Joey Gibson's Blog » general

Fast Apple Customer Support

Joey Gibson — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:00:53 +0000

Today I bought the 24 song, 2.3 hour-long Van Halen record Live: Right Here, Right Now from the iTunes store. But there was a snag: “Why Can’t This Be Love?” failed with an error -100000. I tried restarting it a couple of different ways, but each time it would download it, then restart, three or four times, until it would finally choke with error -100000. I even downloaded the album on a Windows machine and 23 songs downloaded fine, but that one track failed with the same error. This pretty much proved to me that it was a problem on Apple’s end. I then went to my account in the iTunes store and reported an error with the track.

I received an auto-response pretty quickly with some things to try, but nothing useful. An hour or so later, I got an email from a human at Apple that basically told me to try what I had already tried and to let them know if I was still having problems, as well as providing some other info like ISP, Internet connection type, etc. I emailed them back with the details they asked for, and told them what all I had tried, including trying to download to another machine. I wondered how hard it was going to be to convince them that the problem was on their end.

A couple of hours later, I received another email, this time from a different human. I immediately assumed I would have to re-explain everything. Much to my surprise, this is what the email said:

I understand that you are unable to download the song “Why Can’t This Be Love” as your [sic] getting error -1000000. I know how eager you are to have this resolved at the earliest. I will be glad to assist you today.

Joey, please accept my sincere apologies for the frustration this download has caused. I took the liberty of removing the file causing the issue from your download queue. To give Apple time to investigate the issue and make any corrections that may be necessary, please wait at least two weeks before repurchasing this title.

I have issued a replacement song credit to your account. You can use the credit to buy a song of your choice from the iTunes Store.

So, while it kind of stinks that it could be two or more weeks before I can get the track replaced, it’s nice that they refunded me the money for the track so quickly. That’s nice, fast, customer service.

My New “Top Artists Last 7 Days” Widget

Joey Gibson — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 04:30:04 +0000

Note Redux: I changed my approach, yet again. Scroll farther down to see the latest.

Note: I changed my approach on this, so scroll down to see how I’m doing it now.

I’ve been wanting a widget or an auto-post on the blog for a while that would show my most-listened-to bands over the previous week. Tumblr users have had something like this for a while, and there were efforts to do this for WordPress before, but they either don’t seem to work with the latest versions of WP, or they only pulled top tracks (not artists), or they pulled album covers, instead of text. All of that is to say that I couldn’t find anything pre-made to use.

So, I had to roll my own. I did so in about 10 minutes using the PHP Code Widget ~~and the script on this page. The only drawback to this is you have to get a developer account with last.fm, but it’s free, so no big deal there~~. I installed the PHP Code Widget ~~, then pasted the script into a new widget. The only changes I had to make were to replace the appropriate bits in the script with my info, and to escape a couple of double-quotes~~. Now if you look down the right side of the blog, below the Twitter and Facebook links, you’ll see a rolling record of my top-artists. In case you were wondering what I’ve been listening to. :-)

The only thing I’m not sure about is how this will work with the two levels of caching I use (WP Super Cache and Cloudflare). I suppose we’ll see in the next few days, eh?

11/23/2011 Update: I decided that I didn’t like the way I was doing this, for a couple of reasons. First, each time someone viewed the page, it would be making a call to Last.fm for my stats. This is too often. Also, the values returned using the developer API were at odds with what you can get just going through the web. So what I did was write a Ruby script to pull the feed once a day, parse it and output HTML to a file. I then used the PHP Code Widget to include it. Far simpler, in my opinion.

Here’s the Ruby code:

#!/usr/bin/ruby

require 'rexml/document'
require 'open-uri'

include REXML

open("http://ws.audioscrobbler.com/2.0/user/joeyGibson/weeklyartistchart.xml") do |http|
	response = http.read
	doc = REXML::Document.new response

	index = 0

	File.open(ARGV[0], "w") do |out|
		out.write("\n")
		out.write("\n")
		out.write("\n")

		doc.elements.each("weeklyartistchart/artist") do |artist|
			break if index == 5

			out.write "#{artist.elements['name'].text}, Plays: #{artist.elements['playcount'].text}\n"

			index += 1
		end

		out.puts("\n")
	end
end

and here’s the PHP that loads it:

That’s it.

