Hahaha... Of course everything couldn't be well with the powerbook mixup yet. That'd be too easy. Hahaha... No, this other credit card I tried was declined, too. So tomorrow I'll have to call up and find out why this one was declined, then call Apple and arrange to send them a farking check, and then wait a week for them to get it and then wait a week for my damnable laptop. Ohoho...
Monthly Archive for September, 2000
When I browse the web, I browse in massive parallel. I open many many many many new windows, and have been known to have as many as 20 open at once. This is, of course, aided the facts that I have 256 megs of ram, run linux, and in linux browsers middle clicking on a link opens a new window. However, I just realized how much javascript popup links piss me off. When I middle click those, they open a new window and can't display anything, because it's not a proper URL. So then I have to close the newly opened window, dig through my preferences to turn javascript on, and then click on the link and go turn javascript off, just to see a bit of information which turned out to have been not as useful as I was expecting. What is the web coming to?
I just spent an hour or so on hold with the Apple Store tonight. Tonight is friday night. I was on hold between 7 and 8 or so -- making it between, say, 7 and 10 across the U.S. People are that willing to get through to talk to the Apple Store? Well, I was. I got through eventually... Well, I got through to a "call director" who put me on hold while I waited to talk to a "credit card specialist"... Why I couldn't go straight to the credit card specialist was is beyond me, of course. Guess that would have been too easy. Anyway, I eventually got through to stephen the credit card specialist, who had to go talk to another specialist and left me dangling on hold for longer still. Uhh.. Anyway, eventually I got it worked out. Hopefully I'm still on track to get my PowerBook next week. God I hope I get it next week. Argh, so damned annoying.
Wayne's World is about this guy who runs a public access cable TV show. I just watched Wayne's World 2, which I like better than the first, for the tenth or so time tonight, and I realized that if the movie were set today -- Less than ten years later -- It probably wouldn't be public access, but rather public internet, where every person gets to publish their thoughts as they see fit. Just something to chew on and think about.
Hahaha oh that's so funny. It wasn't my battery for which the payment didn't go through... It was the source of all my troubles, that powerbook. The problem? I have a limit of $700 per day that I can spend with my card. $1945 > $700. Shit. So now I'm waiting on my dad to call back tonight and find out if he has a card I can use... If I have to mail Apple a check it'll probably take them a week to get it processed and ironed out before they even place my order, which means it'd be like two weeks before I got it, which would... ARGH! And of course, now I have 256 megs of RAM, an airport card, and an extra battery lying around that I can't do anything with. And I thought my troubles were over... Turns out they're just beginning.
Though I guess it's reassuring to know that Apple got the 190.
So last night I got an email from Apple telling me the second battery I ordered had shipped (yay for ten hours of battery life). This morning I woke and found a message saying that there had been a problem billing my credit. So I looked at the FedEx tracking number that Apple had given to me, and as far as FedEx is concerned, they have my battery in Oakland, so I might just get it today. So now I have to spend even more time on hold on the phone with Apple. Ugh.
Wow. That's really about all I can think of to say about this. I can't believe it happens, I can't believe... I don't know, I just can't believe this. I sat there reading this with my mouth open. $125 is a lot for a used Palm, though...
The X in Mac OS X doesn't bother me at all, because OS X is a unix, and any unix has a right to the X. OS X is also the 10th Mac OS, giving it another reason to claim an X. I'm not upset about the X in XML, because that's an acronym which had been bandied about for years and years before XML was finally unleashed with little fanfare (the Xs in all the associated technologies and the softwares do get kind of old, but by being associated with XML, they can have their Xs). If I had a problem with the X in X-Men (flash warning) then I'd have bigger problems. Even The X-Files came before the whole X fad.
No, what is pissing me off at the moment is how huge of a catch tag a simple little "X" has become. Got your X? Then you're automatically cool. Notably, I'm upset with the The XBox (flash warning) from Microsoft. First, they're attempting to muscle their way into the game market. They've used their clout as Microfsoft to recruit more than 100 developers, to get Konami to port Metal Gear Solid 2 to the XBox (and call it Metal Gear X), to get Square to look at the XBox to develop on and distracting them from the Gamecube, flat out bought Bungie, and by nature of the name of the box, will be thought of as the "cool" alternative (because it's a cube/box and it has an X in the name) in the gaming world and will unleash countless "Insert Name Here"-X games upon the world. Now then, what claim has Microsoft to the X? None. The XBox is not running a UNIX, the XBox probably won't be eXtensible, and the XBox is only going to be cool because Microsoft has 80 kertrillion dollars to throw at it. That's not the right way to make a good gaming system. The right way to make a good gaming system is to make good games first, then make a system that plays games. Like Nintendo.
Nintendo understands how to make good simple console games, and hence, makes excellent consoles. Not only does Microsoft not make console games, they bought Bungie, who doesn't make console games, and they're getting advise from PC game makers, who don't make console games. I want so badly for the XBox to fail. However, with Microsoft's clout behind it, it won't. Look at other failed Microsoft products like the Palm PC, etc. If the XBox is a flop, Microsoft will just remarket the XBox until it isn't a flop and until it has every body brainwashed and until it controls what we watch on TV and until it is a success.
Who're the Bastards now?
Really, though, if Microsoft could make a good gaming console, I'd be happy for them and maybe even buy it. However, I'm going to forever resent their naming decision. I already do.
What's Inside Jeremey's Wallet has the dubious distinction of being the only web site that I have ever seen in print and typed into my browser. Of course, this was back in 97 or 98, when I actually still had a popular science section. I would comment on how nice it is that the site of the week concept has died out, but with so many more people getting online these days, the site of the day/week/month/minute is more popular than ever. Trust me on this one.
It's partially my fault for not paying more attention, but it's also partially mysqls fault for not having transactions. Anyway, while working on adding the display by date feature (look at the right column), I accidentally issued an "update noids set newdate=moddate" instead of "update noids set moddate=newdate". What this means is that a lot of nodes are now going to look at lot newer than they really are, because when I changed my tables in early september, a lot of nodes ended up with a pretty new moddate despite retaining the correct newdate. What's this mean for you? Nothing really, except that if you see a node mentioning it being March that is dated September, now you know why. Oh, and the "By Date" feature mostly works at this point.