after all my feeling sorry for myself… (I know, I suck!) This year’s b’day was better than I have had since my arrival in San Diego. Before bed on the 21st I got an e-card from one of my first online friends. The next day, I woke to a lovely e-card from a local friend reminding me that “no matter what, I own the day”. Something like that anyway, and while I love the idea behind that sentiment, my company owned the day, like so many other days. I had to work. Heh. But I loved the card! I also had not one but TWO iTunes gift certificates! I adore iTunes almost as much as I adore the fine folk that gifted me. Thanks Brian and soapbox.SUPERSTAR!! You guys rock for looking after me like you do. I appreciate it! Then, yeah. I was off to work again. When I got home there were chores undone that I had to do. I was still feeling sorry for myself. I got a bit cranky. Sad, I know, but December is a cruel little bitch that torments my mind! But I finished up and went upstairs and got all cute for my dinner date with Richard. We went to our usual mexican place, Jimmy Carter’s. It was not busy. We had a relaxed meal. On the way home Richard surprised me with a package, but would not let me open it. We never do gifts. I was a bit surprised.

Once we got home I was allowed to open it. It was Tom Ford! Well, Tom’s fragrance. Remember how I fell in love like with it, even though the ad was kinda raunchy? Well later that day as I wore it I became obsessed with the stuff. But I couldn’t find it at my mall, and am not shopping for fun this month… But now I have it. A really big bottle too. This size would have covered that model’s crotch a bit better…

Anyhoo. So yeah. With a little perspective and support from friends, I managed to have a nice birthday. I thank you. 

tagged: work richard retail itunes bitch friends birthday chores december crotch

daniel · late at night · 5 comments · ping it

I think part of the fun of this whole NaBloPoMo business is the whole once a day thing. Sure it can stress you out… but if you plan it right you can really be blogging less!

Okay I kid! I am sure that only works for me. I do find it odd that there isn’t more of a requirement to it. I mean, I could post five times a day and never type more than a sentence each. I love my ‘link-tastic’ category! Oddly though, those posts take more actual time to do. I mean, sure I am not taxing my brain stringing together words but I have to surf the internets. That takes a long time because of the distracting nature of the internet… Heh. I know you know what I mean.

Anyhoo. What else? I bought Britney’s album on iTunes. I don’t hate it. In fact there are a few songs I find catchy. Overall I think I like every song, a little. But meh. I think I am not excited about it because it is so foolproof. It could be any unknown singer and it’d be the same to me. There’s not that Britney pop to it, yanno? 

tagged: itunes britney spears nablopomo link-tastic blackout   tired

daniel · the wee hours · 1 comment · ping it

The inability of purchasing international gift certificates on iTunes sucks dirty ass. Just FYI.

Seriously. You cannot do it. You get this warning about how certificates can only be used in the store they are bought in if the recipient’ s email is say, for instance, Canadian and registered in the Canadian store. I think I knew I was buying a gift for, as an example, a Canadian person. I am using Canada as an example here. I don’t care about the logistics. Just make it work! But no. Even if I logged into the Canadian iTunes store I was flagged as American and sent back to my own store! Bastards! So now what? I have an international gift I need to buy within the next few days!! Where do I turn if, for example, I need to buy a gift for a Canadian?

As I was getting desperate I got creative. I Googled Canadian (for example) Gift Certificates. The resulting websites offered email certificates for Canadian (as an example) stores, but ew. Really. How do I know if my supposedly Canadian friend shops at those places? I mean, I wouldn’t from the looks of things online. So I went over to the Amazon. Now that is a global market! Right? Erm. No. Well actually, yes and no. An Amazon.com certificate is not valid at Amazon.ca (for example). However, I was able to go to Amazon.ca (for example) and buy in the proper monetary exchange without being flagged as American and sent away. I found this to be a hypothetical shopping experience plus.

I will let you know if this hypothetical international purchasing scenario resulted in a happy gift recipient, hypothetically speaking, of course. 

tagged: apple shel itunes birthday gift canadian amazon hypothetical scenarios international

daniel · the wee hours · 3 comments · ping it

First podcast of ‘07!!! This is the one you’ve been waiting for! Daniel talks about work (again), the holidays (again), furniture, the house, and Richard. He tries to remember something, and fails. A rollicking ride! Death Becomes Her. Shirley Q. Liquor. Hollar!

rol-lick-ing (RL-kng)
adj.
Carefree and high-spirited; boisterous: a rollicking celebration.

tagged: richard podcast shel music retail itunes hoor fraud furniture death becomes her

daniel · late at night · say it · ping it

Of course, when I say Apple we all know I mean iTunes. It has always been a problem for me. I blame it on the OCD. Like that time I was trying to duplicate my music collection with MP3’s… Yeah. That didn’t end well. Then they started offering audio books. That was a difficult time as well. One click, immediate gratification shopping is just bad for me!

Now it is even worse. TV shows and movies! Gah! Sure the TV shows have been there for a while, but now I have a computer that can handle them… and movies. Movies. Ooh! That is just too dangerous. I could just see myself downloading a Brendan Fraser picture and enjoying every last pixel…

You know what this is? This is an opportunity to work on personal development. Specifically self control, right? I just have to ... refrain. I have to ... hold myself back. Yeah.

I have to be strong.

Hang on, my latest episode of Grey’s is almost downloaded.

tagged: apple ocd tv itunes brendan fraser grey's anatomy grey's anatomy   Deee-Lite - Groove Is In the Heart    

daniel · the wee hours · 2 comments · ping it