I decided to give Apple a try about a year ago when Leopard came out and bought a brand new Macbook. From the moment I got it, I liked it -- the usere interface, the applications, etc. Now, I wouldn't go as far as to say that I was a complete "convert" joining the cult of Mac, or anything like that. Anyway, all was well until last weekend, I had the laptop sitting on my coffee table, doing nothing more than spitting out live Fantasy Football stats, when all of a sudden I hear a clicking noise. "Uh oh," I thought to myself, "This can't be good." Why isn't this good you may ask? Sure, if I was typing, or using the touch pad, some kind of clicking sound may be acceptable -- but in this case, I wasn't even touching the machine. So, if it's not something user-induced then it usually means one thing: your hard drive is about to die, or may already be dead.
I ended up using the nifty online reservation system for setting up an appointment at a local Apple store, so I was able to walk right in and get the problem taken care of... but it cost me about a day in re-configuring everything, reinstalling applications and transerring all of my data back on to it again. Luckily, I back up my music and photos in three different places, so I know I shouldn't have one of those really bad moments where "all is lost." It's just all kind of frustrating since I've owned the laptop for less than a year.... while my Dell laptop (going on 5 years old) has been going strong with anything I throw at it...
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
Convenient? I think not!
My wife and I decided that it might be a good idea to switch banks (thank you, financial institution melt down) and we finally settled on Bank of America for a couple reasons: 1) We figured it's stable enough to survive this market madness and 2) There's one about half a mile from our house. Last night, for the first time we decided to make a deposit into our Bank of America checking account at the ATM and we were blindsided. The startling fact: no envelopes required. Now, at first, this may seem like a great idea (as marketed by BoA): save the planet by not wasting paper on envelopes, it even scans your checks and uses OCR to determine the amount and then prints out a receipt with the scanned images of your checks as proof of deposit.
Yeah, that's all well and good -- but here's the problem: you can only put one check (or bill in the case that it's cash) in the machine at a time. It then goes on to scan what you inputted (assuming it didn't reject it like an old vending machine) and then asks you to verify the amount. Now, this is great if you have one check or a couple bills to deposit... but what about small-business owners, waiters/waitresses (let alone regular customers) who may have a decent number of checks or bills to deposit at once? I'll tell you: it's a bad experience. The whole time you're standing there (which ends up being the time it normally takes to make one deposit TIMES the number of checks/bills to deposit), the ATM starts making loud beeping noises like a video game or something... drawing even more attention to yourself. And then, if the ATM can't figure out (via OCR) the amount on the check, you have to type it in manually, from memory... so if you don't remember the amount of a particular check in a series of checks, you're in trouble, because you could then be looking at fines from the bank... yikes.
While I do think some of the new "features" are cool -- it really doesn't add up to being beneficial most of the time. My proposed solution:
1) Keep the new "no envelope" system as a "quick deposit" type feature that you can use when your deposits are minimal.
2) Bring back the envelope system for users who have a lot to deposit at once.... so we can do one deposit, instead of 10 or 15.
3) Display the scanned image of the check when OCR fails, so you can read the amount, rather than have to recall it from memory.
That shouldn't be too hard, should it?
Yeah, that's all well and good -- but here's the problem: you can only put one check (or bill in the case that it's cash) in the machine at a time. It then goes on to scan what you inputted (assuming it didn't reject it like an old vending machine) and then asks you to verify the amount. Now, this is great if you have one check or a couple bills to deposit... but what about small-business owners, waiters/waitresses (let alone regular customers) who may have a decent number of checks or bills to deposit at once? I'll tell you: it's a bad experience. The whole time you're standing there (which ends up being the time it normally takes to make one deposit TIMES the number of checks/bills to deposit), the ATM starts making loud beeping noises like a video game or something... drawing even more attention to yourself. And then, if the ATM can't figure out (via OCR) the amount on the check, you have to type it in manually, from memory... so if you don't remember the amount of a particular check in a series of checks, you're in trouble, because you could then be looking at fines from the bank... yikes.
While I do think some of the new "features" are cool -- it really doesn't add up to being beneficial most of the time. My proposed solution:
1) Keep the new "no envelope" system as a "quick deposit" type feature that you can use when your deposits are minimal.
2) Bring back the envelope system for users who have a lot to deposit at once.... so we can do one deposit, instead of 10 or 15.
