New Title

I'm going to be redesigning this blog pretty soon, the first change will probably be a title change and go from there. I might also get my own web page, but that would mean a centralized theme for the blog (gadgets maybe?). This is going to be a long term process, so don't expect anything to happen within the next month.

Phones...

I keep having two problems with my Mogul (PPC6800), one is a not so serious one and the other is somewhat serious. I've had the phone exchanged about six times, and except for one, they have all had the same problem.
The first problem is that every so often when I want to check a text or an email, I will select the message and instead of taking me to the message it will go back to the today screen. It's not a third party app, or a problem that I am causing (even though on more than one occasion Sprint has tried to say otherwise). How do I know it's not me, even though it has happened to numerous devices? Well, because I know how to troubleshoot a device and narrow down what may be causing a problem. I've done that with the mogul and even when I have only my contacts on the phone, it will exhibit this problem. Sprint has told me that there is no know issue on their end about this, and I have two friends with the same phone and they don't have this issue...odd.
The second more serious problem is that the Mogul has a limited amount of RAM (about 22-24MB after the OS is loaded). I have recently won a free license to Opera Mobile 9.5 and this is going to be a real problem.
I'm debating on whether I should switch the phone to the Touch, I actually hate the device, but it has twice the RAM of the Mogul and I doubt I will run into the same problems, there is also no WiFi, which I would like. The other phone I'm looking at is the 800w (has everything the Mogul has), I like this one a bit more, although the screen is a higher resolution (320x320 vs 320x240/240x320), some programs are not compatible with that screen size and this could pose a problem.
I wish the Touch Pro would be released soon...
An opinions out there would be greatly appreciated.

The Dark Knight

Watched yesterday (Friday), and it's well worth to watch it (maybe even twice). I was disappointed with some small things, but I wont say what. I want you to go see it. Now.
The Joker (Heath Ledger) is good, I've been reading some comments about an Oscar for Mr. Ledger, but honestly I don't know yet. He was good, real good...psychotic good. Jan. 2009 is 5 months away and who know, a greater performance might come along.
Still, go watch the movie if you haven't yet.

Where's My Moral Compass?

I lost my moral compass, if you see it can you please return it. It's small and sometimes bites, but other than that it's in OK condition (hardly used).

Getting Real

It's been a busy time; as you can see by the frequency of my posts. I graduated from college in mid May and have been looking for full time employment in the Twin Cities (MN) area. I don't have plans of going back to Chicago anytime soon, and I've grown to like it in Minnesota (I even became used to the winters here).
Some updates:

1) Job hunting is terrible, especially when I keep reading of job cuts and budget deficits everywhere.

2) Student loans are awful, in fact, that is the only reason I am seeking full time work and not pursuing graduate school. My loans are just to big to let the interest and principal pile on.

3) Having no health insurance is not that scary unless you get sick (really?!?).

4) It's not just about pursuing a degree in what makes you happy that matters, future potential also is, in my opinion, equally important. I have friends from high school that went to a tech/vocational school and have been earning $50-$60k a year since they graduated. I'm hoping to barely get a $35k/yr job. However, it's true that they are pretty much stuck doing what they are doing now, and the potential for my income to grow is far greater.

5) Going off of #4, I remember when employers did not specify (back when I was looking for a job in high school) what major you needed to have to get a job, all that mattered was if you had your BA/BS in Liberal Arts, or job experience. Now, I find it more common that employers are looking for someone with a Liberal Arts degree who majored in Business Administration, Public Policy, Economics, Psychology, etc. I wonder what changed?

6) I've been slowly working on my evaluation on the different cell carriers that I've had, so far with Sprint it has been fine. Verizon was fine as well, and so was AT&T, but there are many positives and negatives for each. I'll be working on the review for another while as I want to be as thorough as possible.

7) I've grown to dislike Apple as a company, their products are fine, I just don't like the way they do business. The same goes for Google, Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner, Sprint, Microsoft, and many more. Will I stop buying their products and services? From some I will, other I wont. Some I dislike more than others and some it is a small issue that isn't that important.

8) I need a freaking job!

VZW contract ETF

I just got off the phone with Verizon Wireless about canceling my contract with them. I was hoping that I would be able to get a chance to cancel and not pay my ETF. Luckily I had a great opportunity to do so; I "live" in Morris, MN an area where Verizon has no native coverage yet (they have a roaming agreement with Unicel, who they bought out, but for some reason still have not made the full transition). I was willing to pay the ETF if I absolutely had to, but I was ready to take it all the way to arbitration/mediation if I needed to, since moving to an area with no native service should not be subject to an ETF.

