The year 2009 was a long year and I am happy it has past. The year just took a long time with an array of exhausting events. Aside from the personal events of the year, I observed society climb stupid mountain. Unfortunately, I do not believe we have reached the summit of this mountain. I can only hope we turn back and stop acting like fools. But not to worry, The Daily Show will make it all better at the end of my day.
2009 began in the Seattle area. It was the end of the my apartment and car shopping trip for the move I would eventually make at the end of the month. I moved to Redmond to start work at Microsoft in the beginning of February. Since then I have been working on Visual Studio. I have certainly learned a lot about software in the real world. By real world I mean aside from school and hobby projects. The highlights so far have been the releases of Visual Studio 2010 Beta 1 and Beta 2 and spending a reasonable amount of time writing UI automation.
The first downer of the year occurred when I learned the family dog we had since I was in 4th grade died after being struck my a car. It was better to have had the dog than not at all. I just wish she could have lived to die as an old dog in her sleep instead of having to go through all that pain.
This year I also learned first hand how "no good need will go unpunished." I was in the park playing tennis. There was a pretty nice smart phone someone had left on the court. I went ahead and called the "Mom" contact and left a message. I put the phone in my pocket and went home. In the process of parking and getting out of my car the phone was not locked so it managed to call out and enable speaker phone. I heard a "hello, hello" coming from my pocket. Honestly, a bit scary if you don't expect it. Between the tennis racket, balls, wallet and two cell phones I managed to lock the car and tell the caller to get in touch with the owner. Now there was just a small problem. The extra ringing phone screwed up my routine of getting out of my car. First I turn it off. Then I unlock the doors. Next I'll exit the car and finally I'll press the lock button on my key chain. I always press it twice so I get the car to honk. I have for the most part conditionally trained myself know for sure the honk means no worries about where the keys are. Oh well. Fortunately, the cell phone had a data plan or at least allowed me to run up their data bill to look up a locksmiths phone number. Hindsight: I should have looked up my apartment's 24 hour assistance line instead since the main office was closed.
Getting locked out wasn't a big deal. Then October 6, 2009 came. I walked home for lunch as I usually do. I started making lunch. When I went to sit down I noticed that my netbook was gone. My winter coat was missing from my futon and the backdoor was open. I rushed to my bedroom and saw my cell phone and older laptop were also gone. My apartment had been robbed. I quickly locked the back and front door and rushed to the apartment main office. I called the police and an officer responded. The burglar ended up crawling through my bathroom window. Walking his muddy feet through my bedroom and grabbing my laptop and cellphone. When he went to exit through the back grabbed my netbook on the way out. The police officer suggests he used the coat to wrap up the goods. So for the first time I have felt what it likes to be violated in this way. One thing I did learn is that the government does not have the right to track a cell phone I own even if I give them permission because apparently the phone company requires a warrant. Apparently the fourth still protects an individual with a trackable stolen piece of property. Oh well +1 for The Bill of Rights. Good to know it is still around. I have since moved to an apartment on the second floor and replaced the stolen property with the insurance money. Lesson learned: lock your doors and place wooden dowels in the sliding windows. Laws that would sterilize him would not be such a bad idea either. I would even be willing to pay if I got to perform the procedure. Mainly because I would be performing the type of surgery that is sure to sterilize and eliminate any sex drive. Since they need to steal to fund their lives they must be short on cash and should not bring children into the world they most certainly cannot afford to care for.
Dealing with the insurance company turned out to be simple. They sent me money for a change instead of the other way around. However, replacing the cell phone showed me just how stupid and greedy people can be. A micro-event explained how things like a macro-financial melt down is possible: greedy stupid people trying to make a quick buck on a commission. And again this next story reinforced my belief that all cell phone companies are pure evil and I want Gizmo5 (which I have used since high school and is now part of Google Voice) to destroy them all in a fair and competitive way: by not being complete jackasses and idiots. Go Google Voice.
