Jawbone lack-of-customer-support

Left today on Jawbone's site:

July 28 I contacted Jawbone as my UP2 had developed a crack. I crazy-glued it together while waiting for a response.

Love it: WonderPens

A few days ago I stumbled across WonderPens online and let out a little squeal of delight – a fountain pen shop for everyday people, right here in Toronto! I feel uncomfortable when I visit most pen shops, underdressed and just not rich enough – but reading Jon and Liz Chan's blog (it's their store, a labour of love by the sound of it) I could tell that wouldn't be the case here.

Visiting the vampires

Owie.

I'm at the blood clinic near my office, waiting for my turn to donate. I've been putting it off for a couple of weeks for no good reason, just too lazy to drag myself in here I suppose - I've already been poked in the finger and I'm good to go.

Love It: Shoppers Drug Mart Optimum Points

You may recall that I ran myself ragged trying to find a Wii gaming console a couple of years ago – not just the console, but for cheaper than the regular retail price. I hunted high and low but came up empty... until a coworker suggested I use my Optimum points to buy a console from Shoppers Drug Mart. Stroke of genius! And after I found a branch that had one in stock I did just that, saving myself a hefty chunk ($75 I think?).

Stuff I’ve Got: Wii Edition

So I’ve had my Wii for a little over a year now and, while I don’t play as often as I used to, I still quite enjoy it. So I just wanted to share what I’ve picked up for it since last January!

I haz a keyboard!

I love my implements, I really really do. My iPad (which I have yet to name, btw) is a constant joy. Much as I love it though, the keypad isn't sufficient for long amounts of typing - because it's on-screen, there's no tactile response, so you have to be looking at it as you type, no touch-typing (oh, you can touch-type on the screen? Bite me, you're either lying or really have too much time on your hands).

Enter the bluetooth keyboard!

Doctor Who and the Incredibly Tardy Blog Post

Okay, I suck. I freely admit it. I have so many posts languishing in Draft Purgatory I could release them as a novel. A badly-written novel, but still...

Apple karma - I has it

On Thursday morning I took the x-rays of my knee to St Mike’s, as I had an appointment to see the orthopaedic surgeon to have him go over it and tell me what the hell’s going on with it. I spent a couple of hours in the waiting room, which was WAY longer than I had anticipated – I mean, I had an appointment, it’s not like I was a walk-in. When I finally saw him, he told me the problem was damaged cartilage and I’d need physiotherapy again. Well, at least it’s not surgery.

The Joy of Konad

Hey there! Okay, to expand a bit on that nail art kit I mentioned before, at the CNE this year I came across a booth where they were doing interesting things with nail polish and etched plates. At first I thought nothing of it, but it kept floating around in my head until I eventually had to have it. And I love it!

Been busy. Here, catch up.

Oops, sorry folks, got caught up doing stuff! What, you ask? Well sit down, this could take a while...

iPhone for me? Please?

Okay, so it goes like this.

Mid-July my friend at work decided it was time for a new phone, which got me thinking about the fact that my own current phone is from 2006, and since I'm on Rogers I'm definitely due for a new one. My current phone plan is good, but I want a data phone.

Guilty, but with an explanation...

(yes, from Bananas)

Okay, I see it’s been, um, NINETEEN WEEKS since I posted! No way am I going to do a complete update. But I’ve had my reasons.

A new year... a new decade...

...a new Doctor! But I'm not watching that until Sunday, so no discussing it...

Anyway, my New Year's Eve was great, up in KW again at J*&P&A's house, generating new Jersey Shore names for us all (I'm apparently H-Cat) and playing Wii Sport Resort (I'm getting one soon, maybe today). And also discussing our favourite albums of the last decade.

So my life is suddenly quite hectic.

This week I have limited access to my own bathroom, while the office tears out my old tub and bathroom flooring and replaces them (the water damage caused by tubliners must be seen to be believed, don’t be sucked in by the hype folks!). For me, showers are for getting clean and baths are for relaxing – and then you have a shower after to be clean. It’s killing me to be stuck with only baths for the whole week. But at least I don’t have the worry in the back of my head that the floor is going to finally collapse. Anyway, as a result my home is an even worse disaster area than usual, tarps down and plaster dust in everything. Can’t wait until this is done.

Online radio

There's a lot out there right now, so much to choose from! And so much is free!

I love my Launch station. I've been listening and rating music for long enough for it to get pretty familiar with me (I'm a Ratings Master, with a current total of 23,181 ratings - yes, I'm a bit obsessive). They also have tons of other stations to listen to. Pretty good bang for something I've never given any money to. Not that I don't want to, but my home computer's a mac and they don't support OSX. Also, lately it keeps telling me that every 7th or 8th song I'm listening to is The Battle Of Epping Forest (which is a good song, but that's not what's playing, and it's throwing my last.fm stats off!). Sorry guys, once you support OSX and fix your tagging issue I'll send you money, but until you do you won't get a dime from me.

