Actually it’s just me, no we, and I’m not going to start talking about myself in multiple third person like Perez does, but I’m watching Bender’s Big Score on DVD in preparation for it’s triumphant return this weekend on Comedy Central.
I’m still catching up from the past couple of weeks, and have lots to recap, but just wanted to write a quick post since I caught shit from Chuck for not uploading my blog. Hope you’re happy.
Is that not the lamest title or what? I was trying to think of something more creative, but just said “f*ck it”. It’s not even my birthday anymore, what the hell? This post is off to a fantastic start. It was a very nice birthday weekend. I went out for C.K.’s birthday surprise party on Friday night at El Cholo’s (freaking awesome blue corn enchilada’s), then followed that up with some epic Rock Band playing. Saturday, Deuce and I went for an extremely long walk, I wrote for a while, and went to the beach at midnight. Yesterday, my actual birthday, was the most boring day of the weekend. I got caught up on some little nagging work things and basically just bummed around. Went to the gym, watched some movies, searched for some new apartments online, totally boring.
I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for all the nice messages and well-wishes. Thanks Scott for the ducks. You guys all rock.
What’s that you say, you just can’t get enough Ryan Budke to get you through the day? Well fear not weary readers, cause do I have a deal for you. For the price of nothing at all, you can visit Random Ryan and get all of the online activity from your favorite Ryan.* All of his Twitter messages, all of his Del.icio.us links, all of the videos and random quotes he posts. Add the rss feed today for easily digestible internetyness. Good times shall be had by all!!!
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Well, that didn’t go so well. At least during last year’s BCS Championship Game I was in San Francisco, out eating some fantastic chinese food with the guys from TUAW. This year, I was at home (I got an invite to go to a party down in Hollywood to watch it, but turned it down because I forgot I now have a reliable vehicle), watching LSU play a much better game while taking down the last of the christmas decorations and generally throwing things that shouldn’t be thrown.
Mr. Biro and I were talking within just the past week or so how we wish it was possible to “bottle momentum”; the Buckeyes could have used a big ol swig of that last night at a couple of points. Although disappointing that they lost, it has been fun that the Bucks gotten to the big game two years in a row and have a very very young team, so next year should be a lot of fun. I still think the BCS is a complete mess, a playoff setup would be more rewarding and fun, allowing those longshots and wildcards to have a cinderella-type post-season ala March Madness or the NFL playoffs. What sucks is this season was exactly what the BCS hoped for since day one: every game during those last few weeks of the season “meant something.”
Tangent aside, congrats are in order for both The Ohio State University and LSU, both had fantastic seasons, and one of them played a fantastic game last night.
One hour left until The Ohio State University once again becomes National Champs. I’m so pumped up. (Yes this probably could have been a Twitter post, but screw you)
The universe is a weird wild place. It always seems to give you what you need when you need it, whether you know it or not. This past month and a half or so have been pretty sh!tty for me and I’ve been trying to avoid writing about them, but things are going really good now. Plus, to top it off, a really good friend I haven’t talked to in years just sent me an email. Very cool.
Two days shy of my six month anniversary of departing Cincinnati for Los Angeles and I just experienced my first earthquake. The US Geological Survey put it at a 3.2 and the epicenter was roughly four miles North of where I live. I installed some shelves right above my head where I sleep (wasn’t thinking about that at the time) and it’s good to know that they’ll at least stay up during a little wobble. It was a very odd sensation, but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. My early warning system (read: Deuce) really didn’t do crap though. He was sleeping at the foot of my bed and just kind of rolled over.
When I moved to Northridge I didn’t realize that it was the epicenter of the 1994 quake that hit Los Angeles so bad. A fact which was hammered home by jokes in both an episode of Entourage and in the movie Knocked Up… both which I saw within weeks of moving in. Huzzah!
So, just in case those that know me see something on the news (which I highly doubt, it lasted all of two seconds), I’m fine. I wish something would have fallen on Ken’s head though… that would have been awesome.
When i was little i always dreamed about being part robot… having a computer for a brain, or a grapling hook hand like the bionic commando, something cool. After having my part of my jaw removed and a metal plate put intoday I can say that this was not a good idea.
