Monday, June 02, 2008
As a frequent flier and former Continental Platinum Elite member, I was always jealous of the American Airlines program where you got lifetime status on the airline whenever you achieved a million air miles with them. However, I was browsing the FlyerTalk forum when I noticed this announcement. I can't wait to see how far away I am on it (probably 600K or more away is my guess).
FlyerTalk Announcment
Sunday, April 27, 2008
I just tried out the new Amazon MP3 store and the accompanying MP3 downloader. So far, it seems like a nice piece of unobtrusive software (unlike that evil, evil iTunes POS). Although I was not a fan of the Unbox service, I think I have found where I will be downloading music from now on...
Saturday, April 12, 2008
I recently moved and had to get Comcast. Is there any other business entity in the world that is so despised as cable companies? The RIAA is close, but you are much more likely to deal with cable companies than the prior. Warning: ranting to follow...
Part I: Ordering
Calling Comcast to order packages found on comcast.com is an exercise in futility. First, the rep will spend 20 minutes trying to upsell you to their damn $99 triple play bundle. My favorite part of that experience: If you tell them you are not interested in the phone service (I am not) and you use the word VOIP, they will correct you: "no, no... it is not *VOIP* sir, it is *secure* voice communication over your cable line". Ahh... I forgot that Comcast sells magic flippin' fairy dust that makes the IP packets carrying your voice a.) turn magically secure, and b.) not be called IP packets.
I didn't bother correcting her as I realized she was just a script-reading monkey making commissions on selling Triple Play. After firmly insisting that no, I really didn't want magic non-VOIP, 'secure', VOIP communication, I asked what the price of basic cable was. I was told it was something like $53 for just basic cable. Note, you cannot find this price on the website, you can only find the price of bundles. I tell her that I know for a fact that people can get cable for $20 or so and she tells me, "oh, you want *limited* cable!, yes that's $20". She then proceeds to tell me that you can either have limited for $20 or what they call the "Digital Starter Pack" for $53. I tell her that Comcast's website says that there is a package in between called "Basic", and she denies it. Perhaps they should fix their (censored) website:
So, at this point she is just lying to me and I know it, so I decide to test her a bit. I ask her about adding internet to the package and bundling the price. She tells me that is the $53 + $43 or $96 a month and that there is no bundle for that. She then mentions that the triple play would be a better deal at $99 with more channels (plus phone!!). I love it when the $8/hr. help tries to treat me like a retarded cave man.
I point out that the a.) the internet is $20/month on the website and b.) internet + cable on the website is only $60 a month there as well. She tells me that it is a special deal only through the web. So, I press the point: "are you telling me that you do not offer a "Double Play" bundle like the website, but you *do* offer the same "Triple Play" bundle as the website? Do you or do you not sell a Double Play option?"
The truth slowly bubbles to the surface. It turns out yes, they do offer a internet + cable bundle called "Double Play" she corrects herself, but it is $70 a month, not $60. I ask her why she told me $96. She tells me she thought I wanted only basic (Digital Starter cable), while the "Double Play" version she sells includes "Digital Preferred" or Premier, I forget. So in essence, she was willing to sell me an inferior package for more money than admit there was a bundle that offered more for less money to prove her point that I should be buying the (censored) Triple Play still. She still won't admit there is a "Basic" cable tier between Limited and Digital Starter either.
I end up telling her that I will order through the website since she can't even sell me the same things that are being offered and she hasn't been entirely forthcoming with me.
Part II: The Installation
After ordering the $60 Double Play bundle including a nice $45 charge to "install" the cable, I confirm online that I want the HD equipment and 2 boxes for my two HD capable TVs. The technicians (contractors) show up on Saturday (1 week ago) and guess what they don't bring? If you said HD boxes... you're right!
After calling support while the contractors were there, the support rep tells me that she will add the HD equipment to the account and that she will call me back. I tell her I want the fee waived since the install is botched - she agrees to waive the fee (yeah!). Guess what happens? If you said, "she won't add the boxes and totally will not call you back and will not waive fee"... you're right!
