Forgetting 'R' Us

I could have sworn I never had a phone from Sprint, but according to my email file, shortly after moving back to CA from WA in 2000, I bought a Sprint Startac, which was one of, if not the, earliest flip phones. I am too lazy to go over to the file cabinet to see how long I had that. And it doesn't matter.

Thanks to susandennis and several FB and work friends, tonight I slid my cell phone number from Verizon Motorola Bionic to a Sprint EVO 3D 4G. I need 3D like I need another appendix, but the only other EVOs they had were the one with the slide-out keyboard (I loathe those things) and the "Design 4G" which has the same processor as the 3D except single core while 3D has dual core.

The hot spot feature cost $30/month more, so I did not sign up for it. The same plan I had at Verizon is about $10 cheaper at Sprint, plus my CU membership gives me 10% off of that and the phone. After mail-in rebate, which will arrive sometime by the end of the year, the phone was $99 plus tax on the before-rebate price. Yes, with a 2-year contract. And bailing on Verizon is going to cost $300. The math on that was easy - they forgive $10 of that for each month of service, and I'll be paying $20/mo less for service at Sprint.

I loaded the new phone with my favorite Android apps, and swapped the 8Gb SD card for the 32Gb one from the Bionic. The Bionic is still useful - it can do most of its work over wi-fi, it doesn't need a Verizon signal except for phone calls.

I have 14 days to change my mind, so we're in beta now.

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Work was a lot of reading today. Three new specs, I got through two of them, but I really need to see the GUI design to write intelligent test cases for them.

Lunch at Starbucks. So much eye candy. High turnover, though, most people only stayed long enough to have a drink or two made. I read more of Scalzi's book.

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First things last. Last night featured insomnia at 4:30 am, bad enough to get out of bed and make a glass of chocolate milk. Back to sleep around 6, did the auto-off on the alarm and lights when they came on at 7. It was a not very energetic howeird who showed up at work at 9:45.

I was not woken up by sunshine streaming through the drapes. The RMA curtains arrived yesterday, I took down the first set and put them up and they had indeed weighted the hem and applied blackout liner, which is twice as heavy as the felt thermal liner they had put in by mistake on the first one. This allowed me to notice that the curtain was really two 50" panels sewn together at the center in a not very graceful way. Looking at the original curtain, they had done the same thing.

For what I spent, I am not happy, but it isn't bad enough to return it for a store credit at a store I won't be using anymore.

Kickin' Names and Takin' Asks

Not much to report. Did some laundry before going to work. Highlight of my day was writing my weekly report.

The usual suspects once again decided to go to lunch on a Friday at 11:45, and I keep telling them if they wait an hour, there are no lines, plenty of empty seats and quicker service. But no, they had to be lemmings.

I needed to pick up the photos for Contact at Costco, so that's where I headed at about 1, gassed up the car at their pumps first. There was a bit of a line at the photo counter, apparently this was passport photo day for people who didn't understand "stand on that line, please". And other people who thought it was a good idea to take a shortcut and walk between the person with the camera and the person standing on that line.

My ten 20x30s and 35 12x18s were ready, no muss no fuss no bother. Put those in the cart and went clear to the other side of the warehouse to get some Kraft singles. Four lbs. for about what 12 would cost elsewhere. I had tried the house brand once, it was like a slice of yellow plastic wrapped in a piece of clear plastic. Gag me. Also got a dozen Jimmy Dean Croissant breakfast sandwiches (think egg mcmuffin on a croissant w/a sausage patty). And a box of DiGiorno rising crust pizza. And a couple of pounds of muenster. That's a lot of cheeses.

Straight home after work, finished the laundry, which was all the bedding, including my little stuffed polar bear. Took a LONG time for that to dry.

Domino is coming down from her "follow him everywhere" and even parked herself on my lap for about 15 minutes while I watched TV.

Unloaded the groceries, and the pizza was  a 3-pack. I baked two, had 4 slices for dinner, put the rest in 2-slice freezer bags and was surprised there was plenty of room for them. Had the last of the ice cream for dessert.

Sent email to half-price drapes that we're all good, where should I send the non-blackout curtains? I also suggested they change their product naming. They are not selling Thai silk curtains, they are selling Indian silk. It's pretty, but it isn't the textured material which I was hoping for. Their online write-up is pretty clear that it has a smoother look to it, and I only bought it because it was less than half of what the real thing costs, plus it's only in the bedroom, so anyone who ever sees it is not going to care.

Got the HTC sync program and allegedly synced the EVO with the PC. It did the documents just fine, I haven't checked the music yet.

I'm disappointed in the 4G part of the phone, there is no coverage indoors at work or at home. 3G works fine, and 4G is good outdoors. Wi-fi is solid. It lost its texting signal as I was doing their customer survey (which they do by text message). I thought that was pretty lame. It doesn't charge off the PC worth crap. I have a higher capacity battery and external charger on order, though.

Plans for tomorrow:
There is a huge pile of cardboard boxes in the corner of the living room which needs to find its way to the garage.
Shopping - ice cream