Just as a reminder to everybody, on November 10th of last year, I posted this:

Treo Number Four

So today at lunch I went with Brandy and exchanged my Treo 600 for a new one under warrentee. Right now it just finished resyncing with my laptop to restore all my contacts and programs and such. This is now my FOURTH Treo 600!!!

#1) Ordered right after the things first came out. Got it all set up. Loved it. Used it a lot. One day, the screen just was blank. Backlight on, nothing there. It was a decent flashlight, but no longer a phone. I paniced and was all upset, ready to buy a new one. Brandy made me go to the Sprint store though. They said “looks like you killed it” and then went into the back and got me a brand new one in the box. This was while we were still in PA.

#2) While I was going back and forth between FL and PA (March through June) I was doing conference calls a lot, so I bought a headset for the phone. I proceeded one day to wrap the headset around the phone, stick it in my pocket, and then sit on it. The headset had a remote control volume and microphone thingy that would normally hand down and you talk near it. Well, it is a kind of bulky thing, and when I sat on it, it pressed into the screen, because the way I had wrapped it, the bulky part was on the screen side this time, and not on the hard back of the Treo. The screen was smashed to smithereens. This time the Sprint store told me that this was NOT covered under warentee, cause, well, I had smashed it. I had to buy a brand new one full price. Bastards.

#3) When I get calls on my cell at work… or when I have to make a call, I go outside. Two reasons: One, reception in this building sucks because it is basically a metal box. Two, my office has tall walls and a door, but the walls do not go all the way to the ceiling, and are pretty thin anyway. There is no privacy. So I go talk on the phone in the parking lot. Well… in the summer in Florida when you go stand in a parking lot it is HOT. And when it is hot I, well, um, tend to sweat just a tad. After a 15 minute phone call, my face is soaking wet. And, since I am holding the phone next to my head, so is the phone. And I have discovered that Treos don’t like being soaking wet. The phone would start to flip out and do all sorts of random things. The keyboard would become unresponsive. The screen would sometimes work and sometimes not. After a few hours it would all dry out and work OK again. Well… the first few times anyway. Eventually some of the buttons stopped working completely. Namely the “Alt” button that lets you type symbols like @ when you are doing email. And the shift key, that lets you do capitals. And the space bar, which, well, does spaces. Finally the zero key started to be erratic. And while I used the touch screen to actually dial phone numbers, you have to use the zero on the keyboard when you go through those menus and stuff for customer service. I kind of needed the zero. Anyway, I’m not really sure if it was the sweat or not, but this time Sprint gave me a warentee replacement. (And even if they hadn’t, after #2 I signed up for the $4 per month phone insurance to replace the phone for a small deductible if I destroy it.)

#4) The one I picked up today. This time instead of a brand new one in the box with all the accessories I got a “factory refurbished” one. Oh well. I was hoping for a new one again, but given the situation I won’t complain too much. This one looks like new anyway. I also bought a new case for it that completely encases the Treo, with a clear plastic front that you can actually use the touch screen and all the buttons through. So I never have to take it out of the case. Ever. So I should be able to sweat on it if I have to. And I got a new headset, but one big enough and oddly shaped enough I will not be tempted to put it in my pocket. It stays in the car use for hands free driving only, not for normal use when I’m not driving. So hopefully this one will be OK. And if I do destroy it by mistake, I have that insurance now.

Of course, now there is a Treo 650. I of course want one. Next time I kill the 600, maybe I’ll be able to upgrade. But as usual, there are a BUNCH of things on the “to buy” list ahead of that…

So for now, I’ll see how long I can make Treo #4 last. They seem to be averaging about 3 to 4 months each.

So, the answer is, Treo #4 lasted 136 days. That’s about four and a half months.

Just days after I got Treo #4 I noticed a couple of stray orange pixels. Several more orange pixels joined every few days, evolving from a couple orange dots, to a couple of big orange blotches on the screen with a little string of orange in between. For the most part I could see, but every one in awhile something I needed to see was under the orange spot. And a couple weeks ago, a part of the screen started to lose contrast. So there were two big orange spots and another dim spot. So, finally took it to the Sprint store. Yup, warentee issue. They ordered me another one. (Refurb again I think.)

And so, here I am, Treo #5.

I told the guy at the Sprint Store that this was my 5th one. He was like “Hmm, if this happens again, maybe we can move you to something else.” I told him I’d only be interested int he 650. If they offer to replace this one when it dies with a 650, I would not object at all.

So, Judging by the average lifetime of these, I expect this one to last until July or August.

We shall see!

I normally don’t make posts while I am at work, but I will make an exception for this. I actually missed the exact moment, which was yesterday, but at 18:34 UTC Yesterday (March 22nd 2005) I had been with my current employer for exactly 365.2422 days, otherwise known as a year. Woo!

There have been a few ups and downs and some stress at times, but that is normal. (And to be honest, right now is one of those stressful points.) But for the most part, behing here has been a very positive experience. I enjoy what I do, I like the people here, and there is lots of room for growth and learning, which is important. I work long hours, and am often tired, but I am (for the most part) having fun. And I think I am being useful to the company.

It has been a good year. It is hard to believe it has in fact already been a year. It seems like it has gone by so fast. And I still feel like the “new guy” although at this point there are a lot of people here who started after I did. But still.

Anyway, it has been good. And it has been a year.

Woo!

Just an update on Brandy’s mom for those who have not been checking Brandy’s blog posts. Brandy’s mom is out of the hospital, and for the moment her doctors have decided to treat her medically rather than with additional surgery. She still has pains, although hopefully the new meds will help. And they will have to keep a close eye on her and reevaluate occationally. But things are looking better than they did last week.

So as of a few days ago the pool was finally clear of all the muck that had been left in it by the previous owners. And we got the pool care lesson from the pool people that cleaned the pool. And so for the last week Brandy has been finishing up the final bits and cleaning it and balancing the chemicals and such every day. We haven’t got the pool heater set up yet. It is out of fuel and we haven’t called to get it refilled yet. But it is a lovely blue clor now and it looks pretty clean.

So, today, while looking at it, I waited for no golfers to be on the tee right next to our house, then while standing next to Brandy, I just stepped off the edge into the deep end… fully clothed. I didn’t stay in long. Just about 15 seconds as I swam from the deep end to the shallow end then got out…. standing completely and totally drenched in long pants and a button down shirt… at least until I was able to get out of the soaked clothes and into a bathrobe. But hey, the pool is now officially open!!!

About an half hour later, we let Amy swim too. Um, also fully clothed. We had been planninng on leaving to run some errands and didn’t want to actually get all into pool mode. But we let her in her clothes and she has been swimming for over half an hour now. It is a little chilly still. Pool water temp is only 63 degrees. But once you are in for a few minutes you get used to it. She is having a blast. We are going to enjoy this pool a lot I think. Especially once it is just a little bit warmer.

I am very tempted to get back in and swim and play a little. Not fully clothed again though. That felt icky. Of course, my preference by far is skinny dipping. Not a big fan of swim suits if I can avoid them. They are icky. :-) But Brandy says with the 17th tee of the golf course only 10 feet away and such that would be a bad idea, so suits may have to be involved at least some of the time. Drat. Oh well, we’ll work something out I am sure. :-)

But anyway, pool is open!! Woo! Time for more fun swimming!