The Hoosier Diaspora

IMG_3916.JPG - Originally uploaded by khob

Some friends from work and I went to San Francisco to see the Pride parade. I have to admit, it wasn’t that much gayer than any other parade I’ve ever seen, but it was quite a spectacle. A pretty fun time. Afterwards Dave, Matt, and I went to Golden Gate park to the beach, a brewery, and random wanderings in the park. Good times. The only downside to the day was the later part of the street fair that followed the parade. There was garbage, broken glass, and drunk people everywhere. Pretty depressing and not what I was expecting. Anyway, it was a great show and one of the more interesting things I’ve seen. As far as my own opinions on the gay marriage “controversy” go, I think it’s kind of sad that we live in such a divisive “us and them” society where one group feels like they know what’s best for another group and therefore everybody should be forced to feel the same way as them. It’s pretty disgraceful to me that we exclude people in this way. If you don’t like gay marriage and think it’s wrong, then don’t get one and kindly shut the fuck up. This sounds to me to be exactly the same arguments people have used since time immemorial to exclude people that aren’t like themselves. I prefer to make up my mind about individuals rather than using semi-arbitrary distinctions to group people into “them” and deciding that on the whole I don’t like “them”. I posted some pictures to the flickr gallery if anyone is interested. It’s quite a sight. 

It was a pretty epic saga, but I finally got my new iPhone. It’s quite a bit faster than my old one, though I haven’t noticed much in the way of battery life improvement. It was a hell of a ride though. I thought by buying it directly from AT&T that I’d be saving myself some trouble by eliminating one of the companies involved. Wrong! Wrong! I’m talking about AT&T here, man! Basically what happened is that The System decided to pre-authorize (i.e. block off the money in my account) me for the device 3 times, then cancelled my order. I tried calling AT&T customer service but of course they have no idea what’s going on, and in fact don’t even have any record of me placing an order, despite The System charging me 3 times for it. The lady I spoke to also couldn’t be bothered to look further into it. Sorry for calling you at home and bothering you while you were trying to eat dinner, lady. Her suggestion was to go back to the store because “nobody anywhere in the world (at AT&T) will be able to look this up for you”. Interesting. I’m pretty sure the store I walked into said AT&T on the front. Good thing I was still in CA and hadn’t gone back to CO yet, or I’d be pretty fucked I’m sure. So anyway, I called up the store itself and of course they had no idea but that the guy who I ordered it from would call me back. I tried back the next day but of course no call. Eventually I just went down there and did the whole indignant thing because the current status was that The System had charge me 3 times, cancelled my order, and nobody could tell me why, and the entire company of AT&T was powerless before the whims of The System. I’m pretty sure this is how SkyNet started. Anyway, after visiting the store and doing the whole indignant customer thing I finally got my phone, and all is well again in the land of the Cobb. I paid cash for it though, because I’ll be damned if they ever get my credit card information again. Aside from paying my bill, that is…

Crowd shot at dusk - 
Originally uploaded by khob

Some friends from work and I took off to see an Oakland A’s game the other day. We had really good seats and the stadium wasn’t too bad, so this was a pretty fun time overall. I posted some pictures to the flickr gallery.

Apple finally had wooed me enough, and one day I decided to take the plunge and buy an iPhone 3G. I’d have to say that after a couple of weeks of owning it that it could only be more awesome if it came from the future in a spaceship made of bacon. It’s not perfect, but then again nothing ever is (random lockups, etc). My honeymoon bliss was ruined though when Apple announced the iPhone 3G S, coming out this Friday. Bummer. There didn’t appear to be any upgrade option for me to get the newer model even though I *just* bought this a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately, I was within the 30 day return period so that’s what I ended up doing today. I returned the phone, “reversed the contract”, and pre-ordered the new iPhone. I should be getting my new phone in 7-14 days so I’m looking forward to that. I’m back to my trusty Sony Ericsson for the time being.It’s interesting how my feelings about things have changed over time. I remember when I was a kid it would have killed me to wait 7-14 days for a toy I thought was so awesome (Mom, if you’re reading I’d love to hear if this is really true or not but that’s the way I remember it). These days though it’s really not that big a deal for me to wait for something like that. I still think about it, sure, but it doesn’t really consume me or anything and I really don’t think about it very much even though I know how much I like the phone. I hope this isn’t the “maturity” I’m told at a certain age I’ll possess.  

Jellyfish - 
Originally uploaded by khob

So the weekend came once again, and Shannon, Joana, Matt, Dave, and I headed out for a day trip to Carmel by the sea (guess where that is) and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Carmel has a nice touristy shopping area and the aquarium was pretty amazing. There are some pictures in the flickr gallery if anyone is interested.