Category: Uncategorized

This is a transcript from a recent Live Support Chat I had with Comcast. If you don’t feel like reading the whole thing here’s the things that they did wrong and wasted my time with.

1. Wasted an hour or more of my time when the entire issue was a Comcast network health problem. Either of the analysts I talked to could have found that out by simply checking but the first never did and the second didn’t until after having my reset modems and swap cables, etc.

2. Had me swap the ends of my Ethernet cable. i.e. turn it around. i.e. take the side plugged into the router and plug it into the cable modem and vice verse. Now, maybe this is just a handy way of getting people to make sure their connection is tight but it’s stupid. It’s especially stupid because my connection was working *fine* at the time of the chat.

3. Told me to “Just log on to google and enter your Comcast billing address to check the status.” to find out the current network status at Comcast. Seriously?

4. Repeatedly disconnected without telling me they were going to or if they would come back. The first analyst just disappeared after I gave my account information.

This was an absolutely abysmal customer service experience and it makes me sad that I continue to give them money every month.

The log…

user Jason_ has entered room
jason(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:25:36 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Internet access keeps dropping, PC Link and Internet lights flash
analyst Frances  has entered room

Frances (Sun Aug 30 2009 16:27:18 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Hello Jason_, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. My name is Frances . Please give me one moment to review your information.

Frances (Sun Aug 30 2009 16:27:21 GMT-0700 (PST))>
It is good to have you on chat. How are you doing today?

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:27:25 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Doing well, thanks.

Frances (Sun Aug 30 2009 16:28:51 GMT-0700 (PST))>
I am glad to know that you are doing good, Jason. I understand you are having internet connection issue, is that correct?

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:29:18 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Yes, our connection has dropped several times today and in the past few days. When it does the cable modem shows blinking lights on PC Link and Internet, all others are off.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:29:35 GMT-0700 (PST))>
The rest of the network remains working. I can access our router and other machines on the network, we’re just offline from the Internet.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:29:42 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Additionally, the cable TV service keeps working fine.

Frances (Sun Aug 30 2009 16:31:00 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Thank you for the information Jason. Let me check the account here. May I have the account number please.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:31:25 GMT-0700 (PST))>
I don’t know it offhand. Can you look up based on phone number or address?

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:31:39 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Phone is xxx-xxx-xxx. Address is xxxx xxxth PL SE, Newcastle, WA, 98056.

Frances (Sun Aug 30 2009 16:31:42 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Can I please have the phone number associated to your account instead?

Frances (Sun Aug 30 2009 16:32:18 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Thank you so much!

analyst Frances  has been temporarily disconnected.  Please wait while the analyst attempts to reconnect.
Analyst has left the room. Your problem is being escalated to another analyst

analyst Rollyfel has entered room
Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:35:57 GMT-0700 (PST))>
How are you doing today, Jason?

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:36:04 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Doing fine, thanks.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:36:50 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Glad to know you are doing good!

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:36:56 GMT-0700 (PST))>
You’re welcome!

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:36:57 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Jason, I understand that you have an issue with your internet service, am I correct?

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:37:19 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Yes I do. I was just chatting with Frances and we had covered the basics. Is he no longer available?

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:38:56 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Jason, I will be the one to assist you  now since this is the technical department for internet service.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:39:18 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Okay, great! Thank you.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:40:00 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Jason, can you please check the lights of the modem if they are lit solid?

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:40:40 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Sure, one moment. I should note, the connection is fine right now. It has failed twice today but is not currently having a problem. I’ll go check though, be right back.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:41:08 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Sure.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:41:44 GMT-0700 (PST))>
PC Link and Cable are blinking with activity, Message is off, others are solid.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:41:52 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Sure.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:42:35 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Look for the reset button at the back of the modem. Then, reset it by holding it for 3-5 seconds and after you reset please swap both ends of the ethernet cable from the modem to the computer.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:42:50 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Won’t I lose my connection with you if I do that?

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:42:59 GMT-0700 (PST))>
I am using the Internet connection to chat with you.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:43:06 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Yes, we will be disconnected but I will wait for you until the modem gets back online.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:43:35 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Alright, back in a few.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:43:55 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Okay.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:46:27 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Back now

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:47:33 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Thank you.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:47:48 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Please try to check if your connection if fine.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:48:19 GMT-0700 (PST))>
It’s working fine now.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:48:38 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Great! Did you swap the cable?

