The World of Scott Mindeaux

Another Kickstarter Find: Sensu Brush

I have been on the hunt for various styli (stylus plural) for my iPad and iPhone. I just received my Jot stylus from Adonit (another Kickstarter venture) and will review soon. In the meantime, here is a true brush for the artist in you and your iPad:

You can visit the Kickstarter site for Sensu at:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/797362124/sensu-brush-a-true-painting-experience-on-your-ipa?ref=live

Napping, Santa Ana, Jury Duty and NCIS

Well I got up early today and had breakfast. My now usual bowl of Cheerios, low fat milk and fruit. I was watching the news on KTLA (big fan of their morning show for years…) and then went back into the bedroom. I made my bed, took a shower, dressed then I laid down on the bed to read and I fell asleep! I didn’t wake up until like 2pm! Yikes!

Not sure what happened there. I went to bed last night around 12 midnight and then woke up at 5:08AM when that damn sparrow that lives in a tree near my apartment started to chirp before the morning sun. It’s really quite annoying as it interrupts my sleeping pattern. I can’t tell you how much this bird has made my life miserable!

Anyway…I got up and freaked out! I wanted to get down to the State building in Santa Ana to submit my application for Short Term Disability with the State. Will there be traffic going Northbound on the 5? As Jeff Lewis from Flipping Out has yelled “it’s LA, there’s ALWAYS traffic!” I got in the car and headed North. Yes around the 55 interchange there was traffic, but it wasn’t because of the interchange, it was because there was a CHP officer parked on the side. Everyone was slowing down. So frustrating. Do the cops know how much of the traffic is actually caused by them?

I exit on 1st street and head towards the civic center. I finally find 605 Santa Ana Blvd and find parking. Luckily there is aprking sructure that is right next to it and the paring takes credit cards, for I had no cash on me (I don’t usually carry cash…). I got up to the 7th floor to the office of the EDD Disability Insurance Office. I expected to see a line or something – but was pleasantly surprised that there was only 1 person in line. You see, you’re supposed to MAIL the forms in, but I thought I would take a chance and try to deliver them in person. There is nothing on the website or form indicating that you can go in person! So I dropped off the forms, they checked it over and said if all goes well, my first “check” should arrive in 7-10 days. They don’t actually issue checks anymore, you get a BofA Debit card that the State deposits into an account linked to that card. Isn’t that kewl?

While  I was there, I remembered that I got my Jury notice in the mail. I have already deferred from January. Since I’m on disability do you think I can get another deferment? Oddly in my entire life, this is the first time I have been called to duty. I have lived in many cities and three different states and never got called in. My reporting court is Santa Ana, which means I have a good chance of getting a doozy of a trial if I am picked!

After that I left and was temped to go down to the Artist’s Village and grab something to eat – I was starving. But I decided to head home. But before I do that I wanted to stop off at the main Goodwill Donation center and drop off some clothes. I wish I can say that I have had to ditch my current clothes due to the weight loss, but most of this was clothing that I never unpacked from when I moved back to Irvine from Seattle. After dropping it off, I decided to check out the computer recycling store at Goodwill. It used to be you could get a good deal on used equipment, but now its just alot of old, old electronics.

I stopped off at Ralphs to pick up some groceries and luckily I had some of my re-suable bags in the trunk. I picked up some Alaskan Cod, milk, bandages.  I tripped at Goodwill and fell hands first onto the sidewalk, my iPhone was in my hand and the instant I hit the ground I heard a crack. I also scraped my knee.  The back of my iPhone is cracked and it is totally scuffed. I’m totally bummed. Anyway, after grocery shopping I got home, made dinner with my Alaskan Cod and then watched some TV.

Im going on a tangent. I have always been a huge fan of NCIS. Well they franchised and started NCIS: Los Angeles. I REALLY like this show. The show has LL Cool J, Chris O’Donnel, Barret Foa (gay and cute!) and Linda Hunt whom I adore!

Circuit City to Close 150 Stores?

Late word this evening has sources citing that electronics chain, Circuit City, may make a move to close up to 150 stores to avoid filing for bankruptcy. Of Circuit City’s 700+ stores, there are 12 in Orange County.

They have retained the same law firm that handled the Chapter 11 Reorganization of KMart.

Admittedly, I haven’t walked into a Circuit City in about two years. These days I find myself waking into Best Buy or Target.

Starbucks Releases Closure List

Starbucks released the closure list. I looked up DC to see if they were closing the 4 or 5 of the Starbucks all located with a few blocks of each other in Dupont Circle.

