iMac Withdrawal

Well, last week my iMac had a massive hard drive failure.  It's kinda like the equivalent of a stroke... but for a computer.  And now you might say that my iMac is in a coma and will not wake up.  It's all very sad.  I had a bit of a panic attack about this last Wednesday.

Luckily, Danny helped me figure out that I could take the computer in to the Apple Store on the weekend, and find out exactly what was wrong w/the damn thing.

My mom, Rachel and I went to the Apple Store, and the guy ran some high-tech tests.  He said there were over 2,000 errors on my hard drive.  Not good.  It would have to be replaced.  I told him how much it sucked that this was happening, since my Apple Care had just expired last month.  He said that they don't even MAKE the 250GB hard drives anymore, so I'd get a free upgrade to the 500GB.  I asked how much this was going to cost.

He said, "Don't worry, I'll take care of it for you."

OMG!  He took pity on me and is getting me the new hard drive for FREE!!!  YAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!

So now I have to wait for the hard drive to come in (he had to order it from elsewhere) and then take my iMac back to the store for them to actually do the replacement.  For the time being, I'm stuck using my Asus PC laptop instead.  Thankfully it's nice and fast, and my boss said he'll install Photoshop and Premiere on this laptop for me, which was very nice of him.  But I'm still going through Mac Withdrawals.

On my Mac, I took full advantage of the OS X Leopard capabilities, specifically using Expose and Spaces.  I would keep all my work related Finder windows, and a separate browser full of work email and links open in one Space desktop.  Then I'd use another browser in a second space for all my personal crap.  And I would use Expose constantly to switch between windows.

Now when I'm using this PC, everything is smushed into one desktop.  I can't keep work and play separate.  It sucks!  I really miss my iMac and I just can't wait til it's fixed and happy and working again.  I don't even care if I lose all my files (tho I am going to attempt to salvage whatever I can, if my plan works, this evening).

I'll keep everyone updated on my iMac status!  For those who care, here's a scary error message I'd gotten on my mac:

Mobile Blogging!

This is my first attempt at blogging from my new Blogger App!  I got my Optimus V smartphone last week and I've been pretty obsessed with it!  Between that and the new Pokemon game coming out, I've been quite preoccupied lol!  Not to mention that I've been helping Melissa with all the wedding planning...  don't have much time for blogging.  But maybe with this app that will change. :-P

My Latest Obsession

Last weekend, I went to the city to visit Danny, as usual.  We celebrated Valentine's Day early since I had to be back on LI to work and such on Monday.  On my way back, I didn't have time to call the house before getting on the train back to my town.  And since I don't have a car, I have to call my mom to get a ride home from the train station.

As you would expect, I called the house from the train, using my crappy cell phone.  For those who don't know, I currently have a Tracfone.  It's a pay-as-you-go phone service, I prepay for minutes and then use them up, and the cycle continues.  In the past I've attempted to connect to the internet using this phone, only to discover (to my dismay) that I was being charged for the time it takes me to write out the web URL I want to visit using the number pad.  It's safe to say that this phone totally sucks.  What I didn't realize was the full EXTENT of the suckiness.

So I called my house.  Nobody answered.  I called my mom's cell phone, no answer.  Then I tried my dad's cell, and yup you guessed it, no answer.  At this point I was starting to slightly panic, because I was already on the train and was going to have to find SOME way of getting home, hopefully without having to pay $7 to take a taxi.  I kept trying, finally left a voicemail on my mom's phone.

Once I had done all that, I noticed that my phone had used up 10 minutes of air time.  Just for dialing and listening to the ring of a phone that was going unanswered on the other end.  I mean, REALLY?  They charge me for waiting for someone to pick up??  That was the last straw.

I've decided that a new phone is not only a fun thing to get, but it was now a NECESSITY.  I'd been looking at cell phone plans and things before, but now I'm starting to get serious.  Tracfone might be [somewhat] cheap and convenient, but it doesn't really do everything I want my phone to do.  Not to mention that my Tracfone is archaic and has zero features (except Tetris).  What I'd really like is to join the rest of the world and get a SMARTPHONE.

