This and That
When New really means “New”
Today I learned that it’s always important to listen to your gut…on the weekend while at a restaurant I had the opportunity to creep on this guy working his @BlackBerry #Passport.. I did my best to be discreet about it ;)… these few minutes of creeping got me in the ‘I must have one’ state of mind…normally what I do when I want something is wait a few days to see if the urge goes away. After a few days I still had the urge so I sat in front of my laptop and proceeded to order the #Passport off of shop BlackBerry… and of course it’s ‘out of stock’.. Go figure. Ain’t it always the case.
Today, I decided to check if anyone is selling a Silver Edition #Passport here locally.. I found what I thought was a reputable ‘store’. Their site looked legit and all. They were advertising ‘a brand new, factory unlocked’ phone. They also warned that there are a lot of ‘black market’ phones that are sold ‘out there’ and to be careful with that. I got myself in the car and drove 40mins to pick it up. Once there, my gut started to churn and churn hard. Store it was not (Yoda I am).. it is a location inside a building..ok. Hey I was there so might as well not judge a book by its cover, right? I proceeded to ask for the #Passport and that’s when the warning signals that I should not purchase the phone continued:
1) box is alot tattered
2) box is OPEN
He had an explanation for both.
I asked repeatedly if it was new. Yes, he reassured me that it was with a one year warranty with his establishment. In good faith, I purchased the Silver edition #Passport. Part of it was truly because I want to be trusting of people but the other was the excitement of holding a silver edition passport… it felt so good!!
I drove 40mins back home and started to work the phone. I tried to power it on and couldn’t ; dead battery. Another alarm. Charged it and fired it up. I expected the initial set up screen.. nope. It booted to the home screen and it was in French. Hmm. Sound alarm #2… or I should say #4. I then proceeded to go to the settings and selected ‘BlackBerry ID’… and I see credentials for Yanis “something” from France. Fine. Let’s factory reset this phone. I proceeded to wipe the phone, started to go through the set up when I get to a screen that required the BlackBerry ID that is linked to the phone because BlackBerry Protected anti theft is enabled. I was dead in the water stuck and couldn’t proceed. Of course now I am pissed so I pack up everything, call the guy, gave him some lip and drove once again 40mins to return the phone and get my $$$ back. Very deceiving to advertise something as ‘new’ when in fact this phone was clearly used. Shady, shady, shady. All in all with the back and forth 4 hours of my life wasted!!
Anyway to say I am disappointed is an understatement.. I did get a chance to work the #passport a little and indeed having only 3 physical rows is different and I was a little slower with the typing but I can tell I will get used to it quickly enough. I also really love the feel and I honestly don’t find the phone to be big at all. I can easily work it with one hand too.
Now I will patiently wait for it to be available on shop BlackBerry again. I am truly looking forward to rocking the @BlackBerry #Passport !!!
BlackBerry (Berryflow), Star Wars and Fantasy Football
My two week Xmas break started this past weekend and although it started well yesterday not so much. It sucked mostly because of the #NFL. I participate in football pools (yes, plural) so my sundays are a different beast during the NFL season. I participate in one pool where you have to pick a winner against the spread. Over the last few weeks I was making great strides and was getting close to the top 3 which is where the money is and then yesterday happened. The other pool is a Fantasy Football team pool. I finished the season in 3rd (week 1-14 is the season) and yesterday was week one of the playoffs (Weeks 15-17). I lost mainly because my two running backs Lacy and Allen COMBINED for a whopping 1 point. However, that’s not even the sad part. I could have still won had I used Newton instead of Palmer. I used Palmer on the recommendation of @JameyEisenberg from CBS Sports who I emailed for some help. Alrighty then. I am now relegated to the consolation rounds where there is no money. Boo.
Thankfully I had tickets to Star Wars yesterday so I was able to get distracted for a couple hours. The movie did not disappoint. It actually stayed true to the originals and although there were a couple meh moments it was all in all a fantastic movie. You know a movie is great when it keeps you engaged and it doesn’t feel like a long movie. Chewbacca as always delivered his lines with such passion ! ;)… i’m glad to see that the storm troopers are no longer bad shots anymore like they used to be. I mean in the original Star Wars trilogy you could practically stand right in front of them and they’d still miss you!! Lol.
After a few hours of distraction I came home and decided to watch the Berryflow podcast which had as invited guest @MichaelClewley of BlackBerry. Keep in mind that as I write this I did not get to see it live so what I watched appears to be a shaved down/edited version… I think.. it was 30mins long. 30mins I will never get back. During this 30mins not once did they discuss BB10 which I thought they were going to discuss.. so that pissed me off.. The other thing that really pushed me over was having to hear both @Bla1ze and @Jmznvs tell @MichaelClewley they like the “cool direction BlackBerry took with advertising ” the #PRIV when they’ve been both mocking and questioning said advertising since the very beginning. What hypocrites. Seriously.
