Apple Mighty Mouse goes ABSOLUTELY BERZERK!

OK, so it's 2:11 AM and I finally figured out why my Apple Mighty Mouse is going berserk.

First, some background. The might mouse is touch sensitive, meaning the top shell can sense where your fingers are and produce the correct type of click, according to where your fingers are. For example, both fingers down will default to a left click, while lifting your index finger (if you're right handed) will produce a left click because it can sense that your left finger is off the top of the shell.

So this evening, I had a little work to do on the company laptop. I pushed my mac keyboard and mouse out of the way to make room for the laptop, did my work, then closed the lid (left the laptop on), and then proceeded to use my mac with the keyboard and mouse.

I noticed some peculiar things happening with my mouse. See, the Mighty Mouse has two side buttons--one on either side--when you squeeze them, it makes a little clicking sound and activates exposé. What was happening this evening was that ANY time I touched my mouse, I'd hear the clicking sound and exposé would activate. It seemed to get worse, then better, then worse again, seemingly at random. Sometimes, it got so bad that it would literally toggle back and forth between activated and deactivated, many times per second--while my hand was simply resting on the damned thing. I could hear the clicks. It was insane.

But it only did it seemingly at random, which pissed me off. So, I sought out a solution.

At first, I tried to take the mouse apart... but in fear of breaking the damn thing, I chose to find other alternatives. Scouring the web left me with nothing--apparently the only major problem people have with the Mighty Mouse has to do with the scroll ball. Alas, I was about to give up and bring it to the Apple Store when I woke up.

But then it hit me: maybe this isn't a mechanical problem, but an electrical problem. Could the Mighty Mouse be short circuiting? Impossible; I bought my Mac over the summer of 2008, and Apple makes some pretty high quality products so I doubt I'd see my poor little mouse go belly up in only a few short months.

Nevertheless, I began to test things. Systematically. Starting with the cord, I jiggled it. After a while of going up and down the length of the cord, I discovered that the problems stopped once I hit the base of the cord where it connects to the keyboard. Could this be it? No, but there's a reason, which I'll detail below.

See, the point where the cord connects to the keyboard is the point at which my hand and arm was completely off of my LAPTOP that was sitting on my desk! Once I put my hand/arm back on the laptop and touched my mouse, crazy shit began to happen again. This was it!

Upon my enlightenment, I smiled with delight--for a couple reasons. One, I fixed my problem myself (yay me!) but two, I don't have to waste time at the Apple Store looking like a total loser because my symptoms would never have shown up. Imagine: "Hi, my mouse is going crazy." Apple tech: "Looks fine to me." Me: "Fuck. Never fails; you go to the doctor for medicine, but magically, by the time you arrive, you feel much better than you did 30 minutes ago."

So I got all excited to write this post to share with the world my discovery, and moved my laptop from the desk to my lap, so I could access my keyboard. As soon as I touched my mouse, what do you think happened? Well I'll be damned: same problem. Mouse went haywire again.

I then put the damn thing on the floor (avoiding contact with it) and what do you know? Mouse is perfectly normal.

So the bottom line is this: this damned Mighty Mouse is sensitive to electrical impulses, such that if an electrical current flows through the top shell that's more than a human's, it throws the whole damn thing out of whack.

2.5 hours of my life wasted, but at least now I know, and so do you.

How to sync firefox bookmarks and passwords

Do you use more than one computer? Well then, this tip may be indispensable: keep all your bookmarks and passwords in harmonious synchronization across every single computer that you use.

One of the best things about Firefox is its extensions--the ability to add functionality to the web browser that didn't exist before--functionality that is limited only by the imagination of developers out there worldwide.

Do yourself a favor and download this must-have Firefox extension, Foxmarks. Add it to firefox on each of your computers, and you'll never have to leave your bookmarks or passwords behind again.

But what if you're on a public computer? No problem, just visit http://my.foxmarks.com to access your bookmarks. Your passwords will not be available to you from here, but at least you've got your bookmarks. Besides, if there's a password you really don't remember but it's on your home computer, that's ok because you could always just use LogMeIn and, well, that solves that problem.

Scotty: Log Me In

Recently I've found myself spending more and more time wishing I could log into my home computer from work. My home computer's a Mac, which explains why I can't simply Remote Desktop from my work laptop running Windows XP. In addition to that, the corporate firewall creates more connectivity issues than I knew existed. What a drag.

But then I found a service on the internet called LogMeIn. All you have to do is create an account, then download the LogMeIn software to the computer you want to log into from a remote location. Once that's done, remote control of your computer is as simple as visiting LogMeIn.com, and literally logging in. Once authenticated, you can click the Remote Control button and be connected to your home computer via your web browser. (Side note: for the best experience, you'll need to install a small browser plug-in, available for Internet Explorer, Firefox, and other browsers.)

Amazingly, this even works using the iPhone. If you're on a WiFi connection, you can access your home computer (or whatever other computer you've set up with the LogMeIn software) remotely and I must say it works great.

Best part: the service is free. You can't copy files or print to a local printer--for that, you pay extra--but that's why it's free. LogMeIn is willing to bet that if you start using its free service, you'll eventually come to appreciate the value of the added functionality of the paid services it offers, of which there are several.

Deceptive website example

OK, this will sound kinda geeky, but that's what this blog is about, right?

So I'm reading some of my mail in gmail this morning, and I did something rare: I looked at the advertisements to see how relevant they were to the context of my email. For reference, I was reading a notification that a billing statement was ready. Of the eight ads on the right hand side, only two caught my eye because they stood out from the rest--not in a good way, necessarily, but they were just different.

You see, while the rest of the ads had a green location of www.WhateverSite.com, these two that stood out had a green location address that omitted the www in replace of an actual word like "balance" or "bills". In this case, I decided to click on the ad with the location of "bills.iGrantCash.com".

I was taken to a page that threw me back to the late 90s with its dithered iGrantCash.com icon (complete with one sole underline under the letters "ash.com"). Anytime I see a web site with shoddy graphics, I immediately throw a red flag because these days, graphics should be very polished since our monitors can display millions of colors.

Anyhow, that was strike one. Strike two came when I glanced at the very prominent top right corner, which touted, "Total grant sites: 57. Sites that were scams: 56. Legitimate sites: 1." Of course, my first question was: is this one of the scam sites? Then I thought, nah, this must be the "1" site that is not a scam. Hmmmmmmm.....

What else did I see? Somehow, this P.O.S. site from the 90s had been featured on such prominent sites as MSN, CNN.com, AOL Search, NBC, CNBC, CBS, Fox News, Forbes, the list goes on. A critical thinker might ask, "how is this so?" considering the web site looks like a piece of trash, while the non-critical thinker (or citizen desperate for cash) just says "whew, that's reassuring." So, with a critical eye, I continued reading on.

The truth finally came at the bottom of the page, where I read this in the fine print:

"As Seen On" logos and trademarks are owned by their respective companies. This site is currently advertised on all the media outlets identified under "As Seen On" logo banner.

So basically, they feel like they can say they've been "seen on" MSN, Yahoo, and others, because they advertise on those sites. Thus it is their advertisement that has been "seen on" those sites, not actual articles about the great product itself, which is simply links to information you can find using any search engine.

So now comes strike three: every single link on this web page directs the unsuspecting visitor to the exact same page: http://www.igrantcash.com/NewForm.jsp?

