Rantings of a Black Polemicist

I see why geeks love Blackberrys.

Saturday, May 27th, 2006 | General | Comments Off

I dropped my Razr on the driveway running to a job interview last week. Its body cracked and some important-looking cable was exposed, leading me to believe it might be time for a new phone.

I needed an organizer too, so I figured I’d just get a pda-phone. I’m stuck with Cingular for a while, so a Blackberry 8700c and a Treo 650 were my two options. I’d done the PalmOS thing before and wasn’t really in the mood anymore. The Blackberry looked like it might be worth the risk, so I grabbed it and signed up for Cingular’s wireless high speed Internet product, EDGE.

Within the first few hours, I realized how well designed this thing is. Using it is a wonderful end-to-end user experience. For example, I recieve an email message. My Blackberry makes a cute sound that specifically notifies me that I’ve got new mail. I pull my it out of my holster and the screen automatically turns on with my new message displayed. Neat. I didn’t have to turn it on, open my mail program or use a freakin’ stylus. That’s too easy.

I’ve noticed that I now read email while driving. Is that bad? When my special e-mail notification goes off, it feels like a reflex kicks in. Left hand on the steering wheel at 12 o’clock, right hand on the holster. Pull. Click. Swing. Eyes to e-mail.

It’s like the world is right at my hip. I can google something at the mall. I can read Slashdot during commercials. I can Wikipedia anything while sitting at a stoplight. That’s insane.

I can telnet to my server in the UK. I can monitor its top processes live, right fom my Blackberry. No one in their right mind would admit this, but I sometimes sleep with my blackberry on my pillow, showing my server’s top processes. It’s like I’ve got the heartbeat of my server in on my cheek as I drift off to sleep.

I know, that’s unhealthy.

Here she is, top processes and all:

Madonna

Sunday, May 21st, 2006 | General | Comments Off

I’ve discovered that I like Madonna. I downloaded her latest album, Confessions on a Dance Floor from some Bittorrent site for free. It’s interesting what you discover you like when you don’t pay for it first. When I download something I like, I usually buy the CD later so I can rip higher quality audio files myself.

When I heard she’d be in Philadelphia this July, I figured I’d buy a pair of tickets. That’s until I found out that the only seats available are $350 each. Yikes.

Now that I think about it, I wouldn’t be surprised if those tickets are so expensive because of what people like me paid for her CD.

Encore

Friday, April 28th, 2006 | General | 2 Comments

So today’s my last day at QVC. I didn’t know this until yesterday. Apparently, I was brought on to help work on one big chunk of their system. Now that it’s finished, a bunch of paperwork has to be drawn up for me to start work on the next big piece. Nobody knows when that paperwork will be done, so it’s best that I just move on.
That’s fine.

In the three months I was here, I murdered every task I was given, did the impossible in less time than promised and constantly raised expectations. My manager told me to keep in touch and indicated that he wanted to bring me back sometime in the future, regardless of which pimp I was with.

When I pulled up to the studio today, Jay-Z’s Encore was playing. How appropriate.
Now what the hell are you waitin for
After me, there shall be no more
So for one last time, nigga make some noise

I don’t know what’s next for me. That’s what makes consulting so much fun, right?