Long-Short Weekend

Posted Mon Jul 28, 2008 in Bloggish

It’s about 0630 as I write. I slept late this morning and didn’t wake until about 0600. That’s quite late for me. My normal rising time is 0400–0500. I now have coffee and am working my way toward full wakefulness. I have a full schedule today.

Saturday Wife and I woke and shared breakfast. I can’t say how happy I am to have her back home with me. We drove to Carson Armory and puttered around there with our friend Will. After a couple of hours, we headed north to Reno to attend the Crossroads of the West show. It’s not the large show (that’s The Big Reno Show — much larger) but a few favorite vendors show up there.

I particularly like the “Jack and Sandy Show” who appear at the local shows. They are neat folks. Although they carry a lot of flash for the less-informed knife crowd, they also have some interesting pieces. Jack always has a couple of things to show me. I bought several knives from Jack and Sandy over the last couple of years and always drop by their booth to visit when I get to one of the shows.

But I’m ahead of my story again. I do that a lot when I write stream-of-consciousness. Free association is one of my strengths and a weakness.

We paid the parking fee and found a place to put the car. A collection of smokers gathered in the shade of the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. It was pleasant in the shade. One of the things I like about Northern Nevada is that the sun is hot, but the shade cool — even in the summer. We entered the facility, paid our admission, and Wife wandered off to find a place to talk on the phone while I made my first walk of the floor.

I usually walk the floor before visiting any of the booths. I like to get a sense for what is there. I might browse a little, but not much until after I have a sense for what vendors have to offer. The show was well-attended. Although the economy is soft here in Northern Nevada, plenty of folks were out and the booths were populated. It looked like business was pretty good. That’s encouraging because I see it as a sign that although things are not good, they aren’t that bad.

I saw a few things that interested me and then noticed Jack’s booth. So, I stopped in to browse his table. He had a couple of Al Mar blades, one of interest but I didn’t buy because I just picked up a couple of Kershaw blades¹. While I was standing there, a few of their regular customers appeared. Wife called and asked where I was. Jack remembered her and chatted a little.

One of the customers was an Enron employee. He is a funny man, witty and with stories to tell. I remember the Enron debacle well, but from what I gather some things I heard were not quite right. I was reminded once again that there are always at least two sides to every story.

We wandered on through the booths, poking about at things. I want to build a couple more AR-15s. I’d like a 16-inch carbine and a 20-inch target rifle. So I was naturally attracted to the American Firearms Manufacturing booth. Mitch was working the booth and was a blast to talk to. He and his brother run the company and their emphasis is on quality above profit. Mitch was a ranger and served several tours oversees. I didn’t have the cash to buy at the show, but he is producing mil-spec rifles and I think that’s what I want, even if the price is a little higher than some of the commercial-grade weapons.

He invited us to his facility in Grantsville, Utah to see their production and test-fire their weapons. Wife was excited. So, I see a long weekend trip to Utah in our future. I think I’d like to do this about the time the weather breaks this fall. I’ll take a couple days off and we’ll spend the weekend around Salt Lake City. I’d like to visit some of the sites around the Great Salt Lake and a Friday or Saturday at AFM would top off the trip. It’s an adjacent state, so I might even bring home a rifle.

Mitch can talk, but so can I. I was fascinated listening to how they learned to improve the quality of their weapons. I don’t know much about metalworking, but I can tell when I’m talking to someone who’s done their research. I respect that.

Tired, we headed out for the trip home. We needed drink and fuel for the car. Wife fell asleep on the trip home. Just like a baby, put her in the car and she’s out in ten minutes.

Sunday morning came and I decided I was not up to the IDPA match. I did a work out and we puttered around the house waiting to see if Young Son would go to breakfast with us. Nope. So, we drove to Denny’s for breakfast. It was a depressing morning. Smoke from the Yosemite fire filled Carson Valley and spilled into Carson City. I could smell it and I don’t like what it does to my eyes and lungs. Denny’s was busy, but not packed. It’s a blue-collar place and I fit right in.

I called the Apple store in Reno and they had 3G iPhones! I’ve been thinking about upgrading because I want the extra bandwidth and the GPS. So we headed north to see what was available. My mood was not good, though. I’m not really an Apple fanboy, although I really like their products. The 3G roll-out was not good and my MobileMe email account was still offline.

Wife encouraged me, though, so we drove up there despite my mood. The store had a short line waiting for new iPhones, so we took a ticket² and decided to wait. They provided water for those waiting, so we visited, watched people, and I played with a MacBook. Wife was impressed that I could log into my MobilMe account and check my email. Wait! My MobilMe email was back up. W00T!