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:48:45 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Yes

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:49:08 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Good! Try to reset the modem one more time.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:49:27 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Okay, one moment.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:50:11 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Sure.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:50:49 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Reset

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:51:00 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Thank you.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:51:19 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Jason, I am sure that your connection is doing fine.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:52:05 GMT-0700 (PST))>
To refresh everything we have done, I would suggest that you power cycle your PC.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:52:23 GMT-0700 (PST))>
I’m confused. The connection was fine before we reset it. The problem is intermittent and was not occurring when we started this process.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:52:58 GMT-0700 (PST))>
I reset the modem when we had the problem previous. Do you think that swapping the ends of the Ethernet cable is going to solve the connection issue?

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:53:16 GMT-0700 (PST))>
The log on the modem is full of messages like: Time Not Established      Critical (3)      No Ranging Response received – T3 time-out
Sun Aug 30 12:33:06 2009       Critical (3)      Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Un…
Sun Aug 30 12:32:34 2009       Critical (3)      Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging – No Response received – …

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:53:25 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Which seem to indicate an RF issue, not an ethernet issue.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:53:26 GMT-0700 (PST))>
I believe that it is one way to refresh your connection.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:54:06 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Jason, let me do the health on your connection.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:54:28 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Can you please provide me  your account number please?

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:54:44 GMT-0700 (PST))>
I don’t have the account number. My phone number, though, is xxx-xxx-xxxx

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:54:56 GMT-0700 (PST))>
That is the number on the account.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:55:20 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Thank you for that.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:55:23 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Please give me a minute to pull up your account so I can better assist you.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:55:32 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Thank you

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:55:48 GMT-0700 (PST))>
You’re welcome!

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:56:12 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Jason, I cannot pull up your account.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:56:29 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Do you have other phone number?

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:56:41 GMT-0700 (PST))>
No, that’s the number on the account. One moment and I will try to find an old bill.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:56:54 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Thank you.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:56:57 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Sure.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 13:57:44 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Account no: xxxx xx xxxxxxx

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 16:58:28 GMT-0700 (PST))>
I am sorry Jason, it should be 16 digit number.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 14:00:00 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Ah, sorry, I missed three digits. It’s: xxxx xx xxxxxxxxxx

analyst Rollyfel has been temporarily disconnected.  Please wait while the analyst attempts to reconnect.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:00:37 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Thank you so much!

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:00:37 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Let me try.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:00:37 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Please hang on.

analyst Rollyfel has entered room

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:01:00 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Jason, thank you for waiting.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 14:01:09 GMT-0700 (PST))>
No problem

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:01:57 GMT-0700 (PST))>
I am sorry for the inconvenience, I am seeing here on your account that your area is currently affected by an outage.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 14:02:14 GMT-0700 (PST))>
What is the nature of that issue?

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:04:08 GMT-0700 (PST))>
That us due to upgrade and maintenace of service going on.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 14:04:20 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Is there an ETA? And do you know when this started?

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:04:44 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Please give us 5 hours to fix the issue.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 14:05:22 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Do you know if this has been happening for several days? We’ve been seeing this issue for at least 2 days.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:05:30 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Do not worry, we are already taking this issue on top priority, analyzed the situation and already identified a solution to this. Our Network Engineers are temporarily shutting down the network to allow system checks and repairs as well as the needed upgrades to prevent same reoccurence. This is a constant struggle for many service providers and again, we’re working on improving this constantly. Be rest assured that we will fix this as quickly as possible and have services restored but we still don’t have specific timeframe as to when will this occur. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:06:30 GMT-0700 (PST))>
I will make a proper notation on your account regarding this issue and I will escalate this to our higher department so they can work on this.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 14:06:41 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Before you go, can you please explain to me why it took 2 analysts and nearly an hour of my time to find out that my area had an issue?

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:06:43 GMT-0700 (PST))>
I will make sure they will take this as a priority.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:09:01 GMT-0700 (PST))>
I am sorry. In my case, I was not able to pull up your account first. I was actually trying to use the information you entered before the chat but still no avail until I asked you for the correct account number.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 14:09:24 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Okay, thank you for that explanation and for your help.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 14:09:35 GMT-0700 (PST))>
is there a place I can see the status of the network issue?

