Monthly Archive for February, 2008

In which I receive a MacBook Air

Published
by
Tryphoon
on February 19, 2008
in Tryphoon
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Today is the day we receive our new, shinny, sexy, super slim MacBooks Air…

Much has been written already about these but I simply wanted to share this simple moment called “Unboxing”…

Mike received his around 11:00AM this morning, just before our weekly staff meeting and mine was waiting in another office. The staff meeting got followed by another meeting and finally, after 2 long hours, I managed to reach the box and unwrap it…

First impression is simple. The box is tiny. It is SUPER tiny compared to the already tiny MacBook Pro box!

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The box, once open, looks like an iPod Touch or iPhone box. Actually, it seems to be the very same 2 layers system.

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I remove the plastic wrapper and voilà , the new “Must Have” gadget is alive on my desk.

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Just a couple more seconds and Perigil starts the machine, to the classic “Moohaaahhhh” apple sound and we are enjoying the now classic Mac OS X 10.5 welcome screen.

Little glitch, the installed OS is still 10.5.1 and we have to enjoy a full 20 minutes system update to reach the recently released 10.5.2, which gives me the time to open the bag of goodies contained in the main box and realize that this contains both a DVI and a VGA connector.

The machine looks slicker than what I remembered. One thing I didn’t notice during our MacWorld visit is the new keyboard layout, including new Keyboard backlight controls, Exposé and iTunes control function keys.

Last but not least, I had to find a manilla envelope and check that it can really fit into it! And yes, it does!

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All in all, I am positively surprised by a couple of things (DVI/VGA, keyboard layout, micro power adapter) but still don’t see why I would swap my brand new replacement MacBook Pro for this underpowered, despite sexy machine…

Actually, let me take a closer look. My good MacBook Pro looks like an old Sony Vaio machine!!! Ahhhh!!!

Complete unboxing action in the prettypics section

In which I declare “404 Found!” and decide to spend the week sleeping on a floor!

Published
by
Tryphoon
on February 19, 2008
in Californication
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This might be a pure geek joke but after all these years spent working close to web servers, I couldn’t think of anything else when I received the key of our new home on Saturday: “We have found 404!”…

You can see some pictures of the new and empty place in the “prettypics” section…

So far, the move is going well, we have been working non stop over the weekend and have completed close to 50% of the move, our main idea being to only have our large pieces of furniture to load into the truck on Saturday morning but have everything else already there, sorted and placed where it belongs! This couldn’t have been possible without Sarah’s mum presence this month in L.A., looking after Thia and packing boxes while Sarah and I load and unload our both cars…

This however came at a price:

  • First, we have been going back and forth between the 2 houses all weekend, packing, loading, unloading, unpacking, sorting. Please repeat until exhaustion reaches you!
  • As we now have a fair amount of kit in the new house, our new landlord, Ed, told me last night that he would never leave the house empty as people have seen us carry boxes and stuff all weekend and now know that there are some valuables in the place. As he managed to instill doubt in me, I resorted in moving in, on my own for the week.

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    The annoying part in this is that there is still no heating nor hot water in the place, so I have to still go back and forth between both houses in the morning to take a shower before going to the office (and obviously having breakfast with the family)…

    The great part in this is that I will finally have the time to catch up on my “Battlestar Galactica” and “Heroes”!!!

    Next step on the to do list:

    • Transfer utilities to the new house
    • Get gas in the new house!

      In which we sign yet another lease!

      Published
      by
      Tryphoon
      on February 13, 2008
      in Californication
      . 0 Comments

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      In this never ending housing drama, we never know when things are going to move in our favor. Some days, things go totally wrong, others, things seem to look brighter. Last night was one of these slightly brighter day when our friend and super realtor Barbara paid us a little visit and gave us our new fully executed lease!

      This simply means that we can now leave our nightmare called “home” and start (again) afresh, hoping that this time, things will last a bit longer!

      Sarah is so used to it now that half of our kitchen is already packed, the moving truck has been rented and I need to take care of various businesses such as DirecTV, cable, telephone and utilities.