The conversation went something like;

VZW Rep: Good afternoon, may I get your name and number?
Me: John Doe number xxx-xxx-xxxx
VZW Rep: May I call you by your first name.
Me: Yeah, that's fine.
VZW Rep: What may I help you with John.
Me: I want to cancel my service.
VZW Rep: So your calling because you want to cancel your service?
Me: Yes.
VZW Rep: Is reception bad in your area?
Me: No it's actually very good, but I have moved to an area where I am always in an "Extended Network" also, when I went on the Verizon web site to try and get a local number but it showed that there was no service in 56267, and I could not get a local number.
VZW Rep: Ok John, hold on a sec while I pull up your info...
a short silence
VZW Rep: Well, since you'll be moving to an area where we have no Verizon service you will be waived the cancellation fee...your next bill will reflect the change, and if you want to hold on a sec I can tell you about how much it would be.
Me: Ok, I'd appreciate that, thanks.
VZW Rep: Well it looks like you wont get a bill, your month is over on the 13th and since you are canceling before that you will get a bill but it will reflect the fee and the fee waiver.
Me: Thanks a lot. Is there anything else I should know?
VZW Rep: Did you want to port your number?
Me: No, since that would still be considered long distance calling in my new home area.
VZW Rep: Oh that's right, well did you need help with anything else?
Me: Just one last thing, are there any charges that may get added later on?
VZW Rep: If you don't have any extra charges, and in your account that would only be Internet access, then you will not have to pay anything.
Me: Ok, thanks a lot man.

That's how it went down. I got to cancel my contract and pay no fee, and the guy didn't even verify that I had actually moved (which I should note I was able to prove just in case he asked me too). So if you want to cancel your cellphone contract this may be an option for you. I know that AT&T and Sprint are a bit more on the anal side of things, unless you roam too much (which you can make your phone do).

As soon as I have adequate time with the Sprint phone and service I'll update. This would be my third service provider in three years, so if you want opinoins as to who has good service just ask.

Sprint vs Verizon vs AT&T

It's been a wonderful year with Verizon. They're network is definitely one of the better ones that I have been on. Unfortunately my tech addiction and the need to have everything (smartphone, decent amount of minutes, unlimited sms/mms, and data access) has made me jump ship and move on. I was with AT&T before Verizon and was very happy with them, so naturally they came to mind first.

The nice thing about AT&T is the phones that they have are usually the better ones out on the market. I was looking to get the Tilt; hands down the best phone they have. The bad thing is that they are also about as expensive as VZW (actually just a bit cheaper but not by much).
Then I remembered that there was a plan from Sprint that was unbelievably cheap. I had known about it for almost a year now, the only reason I did not switch was because I did not want to pay the ETF with VZW and I was satisfied with them for the month that I had them.

So was stuck with a choice; either go with AT&T get the Tilt pay about $120/month (for two lines 900 minutes, unlimited messages and unlimited data) or go with Sprint get the Mogul and pay about $60 (two lines both lines having 500 minutes N&W at 7pm, unlimited messaging, and unlimited data).

It took me about a month and a half of researching, and testing. Not surprisingly Sprint speed was better than AT&T in Morris, MN. What was surprising was the speed that I had for Sprint and AT&T in Minneapolis/St Paul, MN (a 3G area); Sprint's Rev. A was faster even when compared to AT&T's 3g. As far as the test in the Twin Cities I had to take it by word of mouth from two of my friends that have Sprint and AT&T. I was lucky enough to test it on my own in Morris, MN. The voice quality was the next thing I tested; AT&T still has spotty coverage in Morris, MN inside buildings, while Sprint was very good. When calling the calls made on Sprint were decent and no interference was audible. AT&T even when outside under certain spots I would get interference, although when I was in a good spot the call quality was very good.

I was amazed at what Sprint had to offer, but I remembered my last experience with them was very bad. I always had billing errors and their customer service sucked harder than a woman of the trade. Not to mention that Sprint's MMS is not really MMS but rather PictureMail, it is a completely non standard form of sending pictures.

I finally asked people what they thought of their service and how their calls to CS/Billing went. I should note this was for Sprint only since I had experiences with AT&T already (and they were all very well; even when changing to VZW it went well). Most people I talked to spoke well of the customer service. More than I expected actually I would say about 1 out of every 10 I talked to had one problem that was never fully resolved on the first call.

I finally decided to give Sprint another chance (even if it did loose more money than it's worth). If I keep getting errors on my bill and spend too much time having to call them up all the time I'll just get out of my contract and go back to AT&T. I'll update as soon as I have adequate experience with the Mogul and Sprint service.


Oh and the Mogul is the only phone on the market right now that takes advantage of EV-DO Rev. A not to mention that Sprint's speeds have been consistently better than Verizon's although at the sacrifice of service. We'll see how it goes.

Also...screw T-Mobile...3G-less bastard child of Deutsche Telekom.

HD-DVD

Look at the Head-to-head matchup table on the left side of the screen, why would you support Blu-ray? HD-DVD is the consumers' format. Blu-ray is good, but I'd rather stick with what's got more for my money and currently (since day 1) it's been HD-DVD. FTW!