inspired

well, i certainly hope so... cuz i bought one, an HTC Inspire 4g, that is... i am not promoting AT&T here, cuz they've got lots of flaws and destroyed my main website without enough warning for me to save it after it had up for more than 10 years and their service is mediocre, but then, who expects more than mediocre from a phone company?... so with that said, i suppose i shouldn't expect much from HTC and so far, my expectations have not been exceeded...

i am on my fourth HTC Inspire 4G in 24 hours... yes, three exchanges in 24 hours... this last time they found a way to give me the phone for free, which is excellent service, so a bit of the sour taste that may never go away because eracing ten years of my website building and personal writing is a lot to forgive was lifted today, but i am still paying more for phone service than i would with any other carrier and the service is no longer the best because AT&T is way behind in the 4G race... Verizon's 4G LTE has the clear lead there, but i am loyal (or stupid) and follow the devil you know philosophy when it comes to phone companies...

the HTC Inspire 4G is an impressive phone, when it works... there is a clear battery issue in that they boosted all the power needs without upgrading the battery in order to keep the phone thin and not make it heavier than it is... outstanding screen, decent, but not wonderfully intuitive interface, and all the android apps for fun and whatever... the issue so far has been the phone operation (and maybe the point is that is not why people buy a smart phone after all)...

the first phone out of the box at radio shack who was charged half of what AT&T was charging could not read the SIM card... they created a new SIM card and nothing... they tried it with known working SIM cards from their own phones and nothing... the second phone out of the box, same thing... the third phone out of the box actually read the SIM card, whoopie... so after three hours of trial and error, i walked out of radio shack with a working phone and a whole lot to learn...

i only went into radio shack because AT&T did not have any accessories for the phone... irony... i called HTC customer support to let them know about my HTC buying experience, to ask them if they had any plans for upgrading the battery cuz it was definitely inadequate for the souped up phone, and to find out where to get the right accessories for the phone cuz they weren't even available on the HTC website...

the next day, which would be today, i find the phone suddenly (like from one call to another after a five minute break) stopped sending my voice to callers... three different callers could not hear me... so i called HTC customer support and they couldn't hear me either... microphone problems, i heard the csr say with advice to take the phone back for an exchange...

so i went back to radio shack and asked for a refund... they were not pleased and tried every trick in the book and then credited my credit card and i walked over to the AT&T store and explained that i needed a phone today and i didn't want to hear that it takes a few days to transfer the upgrade and when the store guy said there might not be anything i could do but wait a few days i said fine, cancel my AT&T service i'll walk a few doors down and get a different provider... the guy asked me to wait a minute while he goes into the back to see the manager and see what he could do...

when he came out he said they were able to get the ungrade reinstated immediately and they were giving me a $100 discount on any phone in the store (except the iPhone) so i got the fourth HTC Inspire 4G for free... heck, if it breaks again, it was free and i have 30 days to exchange...

the basic choices for me, after researching fror several hours, was the HTC, the Motorola Atrix 4G, and the iPhone 4... the latter is the most reliable based on track record, but $200 without accessories everywhere... the Atrix is $200 at AT&T and $149 at radio shack without accessories... and the Inspire is $99 at AT&T and $49 at radio shack... the Atrix is a monster, the first dual-processor phone and other major upgrades including a computer dock, but maybe too much too soon because all reports say it's buggy and overpriced... so i went with the Inspire because they major flaw is battery life and that just means get a spare battery ($10 at radio shack) and charge it nightly... and when i almost splurged on the iPhone after three strikes, the Inspire for free brought home a fourth try...

so, the HTC Inspire 4G... poor battery, but so far, i see potential for much fun and usefulness and great screen graphics (and 8MP camera)... as far as how good a phone it is for simply making and receiving calls, the jury is out...

moldy nuts

the 2 LBS 1 OZ container of Planters nuts was disappointing at first, probably because i am not used to eating halves and pieces, but when i got about a quarter of the way through i found the discoloration was mold... that sucks so much cuz i ate almost half a pound over the last few days...

i told them about it online, but there's not much they can do about the bad taste in my mouth about planters nuts... from not on i'll but the cans, not the clear plastic containters, and the smaller packages... and whole nuts, no more of the scraps from the bottom of the assembly line... and probably not planters...

most of all, i'll be inspecting the nuts before i put them in my mouth...

i love nuts...

not mold...

best middle eastern gyro

you can enjoy the best middle eastern gyro west (or east, for that matter) of the middle east mondays through saturdays at

The Mediterranean Deli
981 W. Fairbanks Ave
Orlando, FL 32804
(407)539-2650


i get hungry just thinking about this place... the friendliness and freebies just make the over-stuffed gyros taste even better... the food is fresh and prepared right in front of you... the rest of their menu is just as delicious... the prices are fantastic... you might drive up and not be impressed with the tiny strip mall store, but walk in and you will be welcomed as a friend... you can find the owner on myspace ...

myspace
yelp
chow down

equity residential

arriving home i found a notice at the door that warned of eviction if the rent was not paid... so what happened to the auto-pay i had authorized for more than two years that the new office staff (and the old office staff and every office staff at every apartment community that was owned by Equity Residential) said "no problem, the auto-pay will transfer as soon as you sign the lease", i wondered... i rushed over to the office and found it locked, but one of the staff came to the door and did not have answers about why the auto-pay did not switch over and refused to take a check saying i could only pay with a money order and when i asked why a check was ok last month there was, again, no answer... meanwhile, they want $78 in a late fee... very curious way of extorting a late fee from a resident...

so i wrote a few emails to their corporate offices and hopefully will find some responses on monday and then, we can discuss what went wrong and why my rent check was refused and whether they actually want me to pay rent and how i can actually do that... they can also explain how they justify a late fee when they stopped my auto-pay and refused my check...

meanwhile, the previous equity residential apartment community where we experienced the worst service i ever experienced in an apartment community at the highest prices i ever paid in an apartment (more than $1200 for a two bedroom) tacked on a $100 additional fee to clean the carpet over the $400 they originally took as a non-refundable deposit for a pet... the carpet had no stains or smells and was immaculate except for normal wear on the entry path, but $400 was not enough to clean it... meanwhile, local professional carpet cleaners will clean a whole apartment for under $100 and we can only imagine the cost when the contract is for cleaning thousands of apartments (which is what equity has in this area)...

Equity Residential has an F grade at the Better Business Bureau and after a year at the most expensive Equity Residential owned apartment community in the area, i understand why...

remind me to update one of these days...