Ryan Thomas Goodenough

One night, I was talking to my parents about Macs and I said, “Oh, I should check eBay to see how much my iMac G5 goes for nowadays.” I got on and found out that several had sold for 800 dollars or more. Wow! Considering that I paid about 1200 for it 2 years ago, that’s pretty good! Especially when you can get a new mac today that can run windows/linux and is about 4 times faster for just 400 dollars more.

So, needless to say, I put my iMac G5 up on eBay, so that I could afford a new Mac (I had been itching to get one, especially since I was now working on stuff at work where I could really use a PC). A week later, my iMac sold for 850, I packed it up, and shipped it out, with insurance. At the UPS Store, the sales rep/co-owner told me that “Oh, these “fragile” and “this side up” marks on the box will get ignored by all the workers”–great!! Well, good thing I packed it well.

On Monday, I got an angry (deservedly so) email from my buyer, who informed me the computer had been damaged during shipping. So, I had to refund him his money (losing about $100 from eBay/PayPal fees and another $25 so that he could ship it back to me). I looked up the insurance policy on UPS and pretty much the only time they will give you anything is if you have them pack it. Otherwise, you’re SOL.

I got the computer back on Friday and brought it into the Apple Store in the afternoon. It clearly had been damaged by someone dropping the box. The actual stand had been bent and the power supply was damaged. Estimated cost of repair? $250 (so now I’m down $375, if that’s all it takes to fix the thing). Granted, the computer will be good as new and I will either send it back to the original buyer or put it back on eBay, at a loss of $375. So much for getting a new computer for only $400.

Moral of the story: If you send it by UPS, have UPS pack it. Otherwise, there isn’t any way you can prove to them that they damaged your parcel. Hopefully, on Mars, there isn’t any need to transport parcels and UPS Store employees will be stuck doing whatever it is that “UPS Stores” sell besides shipping materials. Good luck with those mailbox sales!

As you can see from the photo to the right, I harvested my AeroGarden herbs tonight after a good weekend of growth. I got a lot of Italian Basil and quite a bit of mint (my two favorites from my current selection). It’s nice that I can get fresh herbs even though we got a frost last night. Ah, the wonders of eco-technology.

For those of you with access, there’s a new comic up. Hope you enjoy it!

So, I downloaded the new iPhone firmware tonight and decided to just go ahead and install it, even with all of my apps installed on it. Much to my pleasant surprise, the install went perfectly fine, though it uninstalled the apps I had installed (I understand the need to do this–who knows what might have broken if they hadn’t done it that way).

The new iPhone wireless iTunes store is just amazing. It’s a full-fledged iTunes store (browse music, buy music, look at album art, etc). Even more impressively, the preview track function works flawlessly. Yes, that means that wherever you are, you can get a 30-second preview of pretty much any song you want. That’ll be pretty darn handy in some conversations I find myself in.

Update: Well, I guess it’s not completely amazing. The WiFi iTunes store only functions on a wireless network, not Edge. That’s too bad–and much more useless.

I have been a fan of Matt Nathanson ever since he hit the scene. Along with Howie Day (hence the screenname–go Bangor!), they represent some of the best new sounds in male folk/rock music.

I’m excited about this new album from Matt and the lead single has a much more rock feel to it than has last few albums like Beneath these Fireworks. Sort of reminds me of Howie’s transition to the UK-rock sound on Stop All the World Now. A lot about this song reminds me of Goo Goo Dolls songs–a great sound to it, but doesn’t necessarily have the biggest hook to it. Not that it needs to–Car Crash performs nicely without a huge build. And I may listen to it more than once a year, unlike most Goo Goo Dolls songs (still like them though).

A-

Wow, this is getting bad. For the second time *this month* I am upset at Apple. Not as upset as before, but still rather hot under the collar.

