pornstars on ecstasy

moving

2009-06-05T13:32:00.002-04:00

As much as I love this name, I think it's time to turn it into the site I intended it to be when I registered the domain. Anyone have any appropriate pix and vidz they can send me? Send it to me at geodee.com .

Sorta kidding, but I don't think this will be updated very much anymore. Instead of a 301 redirect (which I'm tempted to try to do just for the sake of trying it out), please update your bookmarks and/or subscriptions.

take this app and stuffit

2009-02-04T07:10:00.003-05:00

If you've been working on Macs anytime through the 90s, you're undoubtedly familiar with the program Stuffit. It was invaluable for file compression on a Mac, as zipping files would often render the files unusable.

Since the original developer moved on, Stuffit has become bloated and requires annual paid "upgrades." Very similar to what happened to RealPlayer. What was once very useful has become shitty, bloated, old-fashioned software, run by a company that will do whatever it takes to milk it's eroding user base.

So when I read about their useless software contest, where they ask for submissions on how you stuffit, I couldn't resist.

Stuffit is awsome. I regularly use it on my SE/30 so I can fit lots of files on my floppy disk. It saves a lot on postage, since I only have to mail one floppy instead of three or four.

It is WAYYYYYYYY better than using zip, because you can use stuffit on Windows AND Mac. Plus it's sorta free sometimes, and doesn't fill nag me to register, or offer costly useless version updates. Plus it never changes file associations without permission!

Stuffit is the wave of the future!

Yes, I really do feel much better now, thank you very much.

got zapped - cautiously elated

2009-01-25T05:57:00.005-05:00

I went through with it and got my eyes lasered on Saturday. Things are pretty awesome, but I'm still a little reserved about wholeheartedly gushing about the procedure, but all in all I'm very happy. Here's how it went down.

Pre surgery
I didn't need anyone to come with me, but it was nice of Lennon to come all the way from Whitby early in the morning to drive me. Whenever one of the staff would come out of a room I started to get a little nervous, but Lennon was good at distracting me from the distractions. First they did a final vision test and looked at my eyes.

I had a couple questions for the woman who was looking after me. First I asked her about dryness. I read that in their information package that if you have dry eyes, then you're more likely to get dry eyes after the procedure. It could potentially be permanent. I was a little worried about that, because I get dry eyes from wearing contacts. Her reply sounded like something she had read out of a book, which totally didn't even answer my question. I had to rephrase it a few times for her to understand. Eventually she said "no, I looked at your eyes, they're not dry." Jesus.

I read that (most?) places dilate your pupils before the procedure. I had a lot of trouble focusing when I had that done during the testing, and the reason they keep you awake during the procedure is so that you can focus. I asked if that would be any problem. It turns out that they don't dilate there. So I was somewhat relieved.

Next step was to pay and go through the post-op procedures. This is where I really started to get nervous. This is where I have to drop any tough guy pretensions—I was shitting bricks from this point on. I had the option to take 1mg of sublingual Ativan (lorazepam) to chill me out a bit. First I said no, then I changed my mind. I don't do well with stuff that should "chill me out," and I didn't really feel like experimenting. I asked if I could do a half, or put it in a bit and take it out. I must have sounded pretty bad. So I took it, then it got mixed up a bit in my gum, so I spit it out. But the pill was dissolved, and I swallowed what was left of it. I didn't realize that this was a mistake until after.

The surgery
Fifteen minutes later I was in on the table. The procedure its self wasn't too bad. I went in, the doctor asked if I had any questions. By this point if I still had any that would be nuts. I was asked to lie down on the table. They gave me two foam balls to squeeze and swung the table in place under the laser. The balls reminded me of what they used to do before anesthetic, when they got the person to bite down on a piece of wood.

They gave me the freezing eye drops and then went to work. I was way more nervous then I should have been. My teeth were gnashing and for a brief period I imagined myself outside my body. That was a little nuts, so I coaxed myself back in. The suction cup went on my eye okay, and the buzzing from making the cut with the microkeratome wasn't too bad. The rest of it was kinda fun. The light show was really weird. It started out centred and small, and then moved out, getting larger. I expected the burning flesh smell, but it still didn't prepare me for it. It wasn't bad, just weird. Replacing the flap felt exactly like how I expected, other then getting surprised by the instruments.

The second eye went the same. The only difference was that I could swear that I felt the microkeratome making the cut. Not any of the pain, just a bit of a tugging feeling. Like when you get stitches done.

Post op
When it was done they told me I did a "great job." I nervously laughed and told them "yeah, it was really hard work." I forgot to finish, so I don't think they caught that I wasn't being serious. I was directed to the other room where I could chill out in dim light for a bit. I could tell that my vision was corrected, but everything was still really foggy. Like I had slept with the same contacts in my eyes for two nights in a row. I updated my FB status, tweeted and texted, but it was pretty hard to see well enough.

This is where I started to shiver uncontrollably. This is what I mean by not being good with things that are supposed to chill me out. I'm usually fine with them, but while they kick in, I go through a brief period of disorientation and anxiety. As it turned out, this coincided exactly with the time I was on the surgery table.

I was given my first, and then second set of eye drops, then was directed to the room to see if the flap had moved. My third set of drops was missed, so the optometrist there put them in for me. Everything was fine, and I was told that I can go home.

Now I was really chilled out. I did a little googling on Ativan just before heading out. If you swallow it, it takes effect after 60-90 minutes. If you take it sublingually (under your tongue), then it kicks in after 10 minutes. That would have worked out pretty well for me. However, I read that you're not supposed to swallow for two minutes after taking it sublingually so that it gets absorbed. So what happened was that it kicked in enough for me to hit peak anxiety while I was on the table, and then it fully kicked in as I was leaving the office. Perfect.