My mood improved slightly. I was still unsure I wanted a new iPhone. The BlackBerry Bold is due out in August or September and I think they have a better keyboard than the iPhone. The service plan for the iPhone is a bit more expensive than the old plan, so the price advantage of the iPhone over the BlackBerry is reduced. I was (am?) waffling³.

Doug, one of our favorite clerks at the Reno Apple Store picked us up from the queue. W00T! He’s helped me as a personal shopping assistant several times over the last couple of years. Wife likes him too. He retrieved my phone, took my information, and activated the iPhone for me. We chatted about accessories (I need a protective case and a screen protector), and he told me the new Jawbone is out. It has all the technology of the old Jawbone in half the size⁴. Unfortunately, only AT&T carries them. Doug told me that the store on Damonte Ranch Road was the closest AT&T store. We paid the bill and left with an active iPhone 3G.

I used Google Maps with the internal GPS to locate the Damonte Ranch store and we headed there. I could have fired up SueSue, but know where Damonte Ranch Road is, so we just took South Virginia that way. The AT&T store is buried in that strip center, but we found it. Inside, I asked clerk about the new Jawbone.

“We have them, but I can’t sell you one. Our computer system is down and I can’t access any accounts.”

“Show me one anyway, please.” She did and they are really small. I used to love my Plantronics headset because it was so small and light it would stay in my ear (when not physically active) with only the gel bud for support. But the sound quality wasn’t good (it picked up all background noise), so when I found the Jawbone I was sold. “Any idea when the system will be back up? Is it a local problem or network?” I asked.

“No idea when it will be back. It could be a minutes or hours.”

Another clerk piped in, “The problem is national. I just talked to them. They have no idea when it will be back online, but they’re working on it.”

Wife and I left, a little disappointed. We headed south for home. As soon as I hit the highway, Wife fell asleep. The wind was up in Washoe Valley, but the smoke hung in the air &emdash; a yellow pallor that oppresses my soul. I would rather have the winter cold and clear sky than warm weather and smoke. I decided to stay on the highway into Carson City and check the AT&T store on East U.S. 50. Wife woke as we pulled into the parking lot. “Are they even open?” she asked.

“Yup” I replied as I parked the car. But the store was empty. I left the car running (I know that’s not politically-correct. Bite me.) so Wife would stay cool.

“Can I help you?” the kiosk clerk asked.

“Do you have one of the new Jawbones?”

“Yes we do. They’re one of our best-sellers.”

“Can you sell me one?”

“Yes. I’ll be right back.” and she headed off to the back of the store. She returned momentarily with a young man in a blue polo shirt. He pulled a paper order form from the kiosk drawer. Then he instructed her how to fill out the paperwork.

I was impressed. In this day of computerized POS systems, paper is seldom used. It still works, however, and does not suffer from the vagaries of networked operating systems. They’ll run my credit card when the system returns and there is no reason to think my credit card is at any greater risk because of the paper.

Jawbone in hand, I returned to the car and we drove the remaining couple of miles home. I spent an hour getting everything covered, synchronized, and connected.

However, when I picked my iPhone up from the desk, I received the “No SIM card” error message. Concerned, I used Google to see if anyone else had this problem. The general synopsis was that either the SIM card was bad or needed to be reseated. So, I shut down the phone, pulled the SIM card from the slot (a paper clip works perfectly), cleaned the contacts, and reinserted the card. The iPhone powered up, connected to the network, and all was good. Crisis averted…

We had a dinner engagement with a colleague and friend, so Wife and I headed for Carson City again. B’Sghetti’s is not a high-class restaurant. But, it is decent food and a quiet atmosphere. Dinner and fellowship were fun.

We returned home, fed physically and socially, and I was tired. Wife turned on the television and promptly fell asleep. I puttered at the computer for a few minutes, storing some music on my iPhone, then turned in.

It was a busy weekend, but a good weekend after all. Now on to my week.

¹ I’m fascinated by Ken Onion designs. For small tactical folders, they are quite strong, lock solidly (liner-lock), and have a nice feel to them. Kershaw stopped using grip tape for traction inserts, but customer service is sending me some for my last purchase &emdash; a Ken Onion blur with the tanto point.

² They had a decent system implemented to process iPhone customers. They issue tickets for in-stock phones. If you get a ticket, you are assured of a phone for that day. If the line is too long or you have other things to do, then you can return later in the day, wait in the queue, and get a phone. If you don’t use your ticket, then the phone is available for sale the next day. It works well. The new iPhones are activated in-store, because people bought the first phones and circumvented the system to send them overseas or use them with other providers, which violated Apple’s agreement with AT&T.

³ But I have 30 days to completely make up my mind!

⁴ My Jawbone is my constant companion. I hate holding a phone to my face &emdash; in the car or out. The noise cancelation technology is effective under any conditions but the worst cross winds. I can hear clearly and my contact can hear clearly too.