Author: Rae

by

iPod Touch Update

I received my new credit card yesterday and entered that information into my iTunes account, but still got the same ‘payment method declined’ error message. It was time to contact Apple, but before I did that I checked with my credit card company to make sure that they weren’t declining Apple’s pings to my card. Sure enough, the culprit was Apple. I sent them a support ticket explaining the problem and they are now ‘working on it.’ Let’s see how long that takes. I love Apple’s products so much, but the support behind them sucks. At least, the need for support is very minimal; this is only the second time in five years that I have had to ask for help with something.

Meanwhile, reasonably tech-savvy Rae did some not so kosher manoeuvring and was able to get a couple of free apps onto her Touch. I know I’ll need to reacquire them properly once I get my iTunes account running, but for now this was enough to be able to play around for a few hours and really discover how amazing the technology is. It’s beyond Star Trek, that’s the best way I can phrase it. I can tap, pinch, flick, and swipe the screen, and more, and I have to wonder if there is anything this device can’t do!

I’d bought a cheap silicone cover for it to start, but I went to bed last night knowing that this device is going to be glued to my hip from now on. So, I went on eBay this morning and ordered a nice leather cover from the same guy in Hong Kong from whom I’d bought the nice leather cover for my iPod classic:

I don’t normally like buying from Hong Kong, but the ‘book-style’ covers are rare on this side of the ocean and Hong Kong has a better colour selection. The cover will get here when it gets here and it’ll be exactly what I want. The silicone cover will still be good for using the Touch at home; it’s definitely not going to waste.

I’ve had a hankering to reread some favourite books, so I downloaded the ‘Stanza‘ app, as per Andy‘s recommendation, and then connected to Project Gutenberg to download some tomes by Jules Vernes, Alexandre Dumas (père), and Guy de Maupassant. I spent a couple of hours reading short stories by de Maupassant and saw my desire for an ebook reader go from 150% to about 1%. Some folks find the Touch too small to be a good ebook reader while I find the size to be perfect. The Touch just sits in the palm of my hand without any fatigue at all. I might get some eye strain from reading on a computer screen, but I didn’t get any of that at all yesterday. My only disappointment was that the Gutenberg copy of Around the World in 80 days wasn’t formatted properly and was missing all the accented characters. t ws lke tryng t rd wtht vwls. 😀

I’ll need to resolve my app store issues with Apple before I can really get settled in with my iPod Touch but at least now I’ve gotten a proper taste of this device I’ve been craving for so long and I know that it will be worth the wait. This device is amazing and represents an unfathomable technological leap from the computers of my youth. I just wish Apple hadn’t spoiled my fun so soon after purchase; that breach of trust will be irreparable.

by

Gift of a Salesman

We’ve had a fishmonger staying in one of our rooms for a few nights. He travels around in a refrigerated truck hocking frozen fish to individuals (restaurants have their own suppliers). I inquired about his wares and when he realised that I was shopping, not just being polite, he was quick to offer me a good price on a 5lb box of haddock.

Much as I love haddock, I knew there would be no way I could get through that much fish in a reasonable amount of time, so I asked a friend to split the box with me. By the time she had examined the fish and agreed, the fishmonger had dropped his price again, to $80, or $16/lb which is a good price for up here.

I’m just waitin’ on dinner…

In the meantime, here are some random pics that don’t warrant their own post:

no need to close the rear blind this winter!

c is for cat AND contentment

Dinner’s ready! And YUM! Best haddock EVER!!!

by

Lunch at the Riverwest

I went into town today to take out some money and check my mail, so I decided to pop into the Riverwest Bistro for a quick bite to eat.

The Riverwest is what passes for a fast food joint in Dawson. You order at a counter and are given a number to display prominently at your table. There are magazines and newspapers available to pass the time until someone brings you your order. You can also take your order to go, and there are always cold sandwiches and other items you can grab on the go. They serve breakfast and are also a popular place to grab a coffee. The only negative is that they close at 7, so forget grabbing a quick dinner on the way home if you finish work late!

The food is good, fresh, and quite cheap, as compared to an equivalent meal at McDonald’s or Wendy’s. Today, I tried their ‘peppercorn ranch chicken wrap’ which ended up being cold diced chicken with fresh tomatoes and lettuce drizzled with peppercorn ranch dressing wrapped up in a tomato tortilla, for $7. I like their ‘curly fries’ and added them to my order, for a total cost of just under $10. It was all very YUM.