3) Display the scanned image of the check when OCR fails, so you can read the amount, rather than have to recall it from memory.
That shouldn't be too hard, should it?
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Texting While Driving? Stop it now!
... and not just because I say so. Because, I definitely say so. Have you ever been behind a car in which the driver is sending a text message on their phone? I have a few times, and it's easy to spot (without actually seeing the driver). You look for a few things:
Anyway, me yelling at them from within my own vehicle doesn't seem to have much affect, so I'm glad the governator decided to put some legislation into effect that will make it illegal to text and drive (in addition to already being able to hold the phone to your ear and drive -- hooray for hands free).
For more info, check out this article.
Although, I do think it's funny that the article states that this law is completely unnecessary since it's "common sense." While I would agree that it should be unnecessary since we should be able to assume no one would do such a thing -- I think we all know how many people use common sense!
- The car seems to be accelerating and decelerating for no apparent reason (they slow down as you approach a green light).
- The car is swerving (by the way, that's not how I thought you spelled that word) within their lane, and sometimes into other lanes... can't keep a straight line? Texter alert!
- They just don't seem to be paying attention to the world around them (they slam on the breaks when they realize what they're about to do)
Anyway, me yelling at them from within my own vehicle doesn't seem to have much affect, so I'm glad the governator decided to put some legislation into effect that will make it illegal to text and drive (in addition to already being able to hold the phone to your ear and drive -- hooray for hands free).
For more info, check out this article.
Although, I do think it's funny that the article states that this law is completely unnecessary since it's "common sense." While I would agree that it should be unnecessary since we should be able to assume no one would do such a thing -- I think we all know how many people use common sense!
Monday, September 15, 2008
The Fashion
My brother recently moved back to our home town, which is awesome because I get to see him more often now. We usually have plenty to talk about since our interests are fairly aligned: Music, Video Games and Football... among other things. Well, one of his new roommates introduced him to a band called "The Fashion" which he in turn introduced to me. I had never heard of them, but I thought I'd give it a listen -- it turns out that they're from Denmark (but the lyrics are all in English). I'm not sure what their official classification is, but I'd call it some kind of Alternative Pop Rock, but with a beat. Anyway, the first time I listened to it, I liked a few songs and thought it was okay... but the more I listen to it, the more it grows on me and the more I can't get it out of my head. In the process of finding one of their music videos I also learned that they're on the Madden '09 soundtrack... so they must be somewhat known -- I'd just never heard of them. Either way, it's definitely worth checking out if you haven't heard them before!
Chargers Are Disappointing...
So, Week 2 of the NFL season has completed (minus a Monday Night Football game) and the Chargers are 0-2. I'm not completely surprised; however, I don't think any Charger fan was ready for losing by 1 point in the final seconds of the game two weeks in a row. Sure, there were some questionable calls in the Denver game yesterday, but we can't just blame losses on the referees. If that were the case, there wouldn't ever be a legitimate win! Anyway, I must say that I am disappointed in the Chargers' performance... especially our defense. What is going on!? If we don't beat Favre and the Packer--um, I mean Jets--next weekend, I see our Superbowl dreams slowly fading away. But, with that said, if anyone can pull off a come back season, the Chargers can!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
It's been awhile
Well, I've definitely been out of commission (in terms of writing) for a couple months now it looks like. July and August definitely came and went ridiculously quickly for a couple of reasons. The first being that we were finally able to get into a house. We've been seriously looking at properties since May and just a couple weeks ago we were able to move into our new home (with the help of some great people)! However, as anyone who has bought a home can attest to this, buying a home is one of the most stressful and time consuming things you can ever do! First, you have to find the house. Once you find the house, you put an offer in on the house. Once you put an offer in, that offer has to get accepted (which ours definitely didn't on the first few houses we liked). Once you have an accepted offer you have to work with the seller, which in the majority of cases now is a bank due to the situation in the real estate market, and an escrow company. For the record, banks are slow. They are very, very slow. Once you work out all the details, and escrow has everything they need from every party, including third parties, like Homeowner's Associations and Lenders -- then, and only then, escrow closes. If you got tired reading about the process, just wait until you live it :)
Anyway, we are completely blessed to be in a new home and are really excited about the room for growth...
Anyway, we are completely blessed to be in a new home and are really excited about the room for growth...
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