Phone Problems...And Solutions

I have been on a roller coaster ride with my new phone, the HTC Incredible.  In a previous post I talked about all the problems I was having with the phone.  As an update, I thought I would let you know some of the things that have happened to make me decide to keep my phone.

After all my problems with not being able to get a signal, I took the phone to my local Verizon store. A Verizon employee told me that there was a setting wrong in the phone and he was able to change it (still don't know how because a Verizon tech later told me it wasn't even possible to change it) and Viola! my phone was able to get a signal. 


A few days later, I still was having problems getting the phone to recognize the 2GB miniSD card that came free with the phone. I took the battery out in the process of trying to get it to work (turns out the card was bad and I had to use an old one). Once I took the battery out, the phone went back to how it was and I had no signal again.


I was so frustrated, so I decided to call Verizon tech. The guy told me that they had several people call with this problem and that I would need to do a hard reset on my phone and that should fix it. I was so upset. I had spent the last week trying to download apps to get the phone to do what I wanted it to do, and a hard reset would mean that I would have to start all over again!


I eventually decided to do it.  I wrote down all the apps I had downloaded, backed up my contacts and hit the erase everything button.  Miracles of all miracles, when the phone booted back up, I was getting  a signal.  


To this day, I still have a signal. I haven't taken the battery out to see what would happen (I'm too afraid to).  I have found apps to get the phone to work the way I want it to (for the most part).  


I am still disappointed with the Android operating system.  It really doesn't do anything special; it is the apps that allow the phone to be really customizable (unlike the Blackberry which is customizable because of its operating system).


So I am keeping this phone until the iPhone finally comes to Verizon.  AT&T is not an option for me, so I sit and wait... and wait... and wait...

Weird Comments From China

Lately I've been getting a lot of weird comments from China...or Maybe Japan. I'm really not sure, but they leave comments using what I think are Chinese characters. And they are always proverbs. They aren't real comments to anything I've said. Sometimes there are long comments; I translated one and it was an advertisement for some sort of Asian girl sex site. Seriously. Why have they chosen my blog? I have it set so that people can't post comments without typing in one of those weird looking words. I finally had to set it so that I have to approve all comments before they show up on my blog. I don't want to have to do that, but I'm not sure what else to do.

Has anyone else had this problem or something similar?

Vacation Postponed

I postponed my vacation to visit my best friend in North Carolina because my SIL's doctor told her that she would never make it to her due date (July 8th). He didn't think she'd make it another 10 days (which would have been just a few days after leaving for NC)...so I put off leaving so I could be here for the birth of my new niece........... Only there still isn't a new niece! Today or tomorrow would have been the day that I drove back home. I feel a little stupid because I'm not sure when I will be able to go on vacation now. Hopefully I will still be able to go, but I'm not sure when.

I feel like I am in a holding pattern. I don't want to start any big project or go anywhere because I don't know when the baby will be born. I feel like I just sit around waiting for the call.

Have you ever put your life on hold for something?

The HTC UNincredible!

Well...my HTC Incredible finally came in. I was Sooooo... excited for it. Unfortunately, it is a piece of crap. I cannot get a usable signal strength unless I am next to a tower. The only way all the extra features (apps and widgets) work is if I am around a WiFi signal. The whole reason I got the phone was so I could do those things without needing WiFi. Might as well just use my iPod Touch! I had read reviews on the Incredible, but they were all great...until I actually googled the signal strength. Then I found hundreds of negative comments! And apparently HTC and Verizon are aware of the problem! I'm furious!

So the phone is going back tomorrow. I'm probably going back to a Blackberry. I was thinking of trying the MotoDroid because it doesn't have the signal strength issues, but the Android OS has other issues that I'm not sure I want to live with. It seams like the OS itself doesn't do much; it is the apps/widgets that allow the phone to do anything worthwhile. I can do more with my old 8330 BB than without any apps on it than I can do with my Droid phone WITH the apps. For example: The only way I know that I have a new Facebook or Google Talk message is to actually open the application! At least that's the only way I've figured out how to do it. How inconvenient. On my BB, those are sent right along with all my emails, texts and tweets to the same place. AND I can set the phone to use different ringtones for each type of social media.

