.:: Yolospat ::.

This is a little embarrassing, but I just had to do it. I was running out of desktop space.

So I decided to mount my 20″ Dell wide screen monitor and my 13″ LCD HDTV to the wall. I feel like I’m in a cockpit now.

My new set up in my office

Forgiveness means forgiveness. Not bringing up the past and not letting the past be just what it is, the past. Forgiveness means going from the present time forward. That’s forgiveness.

For anyone out there, remember this when telling someone you’re sorry. Please, for yourself and for them, mean it. Don’t just say it.

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” Lewis B. Smedes

“Sincere forgiveness isn’t colored with expectations that the other person apologize or change. Don’t worry whether or not they finally understand you. Love them and release them. Life feeds back truth to people in its own way and time.” Sara Paddison

I just made my 101 in 1001 list. I’m stuck on #46, so if you have any suggestions let me know.

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while and my friend Chriss inspired me with her list.

I can’t get over how incredibly easy Apple makes it to learn their framework and to dive right into Cocoa programming. I’m a member of Apple Developer Connection because my passion is creating, coding and developing. When I first dove into Cocoa and Objective-C programming and signed up for the ADC program Apple pretty much got out a silver tray and handed me every tool I would need to create neat, fast and stream-lined OS X and iPhone applications.

The Library’s Apple offers are huge and they are actually built into XCode (the apple developer tool). I’m a visual person so I’m much more prone to video than I am having to read gobs of technical jargon. Apple takes care of people like me and with my learning style. They offer both introductory video’s, advanced video’s and everything in between. Not only can you find these video’s on the Apple Developer web sites but you can also find the video’s on Apple’s iTunes and download them to your iPhone/iPod/Touch to take with you.

Like I said, I thrive on this stuff …

I recently downloaded two albums on iTunes the other night. Low and behold, my Macbook Pro crashed and my last backup was from two weeks ago. After I got it restored with Time Machine I noticed I had lost those two albums (like seriously, that’s $21.00 I didn’t exactly want to throw out the window).

So I wrote to iTunes and told them what happened.

They wrote me back and said, here is your music!

So I wrote them back again, because really, what company actually cares, right? This is what I said:

Can I hug you? :: hugs ::

Thanks so much awesome Apple People (And Ray who helped me)

Jen

It’s sent to a general iTunes box of course and not even one hour later I get this email:

Dear Jenny,

You’re very welcome. Thanks for the hug!

Nothing makes Apple happier than to hear that we have pleased our customers. I hope that you continue to enjoy the iTunes Store.

Thank you for being a valued iTunes Store customer. Have a great day, Jenny!

Sincerely,

Raymond
iTunes Store Customer Support

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to assist you. You may receive an AppleCare survey email; any feedback you provide would be greatly appreciated.

In all honesty, I’m not that valued as an iTunes customer as I don’t pay for music that often (I’m pleading the 5th on this). Now I feel like only buying my music from iTunes. Apple made me feel special, once again. I thrive on this stuff.

Well, I had quite the day. This morning I was installing some software and in the middle of it it stalls, everything froze and I did the worst thing possible. I lost patience and held down the power button to reboot my mac instead of waiting. When my Macbook Pro started back up it was at the start up screen with the apple logo and the rotating gear. FOR A FREAKING HOUR. Sigh. It wouldn’t boot. I tried everything, I even tried restoring from Time Machine, but nothing was working.

Then I start freaking out … Because I have a shit load of homework to get done for the projects due tomorrow and I’m already wasting hours trying to get my computer back up.

I rush to the apple store right before they were going to close. They thought it might be the hard drive but I made an appointment to have it checked out for tomorrow today at 12:15 PM.

When I get home, I just figure I’ll try to restore the hard drive by reinstalling a fresh copy of OSX. Previously in safe mode it wasn’t seeing the hard drive and after using first aid and trying to repair the OSX volume it failed. This time, when doing a fresh install it saw the hard drive and it took the install. Then when it was back up I restored everything but the applications folder from Time Machine (because it was faulty software that did it in the first place I think). Then I selected the applications that were critical to school and to my functioning from Time Machine and HURRAY! My Mac is BACK!