My $10 wouldn’t have gone far at the general store, and the tomatoes and lettuce I would have gotten there would have been respectively mealy and limp while the bread would have been stale.

Proper sit down restaurants aren’t that much more expensive than the Riverwest, but they are quite a bit slower, so the Riverwest is the place I go to when I just want to do a quick in and out. Or catch up on my Macleans magazines. 😀

by

iPod Touch Disappointment

I can’t believe it. I just put my new-to-me iPod Touch in a drawer.

What makes the Touch so special is all the ‘apps’ you can put on it. Without them, there isn’t really anything the Touch can do that I can’t do with my classic, albeit in a roundabout way.

I have spent more than seven hours trying to get apps onto my Touch and the end result is that I have to say something to Apple that I never in my life would have thought I’d say to them: you suck. The number of hoops I’ve had to jump through is unfathomable.

This is the short version of the story:

First off, I had to get around the fact that you need wi-fi to use an iPod Touch to its full potential. I was shown how to manage my Touch through iTunes, meaning that I could access the App store from my iMac via my cell connection by-passing my lack of access to wi-fi.

So, I opened iTunes, clicked on the iTunes store, and was told I needed to update iTunes before I could use the store. It was going to use a huge chunk of my monthly bandwidth limit, but okay. Get iTunes updated and then the store tells me that wasn’t good enough, that I need to update Safari, too. I don’t use Safari! Still, I download the update, only to be told I need to update Java, too, which means running a full OS X and security update. Major bandwidth use! And it took forever! And I hate running the latest OS X version because it’s always buggy.

My computer was finally up to date and I was allowed access to the iTunes store login page. I have an account for the US iTunes store, so I tried to use that login info. The login worked just fine, but I couldn’t shop since my billing info is in Canada. So, I tried to create a new account for the Canada store, but Apple would not let me use the same email address as for the US store. I dug through my password files and found what must be, based on the password, an ancient account for the Canadian store. I tried that and was able to access the store.

Next, I browsed for a free app, wanting to get my feet wet before paying for apps. I was not allowed to acquire an app, even a free one, without entering credit card information. My card expires at the end of May, so Apple rejected it. So, until I get my new credit card, I can’t get any apps or do anything fun or cool on my iPod Touch.

My respect for Apple just nose-dived. They are still, of course, infinitely superior to Microsoft, but this was a low blow I would not have expected from a company that markets itself as being ‘plug and play.’ I am very, very disappointed.

by

Gabfest at the Sluicebox Lounge

I was invited out last night, but had too much on my plate. So, tonight, I called the person to see if the offer still stood. Yes!

We started off the night at Gerties, then we drove to the home of one of her new friends so she could introduce us. By the time we were passing Bonanza, it was only 9:30, so we decided to go back into town for another drink.

Since we were in chat mode, going back to Gerties didn’t make sense. Bombay Peggy’s, the cozy pub, would have been nice, but it was jam packed. The next nearest bar was the Sluicebox Lounge at the El Dorado hotel, a block away.

It was a charmless place, unless you consider 70s decor and formica tables ‘charming’, but it was clean, open, and reasonably quiet. A pint was a full seventy-five cents less than at Gerties!

The gal I was with is a French national who has been in Canada for several years. We met briefly last fall as she was moving in. Imagine what sort of courage it must take, even after spending a year in Whitehorse, to pack up for a remote location like Dawson in the winter!

She had both positive and negative things to say about winter in Dawson and seemed to have generally found the experience to be pleasant and worthwhile. A part of me wants to try it, just once, but another part of me knows that she doesn’t do well in a world of constant twilight and inclement weather.

Her winter gave her a chance to get to know the Dawson establishments that stay open late into the fall and even through the winter. I ribbed her about how casually she led me to the Sluicebox Lounge when I know that the gal I met last fall wouldn’t have imagined herself in such an establishment. It just goes to show how a place can slowly mould you into the kind of person it needs you to be to survive there. She hasn’t changed, she still doesn’t drink, but she’s comfortable in locales she never was comfortable in before. I experienced a similar transformation during my month in Scotland.

It turned out to be a fun night and I’m glad I found a more quiet place than Gerties to go to when I’m in a chatty mood!