I think the above questions say it all. I’ve been answering an endless stream of questions on YouTube after posting a bunch of Zune videos, and with some of them, I feel like I’m an AOL forum moderator in 2001 fielding questions from people who are looking for the “Any” key. I don’t know how some of these people even manage to work a Web browser, let alone post a comment on YouTube…
No, that’s not just two sweaty men rolling around on a mat: it’s a screen capture (thanks SnagIt!) of the most recent episode of The Ultimate Fighter. Yup, I’m a fan. What’s notable is the fact that Rhapsody is a sponsor on the mat, and off-camera to the right is an Old Spice sponsorship spot. Rhapsody and Old Spice? Brands I actually recognize! The UFC is growing up. The era of Toyo Tires and Mickey’s Malt Liquor is coming to an end: the UFC has come into the next stage of its evolution, and as those multi-year sponsorship contracts expire, I expect to see the big brands start to capitalize on the audience that the UFC has so ably captured. I’ve read that among the highly-coveted 18 to 25 male demographic, the UFC is pulling in higher numbers than the NBA (I couldn’t find the source on that though). Where there are big numbers, the big sponsors aren’t far behind. Zune needs to get on board and ride that train…
A married couple, friends of mine, are having relationship troubles. You know the old story: she’s on Hotmail, he’s on Gmail, and they can’t see or share their respective calendars. A problem as old as time. 😉
I figured the solution was simple: move her away from Hotmail, to Gmail, and they’d live happily ever after sharing their Gmail calendars. Why Gmail? I think Google’s Web-based email and calendar system is superior to Hotmail, though I confess I’m not as familiar with Microsoft’s offerings as I used to be (I don’t do Web-based email). I created a Gmail account for her, logged into her Hotmail account, and tried to set up a simple forward that would shunt all her Hotmail email into her new Gmail account until everyone started to use her new Gmail address. I didn’t count on huge road-block that seems right out of 1998:
WHAT? Hotmail’s email forwarding will only forward to other Microsoft email accounts? What’s the point then? That’s something I’d expect from the 1998 “We want to rule the world” Microsoft, not the newer “We want to work with the world, as long as we can make money doing it” Microsoft. Having a limitation like this is just a slap in the face to a Hotmail customer – sure, she’s trying to leave Hotmail, but there’s no reason to make the exit an ugly one. If Microsoft offered a real forwarding option, it would leave the door open to coming back. I haven’t thought very highly of Hotmail over the years (mostly because people using the service never seem to get my email), but this really drops the service down a few notches in my eyes.
Does anyone have any suggestions? I find it incredibly hard to believe that what I want to do is really this hard. I’ve done a bit of research and found a few desktop-PC programs that act as email re-directors, but that’s not a good solution. Possibly something Web-based? I thought Hotmail would have an option to function as a POP3 account, so I could use Gmail to pull her email in, but they don’t offer that either. It’s no wonder Gmail is so popular, Hotmail is really unimpressive.
This made me laugh so hard…probably because I’ve always been interested in martial arts and have been known to throw high kicks nearly as bad as these. 😉 I think it’s a spoof inspired by the clip at the 58 second mark (which make me laugh the hardest) because the background changes. On the other end of the spectrum, you have these incredible jumping guys and of course the jaw-dropping talents of Tony Jaa (warning, the clip is violent).
It’s great to be back from Amsterdam, even if I came home to this:
It’s cold, but being surrounded by my LCD monitors is keeping me warm. 😉 Amsterdam was an interesting place, but it’s not someplace I’d want to go back to. It’s never fair to judge a whole country by your experience in one city, so if I were to return to the Netherlands (I hear it’s beautiful in the spring), I’d skip Amsterdam. Why? Weather comes and goes, but the people stay the same. In the case of Amsterdam, it was the attitude of the people in the service industry, and the incredible number of people who smoke – and I have a story that combines both! Ashley and I are non-smokers, and coming from a city where smoking is all but outlawed, it was a shock to be surrounded by smoke constantly – it was like time-travelling back to the ’70s.
Back to my story: we had read about a Mexican food restaurant called Los Pilones that was supposedly the best in the city – which might not be saying much for someplace so far from Mexico, but we figured we’d try it. That night at 7 PM there was the first Mobius event, the meet and greet, so were going to be eating early. We arrived at the restaurant earlier than we thought, 4:20 PM, but when I saw that they opened at 4 PM I thought we were set. The door was locked. A guy came to the door and said the kitchen wasn’t open yet, that we should come back in 20 minutes. What kind of a restaurant doesn’t open when their sign says they’re supposed to open? A restaurant in Amsterdam!
We came back at 4:50 PM and were granted admittance, and quite enjoyed the ambiance (pictured above). The menu was simple but everything sounded good, so we ordered and munched on some corn chips and some delicious salsa. When our food arrived a while later, we were still the only customers in the place – so as we started to eat I was surprised to smell smoke. Yes, you guessed it, the bartender (or bus boy, I wasn’t sure which) was smoking. Only two customers in the place, and right as they get their food, this jerk decides to start smoking. Unbelievable. Either the residents of Amsterdam are the rudest people in the world, or they’re so used to the smell of cigarette smoke it doesn’t occur to them that non-smokers might not want their food to taste like smoke. Or maybe it’s both.