      Now, all is not solved yet and we still stand between the rock and the hard place. OCWEN, the “official” new owner (please note the quotes) still wants us out by March 1st and has sent a letter to our attorney to this effect. The major issue is that they still want to issue a judgement, despite our agreement and us playing fair with them, which judgement would be attached to our credit report, preventing us of renting or buying any property for the next 7 years… Not only are they trying to screw us on this side, but they also refused to cover us in the case of the “previous” owner (Trust Holding Co.) suing us but want us to cover them if he/she does… Laughable!

      So our lawyer is still working and his cost has now reached our full annual budget for travels, trips and birthdays! But at least, we might avoid getting sued!

      What a wonderful world we live in!

       

      In which we are celebrating one year in the USA!

      Published
      by
      Tryphoon
      on February 6, 2008
      in Californication
      . 0 Comments

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      It has now been a year since we left London on a gloomy morning, all emotional, leaving our close friends and familly behind, not really knowing what was going to happen with us.

      At this exact time, last year, we were arriving at the temporary house we only saw so far in pictures on Google Maps, fighting jet lag and trying to find our marks.

      Our first day in the country wasn’t without glitches and we faced stupidity when trying to get our rental car as well as our own brain-dead state when we tried to fill our first shopping cart at Ralph’s that same night.

      This first year has been filled with emotions (good and bad), adventures and discovery! Let’s admit it: It has been a roller-coaster! But there was one aspect of the US that I didn’t think I would face that rapidly: The legal system!

      So as you know (per our previous post), we are currently in an awkward situation on the housing front and it turned evident that we would need some form of help to get out of this mess the best we can!

      So what a better way to celebrate our first anniversary than to go and meet with an attorney!

      We didn’t blow a candle or open champagne but it now feels like we are part of this country! We have an SUV, we live in a large house (for the time being), Sarah goes to the gym a lot and has “play dates” with her local friends, I enjoyed the last quarter of the Superbowl on Sunday AND WE CAN NOW TELL NASTY PEOPLE THAT THEY SHOULD SPEAK TO OUR ATTORNEY!!!

      You have to love it or hate it!

      Once again, Happy Anniversary!

      In which we are moving AGAIN!

      Published
      by
      Tryphoon
      on February 5, 2008
      in Californication
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      So for those of you who are not located on this side of the pond and have left the family diary with pictures of our Christmas tree and Thia expecting Santa’s visit, things have changed a bit…

      We have to move out of our house or face the law!

      Why?

      Well, we have been good tenants, signed a one year lease with an agent (left a huge deposit), paid our rent on time, taken care of the house as it was ours but the bargain seems to not have been respected on both sides…

      The people we are currently renting our Toluca Lake house from have been renting us a house whose owner went into foreclosure without letting us know that this was the case. We all know that foreclosure is the new Black in California but didn’t think we would be impacted by this new fashion!

      We found out in October that things might not have been as we hoped for when a first realtor knocked at the door and explained to us that our house was to be auctioned later that month. Shock, horror and immediate phone call to our managing agent! After having discussed the matter with them, we were told that everything was fine and that they were in negotiation with the bank to pay the debts and buy it from them.We believed them!

      It turned out to not be totally true and according to official registers and a visit from another realtor, we have found out that the property had been sold on auction around Xmas time. Our current agent claims that they are suing the bank, are trying to reverse the sale and have even provided us today with a copy of the case, a nice rebate on the rent and assuance that everything is fine. Sadly for us, in the meantime we have been (not so) kindly asked to vacate the property within 30 days by the new owner and their agent who cannot sell the place as long as we live in it and hence is losing money by the day in a declining market.

      We have tried to turn for legal help (useless) and have the help of a realtor friend of ours but this doesn’t change much the fact that if we stay where we are, we would face an eviction for unlawful occupation, despite having a signed lease (amended yesterday actually) and that we are still paying our rent (we fools!). Such eviction would result in a pretty bad record and hell for the next 7 years!

      So, we are on the road again! Sarah is visiting house after house and we are trying to negotiate an as amicable as possible way out of this mess (but one thing is sure, we wont go down without a fight!)

      Stay tuned and wait for the next (now usual) post about the “new” house!