My new iPhone

My new iPhone

Since I saw the iPhone on sale about 2 weeks ago at the AT&T website for $250, I couldn't resist (due to my geeky tech savy cravings) purchasing it. It arrived earlier this week and have been playing with it for the past 2 days. The first thing I did of course was to hack it so that I can use my T-Mobile account with it; AT&T's 2 year contract agreement didn't quite sound so appitizing. It took me about five minutes to update the phone with the newest firmware v1.1.4. and about four minutes to unlock(user other mobile providers) and jailbreak(run unsigned applications) the phone.

First thing I thought was that it was a lot heavier than it looks; it's very very thin, yet it weighs like it has tons off technology stuffed in it. That makes me very happy of course. Second was how shiny and sleek it was.... I've been so scared of putting it in my pocket since I'm afraid of scratching the screen. But after reading this article http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,133636-pg,1/article.html, I realized that unlike the ipods, this phone has a great scratch resistent glass surface!

All in all compared to my Blackberry Pearl, it's a nice flashy upgrade. BUT!!!! The biggest issue is that it doesn't support push email currently and in my work enviroment I need to be notified the moment an email hits my inbox. I'm still debating whether I will be keeping this device, but since Apple says that they will be releasing software that will enable the push email feature to work with Microsoft Exchange, I might have to hold on to it till June and see.

Should you buy it? Well the price dropped from $499 to $399 recently for the 8GB model. If you don't care about the cost, I'd advise waiting till June when they release the 2nd generation of the iphone that supports the 3G network. If cost is an issue, $399 is not too shabby... I'm lucky and got it for $250.

As for the two year contract.... HA! Just go to an Apple store and say you'd like to buy the iPhone for a friend. They will give you an unactivated iPhone which you can hack and activate to your own cell phone provider (or I can do it for you).

It's been a lot of fun playing with this phone's iTunes, iPod, Maps, Safari, YouTube, Wifi, Bluetooth, NES Emulator, and camera. Hopefully I won't get bored of it soon.

Pros:
Hackable!
Big beautiful screen!
Wifi!
3rd Party Apps!
Great Hacking Community!

Cons:
Earphone jack is recessed which makes a lot of my quality headphones useless... :(
No push email or enterprise features yet... :(
Battery life isn't that great, last maybe a day of intensive use... :(
No bluetooth headset option (A2DP)....

T-Shirt Designs for SE

T-Shirt Designs for SE

So I've been working on T-Shirt designs for my band for the past couple days. Using a sketch from a really good artist named Andrew Wood, here's some samples, please leave me comments on which one you like!

Looks like it's confirmed, the house is ours!

Looks like it's confirmed, the house is ours!

The home inspection was on Saturday and a bunch of minor issues popped up ranging from electric junction box needs covers, wire splices need to be sealed, fridge icemaker not hooked up to chimney raincover needs to be replaced. We sent the inspection report to the seller and he agreed to fix EVERYTHING! The seller of this property has been one of the nicest people we've talked to (out of all of the other sellers), he understands that this will be our first home and he's trying to fix everything before we move in. Here are some of the home's statistics:

Living Size: 820 sqft
Property Size: 4860 sqft
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 1
Year Built: 1955
Basement: None
Sewer: Yes
Heating Source: Natural Gas
Annual Taxes: $1,722

Here are the pictures I promised to upload. Let me know what you think!

We are planning to repaint the bedrooms since they are too yellow for us. That and some landscaping and this house will be our home sweet home! There will be a house warming party once we've moved in and settled down (which means I need a nice BBQ and a covered patio). So check your email in a few months for your invitation!

First blog of 2008! Home sweet home!

First blog of 2008! Home sweet home!

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything and you all must be asking (does Chris care anymore). Yes I do! The real question is... do you? ;P I've been so busy with the band (shows and making a full length album), BitWorks (my new company with my good friend Ben), not to mention my regular job! It's been a hectic year so far with what's going on, but I'm very very very pleased and happy to announce that me and Ann have decided to purchase a house together. We've been looking for the past few months, got declined on our offer on to different houses and finally got accepted to a house that we feel is the best one on the market. :)

The home is located in the Rainer area of Seattle (10 mins south of downtown), about 2 mins from lake washington and about 3 mins from the lightrail station which is expecting to be active in 2009!

The inspection is this coming weekend and I will post updates.

Here're some pictures (sorry they're so crappy, will take better ones soon!)

