Month: June 2006

Sidebar Help is Not Helping Me

Sidebar Help is No HelpThis afternoon I’m on xbox.com trying to find a way to get more points onto my Xbox Live account. I can find a bunch of information on how to do it from the Xbox Dashboard on my 360, but I can’t find a way to do it on line. At least, I can’t find a way to get my credit card information added on line. But, what almost bothered me even more was their help functionality in their billing application. It is terrible.

They use the same paradigm as Office does. They open a sidebar and resize your main window to display your help. I hate this. I think for a desktop application it can be OK, but I prefer a totally separate window that is on top of my current one. I know the benefit of the sidebar approach, but I really hate my browser being resized. What’s worse is that when it is resized the sidebar help text doesn’t even fit in the newly opened sidebar. Frustrating.

In the end, I’m just going to head home and do this there. I’m really surprised that it has to be so difficult to take my money away from me.

One Day Off

Today I had purchased my Xbox Live Gold Pack and in it is a rebate for $20 off an XBOX 360 game. So, I figured that I would use it on Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. I get home and look at the receipt and see that it has been 31 days since I purchased it; one day too many. Now I need to decide if I plop down $50-60 on a new game to save $20. It sure does not make much sense right now. I guess I will have to think about it tomorrow.

Whoa, Typo

Typos are fun!

10:02:34 PM Jamie: looka likw foos qwRHWE hwS
10:02:44 PM Ryan: wth
10:02:47 PM Jamie: WHOA
10:02:51 PM Jamie: type o city, uh
10:02:57 PM Jamie: “looks like there’s good weather ahead”
10:02:58 PM Jamie: wow

Don’t mess with Redfin

If you are not familiar with Redfin, here’s a blurb from their about page:

Redfin is the industry’s first on line real estate brokerage. Unlike any other real estate site, Redfin lets you buy and sell MLS-listed homes on line. You can shop for homes and browse prices using our map-driven home-shopping site, then make an offer or list a property via Redfin Direct, Redfin’s step-by-step guide to buying or selling your home.

Today on their blog (entry) they have listed the first agent who has stonewalled a Redfin sponsored sale. They explain the story, how it ended up working out for the buyer, and now have their frist member to the Redfin Hall of Shame. Congrats to the first entrant, you apparently worked hard to earn this title.

I Had Good Intentions

This past weekend was Avanade’s West Region Fly Back in Las Vegas. As usual, it was a good time and it provided an opportunity to see some friendly faces that I have not been able to see in a while. But, being that it is Vegas, I told myself that I would take out as much cash from my checking as I was willing to lose. So, before we left I did that. I tried pretty hard to spend only the cash that I had on hand, but soon I needed monies for my non-gambling expenses (buffets, drinks, etc..). That left me two choices: debit or credit.

Before I left I decided that I wanted to make all of these vacation purchases come right out of my checking account. So, I decided early on that I was going to use my debit card for all of my purchases while in Vegas. Seems like a good idea, right? This was working out fine, until I got home. I had a credit card statement waiting for me and it was exactly what I wanted to see first thing when I got home… right. I opened it up and to my surprise it was freakin’ huge. Probably the biggest one I’ve had, ever. Not only that, but about $1200 of that was airfare for Weddings this summer and Jamie’s fly back ticket (which she had already paid me back for). I was pretty shocked to see the bill. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, but man… it adds up. So, I went to go pay the bill on line, but there was a problem… I was short the money in my checking. *doh*

Since I thought it was a good idea to spend on my debit card in Vegas I inadvertently shorted myself the cash needed to cover my credit card bill. So, off it was to my ING account to move some money. The only downside is that I have to wait a few days before the cash will show up. So, really… I should have just used my credit card all along and saved myself the hassle of moving money out of savings to cover my bill. *sigh*

Moving a House on Eastlake

This past Saturday night the last residental home on Eastlake Ave E was moved off of its lot, thru a parking lot, and onto a barge. The Seattle PI has a photo slideshow of the event as well as an article. So, in short, this is what is going on:

The yellow, 3,000- square-foot house had been lifted and then rolled on a dolly with wheels as big as airplane tires from the spot where it had sat since 1908 (since before there was even an Eastlake Avenue East), down to within a hundred feet from where a barge waited to carry it to the San Juan Islands.

Pretty dang impressive if you ask me. It was a huge house and there wasn’t a lot of space to move it.