Radio Io is another great place to go for themed stations. Limited free access and better access with subscriptions. Personally, I flip back & forth between the 80s, 70s, Eclectic and Rock stations, and they're adding new ones all the time - I notice there's a new History station and they've even added an all Grateful Dead station, if you're so inclined...

Podcasts are also pretty damn cool - I've been listening to CBC feeds, Strongbad e-mails, the Crazy Daisy hour, Harry Shearer's radio show, They Might Be Giants... and I'm even considering trying one for myself. Ah, the internet's a wonderful thing.

But what's new on the horizon? Pandora is a great recent addition to the online music world - six years ago a bunch of musicians got together to create what ended up being the 'Music Genome Project' - they've listened to music by over 10,000 artists and categorized each track according to its tendencies (vocal harmonies, for example), and created a great interface for listening and customizing stations. Also offered in free and subscribed versions.

Upshot? I haven't listened to an actual radio myself for months. I can't deal with the commercials, the sycophantic DJs and the lack of specialization. I'm just too spoiled now.

A weekend of accomplishment

First of all, I named the new iMac this week - it shall be known as The Metatron™ for now, unless that name grates on me...

Okay, Friday we saw Thank You For Smoking - this movie must be seen, it was great! The lesson is that it's not the person who is right who wins, it's the person who argues the best. I've always known that, but it was nice to see the vindication *grin*

And I finally did the co-op newsletter - for the first time since September! Wow, slack no more, me, I'm gettin' pink again!

Saturday was moving day for Jody, he's in a new place now but it's not too far away so I'll still be able to visit with him and stuff - might see him more now than when we lived together really! And I managed to get everything finally transferred over to the Metatron, yay!

So, feeling all accomplishy, I started my HUGE project of rescuing things off the slowly deteriorating VHS tapes in the racks upstairs - first disc done! Doctor Doctor, The John Larroquette Show and Flying Blind are all (relatively) safe...

Oh, and I went to my first members' meeting in almost a year, lookit me!

IT'S HERE!!!

Ah, yes, my precious...

The new iMac arrived today! To celebrate, Todd gave me a ride home and we went to see Night Watch - Russian vampire-ish flick, pretty cool. A little all over the place at times, a little bit of assumption that the audience knows what's going on, but enjoyable - and the first of three parts apparently.

Ah, new iMac...

No, I'm not on it at the moment, I need to transfer everything still...

...whatever shall I name it?

Where oh where?

Okay, where the hell is my new mac? On Friday they said they shipped it out, but it hasn't arrived at the local shipper. And day by day my current confuser gets worse and worse...

In other news, lastnight I saw the new version of The Hills Have Eyes - cool! Violence abounds! Gore! Deformities!

Things this movie taught me:

1) Never take shortcuts in the desert
2) Never sleep in the desert with headphones on
3) No matter how dead he looks, don't drop your gun
4) If your big guard dog runs off into the desert, just let him go
5) If the government tells you to vacate a mine, just do it

Oh, and last Friday I went to another stitch & bitch, this time with the Olympic group, lots of drinking and carousing! Really, honest, knitters can be rowdy...

March - isn't it Spring yet?

Since the Olympic closing ceremonies, my knitting speed has decreased but not died. I have made a new scarf, bought SO MUCH YARN and picked up a shrug I had started before the Olympics. So there.

This week was the March Who pub - so also my monthly trip to Sonic Boom. Made out like a bandit again - Skinny Puppy (12" Anthology), Death Cab For Cutie (We Have The Facts & We're Voting Yes), Delgados (Hate), Negativland (No Business), Mono Puff (It's Fun To Steal), and a various collection (John Peel's Festive 15). I'm so glad I only go once a month, I already have too many CDs.

And I need to stop buying so much. My roommate is going to be moving out soon so I'll have to carry the place myself. Which isn't so bad really, I can afford it, but only if I stop spending money so quickly.

So of course I'm going to order a new iMac this week. Well really, it is a need even more than it is a want, so I don't feel badly about it. Just going to feel the sticker shock - it's gonna be over $2000 for the one I'm getting. But if you consider I haven't bought a computer since about 1997, and that I haven't bought a NEW computer EVER, this will be a good thing.

Now I need to stop obsessing over that Nokia phone
that's $700. Especially since I'm actually still happy with my current phone.

Lastnight I went to see Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story. This was one cool movie - a movie about making a movie of a book that you can't make a movie of. Right there, that's fun.