This is a sign-up page that screams, "Congratulations You are Pre-Qualified

For Free FREE Government Grant Money"

Again, this new sign-up page features logos from major companies such as CNN, NBC, CNBC, and Fox News, which makes the casual web surfer feel comfortable and at ease. My first question was, "gosh, how did little 'ol me get pre-qualified to receive thousands of government dollars for free? was my 'click' simply enough for them to say OK?"

By the way, that sign up page asks for your name, address, city, state, phone and email among other things, and it's not even transmitting the data using the https:// protocol (HTTP Secure). In other words, it's sent across the internet in plain text.

After entering in some fake information, I'm led to a second page asking for my credit card information. This time, however, it does use the https protocol, so at least they're taking my credit card information securely.

That's a nice thought.

So the bottom line is this: you may have read this post and say, "you ain't teachin' me nothin' new, essay!" But that is not the point. This post wasn't written for you. This post was written for those who are skeptical about a site for some reason, but can't quite put their fingers on why. This little lesson, for example, would be a great thing to teach someone in your life who is just getting started on the internet, or who has been using it for a while, but isn't quite as tech savvy with regard to graphics quality, where links go to, and security protocols such as https.

Nicolaus Labor Day Parade and Craft Faire

Oli's Products is striving to spread the word that gluten free food tastes great, one craft faire at a time. Labor Day is typically a holiday when many people head to the water, relax, and have a BBQ. It's a three day weekend, so why not squeeze the Nicolaus Labor Day Parade and Craft Faire into your schedule? Get out of town, enjoy some good food, live entertainment, and explore the local arts and crafts. Come on by and sample our signature Sweet 'n Spicy Sauce or our Thick 'n Chunky Salsa. Check out website for the details.

Peppers are in Season

Here in Northern California peppers are falling off the tables at farmers market and the prices are going down in the grocery store, which can only mean one thing: Oli's Products is in full production. August and September are our busiest months for producing our two main products: Oli's Sweet 'n Spicy Sauce, and Oli's Thick 'n Chunky Salsa, as we strive to use local and fresh ingredients. We also have seasonal offerings, and currently have Oli's Sweet 'n Spicy Sauce: Mango in stock.

Did you know that the haberno chili is the second hottest pepper in the world? We use the habanero in all varieties of Oli's Sweet 'n Spicy Sauce and in the hot variation of Oli's Thick 'n Chunky Salsa. So whether you like a mild taste or you love the burn we've got the perfect treat for you.

As Fall slowly approaches, our craft fair season is gearing up, which means if you're in the greater Sacramento area you can come on out to our booth locations and sample our products in person. On August 17th you can find Oli's Products at the Loomis Basin Community Park in Loomis, CA. The fair is being held in support of the Lewy Body Dementia Association, Inc. and is going to be a fun-filled day of volleyball, food vendors, and crafts. And as a special treat, in addition to our two other product lines, Oli's Products will be introducing its death-by-chocolate brownies. If you can't make it out to see us in person and are having a chocolate craving we welcome you to make a special order at OlisProducts.com.

R.I.P. Randy Pausch (1960-2008)

In late 2007 I stumbled upon a news article about a dying professor giving his "last lecture"... kind of ironic, right? Well, that "last lecture" caught fire, garnering millions of views across the internet. What he was there to discuss was how to fulfill your childhood dreams, and the lessons he had learned on his life's journey. If you haven't seen it, here it is. (1 hour, 16 minutes. Grab a snack.) If you have already seen it, it's worth watching again.



Well, Randy died yesterday (Thursday, July 24, 2008) and news of his death is making tidal waves across the internet. In fact, Pausch has had such a phenomenal impact on people that news of his death takes up 50% of the search terms on today's Google Trends, in addition to trending very high on Summize (now search.twitter.com).

So, this is my little piece of gratitude to him: Thanks, Randy, for living a great life and living just long enough to talk about it. You're an inspiration for generations to come.

HOW-TO: Print USPS Click-n-Ship postage without the instructions

If you've ever used USPS Click-n-Ship, you've probably asked yourself how you can print only the postage and not the instructions, as Click-n-Ship uses the entire page; half the page for the postage, the other half of the page for the instructions. Once you've printed the postage, what more instructions do you need but to peel it off and stick it on your package?

Well, here's how to do it.

1. In the Print dialogue box, click Properties and change the page size from 8.5" x 11" to 8.5" x 5.5" (exactly half the height of your printer paper)
2. Print the page.

What should happen is that the postage prints and the instructions do not. If for some reason this doesn't work, you can always tell the USPS Click-n-Ship application that the page didn't print correctly, then adjust your print settings and try again.

If you've got some special drivers/software for your printer that allows you to create different "print profiles" (a one-click way to change lots of print settings at once), it's a huge time-saver. I called my print profile "USPS Click-n-Ship." I know, creative, right?

Did it work for you?

Disneyland: The Happiest (Gluten-Free) Place on Earth

I recently got back from a trip to Disneyland in celebration of my recent graduation from Sacramento State University, a fine public university if I do say so myself. During my trip, I discovered something about Disneyland that I never knew before: it is perhaps one of the (if not *the*) most gluten-free-friendly places on the face of the earth. My girlfriend, who has been gluten free for about three years now, was super excited to go to Disneyland after she read an in article in the Living Without Magazine that spoke of Disney as a featured gluten-free destination. Apparently the head chef in charge of all the dining establishments at Disney contacted her within 24 hours of sending an email.

When we arrived at Disneyland's City Hall to get this great list of dining options, I was impressed with the 10 pages of choices that were geographically categorized according to where you were located in the park. We were also allowed to bring in some gluten free snacks without any complications. My girlfriend also happens to have a disability and the staff truly bent over backwards to help her out. Between the advantage of being able to bypass the long lines and not being anxious about whether or not the food was going to ruin our day, it was truly one of the happiest days in the happiest place on earth.

Now, on to an entirely different gluten free experience.

During our trip, we also visited Universal Studios in Southern California and it was truly a night and day difference between the two parks. Universal had no literature at all to assist sufferers of celiac to dine safely. The Universal Guest Services department had reassured us that the staff was knowledgeable and that Debbie would just need to ask to speak to the chef at any of the dining options, but that did not go so smoothly. She had to shout over customers in line at the Jurassic Café to speak to the chef who was not knowledgeable about eating gluten free at all. In fact, he thought that if you remove the croutons from a salad it would be safe. She's a real trooper though; she ate a meal replacement bar that she snuck into the park, while I spent $7 on a Dodger Dog and a bag of chips (no drink included in that price; that's just ridiculous). Afterword, we left the park and enjoyed some Chipotle and some Pinkberry for dessert.

Next time we go to Southern California I vote to spend 3 days at Disneyland/CA Adventure. Between the overly chipper staff and their willingness to make sure everyone, regardless of diets or disabilities, has an equally pleasant experience, Disneyland truly lived up to its slogan of being the Happiest Place on Earth.

Review of Firefox 3

I have had the pleasure of using the Firefox 3 beta for some time now and, while initial versions were a bit buggy, the latest release candidate (RC 3 as of this writing) has really won me over with its stability and overall usefulness.

Here are my top 3 reasons you should switch to Firefox 3:

1. Bookmarks. At long last, bookmarks are now usable and user-friendly. Find a site you want to come back to later? Bookmark it with one click by lighting up the little star in the Smart Location Bar (more about that in a minute). By default, this new bookmark will be stored in the Unfiled Bookmarks folder, so you'll never ever have an unorganized Bookmarks list ever again.
   