So in a nutshell that was my mostly lousy sunday.
BlackBerry Brand and Perception
Over the weekend we were up north in Mont Tremblant for my company’s Xmas party weekend. It was an amazing time as it always is.. Anyway saturday night during our party the conversation turned to smartphones and as it was revealed that I have a BlackBerry it happened… I got the ‘omg you still use a BlackBerry ‘ comment. Admittedly our conversation didn’t last too long but based on what I was hearing it was clear at 100% that they are thinking of the BlackBerry of yesteryear. I think we can all agree that BlackBerry sat on its ass far too long before it ‘acted’ but my god what to make of folks who also have failed to move forward with their thinking!!! It’s really a shame because it is this continued struggle that has held BlackBerry back from progressing more than it has. This inability to shake off this perception of what they were vs. what they actually are now.
It is such a pity that this perception still exists and a true shame that BlackBerry wasn’t able to push BlackBerry 10 well enough to change this perception. Such a powerful OS that didn’t catch on..It makes me sad. It does. A true shame.
The Value of the 2nd Opinion
In a matter of days I went from hating the world to pure elation… and no I am not dying. I am going to pull a Sophia from Golden Girls… ‘picture this…’ two weeks ago I started to hear a noise coming out of the rear of my car. I wasn’t overly concerned with it because the noise only lasted for about 30secs or so but I knew I had to get it looked at. On the sunday morning of that week my car refused to start. Having replaced my battery a couple years ago I didn’t think it could be that but tried to boost the car nonetheless. It didn’t help. I then proceeded to call a towing company and had the car towed to a local CAA approved garage near my place. Being a sunday the garage was closed so I just left my car there so it could be looked at Monday morning. Some time mid morning on monday I got a call from the garage to tell me that the car was completely dry of any oil and that the ‘engine was finished and needed to be replaced’. A second hand engine plus labor and tax would cost me 2400$. After I picked myself up off my work office floor I told him not to do anything until I got back to him. I spent the next few days trying to piece together how this could have possibly happened..my gut was telling me that something didn’t smell right here. How does my car not show any warning signs at all? No lights on the dashboard? No smells of any kind that could have alerted me? No sputtering? I just didn’t buy that the engine was toast.. the oil I could believe. I had so much going on in the summer and a lot of distractions that I could have, maybe, forgotten an oil change or two. I had plenty of conversations with my wife over this. Luckily conversing with your better half sometimes works!! Lol. She talked to a co-worker of hers who was a mechanic in a previous life ;)… actually he still is and he agreed with me. Told me not to have any work done on the car until he got to see it for himself. By this time it’s Friday (believe it or not). The plan was to have the car towed on saturday to my wife’s work place to have it looked at. We picked up the keys on friday night and had to pay for the oil+labor. Saturday morning my wife on her usual morning walk, decided to walk to the garage and on a whim decided to start the car. Guess what? It started. How does a car with a ‘finished engine’ start? Anyway she came back home, got me and we drove to get some gas. My car was low on gas. I load the car with gas and drove it off to my wife’s work place. The noise? Still there. .. but I DROVE the car! The car was inspected and there is absolutely nothing wrong with the engine. Additionally the oil that was added was old/dirty.. nice. The noise? Wheel bearings which need replacing. So, what to make of this? Well this CAA approved garage is either filled with incompetent people or they are scum.. if I took them at their word I would have forked over 2400$ for an oil change because the engine would have remained the one I currently have. They would have just called me a few days later to make it look like they actually replaced the engine. SCUM.
Lesson: don’t accept anything at face value. Question, question, question. Get a second opinion. Listen to your gut.
Not getting a Priv. Not Getting a Priv. Got a Priv.
Nope. Not me. I am still on my trusted and excellent #Classic. As an avid BlackBerry user and supporter I make it a point of frequenting BlackBerry related blogs. Since the rumor of an android running BlackBerry started to surface one fellow, let’s refer to him as ‘B’.. on his weekly podcast was adamant that although he would support the #Priv and wish @BlackBerry success with it, he would not get one because he is so anti android. I actually lost count the times he said that. Well, he got a @BlackBerry #Priv. Anyway, we are all entitled to change our mind on things. Still. Makes you wonder. In fairness to him though… atleast for the moment his main daily driver remains his #Passport but he will continue to use the #Priv and put out his thoughts on it along the way. It was good to see on their last podcast that he got some razzing for going back on his word. I mean where is your conviction !!! Lol.. ah, so be it. Admittedly the phone is gorgeous. I, however, stand by my word that I will remain a BlackBerry 10 user to the end!!! I am loyal as fuck!! Hard to find this nowadays.