11/26/2011 Update: Well, I’ve changed it again. I discovered that the RSS feed I was pulling is not updated with any sort of frequency. It certainly doesn’t represent the “last seven days” as it claims to. At any rate, it differs greatly from what Last.fm shows on the web. So I decided to grab the HTML and pull out the interesting bits. I wrote another Ruby script, this time using Hpricot to parse the HTML, which took about 10 minutes. So now, what you see on the right should be the current values for the “last seven days.” Here’s the latest script:

#!/usr/local/bin/ruby

require 'rubygems'
require 'hpricot'
require 'open-uri'

open("http://www.last.fm/user/your-username-here/charts?rangetype=week&subtype=artists") do |http|
  doc = Hpricot.parse(http.read)

  count = 0

  File.open(ARGV[0], "w") do |out|
    out.write("\n")
    out.write("\n")
    out.write("\n")

    doc.search("td[@class=subjectCell]").each do |subjectCell|
      break if count == 5

      artistString = subjectCell.get_attribute("title")

      artistString =~ /^(.+), played (\d+) times$/
      artist = $1
      playCount = $2

      subjectCell.search("a").each do |a|
        url = a.get_attribute("href")
        url = "http://last.fm#{url}"

        str = "#{artist}, #{url}, #{playCount}"

        out.write "#{artist}, Plays: #{playCount}\n"
      end

      count += 1
    end

    out.puts("\n")
  end
end

I’m hopeful this is the last change.

Google Chrome Sync Not Working? Try This

Joey Gibson — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 05:30:50 +0000

I use Google Chrome exclusively as my browser on both Mac and Windows, and I pretty much love everything about it. One of the things I love most about it is the ability to sync most of your settings between machines. This includes bookmarks, apps, themes, passwords, etc.

But the last three times I’ve done an install of Chrome on a machine (my friend’s loaned MacBook, my new MacBook Pro, and a Windows7 VM), when I entered my email address and password, I was told by Chrome that syncing was not available on my Google Apps account. Hmmmmm….

I don’t have an @gmail.com Google account, I have my own domain and a Google Apps account. While Google is trying to make Apps accounts and regular Gmail account identical, there are still some differences (like no profiles…). This can be frustrating, and I assumed that somehow my existing machines had been grandfathered in, but new ones were being excluded. (Also, both the Google Voice and GV Mobile+ apps on my iPhone failed to let me login, complaining about my email address or password being wrong.)

Then yesterday I noticed a comment on a forum (somewhere) suggesting a password mismatch between Google services might be to blame. I decided to give it a shot, so I went into my Google account settings and changed my password. Then I tried to enable sync on my MacBook Pro. BLAMMO! It worked. Then I enabled it on the Windows7 VM. Worked there, too. Then I tried to login using both the Google Voice and GV Mobile+ apps on my iPhone and both now allow me to login.

So, if you are having problems with a Google service or app, such as being told it’s not enabled for your apps account, or getting login failures, try changing your password.

O Sears, You Disappoint Me

Joey Gibson — Thu, 19 May 2011 22:36:47 +0000

I just got a cold call from Sears saying that the warranty on my refrigerator is about to expire, and asking me if I wanted to extend it for three more years. I listened to all the things this warranty covers, even though we haven’t had to use the warranty we already had. Then the price: $227.98 for three more years.

I would never make a decision about that much money on the spot, nor would I give out my credit card information to someone who calls out of the blue, claiming to be Sears. So I asked for a number I could call back, once I’ve considered the matter. She got a little cagey, but she gave me the number for customer service. Then she slipped this in, “But I can’t guarantee the price.”

I inquired as to what she meant, and she said, “Well, this is a discounted price, and I can’t guarantee that they will give you the same price.” Ah. I see. It’s the old, “Act now, or we’ll never offer you this price again!” tactic that so many sleazy companies use. My grandfather worked for Sears for 25 years, retiring in 1976. He would be appalled at this. I have to say, it’s very disappointing.

