Oh, man. What a day.
Emotional roller coaster.
So, I lost my cell phone yesterday. Left it on the number 3 Lothian bus somewhere between Gilmarton and Canonmills. So I had no alarm. So I was late for work - not that late, but late. So I just barely made it on to this conference call.
I hate conference calls. They're an excuse to not do real work.
The place where I'm working now has 1 project manager for every 1.3 techincal people. Most techies have six or so projects, so most project managers have seven or eight projects. As you might expect, it takes two years to deploy fresh toilet roll to the men's toilets, including an eighteen week testing phase. It's insane.
Losing my phone made me feel like an idiot. Carol flew in today and I was supposed to meet her at a Starbucks on Princes St. (the upstairs one, with a full view of Castle Rock and Edinburgh Castle). Without my phone, she had no way of calling me to let me know when she arrived, so I was going to have to wait for her from basically 1430 until whenever she showed up.
Plus, I'm basically homeless here, looking for a flat while I stay with friends. So I'm calling letting agents and having them call me back. Which they can't do, because I left my phone on the bus.
Anyway, I get to work, have this call, get my picture taken for my new security badge, get in a car and drive to a back-up data center to unrack some Nokia IP710s that had caught fire. (Little known fact: Nokia IP710s catch fire. They are an electrical and fire hazard. Do not buy them.)
On the way out, I call the Lothian Bus company and, lo and behold, a driver turned in my phone! I'm surprised and feel extremely lucky. Of course, my phone had a pay-as-you-go SIM with only 12p on it, so someone might have turned it in only after they realized it was worthless.
So on the way back we stop and pick up my phone. Then we go to look at a flat quickly, before lunch is over. Well, the letting agent, in this case Broughton Property Management in Edinburgh, had told me to call if I was going to cancel. I hadn't called, hadn't cancelled and was looking forward to viewing this flat, at 7 East Claremont, down in Canonmills.
Well, no one showed. We sat around for about ten minutes and then I called Broughton Management. "You were asked to confirm and you didn't." the woman said when I called. "Sorry, but no one will be out to help you." Then she hung up the phone.
What arrogant shits! As if there weren't fifty other letting agents in Edinburgh! I don't need their service. I'm the customer, for Christ's sake! Argh! So frustrating. And they lied to me!
Anyway, I was hacked off, so we didn't call them back, just went back to work. I skipped lunch and went to Starbuck's to wait for Carol.
When she showed up, I realized that yes, it was worth getting out of bed this morning. She looked beautiful! Such a great site for sore eyes. I'd post her picture here but I have strict orders not to do it, so you'll all just have to come visit me in Edinburgh to meet her.
Anyway, Carol and I caught up a bit, exchanged Edinburgh numbers and I went back to work and she went over to her friend Brigitte Wallace's place.
At around ten until six, Adam and I pile into his car to race over to another flat we're supposed to be viewing at six. Well, it should only be ten minutes away, but Princes St is a worse snarl than usual and it takes us half an hour, so we get there at 6:15pm and the agent who was supposed to show us the flat is gone. I can't really blame her; I'd have left, too, if someone were fifteen minutes late, but it still sucked.
So we went and had a few beers and flirted with the pretty French waitress who brought us our drinks, then Adam went home and Carol dragged me out to dinner at Chez Jacques - passable, although her dinner was better than mine. Their menu is a little heavy on seafood for me, the chicken was poorly done, with a lousy balance of flavors. You'd think chicken, sundried tomatoes and chorizo would be a natural match but they somehow ruined it.
We left and Carol refused to come home with me, saying that it would take advantage of Roddy's hospitality. She may be right. At any rate, I came home and Roddy was just leaving for Francesca's.
I'm constantly posting several months too late. Will anyone see this? Anyway this entry just confirms what a great catch Carol is.
Axioms are mortal,
politics is mortal,
poetry is mortal,-
good manners are immortal
Stefan Themerson "The Mystery of the Sardine"
Yes, Mark, people will read it.
They'll even comment on it.
Did you post this on more than just the one blog?
Vive nos amis les amis les chiens ! La mienne s'appelle zelda.J'en suis gaga
Between me and my husband we've owned more MP3 players over the years than I can count, including Sansas, iRivers, iPods (classic & touch), the Ibiza Rhapsody, etc. But, the last few years I've settled down to one line of players. Why? Because I was happy to discover how well-designed and fun to use the underappreciated (and widely mocked) Zunes are.
I have been to your site a fair few times now and I really enjoy reading your posts thanks again for making my day a whole lot better. :-)
Sorry for the huge review, but I'm really loving the new Zune, and hope this, as well as the excellent reviews some other people have written, will help you decide if it's the right choice for you.
Zune and iPod: Most people compare the Zune to the Touch, but after seeing how slim and surprisingly small and light it is, I consider it to be a rather unique hybrid that combines qualities of both the Touch and the Nano. It's very colorful and lovely OLED screen is slightly smaller than the touch screen, but the player itself feels quite a bit smaller and lighter. It weighs about 2/3 as much, and is noticeably smaller in width and height, while being just a hair thicker.
While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.
