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Tiburon1724's Journal

tiburon1724
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07/19/2008 16:25 #45076

iPhone saga
As of yesterday morning, I finally have my iPhone 3G. What a great, though not perfect, device, though we're all well aware of what it can do by now.

Last week Friday (launch day) I went to the AT&T store on Sheridan. The demand for the 3G was being downplayed and I really didn't expect much difficulty getting it, so I didn't go early to line up or anything, though I did get up earlier than normal. There was a short line outside the store, turns out they were letting one person in at a time. After 5 minutes or so, I find out they're out of the iPhone and are just taking orders. I leave. I figure I'll try the Galleria since I've got two shots there - Apple Store and the AT&T store. I wanted to go to the AT&T store because I'd only have to go back there again to get my corporate discount applied.

Therefore I started at the AT&T store...very small line. Again I find out they're taking orders. The idiot walking the line said it can be ordered and will arrive on Monday. I go downstairs to the Apple store....holy freakin' line, Batman!! No way I'm waiting in a line like that for anything let alone a phone. So back upstairs I go, into a now longer line up there but still manageable. I can wait until Monday. I get to the front of the line, and am told it's $15 to get it by Monday. Ok well I wasn't told that....and honestly it's not about the money but the principle. If they can get the phones in the store on the next business day, they'd get them in there anyway so why am I paying for that? They shouldn't have run out so quickly to begin with! I cave in and place the order. I'm told I'll get a phone call and email when it's on on Monday.

Monday.....no call, no email. I gave them all day and called Tuesday...no, it's not in yet. I say I was told it would be in Monday and even paid to get it Monday. He says Monday was just an estimate but that's not what was communicated to me at all. He then said "if $15 is such a big deal we can refund it" Yes, you will.

Wednesday...I call, no iphone...Thursday....same deal. I log into AT&T to track the order and it's listed as BACKORDERED. I then check Apple Store's site and it says they will have all 3 models in in the morning. I get up Friday (yesterday) morning and go to the Apple Store, get the iphone with absolutely no wait or problem. The guy in front of me bought 5 - wtf!?

After the smug apple employee moved through the process at a painfully slow rate, I finally got my iPhone! Now to go back to AT&T and cancel that order and apply my corporate discount to my plan. This took about 25 minutes as the guy couldn't figure out how to cancel the order, and neither could the store manager. You'l have to call corporate I'm told, which I have yet to do. That'll be fun I'm sure. Then he told me I get no discount, but I was told last week it was 21%. He asks who told me that, like I remember, and finally he found it.

Wow, If it weren't the iPhone and were available with any other carrier, I'd have said screw AT&T. They have no clue what they're doing and totally botched this whole thing. I also blame Apple as it's clear Apple is keeping the vast majority of the iPhone stock for themselves to get people into their stores. Basically a ton of problems just to get a phone. And I'm not done yet as that order still isn't canceled...

but what a cool phone.
tinypliny - 07/20/08 21:41
  • In the voice of Don LaFontaine

(Ominous Orchestral music with shots of phones being crushed by African elephants)
In a world where phones and plans are a dime a dozen...
Endless queues. Blood and sweat.
ONE phone. ONE Tiburon. ONE crazy monopoly.
[Cue in shots of you:
- waiting in queue!!
- swearing!!
- a drop of sweat dripping from your nose!!
- waking up confused to a shrill alarm bell!!
- having breakfast on the go!!
- driving break-neck speed through crazy-as-hell traffic!!
- End with crisp shot of a huge blue apple that someone has bitten off and DIED. Yeah, morbid shot of dead blue face included]

[Segues into black screen...]
Coming this summer to an Apple Store far away from you.
(Flash and zoom in on the date)
I-PHOOOOONNNNE. Face the mania.
(Crazy montage of queues etc.)

07/19/2008 16:09 #45075

Wow. Just wow.
Category: movies
We all know the hype surrounding The Dark Knight, but I really have to admit I wasn't prepared for just how great this movie was going to be. One of the best movies I've ever seen and certainly the best comic-based movie, it's an epic crime drama and action flick all in one. Yes, epic. You still have to be prepared to suspend your disbelief for the outlandish things Mr. Wayne is capable of, but only one instance was really too much for me.