Thomas’ Tales: Walt Disney World, Day One

thomasgibson — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 20:47:54 +0000

Note: Today’s post was written by my son, Thomas. He’s eleven and very excited that we are at Walt Disney World. I edited his post, but the text is his.

Hello. I, the blog famous Thomas, will be writing every day until Monday about our trip to the almost as famous as me, Disney World. Now to get started, we rode down here yesterday and unpacked, but that was twenty-four hours ago, so let’s just forget that. Today, we woke up early to see the Magic Kingdom opening show/song , and it was good. After that, we went to Tomorrowland, where we blasted aliens and moved people, and sent my parents into a mountain in space. Then we headed over to Adventureland, where we went to see the tiki birds and rode on boats. One boat ride being a simple tour of the wildlife and the back-side of water (which was amazing), on the other we went through a pirate-infested town that was currently on fire. I don’t know why it was on fire; maybe someone dropped a lantern or something.

Now for the interesting part. When we were on the People Mover, I couldn’t believe what happened. As we were entering the part where it goes through Space Mountain, the ride came to a non-screeching halt. I don’t know why, but it took FOREVER to get it going again. Luckily, there were no more problems with our visit; so far, that is. Now we are in our room, relaxing.

That’s all, folks, but expect more from me tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, and so forth.

My New Ford Focus

Joey Gibson — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 06:04:19 +0000

Last Thursday, on the way home from the office, I got on I-285 and quickly merged over five lanes to the left. I then realized that my accelerator was no longer making the car go faster. Fortunately I was on a long, downhill slope, and I had some built-up momentum, so I didn’t get stuck. I then coasted over six lanes to get to the righthand shoulder. Once there, I turned the car off, then back on. To my surprise, the tachometer jumped up, as it should have, when I pressed the gas pedal. I was able to drive the remaining 28 miles home without incident. But I knew there was probably something wrong with the transmission, based on how hard it was shifting.

The next day, I took it to my usual shop, and after checking it out, they told me that there was something wrong with the transmission, but they could not fix it. Since Saturn is no longer in business, parts are already getting scarce. I had already decided that unless the needed repairs were extremely cheap, I wasn’t going to sink any more money into it. This settled it.

On Saturday, we test drove and bought a new 2010 Ford Focus. It’s a very pretty red. I really wanted a blue one, but none of the six dealerships anywhere near us had an SEL model in blue. But once I saw the red, I liked it enough to get it. So far, I like it. It comes with the SYNC system, which is nice, but not without its quirks and problems. The car is peppy (for a 4 cylinder), drives smoothly and is very quiet in the cabin, even at high speed. Every time I drive it, it grows on me a bit more.

If you’re interested, here are some photos of it.

The Essentials of Happiness

Joey Gibson — Sun, 30 May 2010 05:48:08 +0000

Tonight, whilst reading my lesson for Sunday School, I came across a quote that I really like. I normally don’t get much out of quotes, since generally they are out of context, don’t stand alone very well and can be easily misused because of that. This one, however, is complete all by itself. And it’s quite deep. It was spoken/written by one of three men: Alexander Chalmers, Allan K. Chalmers or Joseph Addison. Whoever said it, here it is:

The three grand essentials of happiness are: Something to do, someone [something] to love, and something to hope for.

I really like that. The quote as I read it in my book had “something to love” instead of “someone to love,” but either one works. If you try to center your life on those three tenets, it seems to me, your life will eventually approach happiness.

Using that as a benchmark, my life is overflowing with happiness. And it is.

On Turning 40…

Joey Gibson — Wed, 05 May 2010 12:47:14 +0000

Yesterday was my 40th birthday. I was not happy about that particular number approaching, but now that it’s over, I feel great. My friend Steve Benfield emailed me early yesterday with the subject, “Welcome To Old…” which got the day off to a humorous start. I got tons of well-wishes from friends, many of whom I haven’t actually seen in several years. I had a demanding Tae Kwon Do class last night, and then I came home to a meal of tacos, lovingly prepared by my wonderful son, Thomas. He also baked me a cake, with chocolate frosting. Yum!