Granted it’s 2 AM and today was completely wasted and I’m going to be going through some serious crunch time in getting this Java homework done, but ..

But I haven’t felt a personal connection with a computer in a long time. Years actually. This is 100% due to the frustrations of Windows. Ever since I got my Macbook Pro my computer experience has been restored and I have this personal bond with my projects again. Weird I know, but I am a professional computer geek who wants to know the ins and outs of everything dealing with technology.

I’m just glad I’m back. I didn’t want to suffer through using my Vista computer while my Macbook Pro was sitting in the apple store getting fixed. That reminds me, I have to call and cancel my appointment for tomorrow today.

Today would have been my Father’s birthday. It’s feels surreal he’s been gone for 9 years now.

Happy Birthday Dad ..

It’s truly amazing to me how people can sit around and let their brain rot. It’s equally confusing when I hear people say they are bored. It makes me sad when the very core of creativity dries up in a person turning the very shell of their existence to a dependent dull boring, nothing. And the kicker is … these people seem to accept that it’s who they are completely forgetting they at one time in their lives they showed true potential by independently thinking, creating, experiencing.

Throughout my life I keep seeing this phenomena over and over and I’m equally shocked each and every time. Mindless activity is a nice relaxing vacation every once in a while but permanent mindlessness should be a fucking sin. A quote from the 40 year old virgin, “Is it true that if you don’t use it, you lose it?” reminds me of this. When one stops exercising that gray matter it just might not come back to its full potential.

Don’t get caught up in settling for anything less than creating, learning and experiencing every part of this short span of time they call life. Don’t become the dependent simpleton who’s light bulb is so dim the light doesn’t reach your feet. Keep that mind constantly full of knowledge, keep that bulb burning bright and strong so you can always clearly see your path. Don’t waste energy on over-analyzing every single fucking situation. Take what you need from it, leave the rest, and LEARN from it. Turn off that TV, turn off the computer, go outside, take pictures, read a book, talk to a total stranger and listen to the story of their life. Everything is as interesting and wonderful as you make it.

The sun is only as bright and beautiful as you allow it to be…

I recently moved my site to This* (one of my sites, this one will be going shortly) and I know I’ve written about them before but I have to write about them again, because they impressed me with personal touch.

I got an email from Jules, the Technical Director who was proactive and manually moved my site without waiting to hear back from me.

Hi Jenny,

As a new client of ours and having been with us for a couple of weeks now, I’m just e-mailing to check up on the service you’ve received so far. How has everything been? Do you have any comments, suggestions or other feedback for us that may help us improve the service for yourself and others in the future? Any and all comments are welcome so feel free to speak your mind!

–
Best Wishes,
Jules Robinson - this* Technical Director

I emailed Jules back quite the book.

Hello Jules!

Let me start out as saying I have never been treated by any company as I have been treated by ThisWebHost. My jaw is still dropped to the ground thinking back through the few weeks of my new membership with you.

I give you, and This* a standing ovation :: stands up and claps ::

The extremely quick set up was completed 45 seconds after I hit the “sign up” button. I was extremely busy at work that day and I didn’t get back to you about moving my site, yet you were proactive and completed it for me before I had a chance to check my email (and I know full well that it’s NOT part of the hosting plan to manually move sites, it’s only part of the plan to move sites that had certain cPanel services). My site has been blazing fast, and you guys are AWESOME.

I’m a software engineer and I’ve been in the “business” for 10 years now and I have never seen IT folk so personable, friendly, and helpful. You work for an extremely wonderful company and I hope to find a company with as much integrity when I graduate from college.