And that, in a nutshell, is Amsterdam. We saw some interesting things (I’m still pounding through my pictures from the zoo), but it was really tainted by all the smoke and the rudeness of the people there. I’m all for experiencing the local culture when I visit a new place, and trying to resist the urge to view everything through the eyes of a North American, but some things are universal: non-smokers really don’t like the taste/smell of cigarette smoke. Back to processing my pictures…I’ll post a few when I’m done, perhaps with a few more stories about what I saw and experienced in Amsterdam.
The title says it all: the Vibe 98.5 contest that I posted about earlier is now over, and Crystal and Tony didn’t win. The couple that won sound like they really needed it (the husband has colon cancer), so it’s great that the prize is going toward a couple that will really benefit from it…but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t really hoping Crystal and Tony would win it. I emailed the radio station Webmaster and urged him to implement something to block repeat voting next time – I hate to think this, but their voting system was so open it would have been ridiculously easy to cheat; you just never know (I’m sure others would be thinking the same thing if Tony and Crystal won).
I’m deeply grateful for all of you who voted, for the blogs and emails that went out around the world rallying support, and for the donations that were made to help Crystal and Tony – you guys are awesome.
[For the geeks among you: I’ve gotta’ say though, no thanks to the cold-hearted people who read Digg – only 13 votes? Really? Nothing but coal in the stocking for anyone that read the story and didn’t vote for it. Digg is a ridiculous farce in many ways – the premise sounds great, but the reality is so much different.]
Welcome to the land of tulips, wooden clogs, marijuana, and bicycles!
I’m writing this from the Netherlands! Ashley and I flew into Amsterdam on Saturday afternoon and it’s now Monday morning, nearly 9am, local time. We’re just about to head out for a day-long tour of the countryside. The weather here has sucked unfortunately: yesterday (Sunday) was our first full day here, and we spend it walking around freezing our toes off and getting quite wet. Normally cold weather doesn’t bother me much, but the wind here is relentless.The pictures I’ve taken so far are up in a gallery.
Travel lessons learned so far? Always have your passport on you if you want to use your credit card: most stores will not accept a credit card without your passport. Some restaurants and most taxi cabs will not accept credit cards, because it cuts into their profit margin (more on that later). Customer service as we understand it in North America doesn’t really apply here. A 43 watt flat iron will not work, even when connected to a 2000 watt converter. Always take Jet Lag pills – adjusting to the local time is a killer (last night was the longest night of my life).
More fun later – Mobius, the Microsoft conference and the reason I’m actually here in Amsterdam, is coming up in a few days.
It’s a really great thing that Dell offers buyers multiple choices when it comes to laptop batteries: there’s usually a 4-cell, 6-cell, and 9-cell battery option. Dell always lists the watt hours information as well – great!
But what’s ridiculous is that there are no images, illustrations, or written information about the exact sizes of the batteries: specifically, which batteries will stick out of the laptop (the “hump”). This is a really important thing to know, because when I’m buying a laptop I usually want to get the biggest battery possible, but one that doesn’t stick out. I just ordered a Vostro laptop today (for my church) and was given the choice of three different batteries – yet no indication of which one(s) was actually flush with the laptop.
In general I find that the “More Information” links on the Dell Web site do a poor job of providing the customer with the information they need about the given accessory or feature option. The explanations of screen finishes are equally weak. I’ve posted this over on Dell’s IdeaStorm site, so if you have a minute (and agree with me), please go over there and vote for my request.
I’m usually pretty good at working the system, but this morning I got worked over by the system. Yesterday I ordered a cheap Dell Vostro 1000 laptop to donate to my church – we needed something ultra-basic for registrations and whatnot, so the base $499 model was a good fit. I wanted something with 14″ screen rather than a 15.4″ screen, but the price jumps up by $200 to get the smaller screen (go figure) and I didn’t think it was worth the price jump. I did add in a DVD burner and opted for the six-cell battery, which bumped the cost up to $564. I thought I’d have several options at the $499 price point, but the Dell Vostro was the only one I could find from any of the online stores.
This morning I checked my email and Best Buy had one-day only $300 price reduction on an HP 2610ca laptop, offering it for $599. That was pretty close to the $564 I was spending on the Vostro, but it had a faster CPU, bigger hard drive, and a 14.1″ screen. No brainer. There were about 62 left when I added it to my cart and went all the way through to the end of the ordering process. While I was doing this, I was waiting on hold to talk to a Dell customer service agent to cancel my order. The whole order cancelling process took 19 minutes, but I didn’t want to order the HP laptop until I was sure my Dell order had been cancelled (I’ve had problems with Dell not cancelling my orders in the past and didn’t want to end up with two laptops). Once the Dell order was cancelled, I flipped back to my browser and clicked SUBMIT to order the HP laptop. Nope, sorry, you have to log in again because your session timed out. I did so, and wouldn’t you know it, the system wouldn’t let me order the HP laptop because they were now all sold out. 🙁 So back to ordering the Vostro I go…
You have to be a Star Trek geek to some degree to understand how funny this is… 😉