No, I'm not a spokesperson for any cell phone company.  But I must say that I'm smitten by Virgin Mobile's "Beyond Talk" plan.  For $25 a month (taxes and fees included yay!) I could get 300 minutes, and unlimited text, email, data and web.  My little sister has had a smartphone for like a year and I've been desperately jealous of her ability to google things at a whim.  With Virgin Mobile's cell phone plan, I think I could actually be able to do this as well!!  I've pretty much decided that I want to get this phone:

It's called the LG Optimus V Android.  It's $149, available at my local RadioShack and compatible w/that Beyond Talk plan that I want.  The price isn't unreasonable for a smartphone... and I just NEED THIS DAMN THING!  I'm toying with the idea of getting this phone like, as soon as I get my first paycheck from my new job.  (I'm starting part-time with them, so I know my check won't be huge but I'm pretty sure I could swing $150.)  This phone has EVERYTHING that I want.  It's 3G, WIFI-capable, access to the Android Market, has all the silly apps I'd need, it's touch screen...  need I say more?  So yes, I'm kind of obsessed with this phone right now.  I feel like I've been stuck in the stone age with my current cell phone and I want to upgrade!  NOW!  Please?  So hopefully within the next month I'll be getting this new phone.  Hopefully I won't have to change my cell number (I'm worried that the 646 area code will prove to be problematic when trying to transfer, since I now live on Long Island) but at this point... it would be worth it.  I'll post emphatically if/when I get this phone so um... stay tuned?  

OH and in case you were wondering, my mom got my voicemail and was able to pick me up at the train station, so I got home just fine.  :P

Baby Photo

I meant to post this a week or so ago but here is a photo I took w/my sister's iPod Touch of her latest sonogram!  It's a 3D composite of my niece or nephew.  Right now... it kinda looks like an alien.  But I love how the hands are pretty well formed already, and the baby is making this diva-like pose that says, "No photos, please!"

Gonna Be an Auntie

Well I wasn't really supposed to share this information before... but nobody really reads this blog anyway.  Hehehe.  My sister posted it on her Facebook wall, so I guess it's public now.  She's having a baby!

And that means I'm gonna be an aunt!

Melissa got a sonogram today and brought home pictures of her little baby squiggle.  I kinda want to scan it or something cuz it was pretty small and cute.  She said the urologist was having trouble taking a picture cuz the baby kept moving around!  How cool is that?

I really hope the baby is a boy.  Just cause we have SO many females in this family, we need to like, even it out.  Plus my sister and her fiance already decided that if it is a boy, they are going to name him after my late Grandfather and call him Frankie.  That would be really sweet.

I just can't believe it's really happening!  It's so hard to fathom right now!  And most likely Melissa and Ro won't be getting their own place right away, so it means the baby will be RIGHT HERE in the house with the rest of us!  And my Mom has already assigned me to the 11pm-2am babysitting shift, apparently.

If I can manage to get a scan or photo of the sonogram picture, I'll post it.  It's really cute!  I'm so proud of the little squiggle baby!  :D

Jets Suck & Nabokov is a Douche

Sunday Funday!  I kinda like watching football on Sundays.  No wait, that's not entirely true.  When Danny would watch like 3 straight games starting at 1pm on a Sunday afternoon... that wasn't quite as fun (hehehehe). But when there's just ONE game that I'm somewhat interested in watching on a Sunday evening, I like it!  For example, tonight's Steelers vs. Jets game, to decide which team will make it to the Super Bowl.  I am a Giants fan, so I don't much care for the NY Jets.  Plus that coach Rex Ryan is just a big talker and he's kinda creepy.  At least the Giants coach looks like a mean dinosaur instead of the Pillsbury Doughboy, and doesn't make strange foot fetish videos.  So I was pretty gleeful when the Jets lost tonight.

Yeahhh I got bored and took a bunch of really retarded DSi photos with effects and posted them on Facebook.  I'll probably regret that tomorrow lol!  xD

Anyway so that's not the only sports topic on my mind right now.  I'm a bit baffled by the Waivers system in the NHL.  You see, this goaltender named Evgeni Nabokov had been placed on waivers by the Detroit Red Wings... and when you're on waivers, it means that another team can swoop in and snag the contract.  So the Islanders claimed Nabokov off waivers, and this fucking goalie is being a HUGE diva bitch about it.  Clearly he doesn't want to come to Long Island.  He said:

"Right now, that's right. I was surprised they picked me up. I was like, 'Wow, what's the point?' " Nabokov told ESPN. "It's nothing against the Islanders and their organization. It's just that I'm at the point in my career where I want to help a team win in the playoffs. I don't see how I could help the Islanders or what I could do for them."

