SteveCook.net

I’m home!  I spent about 5 days in Seattle working on CheatCodes business and the website redesign. It’s all CSS driven, with seperate looks for each platform/console. It’s pretty slick – I’ll post the link to the prototype site when it’s closer to release – we’re just integrating more features now (links to GameRadar news, etc.) and doing final debug. We’re also doing some things on the business side of CheatCodes. I’ll post more details when we decide what we’re doing…

I also got to drive SteveJ’s Ferrari F40 while I was there (Thanks Steve!).  I’m not saying you could do 150 on the freeway without trying, but I bet you can *wink wink*.  I was a little “timid” (as timid as you can be in an F40 I suppose), and didn’t go as fast as the car could.  SteveJ drove back on the way home and he was much faster (hey! It’s his car!   ) Maybe I’ll upgrade to one of those instead of a 575M… we’ll see what happens in the next few weeks.

Currently Reading:  Dr. Who – The Resurrection Casket
Currently Listening to: DJ Doboy – Sonic House 1

I upgraded my phone to a more “professional” smart-phone – the Motorola Q. I’ve had it for about 24 hours now, and I like it so far. I’ve been able to use the miniSD card to put music, photos, and videos on it, as well as play DivX files.  I also picked up a Plantronics 640 bluetooth headset that is working well so far.

I am able to get to the admin functions of CheatCodes and BidNip through the browser, and the screen is wide enough that the sites are completely legible. I also installed a small ssh client that I’ll try out.

I’ve tried many times over the past few years to avoid using UPS whenever possible. That stemmed from several incidents in 2000 where the repeatedly lost my packages and delivered the items 5 to 6 days late (on 2nd day packages). I still remember vividly my interaction with their support went something like this:

Me: I see that my package finally arrived in Albuquerque today (Friday).  Can I pick it up this evening before you close?

UPS Customer “Support”: No, it isn’t available to be picked up today.

Me: So, if there’s no way to pick it up tonight, can it be delivered tomorrow? I really need the item for this weekend – by Sunday in particular – which is why I ordered it a week ago and got 2nd day.

UPS Support: No, there is no way to deliver it on Saturday. It is not marked for Saturday delivery.

Me: No, but it is marked for 2nd day, and that was 7 business days ago. I figured since you’re not sticking to that 2nd day promise, maybe you could bend your “Saturday Deliver” policy.

UPS “Support”: We cannot. You should receive the package Monday or possibly Tuesday. *Click*

No joking, I received the package on Wednesday.

So, this time, it was standard ground (no rush) from Amazon.com (it was a mistake, I wanted USPS not UPS). I checked their tracking and it said “Delivered. Location: Porch”.  That’s weird, Janet is home and would have gotten the door. I called and asked her, and she said nope, nothing. 

I contacted their support saying that there was no package anywhere around our porch. Waited 48 hours and received absolutlely no response.  Sent another email and tried calling again – no response. Sent an email to Amazon about not getting the items and no response from UPS. Literally an hour after the email to amazon I get a knock on the door from a neighbor from two streets over (not even remotely similar to my address) – UPS left my package on their porch

I checked my email and Amazon had already replied with “We’ll send you new ones.” Seriosly that fast. And, they sent them FedEx 2nd day (which they did arrive).  It was too late to cancel the order, so I sent the extras back to Amazon.  5 days after my trying to contact UPS I got a boiler-plate: We left the item at “Porch” Please check the surrouding areas or contact the shipper (Amazon).  UPS is made up of retards. Amazon is brilliant. 

My good friend from college Dave Hershberger was riding through town and stopped by to spend the night. He rode his recumbant bike from Chicago, and was passing through on his way to Socorro (he blogged most of if on blogspot). Janet, Jonah, and I met Dave and his sister and brother-in-law at Flying Star on Central and had a nice dinner. Dave’s brother-in-law is a neurosurgeon so I used my super-cheesy “I was going to be a doctor… but I didn’t have the patients…” which didn’t go over well – about as well as you’d think actually.

He spent the night and then was off to Belen to stop at his parent’s house. I rode with him from my house down to the end of town (about 13-14 miles) and then rode back. I was still getting over my cold, so luckily Dave didn’t go too fast. He made it to Socorro the next day, and was able to officiate over Bob Broilo and Kathy’s wedding in Farmington yesterday.

Dave switched jobs from Evolution Robotics and will be starting as a Software Engineer at Google in the coming weeks. I’m interested in hearing his perspectives on how the company was/is(?) able to convert from a exponentially growing Intraweb start-up to a mega-corp^tm .

 

“Well, you can wish in one hand and crap in the other and see which gets filled first.”

- Burgess Merideth in Grumpier Old Men

I’m doing my quarterly “personal goals” review, and thought this one hit the difference between goals and dreams.

Well, I’m looking to upgrade (finally).  So, to start the process, I have to sell my Euro 308 GTS QV… even though I really don’t want to. It’s been great and I love driving it, and it’s been so reliable, I really would like to keep it – but I don’t have enough garage space. I put more details on a ferrari 308 for sale page.