So, after dickering around a bit, I get the contractors to give me an 'extra' HD box they have in their truck and they call and get it added to my account. Then, they tell me that I will have to drive to the store to get another HD box and "later man", they are gone. At no point did they actually test to make sure that I was getting the programming package that I paid for. So, guess what happens? If you said, "Ryan won't get any of the channels he paid for"... you're right!
Part III: The Cleanup
So, after 1 day I notice that I don't have many channels... in fact I have very few channels. I start an online chat to get those turned on. The rep there can't get them on despite "sending a signal to the box". He schedules a technician visit for me. I explicitly ask for three things (I have this in a transcript): a.) my channels turned on, b.) the missing HD equipment with firewire output for my media center, and c.) to waive the service charge since this a botched thing on their part. He agrees on all three things and tells me they will be there tomorrow between 8am and 12pm.
I wake bright and early on Monday in case they decide to show exactly at 8am. I realize of course that if I am ready at 8am they won't show until 12pm, but if I am not ready at 8am you can bet that will be when they show up according to Murphy's Law. Around 11:20am I decide to give Comcast a call to confirm the scheduled visit. Turns out that the previous rep left no notes to why I called and that they were not going to send anyone. One emergency page later, I have a Comcast technician showing up exactly at 12pm. He admits he has no idea why he is there however and asks me what he can do.
The only bright part in this entire story is that technician. He was a nice, competent guy that actually got things done. He determined that they had just botched configuring the box back at the main office. A few phone calls later, my box is turned on and channels are fixed. Next, he happens to have the HD box I need, so he hooks me up there. He apologizes to me and admits that none of this should have happened and that it could all have been easily fixed on the first attempt. All in all, I think I am done with this tragedy.
Part IV: The Lingering Stink
Today, I got my Comcast bill. Guess what? If you guessed that I would be charged not only for the first $45 botched install, plus the second $20 install to fix the first and would be facing a $150 cable bill for < 7 days service... you're right!
So, today I decide to email them through the Comcast website and see what gets resolved. I explain nicely and in detail what has occurred to this point and try to submit. Of course, nowhere does it explain there is a limit to how much you can email (side note, I forgot that most email systems choke up under 4 paragraphs of text these days). So, many shortened revisions later, I try to submit my story for resolution and here is what I get:
My comcastic adventure is just getting better and better. Naturally, I decide to look up "comcastic" to see what the actual definition is:
comcastic (adj.)
1. A blithe attempt to screw consumers. "The comcastic enterprise left few consumers happy with the reduced service higher prices, and hidden charges".
2. Lacking follow through or resolve. "That fat lazy bastard approached his work like he did exercise: with comcastic resolve."
synonyms: see LIARS, UNRELIABLE, CRAPTACULAR, PRISON SEX
Turns out that is was my fault for not checking the dictionary first when I was told that my experience would be "comcastic".
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
I am on the road this week, working from a hotel and Starbucks primarily. My hotel provides a wireless connection throughout the building which is a great thing. The downside is that it basically dies in the evening when everyone gets to the hotel and slows the pipe to a trickle. The other major downside is that it is incompatible with Microsoft VPN software. What to do?
I recently switched phone providers from T-Mobile to AT&T. The reason for this was actually quite simple: It was waaay cheaper to switch to AT&T, get a brand new Blackjack 2 phone along with the 3G network offered there (T-Mobile is GPRS only right now) than to remain a T-Mobile customer.
I remember reading from Omar about using ICS with the Blackjack 2, so I give it a try.
Wow, the AT&T 3G network is amazingly fast (~863 Kb/s down, ~281 Kb/s up) for a phone. But more to the point, it is faster and more reliable that the hotel wireless, plus it lets me VPN into work to boot. That feature alone is worth the price of admission. It's a shame that the Blackjack 2 doesn't have any way of getting Hotmail into your messaging app or that they didn't include ICS by default. But, using the hack that Omar pointed out goes a long way to fixing some of it. Very nice...
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
When I see companies act against their own interests it really no longer surprises me. I suppose I have become so jaded in a sense that I can now accept that people and companies are completely inflexible from what they have been told to do. I see this all the time, from the people at TSA that cannot make a judgement call on whether a 5 year old is a terrorist, to company presidents that believe a good business model is to sell a single screw for 50 cents and ship it for $7 (not to mention who get pretty mad when you ask if they are serious).