At home
I wasn't allowed to watch TV, read, or be on a computer for 24 hours. This was very hard. I was recommended to go to sleep when I got home, but I wanted to enjoy my buzz so I did what I could to close my eyes. When they were open I would shift my focus points as often as possible. I assumed that they ban you from computers and reading because of all the repetitive minute movements.

Chantel came home, Lennon left, I took a nap, woke up, ate, taped the eye shields on, and went to bed.

Day 2
My vision was looking pretty good. I was able to drive down to my first follow-up appointment. It took two minutes for them to have a look and see that things were fine. I did a vision test. My left eye was 20/20, and my right... as the optometrist said was "20/20... ish." I had trouble determining whether it was because of undercorrection or if it was because of haloing. I'm still a little undecided actually.

I was given my receipt and a card which showed the correction that I had done. It was for -5.25 in my left, and -5.00 in my right. I had always worn -5.00 contacts in both eyes, even though my left was slightly weaker. I didn't think it was a full quarter diopter, but they apparently they thought so. I was a little miffed that they didn't actually tell me what they were correcting to. Something that I wouldn't have thought of until after.

Day 3
It appears that during the day my vision is super awesome. Definitely in the 20/15 range, like it was before when I was wearing glasses or contacts. There still is something that's not right. I can't put a finger on it exactly. It's like things are slightly blurry, but I can't isolate it to one eye. I'm fairly sure it's not a matter of being under- or over-corrected, and that it's part of healing.

In moderate light levels my vision is pretty good. Both eyes give me halos, but it's not too bad. It's at about the level I would be after wearing contacts at the end of the work day. At the point wehre I'm about ready to take them out, but I can deal with it for a few more hours.

At night I'm getting some decent sized starbursts, along with moderate haloes. It improves when I lubricate, but they're still there. It's fairly annoying. Not enough to make me want to stop driving at night yet. But it's disturbing because I can't turn it off. I know it's a part of the healing process, but I still get nervous that they might stick around.

I'm still very happy that I got it done, and I can only hope that everything continues to heal as expected.

maybe getting lasik done? or not?

2009-01-14T13:13:00.003-05:00

This started when I asked if anyone had Lasik done on facebook.

me: geo wants to know about lasik experiences
friend 1: i love it
friend 2: (emailed a detailed description of his experience)
friend 3: i wish i had it done sooner
friend 4: i had a lazer enema (followed by a detailed description of his experience)
friend 5: it was the best thing i had done, other than my sex change

Too funny! I replied in long to everyone here:

Thanks for all the replies from those of you who've had Lasik done—especially friend 4. Since I have the appointment already booked, I might just ask them to do that if I chicken out with my eyes. Feel free to skip ahead, I have a couple specific questions for the people who have had it done near the end. :)

Experience with Lasik MD
First I got checked out at Lasik MD, where they ran all the tests and they booked an appointment. I've read about some shops being done like an assembly line—this was a pretty accurate description. It was a very finely tuned assembly line to get me to agree to the surgery.

There were three parts to the exam, each time they were pushing my boundaries just a little bit further. First was the normal optometrist test. Next they dilated my pupils (which I had never done before), and did a few more tests. Just a bit outside my comfort zone. I was expecting that the last part was just pricing. But when I got into the room the woman said that there was one more test. This is where she froze my eye with drops and touched some sort of probe to it. It was all too slick, sly and polished. This is when she recommended I book my surgery. I could always change my mind later, but this was just to ensure that I get it booked before January fills up.

This reminded me way too much of those guys who go door to door selling electricity and natural at (inflated) fixed rates. Smells like a scam. Almost enough to turn me off completely. Almost. But this IS something that I've wanted for a long time, so can it be that wrong?

Anyway, skip the rest of the life story, the appointment is in a week and a half and I'm starting to do research. When booking the appointment I fully expected to bail on it, but once the time approached I started thinking about it again. Maybe they expect that to happen, I don't know.

Where to get it done?
I know I'm already booked, but there's no reason for me to change where I get it done if there's a need. I know Lasik MD is considered the low-end. I mean advertising $499 per eye is ridiculous and misleading at best. Even from what I read on Red Flag Deals, nobody has heard of anyone who has even gotten this price. It just goes to undermine the credibility of Lasik MD further.

But once it's all said and done, none of the negatives I've mentioned yet have any effect on the final outcome. I would get Zyoptix by an experienced surgeon. I don't have astigmatism, so it should be pretty basic. The pricing is less than getting it done at TLC, Herzig, or Yonge/Eglinton, but it's not enough to really make it a factor.

I feel like the technology is comparable, although it would be done with a microkeratome instead of intralased. It's hard to tell what to believe with these places. The companies that use microkeratomes say that's the best, the ones who use intralase believe that's the best.

The more questions I have, the more confused I get. Does any of this even matter?

As far as surgeons go, I know that's supposed to be the most important thing, but it's a bit of a wash. Any of the places sound like they have experienced and inexperienced ones. I'm not entirely convinced that an experienced one will necessarily do a better job. Maybe it's naïve of me, I don't know. Even the more experienced ones can screw up. There's a site entirely devoted to badmouthing Dr. Stein. I'm sure there can be problems anywhere.

Specific post-op questions
I'm really nervous about losing what I've got right now. The other day I wanted to see how far away the furthest recognizable object was. It turned out it was a hydro tower 6km away. Since then I've noticed just how good my vision is when I'm wearing contacts or glasses. I suppose it must have something to do with the cold air and the lack of smog, but it's insanely good. I don't want to lose that

20/20 vision- I understand that 20/20 is good, and they generally aim for 20/15. I realize it's very unscientific, but is it unrealistic to expect it to be as good as it is now?