Basically, I'm trying to decide between the Blackberry Storm2 or the Blackberry Bold. Touch screan or keyboard? Not sure yet, but I'll probably try to get one of those two.

I'm hoping I don't get too much hassle from Verizon. I've read that they charge $35 to return a phone, even though it's in the 30 day exchange period. That will be something I fight!

Blogging...Just a Phase?

I feel like I need to get back to blogging on something of a more steady schedule. I miss it. Unfortunately, at this point I tend to forget about it totally. But I love to get comments and it is time to get back in the saddle!

I really need to get back on the ball when it comes to blogging. I tend to do get really into something and then drop it or at least massively scale back. I'm not sure why I do this, but I do know it is genetic.

My dad does the exact same thing; usually my hobbies aren't as expensive as his. He spent a year or two buying Jeeps and doing body work on them and re-selling them. This went on until I asked him to pain my truck...it got painted, but never did get buffed out, so it was never shiny. He bought a portable sawmill and got into that, but never managed to get the lumber cut for mom's deck extension. He does still use it to build his outer-buildings on the farm though... He got us all sucked into going to the lake during the summer, and for several years we would go 2 or 3 weekends a month during the summer. He bought a pontoon boat and a camper and took diving lessons. He even bought me diving lessons one Christmas. Now we haven't been to the lake in over 2 years!

I've dabbled in lots of things over the years: candle making, scrap booking (even sold Creative Memories products for years), bought a telescope, built a fish pond in the back yard (it's all grown over and the irises have become one giant blob of roots, so I can't fix it back up), I've started to write several books over the years but don't get past the planning stage (actually writing one seems too daunting) and I even go hot and cold on my photography even though I love doing it (currently in a cool phase-not quite cold). Blogging is just another thing in a long list of activities and hobbies that have run cold over the years.

I know I can't be the only person out there who does this.

50 Pounds Down!

I weighed in Tuesday, and I finally hit my 50 pounds-lost goal! And I made it by June 1st. It is such a major step in the process. I still have almost 80 pounds to go until I hit my ultimate weight loss goal, but I know now that I can do it!

One good thing about the fact that it is going to take me well over a year to lose all the weight is that I am really given the time to create a new lifestyle change. Already I have begun to see food differently than I have most of my life. Although I still love food, I no longer love to eat. This is a big step for me. I still really enjoy what I am eating if it is something I really like, but I no longer love the process of eating. Part of this is because I don't let myself eat whatever I want, whenever I want, so I guess I've sort of broke the habit...

I have dropped two dress sizes. I started out at a size 24 (I hate to admit that--and almost ready to grow out of that, and I'm down to a size 20) Luckily, I had saved several pairs of pants and a pair of shorts or two from my "skinnier" days as a size 22 in case I ever lost weight, but I've already dropped down below that, so even some of them are becoming too big. Most of my cropped pants are size 24 and can really no longer be worn. I'm glad to need new pants, but hate to spend money one them when I plan to continue to lose weight. Today I finally had to stop by JC Penny last minute and buy 2 pairs of crops to get me by for the summer. Luckily, I found some on sale. I guess it's a good problem to have!

My next mini-goal is to drop below 250, so I am setting that goal at 245 pounds (safely below 250), so I have almost another 10 to go. Then I will be close to having lost half of the total weight I need to lose (66lbs), so that will be the next mini goal, which will be really close to 75 pounds lost which will be the next goal. I find that setting mini goals help me to keep my spirits up and not just see this as a long, long journey.

Road kill...The Before Shot

Here is the deer some people down the road have raised as a pet. It wears a hunter orange dog collar and is allowed to roam free. They live right on the highway and I haven't seen it in months so I thought it had gotten hit. Saw it today. In the middle of the highway... But it moved into the neighbor's yard when it saw my car.
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel