Accidental Treo Durability Testing.

Life, Randomness

So on the list of things that happened last week I forgot to mention that I had a little accident with my phone. This would be a huge deal, but thankfully I didn’t actually pay for the phone that I was using it was a gift from my old roommate Greg. I hadn’t signed a new contract with Cingular in 3 years because I didn’t need a new phone and I was happy with my plan. I just kept waiting for something awesome to come out but every phone that they offer seemed to have something wrong with it. No wifi. slow processor. no battery life. costs $600.

But this weekend I was wearing sweatpants, the solution and cause of all life’s problems. I got into the passengers side of Laurel’s car and didn’t notice anything was wrong until later when I was looking for my phone. I didn’t think anything of it because I leave that thing at home all the time. But when I hadn’t found it when I got home I started to worry. My fears were confirmed when Bobby brought it inside, he found it in the street. It must have fallen out of my sweatpants pocket and then we ran over it on the way out.

One good thing I can say about Palm is that the phone stil worked… sort of. The screen was crushed in 20 places, but it would still come on and most of the buttons still worked. But the problem is that the device would come on, but it was really hard to start the phone application without a screen. I did manage it once by pressing the touchscreen where I thought the buttons would be. But then I played with it some more and couldn’t duplicate that feat.

So I went ahead and signed a new contract with Cingular in exchange for a discounted price on the 8125 (HTC Wizard). It seems like a pretty good phone. It’s a little hard getting used to windows mobile 5, Palm OS may not have as many features and settings built in, but it’s a much more stable and fast system. The wifi is nice, I’ve already connected it to a free wifi spot at work without much trouble. If only I can do the same at home, I’ll be the king of the Sausage.

Later!

Goings on…

Life, Randomness

Well it’s been a few days since I last posted something here so I thought I’d update what I’ve been doing since monday-ish.

  • Played in a pre-season softball tourney
  • Went to Art-o-Matic in Crystal City
  • Dad’s 60th birthday, went to Dinner theater
  • got another bad haircut

Notes on the above.

I need to hit the batting cage a little so I don’t suck so bad at the plate. I want to get back to art-o-matic to see the rest of the 6th floor stuff. My dad is officially old and all good musicals were written in the 60s. Haircut turned out not to be so bad after I ran it by the girlfriend filter.

Later!
Mark

Pessimists guide to this week in history.

Life, Randomness

April 16, 2007: VT Shooting Spree. 33 were killed (including shooter)
April 18, 1983: Suicide bomber destroys Lebanon embassy. 63 deaths
April 19, 1989: Turret explosed on USS Iowa. Kills 47.
April 19, 1993: The Branch Davidian Siege ends in the deaths of 81 people
April 19, 1995: Oklahoma City Bombing kills 168
April 20, 1999: Columbine Massacre. 15 were killed (including shooters)

Don’t forget April 15, 1912: Titanic sinks. About 1,500 die.

Details emerge… but does it really matter

Life, Randomness

With the world on a 24 hour news cycle it’s hard to watch the reporters repeat what details are already out there for hours on end. I forced myself not to watch any reports for hours yesterday so that when I finally did I actually got information, not just a sick feeling in my stomach.

I just feel this need to know.

Does it make me feel better to know the details, to know the face, not really. I just clamor for information. I need to know. It’s like when you were a kid and you watched the scary parts through the cracks in your fingers, you were scared to find out, but you really wanted to know.

This is the scary part in real life.

So if you really want to know and don’t feel like putting up with Geraldo’s mustachioed ego, then go to what I’ve found to be the best resource for information.

VT Massacre

later.

PS. write your name like this and tell me it doesn’t creep you out today…

Mark Schumaker, 25, Vienna Virginia

You never know what kind of day it’s going to be when you wake up.

Life, Randomness

We weren’t having the best night last night. It had poured down rain all day and the sump pump in Charlie’s room had given up. Water had made it all the way from the sump under the bathroom floor, to the laundry room. It was a total mess, unlike most things we couldn’t fix this. So we called Lauren (our landlord) and she told us the earliest she could get someone out to us would be 9:30 Monday morning. So we decided to take our chances with that time, so we used the shop vac to get as much water out of everything and let it ride.

But then at 9:30 nothing about our house situation seemed to matter. Nothing about changing jsp code at work mattered. Guitar Hero breaks could barley take my mind off what happened in Blacksburg. I was a senior in high school when Columbine happened, this feels so similar. Just thinking about it brings up all those images that are burned in my brain. Well now I have new images and sounds that keep echoing around inside my head.

There’s nothing I can do. That’s what I keep thinking.

For now it seems like there was nothing anybody could have done about it. I hope it stays like that. I’d hate to think this could have been avoided.

Mark