   Should you later decide you'd like to organize this bookmark, you have two options: do it right away by clicking the star again (or double-click it at the outset) to bring up a simple organizing tool, or go to the full-fledged bookmarks organizer, where you can sort out all your unsorted bookmarks.
   
2. The Smart Location Bar (AKA the "AwesomeBar"). Instead of pulling up a list of mind-numbing URLs, Firefox now allows you to throw in keywords just like a Google search. The result set is nothing short of absolutely useful; the result is a list of sites you've both visited in the past and/or bookmarked, which contain your keywords.
   
   
3. Speed. Firefox has always been a little bit faster than Internet Explorer, especially if you used the FasterFox extension. Well now, I'm pleased to say that Firefox 3 is dramatically faster, including start up time and page loads. Users of Digg might notice that the site loads at least twice as fast and stories with 100+ comments now load in a fraction of the time. (This, combined with their revamp of the comments system makes the experience even better. Thanks, Digg!). Perhaps even more impressive is how snappy Gmail feels now.

For further review, head over to dria.org and check out this "field guide".

Qik for iPhone in private alpha testing phase

Hey all you iPhone owners out there: there's a killer new app coming. As previously noted and confirmed, Qik for the iPhone is under development and now in the private alpha testing stage. For those not in the know, Qik is a little app that streams live video from your phone to the internet and saves the stream so you and others can watch it later.

Digg.com founder Kevin Rose recently spoke with the CEO of Qik and confirmed that he'll be part of the alpha testing and it'll be installed this weekend. I'm curious to see how the video compares to the Nokias, but I'm not holding my breath that it'll be any better just because it's an iPhone.

Your thoughts?

Keeping it all in sync

This article is written for iPhone users on Windows who want to sync their Google services (Calendar, Contacts) but have found no easy solutions. It's not 100%, but pretty damn close.

I'll admit it: I'm addicted to Google and its plethora of services. I use its search engine every day, rely on its calendar to keep me abreast of my happenings, and who doesn't use Gmail? (If you don't, why not?)

I also own an iPhone, which doesn't directly sync with any of Google's services. True, I can access all of Google's services on my iPhone, but let's be real: it's still too slow over EDGE, and what happens if you have no signal when you need the info? You're out of luck. This is why, even though web apps are nice, native apps are still king.

I digress. Anyhow, iPhone *does* sync up with Microsoft Outlook, and with a service called Plaxo (currently in beta, as that seems to be the hot new trend these days), you can achieve 99% syncronization between your iPhone or other Outlook-syncing device and Google. (I'll tell you why it's not 100% in a minute.)

As usual, here are the steps:

1. First, sign up for a Plaxo account.
2. Next, set up your sync points from within plaxo. Specifically, set up a Google sync point and an Outlook sync point at a minimum. You'll also want to install the Outlook plugin that Plaxo offers to you during this process.
   
3. Once Plaxo syncs these two points, you're ready to plug in your iPhone or other Outlook-syncing device and perform a sync.

At this point, all your data should be synced up, with one exception (this is where it's 99% and not 100%). At the moment, Plaxo has limited support for syncing contacts with Google. Basically it works like this: Anything you do in Google will be updated in Plaxo. Anything you do in Plaxo, however, will NOT be reflected in Google. Ergo, if you make a change on your phone, sync it with Outlook, which then syncs with Plaxo and all the rest of your sync points including Google, poor old Google won't get the change because it's only one way: Google ---> Plaxo.

Not sure when they're going to fix that, but my solution has been to just keep all my contacts organized in Outlook and let it sync up with my phone and Plaxo, which then blasts it out to my other web services like Google, Yahoo, etc.

With this simple setup I've been able to keep most my information in sync with a minimal time investment. If you know of a better solution, please post it in the comments. Thanks for reading, and be sure to check out my other tips and tricks!

Firefox 3 Beta 5 - Memory Leak Screenshots

I know that it's still in beta, and I appreciate the speed increases over Firefox 2, but damn it, I thought the memory leaks were supposed to be a thing of the past? Posted for no other reason than I thought it was funny. I love Firefox. Really.

Below: Firefox consuming an ungodly 1.33GB of RAM, while utilizing 49% CPU.


Below: notice the ramp-up before my page file finally caps out, coinciding with the sudden hang of the program (50% CPU usage).

How to sync your flash drive with your computer

I've always hated the fact that the stuff on my flash drive is usually not found anywhere on my computer, much less backed up on an external device. The scenario is this: Write a paper at home, save it to the hard drive. Go to school to work on it, but guess what: it's not there.

The same is true in the opposite direction. I'm in a programming class working on an assignment, so I save it to my flash drive. When I get home, I have to plug in my flash drive, which has slow read/write speeds compared to my hard drive, and that doesn't work for me.

If you've ever had this problem before, I know you can relate. Enter SyncToy, a teeny tiny little program (971KB) created by some programmers at Microsoft that ends this "syncing sensation" once and for all.

It's as simple as this:

1. Install SyncToy
2. Set up a folder pair (tell it that you want the "My Documents" on your flash drive to sync up with your "My Documents" folder on your computer. (If it's your first time using SyncToy, a couple more steps will appear, allowing you to tell the program how it should sync your data.)
   
3. Click "Run"

As easy as this process is, there is one downside: as far as I can tell, there's no way to automatically sync your folders each time you pop your flash drive into your computer. If there's a solution like that out there that's easy and free, please post it in the comments.

2008 Arthritis Walk

And now for this public service announcement. Did you know that over 46 million Americans have arthritis of one kind or another? That's almost 1 in 5 Americans who have arthritis. Chances are, you know someone who suffers from this debilitating disease.

This weekend, my girlfriend (an arthritis sufferer herself) and I walked 2 miles in the 2008 Arthritis Walk to raise money for researchers to find a cure for arthritis. Over 400 people attended this walk in Sacramento, CA, with thousands more doing all over the country so as the days and weeks roll along.

Sacramento's Arthritis Walk has its own success story in Team Derek, a group of individuals who collectively raised over $5,000 in honor of Derek, who was diagnosed with arthritis when he was only five years old. Quite inspiring.

For more information and to find a walk near you, check out http://www.arthritis.org/arthritis-walk.php and raise awareness.

Migrating (moving) mail from Yahoo! Mail to Gmail

Wow, so I just discovered this open source tool called YPOPs! that magically gives you POP3 access to Yahoo! Mail. How does it do it? From the web site:

YPOPs! is an application which emulates a POP3/SMTP mail server and provides free POP3 and SMTP access to Yahoo! Mail. It does not depend on Yahoo's POP3/SMTP mail server. You can use a mail client of your choice!

I only stumbled across this tool because I was trolling through my old Yahoo! Mail account and noticed that I had some things in there worth preserving (i.e., moving to my Gmail account), so I decided to give it a try.

Long story short? Piece of cake. I took all my mail and transferred it over to my Gmail account. Even my sent mail, which at first seemed impossible because the program doesn't offer to download mail from your sent folder. However, simply by creating a user-defined folder called "MySentMail" and then moving all messages from the Sent folder into your MySentMail folder, you can then add that MySentMail folder to the download list within YPOPs! and then transfer it over to Gmail.

A big thank you to the developers of this useful little tool:

• Brian Gunlogson: UIDL patch, bug fixes
• Leif Jensen: UIDL patch, bug fixes
• Yogesh Khatri: Patches, bug fixes and new features
• Ssergey: For the translation of the help file to Russian
• Last but not the least, all the people who have provided their inputs for the help file.