Contrast- I've read some places suggest that contrast range is cut for everyone who has had Lasik. It's just a matter of how much. Some places say that 70% of Germans who've had it done are unable to pass the night driving test. Hah. That must be bullshit, but it does bring up a pretty big concern. Has anyone noticed any reduction in contrast, specifically with seeing things in the dark?

Halos, starburst, night vision, etc- It seems like it's still possible, just not super likely anymore. Especially going with the Zyoptix (or other custom guided laser of course).

Dry eyes- I was warned that it might not be a great idea to get it done if your eyes are already dry, but how dry is that? If I wear my contacts, usually by the afternoon my eyes are dry as hell, and I can't wait to get them off. I wear single-use daily disposables, so maybe they're just not very high quality.

Probably the biggest things I'd miss are the super crazy macro vision I get when taking off my glasses/contacts. That and it's much easier to calibrate a display for colour when your vision's blurry. I suppose those aren't that big of a deal, but I hear that the crazy wild close-up vision can be helpful when you're older. Then again, I guess it comes down to whether I want to wear glasses/contacts ALL the time now, or just some of the time later.

So after all's said and done I'm more confused then I was before. I was just about to postpone my appointment this morning, then I saw friend #5's wall post and changed my mind back. Maybe I should think about getting a sex change instead?

yearly cycling totals

2008-12-28T13:35:00.002-05:00

Just calculated my cycling totals over the past three years. 2006 was 1254 km. 2007 was 1642. 2008? 426.

I registered for the 11th Annual Friends for Life Bike Rally yesterday. This year I'm booking the time off work well in advance. Like now. I think I'm going to concentrate on just cycling this year. I keep getting close to doing other things, like running, but I think that completely killed my ankle trying to do it last year. So it's back to just cycling—and lots of it.

i should have known better than to read this

2008-10-24T18:35:00.002-04:00

Good on Apple for donating $100,000 toward opposing a ban on gay marriage in California. Bad on me for actually reading some of the comments in a Mac rumours forum. There are many that are blatantly outright offensive, but there were a couple threads that left me scratching my head in disbelief:

MacPossum: While I find it disappointing that Apple would publicly come out against Prop 8, [cut]

leekohler: Why are you disappointed? Gay people are people too.

MacPossum: Of course they are. I treat my gay friends the same way I would treat any straight person. However, marriage is a privilege given to a man and a woman and I believe that because someone has chosen to be gay [emphasis mine] does not automatically grant them the same right.

************

extraextra: [cut] it couldn't be that perhaps banning gay marriage is discrimination and a violation of human rights, could it...

Aranince: Oh lets not discriminate against anyone! Don't discriminate against robbers, murderers, sex predators...they are people too! Don't treat any different!

Skunk: Are you equating homosexuals with robbers, murderers and sex predators?

Beric: I view their activities as morally the same, yes.

However, I have no problem with associating myself with any of those people groups. But I still view them as confused people who need serious help.

WTF?!? Why the fuck do I allow myself get trolled like this?!?

i'm officially a geek

2008-09-26T16:33:00.004-04:00

I had a problem printing from InDesign after doing an update to Leopard 10.5.5. I found a couple posts randomly of people having similar problems, but no fix. So I fixed it myself. And told everyone. Sorry, I need to stroke my ego for a sec and show how it has spread all over the place. Haha!

This is the day I broke my geek cherry.

...although it wasn't really that big of a deal, it was just a modern version of the extension swapping we all used to have to do in the dark ages of the Mac. :)

excuse the mess...

2008-09-10T11:10:00.002-04:00

...while I learn how to monetize my life. Hah.

mississauga bus riders can't read road signs

2008-08-19T15:51:00.003-04:00

I'm so glad unions are here to protect people who desperately need help. The National Post outlined a plan which was to be put in place on Mississauga Transit buses. Drivers would have had to announce the next bus stop. Good thing the union helped out... who knows what would have happened if this plan had gone through!

Plans called for drivers to indicate stops by either shouting or using a microphone. Signs would be installed on the city's bus stops to assist drivers in remembering which location came next on their route. But the city's transit union quickly objected to the plan, arguing it would be dangerous to ask drivers to read road signs while driving.

"You cannot drive and read -- that's impossible," said Vito Tomas, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1572.

I'm absolutely dumbfounded.

wine in a box

2008-08-19T13:30:00.003-04:00

If there's one thing I've learned from doing wine tastings for Churchill Cellars, it's that boxes and especially Tetra Paks are actually the ideal packaging format for most wine. It's great to see that echoed in The New York Times. Hopefully that will help break some of the negative stigma associated with drinking "wine out of a box."

Although some sommeliers may scoff at wine from a plastic spigot, boxes are perfect for table wines that don’t need to age, which is to say, all but a relative handful of the top wines from around the world. What’s more, boxed wine is superior to glass bottle storage in resolving that age-old problem of not being able to finish a bottle in one sitting. Once open, a box preserves wine for about four weeks compared with only a day or two for a bottle. Boxed wine may be short on charm, but it is long on practicality.

I'd love to see brands sold in both formats on the same shelves. I think it's necessary for consumers to be able to compare them side-by-side—boxes would be a no-brainer for most people.

iPhone 2.0 observations

2008-07-21T14:59:00.002-04:00

I grabbed pwnage on Sunday and did a fresh install of 2.0 on my 2G iPhone. I highly recommend it. Not quite as simple as ziphone, but close enough if you know what you're doing. Unfortunately for me Insomnia doesn't work on 2.0, so I had to manually edit a plist file (com.apple.persistentconnection) to keep my phone awake. I set it to poll for email every 28 seconds (since my phone dies every time sleep is activated, which happens after 30 seconds). So the battery will die just as quick as before, but at least I get my gmail within an average of 14 seconds.

It's amazing how solid and well devloped most of the applications I've tried out in the app store are. Apple's remote app (there are far too many programs with that name) is brilliant. You can control iTunes from your iPhone. There were programs that you could do that before with, but this one looks and feels exactly like when you're browsing local music.