Oddly, they are only closing 1 location in the District of Columbia and its the store at 21st and L.

Clicking over to California, they are at least closing 4 Starbucks that are near me at Lake Forest and Muirlands another at Oso Parkway and 2 in Tustin.

Back in my old state of Washington, they are closing the Starbucks at Denny and Aurora in Seattle.

You can look at the closure map at: Starbucks Closures

Yea Apple!!!

So after three failed AT&T store visits, I took a break then headed over to the Apple Store at the Irvine Spectrum. I got there at around 12:41 and the line was beginning to wrap around the Merry-Go-Round. I decided to run an errand and came back around 2:20 thinking the lunch crowd had gone and the line had gone down.

It had gone down considerably. This morning at 8ish, the line was all the way to the entrance of the old Ling & Louies Restaurant. When I got there the line was just at the water fountain. I got there and there was two guys in front of me that just met and getting in the moment. I was on the phone with someone at work. In between my conversations with work, I heard the one tall guy (Justin) complain that he needed food and wondered how long it would be before we got in. Apparently the people at the front of the line, were the guys here at 8am. Justin was guessing about 3 hours in line before we made it up to the front. The other dude was a guy named Adam. He was a comedian and jokester. Another dude showed up behind me, his name was Gus. We basically bonded in line and we all made it up to the front. For three hours we stepped our way up to the front of the line. About halfway up the line the “boys” made nice with the proprietor of the cart of iPhone cases. Her name was Leigh.

Well Justin was right and we made it up to the front of the line in 3 hours. We all said our goodbyes to each other as Adam was ushered in, then Justin. I was up next. A small framed guy named Timmy was my Apple guy. I was kinda nervous but relieved that we finally got in the store. Every Apple Employee in the store was on staff and each one of them had a new customer. Timmy lead me to the back and asked if I was an existing AT&T customer or porting. I told him I was porting over from Sprint. (Good Sprint!)

He went to the back after I told him I was interested in the 8GB model. He came back with a shrink-wrapped box in a special iPhone 3G bag with satin black ribbon for handles.

Timmy took all my information in to the handheld unit he had asking for my driver’s license, credit card and Sprint info. Within a few more minutes I was done!! I qualified for a plan and didn’t need to put a deposit down! 6 minutes had gone by and I was ready to leave the store. I grabbed my bag and looked for Brian Parker, my Apple Business Sales Rep at the Irvine Spectrum.

I walked back to my car and the line was now at the Merry-Go-Round again. I got in my car, rushed home in 6pm traffic (took me about 25 minutes from the Spectrum to Alicia Parkway). I took my MacBook Pro out, opened my box, pressed the power button and slid my finger across the screen!! I’m an AT&T customer once again.

Another 10 minutes of setup with .Me and iTunes and I was all setup!

I luv my iPhone!

My New Cellular Provider sucks!!

So I got up at 6:20 and got over to the AT&T line on El Toro. There were about 100 people in line. A little anxious, I decided to go to the next AT&T store which is new and hopefully no one really knows it’s there. Hahaha. The Woodbury Park location in Irvine had about 70 people in line. I was in line for about an hour. Then an AT&T rep came thru the line and said they only have 50 phones in stock.

WHAT!?!?! 50 phones? That’s it? They said that if you want to say in line, you can open your account and be in queue. So I decided to leave that store and headed over to the Tustin store location in The Marketplace.

When I got there, it looked like a smaller line! Yea! However, when I got into the line, it appears that it curls around twice in itself before straightening out again and into the store. I stood in line behind two guys who didn’t seem friendly. They just got up by the looks of it. I asked them if anyone has made any announcements about how much stock they have. They didn’t look back, didn’t acknowledge me and just said “Ask that guy…”. There was an AT&T rep in the line ahead. Sure enough they came by and said they only had 80 units in stock but there was easily 100 or more people ahead of me. They said the same song and dance about running out of units, but they also offered this:

If we run out of phones this morning, you can place your order in the store and have one shipped to you or you can order one online. Then someone asked about placing an order today and picking it up tomorrow. He said NO GO. They will have 90 more tomorrow, but the line starts all over again for the morning.

That’s bull!! WTF?!?!

I left the store, yelled in the car and headed towards the Irvine Spectrum Apple Store. I drove by and the line was all the way to old Ling and Louies entrance. I’ve done that walk to the Apple store and there is easily 200+ people in line.

Beaten down and dejected…I am now home on my day off. I will go again this afternoon and go without the backpack and laptop to keep things light.

Wish me luck.