Case in point, I tried several months ago to upgrade my craptastic HTC Wizard phone to the new slider phone from T-Mobile called the Shadow. My office mate, David has had good things to say so far about it, so I figured I would give it a shot. Here's the rub - I have been a long time T-Mobile customer, so I no longer have a contract. However, that does not mean that I get new customer pricing. In fact, it means I get zippo for being a loyal customer. If I want the phone, I need to pony up either the full price or I have to pay $150 and get a new two-year contract. Keep in mind, if I was a new customer, I would get the phone for $79 and get a two-year contract. Where's my motivation? If I switch to AT&T, I could get the Blackjack 2 plus a much faster 3G data connection (T-Mobile is still on pokey GPRS) for only $69 and *no* contract (Microsoft has an awesome deal with AT&T). Even if I wasn't getting a stellar Microsoft deal, I could get that phone and data plan for much cheaper by switching companies. I mean, if you are gonna get screwed into a 2 year contract, why not take the one that screws you for less?
I pointed out that it was cheaper and faster to go with AT&T than remain with T-Mobile to the representative on the phone. They told me to try going to the store in Redmond as they might be able to do something there more for me (as they deal with Microsoft all the time apparently). A few weeks later when I finally got to the store, the answer was the same - "Nothing we can do" and "I don't have the authority to do that". I don't think I was asking for a lot - just give me the same pricing as a new customer and I will even take a 2 year contract. T-Mobile keeps me as a customer, and I get a new phone - a win, win. Sidenote: I wasn't really surprised because as I mentioned, I am used to this now and I was dealing with the same company, that if you change your service plan to a higher (more expensive) tier will automatically add a 2 year contract. "We punish you for spending more on our services" is the motto here - how does that make any sense?
Long story short, I quit T-Mobile and I am using AT&T again. I was able to get the new Blackjack 2 phone, plus all the accessories and a 4GB data card for *less* than the price of the T-Mobile Shadow, plus get a much faster 3G data connection to boot - all without a contract!
Don't get me wrong, I am probably trading one problem for another, but at least I was able to get a decent phone for now and walk away feeling better about the whole situation.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
A number of years ago, I purchased an iRiver iHP-120 20GB MP3 player for a long trip I was taking. At the time, this thing was pretty nice, with plenty of storage, lots of codec support, recording support, and also an FM tuner. In comparison to the leading MP3 player of the time, it beat it feature-wise hands down on every single specification (including price). Fast-forward almost 5 years now, and this bad boy is starting to show its age. It is a little bulkier than most players these days and it is pretty slow when booting. The boot time seems to be caused by a large number of files that it must parse before actually starting. This was driving me crazy.
Rockbox was a project created some time ago to replace the firmware on Archos devices. Eventually, these guys also got around to replacing most of the iRiver products firmware as well. Now, they also have custom firmware for a bunch of the iPod devices, too. I have always kept this project on my radar, but never jumped on it because they did not have support for the WMA codec. Even though I only have a few files in WMA format, I hate the idea of losing functionality.
Well, after getting frustrated with the long boot times again, I decided to check on the project again. I found that they have actually added WMA support based on a Google Summer of Code project. That was enough to put me over the edge and give it a shot. It was actually pretty easy to do.
- You simply download a bootloader that is patched into the official firmware. Using the standard firmware upgrading procedure for you device, you simply allow this patched firmware to intercept and act as a bootloader.
- Next, you download the latest build from Rockbox and copy the folder to the device. The folder is named .rockbox and it contains all the files necessary to run a completely different firmware. You have the choice of course to boot into the original firmware at any time.
It is amazing the difference between the Rockbox and the iRiver functionality. Rockbox beats iRiver hands down - this is the way the firmware should have been to begin with. Right off the bat, I noticed:
- Lighting fast load times - my device now turns on and is ready to go within 3 seconds versus the over 25 - 45 seconds of the original firmware.