Truphone looks promising. I tried a call on it and it seemed to work very well. I may use that to come up with a better solution for making and receiving calls. I could probably use a bare bones phone plan with unlimited incoming, and considering I have wifi almost everywhere I use the phone, my cost will basically be 6¢ a minute. Brilliant!

I also paid for Tuner. It tunes into radio stations. It doesn't work too well over EDGE, but once my 3G phone comes in I can't wait to use it. This is probably the greatest thing ever. Free radio from anywhere, available anywhere. It might take a while for people to realize how awesome thing is. Satelite radio without the satelite.

intense cycling

2008-07-02T12:37:00.006-04:00

I think I'm a pretty intense person. I don't mean that in a self-centred boastful way. When I'm interested in something, I'm really into it and then move on for a while.

stuff i've been intensely into lately
I built a hackintosh as an upgrade to my Home Theatre PC. This is my home computer, which is attached to my HDTV. It now runs Mac OS 10.5.2 very well. I'm now able to watch Blu-ray encoded videos in full resolution. I also got my feet wet in overclocking. With regular Macs, up until last week that was only really possible with hardware modifications. But on a hackintosh you can go just as crazy as you can with a normal PC. I had never seen what Blu-ray even looked like until putting it together. Crazy awesome. It cost me $400 in upgrades to my PC for a new motherboard, processor and video card and it's faster than any other box I've used. Ironically, I'm unable to get it boot it into Windows. It's too bad, since it would have been a very decent gaming box.

I broke my iPhone. I dunno how exactly. It was either from the 2 foot drop onto hardwood, or by getting damp after leaving the top down in the rain in the S2000. I've broken it a few times before already and always brought it back from the dead. This time not so much. It works when plugged in, so I'm probably going to be keeping it around, permanently plugged into the car.

I upgraded stuff at work. I picked up an Xserve off craigslist and moved everything onto there. It's nice having an actual server instead of repurposing an old desktop. Now I'm using a repurposed desktop as a backup server. It mirrors our shares nightly, and acts as a backup LDAP mirror too. I'm intensely interested in geeking out and figuring out how to support our company (and potentially others) technologically as we grow.

I've been paying attention to the prices of things. This is a big deal for me... I've always been able to justify spending money in ways that might seem reckless. Now I can go to a store and look at the price of chicken and know if I'm getting a good deal or not. I used to think that as long as I wasn't buying it in a restaurant it was positive. Hopefully I can ride this one out for a while. It's very similar to watching food intake.

stuff i've been intensely not into
I've been completely anti-social. I totally overdid it on facebook. I read everything by everyone, spoke to everyone, met up with as many people as I could. It was just too much, and too intense to keep up for longer than a year. In other words, I haven't gone through any non-work related email or spent any appreciable time on facebook in months. Don't take it personally if I haven't replied or commented on anything. It's not just online either, I feel awkward talking people I've known forever. I blame overstimulation.

I've been out of the loop watching my food intake and keeping my exercise levels up. I don't know why this is. Maybe because I'm going to miss riding to Montreal this year. I know there are other goals, but I'm just not feeling it right now. I feel really out of shape compared to this time last year, and it's discouraging when I'm trying to compete. I need to modify my schedule to make this regular. It doesn't help that I've been dealing with injuries too. I think it has to do with the lack of consistent exercise.

I haven't been doing much web work. The magazine has been coming along, but not at the rate I would like. There are a couple other projects that I need to get moving on, but it's hard without feeling inspired. Maybe some new software will get the ball rolling. I think it's time to try out Expression Engine again. Once the ball gets rolling I know it'll be hard to stop.

Cars and driving. Absolutely not feeling them at all. Maybe it's a bit of overstimulation with that too. There are a ton of awesome cars in our neighbourhood. Every day I see at least one car that sells for over 200k. It's gotten to the point where now when I hear someone with a Gallardo accelerate hard, I half-heartedly yell for him to quit making so much racket! On the other hand, the V12 Murciélagos haven't bothered me yet—maybe there's still some hope. When it comes to driving I just don't want to do it. Give me a subway, my bike, or even a pair of walking shoes any day. It's ironic how as a kid getting a license and a car was my freedom, and now it feels like they're the things preventing me from having it.

tempest in a typo

2008-07-01T13:47:00.002-04:00

It's amazing how quickly emotions flare and then subside these days. It appears the potential cancellation fee for an iPhone is not $7700, but only a maximum of $400. Typo. Jesus, you'd think such a large company would think to proof their fine print before hitting the submit button.

Here's my communication with Elizabeth Hamilton from Rogers today:

[blah blah blah, see my last post for what I said to her]

Thank you for your email. There is some incorrect and confusing information in the marketplace. iPhone 3G bundles released June 27 are not the ONLY price plans available to our customers, they are the high value plans that allow our customers to use this device to its fullest and offer considerable savings over separate voice and data plans that exist in market today.
As always, our customers have many choices, they can use their existing voice and smartphone data plans if they wish, including for example, selecting from our new data pricing (ranging from $30 for 300MB to $100 for 6GB or $50 Flex Rate plan) and then adding a voice plan that suits their own needs, or they can choose a voice and data plan to best suit their individual needs.
Customers do not need to take the value packs, and can order most other features a la carte, such as $7 for Caller ID.
With respect to existing customers, all customers' accounts are unique. If desired, customers can keep their existing voice service plan and pick a separate data plan (not in the iPhone 3G bundle) to meet their needs.
They will need to check their upgrade eligibility but any customer with a monthly service fee that is over $30 for example, can upgrade to an iPhone 3G at $199 (for the 8GB model). Other pricing may be available depending on the customer's individual information. If you are interested in this exciting device, I hope that this information is helpful to you. Thank you. Liz Hamilton

Cool. That's been said on other sites and blogs, but it's reassuring to hear. However it didn't address the issue about $1100 cancellation fees. So I replied:

Hi Liz. Thank you for getting back to me about this. I've heard the information you've just emailed me about other places too. I appreciate that, and right now I don't have much of a problem with that. I know the rates are much more than they are in other places in the world, but that's always been the case with Canadian wireless. In fact as it stands my bill WILL be lowered. Right now I'm using the $65 unlimited data plan. Or I could use another of your new, much friendlier data plans.