I definitely recommend checking it out in IMAX...I did at 1:35 this morning and it was well worth it!!

06/20/2008 18:46 #44733

blech!
Category: food
Felt like getting a pizza tonight and wanted to try someplace I haven't tried before, so I picked one up from Bob & Jon's on Hertel. Very expensive first of all, and it was TERRIBLE!! I could tell immediately they cook a bunch of cheese pizzas, then when an order comes in, throw the toppings on and put it back in the oven for a few minutes. The toppings were almost raw, sauce had no taste, crust was awful and there were some crunchy hard things randomly in it ?!
Very dissapointed :( Franco's and La Nova still tops with me.
tinypliny - 07/20/08 21:49
Check out the best pizza post: permalink: :::link:::

I STRONGLY recommend Panaros. All of what they serve is excellent and the waitress, Lynn is hands down the best waitress on the face of this planet. Call in advance for hours, though. It's family run, every one who works there is related and they run it like a hobby. It kind of reflects on the food quality. Everything tastes awesome! :)
tinypliny - 07/20/08 21:44
I don't like Chuck's. :/ I asked for a cheese pizza. Looked like they manually took off all the pepperoni circles and re-heated it and gave it to me. One quarter of a circle was still stuck on one end. Ick.
imk2 - 07/19/08 16:43
are you kidding me? romeo and juliete's portabella Gorgonzola pizza is the best thing i've tasted ever.
tiburon1724 - 07/19/08 16:29
Tried Romeo & Juliet's - not terrible, but it tasted like it was a frozen pizza to me. Onto Chuck's I guess!
johnallen - 07/07/08 00:13
You want pizza? Here's a favorite from the gut of a fat kid - Chuck's North Stree Subway - North Street and Linwood - Everything they have rocks (In my humble opinion)
tinypliny - 06/21/08 21:35
hehehe... Lingo here stumps me sometimes. :)

The whole practice of people saying "UmmmmHmmm" instead of saying "You are welcome"throws me off even now.
And then there is "I am good" instead of "No, Thank you."
Oh and whole "How's it goin?" when you don't even stop to hear an answer..

It's a funny learning gradient.

tiburon1724 - 06/21/08 01:06
he means you're right :)
tinypliny - 06/20/08 19:15
What do I have?? Mystified...
james - 06/20/08 19:09
Pliny has it.
tinypliny - 06/20/08 18:59
Romeo and Juliet's on Hertel have wonderful pizza. Check them out sometime.

06/12/2008 23:49 #44632

Update
So I had a great time in Orlando with my friends, my best friend was very surprised with his party and my presence.

I was on Tupper where it becomes the 33 tonight and the cops had a sobriety checkpoint setup. First time I've actually seen one! I was kind of hoping for a breathalyzer (sp) test for some weird reason but he didn't do it, just asked where I was coming from, if I'd had anything to drink, and shot a flashlight into my eyes while his darted around the car. Traffic was waaaay backed up. Kinda sucks....wasted 20 minutes of my time. They were arresting a kid next to me as I was being questioned.

Picked up Metal Gear Solid 4 for the PS3. Been looking forward to it for a long time. Played like 3 hours worth or so...my initial reaction? Greatest game ever!! Of course I finally quit after being spotted for the 50th time in this one area. REALLY pissing me off. I might restart the game in the easiest mode instead of Normal mode because if it's this hard already I'm gonna be in trouble, and I want to finish the storyline/game.

You may have heard in the news that Cuomo is suing CVS and Rite-Aid for having outdated products in their stores. Some of you know I work for the former. My store was one on the list. My unofficial, off the record, I never said that comment is....basically, the state needs more money and is looking wherever it can. I truly hate the way this state, county, city etc operates. So the decree came down to have every one of us check every single product in our stores for outdates no matter how long it took, not to mention we all had a truck today. Products are good several months after their expirations (well except milk..) and they'll find plenty of expired products in pretty much every store in existence if they look hard enough. We'll see how big this gets blown up; people really are ridiculous alarmists. Reason #656,096 why I'm dreading work tomorrow.


