Sweet!

The strawberries in my garden are finally starting to ripen. Mary Beth and I picked a few pounds of them earlier tonight, then had a wonderful dessert of berries and cream. OK, the cream was Redi Whip, but it was still a YUMMY dessert!

We only picked from the "overflow" area, where the strawberries have started to take over beyond their original bed. The main bed still hasn't ripened. I'll probably have five or six times as many berries once I harvest the rest of the patch.

I'm going to have to find a few new recipies, or at least find some friends/coworkers who like strawberries.

Thanks!

I've been using Eclipse as my primary IDE for a very long time. While it has its strengths (e.g. integration with CVS, Java code editing), it also has a few weaknesses (e.g. integration with Subversion, no Swing GUI builder). Rumor has it that NetBeans is strong in the areas where Eclipse is weak, so I decided to take NetBeans for a testdrive. I downloaded the latest Mac version (*), installed it, and saw: Thanks, NetBeans! No description of the errors, and nothing that I can do about them even if I knew what they were. My relationship with NetBeans is not off to a smooth start.
(*) - Have I mentioned how much I like my MacBook Pro? Like a former TV crush of mine, I made the switch from Windows to Mac. I like my Mac so much I might have to dedicate a blog posting to it someday.

Props to Netflix

I just got the following email from Netflix. This is exactly the kind of customer service I like to see. Did they have to do this? No. I didn't even notice the shipping problem they mention. But I like it when a company has the brass to say "mea culpa" and refund some $. In a world where customers can migrate to the competition in a few mouse clicks, I'm surprised some companies are still putting so little effort in to customer service.

******************************************************* 
NETFLIX - We're Sorry Your DVD Was Delayed 
******************************************************* 

Dear Mark,

As you may have heard, our shipping system was unexpectedly
down for most of Monday. We should have shipped you a DVD 
but were unable to. Your DVD was shipped today, Tuesday, 
March 25th, instead. 

We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused. We will 
issue a 5% credit to your account in the next few days. 
You don't need to do anything. The credit will be 
automatically applied to your next billing statement.

Again, we apologize for the delay and thank you for your 
understanding. If you need further assistance, please call 
us at 1 (888) 638-3549.

-The Netflix Team

Mr. Perfect

MBS confirmed something for me this morning. It was something I've suspected for quite a while now: I am, in fact, Mr. Perfect. A study of 40,000 women in the UK proved it! The 20 features that make Mr. Perfect so darn perfect:

1. At least 5ft 10in (Check. I'm 6'0" exactly)
2. Good looking. (MBS insists I am. I trust her opinion :))
3. 12 1/2 stone (Check. That's 175 lbs., to the UK-impared. I'm actually only 175 during race season, but I'm 6'0", so I'm giving myself a "check" on this one.)
4. Earns $[amount]. (Check)
5. Blue eyes. (Check)
6. Short dark-brown hair. (Check. VERY short, in my case... what's left of it. But I'm gonna be generous to myself here)
7. Medium build. (Check)
8. BA degree. (Check. Actually, a BS, close enough)
9. Never been married. (Check)
10. No children. (Check)
11. Three previous serious relationships. (Check, depending on how you define "serious" :-))
12. Clean-shaven. (Check)
13. Drives silver Mercedes. (Missed this one. Oh well)
14. Enjoys cinema. (Check)
15. Likes eating out. (Check)
16. Has had fewer than six sexual partners. (No comment)
17. Owns a [price] home. (The price of the home is TEN TIMES the income stated in quality #4. That's absurd! I do own a house, though. I'll give myself 1/2 check on this one)
18. Doesn't smoke (Check)
19. Dislikes football (Check. This survey was done in the U.K., so I think they meant "soccer". But I like neither American football nor soccer)
20. Like pets. (CHECK!!!)

Thankfully, "Demonstrates humility" wasn't on the list :-)

Computers

I decided to get a jump on my mortgage by making an extra payment along with my first normally scheduled payment. So I logged on to my mortgage company website, signed up, then went to the payment page. I filled out he form, hit submit, and saw the following:

Error 404--Not Found
From RFC 2068 Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1:
10.4.5 404 Not Found

The server has not found anything matching the Request-URI. No indication is given of whether the condition is temporary or permanent.

If the server does not wish to make this information available to the client, the status code 403 (Forbidden) can be used instead. The 410 (Gone) status code SHOULD be used if the server knows, through some internally configurable mechanism, that an old resource is permanently unavailable and has no forwarding address.

Some days I'm embarassed to be in my profession.

New Digs

It had to happen sooner or later: I bought a house. The reasons to buy were many (and growing), and the reasons to continue renting were few (and probably only imaginary anyway). So when Team P decided to head West to sunny Denver, CO, everything fell in line. They needed to find a buyer quickly, and I was familiar enough with the house to know that I would enjoy living there. Today at 1:30PM or so... after what seemed like an endless series of financial hassles, 41 signatures, and a few dozen phone calls... I have a place to call my own.

It's a small house on a large lot. Most of the 0.61 acres of land are in the fully-fenced back yard. I've never been a big fan of yardwork, so I doubt I'll be able to maintain the two gardens, the landscaping, and the fish pond as well as Mrs. P did. But maybe yardwork won't bug me as much when it is my own crib.

My new address is:

311 S. Sporting Hill Road
Mechanicsburg, PA 17050

Old School / New School... It's all good.

After a pleasant walk around Wildwood Lake yeserday, MBS had the great idea of going to Hershey Park. I wasn't expecting it to be all that much fun, because the last time I was there (in the late 1980's) it seemed a bit... tacky and cheap. But I have to admit: The park was a blast! The "old school" rides like the SooperDooperLooper and the Comet were even more fun than they were 20 years ago. And the "new school" rides like the Great Bear and Storm Runner? Oh my god! They were AMAZING. I think the Storm Runner is the best roller coaster I've ever been on. It starts by blasting you from 0 to 70mph in two seconds, then sends you straight up 180 feet... and straight back down. You can get a taste of it in this video, but a video can't do justice to the real thing.

It was nice to see that some of the old standards have held up over time. Even though we spent six hours at the park, there were two new coasters we didn't get to ride. I'll have to head back there in the spring to finish the other rides.

In other news: I bought a house. Closing is planned for this Wednesday. Check back for updates. The house is on 0.6 acres, a large part of which are in the fully-fenced back yard. It's the perfect house for, say, a dog :-).