What actually was the last straw for me was this:
http://www.rogers.com/cms/html/iphone_vpterms.shtml

The ECF is the greater of (ii) $1100 or (iii) $220 per month remaining in the service agreement, to a maximum of 400 (plus applicable taxes), and applies on each line in the plan that is terminated.

I first read it as, if I want to cancel an iPhone plan, I will be subject to the lesser of $1100 or $220 x whatever months are left in my contract. So that would mean that I'm on the hook for $1100 if I decide to cancel my phone before there are 5 months remaining in my contract. Then when I reread it I saw that it actually says greater. So if I bought an iPhone and decided to cancel my contract after 30 days I would be liable for $7700! You must realize how ridiculous this is. I sincerely hope this is a typo or miscommunication. There are a lot of people who are absolutely livid after reading this!

There is the point where it says "to a maximum of 400," which I hope would be what was actually intended. The way it reads now is ambiguous as to whether it means $400 or 400 months. $400 would be in line with what US customers are paying for early cancellation. As well in the US they are offering iPhones without contracts for a $400 premium. http://www.tuaw.com/2008/07/01/doin-the-wacky-atandt-math2/

Would you please be able to clarify this? I will get the word out immediately. Thank you.

Then I hit up the wirelessnorth.ca thread that got our panties in a bunch again. Someone said it was a typo. Then someone else pointed to the French version of the page.

Maybe we jumped a little quick. But what I find the most surprising is how we wouldn't put it past Rogers to do something like that.

So I guess I'm back to the front of the line again. Ha!

iPhone cancellation fees

2008-07-01T09:38:00.004-04:00

I realize that my last post was a little scattered—there was a lot going through my mind at once. Now I've had some time to calm down and direct my energy a little bit. Here's a recap of what's gone on this week:

First Rogers announced iPhone rate plans. Most people say they suck. Compared to voice+data plans from other companies they do. Compared to iPhone plans elsewhere in the world we are paying the most.

Potentially due to all the negative backlash, it has been reported that you will now be able to use a wireless plan you already have, as long as you add a data plan. Similar setup as they have elsewhere in the world.

Then Rogers announces that there will be a $1100 charge for canceling your iPhone plan before the mandatory 3-year contract is up. That's right. For $50 more you can buy a brand new MacBook. Usually they charge something like $20 per month for each month left in your contract to a maximum of $200. Now it's $220 per month! What happens if you break your phone? Will you be forced to pay $1100 for a replacement? I broke my current one within six months... it happens to a lot of people.

That is the last straw. I've emailed a bunch of people at Rogers to tell them what I think.

Hi, I just had a look at your new July 11 rate plans and I'm very disappointed. I would be saving about $20 a month compared to how much I am paying now for similar service from Rogers, however that still is muchmore than I would be paying to get similar service from another company. I would have been willing to live with it. Despite all the resentment I have towards Rogers for billing problems in the past, I would have been fine with paying a premium for a premium product. However, I just read that there will be an $1100 contract cancellation fee. That is absolutely ridiculous.

July 11 I will be canceling my Rogers account. This is the absolute last straw. Almost everyone I know who says they use Rogers has done it with a disclaimer. "I only use Rogers because they're the only mobile provider who lets me use my grey market phone," or "I only use them because they're the only ones who don't nickel and dime me over ringtones." Whoever has come up with these rate plans and terms and conditions obviously must have no idea how much resentment there is towards Rogers as a company.

Personally, I was almost at the point where I accepted using Rogers' services as a necessary evil. I stopped complaining to anyone who asked. I even minimally complained when I had to deal with an issue where I was inexplicably charged 50% extra for US roaming. I've been paying a minimum of $200 a month for services that I thought were not too much worse than I would be getting from somewhere else. But not anymore.

I understand that this is a business. I understand that this is a unique opportunity for the company to take advantage of a situation where they can make a lot of money. But this is not the right way to do this. I will be canceling all my Rogers services. I will also be doing this at work, where 70% of us are currently with Rogers. I'm also posting this openly on my blog, endlessly tweeting about how disappointed I am, and passing this on to everybody I know on Facebook. There are a lot of people who are buzzing wildly about this—I highly suggest you address this problem immediately.

I'm a little too angry to be able to get my point across professionally... whatever, that's my style. I purposely left out any references to iPhone in the email, because I'm sure that by this point they must have email filters to weed out complaints. Hopefully they'll actually get to read this one.

I'm also considering printing out flyers with this information and handing them out outside of the closest Rogers store on July 11. Yes it's that big of a deal.

I realize I might be sounding a bit fanatical. I just really like my (broken) iPhone. If you don't have one now, going without one is like going without a phone. Remember when you had to make plans before you left the house? Setting up meeting times and places and hoping that the other person shows up? It's like that but so much more. You've literally got the world in your pocket. From reading blogs at the gym, to keeping updated on news, to settling arguments on wikipedia, to looking up addresses, phone numbers and directions. It's insane how reliant you become on it. You just leave the house, then figure out what you're going to do.

