Black Friday Shopping

Happy Belated Thanksgiving! And happy Black Friday...

I hate shopping on Black Friday... I do all of it online, which is nice, but it still sucks! Last night at 4AM I placed an order for a 500 GB Seagate Hard Drive for my computer, on special at NewEgg for $149.99... However, there were many issues with processing this order....

First, the system needed me to utilize some "secure banking" thing where I had to create an account (through my credit card company), setup passwords and special lines of text to ensure that "I'm entering information into a legitimate website" and all that crap. To annoy me further, the site was poorly designed, annoying to navigate, had minimal features, and to kick it all off, it was being slow processing my request! Risking my black friday order!!

Then, I was returned to the NewEgg site, where NewEgg said "You have to ship to a confirmed address (billing address) or ship to a secondary address that needs to be on file with your bank. If the address isn't on file with the bank, order processing may be slowed for up to three additional days." I was a little worried that would screw up my processing, since I wanted the stuff shipped to work instead of home, so this morning, I spent half an hour on the phone with my bank, only to come away with, "We're sorry, but there can only be one address associated with your account." GRRR! It'll slow processing down, but at least it won't be a major problem.

Then I got an email from NewEgg... Apparently, I typoed one thing on my order... My expiration date on my credit card. Grrr. The email said that my card didn't process, and it asked me to resubmit my card information, so they could reprocess it. I did so, and then got another email... Same thing -- and even though I put in the correct information, I noticed that it still said the incorrect expiration date, so I tried it again. Third time, it didn't take the updated information as well! So, not to be daunted, I canceled my order and went to redo it from scratch... *OUT OF STOCK* GRRRR!!!! The worst news possible for a Black Friday shopper... Now I know how those 12:01 AM wal-mart shoppers feel!

Luckily, I was able to re-initiate my old order, and get the thing processed. This time, with the correct expiration date, with the "secure banking" already set up, and it seems they have already started doing the address confirmation from my first order request! ^_^ Now, I'll just have to see if I'm in the queue where I was before, or if I'm going to get an email from NewEgg that says, "We're sorry, but that hard drive is *out of stock* now." That would just be the kicker, but things are looking up... Everything seems to be processing though just fine, as the image below shows.

Core 2 Duo Now, Eh?

Apple just released their new MacBook line, featuring the Core 2 Duo processor in their MacBook. This less than two months after I bought my MacBook! It's so infuriating, but these things happen in the computing industry.



It's a little more expensive than what I bought (and I did customize my MacBook to include the 1 GB of RAM and 80 GB HDD), but it's still just a little annoying. But, I am really happy with my MacBook, and I did get a free iPod out of the deal, so it's not all that bad ^__^

Apple-Apple-Apple

I finally got that Apple rejection letter today. I immediately checked Apple.com/Promo, and found that they have started processing my claim again. ~sigh... Another waiting game to see if I get it this second time around or not.

Apple also has recently upgraded their processors in the MacBook Pro series to the Core 2 Duo... Faster, but also much more expensive than my ol' MacBook with the classic “Core Duo” processor. I'm still flabbergasted by the sheer speed of my MacBook, I cannot imagine anything that would be faster than it is right now. I'd love to see the new MacBook Pro, as well as what's just over the horizon for CPUs and the computer industry.



I do have a few complaints about the MacBook, most of it is structural design however... The processor is speedy and seems to stay quite cool, the “mag lock” charger and LCD latch are delightful, and I'm getting quite used to the software and how things work on the Mac. It's power management is second to none, the graceful OS is like dancing when I'm operating the system.

However, everything is not wonderful in wonderland... There is still much room for improvement... some of the issues I'm having are that the iSight is placed right where I would usually put my thumb when opening the LCD. Each time I open it, I'm worried that I'll damage the camera. Also, the bezel of the laptop, albeit beautiful, is quick to get dirty and scratched. The more you use or move the laptop, the worse off it gets. The touch-pad's mouse button also has some issues, it's a little difficult to click sometimes, others it's just really loud – that is at least when you don't press right down on the center of the button. And worst of all is FRONTROW!!! I love the concept of it, but it tends to crash on occasion, as well as it seems to be rather slow when accessing the harddrive. I also haven't figured out how to make it play a “playlist” of video files, and worst of all, I have yet to figure out how to start the application without using the Apple Remote. Grrr.