I went to the local Sprint store and told them I needed to replace my stolen cell phone. As a Microsoft employee I get a 20% discount on the monthly cost of the plan. After taxes and fees I pay $36.52 a month (In case you cannot tell I don't have a very fancy plan). The Sprint salesman, who I'll just call, Ahmed L., from the Sprint store at 2028 148th Ave NE, Redmond WA, provided me with service on October 10, 2009. I asked if I could replace the phone and he said that it would be $186.14 to replace it with a Samsung M240 (I previously owned a Samsung M320). That was the price on the Sprint website so I felt confident he was not taken advantage of me. That did not last for long. Then he tells me there is a way I can SAVE money and get a free phone. I asked him to explain it to me as that cannot hurt. I could upgrade my plan with a second line which would allow me to get a free phone. How much would that cost? It would require I upgrade to the $69.99 a month plan. With my discount that comes to $55.99 a month plus taxes and fees. If the taxes and fees are the same as before that would come to $60.52 a month. I have until December 2010 with my Sprint contract so I that is 15 more bills I would have to pay from October 2009 through December 2010. The total cost of the 2 line plan and free phone would be $907.80. The total cost of my existing plan would be $547.80 and with the replacement phone that comes to $744.94. The quick mental math I did in the store did not have me saving money like Ahmed thought. I am not an idiot. I can think in the long term. Technically in the store I would pay less money but I would not save. Saving is never short term. It is long term. Ahmed, as many Americans, believe in the short term for making and saving money. I decided that Ahmed's money saving strategy was not in my best interest. I think I'll just take the phone replacement like I originally wanted. His response was "oh so you don't want to save money." I actually don't want to save money the way Ahmed does because I would like to retire someday. He then asks me if I would like to add insurance to cover the replacement cost of the phone if it is lost or stolen again (It was stolen from my apartment and my renters insurance covered it). The insurance costs $7 a month and for 15 months that amounts to $105. Over half the cost of the phone! No thanks I'll take the risk myself and walked out with the replacement phone. The only thing I was charged for that day was the phone. And Ahmed never told me that I would be charged for anything else. Over Thanksgiving, I went through my bills and double checked them. I was charged an extra $18 for the October Sprint phone bill for a "device upgrade activation fee." It was not an upgrade it was a replacement. Technically speaking it was a downgrade (remember I had a M320 and now I had the M240 which does not have a camera). I called and complained and they gave me an $18 credit. How can an honest company do that? Well, that is because Sprint is not an honest company. They a bunch of shitheads that try and take advantage of their customers which is why I will not do business with them after my contract is up for renewal. If they were truly an honest company Ahmed would have told me about this fee. He did not. And if Sprint was an honest company they would not hire people like Ahmed and create a compensation package which more than likely encourages him to take advantage of me. A spreadsheet of the different costs is available here.
There is one more issue with Sprint that spans 2009 to the first few days of 2010. Their automated phone system keeps calling and connecting me with some Sprint agent looking for Daniel somebody. Before I could have them remove my number they would hang up when they found out I was not the party they were looking for. Today, I had a stroke of good luck. I was able to speak with the agent and hopefully my number will be removed.
And 2009 finished things off with the death of a family member. So all in all a sad and frustrating year.
Pluses: The Constitution and Experience at Microsoft
Minuses: Telecoms, People taking advantage or attempting to take advantage of me and Funerals
I think this Daily Show clip sums up this long year the best. Media Matters does a nice analysis only confirming my Fox News slogan: "We Distort and Decide."
Update (Jan 3, 2010, ~1:30pm PST): No I have not been removed from the Sprint auto spam list. A "Daniel Bailey Construction" likely owes Sprint some money as Sprint wanted the accounts payable department. I was honestly a big angry but I feel I have the right to be considering they attempted to take advantage of me back in October.
Update (Jan 3, 2010, ~2:30pm PST): Received another call. Third one in the last 2 days. And for the second time they have assured me that my number has been removed from the Daniel Bailey Construction account.Update (Jan 4, 2010, ~7:00am PST): Received a purely automated call. Sprint has lied to me twice now. I didn't know Daniel Bailey Construction billing zip code so I couldn't listen to the message.
Update (Jan 4, 2010, ~1:15pm PST): Sprint called again. I have both phone numbers they call from (i think) now to get sprint to block themselves!
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