- Smaller font size - this is a good thing. The original firmware font was so big that most titles fell off the sides and you could only read the name by waiting and allowing it autoscroll sideways. The smaller font means much less scrolling and more titles fit on each page as well, making it easier to find what you are looking for.
- Playlists! This was another major missing feature on the original firmware. You could only create playlists from a computer and load it on the device. There was no way to listen to a song, flip back into the database, find another song and queue it for next play. Finally, Rockbox has given me this feature (and much more).
Ahh... to think I could have been enjoying this for years now. Oh well... better late than never. Great job to the Rockbox team!
Thursday, May 17, 2007
This blog has been quiet for some time now as my career took an unexpected twist. I am excited to announce that I accepted a position with Microsoft on their Evangelism team. My area of focus will be the web platform and all surrounding various technologies. My first day with my new team was on Tuesday, and I am excited to get moving, ramp up, and start to contribute.
As for this blog... I am not sure yet what will happen. I expect I will just keep it and use it more as a personal outlet with continued directory services technical posts. I imagine I will most likely also get a blog on the MSDN blogging site that will remain purely technical and related to my particular job.
On a personal note, I spent 3 good years with my last employer, Avanade. It was a difficult decision to leave behind a lot smart and very talented folks and a great consulting company. Ultimately, it came down to me wanting to try a new career, that while technical, was a change in direction from consulting.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
One of the downsides of consulting is that there is no permanence in what you do. By permanence, I mean that I never get too comfortable with whatever I am working on or even where I am located. They just change too much. Unlike 'normal' jobs, where your title and responsibility remains the same for long periods of time, consulting is inherently about change. I suppose one might argue that this lack of permanence might be a good thing as well - especially if you hate your job or situation and desperately need change.
I have never had an office. I have never had an admin (or secretary as we used to call them). I have never worked in the same role or with the same client for longer than 18 months. Even at longer engagements, my role on the project is constantly changing according to needs. One day I will be writing code and another I will be writing business cases.
My latest project comes with an unexpected perk - an office. Well, not really an office as much as a phone booth. It is approximately 6' by 4' in dimension with a table, phone and a window. However, this piece of real estate has a door and is not a cube for once. Today was my first day in my new phonebooth office.
My excitement at having a semi-private working space was dampened a bit this afternoon as I discovered what my view consisted of. I look directly over some train tracks nestled between a building to my right and a scrubbrush covered hill and highway overpass to my left.
I don't know what it is about train tracks that attracts bums and filth, but there is an unmistakable association between all three. Throw in a highway overpass nearby and you have a regular cesspool (though, not in an Indian-train-depot kind of cesspool way). Today I was reminded of this even more as I unavoidably had to watch the homeless man under the overpass walk into the scrub brush, lower his drawers, and presumably drop a deuce.
Perhaps offices are overrated...
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
I learned today that fellow MVP Doug Reilly (Douglas J Reilly) recently lost his battle with cancer. I remember from the last two MVP conferences sitting and talking with Doug at meals and being amazed at how self-effacing and sincere this guy was. He was an old timer in the tech industry to be sure, but with such depth of experience and insight that it was always a pleasure to sit and listen to him speak. There are some personalities in MVP program that drive me nuts with their egos, but never Doug. A more level-headed, humble, and genuinely nice person would be hard to find. Everyone will miss Doug's contributions to the .NET community for sure, but I will miss his personality and presence the most.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Well, I have been keeping this quiet for about 2 months now, but my wife and I finally are in Seattle and (somewhat) settled in our new apartment in downtown. Travel had become too much in my work and I was missing way too much time with my wife. Some people I know can deal with that type of relationship, but together we decided it was just not healthy to see each other only 2 days a week for 18 months. My wife had no problem getting a job in the area and I simply transferred offices. Avanade was really good in this regard about working with me and making the transition easy.
I had moved from Seattle after high school to go to college in Cleveland. That was where I met my wife and we had lived for the last 12 years. In moving back, I thought it would be fun if I didn't tell my family and made it a surprise. It was fun seeing the look on their faces as they realized I wasn't just in town for a Microsoft conference and it wasn't a 'corporate' apartment I was staying in. The slow realization that something wasn't right as they noticed the china and wedding pictures was great.