This is worse than the negative billing episode of '95. Hopefully enough people will band together and force them to back off, the same way we did then.

edit: OMFG, I misread this to read a maximum charge of $1100. It actually says a minimum charge of $1100. This means you can be forced to pay anywhere from $1100 to almost $8000 to get out of an iPhone contract! It was bad before, but this is absolutely criminal.

holey fuck rogers wireless sucks balls

2008-06-27T14:27:00.003-04:00

Quick rant. I've been waiting for the new iPhone. $200 for a new one vs. $200 for a replacement screen. No brainer, right? Not quite. New packages are online now. Looks horrible. But compared to what I'm paying now it's actually an improvement. At least I think it is.

Right now I have a $50 voice plan, which includes 700 minutes. Plus $65 for unlimited data. Brutal, but whatever. Then add on unlimited text and something else that I don't even know for $25. I was wondering why my bill was so fucked up. Serves me right for shopping for rate plans over the phone talking to a representative.

The biggest problem is I have no idea how many minutes I'm actually using now. I seriously doubt I'm using 700 minutes during the day. I checked my bill, and it combines the 700 minutes with my free weekends and evenings. So what the fuck does that mean? How am I supposed to tell what plan I'm supposed to have? Ridiculous. Retarded.

Please Telus, hurry and build your GSM network. Rogers wireless fucking sucks.

To duplicate my current plan with an iPhone plan I would be going from $150 to $120, taking a hit of 100 daytime minutes. An improvement for sure... but I could realize much more of one if they'd send a proper fucking bill. Or at least let their online billing work. Fuck it sucks.

Why don't they just sell airtime based on per minute usage? They are making a fucking killing by double-charging everybody and locking them into inappropriate plans.

On the positive side, I just noticed that my Rogers connection at home got bumped up to 10 Mbit/s. Insane!

cuban destination

2008-05-13T13:53:00.005-04:00

Last time I was at a resort was 30 years ago in Bahamas. Needless to say I don't remember much other than the way the cleaning lady made the bed and how I enjoyed my first English muffin with butter. So it was a very different experience from the types of vacations I'm used to.

Cuba was always my first choice in Caribbean destinations. The cars, the history, the sea, the contempt for their closest neighbour. Not to mention being able to see how socialism can actually succeed in a North American setting (yes I said succeed—at least on some levels). I figured the beaches would be great anywhere, but at least Cuba has other stuff going for it too.

Turns out I got to spend a lot of time by the pool working on my tan. It's a nice tan but...

I think I get the whole point of going to a resort. It's supposed to be relaxing and chilled out. No worries, just hang out and do what you want. But to me that felt more like a jail. Don't get me wrong, it was a really fucking nice jail... but still.

It's not like there was a shortage of things to do. There were excursions to different islands, deep sea fishing, SCUBA lessons, day trips to Havana and Varaderro, scooter rentals, kayaks, jeep trips into the forests... pretty much anything that you could ask for was there. But after spending as much money as we did to just get there, it was hard to justify spending a couple hundred extra to take a boat to see a better island with a better beach and better snorkeling. So I tried sitting by the pool. The beach was nice, but the pool is where we all ended up.

The day trip to Havana completely soured me on leaving the resort on any organized excursions. There was so much potential, but so little of it was realized. The architecture was uber cool. I adore urban decay. I could have spent all day with a camera and a bottle of water. Our tour guide babysat us through all the tourist traps—having to contend with people selling everything from cigars to charlie to on-the-fly caricatures drawn as you're walking by. People walking into your pictures and asking for money. People with no hands begging for a change. Guaranteed if you make eye contact with a local they will be asking you for something. Entirely unenjoyable. The cigar factory tour would have been a lot easier to digest if it didn't feel like a 30-minute infomercial for the cigar shop next door.

The resort was nice. The wedding was perfect. The food was actually quite good (if you chose correctly). The service was hit and miss. I'm sure if consistently tipped well it'd be more of a hit, but even then I'm not so sure. We tipped the cleaning lady well and she did a good job. Not exceptional, but better than usual. I get the impression that at that class of hotel that the service staff have worked their way through the crappy places to get there, and it's almost like a retirement for them. They've already proven themselves and now it's the gravy train.

The watersport rentals were pretty much useless. A half hour in a sea kayak isn't anywhere near long enough, plus all the interesting stuff is outside their boundaries—although I'm sure if you tipped well enough they'd look past their self-imposed restrictions and you could do what you want. The music was the biggest pain in the ass. Every morning at 10:30 they'd play one of the two CDs they had very loudly. Then someone would come on the mic and speak some incomprehensible hybrid of French, Spanish and English, trying to get people to come dance. Annoying.

The best thing was having everyone there. That's what made it for me. Being able to go out for lunch or breakfast at any time and running into friends is the best. There was always someone who's up for doing the same things as you... even if it is just hanging by the pool.

I really needed to experience a vacation like that. It's a good feeling to not have to do anything. To be able to get up when you want, and to do what you want. It was an awesome destination. But I don't want a destination—I want a journey. I want to actually do something. Not something that comes in a box.

I want challenges and solutions. I want stories and misadventures. I want to be forced to have to communicate with someone I don't share a language with. I want to be stuffed on a stinky bus to some village with a bunch of locals. I want to accidentally end up on the wrong end of a train, heading to some place I need a visa to get into. I want to sleep in a train station of a place I've never heard of. I want to spend four days in bed with explosive [ahem] stomach issues so I can be forced to read the first book I've read in years. Those are things that happened on my other vacations, and that's what was missing in Cuba.

When our plane was diverted to Havana most of the people with us were aggravated and stressed out. I left there wishing more things happened. Things were too smooth, too predictable.

I guess it's kinda like life. Either try and control change or revel in it. I choose the latter.

chasing my own drunk ass

2008-04-26T14:04:00.002-04:00

I was in the air whether I wanted to ride today or not. I looked at the weather report before going to bed last night and it said thunderstorms. I figured I'd make a judgment call in the morning, and I was glad I did. It was a gorgeous sunny morning.