I’m going to tell a little story that happened to me the same day I signed up with This*. I went to get my hair cut at this new Fantastic Sams close to my work. The gentleman that cut my hair was extremely kind and talkative and we sat there talking 30 minutes after he was done with my hair. It wasn’t but 2 days later I get a card in the mail from him to say thank you for the conversation and he hoped I had a good time with my family who was coming into town. It wasn’t one of those thank you notes that was pre-printed. He took the time and energy to thank ME, when he was the one that cut MY hair. The point I’m trying to make is, This* did exactly that. You go the extra mile and you truly care about the care of the customer. Consider me your permanent customer, and I’m in the process now of transferring my other two sites over.

Please feel free to forward this to your boss, their boss, and their boss. I want to thank everyone!

Jen

YES! They are really that amazing.

Well, it was sort of made of win. Pepper went to the vets to get his cast off today. After taking xrays his vet decided that his little bone isn’t quite healed good enough and they put another cast back on him for the next 2 or 4 weeks. Poor little guy, I’m sure he’s forgotten he even has 4 legs.

Other than that, it was a great day at work. I’m getting a lot done, and I have some huge projects on my plate for the week which feels great. I also got a raise, and I happen to be one of the two in my department that aren’t … :: cough :: … leaving the company not by their choice soon (if you know what I mean).

So what does that mean? That means I get more money, and they think I’m a smart valuable cookie. That makes me feel good
Got Brendan a new phone today too since he put his through the wash. It’s an LG Shine (black). It’s amazing how phones really haven’t come super far, of course when they aren’t iPhones.
Finals going on today and tomorrow. I haven’t been playing WoW because of this, and because I have to pull off at least a B in these classes. I miss WoW

This time it was a guy and a girl. The guy actually knew what he was talking about, using those big tech words in the correct way. This time I actually listened.

I’ve had Comcast for as long as they had broadband internet in my area back when I lived in Fort Collins, Colorado. At that time I was high on speed, internet speed that is. It was like a totally new experience. Before I dove into the word of broadband I had a 50 ft phone cable plugged into the back of my laptop which went wherever I did in my condo. But this new broadband thing, I never had to sign off, I never had to hold up the telephone line, it was like any young geek girls dream. Ever since the beginning .. I had problems with them but I was living in cyberspace and it was the only alternative I had. When I moved to Florida, it was the only alternative I had. When we moved to Georgia, it was the only service available with such speeds, but the problems never quit. When I think of Comcast I have this bad taste in my mouth reflecting on bad experiences, shotty service, and extremely poor customer service.

AT&T fiber is going to give me HDTV (when reading all the forums it’s supposed to be way better than Comcast), move my current phone number over, and feed 10mbps through fiber optic paradise right into my house.

One of the big sellers for me was if we had any problems AT&T would send out a tech within 24 hours. That’s unheard of with Comcast.

I’m excited. I’m not canceling Comcast yet, but I can’t wait to drop them if this service is better.

Oh ya, and I fed the guy and girl that were here. Because they were cool.

When I woke up this morning I saw a card laying on my desk with my name on it. It was from my husband. The inside says ..

You’re a better Mommy than you realize! And someday I hope to make that true. Love, Brendan

I called my Mother today to wish her a happy Mother’s day. She’s really the best Mom ever. I’m sure most people say that about their Mom’s. I didn’t always appreciate her tho. Growing up my Mother and I never really bonded like Mother and Daughter should. This caused my teenage years to be less then enjoyable, more for her than myself. I put her through the ringer and back again (it makes me scared of having my own children). Shortly after my Father died I went spinning into Galaxy and I wasn’t there for her as much as I should have been while she mourned. I was dealing with the pain in a way that hurt us both. Eventually I pulled my head out of my butt enough when I decided to move clear across the country. Something happened I never knew was possible. My Mother and I, although we were thousands of miles away, bonded.

At this present day my Mother and I are not only family, but we’re also the best of friends. I’ve had to be there for her through breaking up with her first and only boyfriend (at least since my Father passed) and she’s had to be there for me through the easy and hard times of my marriage. She’s recently retired which brings to light how much both her and I have gotten older.