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:11:04 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Just log on to google and enter your Comcast billing address to check the status.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 14:12:00 GMT-0700 (PST))>
I’m sorry, do you have an exact URL. I’m not sure what you mean by log on to Google.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:12:49 GMT-0700 (PST))>
I am sorry for that. What I meant is that you only have to enter your billing address on the search bar.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:13:25 GMT-0700 (PST))>
And the it will give you the result of the area status.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:13:29 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Will there be anything else I can assist you with?

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 14:13:49 GMT-0700 (PST))>
One last thing, could you help me reset my password or security question for the Comcast site? I don’t seem to be able to log in.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:14:29 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Sure.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:14:39 GMT-0700 (PST))>
No problem with that.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:14:55 GMT-0700 (PST))>
I will be more glad to provide you your new password.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 14:14:57 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Thank you

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:15:10 GMT-0700 (PST))>
You’re welcome!

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:15:34 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Here is your username:  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your temporary password: xxxxxxx . You can now use this new password to log into the Service Center. Once you login I suggest you change your password again to a password only you know, and one that will be easy for you to remember. This is for your account security.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 14:15:54 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Thank you very much for that.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:16:02 GMT-0700 (PST))>
You are most welcome!

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:16:15 GMT-0700 (PST))>
Jason, if you need assistance in the future, please do not hesitate to contact us through Live Chat or E-mail (available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week). Simply visit www.comcast.net and select Help.

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 14:16:34 GMT-0700 (PST))>
I’ll do that. Thank you for your help.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:16:51 GMT-0700 (PST))>
No problem, my pleasure.

Rollyfel(Sun Aug 30 2009 17:16:59 GMT-0700 (PST))>
We value your business with us. Thank you for choosing Comcast! Have a great weekend!

Jason_(Sun Aug 30 2009 14:17:17 GMT-0700 (PST))>
You too.

I’m reverse engineering the Mazda radio protocol and I’ve run into a checksum (I think) that I can’t figure out. Anyone have any ideas?

Here are some packets that I’ve decoded:

[f0] [23] [50 6c 69 73 74 30 30 20 54 68 65 20 47 75 69 64 65 20 2f 43 61 74 61 70 75 6c 74 20 43 61 6c 79 70 73 6f] (Plist00 The Guide /Catapult Calypso) [aa]

[f1] [29] [53 63 61 74 74 65 72 20 42 61 62 79 20 53 70 69 64 65 72 73 20 2f 41 64 20 41 73 74 72 61 20 50 65 72 20 41 73 70 65 72 61] (Scatter Baby Spiders /Ad Astra Per Aspera) [a6]

[f0] [22] [50 6c 69 73 74 30 30 20 54 68 65 20 47 75 69 64 65 20 2f 54 68 65 20 43 75 6c 74 20 4f 66 20 52 61 79] (Plist00 The Guide /The Cult Of Ray) [ea]

[f1] [1a] [30 31 32 33 41 42 43 44 61 62 63 64 20 2f 39 38 37 36 5a 59 58 57 7a 79 78 77] (0123ABCDabcd /9876ZYXWzyxw) [2a]

[f0] [22] [50 6c 69 73 74 30 30 20 54 68 65 20 47 75 69 64 65 20 2f 54 68 65 20 43 75 6c 74 20 4f 66 20 52 61 79] (Plist00 The Guide /The Cult Of Ray) [ea]

[f1] [1a] [31 32 33 34 42 43 44 45 62 63 64 65 20 2f 38 37 36 35 59 58 57 56 79 78 77 76] (1234BCDEbcde /8765YXWVyxwv) [2a]

[f0] [22] [50 6c 69 73 74 30 30 20 54 68 65 20 47 75 69 64 65 20 2f 54 68 65 20 43 75 6c 74 20 4f 66 20 52 61 79] (Plist00 The Guide /The Cult Of Ray) [ea]

[f1] [1a] [32 33 34 35 43 44 45 46 63 64 65 66 20 2f 37 36 35 34 58 57 56 55 78 77 76 75] (2345CDEFcdef /7654XWVUxwvu) [2a]

[f0] [22] [50 6c 69 73 74 30 30 20 54 68 65 20 47 75 69 64 65 20 2f 54 68 65 20 43 75 6c 74 20 4f 66 20 52 61 79] (Plist00 The Guide /The Cult Of Ray) [ea]

[f1] [1a] [30 31 32 33 41 42 43 44 61 62 63 64 20 2f 39 38 37 36 5a 59 58 57 7a 79 78 77] (0123ABCDabcd /9876ZYXWzyxw) [2a]

The first byte is the command to the radio, the second byte is the length of the payload, the following bytes in [] are the payload, the text in () is the string version of the payload (ignore it) and the last byte in [] is what I believe is a checksum.

