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Shouldn't have gotten out of bed
Today is one of those days that I shouldn't have gotten out of bed. It started with a fraud alert placed on my credit card then one bug after another. I went to look at a bug assigned to me and after I got the application launched (I had to go in circles to clear out the preferences and everything else, which I should have done before I started), found out that one of the components kept crashing. It kept crashing because a framework it needed wasn't there. I tracked this down to a bug in Apple Remote Desktop 3.0 where it mangles some symbolic links. So after working around that mess, I fixed my bug with one line of code, very simple. Next I went to look at some memory issues. This lead to a crash which brought up our crash reporter which apparently wasn't working. After awhile of checking the server and the code, found out that the crash reporter was crashing, curiously in the same place the app I was trying to debug was crashing. Seeing where the issue was, I typed:
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My credit card company sure is on top of things
This morning I tried to renew my jConnect account and it didn't accept my credit card due to some technical problem with their system, so I kept trying. The system finally accepted my credit card. No more than 30 minutes later, I got a voicemail from my credit card company saying that there was suspicious activity on my card and that I had to verify the charges. Apparently each time I tried to update my credit card information, jConnect send through a $1 authorization. They did this 3 times before sending my actual charge. This pattern of small, repeated authorizations apparently triggers a fraud alert on the card. Unfortunately the voicemail credit card company left for me directed me to an automated system that asked me to verify the charges one by one which was a problem because while I only authorized 1 of them, if I said no to the other ones, my card would have been cancelled and it would have been a royal mess. So, I logged into my account, called the number that was listed and talked to a human who removed the fraud alert.
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Never trust a bank
On Friday I went to the bank to deposit a check for my business; I made a mistake and put in my personal ATM card and deposited the business check into my personal account. I noticed my mistake almost immediately and went right into the bank to straighten it out. They couldn't get my check out of the ATM and give it back to me, so they transferred money from my personal account to my business account for the amount of the check. I thought that was the end of my mistake. I happened to check my statement online today and found out that the bank (properly) rejected my deposit as the check was made out to my business and debited my account for the deposit. So I called the bank and they said within 7-10 days the check should be mailed back to me so I can try the deposit again. This is fine, but I wish I was told this before I made the transfer as I got real close to overdrawing my account. Now I have to write a check from my business account to my personal account to reverse the "fix" I made on Friday. It's unfortunate that my little mistake has caused me such a major headache.
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A little UI tweaking can go a long way
The other day, I sent my latest program to a friend of mine to test and he asked if I wouldn't mind some constructive feedback. I'm always hesitant to get user interface feedback as last time I did (from an Apple UI guru), I was in the host seat for well over an hour getting what I thought was a good user interface ripped apart. Anyway, I told my friend that as long as it didn't involve brushed metal (the look that Apple is using everywhere in excess), I'd listen. Over the course of a day or so, we exchanged instant messages and email and I was amazed to see the transformation. While I thought my program was technically solid, I wasn't all that pleased with the user interface before; it was very utilitarian. My friend's ideas along with some of my own sparked by his comments turned my program into something that I'm extremely pleased to show off (when the time comes).