Source: Qik coming to iPhone "pretty soon"

Still in its alpha beginnings, Qik (qik.com) has a really cool concept: stream live video and audio from your mobile phone to the web for anyone to see. The iPhone seems like the perfect match for this service, but it only supports various versions of Nokia phones at the moment.

This may be changing. I hear tell from a little bird that iPhone support is coming soon... "Pretty soon," according to my source inside Qik. While that is a pretty vague response, it's specific enough for me to be excited. Let's hope they get the interface right.

The only catch I'm wondering about is: Will it work on the current iPhone, which uses the EDGE network (slow), or will it only work on future iPhones that will support the faster 3G network? I suppose you could use wifi.

Your thoughts?

UPDATE 6/12/08: This has now been confirmed by Kevin Rose of Digg.com (He's getting it installed this weekend.)

iPhone speaker volume too soft/quiet? Try this.

If your iPhone's speakers just aren't loud enough, give this a try.

Just a fair warning: doing this will most likely void your warranty, if you care about things like that.

Items required: safety pin or other small, sharp object to prick small holes

1. Open the iPod application and start a song playing so you can hear the "before" volume and how much it sucks.
2. Locate your iPhone's speaker. (If you're looking directly at the phone, it's on the bottom-left.)
3. Using a needle, safety pin or other small sharp object, prick a few holes in the plastic layer that separates the speaker from the outside world. (Why did Apple put this plastic piece here, anyway, knowing how much it dampens the sound and makes the speaker all but useless? Who knows... maybe to protect against moisture damage? Oh well.) Prick as many holes as you'd like. I pricked every last one of those suckers.
   
4. Marvel at your ingenuity and enjoy the much louder volume of your coveted iPhone.
   

Kevin Johnson's mayoral campaign spoofing Caller ID

I just got a call from someone with a Caller ID of 000000000000 (that's twelve zeros). Normaly I don't answer calls from blocked numbers. However, I had not encountered a string of twelve zeros before. Naturally, I decided to investigate and answered the call.

Who might it be calling me that is motivated enough to spoof a Caller ID? Turns out it was the campaign to elect "Kevin Johnson for Mayor" of Sacramento, CA. The call girl asked for me by name, then proceeded to tell me all about why I should support Kevin Johnson for Mayor, before asking me if she could count on my support. I laughed, told her "not today" and hung up.

Pretty dodgy--why not just have the Caller ID show up? It's not like he has anything to hide... or does he?

iTunes won't close on Windows XP (SP2); uses 50% CPU

UPDATE 6/16/08: If you run NOD32 as your antivirus program, you might want to try this little trick (thanks, nka!): This article describes how to add iTunes to NOD32's exclusion list if you're running Windows XP. If you're running Vista, simply upgrade (free) to the new version of NOD32. If that doesn't work for you, try what I mentioned on the 5/16/08 update below.

UPDATE 5/16/08: Astute readers point out that simply disabling the Bonjour service as follows should solve the problem: Start > Run > services.msc > Double-Click on Bonjour service > Stop it > and in the Startup Type dropdown list, select Disabled. Then disable sharing in iTunes.

If you're reading this, it's probably because you're running Windows XP and iTunes won't exit/close/quit on its own unless you force it to quit (i.e., End Process in the Task Manager). You've been searching for a solution, but have found none.

Maybe you're just about to give up hope. I know I almost did. But then I fought back--and found an answer. Fair warning, though: it's a little extreme. You can experiment and cut out certain steps as you see fit, but I can't guarantee you'll enjoy the success I am currently enjoying. It's up to you.

And so, without further adieu, here's how to get iTunes back up and running (and closing on its own) once again:

0. Read through these instructions to have an idea of what you're going to do before you decide to do it.

1. Add/Remove Programs

2. Remove iTunes (In addition, I removed ALL Apple products, just to be safe, listed as 2.1-2.4)
2.1. Apple Mobile Device Support
2.2. Apple Software Update
2.3. Bonjour
2.4. Quicktime

3. Delete all leftover Apple-related files from C:\Documents and Settings\*
3.0. Note: do NOT delete anything in C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR USER NAME HERE\My Documents\My Music\iTunes (or wherever you store your iTunes music library file. iTunes will automatically use these files again if they're in the default location.
3.1. C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Apple Computer
3.2. C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR USER NAME HERE\Application Data\Apple Computer
3.3. C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR USER NAME HERE\Local Settings\Application Data\Apple
3.4. C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR USER NAME HERE\Local Settings\Application Data\Apple Computer

4. Delete all leftover Apple-related registry entries from the Registry
4.0. WARNING: Make a backup copy first. If you don't know much/anything about the registry, I'd skip this part unless you feel ballsy and like living on the wild side.
4.1. I use a tool called jv 16 PowerTools 2007 to make this task a little more efficient. Otherwise, it's time to just use the Find funciton of the Registry and do the dirty work.

5. Restart (save how-to guide, if you're writing one at the time) ;)

6. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES WHATSOEVER enable the "Share my library on my local network" feature. This will result in iTunes exhibiting the lock-up you experienced upon closing, and it is impossible to recover from this and reset your iTunes preferences unless you follow the painful steps above. This is about my 3rd or 4th time doing this, so I'm confident this will work for you.

Good luck!

How to effectively silence someone you don't like

Thank God for the internet. If it weren't for the internet, I probably never would have heard about congressman Ron Paul. You see, at one time there were just under a dozen Republican presidential candidates and it would have been easy to silence any one of them by simply not inviting them to the televised debate, as happened to Dennis Kucinich recently, or perhaps taking a more tactful approach by inviting them, but not asking them any questions--or begrudgingly asking them just a few.

That was the case in Wednesday's January 30th, 2008 Republican Debate, which I and many others like to think of as more of a he-said she-said bitch fest. CNN broadcast the debate, which is available on YouTube, in 9 separate parts. All in all, Ron Paul received about 10 minutes of airtime (if that; I haven't done a detailed analysis yet), and poor Huckabee received about the same treatment. Meanwhile, like two schoolboys picking a fight, McCain and Romney were allowed to argue the entire night and throw negative spit wads back and forth at each other.

At one point -- and I timed this one myself after rewinding because I couldn't believe how he got cut off -- Paul was given only 8 seconds to respond to something before the moderator moved on to McCain, who was allowed at least 3 to 4 times as long for his answer. Of note here is that Paul was the only one to come out and say "No" to the question of whether or not Reagan's appointee Sandra Day O'Connor was a good decision. Once the "no" came out and five seconds worth of reasoning was given, the shameless moderator moved on to McCain, making Paul look somewhat like a jerk because, after all, the debate was held in the Reagan Presidential Library, and we don't want to offend Reagan, even if he didn't always make the best decisions. Nobody's perfect.

Huckabee and Paul were both visually disturbed at how little airtime was given to them, as evidenced by Paul's resting his chin in his hand while listening to McCain and Romney duke it out about some technicality on the war in Iraq. It seemed like every time Huckabee was given time to speak, he thanked the moderator and reminded them that there were two men down "at the other end of the (short) table" who would like to participate, too.

Watch the entire debate and tell me if you don't feel the same way as I do -- that Huckabee and Paul were effectively silenced, except of course when they finally butted their way in to try and address some questions. And even then, when Paul asked if he could chime in about an earlier topic that both McCain and Romney had discussed at length, the moderator interrupted with, "I promise, Congressman Paul, you'll get to address that question in about two minutes---uh, I mean that's coming up in about 2 questions."