So far I have not been able to figure out how to calculate it.

The reason I think it’s a checksum is that that’s pretty common for protocols like this, and it always comes out to be the same for packets with the same content, or even packets that add up to the same content.

Flavor Tripping report:

Good: Lemons (awesome!), granny smith apples, fortune cookie, tabasco sauce, corn, peas, jalepeno

Weird: Soy sauce, Italian dressing

Bad: Coca-Cola (wayyyy too sweet), 7-Up (tasted like diet)

No effect: Tortilla chip, salt, rice

Tomorrow we’re going to load up on fruits at the grocery store and try again. Supposedly strawberries are where it’s at!

Courtney said last night I need to update my site, and I couldn’t agree more.

If the angry gorilla wasn’t going “oo oo ah ah” in the background while the choad was talking I might be able to stop watching this.

In other, non auto-tuned news, Courtney and I are going to Denver this weekend to hang out with Adam and Jo, which is totally hard-core awesome.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I released a new version of AVRFuses that is pretty cool.

We’re back from Japan, and I still have a ton to write about that, but in the meantime… Has anyone read or started to read Anathem by Neal Stephenson? Is it worth it? I’m about 20 or 30 pages in and it’s miserable. I’m really struggling to continue. The made up language is just too much. I’ve seen a lot of people comparing it to Middle Earth, but I never felt like I needed a dictionary to read Lord of the Rings, and when I did come across a word I couldn’t figure out from context I was already intrigued enough to continue till it was clarified. This book, though, is boring as shit and I don’t give a fuck if I ever learn what a “mathic” is. 

What about you? 

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

On Sunday, once we got moving we all headed right for Shinjuku to visit the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building No. 1 which has an observation deck on the 45th floor. It’s a free, easy way to get a great view of the entire city. Courtney and I had gone to the north tower on Friday so today we all went to the south tower and looked around. Tokyo seems to just stretch on forever and even out towards the horizon there seems to be syscrapers. It’s just amazing to think of how much is going on, night and day, in all that city.

While up in the tower we got to talking about the Park Hyatt Tokyo, which is the hotel that “Bob” and “Charlotte” stay in in “Lost in Translation”. The bar on top is open to the public, is supposed to have very amazing views and was just begging for us to go. So, when we left the tower we struck out towards the Hyatt.

We found the Hyatt pretty easily and started trying to figure out how to get in. the building is 52 stories tall, and the Hyatt only uses the top 10 or so. We eventually figured out that it has it’s own entrance and we made our way in. The place was swank to the extreme and we were massively under-dressed and under-classed but figured they had seen worse since the movie came out so we pushed on.

To get to the bar you take the main elevator up to the 41st (I think?) floor which is kind of the main entrance, then you walk through a very nice lounge / restaurant, a gorgeous library and then take another elevator to the 52nd floor. After turning back once in embarassment and then once to go back down to the elevator to read the dress code sign that Courtney spotted we finally made it to the top to find out the bar doesn’t open till 5pm. The view was still amazing, so we took a few pictures and vowed to come back later.

Our next plan was to get some lunch, and we had wanted to go back to Yoyogi Koen to see the freak show, so we stopped by KFC, picked up some chicken and set out for the park to have a picnic. This time everyone was there to entertain us. We saw the crazy 50s dancers (“Tokyo Rockabilly Club / Harajuku”) and this time around noticed that their boots are pretty much 100% electrical tape. Too much suddenly sliding across the road and breakdancing, I guess.

We also saw some kind of weird music video (we think) being filmed that involved girls dressed as maids, girls dressed as maids with cardboard robot heads on, a guy in black clothes that eventually stripped down to his speedo, which he then pulled down and squatted like he was shitting, a detective that fights a girl in a dress and lots of very, very confused people.

And… lots more to type, but it’s time to get ready for today. We’re in Kyoto right now. We’re going to Nara today, and then to Ponto-Cho later on. Then later, later we go to Osaka to sleep. We couldn’t find a room to stay in tonight in Kyoto so we’re going to Osaka to sleep and then to Hiroshima tomorrow.

Whee!

So, we’re in Japan!