metalpeter - 06/13/08 18:20
I have not worked at Wilson Farms in a long time. When I was there it was pretty good, but I can only say that about the one that I worked at. But that being said even when you do stock stuff it is very easy to miss butter or a thing of cheese and then it goes bad. I have heard (not sure if this is true) of people buying stuff and getting home then a day later returning it because at the time they didn't know it was out of date, or maybe when they bought it was close to date. With good stockers this should not happen of course they have to be good, and in your case not having them makes things kinda tough. I just wanted to add that for things lays, some beer and some chips not sure what else the people who sell it fill the shelves then leave the left over stuff. Sorry you don't have people to stock stuff I can't imagine how much that must suck.
tiburon1724 - 06/13/08 18:02
the thing is there are no stock boys. Our labor budget has been cut so dramatically it's just a manager and cashier most of the time...basically imagine 500 hours worth of work to be done each week with 170 hours of labor. The response from upper management is the store manager (me) should just work more since we're salaried. Well I'm already averaging about 10 hours/week over what I agreed to when I was hired and I refuse to do more any longer. For months I worked 75 hours a week. Corners have to be cut, and that's one of the areas we all cut. We devote time to this and people will instead complain about lines at checkout or out of stocks. Its a no-win. Then Erie County has their wonderful pricing scam few know about but I won't get into because it makes me so enraged.

Since you mentioned Wilson Farms, I have to say that place is disgusting...I've gone in there about 4 times in my life...once for milk..which was expired and once for butter, but every tub of butter there was also expired. So they're even more of an offender. Grocery stores are bad too, so the moral of the story is...check your dates.
metalpeter - 06/13/08 17:39
I have never worked for a Drug store, that being said you are correct that mostly everything is still good after the date. That being said it is illegal to sell things after that date. I don't know if stock boys in stores rotate stuff or not. I know that in stores like wilson farms with dairy products and stuff like that you all ways do. I do think NYS does need more money. I'm sure that there should be a way that in every store people follow the right dates and rotate stock then when it gets with in a month of expiring write the stuff off as damaged. I'm sure a lot of places do sell out dated stuff. But what happens a lot is that two or 3 places are made an example of to try and get money and send a message.
janelle - 06/13/08 11:42
I just read the NY Times article on Cuomo suing CVS and Rite Aid for expired meds.
:::link:::

I sympathize to some extent as I deal with it at my job in social services. Here in NY, financial auditors for the stsate comb through social service recordkeeping with a fine tooth comb looking for any small mistake in documentation that they can find in order to demand that we return money to the state for failure to provide services as documented.

Non profits operate on razor thin margins so having to pay the state back is a serious financial blow, so the documentation and review of the documentation is incredibly intense at social service agencies. People get fired just over documentation issues. You end up feeling like documentation is your main occupation rather than helping people (roll eyes).

However, it looks like CVS and Rite Aid had some problems in the past with the state on this same issue so they should have seent his coming.

06/01/2008 23:30 #44514

Weekend in Hell
So even though the weather forecast in Buffalo seems to change by the hour, we're supposedly finally getting back to the warm weather that teased me so back in April only to go into hiding for all of May. 89 on Friday!! That's more like it!!

Oh yeah, Friday I leave for a weekend trip back down to hell, aka Orlando. Well either way I'll get my warmth, just with a heat index of about 105 and massive thunderstorms every 4 hours while sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic fighting drivers who can't read English and therefore can't read street signs, and praying I won't be shot (Orlando is basically Buffalo East side crime-wise, they just tax tourists and keep the parts visitors see looking purty) and being forced to eat and shop at nothing but pretentious chains. At least I have direct flights both ways. For the first time I'm not checking luggage, that's the biggest pain.

So why go if I hate it so much? I promised a friend I would because she is throwing a surprise party for my best friend's 30th birthday. Of course when I talked to him 2 days ago he told me how she told him about it!! Then he asked if I was coming down but I was able to change the subject. That really pisses me off since the main point of my coming is the surprise, but I won't bring it up with her until I get there. I figure the quieter I keep this week, the less likely it will be that his suspicion of my involvement will be affirmed!


tiburon1724 - 06/02/08 22:45
Definitely looking forward to the party and seeing people don't get me wrong.
metalpeter - 06/02/08 18:45
Well hopefully the party is at least fun and who knows maybe even wild and crazy in the good way.