My Mother now has time to come to Georgia for more frequent visits. She often leaves her items here so she doesn’t have to haul so much. There is one closet in the spare bedroom that spells exactly like her. I don’t let my husband open it too much so the times I really miss her I can go to that closet and breath her comfort. Weird? Maybe. But it makes me smile just thinking about it.

So happy Mother’s Day Mom, I love you so much!

I like playing with software and I’m always trying to understand complicated software like Final Cut Studio …

Anyway, to my 4 year old beagle, Jonah.

It’s true. I had a customer service representative come to my door this evening about 15 minutes after I got home from work. When I opened the door and saw her clip board I knew right away she was there to sell me something.

I brace myself in the doorway to hear her out, not wanting to be rude. I mean, she’s just trying to make money and survive too, right? Well, she fucked up on her first line.

“Hello, I wanted to let you know that AT&T has put in fiber optic lines and speeds have never been faster reaching 10 milligrams!”

:: head desk ::

I’ve been wanting to re-design my site for quite a while now but lack of time, homework and work I run out of time in any given day. Jesse gave me Cory Miller’s 411 so that I could make a mock up of the site and he could code it for me. I thought that would be a great idea until I started working on the site mock up. Out comes Photoshop CS3, CSSEdit, and Coda. Before I knew it it was hours later and I had a halfway decent looking theme. So much for the mock up. It’s not that I don’t know PHP and CSS, it’s just that I had other things to do.

Like with everything, I’m an overly independant woman who has to do everything herself. If I don’t know how to do it, I learn. When I learn, I don’t half-ass it, I learn the inside and outside and front ways and long ways and whichever way I can. I have this habit of stuffing my brain full of both useful and useless information. I think if there were an addiction to learning I would be screwed.

So there you have it. My first Wordpress Theme! It will be a work in progress and I’m sure I will change it up a few more thousand times but I’m good with it for now.

My job has been frustrating lately and I’ve been really whiney about it. It ranges everyday with every issue. Overtime it just becomes defeating. I talked to my boss about it yesterday and my bosses boss today. Talk about a breath of fresh air. My bosses boss is always one to vomit positiveness and he didn’t fail this time even mentioning that I’m one of the most valuable people in my department. He doesn’t usually say those things lightly.

Ultimately this isn’t what I want to be doing all my life. The IT support/tech/network field. I’m a software geek, I want to make and create.

I need to finish school first.

I did get sleep last night. Stupid sleep, I hate sleeping. Waste of time! I could get so much more done and I could learn so much more without having to depend on sleep.

I have really really awesome bosses. I’ve been lucky in that sense.

More upbeat entries later ..

Due to one of those extreme ADD days, I’m doing anything but what I should be doing, like homework. Instead I’ve been finding some new blogs to subscribe to this week. I hope Google Reader doesn’t have a max limit, eeekk. Then again, I’m not exactly sure how I keep up with so many, but I seem to. Oh right right, it’s because I read my feeds instead of doing homework! -_-

I’ve added a few blogs today. One of them is a twitter buddy, Mike Kochansky who writes a lot about Mac and Mac news. He just started his blog so add him! And make a million comments! And welcome him to the blogging world! I found a link through his site to a fellow Georgia geek girl named Christina Warren. I have to quote the first thing I saw on her page, it made me el oh el IRL.

www.ChristinaWarren.com: Because some other bitch forgot to renew her domain name.