Bud did that question to Congressman Paul ever come up? Answer: no.

That is how to effectively silence someone, a very un-American act indeed.

Shame on you, CNN.

Help Cure Arthritis

There's a big Arthritis Walk going on during May 2008 across the country and I'm walking in honor of my mother and girlfriend, both of whom have arthritis (girlfriend was actually born with it if you can believe that). Our goal is to raise $100. Can we do it? Your donation is tax-deductable

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Migrating from Gmail's POP to IMAP: the (sort of) easy way

I've read a lot of posts about what happens if you use labels in Gmail and how they get messed up in clients like Outlook, iPhone, Thunderbird, etc. This article attempts to answer the opposite question:

What if I never use gmail's web interface because I always download and organize my mail in my own mail client using POP?

If you're like me and use Outlook 2003 (or some other program) to access Gmail's mail via POP, you've probably created some sort of folder structure to manage all those emails. If you're also like me, you rarely use Gmail's web-based interface to keep the messages organized there, too. The result is an organized mail folder system at home but an unorganized mail folder system on the web. Making matters worse, all these messages on the web appear to be unread and still sitting in the inbox because you've already downloaded them into your favorite email client.

Here's an easy--though time consuming--way to get things looking the way they have always been. Keep in mind, if you have thousands of emails, this process will take a *long* time and I do mean *long*.

The following assumes you've been downloading your Gmail via POP; you have IMAP enabled in Gmail; and that you have NOT YET set up your IMAP account in your favorite mail client.

1. DISABLE SEND/RECEIVE for your current POP-accessed Gmail account
   DISABLE SEND/RECEIVE for your current POP-accessed Gmail account
   DISABLE SEND/RECEIVE for your current POP-accessed Gmail account
   
   Why? Failure to do so will result in your email client downloading all the email you are about to move from your computer to Google's IMAP server. Don't ask me how I know this.
   
   
2. Start emptying out all folders in Gmail, since you've already downloaded them once via POP.
   
1. Starting with the Inbox, choose Select All, then right below that click "Select all [X] conversations in [Current Mailbox]"
   
   
   
   
   
3. Click the Delete button
   
4. Repeat for each folder until you have no mail left in any of your Gmail folders
   
5. Create your new Google IMAP account in your favorite email client
   
6. Transfer your previously-downloaded messages back over to IMAP
   
   
   
   WARNING: if you have a lot of mail in a particular box, it will take some time to transfer everything.
   
   
1. To make IMAP's folder structure replicate your email client's current folder structure, simply drag your old folder into the IMAP root (imap.gail.com). On the web, Gmail will treat these newly created folders as "labels".
   
   
7. Enjoy a cup of coffee while you wait. If you have amassed many emails over the months/years, I'd recommend finding something more productive to do than sip coffee. Perhaps you might make and eat dinner. If it's a really large folder, you might just want to let it run overnight or while you're out running errands, as it could take hours for the transfer to complete.
8. Repeat for each folder you want to add to Gmail's IMAP account.
   

To verify this process is working, initiate the transfer of the first mailbox's messages to the corresponding IMAP folder, then head on over to Gmail on the web and browse that same folder. After 15 seconds or so, refresh that page to confirm that the number of emails in that mailbox has increased.

While this method takes a while, it will be worth it in the long run; you'll have all your organization set up the way you like it, the way it has always been.

Hope this helps.

Do you keep getting the following error while using foxmarks?

Status: DNS Unknown host

If so, the solution may be something as simple as changing your password. In my case, my password had a pound sign in it (#). Once I created a new password without the pound sign, all was well in the world again. I'm not sure if this error occurs when there are other symbols in the password, but I know for sure that Foxmarks does not like the pound sign.

Happy syncing.

Windows Task Manager (Not Responding)

You know it's a bad day when Windows Task Manager decides it's Not Responding.

...and iTunes reports it's using 116MB of memory.

FAIL.

My Maui Jim Sunglass Repair Experience

If you own a pair of Maui Jim sunglasses, you may or may not be aware that they have a pretty kick-ass repair policy. What was your experience like? Tell the world about yours in the comments below.

My repair experience has been a positive one. So far, I've broken them three four times and only had to pay serious money for repairs once. The first two times, I must have still been under warranty and there were literally no questions asked; I just sent them in along with $8.95 shipping (as of 5/3/2013 it's now $10.00, but who cares), and they sent them back to me ASAP. The first time they repaired the broken piece, and the second time they replaced the entire glasses for free--bridge, temples, lenses... everything. AND they gave me a new case for them. All free of charge.

The third time, however, I received a call from Maui Jim and was informed that I was no longer under warranty since I bought them back in 2003. The bridge was bent beyond repair, so that would need replacement. $49.50. My lenses had pits and scratches in them and I could either do nothing, or they'd give me new lenses for half price. The temples were bent, too, but I learned those are always replaced free of charge -- "it's just something we do for the customer" to foster good relations, the service rep said. I think it's a great policy.

All together, it cost $79.50 to rebuild them into a brand new pair of $250 glasses.

Here's what I know about how they operate:

1. If you break them and you're under warranty, send them in. My experience was that they repaired everything with no questions asked.
2. If you're out of warranty, the bridge will cost you $49.50 as of this writing (9/17/07). Lenses sound like they are $60, as I was given half off and paid $30 for them.
3. Temples are always replaced free of charge if they are damaged
   
4. If you send them to Maui Jim without a case (i.e., you lost or damaged yours) it's possible they might send them back to you in a brand new case. UPDATE 4/18/13: I've later come to find out that not always is this the case. (No pun intended!)
5. Fast turnaround time. Sent them out on 9/7/07, got a call from Repair Dept on 9/17/07 (10 days later) indicating my glasses were received, repair work would be done right away, and glasses shipped out tomorrow 9/18/07, taking about 3-5 business days to arrive. Total repair/transit time: about 2 weeks.
6. Maui Jim Repair Department Caller ID was 309-691-3700.
7. Much cheaper than paying retail of $249 for a new pair
8. Repairing Prescription Sunglasses: Rx lenses that are damaged or need replacement should be returned to their place of purchase. Rx lenses cannot be replaced or remade through Maui Jim directly. However, if your prescription sunglass frame needs repair, you can visit their Repair Department's web page and, follow the instructions, and clearly mark "RX REPAIR" on the outside of the container.

EDIT 07/08/08: If purchased at Sunglass Hut, they offer a kick-ass additional "warranty," if you will. For the first six months, if you absolutely destroy your sunglasses beyond repair (run them over with your car, drop them down a garbage disposal, etc.), they'll give you a significant discount on a replacement pair, so long as you bring in the fragments of whatever's left of the old pair.

EDIT 05/28/09: Here's a link to their repair department.

UPDATE: 4/18/13: Damn! Broke them again! This time the temple snapped while I was taking them off (with both hands)... it seems that my particular style is prone to this kind of thing--you see, over time the temples develop small stress fractures and, as one might expect, they get worse the more you put the glasses on and take them off. Sent them in for repair again, so we'll see what the experience is *this* time! Hopefully they're just as good as I claimed back in 2007 when I wrote this post.