My ‘Joe Dirt’ thoughts on Holly v Ronda
Ok, so I really have no business critiquing #MMA… I don’t watch the sport because I find it violent and I can’t deal with violence. However, I can still have somewhat of an opinion. There’s no doubt that Ronda has paid her dues and is deserving of all her success in the sport. She’s one hell of an athlete.. but it’s clear that the bloated head was starting to rear it’s ugly head and probably ended up weighing her down during the fight on saturday. Ya, that must be it. Lol… Anyway, I think the best thing for Ronda and the sport is what happened on saturday. Holly won. So proud of Holly and I don’t even know her. Lol. So happy for the so called ‘underdog’.
As I mentioned earlier I am anti violence but i’m glad Ronda got her ass whooped. Holly was bad ass impressive. A good lesson in humility. So you’re a great athlete.. show some humility. Nope. Not Ronda. So what’s the cure for this? A good old fashion ass whooping.. I mean did u see how Holly tossed Ronda like a salad? It was unreal. Anyway this was a great way to get Ronda off her high horse and back to reality.
All hail the new champ, Holly!! Who btw is hawt and I’d have no issue at all if she assaulted me and wrapped her long luscious legs around my neck. None whatsoever.
My ‘Joe Dirt’ Review of the BlackBerry Priv
Alright. Here we go… I will review the #Priv without actually having one. That’s right. I will review the #Priv based on all the unboxing/initial impression videos that are out there on the BlackBerry #Priv. And there are many!!! It’s unreal though. Again, I go back to my earlier post about the struggle within. On the one hand I am happy about all the effort and attention it’s getting, on the other I question why this effort couldn’t have been the same for BlackBerry 10.
Anyway… I have no plans to review the reviews. Although that would have been funny. I have watched 12 videos so far.. I suspect more are coming… what I know is that I will not be getting a #Priv any time soon… nor do I think I will get the #Vienna. I am pretty picky and the general sense I am getting from all the videos is that I won’t be happy with the hub experience and certainly the lack of peak. I also gather that I will in fact not be able to do things quickly as I do with BlackBerry 10. I want to believe that with time the BlackBerry productivity tools will mature but I highly doubt to the level I am used to with BlackBerry 10.
So who’s this #Priv for? In my opinion.. anyone who hasn’t experienced BlackBerry 10. Plain and simple. With BlackBerry 10 u get spoiled and so moving away from it will be a disappointment.
My hope is that BlackBerry 10 never goes away. I don’t know if that will happen. If that sad day comes, that BlackBerry 10 goes away I will begrudgingly go the route of a BlackBerry #Android. For a few nights after that I am sure I will cry myself to sleep but eventually I will accept and I guess assimilate.
Full disclosure… my son has a Z10. He’s a BlackBerry fan and eyeing the #Priv and I am looking to get him the phone..therefore I will get up close and personal with it at some point.
#BB10 v. #Priv: The Struggle Within
Last Friday wasn’t just November 6th. It was BlackBerry #Priv Day.. believe it or not (and I am not sure if I should admit it) leading up to this day I was both excited and anxiety stricken ! I want the #Android #Priv to do well because first and foremost I support BlackBerry the company.
The excitement of course was over all the buzz the #Priv was generating on friday. My twitter timeline was practically all #Priv, all the time. Instagram was showing some #Priv love as well. I am not big on Facebook but I imagine some action happened there as well. Magically, like mushroom sprouting, you had all kinds of reviews pop up. Mostly favorable but some not so much. There’s no doubt that at times, as fanboys, we’ll refuse to see accept or acknowledge things.. It’s I guess par for the course… but these reviewers that panned the #Priv, you can tell they just live to hate on things. It’s basically what they live for. I wonder how many of them actually spent significant or quality time with the device.
Anyway, I digress. Where was I. Ok, so why the ‘struggle within’… well, where the fuck was all this effort for when the BlackBerry 10 came out? Where was this love then? I realize it’s easy to be that armchair critic but seriously why couldn’t this effort be done as well for bb10 ? So there you have it. That’s the struggle. Happy for what appears to be a successful launch of the #Priv but pissed that BB10 wasn’t shown the same love.
Over the weekend I got to play with a #Priv for about 15mins at a local Rogers store. I will tell you, the fact they had a working BlackBerry device of any kind was a miracle and refreshing. The 15mins I spent weren’t much but they were 15 great minutes. The device in hand.. well it’s unmistakably BlackBerry. What quality. BlackBerry makes the best phones. Period. The performance was fantastic. Navigation easy enough to get used to. It didn’t hurt that I watched all sorts of videos leading up to this… the one thing that I still can’t bring myself to like. The android UI. I don’t like it one bit. Anyway having written all this, I will not purchase a #Priv. I am a die-hard BlackBerryer.. and until I have no other choice I remain a BB10er. I don’t cave in like some folk.
#TeamBlackBerry #TeamBB10
Is it just me or is this just one of the worse attempts ever??
Amateur night???
Not that i condone this in any way… but still…
https://ca.screen.yahoo.com/crime-caught-on-camera/passer-foils-abduction-attempt-032358723.html
My Random Thoughts 