I say... first of all, guy, it's not up to you to determine why a team picked you up.  We have our reasons - mainly that our main goalie Rick DiPietro's ability to play is pretty uncertain, and our 'baby goalies' aren't doing so hot either.  Lawson (the better rookie) is kinda injured and I don't even KNOW the other goalie's name.  So we need a more, uh... 'reliable' goalie.  It's not like a player can be placed on waivers and then give dibs to a team that's in playoff contention.

So anyway, this guy Nabokov is refusing to report to my team.  He even hung up on the General Manager, Garth Snow:

Snow, however, also confirmed what owner Charles Wang had told reporters a few minutes earlier, that Nabokov - the longtime Sharks goalie who started this season in the Russian KHL - had hung up on him during an initial phone call made Saturday. Before talking to Snow Sunday, the 35-year-old Nabokov told ESPN he hadn't been contacted by the Isles or received any voice messages from Snow.

"(Nabokov's agent Don Meehan) called me and told me it was uncalled for and that he would get to the bottom of it," Snow said. "He called me back 15 or 20 minutes later, saying '(Nabokov) didn't know it was you.' I just gave him the benefit of the doubt."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/hockey/2011/01/23/2011-01-23_islanders_owner_charles_wang_reveals_gm_garth_snow_confirms_evgeni_nabokov_hung_.html#ixzz1BvV5oJgs

I say, child please.  This is the most obnoxious move I've ever seen by a hockey player, and that's saying a lot, considering how much crap NY Ranger Sean Avery has pulled in the past 5 years or so.  I always figured that [most] hockey players were humble and down to earth.  At this point I don't want this fuckhead Nabokov on my team - he's clearly a selfish bitch, and that doesn't fit my team's mentality.

I hope the league forces Nabokov to honor his contract that is now owned by the Islanders, and then I hope the Islanders suspend him for the rest of the season for being a douchebag.  That way he can sit on his ass and mope around for the next 3-4 months and not play for ANYONE, let alone a playoff team.  That's what you get for being a selfish asshole.

*end rant*  :D

Interview Day!

Well, I guess my 'post a day' quest has been downgraded to 'post a week.'  Or maybe a 'post whenever.'  :P

Anyway, today was kind of exciting!  I'd been applying to jobs all week, looking for jobs that were specifically in my local area and in my areas of interest.  I thought it was going to be business as usual - send an email, hear nothing back, rinse and repeat.  Not today!

I was doing my workout and my cell phone rang.  I was in the middle of a 20 minute jog so I was all out of breath and not quite equipped for a professional conversation, so I let it go to voicemail.  When I was done and showered and ready to focus on stuff, I sat down to check my messages.

When I called the voicemail, I had not one but TWO messages!  I have no idea when the other message had arrived, since my phone sucks ass and doesn't tell you any of those helpful details.  But I digress.  So I checked my messages - the first was from a place called "Catnip and Carrots," which is a local veterinary practice in New Hyde Park, which is one town over to the south.  I spoke to a very nice receptionist who signed me up for an interview on Sunday at 4:30pm.

The other message was from "Eventful Productions," a local event planning company in Roslyn Heights, one town over to the north.  The woman I spoke with at this company scheduled me in for Wednesday at 2:30pm.

I am super psyched about both of these prospects!  The vet would be perfect for me because I love animals, and I would LOVE a job that allowed me to work with animals all day.  I could help train the cats, I'm good at handling even difficult cats...  I've even had to apply oral medicine and topical creams to my cats in the past.  And no, that's not easy - cats HATE when humans try to assist them with their hygiene!

The event planning company would ALSO be perfect for me, because they are looking for someone who is heavily versed in Photoshop and Social Network Marketing.  Those are two of my favorite things!  Not to mention that wedding/bat mitzvah/social events is a field I've worked in before, so I could offer my services in video editing as well.

All in all, I think I'm highly qualified for either of these positions.  Unfortunately, I'm pretty lousy at interviews.  Unless I'm SUPER confident, I tend to blow it.  Maybe I should review some interviewing tips and articles about this sort of thing tomorrow, to help prepare.

I hope it goes well!  :D