We left with no real issues on Wednesday, arrived here on Thursday afternoon around 5pm and then pretty easily got to our hotel in the outskirts of Tokyo. We had a really nice flight. Courtney slept some, and I watched three movies. It really passed the time and it didn’t feel awful at all.

You may remember last time I tried this, I had a few hours of panic in the Narita airport because I was without cash and none of my cards worked. This time we traded up a bunch of USD for Yen in Seattle and that made the process much more smooth. I did learn one more new thing though. TravelEx is a ripoff. We should have brought a bunch of USD cash with us and traded it here. TravelEx charged us almost 10% in Seattle but it would have cost nothing here.

We’ve been really busy and have had a lot of fun so far. On Friday Courtney and I got up fairly early, grabbed some breakfast at 7-11 and then headed in to Tokyo. We spent the day wandering around Shinjuku and Ueno, and we went to the Ueno Zoo which was pretty sweet. Lots of the normal stuff, but here the monkeys screech in Japanese. So strange.

We called it a pretty early night on Friday cause we were both pretty run down from the traveling so we took a long, long nap till someone knocked on the door! It was Megan and Ryan! They had flown all the way to Japan, taken jobs as English teachers, got an apartment in Gifu City and spent the last 6 months learning how to live in Japan just to make our trip more pleasant! And then they took the train all the way from Gifu City to Tokyo to hang out with us for the weekend. That’s true friendship there, people.

So, Saturday we toured Tokyo with Ryan and Megan. Ryan speaks quite a bit of Japanese, and can read a lot of Kanji, which is very, very helpful. One of the best parts is that he can tell when people are talking about Courtney and Megan’s boobs on the subway. I’ve been in 16 fights so far. One guy actually ran up to Courtney in Ginza, asked to take her picture (to which she said yes), pointed the camera at her face and then quickly moved it down to her boobs before he took the picture.

Saturday we went to Akihabara, Yoyogi-koen, Ginza and Shinjuku. We wandered for a bit in Radio Center in Akihabara (aka Akiba) which is where tiny stalls sell every kind of electronics component you can imagine. It’s pretty wild. There are entire stalls dedicated to biscuit fans, or surface mount resistors, or plugs… it goes on and on. I can only dream of having physical access to a place like that on a daily basis. It would be so awesome. I’m going to try to go back at some point this weekend without my friends so they aren’t bored to death while I peruse every stall.

In Akiba we also found a vintage game and arcade place. There was on store that was all brand new, some still in the package, games and systems from the 80s and 90s. All Japanese versions, of course, but still cool. They had racks of Famicoms and Super Famicoms, Dreamcasts, original light guns for the NES / Super Famicom, Power Gloves and every game you can imagine. It was pretty cool.

We took the subway over to Yoyogi-koen cause I wanted everyone to see the freak show that I saw last time, but aparently that is on Sunday, not Saturday. Woops! We did see a wedding procession at the temple in the middle of the park though, and that was very cool. Looked a lot like the one from Lost in Translation.

After that we went to Ginza. It was already getting dark (around 4pm!) so by time we got there it was fully dark and the Ginza strip was in full effect. This is the strip you see when you see movies about Tokyo. Giant, multiple story high animated displays on the sides of buildings, billions of neon tubes, everything moving in every direction and thousands of people everywhere. I didn’t go there at night when I was here last time, and it was pretty amazing. I was blown away.

One funny thing that happened in Ginza was… There is this giant intersection in Ginza where when it’s time for pedestrians to cross the lights in all directions go red and people just cross in every direction, including, say, southeast to northwest corner. This happened, and somehow two foreigners were trapped in the middle of the intersection when the lights turned green. Suddenly there were four lanes of traffic all around them and they were basically spinning around in the middle of it all with cars flying by a few feet away in every direction. A policeman had to run out into the middle of the intersection stopping cars to pull them to safety. In the mean time everyone on ALL corners took pictures and laughed. Ha!

And girls in sexy, black Santa costumes were giving away cat food samples. Ahh, Tokyo.

We didn’t stay very long in Ginza cause we were starving it was too expensive to eat there. So, we went to Shinjuku and jumped into the first Yakitori we saw. Had some great yakitori and yakiusoba and drinks and then jumped back out into the nighttime Shinjuku crowd, which is insane. The night life was just getting started, but we were all pooped so we finally headed towards home. After a quick nightcap we totally crashed at like 9pm.