Gremlins 2 is on right now which is ironic because when i was younger i was really really sick with a heart disease one summer and was in the hospital for a couple of weeks and that’s when the movie came out. My grandma got me a little Gizmo handpuppet which I still have.
side note: it took me way too long to do that wikipedia link, i probably shouldn’t be blogging right now
After swearing off Twitter, I’ve ignorantly joined Pownce, the newest of the “web-based-delayed-instant-messengers”. Off the bat, I don’t see anything radically different, but I don’t want to make a judgment so quickly.
There is a Phake Calacanis already though, that’s a bonus. I’m pretty sure the real one isn’t even on there yet…
Also, I’ve got some invites to give away, so if you want one, let me know.
Fair warning, this post only tangentially deals with the iPhone, so if you were looking for some great insight on it, go elsewhere. No, this story is about how Apple managed to really alienate a “Mac convert” very quickly.
The power converter for the MacBook Pro, in typical Apple fashion, is set up really slick so that the wire leading away from the brick to the computer can wrap around these two little “pegs” that fold out. Nice for when you’re traveling so you don’t have a jumbled mess, but it puts a lot of strain on a little wire. The power on my MacBook Pro had been acting funky for the past week or so, with it suddenly dropping on to battery even though it was plugged in, and there seemed to be a little bulge right at the point where the wire hits the brick. I was worried that there was a short in it, so I ordered a new power cord via our corporate help desk.
Well, while I was using it yesterday, the power dropped out completely for a minute before flickering rapid fire on and off. I quickly unplugged it, picked up the brick to make sure nothing was physically wrong with it, and set it down next to me. After giving it a few minutes to cool down, I plugged it back in and it worked fine. Probably and hour or so went by and then there was a loud pop next to me. The power cord had “exploded” (nothing dramatic, I didn’t get flung across the room or anything, I just can’t think of a better word) and was currently on fire. It burnt a hole in my jeans (I have a nice blister and welt on my leg) and the carpet was on fire. I yanked the cord out and smacked out the fire real quick.
As with all setbacks, this couldn’t have happened on a worse day. I’ve been working on a big upcoming project for Netscape, was in the middle of about a half dozen important chats and waiting to hear back via email on another dozen. I thought I’d have a chance to wrap everything up, and then go get a replacement as I wanted a second cord anyway, nope. As a bonus, whatever happened left my battery with all of about a five minute lifespan. I grabbed the cord and ran down to the Apple store, completely forgetting what day it was. I got there, the gate was down, and a line of about 30 or so people had formed. In retrospect, I should have just stayed there, but there was a Circuit City right across the parking lot, so I headed there. As I was walking I called the closest Best Buy, who told me that they were out of stock of the supplies. After waiting for a Circuit City employee to let me know that the power supply he swore he had had apparently disappeared, I turned and headed back to the Apple store, and that’s when the problems really kicked in.
In the maybe 20-25 minutes that I was gone, the line had grown to well over 200 people. Aggravated more at myself at this point, I got back in line. I apologize to any of the excited people around me who were trying to talk to me about the impending awesomeness waiting in the store, I was in no mood. After over an hour wait, I got in to the store, had an iPhone put in front of me, but when I politely declined, I was bluntly told that unless I was getting one, I’d have to come back tomorrow. Friday June 29th was iPhone day and that was it for Apple, I couldn’t even buy a new cord. Completely flabbergasted, I left. Went back today, got a new power supply.
So here’s the deal, I’m not oblivious to the fact that yesterday may have well been Apple’s biggest day ever. Up until that moment, I was one of many that were beyond excited with the iPhone. I was lucky enough to travel to Macworld with the TUAW guys earlier this year and had a (more or less) front row seat to his Steveness’s iPhone introduction. It was awesome. I wasn’t ever sure if I wanted to get one, but I was excited not only for Apple, but for the huge changes that would come out of this announcement across the board.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t aggravated by the physical/technical aspect of this, but I understand completely random stuff like this happens from time to time, but the way that a company who prides themselves on their customer experience treated me yesterday has left me severely scorned. This MacBook Pro was my first full-time Mac computer, I’ve been thrilled with it, and over the past year, I’ve been the poster boy for “converting to the church of Mac”, now though… I’m going to have a hard time recommending them. Everyone is out to make money, but yesterday Apple put that above everything else.
As I said, above, this whole incident really left me up the proverbial creek when it came to work yesterday, so I’m still really aggravated. Maybe I should have chilled a day or two before writing. Maybe I won’t feel this way tomorrow. Somehow I doubt that.
UPDATE: Here’s a few pictures and a link to the entire set.