UPDATE 5/3/13: Got them back (no thanks to the Post Office ... technically they arrived on 4/27 but the Post Office held the package instead of re-delivering after they missed be because the package required a signature confirmation. Once again, Maui Jim is furthering my love for this company. My lenses had seen better days and while it was my temple that snapped, I joked around in my letter to them and asked if they had any spare lenses just lying around they were looking to get rid of, I'd love to be the one they donate them to. They did! And so, they continue to earn repeat business and referrals and free advertising from me as a Maui Jim advocate/evangelist. I'm so happy that Maui Jim hasn't lost sight of how to deliver WOW.

iPhone, therefore iAm

So I just got my new iPhone on Saturday September 8th. Man, what a joy this thing is to use. I will admit that there are a few shortcomings that have been covered by other sites. The first I encountered was that seemingly almost any iPhone case or cover that you buy is not dockable. (UPDATE: InvisibleShield is dockable, I bought one, and it's worth every penny.) Few are, and these few typically have the bottom-left and bottom-right corners chisled out of the case's design to allow dockability. Of course, you could get a screen cover to protect the glass screen, but after PC World's torture test, I'm not really sure if it's necessary.

A point to note: iPhone does not come with a native IM application. However, as of August 15th, meebo.com is your one-stop shop to temporarily solve this mess until native apps arrive on the scene from either Apple itself, or other third-party developers and a little hackery. With Meebo, you use Safari to browse to the main page. Meebo detects iPhone as the browsing device, and delivers a specially coded version of its site that looks and feels like a native iPhone app. Pretty cool.

The only downside to this is that if you move away from that one "dynamic web page" of sorts (i.e., open a new browser window or switch to another application within iPhone), you have no idea whether or not you've received any IMs--although it appears you remain logged into the messaging client as long as you have an internet connection.

Greasemonkey for Firefox

I know it's been out for a long time now, but I've just discovered the Greasemonkey extension for Firefox. There are countless reviews about it on the web, so I won't bore you with those details. Rather, I will simply endorse it and proclaim it an absolute must-have firefox extension if you spend lots of time on the web.

For those who don't know, Greasemonkey is a Firefox extension that basically re-works web pages of your choice to make them look and act the way YOU want them to. Click here (Wikipedia entry) for more details on that.

Meanwhile, I can tell you that I'm using Greasemonkey to make posting this blog entry a little more efficient, I use it to get rid of all the clutter on my MySpace profile editing page (say goodbye to every single ad they serve up) and it has proven exceedingly handy while on Digg.

Some other must-have Firefox extensions:

1. FasterFox
2. NoScript
3. Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer
4. Minute Minder for AT&T Service (if you have Cingular/AT&T Wireless)
5. Session Manager
6. IETab

Here are two extensions that don't get daily usage, but rather are very handy when things could be "just a little more efficient"

1. Split Browser
2. Viamatic foXpose

North Natomas Drivers Suck: Volume 1

We've all seen them: those pesky drivers who refuse to stop at the limit line. Or the antsy driver who's so eager to gun it after waiting so extremely long at a red light (about 3 minutes) that he creeps halfway into the intersection before realizing his light still isn't going to change. Then, much to his chagrin, he throws it into reverse--only to be caught with his hands on his stick as the light turns green.

These types of drivers are everywhere. Of this, there is no equivocation. But is it me, or do they seem particularly fond of a newly-developed neighborhood called North Natomas?

Quick Geographical Background: North Natomas (pronounced nuh-TOW-mus) is a neighborhood in the northern city limits of Sacramento, California that used to be farmland but is rapidly being developed by wide-eyed home builders and developers. Flanked with new homes, it appears that the sprouting community is also riddled with new drivers, too, as nobody here seems to understand what a limit line is, and how it differs from its double-sided cousin, the crosswalk.

Case in point: I recently got back from a kite festival in Berkeley, California, and was really excited to fly a kite. In fact, even though I believe I'll be getting one for my birthday later this month, I decided to make one out of printer paper and go fly it on this breezy day just for fun. As I departed my apartment on foot headed toward the park across the street, I did everything a good pedestrian should do: I pressed the crosswalk button, waited for the signal to light up, and made sure nobody was still driving on my side of the road. Then along comes Little Red Truckinghood.

Now, Little Red clearly had her mind in other places, which is understandable--we've all had a moment when we catch ourselves daydreaming behind the wheel. However, what set Red apart from others is that not only was her mind in another place, so were her eyes--pointed down toward the steering wheel, as if she were playing with her cell phone or reading a fine book. Once she noticed the light was RED (as in "not green nor yellow"), she slowly applied pressure to the brakes and eventually, she stopped--right at the very edge of the crosswalk I was walking on. As Figure 1 to the right illustrates, Little Red did indeed block the *entire crosswalk*.

As I walked toward Red, she shrugged her shoulders and mouthed the obligatory "sorry" through her tightly rolled-up window. Kite in hand, I evoked a blank stare at her and shook my head as I passed. Then, to my astonishment, I raised my eyebrow and one-eyed another car (this time a 2-door silver coupe) who just barely managed to brake enough to avoid the same blunder. And if you'll notice, not one damned car had the wherewithal to stop behind the limit line, even though a pedestrian was crossing the street. (For reference, since it's a little hard to see with the ass-hat drivers covering them: the first solid white line is the limit line; the 2nd and 3rd white lines are the boundaries of the crosswalk.)

Zero for three, North Natomas, not bad--just an average day in cow town where the drivers appear to be as virgin as the homes.

Flying High at the Berkeley Kite Festival

A thick blanket of fog looms over the towering skyscrapers of San Francisco's peninsula, but across the bay in Berkeley it's a different story. The sun is out, the sky is blue, and the wind is strong against your back. Perfect conditions for flying a kite.

As you make your way through the paved parking lot's shady trees and out into the bright open field, a swarm of acrobatic kites and airborne octopuses surrounds you, making the sky much more interesting to watch than any other ordinary day, as evidenced by the gawkers on the freeway who predictably slow traffic to a crawl.

Walking around the park, the aroma of corn dogs, fried calamari and good old fashioned barbecue fills the air. There's children running around with mini-kites and frantic parents chasing after them, yet you feel an ever-present sense of calm provided by those giant, flying pieces of ripstop nylon with their long, sloped lines tethered to spikes in the ground. You laugh as you hear the emcee announce the items currently on display in the lost and found: a purse, a cell phone, even a kid "about two, maybe three years old". Just a few steps more and you have your spot. Finally, a place to sit back and watch the show.

The fanfare begins and the sound of trumpets fills the air. With all the elegance of a Broadway ballet, the first kite launches glamorously into the air. Moments later, as if on cue, the second kite launches into the air, following the flight pattern of the first. It is clear that these kites are synchronized to the overture. Then a third launches. And a fourth. Fifth--no... sixth! Folks, we are now airborne--the competition is on.

The competitors gave a dazzling display of what feats and tricks kites can do when set to music. It was a kite ballet of sorts, and very pleasing to both the eyes and the ears. Perhaps the most enjoyable one was a couple from San Diego, California, who flew their two quad-line kites with such precision and delicacy that they danced and trotted along the ground using their pointy corners, then leapt into the air away from each other, only to come screaming back across the sky and--ERRT!--stop within mere inches of each other, appearing to kiss for just a few seconds before being whisked away from each other once more.

However, you're struggling to watch the act because of these two stunt kites in the test flight area in front of you. Curious, you go check it out--and decide it's high time you signed up for flight school. The flight instructor gives you the basic instructions, a little lesson about wind, and before you know it you're off and flying--well, sort of. As the wind and thermodynamics get the best of you, you struggle to maintain altitude, over correcting your unavoidable first-time blunders. Hey, who hasn't nose-dived their kite a few--no, more like many--times before getting the hang of it?

