“Chance favors the prepared mind. Never forget it.” - Howard Dean
While in Orlando in December, my girlfriend suggested we check out Carlucci’s after seeing it mentioned in an Orlando Sentinel review. We went on a Thursday and arrived sometime around 3 p.m. Carlucci’s was somewhat hidden in a shopping center, but eventually revealed itself. Inside, it was nearly deserted. When we entered, a talkative waiter exclaimed we could sit anywhere.
Read the rest of “Restaurant Review: Carlucci’s Of Winter Park” »
Cellphones are all kinds of fun. Having recently moved to the Westchase area in Tampa, I’ve found my Samsung VI-660 flip phone fails to maintain a link to any Sprint PCS towers that might be in the area, although speaking to two representatives from Sprint today, I’m told the area is considered covered with respect to the terms of my two year agreement. Thus, fun ensues.
Read the rest of “Sprint PCS, Analog Roaming, Fair and Flexible” »
It’s inevitable. You’re happily dual booting and you do something that Windows doesn’t like. Microsoft Windows is heretofore owned by your actions and you need to recover, now! In this particular instance, the culprit was a Linux installation I nuked and recovered space from using Partition Magic. Unfortunately, I forgot to uninstall GRUB from the MBR and that’s where my problems began. Normally, you’d boot from your Windows installation media and issue fixmbr and possibly fixboot c:, but not this time…
While in Blacksburg, Virginia at a SANS conference, I thought I’d stop in at Anthony’s Pizza just only a mile or two away from Virginia Tech. Anthony’s Pizza is apparently a popular — although I hesitate to use the word because of the negative connotation– chain in New England. The pizza was absolutely amazing, and I intend to return later in the week. It was brick oven based and possessed a nice, moderately crunchiness to its crust. The cheese was thinly layered, making for a clean separation of each slice, even as they cooled. As I sat enjoying my pizza, I noticed the walls of Anthony’s were populated by familiar photos from the Godfather and the Soprano’s. A small television with sports was on, catty corner to where I sat and behind me. When my meal was concluded I paid John, the owner, and left to return once more during my week in Blacksburg.
Verizon completely blew their installation date yesterday. I still do not have local phone service in Tampa, Florida. The idiocy of Verizon is becoming increasingly less surprising as time passes. The annoyance with being required to fax in multiple forms of identification to be allowed local phone service has been transmuted into more of a dull, perpetual rage anytime the name Verizon is mentioned anywhere.
Read the rest of “Verizon’s digusting customer service is eternal” »
Trying to establish local service with Verizon in Tampa is like getting a security clearance. I can’t establish service under a new account on an existing line without faxing copies of identification papers, even after a successful credit check. I wasted fifty minutes of cell air time, mostly on hold, waiting for someone at Verizon to even take my call. Their useless voice activated voice menu was easily confused.
While driving around Tampa searching for a dwelling, I happened upon the West Park Village Town Center, which seem to be an integrated shopping area, with a courtyard and clock tower at the end of a row of shops on either side of the road entrance. Behind the bell tower are apartments, townhomes, and regular houses within easy walking distance of the shopping plaza.
Read the rest of “Pizza and Ice Cream at West Park Village” »
It seems my Toshiba 20GB 2.5″ (second failure) and my Seagate 300GB 3.5″ failed within the span of two weeks. Toshiba’s RMA policy is far better than Seagates, even if Seagate offers an additional two years of warranty. A five year warranty is somewhat diminished if you have to pay for an expedient replacement. Toshiba is willing to charge your credit card and replace the defective disk immediately, crediting your card back when the defective disk is received. (Of course later I learned just how bad of an idea it is to ever give a company a deposit in exchange for warranty service.)