Trip to HiTec

So I got to go on a One Day field trip to HiTec conference with Rick my boss and Ted our Manager of IT.

Was a great great trip, learned a lot, made a lot of great contacts, will post more about it later, but just wanted to get back on pace with writing and get something on the board right now.

It was up in Anaheim at the Disney Convention Center, which is just a massive massive Convention Center up there, which was all but empty with this conference being the sole exception.
A lot of vendors there, and everyone was ocmplaining about how attendence was just so low this year which is really too bad. Just tough times for Hotels.
Had a little after show party at the Red Lion there, with our SynXis people which was nice. Finally good to put some faces with the names of people I email back and forth between, so that was great.

Will post some more of what I have been up to later, looking for places to move right now and trying to catch up on work!

Kanye West Stole his glasses from Saved By the Bell

Kanye West Stole his glasses from Saved By the Bell. Was just watching a little Saved By the Bell Last night and realized Kanye totally stole these glasses from them.

iPhone Frustration Day 3

Thank you for your patience! An AT&T sales representative will be with you shortly.

You are now chatting with John , an AT&T sales representative.

John : Welcome to AT&T online Sales support. How may I assist you with placing your order today?

Will: Hello John, I am attempting to place my order and the Credit Card keeps getting bounced back as not accepted. I called my Credit Card company and they say that ATT is requesting authorization for ZERO dollars so that is why it is being rejected.

Will: I am attempting to order a new iPhone and plan, and it says Total Due Today would be $175.16

John : Hi William, your order $175.16. Was your credit card's billing address the same as the one you entered?

Will: Yes, and I double checked that as well to make sure that they are the same now

Will: Discover says they are receivinng the request and that everything on that end looks fine, but the authorization request is for $0 so it is bouncing

John : Have you ordered any iPhones before online from AT&T?

Will: no

Will: I have attempted to twice in the past couple days but have had no success

Will: Because I was first informed that I need to have the billing and shipping address be the same, so I needed to change my billing address to be where I am currently living

Will: So I went through that and got that all settled, and now it's being rejected for this

John : I would recommend visiting a store for the purchase or calling 866-246-4852 for sales. Sorry we can not place the orders. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Will: Oook the whole reason I want to order online is to get the refurbished phone discount, but this process has turned out very frustrating

John : Sorry, we have no control over the orders. I would recommend calling 866-246-4852 for phones sales to see what they can do.

Will: They informed me they have no control over internet orders and to use this Chat help for internet orders

John : Sorry, we can not place orders, just chat. There is not a way for me to make the order go through. You will have to order another way.

iPhone Saga Day 1

So I had finally made up my mind, after talking to a few good friends, and realizing that I spend a lot of the day away from home, I decided that I was going to make the leap and finally get an iPhone.
This would mean canceling my Verizon plan a year early ($100) penalty, but for the discount 16 GB iPhone, I was ready to make the plunge. So I went through all the stages of getting my other line transferred over, ordered the phone had it all processed. Then I print out the confirmation, and they are shipping it to my billing address back home in Utah, not ok. So I call them immediately figuring should be easy to just change the address before they actually ship it. Ohhh was I wrong.
'Sir I'm sorry you placed the order electronically there is nothing I can do to the order.' Really mam, there has to be something you can do I have just placed this order through you and it can not have been sent off already, and if you're telling me it has been, then I need you to call FedEx or whoever you ship through and inform them you need to change the address on a package you are shipping.
This goes on for over a half hour, we call FedEx, apparently Apple has a "Do not let them change address" clause or something so that people can't steal iPhone's being sent out. We call back to their shipping department, their warehouse(twice) to get the tracking numbers and everything attempting to figure a way to send it to the proper address.
Finally, I decide I know of a way to keep it from shipping it to the wrong address.
I will cancel my order, so I did, it actually went down a lot easier than I anticipated. You know when you call the cable company and attempt to cancel you're given the 6th degree interview of who and why and what, well Apple just said that's fine and cancelled the order.
So my attempt at saying I just want to cancel and figuring that would really spring this Customer Service lady into action was a complete failure as I underestimated her "I don't give a crap about you" mentality.
So now I am in limbo as to what to do, attempt to order again, or punish Apple for it's poor service day 1... Currently it stands at punish stage, but dang those iPhone's sure look nice and fun.

Delayed but not Forgotton!

The annual family March Madness has come to an end again, and you're looking at your 2009 Champion!
Big props to Mom's sentimental favorites (Maybe she did better because Indiana wasn't in the tournament this year, but who's counting) who came in a solid second place.

Of the 11 Teams in competition this year, of our household, me and mom came in 1, 2 and dad and Manda rounded out 10, 11. Another great month, can only hope all march's are this great! :)

Will get more back on pace with updating the blog with current life status, following this post will update with Easter in Manhattan Beach and upcoming StageCoach concert.

Drew Robinson is my Hero

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Save some money in this Economy

From the "Save $1,000 in 30 Days Challenge"

From "I will Teach you to be Rich"
These are some great tips! My favorite was on Tip #5 and using www.billshrink.com
Some great simple stuff we could all be doing.

Full list of tips
Tip #1: Pack lunches for the rest of the week
Tip #2: Turn your thermostat down 3 degrees
Tip #3: Sell something on eBay today
Tip #4: Involve your friends in your savings challenge
Tip #5: Optimize your cellphone bill
Tip #6: Use gas prices to become your own hedge fund
Tip #7: Create a “No Spending” day once a week
Tip #8: Implement the A La Carte Method
Tip #9: Only buy new things when replacing something old
Tip #10: Use the free rewards from your credit card, car insurance, and workplace
Tip #11: Never pay full retail price for clothes or eyeglasses again
Tip #12: How I’m saving $2,000+ on eating out in 2009
Tip #13: How to negotiate your car insurance
Tip #14: Use self-persuasion to share how much you’ve saved so far
Tip #15: Forget going to a bar — ask people over for dinner
Tip #16: Cancel any large purchase this month
Tip #17: Buy generic for the stuff you don’t care about
Tip #18: No Christmas gifts this year
Tip #19: Save Money, Eat Well and Look Hot in Less Than an Hour
Tip #20: Change the date of Christmas
Tip #21: Save thousands by pre-paying your debt
Tip #22: Analyze your progress in the 30 Day Challenge (plus, see how I’m doing)
Tip #23: Go cash only for 15 to 30 days
Tip #24: Cut your commute expenses by 40%
Tip #25: Earn more money using your God-given skills
Tip #26: Gardender? Cleaning lady? DIY instead
Tip #27: Use barriers to prevent yourself from spending money
Tip #28: Use price-protection guarantees to always get the lowest price (travel, retail)
Tip #29: Stop being a loser and spend money to save money
Tip #30: How I’m saving $25,000+ in 2009