Finally, some smooth sailing... but you're not flying very impressively, given that your kite is just floating in space above your head for now. As you feel the wind begin to shift, the reins tighten and you feel it start to pull it to the left. Then right. Then way right--oops, time to go left again, but oh no! A stall! But how to recover? Alas, your attempts to recover are futile and once again the kite nose dives and performs a painful face plant into the soft, forgiving grass. Thankful that wasn't a person you just dive bombed, you thank your flight instructor for the lesson and find a seat closer to the competition area so you can continue on with the rest of the show. It feels good to be on the ground again watching the pros show you how it's done.

Suddenly, your attention is diverted as noises from behind and afar fill your ears. Ah, what's this? A parade coming through--how lovely! It's a convoy of Japanese men and women toting their traditional Machijirushi kites, which are indigenous to Hamamatsu, Japan made from fine paper and bamboo. As they inch closer, an unexpected turn sends them into a near head-on collision with you and other festival-goers as you all scramble to pick up your belongings and get out of their way while they make their entrance on to the competition and demo field. The feeling is comparable to trying to stop a moving freight train; it's hard to stop a train. That was a close one.

After the competition and demos, the Rokkaku Kite Battle begins. 30-something kits take to the sky, transition on to the battlefield, and begin. The goal: use the kite, the line and the wind (or lack of it) to down the opponents' kites and be the last one flying. You seem to like the black, white and blue kite, so you choose that one as the favorite to win it. One by one, and sometimes one-by-three, the kites go down as they get beaten and sawed apart from their operator's lines. Finally, an intense battle between the last three kites emerges, and lo--your kite is one of the three! You root for your kite and "ooh" and "ah" as it creeps higher and lower. In a final furious thrashing, the black, white and blue kite is the victor! You celebrate with a smile and check your watch. It's 3PM; time to go.

With an audible sigh, you head back to the shade trees of the parking lot--past the "octopile", past the zooming acrobatic stunt kites, and finally through the sea of calm, one-line kites floating overhead in the breeze. Your journey in the Bay has come to an end, and now it's time to leave the ice cold winds of the Bay Area and head back home to warmer pastures--AKA the Sacramento Valley. As you sit in this parking lot of a street waiting for each car to take its turn to get on to the freeway, you're filled with a sense of childlike fun and wonder, rather than the irritations of everyday traffic hazards.

You simply can't wait to get a kite of your own so you can relive the fun and excitement that kity flying can bring.

And so, when life gets you down, or you're just bored to tears, perhaps this advice is all you need to perk up and have some fun: "go fly a kite."

Private Domain Registration: It's a MUST

I recently registered a domain name. It's been a while since I'd done that and boy have times changed. Within 48 hours, I received my first SPAM phone call from APlus.net (caller ID 877-577-0877). Do a google search on this phone number and you'll find myriad people who've been called by APlus.

After doing a little research, I was ready for their next call. I received that call this morning. Here's how I ended the conversation in 48 seconds:

Them: "Hi, is Michael there? This is Andrea from APlus.net, do you currently have a web site up and running yet?"

Me (>) APlus.net (+)

> How did you get this number?
+ When you register a web site your whois information is published.
> Oh, so you're harvesting the whois database for information, then.
+ No, we're not harvesting the whois database.
> OK, so where do you get your information from then?
+ APlus: I don't know, but we're not harvesting the whois database.
> Ah, I see. Well would you please put my name on the "please do not call me ever again list?" Thanks.
+ OK, fine (she hung up on me).

30 seconds later I got four marketing emails from APlus. Here's what was at the bottom of each message:

This e-mail was sent to you because you recently spoke to an Aplus.Net sales representative and requested more information about our services. You are not subscribed to a mailing list and will not receive additional emails unless you request them.

Moral of the story: register your domain name privately. If using GoDaddy.com, this costs a mere 6.95/yr and uses DomainsByProxy. What this means is that DomainsByProxy's information is made public, not yours. For most techies out there this is common knowledge. But for people registering websites for the first time--or for those who it's been a while since the last time--be sure to spend the extra $6.95.

UPDATE 7/30/07: Haven't received any marketing materials from APlus, so it looks like I am in the clear for now.

Southwest Airlines can be expensive

Note to self: when purchasing air travel for someone else, make sure you list them as the passenger, not yourself.

This is the mental note I made this morning after an Internet Special fare, originally $118 round trip from San Diego to Sacramento, ballooned into a Reality Nightmare fare: $284.80 round trip for the same ticket. All because I had to change the name of the passenger at the last minute.

Even though I swear I listed the passenger name correctly--i.e., not myself, but the person I was buying the ticket for--somehow I must not have done so and so I got a phone call at 7:30 alerting me to this fact.

So, I called SWA to change the name but they said they cannot do that without me shelling out more dough--they would have to create a new reservation with whatever rates prevailed at that time. And so, I ended up paying an extra $166 for the tickets.

I guess it could have been worse.

Buy a Mac

Want to track a flight with a cool widget like this one instead of searching for a website then hoping it works with your browser? You're out of luck if you're on Windows. If I wasn't a lowly college student I'd buy me a Mac.

Calling all Yahoo! Widget authors: this is your opportunity to create a truly useful tool.

Safari for Windows is out

In its classic, secretive fashion, Apple has just announced the launch of its Safari web browser for the Windows platform. It works on both Windows XP and Vista. It still shows signs it's in beta form, as the application crashes every now and then when browsing certain web sites.

Can't really say much about it, other than I am pleased to see that much of the Apple user interface has made it into this program, right down to the aqua scrollbar, arrows, and smooth flowing dialogue boxes (try bookmarking this page in Safari, for instance). They even got the glowing buttons right.

However, this is a beta and there are plenty of things to complain about. Since there are thousands of other tech writers out there I'll leave the details to them. I just wanted to write this post in Safari to test how it interacts with different web sites.

It's no replacement to Firefox just yet since it's still in beta, but once it's a finished product for Windows, it'll be a contender. The one thing I really like about firefox is all the plugins. NoScript, FasterFox and the IE Tab plugins are truly useful, as is the crash guard built into Firefox. (If the browser crashes for some reason, you can restore your previous browsing session, for example.)

Motorola KRZR K1: A strong swimmer

For years I've been bashing the Motorola brand of cell phones because its user interfaces SUCKED. Fast forward to 2007: they still SUCK, but each subsequent UI does seem to improve.

But this is not the reason I'm writing this post. The reason I am PRAISING Motorola today is not for its software, but for its hardware design.

Over the weekend, I visited Bassi Falls, near Pollock Pines, CA. The base of the falls is formed by gigantic slabs of granite--and when wet, they get slippery. Needless to say, I slipped and fell into a shallow pool and my cell phone got wet. Hoping it wouldn't be too damaged, I set all the pieces of the phone (battery door, battery, sim card, phone) on my shirt to dry.

At the end of the day, I went to put my shirt on. Everything would have been fine, except for the fact that the wind blew part of my shirt over the phone and I have a horrible memory. So as I pick up the shirt, my phone goes tumbling down the rock and into the ice cold 4 1/2 feet deep pool of water.

After 15 minutes of hemming and hawing about how cold it is and how it'll be no good if I pull it out, I finally decide to go in after it, for the good of mother nature--I didn't want to contribute to leeching chemicals into the natural fresh water stream.

After I pulled it out, I dried it out the best I could, popped in the battery for shits and giggles, and turned it on. Yes, it actually turned on. But then, it started freaking out and going into emergency calls and calling 9-1 (fortunately it wasn't able to add in the last 1 to complete the 9-1-1 call). So, I turned it off and let it try out the rest of the day.

