Similarly to my previous post, I wanted to see what was involved with creating an android app. So, I followed a fairly simple tutorial, and here’s what I came up with:
Not surprisingly, the process was entirely different as Android is uses Java rather than C. Kind of fun to dabble. I do like the freedom of Android development, but a small part of me likes iOS dev tools a little better.
I’ve always wanted to get more into software development. The other night I decided to check out Xcode and see what it would be like to create an iPhone app. I just followed a simple tutorial to make my first “Hello World” app.
The tutorial was complete, descriptive and easy to follow. I’ve got a long ways to go to actually learning iOS development and Objective C, but you have to start somewhere.
New layout, new theme; trying to simplify things here. Now, if only I had something to post about, hmmm…
Slayed my first deer this year, and it happened to be an 8 point buck. Definately a good experience for my first one:
I’m very thankful and grateful to hunt in Dansville, MI. across the road from my mom’s place. It’s always nice to get permission from a friendly landowner who has about 60 acres of hay fields and tree lines.
I had the week of Thanksgiving off from work and planned on hunting all week if needed. I saw a few deer in the first fews days and even took a long shot at a bigger buck, but I’m afraid I missed him. I looked frantically for quite some time but never found any signs. On day three, at about 8:30am, I spotted a small four-point buck following a group of four does. I had planned on taking him so I got my gun ready. Then, closely following the first buck, came this one. It was a long shot and he took off running. After the smoke cleared from my .50 caliber muzzleloader, I noticed him stagger just slightly which gave me a little hope that I actually hit him.
I began tracking and quickly became discourage because again I couldn’t find any signs. Finally, I slowed my pace and stopped and listened. Then I heard him. He was in some thick brush that covered a creek. He was going down…unfortunately in the swampy creek. I marked my location and ran back to the house to get my truck. When I returned, I struggled to pull him out of the creek and up a steep bank (this was the hardest part). I proceeded to field dress him (first time doing this and it took me a long time, but I eventually got it done). I eventually got him loaded in the truck and took him back to hang him in the tree. I had him processed at Meridorf Meats in Mason, MI.
How many computer geeks do you know that are also hunters? 
I’m very glad to have food on the table and this experience to remember.
Mike Tompkins never ceases to amaze me…
I thought I would start a social experiment. I’ve seen other twitter accounts that annoyingly retweet things that you’ve just tweeted and I wondered how to go about doing that. So I did a little google searching and set up an account to test it out. This is created with the use of 3 main services: Yahoo Pipes, FeedBurner, and TwitterFeed. What I wanted was to automatically search for tweets that contain a phrase, in this case ‘#icare’, then retweet that with the comment of ‘#idontcare’ preceding it. (i also later add a search for #nohomo and reply with a #yeshomo, just to really tick people off).
Here’s a video I found that explains how to set this up. Not the easiest thing to follow, but should give you an idea
The goal here was to create an account that was obnoxious and annoying. I think that it was a success as seen in many of the mentions & replies I received.
I also wanted to do this for another account that was nice and caring. So I did the same thing, but this account searches for tweets that contain #nobodycares or #nct (“nobody cares though”), and reply with #icare .
What’s funny to me is how much people hate me, mostly for tweeting so much. But, I’ve also gained a surprising amount of followers. Strangely, the annoying prick (@idontcareguy) has many more followers than the nice guy (@icareguy).
It’s true what they say…“Nice guys finish last”.
Happy Auto-Tweeting!
The tech showed up today. He put a little refrigerant in the system and did some basic leak testing. His little leak tester wand never made a sound. No obvious leaks detected. Not happy with those results, the tech said we should do a dye test. But of course he didn’t have that equipment on hand either. So, tomorrow he is supposedly picking up a dye test kit and coming back first thing. Another day…wasted.
BTW…it was over 90 degrees today…the thermostat inside said 92. Can this get any worse?
“Diego…I’m sweaty!”
So, continuing on with my air conditioner repair dilemma. The system was purchased only 3 years ago, and like I said in my previous post, is no longer functioning as it should.
Naturally, I call the number provided by my original salesman. The friendly sounding receptionist informs me that my sales rep no longer works there (of course). She tells me I need to speak to Scott who is currently on lunch (of course). So I leave a voicemail. A day goes by, I leave another voicemail (this time he left early for the day). Another day goes by, I leave another voicemail (jury duty perhaps?). Finally I call and catch him in his office (imagine that). He disregards my initial complaints about him not returning my calls, and tells me “we are no longer responsible for your system” as it over one year old and I didn’t purchase the fancy pants warranty. So he gives me the standard 800 number for repair service, telling me I’ll need to fork over at least $93 just to have someone come look. Ok, I’ll call and get it setup. After all, it was 90 degrees outside and my house was melting.
So I call the 800 and the automated system tells me I can schedule this online. Great, I would much rather do this than talk to a person who I won’t be able to understand. So I make the appoint online. Now is a good time to mention my hatred for these types of appointments where they give you a window (1:00pm-5:00pm) of when the technician will actually show up. Sure I’d love to use my vacation time to sit around waiting for someone to show up…I had nothing better to do anyways.
Phil the technician shows up and asks about what kind of problems I’ve been having. I assumed he already knew since I wrote a lengthy and complete description when I made the appointment. The other thing I assumed was that he knew what kind of system I had from either my purchase records or from the additional lengthy description I provided at the time of making the appointment. I was wrong. He told me that he was not qualified and didn’t have the correct equipment to work on my type of system (involving R-410A refrigerant). He admitted to today’s efforts being a “waste of time” and then asked that when the survey comes, that I give him all 5′s on his review. He didn’t want to leave with out me being totally satisfied with him wasting my time. Acting as if it were a favor to me, he calls one of the “qualified” technicians in the area and tell me he can get right over…next tuesday…another week from now (blood boiling).
Lucky me, I get to do this all over again next Tuesday (take more time off to sit around and cross my fingers for someone to actually help me with this situation). I’ll let you know how it goes…I know you can’t wait to hear.
Customer service is dead.