My phone said the departure time was 7:40, and I figured I'd ride to Kipling station to get a few extra k in. I was there a little after 8, so I just started the ride on my own, figuring I'd catch up to everybody like I usually do.

About a half hour in I got a tweet about the transit strike. Makes sense why nobody would be out riding, since most of the riders come in by subway. Instead of chasing everybody else, I concentrated on chasing myself from the ride last year. My GPS was showing how far ahead of myself I was the last time on the ride.

By the time I got to around 35k I had a flashback to the same ride last year. I was having a conversation with someone about how hungover I was and how that ride was almost unbearably hard. And I thought I was still drunk. Maybe I'm not in that much better shape than last year. Haha.

Here's the ride:

To top it off when I got home I checked my google calendar and it said the ride started an hour later. Apparently my synch between calendars is off by an hour.

It was a win though... 74 km total. I'm happy with that.

a walkman for vinyl records

2008-04-25T12:48:00.003-04:00

Kottke shows no love what would have been my dream DJ tool. This would have eliminated the unbearably long wait every Thursday at Play de Record to... uh... play the record you grabbed off the shelf.

orthotics rock

2008-04-24T09:20:00.002-04:00

Quick post. Orthotics ruled my world today. Even though I'm still in pain from yesterday, I threw my old shoes on with my orthotics in them last night. That totally eliminated my ankle pain instantly. Feeling bold (maybe a little stupid too), I woke up today and did the same run as yesterday. Exact same distance. It took me exactly the same amount of time. My heart rate was exactly the same—in fact if you lay my HR graph from this morning over yesterdays, they are nearly identical. I've never seen such consistency. As I hit the front door of the building, my GPS "virtual partner" finished too. The difference this time was there was no pain.

It's not to say that it was completely painless. The insides of my feet are red and sore. I think my feet have flattened more since I had the orthotics made. It's time for new ones I'm sure, but I just can't get over how much of a difference a small piece of foam made. It's crazy. I may be back on track now. :)

As an aside, I've run 91 km so far this year. In the big picture that's not really that much, but for me... big deal. I've only ridden my bike 56 km so far—a long ways off from last year's total of 1642 km and 2006's 766 km. That should be at least doubled by the weekend. I can't wait to ditch the mountain bike on Saturday and put in a serious ride.

running outdoors = bad ankle

2008-04-23T15:20:00.002-04:00

I'm so sick to death of all these issues. Ankle hurts. I'm going to try my orthotics again. Stupid body. I hate it. But on the positive side, while it was working I managed to coax it into a 4k outdoor run this morning. I woke up with this crazy urge to run outside. My first. Yay. Hurts though. Stupid.

If you're reading this on facebook, click through and you can see my route through Rosedale. It's mornings like this that make me really really happy for where I live.

Oh yeah, and just around the corner a house collapsed. In the comments: "This is just the first sign of the housing market collapse. Looks like they got out just in time."

carless living

2008-04-15T12:10:00.003-04:00

I'm thinking about it, but I don't know if I can do it. A year-long challenge to see if I can live without owning a car. I've been obsessed with cars since I picked up my first issue of Car and Driver in May 1987. 21 years ago!?! Wow.

The past couple years have almost completely killed off any joy I've had with cars. Problem after issue after money sucking problem. Plus traffic has become ridiculous. Try getting anywhere on a Saturday afternoon without traffic. It's insane. Not to mention that people seem to keep getting stupider. The past couple weeks I've noticed a huge increase in people driving like retards—myself included.

The lease on the S2000 is up next spring. At the very least it looks like some very interesting cars will be coming out between next spring and the one after. Taking a break would either make me really miss driving and cars again or it will further cement my discontent.

I don't have a very transit-friendly lifestyle right now. I reverse commute from midtown to an area in Scarborough that was intended to be serviced by an expansion of the SRT. It's nearly a dead zone on the transit map. It takes an hour to get to Scarborough Town Centre, but a half hour by bus to go the last 3 km to work. Alternatively I can take the Yonge line to the Sheppard subway, but the bus across Sheppard is smelly and slow. It takes less time, even after the factored walking time.

Cycling to work is a great option when it's nice out. I haven't finalized my route yet, but it's somewhere in the area of 25 km each way. It took 45 minutes when I lived on Davisville, so it should still take less time than transit. Showering at work isn't bad, since I'd still have to do that at home anyway.

On top of that I work in Newmarket once a week and one weekend a month. I would have to be pretty serious about successfully working at that from home. I could cut down some trips up there, but not all. Which reminds me... stop writing and get back to work!

various updates

2008-04-14T16:29:00.005-04:00

...on morbidity
When it's my time just throw me in a burlap sack and bury me under the closest tree. Use the money saved to get everyone together, have a party, and forge meaningful relationships. Hah. Seriously though. I'll make a podcast or something. At least in death I can guilt the captive audience into actually listening to my music for once. ;) Or distribute my iTunes library to anyone interested. Or writings, blogs, posts, emails... I dunno. Whatever. Open source me. That'd be pretty cool. I hoard way too much data, might as well let it loose.

...on running
I should have kept quiet in my last post about being confident that I will be able to run without hurting myself. The next run I got some serious ankle pain and clicking noises on rotation. Similar to what my shoulder felt like. It got better a week later, but it's not fully healed yet. Sucks. Maybe I should start using orthotics again. I'm very disappointed, but at least it's pretty much cycling season now. Hopefully it'll get better sooner rather than later. Maybe I'll take it easier next time. Maybe no marathon for me this year. Boo.

...on cycling
I'm not sure if I'll be able to do the ride this year. In fact I'm pretty sure I won't. Considering I personally paid half the money I needed to fundraise last year, that's a pretty big expense. I don't have the time, energy and resources to put in a proper fundraising effort either. So I've decided to spend the time off work and the money on something that seemed more worthwhile to me this year. I really enjoyed last year's ride, and would love to do another... it was not an easy decision.

