So today I went to check on my AppleCare warranty status, having bought the MacBook Pro last year - I knew I had only days before I had to get the AppleCare extention, and after missing the iMac’s I wasn’t going to miss this one, however according to Apple, I bought the laptop on the 19th (aka Today) one year ago, which by my post, is 2 days off from the truth.
So finding out the horror of many regarding AppleCare “lateness”, and not having a Apple Store (that’s another Dear Apple for another day) I zipped across town to CompUSA (Bleh) to snag a box, even though their site claims not to stock it, thankfully they did, and $349 later I walked out with a box and a worthless piece of software.
My note to apple is simply this - MAKE APPLECARE RENEWAL BE ONLINE! - for a company that made a fancy phone, and various things which key strength is the internet, you’d think they’d want to make it easy to protect their devices by buying, and renewing AppleCare online, no worry, no fuss, no mildly annoying CompUSA sales people - I mean they did it with iWork, you can buy the code online, why not do the same for AppleCare? Seriously Apple - do that, unlock the iPhone for use on other networks, a SDK for the iPhone, and a lower priced MacPro - I’d be happy and poor at the same time.
Hi My name is Chuck, I’m a broken individual. Lately I just think life is out to break me down a bit, or I’m fighting uphill on something I shouldn’t be with my business - I dunno. Another cancelation Friday, wasn’t expecting it in the least, and sadly the person hasn’t written back as to why they are canceling - but based upon the budget host they moved to, apparently $5 a month is too steep, I dunno. I wish I did, if there is a problem with websites, the hosting services currently deployed, I just wish someone would say “Hey Chuck, this is broken, can we get a fix?” - but such is the game I suppose.
I am not sure what I am doing, that’s the honest to God truth, I am trying to fight to keep the business going smoothly (which is easy enough), but at the same time trying to push forward in my own life, but I guess that’s not something easily done, especially on a tight budget of the “small business”, I have some thoughts in mind, and I am hoping to get a upgrade to the billing system which will make it’s built in affiliate program a tad more useable (requires a referral be with the hosting for X days before payout is given), but I am also going to really push with TN some larger “Business” hosting and business type services, laying off FH for a while, still some minor pushes here and there - but really finish up TN enough to get it smoothed out and ready to join in the fight.
But today, I get to pseudo transfer money from PayPal -> The Bank! Basically going to pull some cash from the ATM via the PayPal card, then walk inside, and deposit said money into the bank lol - they open in about 10 minutes, so such is my plan - but I think I’ll probably do a run downtown to the old office, see if the $200+ in checks showed up, and them give the kMan a call and see if he got anything at the new office, then if not, I’ll head to the bank to get this done and deposited.
Anywhoo - prayers are appreciated, I know one way or another things are going to get better, I still am hopeful that the job will magically call, but as it stands nothing has come in as of yet, but only a week out, and maybe mine is in a pile of “Let’s call him back, now who’s next?” and they’re sorting (a boy can dream can’t he?) - so there it is, my randomness for the day. More later I’m sure, just have to make it thru this day first
So - Halloween eh? Seem’s today is a trick more than anything lol - woke up to my bank account being much lower than I have down it would be, turns out some things I had been billed for last month just cleared, and some deposits still have not made it in (Yay for old Credit Card Processor!) - but hopefully over the next 2 days things will get better and better, as tonight one of the big ones should clear, which is good and bad, as it goes to PayPal directly, not to my WAMU account - yay? I dunno, Wamu’s recent “Online Banking Upgrade” quite frankly has a few good points, but the removal of a way to see pending holds on deposits and withdraws sucks.
I guess one thing positive about this morning (Roger don’t hit me) is I got IMAP support turned on for my Gmail account, so now if needs be I can utilize IMAP, so one positive thing, I am hoping more will follow here shortly, going to try for the 3rd time this week to square away some bills with the kMan, with the power outage yesterday that affected most of downtown, never got to get together with him to get the check - and considering his invoice with me is due Friday, I am hoping I can get things rolling ASAP with that, but sadly I’m not sure how it’s going to pan out and I fear for the worst, but hopefully with the billing system being all converted soon, I can have less worries on things.
Server related, I think if I can hold out a few more months, I may have some server alternatives - but I think long-term I am going to have to ditch the Friends server, unless funds really start coming in on a more regular basis, I think my paper invoices got out, but I think with the recent mail switch to the new building by means of a “Mail Forward” has more or less screwed the pooch for my mail, so I think I am going to need to snag a PO Box to get mail sent to, unless I go today and there is a pile of checks, which is what I am hoping for - but again, like many things not really expecting to happen.
Anywhoo - keep me in your prayers, things just are all over the map for me, my sleep is all out of wack, my brain is all over the map, its just all a tad nutty, but hopefully… Lord willing, it’ll all pan out here very soon. Happy Halloween folks.