I have it pretty good. :-)

Unmotivated

Joey Gibson — Sun, 02 May 2010 22:18:11 +0000

As you can probably tell, I haven’t been motivated to write anything in well over a month. I don’t know why, but that’s what’s happened. I didn’t finish my Lenten project, though I am still occasionally working on it. I did just earn my orange belt in Tae Kwon Do, so that’s cool. And I’m going to be 40 on Tuesday, which is not cool, but it’s sort of unavoidable. I had a lovely birthday dinner with my entire family on Saturday night at Stoney River, which is the most-bestest steakhouse in the world. I loves me some garlic mashed potatoes.

I have an idea for a post about direct vs. indirect quotations in the Greek NT text, but I haven’t fully scoped it out yet. Maybe it will be coming soon. Maybe not.

I’m doing a lot more playing around with Scala, though I am still a lightweight. Sometimes when I’m reading other people’s Scala code, I feel very uneasy about my skills. Scala is beautiful and elegant, but sometimes the terseness of it make it a little overwhelming.

I’m testing out Mercurial for version control. I also tried Git, but based on what I’ve read, and what I’ve experienced, I think Mercurial is the better choice, at least right now. Git is the new, sexy thing, but Mercurial is better established, and the tooling is far better than for Git. Git is gaining ground, but I’m going to stick with Hg for now. I just bought “Mercurial: The Definitive Guide” from O’Reilly, and I’m reading it now. My VP has started asking questions about DVCS and should we switch from SVN and such, so this experiment will be useful shortly.

I’m playing a lot of backgammon. I taught my mother-in-law to play a few weeks ago, and my mother last night. Both picked it up quickly. I’m reading “The Backgammon Book” by Jacoby and Crawford, and trying to commit all the charts and probabilities to memory and get some real strategy going. My game is improving, but I’m still easily beatable.

Oh, and I”ve lost 22 pounds since February 28. Yay, me!

So, there you have it. All two of you now know why there hasn’t been anything new here for a while.

Two Updates and a Trophy

Joey Gibson — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:19:09 +0000

Update, the First: As I said back on February 19, I’m working on translating the Gospel of Luke from Greek into English as a Lenten project. Once I changed the project from simply reading the text in Greek, to translating and analyzing the Greek text in two different forms and writing down a reasonable translation, I knew that my timeline was going to shift. I am now certain that I won’t be finished with the project before Easter. There’s just no way around it. I haven’t had nearly as much time for translation as I’d hoped, and the additional research takes up what little time I do have. Does this mean I’m giving up on the project? No. What it means is that even though I won’t be finished by Easter, I’m going to continue the work until it’s completed, however long that might take. If I’m still working on it in May, that’s fine. I will complete it, it just won’t be when I originally planned.

Update, the Second: As I said on March 1, I have started a new exercise regimen. I am getting up at 5:00 AM, Sunday – Friday, to workout. (To be honest, I have slept in until 5:30 a couple of days.) Each day I get up, do some warmups to get my blood pumping, and then practice every Tae Kwon Do kick, block and punch that I’ve learned so far, multiple times per side. I then go through my TKD forms (3 of them, so far), and then do pushups & sit-ups or squats. I may be dropping the 100 Push-Ups challenge from the regimen, for now, because yesterday when I tried to do a push-up, my right biceps made a sound that was not a good one, and it felt like if I continued, something was going to snap. Last Thursday, the last 5 push-ups really hurt, and not in that “pain is just fear leaving the body” sort of way. This was “if you do one more of these, at least one muscle in this group is going to break” way. I need to at least lay off the push-ups for a week or so and then try again. We’ll see.

The good news is that so far, I’ve lost 13 pounds. It’s been well over a year since I’ve been at this weight, so I’m quite happy with that. I just need to stay motivated and keep at it.

And finally, the trophy. I’ve been a member of Grayson NPS Tae Kwon Do since August 2009. This past weekend, 22 of us went to the ICMA Region 2 Martial Arts Tournament. I was part of the demo team, which took 2nd place (out of 7 teams) in the team demo competition. I also won 3rd place (out of 5) for martial arts forms (I did Taegeuk Ee Jang, for those of you familiar with TKD). Between us, we won 14 trophies, which is pretty darn good.

Much video was shot of the various competitions. As it gets posted, I will provide links.