Random Traffic Through Nick's Brain

The remainder of our stuff arrives some time later this week. Things I’m really looking forward to having again:

• Good pillows (mmm… sleep).
• Couches (mmm… somewhere to relax… I don’t like sitting in bed).
• Filing cabinet (mmm… organization).
• Shelving (mmm… not having Alex’s toys strewn around the flat).

Things that we still have to buy that I’m really looking forward to:

• Mattress (mmm… sleep). Technically, we have one, but it sucks, so we’re taking advantage of Ikea’s 90-day exchange policy.

Being in a new flat / city / country without the wonderful social network of friends that I’ve somehow built up over the years makes me remember how much I hate having to meet / interact with new people without some sort of pre-existing excuse (friends of friends or work tend to be good ones).

Our VOIP phone finally works (fix: upgrade firmware from version 1.0.8 to 1.0.8). So we have a US number that you can call us on if you need to. We prefer you use Skype with a webcam though.

Switzerland goes off daylight savings time this weekend. North America, the weekend after. So for a week, we’re only 5 hours ahead.

I was the first one in the office this morning. The coffee machine was off. I couldn’t figure out how to turn it on.

1. Personal space here is smaller than in North America. Today, it was hard to figure out if my coworker was just walking beside me or trying to have me take a turn along the path.
2. The close door buttons in the elevators actually work (it feels like most elevator close door buttons in North America are placebos).

Took a picturesque train ride to Linthal, and then a funicular up to Braunwald. Alex fell asleep just at the right time for Dina and I to enjoy sitting outside in the sun, eating, and having a nice beer. It was exactly what I’d imagined domestic touristing in Switzerland would be like.

View from Braunwald, Switzerland

Amsterdam recently (July 1st) enacted a tobacco smoking ban in public places. Result: an explosion of outdoor seating. Secondary result: the streets seem more crowded as previously pedestrian pathways are now otherwise occupied.

She made me bacon croissants for breakfast this morning (she couldn’t find cinnamon roll dough at the store here).

Nick: Wanna make me some? http://bacontoday.com/bacon-cinnamon-rolls-o/
Dina: do you seriously read a bacon newsletter??
Nick: No… only because it doesn’t have an RSS feed.

A list of my issues with my new HTC Touch Pro SmartPhone / PDA. My service provider, SwissCom, is partially responsible for some of these issues. As a long-time Palm / Treo user I find that some things just aren’t as well thought out on this device. As someone married to an iPhone user, I can’t help but be envious. I’ve skimmed TFM, but I still have to RTFM.

• SwissCom:
  • Cannot delete a voicemail while you’re listening to it. You have to wait until the end of the message, and then wait through a long menu before it accepts input.
    Fixed: First press 0, then press 3. Why the extra key before the normal delete key? I don’t know.
  • Rules for dialling and texting are different. Dialling with the country code in front of the number while in the country? OK. Texting? Not OK. Out of the country, you need to dial with the country code. This makes figuring out what number to store in the contacts difficult.
• OS:
  • Palm: 1 syllable. PDA / HTC / Touch Pro: > 1 syllable.
    Omer notes: “Phone”
  • The touch sensitivity seems off. I feel that I need to press too hard, for too long, to ‘click’ things.
  • The screen turns off too fast when using the phone. I can’t figure out how to turn the screen back on once it’s turned off (say, if I need to use the keypad).
  • The device becomes unresponsive, just like Windows.
  • You can’t quickly flip between SMS messages. Some applications, like mail, have the nice finger-swipe to move to the next or previous message. Some don’t. That’s what you get when there is a mish-mash of vendors (HTC, MicroSoft, Opera, etc.) providing the core software for your phone.
• TouchFlo:
  • TouchFlo is a bit jittery.
  • If an application (e.g., Tasks) is already open, then clicking it’s button on the landscape TouchFlo home page doesn’t switch to it.
  • TouchFlo can’t be customized. There are certain things that I use a *lot* and want to promote to the front page.
• Tasks:
  • Marking a task as complete resets the selection to the 1st task. If you’re going through your task list one-by-one this is frustrating.
  • Doesn’t remember the last filter that was applied to it.
  • Only shows one line.
  • Number of taps to edit a task
    • Palm: 1 (tap on the task’s subject).
    • HTC: 3 (tap on the task’s subject, tap Edit, tap in the subject field)
• Notes:
  • Notes can’t be filtered / categorized.
  • A colon in a note appears as an underscore.
• Keyboard:
  • The on-screen keyboard pops up even when the keyboard is slid out. I want a way to turn it off.
  • Despite having a full keyboard, the darn thing defaults to T9 mode by default in some cases. Fix: FN+Space (T9 key). Switch to ABC mode (but now spell correction doesn’t work). Aside: Inserting a new word in T9 mode is stupidly difficult.
  • The keyboard backlight turns off too fast.
• Opera:
  • Backspace in Opera goes back to the previous page, even if you are in a text field. Having to type something without making mistakes is almost impossible.
  • There is no immediate feedback when clicking on a link.
  • It feels like you need to press and hold a link instead of just tapping it.
• Applications:
  • No Flash player.
  • No native GMail client.
    Fixed: Navigate to http://m.google.com/mail/ using IE, not Opera. However, this is the Java version, which has *tiny* print and constantly asks you if you want to let things use the internet.
  • No native Google Maps client. The US version has one, but not the European version. I can’t figure out how to find one for it.
    Fixed: Navigate to http://google.com/gmm using IE, not Opera.

Software I Need to Install or Configure

• GPS / Google Maps.
• GMail.
• Chat: AIM, Google Chat.
• Exchange synchronization.
• Synchronization with my laptop via BlueTooth.

I will add annoyances and fixes as I find them. Feel free to contribute issues or fixes in the comments field.

8.50 CHF (~7.50 USD) for a venti mocha at Starbucks. I started to order, thought better of it, then turned around and left.

I’ve realized that one of the big reasons I’m happy (and tired) is that I’m being forced to learn at a faster rate than I have in the past few years.

• I’m adapting to a new country, culture, and language.
• Learning to be a parent is fun and challenging.
• Learning to do non-coding work at work is tough, new, and interesting.

After a couple of days of having working internet, I had to power-cycle the router. Bad move. We no longer have internet (using my phone as a modem… gotta love 3G).

We f’ing hate SwissCom.

We now, finally have internet at home.

If you want to start Skyping us / Alex, email us and we’ll set up times that are mutually good.

It’s been a busy week of moving, buying furniture, and getting settled in our new home. We’re almost there… just missing light in the bedrooms and internet (f’ing SwissCom). The lack of internet at home has made staying in touch difficult due to lack of IM, Skype, and email.

At least I have a cell number now and Dina should be getting hers within a couple of days. Email if you want contact details.

Some random notes:

• We have the canonical European non-metal fridge. Alex is very frustrated and confused that his letters don’t stick to the fridge any more. He seems to think that we’re playing a joke on him somehow. On a semi-related note, our flat is pretty sweet and has a guest room… come and visit us… you don’t actually have to hang out with us much if you don’t want to.
• For some reason, they use graph paper here instead of lined paper.

On Sunday, we finally got to relax and see some of Switzerland. Here’s a view of the Alps from the Seebodenalp gondola.

View from Seebodenalp Gondola