1-800-BUL-SH!T

1-800-BUL-SH!T

What's up with customer support these days? Does it piss you off as much as it does for me? I"m mean seriously, we're dealing with companys that have a crap load of money (microsoft, magellan, etc); yet when we call for support we get somebody that can barely speak any english on the other line who so happens to be located in India.

If I was a senator, or maybe president, I shall declare a new law:

The Tin Act

1. All U.S. based company's telecom personals are requried to pass the Tin's fluency exams. This exams consist on the understanding and speaking of the english language.
2. If your company is larger than 1000+ workers, all telecom personals are required to score at least 95% on the Tin's fluency exam. A local U.S. call center is required!
3. If your company is smaller than 1000+ workers, all telecom personals are required to score at least 85% on the Tin's fluency exam. 50% Outsource is permitted.
4. All company's outsource has to pass the Tin's connection quality test. Find the nearest Tin center to schedule an inpection.
5. If your last name is Bush, or contains any word close to Bush (ie. bushes, hebrush, brushme, bushal) you cannot run for any political position.

I am law..... and I say...... #$%^$$%^&^%......

Tool 2007

Tool 2007

My 2nd Tool show and one of the best shows I've ever seen. Everything was thought out and perfect! It was amazing. Me and Ann sat in the very FRONT row!! 20ft. from the stage! Here are the pictures, sorry they don't allow cameras so I had to use my phone.

So Close to the Stage!

Me and Ann are in total shock!

Tool is just about to take the stage!

Sooo excited!

TOOL!

Kick ass lights

It was packed!

Very Packed!

Laser Light Shows

Beautiful Stage Lights/Projectors... everything!

This is in my top 3 best shows ever! If you don't know tool, I'm may have to come over and bitch slap you! =)

CHAC - Worse Place Ever

CHAC - Worse Place Ever

My band has been playing all over Seattle for about 2 years now and we've pretty much gotten use to the poor management and organization of the people setting up shows at venues (not bars). However, on Halloween Eve we were unpleasantly surprised by a bunch of stupid people who thought they are actually something in the music scene by hosting a show in the shittiest venue we've been to..... the Capitol Hill Art Center... aka. CHAC

Well let me start by giving a run down on what happened that night..

4:30 PM, I got off work and quickly caught the next bus to the park and ride
5:15 PM, I arrived home and waited for my band members to arrive for the car pool
6:00 PM, Me, Kenny and Jeff left Bellevue towards Ballard
6:30 PM, We arrived, packed all our shit, and left the studio
7:15 PM, Finally made it to CHAC, parked our trailer 2 blocks away
8:30 PM, Show started, 3 hours till we are scheduled to play
9:30 PM, Shitty rap, 2 hours till we are scheduled to play
10:30 PM, OMG the music is killing us, 1 hour till we are scheduled to play
11:30 PM, Host told us the show got delayed and we will be on at 12:30, that there was only one band in front of us. So we loaded ALL our gear in to the venue...
12:45 AM, Host told us that he made a mistake and there is another band in front of us, we will be on at 1:30AM.
1:00 AM, Everybody is pissed, we are now loading stuff out the door and heading back to Ballard.
1:30 AM, Arrived at Ballard, unload and then left home.
2:00 AM, Arrived back at my house in Bellevue...

Lets me see now, 6:00PM - 2:00AM that's um... 8 hours! 8 hours spent just sitting on our ass for nothing! Fucking absolute bullshit. We were suppose to be on at 11:30... 1:30 is 2 hours late! Not to mention the host didn't fucking think about the fact that the bar closes at 2AM....

Now why was the show delayed? Well the host thought it'd be nice to hire a cheap ass soundman who didn't know what the fuck he was doing. After blowing 3 channels ($$$) on their house mixer, you'd think he'd finally step up to the plate and start figuring shit out. But noooo, instead he got MOODY! Yelling at Kenny "Back the fuck off man!"... dude, before you go around saying you can completely manage the sound booth at a show... you should seriously consider the consequences if you fucked up. I hope you didn't get paid.

We are working musicians, most of us have full time jobs in the morning and accepting a show on a weeknight for us takes a big toll on our sleep not to mention time. So many musicians today are on a one track mind, they are out to only help themselves, and are blind to the fact that they've screwed a bunch over. So long as they get to play... shit... lets take out time... drink some beer, talk to our friends... hurry the fuck up, look at the clock, you're the ones that set up this show...

I'm just glad that not too many of our fans came. For the people that did show up I felt embarrassed and very sorry for coming out to nothing.

I rarely get this worked up over anything, but for something this bullshit, frankly... I just am surprised how low musicians are.

I'm feeling a little better now, thanks for listening.. :P