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Wednesday, September 6, 2006
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 Wednesday, September 6, 2006
started 9/6/2006; 6:51:44 AM - last post 9/6/2006; 2:28:42 PM
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Doc Searls - Wednesday, September 6, 2006 
9/6/2006; 10:51:44 AM (reads: 4887, responses: 1)
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I'm sure the beer's good too 
| | Just got invited to BarCamp Milwaukee, described as an un-conference about learning, sharing and participation. Wish I could make it, but I'm overcommitted conference- (and unconference-wise). You, however, may not be. |
| | What's important here, in addition to the fun they'll have in Milwaukee, is rewiring the way we relate to getting together inside any category. We need to re-think and re-build the conference system. Those getting the big bucks — organizers and hotels — should be at the front of the trend, but in most cases they'll be in the back of it. So... the techies lead. |
Why I hate Verizon, part Z
| | I'm on the road, getting on line over my Treo using Bluetooth and the Verizon network, since the Treo is a Verizon phone. (It even says Verizon on it.) Yesterday I had EVDO turned on with an EVDO card (a PC 5220 that also says Verizon on it). Since it doesn't seem to be working, I just called Verizon's main number, 800-483-4000. |
| | "Good morning. thanks for calling Verizon. Your broadband company", the recording said. Is your number 805-(my number)?" |
| | "Alright. One moment please." After a pause, the recording says, "I'm sorry. I just looked up the number you gave me, and noticed it is not a Verizon number... Please contact your service provider. Good bye." |
| | Turns out I called Verizon's "residential" number. The wireless number is 800-922-0204. I'm on hold with that number now, listening to an enthusiastic, insincere recorded ad for yet another service I don't want, but I'm sure exists just so Verizon can add one more billing event to its growing inventory. |
| | For what it's worth, I've been trying to get phone and/or EVDO based wireless data service through Verizon since mid-July. |
| | I'm posting this in the (maximum) two minute window when Bluetooth will be working through the Treo. (That's for data. For a cordless headset, it works longer.) |
Higher callings
| | Mary Lu sends pointage to this Coke ad — a story in 30 seconds of a veteran and a rookie tower climber. On reaching the top, the veteran tosses the rookie a Coke. It's a good ad. |
| | Mary Lu knew I'd like the ad because I've always loved towers, and talked about them way too much back when I sublimated my future blogging energies in Compuserve's Broadcast Professionals Forum, which she ran. (Also where I met Dean Landsman.) |
| | My tower love isn't just Freudian. It's about heights. I love 'em. I've heard fear or love of heights is hereditary. If that's the case, I came by mine honestly, since my father was a high steel construction worker in his younger years. Among other things, he helped build the George Washington Bridge. (His specialty was rigging cables. That might be him on top of the contraption in this picture here.) |
| | I only climbed one tower, one time, and I did it for a six-pack of beer. The tower belonged to my employer, WSUS radio. The station broadcast from a 250-foot tower atop a mountain overlooking Franklin and Hamburg, New Jersey. A bulb was out, about halfway up the tower, which was a self-supporting model. No guy wires. As I climbed, I noticed how rusty the tower was. This became more apparent, and scary, as the ladderlike lattice of the tower's three legs narrowed to three poles, one of which had little horizontal footholds sticking out the sides. These were the rustiest of all, and the only way to continue climbing, which I did. About ten feet short of the burned-out light, two of the footholds began to sag from my weight on them. I froze in place, and looked down. From my vantage, I could see the remains of earlier towers laying in the the woods. |
| | I called down to the manager, a former DJ whose air name was Jay Edwards, but who was born James Normoyle and grew up in Queens as a buddy of Bobby Darin. |
| | "How old is this tower?" I yelled down. |
| | "I don't know! We bought it used!" he yelled back up. |
| | "What happened to the other tower down there in the woods?" |
| | "They!? There's more than one!?" |
| | "There were two! They both fell down!" |
| | "You can keep the beer!" I yelled, and climbed back down. |
| | [Later...] I just looked up "James Normoyle" and found that he died of cancer in 2002. More remakably, he had an entire career as a harness racing driver, long after I lost touch with him (we worked together in the earliest 1970s). It's a bummer to hear. He was a great guy and a load of fun to work for. |
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Steve Borsch - Re: Tuesday, September 5, 2006
9/6/2006; 6:28:42 PM (reads: 696, responses: 0)
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Doc,
First off, I'm NO fan of our pals at Verizon (as evidenced by these posts on my blog: http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=verizon&domains=www.iConnectDots.com&sitesearch=www.iConnectDots.com&btnG=+Google+Search+ ).
How can it take you since late July to get EVDO service? Not available in your area?
With a Mac, I ended up getting the typical "we don't support the Mac" runaround but opened up Internet Connect and use my Treo 700p as a bluetooth or USB modem. Works great...though at peak times I'm convinced Verizon throttles back the data service to voice...which pisses me off.
I've actually been relatively pleased with Verizon after using Qwest, Cingular and TMobile over the years (other than my rants off my blog link above).
I'd suggest sitting in an area with strong service, dialing 611 and talking to VZW to get EVDO added.
--Steve
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