Ironically that’s how I got my domain name jennyberry.com … It all the sudden went up for sale, I’m guessing because some other Jenny Berry out there forgot to renew it. I never saw anyone make anything of it before I happen to snag it. It’s my name for crying out loud, it’s MINE! And hopefully I won’t forget to renew it :: runs to iCal and adds in renew date ::

So, I broke down and bought another power adapter for my Macbook Pro aka Lexi. See, Lexi goes everywhere with me. I don’t go many places. I don’t have much of a life other then work and school. When I’m not at work, you can find me in my front room office working away on homework consisting of some Java program while pulling out my hair but eventually the light bulb goes off. This meant I was unplugging my power adapter to lug it to work where I would plug it right back in. After a few months of doing this I’ve noticed a lot of wear on my power adapter. It’s just so much easier to unplug while leaving the power adapter plugged in and simply plugging into a new power adapter at work. It’s going to save my wear and tear too, and I’ll stop hitting my head on the bottom of my desk when I’m either plugging or unplugging from the power strip.

I’m trying to make my life easier, I really am.

Speaking of Mac products, I got a mighty mouse for my MBP and after a few weeks it would stop scrolling down. I was within my 30 days of purchase so I simply took it back to Bestbuy and got a new one. Then this new one did the same thing. I should have googled it the first time, but it’s a simple fix. The little roller-ball gets dirty see, so to make it clean I did this:

1. Turned mouse off so it didn’t cause havoc all over my screen.
2. Got a new blank piece of printer paper and laid it flat on my desk.
3. Turned the mighty mouse upside down and went up and down the sheet of paper with the roller ball.
4. I’m horrible at explanation, here watch this video.

Thanks little man. I just might subscribe to you.

I’m still sick, but I think (knock on wood) I’m actually feeling better. My husband ran to the store this morning to pick me up some cough syrup which really helped, and I’m still blowing out loads of snot, but maybe that means I’m getting better. I haven’t completely coughed my lungs “out” yet. I’ll take what I can get, heh.

I got an email today from one of my classmates. He said he reviewed my recentdiscussion board posting and Java program.

Hi Jenny,
I see that you did an awesome job on the last db. Seems like you are an experienced program writer. I’m writing you because I would like some direction on that IP that was due yesterday. I still cannot send mine, because there was no db and I’m sooooooooooo new to this. Can you please send me something that will help me through the whole thing with minimal explanation, because I don’t understand what’s asked to be done. I wrote the teacher and he’s not responded yet, so please help anyway you can.
Thank you in advance.

So, is he really asking me to send him my code? I mean, that’s what it seems like to me. The last assignment wasn’t easy for me either, it took me nearly 48 straight hours to complete (and understand). To be perfectly honest I haven’t done the assignment that was due Friday because our Professor hasn’t had access to the internet so we haven’t even had lecture about it yet so I don’t think it will be due until he gets internet access back. I think I’ll just write him back and tell him we’ll just wait for the Professor. Heh.

So, a couple of things. I’ve been staring at the computer screen for way too long, but that’s besides the point. I finally did something that I’ve been meaning to do for a while. After extensive and exhaustive research I’ve finally found a hosting company that I would be happy to give money to. Within the hour I had seen more customer service and personal touch than I had ever seen with any hosting company. I had to pick my jaw up off the ground. What did they do? Well, because I’m not savvy in transferring database files the feature that really caught my eye (well, what feature isn’t great? Seriously?) was:

We’ll move your old data for you
That’s right. If you’re migrating from an existing host that utilise Cpanel/WHM, then we will move your data and files for you. Simply contact our support team and provide us with your existing account information with your old host, and we’ll do the rest. Once complete, we’ll let you know when to update the DNS or nameservers. Can’t get better than that, eh?

So I did. I put in a ticket and said, move my stuff! Please. My previous host (IX web hosting, horrible horrible company, stay away from them) didn’t even have cpanel set up correctly so I got a support email asking how I would like to proceed. That was around the time I was leaving work last night so instead of replying I packed up my stuff and headed home. By the time I got home (remember, I live 3.8 miles away from work) I had another email saying

“I just moved everything manually to your new remote server and everything seems to be working, I hope that was ok?”

Um, gee. Was that ok? ZOMG you people are awesome! And quick, dang my site loads fast and such. I’m very happy with my new business relationship.

I’ve been up all night looking at design and getting idea’s. I do this from time to time. Just cuz.