Long story short, it took just one day of drying out on my patio on an 82 degree summer day, and the phone is back in action after being submerged for over 15 minutes in an ice cold pool of water 4 1/2 feet below the surface.

...now if Moto could only make its user interface as water-tight as its phones...

FedEx Disaster Resolved

After almost a month working with FedEx, they finally did the right thing: they made a one-time exception and agreed to pay our claim.

I haven't received the check yet, but I was just told today that they'd be sending it out from Pittsburgh, PA on Wednesday of this week.


Lesson learned: Always, always, ALWAYS be 1000% clear that you have both the correct tracking number and the correct declared value. ALWAYS. Keep detailed documentation of phone records, and any photographic evidence.

I'm a patient and forgiving man; FedEx gets one more try. If it fails and the package arrives damaged or with missing contents, it's time to find another carrier. I really want to like FedEx because they are the least expensive and pretty reliable when I used them in another business (overnighting important envelopes), so let's see how round two goes.

For your information, here is the process, as I experienced it, if your package gets damaged:

1. FedEx accidentally damages package.
2. Original package is inspected, damaged contents are discarded, "balance" (undamaged items) are re-packaged in a different box with different packing material (in my case, they just threw the glass jars into an oversized box full of lousy peanuts).
3. Original labels are cut out from original box and pasted on to new box.
4. Box is shipped.
   
5. Recipient receives box, wonders What The Flounder happened to this thing???
6. Recipient (or sender) files claim with FedEx.
7. FedEx picks up package from recipient to inspect it, per the claims process.
8. FedEx inspects, then repackages with yet a different box and different labels, thus obliterating any original labels that might have helped your cause.
9. FedEx returns package to recipient with no (and I mean absolutely ZERO) packing material inside (such as peanuts, bubble wrap, etc).
10. Recipient faints dead away at how a package with fragile items, such as glass jars with habanero sauce, could get away from FedEx without SOME KIND of packing material to keep them from breaking.

That about covers it.

FedEx Disaster

My mom is a disabled pizza delivery driver for a national pizza chain, though because of her disability she won't be doing that for much longer. She stumbled across a habanero sauce/marmelade recipe one day and after many iterations of improving upon it and making it her own, she decided to see what people thought. They loved it.

So, I brought some back home with me from a not-so-recent Southern California trip to see her, and started selling it at local craft fairs for $8 per jar. The product proved to be popular that I sold out. I begged my mom to make some more and send it to me. We decided to use FedEx because they were the cheapest. Well, sometimes in life I guess you truly do get what you pay for.

This is our story.

Original shipment: submitted online 3 days before scheduled delivery date of May 1st. Claimed value: $450. Shipment type: FedEx Home Delivery.

My mom had packed the box precisely as the fedex rep had instructed. Double cardboard on the bottom to fortify the base from tearing, packing peanuts between the box edge and the contents, bubble wrap in between each flat of 12 jars (of which there were 4.5 flats)... everything right that you could do to pack a box, she did right.

However, the box I received (short, fat) looked nothing like the box that was shipped (tall, skinny). In fact, this is because it was not the box that was originally shipped; it appears the original box was dropped, half of its contents destroyed, and all of our receipts in the envelope (far right in the picture) were MISSING.

Here is what arrived at my doorstep:


Note that I was expecting twice as many jars, and packing peanuts were the only materials used to insulate the jars from hitting each other. This did not prove effective:


And that's one of the few jars with the label still in tact. Every other jar was either dented and/or had a torn label and/or was covered in sauce.

5/9/07: So, I was understandably upset because I was going to sell these things in a few days at a craft fair. I called FedEx and filed a claim, which sounded like a very easy process since they pay the claim in 5-7 days. "Great," I thought, "at least we can recover our capital and continue to make more sauce." This was on 5/9/07. I faxed the claim to two different numbers, just to be safe, and included all appropriate documentation. At the same time, I did as they told me and left the damaged contents at my apartment's leasing office for them to pick up and examine for the claims process.

On 5/17/07, I called back to check on the status of my claim because we hadn't received a check. Spoke with Pat in the claims department. It sounds like he can't read our pricing sheet and instructed me to re-fax pricing sheet and include this tracking number. Pat was to look into situation and call me back on my cell phone. Never got a call back from Patty Cake, Patty Cake, baker's man.

Furthermore, it seems that nobody at FedEx has a clue what happened with this shipment. There is no original invoice number, invoice date, etc. on my fedex.com account; they stated to me that over the phone it appeared there was no declared value, but yet I put a declared value online and over the phone. They are trying to retrace this online order back to the start to see if they can uncover the fact that I really did claim $450.

5/23/07 rolls around. Spoke with Carla Duncan in c.service. No direct # for claims dept. Claim closed (denied) on 5/18/07, then re-opened some time later because "additional documentation was received. Person handling claim, Jacquelyn, won't be back in the office until Tuesday, since Monday is a holiday. Fuck. I guess I get to wait some more.

5/29/07: 9:20AM. Spoke with "India". She says claims dept has denied claim--they say it was delivered on a different tracking number. Seems like nobody knows what the fuck they are talking about in this company, since yesterday I was told the claim was re-opened. India offered to leave a callback request with Jackie. We'll see if she calls back today. [Nope, no call back.]

5/30/07: 1:17 PM. Finally spoke with my assigned claims rep, Jackie (caller id 901-922-7000), who says that the tracking number starting with "889" means that the item has been repackaged, and that's not the tracking number they need for whatever it is they have to do (are they still trying to verify that I originally claimed a $450 value??). This seems ludacris to me, since, if an item is re-packaged, one would think it would be linked to the original tracking number in the database... and since I placed the pickup order with a CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE, you'd think there would be an original tracking number SOMEWHERE IN THEIR SYSTEM.

Welp, Jackie said she would have to do some more investigating and call me back tomorrow since she was about to leave for the day in 15 minutes. How convenient.

Curious, I wonder where my "damaged contents" package is since I shipped it on May 10th (it is now May 30th) and they said it'd be shipped right back to me. They must have looked at it by now and documented it, right?

Indeed, they had. But where was the package? I later found that they had delivered it to my apartment complex, but failed to put my apartment number on it. So, my apartment complex let it sit in their office for about 2 weeks before I finally called in to inquire.

When I opened the box I glanced in to see what kind of packing material they used to secure the GLASS JARS this time. At first glance, I was delighted with what I thought were those sealed bags of air that Amazon.com uses to ship BOOKS... (you know, the things that don't break and spill all over the place) ...but no.

To my dismay and utter SHOCK, it turns out they just dumped all the jars into a pink plastic bag, tied a knot at the top, and dumped that bag in another bag, with a knot at that top of it as well. Same way you might dispose of, you know, a dead human body.

Hmm, seems to me like they knew it was going to be a complete CLUSTER FUCK in that bag, "so we better make sure it doesn't leak too bad."

Below is what I received:

I just opened the box, haven't tampered with anything.



Inside of the bag.


The labels are practically see-through due to all the sauce they've absorbed.


Another gnarly picture of the chaos that ensued.

And finally, the video:

, shockwave-flash@http://www.youtube.com/v/MRzV-1AZ3pQ" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/MRzV-1AZ3pQ" id="">

Now... the claims process is STILL going on and it's unknown how long it will last.... but as it progresses, I'll post updates to this blog entry in chronological order.