And now it’s Sunday morning around 9am and we’re waking up again. Today we’re going to visit the Metropolitan Government Building No. 1 (which Courtney and I did on Friday, once) and visit the other tower with Ryan and Megan. Then we’re going to back to the park to see the freak show and maybe take the monorail out to some futuristic city in the bay.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

I have been a very busy Jason.

First, to answer the questions about why my name is included in the Android platform… I can’t tell you. Unless you buy me a beer. Actually, not even then. What I can say is this. “I helped.”

Next! Courtney, Jeff, Kathryn and I spent the weekend in the San Juan Islands. It was awesome! We stayed in a cabin in Friday Harbor, went wandering on Orcas and Mt. Constitution, went whale watching in the Straight, got to see lots of whales and even got to see the first gender identification of a new whale, and just generally had a wonderful time. 

Courtney took some pictures on Mt. Constitution and while we were whale watching. And Kathryn took a bunch too!

 

At some point a few weeks before that trip Courtney and I got serious about looking for a house to live in. We had been kinda sorta browsing for a while but we decided to really give it a go so I signed up on Lending Tree, applied for a loan, got a Realtor(tm)(R)(c)(beep) and we started looking at houses.

For a few weeks we looked in price range X and while we found some that would do we didn’t find anything that really got our attention. One of the main beefs was that we wanted a 3 car garage. There needed to be room for the motorcycle, waverunner, a car or three and some room to work. We were having real trouble finding a place with a 3 car garage in the areas we wanted to live in. 

I was fairly set on the Newcastle area, which is just about  15 minutes from downtown Seattle and has reasonable traffic. The thing is, we weren’t getting any listings in Newcastle that had 3 car garages.

So, we decided to try price range X + 25k. Viola! We put an offer on the first house we looked at!

So, a month later and many phone calls and signed papers and destruction of my bank account and bam! We owned a house! You can see pictures of it here.

Now we’re mostly moved in, and settling in and we love it. We have lots of room to move, a nice yard for Sonja, plenty of garage space, a nice neighborhood and everything. It’s great!

With a new house comes new projects! Since I finally have a good place to work again I’ve been doing some experimenting and bringing my old hobbies back to life. I finally decided to stop wasting time and money and had a PCB made professionally. I also decided that if I was going to have PCBs made I might as well try doing some surface mount work, so I did! I made a little 2×2 RGB LED light board that uses all surface mount components. I’ll be actually testing it for the first time tonight but you can see some pictures of it right over here. I’m pretty proud of it. Surface mount soldering turned out to be reasonably easy and the resulting work looks great. 

Oh, forgot to mention… we’ve started taking the bus to work. It’s about a 25 minute commute with traffic in the morning and it’s much nicer to sit back and read my Kindle than sit in stop and go traffic. And it saves the environment and the whales and polar bears and stuff.

And what else? Oh! I’ve started brewing again! I have a hard cider fermenting right now while I get all my brewing gear back in order and we made some cream soda to hold us over while the alcohol comes to life. Since I have lots of space now I’m planning to build out a permanent “brewery” in the garage. There’s a nice area that has power, gas, water and venting that would be perfect for a little half barrel brewery. So that’s going to be my winter project. I am thinking of using all electric and that’s been some interesting research.

And finally, next Wednesday we are going to Japan for 12 days! Our friends Ryan and Megan are there for a year to teach English and we’re going to go visit and explore.

Booyah!

 

I’d really like to hear Aphex Twin’s “Windowlicker” in a club on a system that could properly hit the bass notes. I bet it would be freaking awesome.

Well, if PC World is going to mention it I suppose I can too!

From the article:

That’s not the only bit of levity to be found on the phone. The G1 comes with a text-only scrolling video listing contributors and offering special thanks. After a pause, at the very end, Google assures us that “no robots were harmed in the making of this product.”

While the contributors video refers to the Open Handset Alliance — the group of companies backing Android — without naming all the members, it thanks contributors that many industry observers may not have known were involved in the creation of Android.

Andy Missan and Jason von Nieda are the only people called out by name under the special thanks section. According to Missan’s Web site, he has worked as legal counsel for MobiTV, ReplayTV and WebTV. He also worked for Danger, the company recently acquired by Microsoft and founded by Andy Rubin, who later started a mobile software company called Android that Google acquired.

On his Web site, von Nieda describes himself as a Seattle-based “computer programmer, systems administrator, network engineer and all around good guy.”