As you may know, I like to mod my iPhone. I have a lot of great applications like Yahtzee, dictionaries, NES games, and other great stuff. Now Apple just released this statement:

CUPERTINO, Calif., Sept. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple has discovered that many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone’s software, which will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed. Apple plans to release the next iPhone software update, containing many new features including the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store (www.itunes.com), later this week. Apple strongly discourages users from installing unauthorized unlocking programs on their iPhones. Users who make unauthorized modifications to the software on their iPhone violate their iPhone software license agreement and void their warranty. The permanent inability to use an iPhone due to installing unlocking software is not covered under the iPhone’s warranty.

The key part here is this line:

Users who make unauthorized modifications to the software on their iPhone violate their iPhone software license agreement and void their warranty

I haven’t unlocked my iPhone (which permanently changes a file on the phone). All I’ve done is add some things. At any time, I can just click “restore” and my phone will be as good as new. It seems like Apple is mad that so many 3rd party applications have been released, so they’re trying to cut down on the usage with this new firmware update coming.

My main complaint is that I would go with Apple apps if they were coming along at any reasonable rate. But it’s now 3 months since I got my phone and not a single new program has been added. Meanwhile, hundreds of 3rd party applications have been released.

According to a lot of people, Apple is only targeting the unlock applications, but if not, boy will I be mad at them. I guess this is wait and see time…

This is a special edition of the People Who Should Be Sent to Mars series, Things Who Should…blah blah.

What is up with bags that, as soon as you bend down to pick up something, fall off your shoulder?! I know that the ladies understand this issue–those big purses that for some unknown reason,* happen to fall off your shoulder at the worst possible moments.

My personal favorite is when I’m packing up for a trip and I’m carrying a couple bags, suitcases, etc. and there’s that one over-the-shoulder backpack that is resting on my shoulder. I bend down to grab that last plastic bag and the stupid thing starts sliding down. I swear at it, try to fling it back, and eventually decide to leave it at my elbow. Now, I’ve got this wicked heavy backpack resting awkwardly on my elbow as I try to bring everything out to the car. Thanks!

I’d like to send all of those stupid bags, purses, and other annoying shoulder thingies to Mars, where they will effortlessly annoy everyone I’ve sent up there.

*Yes, I know that the “unknown reason” is gravity. And yes, I understand how it works. That doesn’t mean that it’s not annoying as all heck!

My AeroGarden has really taken off. We were able to pinch our Italian Basil and Purple Basil tonight and used the clippings in a delicious tomato basil pasta that Emily made. In another week and a half, the garden will be ready for harvesting. Exciting times! It’s nice that as things get colder and deader, the AeroGarden is growing more and more!

Trying to ignore the spelling…

Manu Chao’s voice at the beginning reminds me of a hispanic Tom Petty. Actually, while the overall sound is nothing like a Heartbreaker’s song, he really does sound a lot like Tom Petty. Which, by the way, is not a bad comparison.

The song is not terribly exciting, but flows quite nicely. The guitar work in the bridge is impressive and provides a nice break to the song. It continues to build throughout the end of the song, providing an entertaining last minute for our ears. The lyrics touch on some less-than-perfect global situations, hence the “Rainin in Paradize” title.

B-

This week’s personality profile is:

Mimickers

My car, Freddie, lacks cruise control in his current state (he might be getting an upgrade sometime within the year). As such, I occasionally fluctuate in my speed. On some of these long trips, I’ll look down at my speedometer to find that I’m down 5 MPH from the speed that I wanted to be going. Not surprisingly, a car is now behind me. I speed up and the car speeds up. Not really tailgating, but just following kind of close.

10 minutes later, I notice that I’ve slowed down again. This time, I’m going 7 or 8 MPH slower than ideal. The car is still behind me. It’s not like it’s a one-lane road here. There’s a passing lane and no real traffic problem. But the car is still there. I speed up and the car, once again, speeds up. By this point, I’m pretty sure I have a mimicker.

Now here’s the test: If you want to know how if you have a mimicker, go through a phase of slowly speeding up and down, covering a range of 15 or 20 MPH. This is what I usually do. A mimicker will stay close behind you, never passing you and occasionally getting too close.

Basically, these drivers are so lazy that they can only drive by following your bumper. I don’t even really need to send mimickers to mars. They’ll probably just follow some work zone speeder or smoker onto the rocket.