On the positive side after reading Tanya's last post on riding with the Randonneurs I think that might be a good fit for me. I know when riding to Montreal last year I was wishing we could cover more ground in a day. Maybe twice as much? Check out Randonneurs Ontario for more info. They start off with nice 120k single-day rides, through 27 hour 400k rides, up to 75 hour 1200k rides! Just crazy enough for me.

...on swimming
Still haven't done it yet. The pool in Columbus was too small, and I've been way too busy catching up from consecutive weekends out of town. I'm hoping that in two weeks Kristine might be able to give me some pointers while she sips mojitos by the pool. [nudge nudge]

...on Columbus and soccer
Columbus is a really nice small city. Not what I expected from a midwestern rust belt city. The actual soccer game was disappointing, but the smoke bombs thrown on the field and segregated seating gave me an idea of what it must have been like in England years ago. I got a kick out of the light hearted insults after the game:

You guys aren't singing anymore... EHHH?

Yeah, well we've got universal health care!

I'm undecided as to whether that sounds more European or less.

...on Quebec City and French
We didn't start the fire—it was always burning. It certainly answered the question of why upon arrival the city smelled like a barbeque. Chantel and I watched a video in a museum about the history of Quebec and Canada, which went on to discuss the future of Quebec in a predominantly anglophone North America. Picture Celine Dion singing to a backdrop of some high-tech transportation being built by Bombardier. Brutal. The tone was alarmist, as if the English language was threatening their lives, their culture, and their economy. I can understand how some people might take that and jump to the conclusion that anyone who speaks English is a threat. It seemed to echo how many Canadians stereotype and antagonize Americans.

...on Kim and Giles' wedding in Cuba
I didn't think I would be able to go. A combination money and timing pretty much killed any hope. It was a pleasant surprise when Sue found a vacation package that saved us 25% over what it would have cost. Even more surprising was that it was cheap enough that Chantel decided to come too! I didn't want to sacrifice the ride, but I'm happy. I would rather support my friends... not to mention it's a pretty sweet vacation to get out of it! I haven't been anywhere south of Florida since I was three. It'll be awesome to have so many friends on my first trip south.

If I get to the point where I'm counting down days/minutes/hours until we leave on twitter and facebook just shoot me... then throw me in a burlap sack. :)

contemplating a tri again

2008-03-27T11:17:00.006-04:00

I've been so excited about actually being able to run lately that I'm already starting to think about the next step. The last time on the treadmill I bumped up my speed halfway through by another .2 mph, so now I'm up to 6.6. Crazy. I hear that treadmills are notorious for being inaccurate, so I picked up a footpod for my Forerunner. Not only will I be able to track my heart rate, but speed too. Along with that come calories and a whole swack of new data to pick apart and analyze. I can't wait.

After a little over a month of running I'm really starting to feel confident that I will be able to continue at this rate. It still hurts and my lower back is still unhappy, but it's been getting better and easier. I just hope it doesn't swing the other way again. So now I'm thinking about taking on swimming.

I assume swimming should be easier on my body than running or even cycling, but it's still going to be harder. Big water kinda scares me. Pools I'm mostly cool with, but I haven't been near one in years. I don't even know where to go to start. At least I ran a lot when I was a kid, and I've cycled a lot in the past few years. I tried swimming across a pool in Poland 25 pounds ago, and that was a serious struggle. With less buoyancy from less geo it's going to be even harder. And I hear that the gains are a lot slower to realize. 400 metres doesn't sound like much, but I don't want to get my hopes up for no reason.

I suppose I could wetsuit it and backstroke my way through the swimming portion of a triathlon. I'm way more comfortable on my back since I can at least breathe freely and keep relatively unstressed. But...

On facebook I'm tagging my triathlon friends, Caius, Robert, Sandy and I think Marko too (unless you're just into running/cycling), as well as anyone who's got swimming listed as an activity. Does anyone have any tips, suggestions, or comments on how to get started, or even where I should be going to do this? I know there's a pool at the Goodlife at Yonge and Bloor which isn't far from home, as well as one at Yonge and Finch which... well I guess I could go there on the way to work in Scarborough.

Awesome, excited.

i'd cry if someone wouldn't let me scam them too

2008-03-20T17:25:00.003-04:00

I don't know if any of you have been following zibri and the iPhone hacking scene the past while. Basically this guy named zibri used an exploit a someone found and created an application that cracks iPhones and iPod Touches and unlocks the phone for use on any network. Super awesome. It's so much more reliable than the old methods and bloody easy too.

Today zibri got pissed off because google decided to suspend his adsense account. He amassed $4000 worth of clicks by persuading visitors to his page to click on his adsense ads. Something to the effect "once I get a third of all visitors to click on an ad, I'll be able to continue development."

In plain English it is spelled out in the adsense ToS:

... publishers may not request that users click the ads ... publishers participating in the AdSense program ... may not encourage users to click the Google ads by using phrases such as "click the ads," "support us," "visit these links," or other similar language

In other words he was trying to scam advertisers out of $4000, and now he's crying like a baby because they won't give it to him.

After all it's all about money.
ADSENSE robbed all the money in the adsense account
gained in ONE MONTH of advertising on this site.
No reason given.
No explainations.
No nothing.
$4000 in advertising (thanks to YOUR support)
just vanished.
Well, I don't really care so much about money
I am not even selling ZiPhone but I wanted you all
to know what's happening.
I'm disgusted.

I politely tried to point out his error, but for some reason he elected to delete my comment. :S

the sub-prime mortgage crisis illustrated

2008-03-20T13:51:00.004-04:00

I suck with money. But this really helped me understand what's going on in steamertown and the rest of the US. The Credit Crisis, Illustrated.