This is getting a bit more subjective, but I much prefer the Zune Marketplace. The interface is colorful, has more flair, and some cool features like 'Mixview' that let you quickly see related albums, songs, or other users related to what you're listening to. Clicking on one of those will center on that item, and another set of "neighbors" will come into view, allowing you to navigate around exploring by similar artists, songs, or users. Speaking of users, the Zune "Social" is also great fun, letting you find others with shared tastes and becoming friends with them. You then can listen to a playlist created based on an amalgamation of what all your friends are listening to, which is also enjoyable. Those concerned with privacy will be relieved to know you can prevent the public from seeing your personal listening habits if you so choose.
French is an official language in 30 countries, most of which form what is called, in French, La Francophonie, the community of French-speaking countries. It is an official language of all United Nations agencies and a large number of international organizations. According to the European Union, 129 million (or 26% of the Union's total population), in 27 member states speak French, of which 65 million are native speakers and 69 million claim to speak French either as a second language or as a foreign language, making it the third most spoken second language in the Union, after English and German. Twenty-percent of non-Francophone Europeans know how to speak French, totaling roughly 145.6 million people.
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language by around 136 million people worldwide. A total of 250 million speak it as either a first or as a second language. Moreover, roughly 110 million people learn French as a second or third language. French speaking communities are present in 56 countries and territories. Most native speakers of the language live in France, the rest live essentially in Canada, particularly Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Ontario, as well as Belgium, Algeria, Switzerland, Monaco, Luxembourg, and certain places in the U.S. states of Maine and Louisiana. Most second-language speakers of French live in Francophone Africa, arguably exceeding the number of native speakers.
French is a descendant of the Latin language of the Roman Empire, as are national languages such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian and Catalan, and minority languages ranging from Occitan to Neapolitan and many more. Its closest relatives however are the other langues d'oïl and French-based creole languages. Its development was also influenced by the native Celtic languages of Roman Gaul and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders.
French is an official language in 30 countries, most of which form what is called, in French, La Francophonie, the community of French-speaking countries. It is an official language of all United Nations agencies and a large number of international organizations. According to the European Union, 129 million (or 26% of the Union's total population), in 27 member states speak French, of which 65 million are native speakers and 69 million claim to speak French either as a second language or as a foreign language, making it the third most spoken second language in the Union, after English and German. Twenty-percent of non-Francophone Europeans know how to speak French, totaling roughly 145.6 million people.
French is a descendant of the Latin language of the Roman Empire, as are national languages such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian and Catalan, and minority languages ranging from Occitan to Neapolitan and many more. Its closest relatives however are the other langues d'oïl and French-based creole languages. Its development was also influenced by the native Celtic languages of Roman Gaul and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders.
French is a descendant of the Latin language of the Roman Empire, as are national languages such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian and Catalan, and minority languages ranging from Occitan to Neapolitan and many more. Its closest relatives however are the other langues d'oïl and French-based creole languages. Its development was also influenced by the native Celtic languages of Roman Gaul and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders.
As a result of France's extensive colonial ambitions between the 17th and 20th centuries, French was introduced to America, Africa, Polynesia, South-East Asia, and the Caribbean.
French is an official language in 30 countries, most of which form what is called, in French, La Francophonie, the community of French-speaking countries. It is an official language of all United Nations agencies and a large number of international organizations. According to the European Union, 129 million (or 26% of the Union's total population), in 27 member states speak French, of which 65 million are native speakers and 69 million claim to speak French either as a second language or as a foreign language, making it the third most spoken second language in the Union, after English and German. Twenty-percent of non-Francophone Europeans know how to speak French, totaling roughly 145.6 million people.
You can get anything at Costco! But the specialty of the house is diabetes.
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Apple now has Rhapsody as an app, which is a great start, but it is currently hampered by the inability to store locally on your iPod, and has a dismal 64kbps bit rate. If this changes, then it will somewhat negate this advantage for the Zune, but the 10 songs per month will still be a big plus in Zune Pass' favor.
A sign of wisdom and maturity is when you come to terms with the realization that your decisions cause your rewards and consequences
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This is getting a bit more subjective, but I much prefer the Zune Marketplace. The interface is colorful, has more flair, and some cool features like 'Mixview' that let you quickly see related albums, songs, or other users related to what you're listening to. Clicking on one of those will center on that item, and another set of "neighbors" will come into view, allowing you to navigate around exploring by similar artists, songs, or users. Speaking of users, the Zune "Social" is also great fun, letting you find others with shared tastes and becoming friends with them. You then can listen to a playlist created based on an amalgamation of what all your friends are listening to, which is also enjoyable. Those concerned with privacy will be relieved to know you can prevent the public from seeing your personal listening habits if you so choose.
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Between me and my husband we've owned more MP3 players over the years than I can count, including Sansas, iRivers, iPods (classic & touch), the Ibiza Rhapsody, etc. But, the last few years I've settled down to one line of players. Why? Because I was happy to discover how well-designed and fun to use the underappreciated (and widely mocked) Zunes are.
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I'll gear this review to 2 types of people: current Zune owners who are considering an upgrade, and people trying to decide between a Zune and an iPod. (There are other players worth considering out there, like the Sony Walkman X, but I hope this gives you enough info to make an informed decision of the Zune vs players other than the iPod line as well.)
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