So in browsing ol CompUSA this early AM I saw they had OSX10.5 for $99 - it’s $129 up front like I’d get it from Apple, but 2 things - 1) It’s a quick pickup. 2) It’s a $30 rebate - so I’ll have to wait a little for the savings, but a deal is a deal, going to go in this week before Friday and make sure they’ll have it in stock, if not I’ll just wait till they do.
Didn’t get much sleep last night, just a lot on my mind, and a lot of things I am trying to get sorted - things that shouldn’t be in my life, and trying to get things in my life that should be there - busy busy - I just really want to get things in a little bit more stable area than they have been the last 3 months, and the billing migration is one of those things, once things all settle I am going to be able to login via a mobile login via the Dash and do what I need from the road, anytime, anywhere - so a major plus indeed.
Health wise things are going okay, lost some weight, been trying to be a little more active when I can be, but also trying to be good on what I eat, but that also ties back into the budget, as it’s odd that foods that are “good” for you tend to cost more than those you can just pickup and eat… go figure but I am going to keep at it, and try to keep the pounds coming off this ol computer nerd.
On the other side of health, as you can see by the time stamp, its 2:30 - and yes, I am awake, after migrations that go past 5am, I tend to take a few days to level out, but migrations that end up waking me up 2 hours after I goto sleep, several times, for several hours, that’s another story all together lol - but I am just glad it’s done - it has all leveled out it seems, got no calls Saturday which was a plus, but all in all, it seems good - plus beyond the obvious bit of getting paid, it’ll be nice to throw in some additional services from the migration as there were a TON of outdated scripts, I am going to release a similar upgrade service via FH/TN as many folks install via auto-installers like Fantastico, Installatron, etc. and they don’t keep things upgraded, which leads to hacks, which is not a good thing now matter how you look at it.
Work side, I am wanting to work on infrastructure again - it’s been 6 months since the last big shake-up, de-commissioning old servers, migrating to new ones, the move went pretty well, but with everything getting audited via the migration to the new billing system - my hope, my goal, is to add a few more servers to the fleet using virtual servers, which means a BIG BIG BIG Server - I am thinking 4-8 Core, with 6-8GB of ram, storage is the one thing I am looking at seriously, as I want something super redundant, but also tolerant of 2 disk failures, so needless to say, this is not going to be cheap in the least. Part of me wishes local bandwidth was better, and more affordable, I’d love to build a datacenter in town and really do it up the way I have in my head.
Anywhoo - slowly rolling up on 3am here, I am feeling a little hungry, and the ol muscles are sore from what I am guessing is a cold as I’ve been running a temp most of the day, so I am going to go find something warm and tasty to eat, and then I think I am going to try sleep again - have a blessed Sunday folks.
Been a crazy few days, pretty tired - more mentally than physically, my brain is just not able to think - though my body is still wide awake, so I have started re-organizing furniture… Happy Friday Folks!
It seems that more and more the theme of these blogs is budget - money is tight, business is fast, then slow - I get excited about things, then torn down by others - heck even just brought down by others in general, life is such a funny thing.
I find more and more people like me for my mind, and while the subject alone pokes fun at the idea of liking someone for their body vs. who they are - for me it’s a similar situation. In my lowly 27 years on this planet, I have learned a lot of things, I just have a mind that is like a sponge, and apparently it’s not all that uncommon as my niece shares a similar ability, she was quoting a movie this weekend, and when asked by how many times she had seen the movie she said “Once” lol - my mind is just like that, I can retain strange and sometimes useless bits of info, but at the same time know right where to go for information, or how to do a particular task - and thus folks rely on me since I think outside the box 99% of the time, but it’s also my curse as that part of my brain rarely shuts down.
I dunno, lately I have more folks relying on me - needing me to complete a task, and of course, in the end I am no closer to paying off bills, expanding the budget to get the apartment, I dunno - it’s the never-ending conflict in me, that strange middle ground in life of being “helpful” or being paid for a “job” and yet, when it comes down to it, folks would rather me simply be helpful and save their butt than pay me a wage - and I am not saying that there are not folks out there who are like helpfulness, several of my friends would give me the shirt off their backs if I was truly in need - but sadly as one friend and my father both put it “While honor is given, it is not always returned” - and that is so true - I can be honorable, I can go above and beyond to help someone, but that doesn’t mean that they’ll instantly return the favor.
Life is a funny thing - amazing how in a single day one can be up, can be doing great, then it all just slowly goes down-hill - I have seriously looked around at jobs, and I found one that I could probably handle, and it’d be a change of location, of course it’d mean moving about 20 minutes outside of Beverly Hills, but part of me is considering it - maybe break the cycles of some folks here who use and abuse this ol brain for their gain, but then when it comes to returning the favor - or even yet, bringing me on even part time, it’s not possible.
Who knows, it’s been a long day, a nice blend of good, a bit of bad, some fun chatting about business, and some time playing Halo 3, but I’ve officially been up for too many hours, maybe I just need a nap, or maybe it’s time I had a real wake-up call. Ah life. Night.