We are both excited to be here - Seattle is a much better city than Cleveland in so many ways. But, it is bittersweet in many ways as well. We left behind a lot of good friends and my wife's family as well.
Now that I am a bit more settled, I will be more responsive to emails and questions on the forums.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Things have been crazy lately. I was lucky enough to spend a couple weeks with my wife's family and friends down in South America. We visited Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Peru. I will post more on each as I get time along with some pictures I think. Each one of these countries was very cool in its own way. There was so much to see and it was such packed trip. Anyhow, if you have been emailing me for help or ask questions on forums and I have not been answering, that is why.
Finally, if you are trying to get ahold of me for the next few weeks on LDAP stuff and I don't respond quickly, please try to post the question to the website: http://directoryprogramming.net on the forums. I am not ignoring you, but I have lots and lots of things going on right now and not enough time to get to my email these days.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
I was fortunate enough to receive the MVP award again for the 2007 year. I would like to thank Microsoft and all the program supporters that make this possible. I enjoy helping others and that is why I do it – the MVP privileges however are a very nice perk.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Joe Richards, of
Active Directory 3rd Edition fame was nice enough to label me here as one of his ‘
dorks’. His book, btw is one of the best (if not the best) references to Active Directory. Thanks Joe.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Unfortunately the blog has been dark for the last month or so. I have just been very busy with work and life in general. More posts to come next month…
Friday, April 07, 2006
I was reading a post by my friend (and ex-coworker) James Avery today that made me want to checkout the status of the NHibernate project. I had heard of this project a long time ago, but never looked into at all. So, browsing the first page I see a name I am pretty sure I recognize – Mike Doerfler. He is listed as one of the main contributors to the project on the homepage.
The funny part is that Mike and I used to teach classic ASP together back in the day when we both worked at Ernst & Young. I think the market had slowed or something and we needed to keep busy, so we took the job as an internal project to teach the basics of ASP programming. I can still remember how easy it was to crash the NT4 servers when students either put their database or UI code into infinite loops. Having 20 generally horrible developers work on a single IIS server and one database server is like locking a couple sheep into the same room with a bunch of wolves... the poor things never stood a chance.
So, I am pretty sure Mike left in 1999 or 2000 and we slowly lost touch. I have a ton of MSN Messenger contacts and Mike has been on there forever though the chats have been fewer and fewer until non-existent. To be fair, I almost never chat with anyone anymore. First, I am hardly ever online with Messenger, and second, I just don’t have a lot to chat about.
Anyhow, I had to send Mike an IM to see if it was the same ‘Doerfler’. Turns out it was! Now, I wonder who else is on my IM list that has gone on to fame and fortune… I really need to do a better job of keeping in touch with people.
Friday, March 10, 2006
Fellow Avanade’r Nino seems to have ‘tagged’ me for this four things game. Well… here goes:
Four Jobs I’ve had…
- Target Store stock boy
- MS Access Developer (during college)
- Ford Intern for IT department
- Management Consultant
Four movies I can watch over and over…
- The Big Lebowski
- Office Space
- Fight Club
- Groundhog Day
Four TV shows I love to watch…
- Scrubs
- Mythbusters
- Battlestar Galactica
- Modern Marvels
Four places I’ve been on vacation…
- Maui, Kauai, HI
- Australia (all over), New Zealand (all over)
- Greece (Hydra, Mykonos, Santorini)
- Grand Cayman Island
Four favorite dishes…
- Cutthroat Salmon (Shucker’s)
- Porterhouse Steak (Hyde Park or Metropolitan Grill)
- Duck (Wild Ginger)
- Sushi (best is in Seattle and Hawaii)
Four websites I visit daily:
Four places I’d rather be…
- On vacation
- At a bar
- In an electronics store
- relaxing with my wife anywhere
Four bloggers I’m tagging
- Keith (security guy extraordinaire)
- Cole (general super stud)
- Joe (besides being an LDAP/AD guru, he’s got a lot of opinions… which I love reading)
- Ulf (another AD guru and all around nice guy)