Minister Baird,

Sincerely,
Adam M. Anklewicz
I.T. Manager
*insert school name here*

I defriended someone on Facebook earlier this week. I then thought about defriending a few hundred people. Instead I opted to delete every picture I’ve ever posted to Facebook, I untagged myself from every photo I was tagged in. I removed any and all information about me from Facebook. It felt nice.

From there, I deleted all my tweets, thanks to TweetWipe.

I deleted my accounts from a handful of other websites.

I’m not sure what I want to do with this space, but I think I’ll leave it as it is for the time being.

I’ve made some ringtones for my iPhone, and I thought I’d share. Yes I’m infringing on some copyright with these, but I hope the BBC, Nintendo, Stephin Merritt, Apple, and the TTC will forgive me.

The Magnetic Fields – “BBC Radiophonic Workshop”
Doctor Who Theme (Christopher Eccleston era)
Doctor Who Theme (William Hartnell era) 
Super Mario Bros. coin sound
The Magnetic Fields – “One April Day”
Sloan – “Cheap Champaign”
Tetris music
TTC door chime 

I upgraded to iOS 5, and spent much of the time playing with new features, and found out that you can now customize text-tones, something I’ve been wanting for quite some time. I made a couple new text-tones, one is the QUACK from the System 7 sound set, the other is the sound made in Super Mario Bros. when one collects a coin.

Okay, this was a cop-out Rocktober event… sue me. Bitches!

My parents purchased a Macintosh SE in the late-1980s, and it was our first Macintosh computer. I took to it pretty easily, and I remember my mother teaching me many things on the computer, including basic scripting in HyperCard, and playing in MacPaint, and MacWrite.

In 1994 I purchased MY first Macintosh computer. I had to let the rest of the family use it, though. It was a Macintosh LC 575. I upgraded from 8MHz to a speedy 33.3MHz. That 68040 processor sped through operations in no time. It was the first computer I upgraded the RAM and hard drive of, why my parents let me do that at 14 or 15, I have no idea, but man 2GB of storage in that machine!

In high school I did a co-op, and was positioned at Apple Canada’s head office. I did support for staff, I worked a bit in the tech shop, cleaning out old Macs, I did some work with data entry, but I have two very specific memories of my time at Apple.

1) I got to join when the tech team stripped down Canada’s first All-In-One G3. That machine was UGLY!

2) I got to join the staff of Apple Canada as they watched Steve Jobs redefined the computer industry by introducing the iMac. It’s incredible how that one machine changed the world. It was interesting that no one there knew what was being announced, and all were amazing, and then criticized the lack of floppy.

After my co-op ended I run the computer department at a camp, and when that ended, I later took a job doing sales at a Future Shop-esque store that no longer exists (and was owned by Future Shop). I was the Mac guy. After I got pissed at them, I took a job for a Toronto Apple Reseller. I stayed there for six years floundering, but from there I’ve since been working as the Systems Administrator and IT Manager for a private school. As the sys admin, of a large Mac network, I often get frustrated at Apple, and that extends to Steve Jobs.

Jobs was a brilliant man, and from what I hear, an ass. He revolutionized the computer industry, and by extension the world. When Steve Wozniak created the Apple computer, Jobs and he built a great company. Jobs then went on and gathered an incredible team to make the Macintosh. When he left Apple, the company floundered and struggled to stay alive. Against everyone’s expectations, they managed to stay afloat, and after purchasing NeXT, Jobs returned to the company, and made it into one of the most successful companies… not just technology companies.

That original Mac SE is sitting in my office today.

Contact #1 (10:28am): I spoke with a support agent in the billing department. This woman was nice and polite, and said that there was nothing she could do for me, but transfer me to the Loyalty Department. I was okay with this, and sat on hold for half an hour as I waited for my call to be transferred. Eventually I put through to the Loyalty Department, I spoke with a woman who was somewhat helpful, and seemed as if she genuinely wanted to keep me as a client. Then she put me on hold as she had to research the options. Then I heard “beep beep beep” and the call ended. Shit. I didn’t want to call back and sit on hold for half an hour.

Contact #2: I tried the web chat. I sat for a short while waiting for a rep to speak to me. I finally got one, and after explaining the previous call, asked her to have the loyalty department contact me. She told me she can’t make outgoing calls. I told her to ask her supervisor to take care of this. She said no. I told her to ask her supervisor’s supervisor to take care of this. Eventually she tried to help me, and told me not to change plans, as I have unlimited bandwidth. I got frustrated by her lack of understanding, and poor written English, and closed the chat window.

Contact #3 (11:28am): This call, according to my iPhone log only took 22 minutes. I spoke with a rep in the billing department. gave him my information, asked to have the loyalty department call me. He informs me that the loyalty department is closed on Sundays… wtf?!?! I ask to speak to a manager. He assures me he can help me. I tell him what’s going on, he transfers me to the loyalty department. I wait on the line. Eventually he gets through, and as soon as he hangs up from the now-threeway call… “beep beep beep” I’m disconnected.

Contact #3 (11:52am): This time I don’t take no for an answer. I tell the woman that I’ve been hung up on twice, that I’ve provided my contact information four times, and I must speak with her manager. I start off by giving him my callback number. I tell him what’s happened, and he answers by promising to have them call me. We hang up.

Contact #4 (12:20pm): The supervisor calls me back, tells me he has someone from the Loyalty department on the line for me. I say hello to the gentleman, we talk for a few seconds, supervisor disconnects… “beep beep beep” I’m disconnected.

Contact #5 (12:31pm): I contact them, tell them to have their supervisor, the one I was previously speaking to call me back.

I’m still waiting. If I don’t hear back in 30 minutes. I’m calling to cancel. Even if I have to go a month without home internet as I wait for TekSavvy’s cable to be available in my neighbourhood. I’m cancelling. These fuckwads can go and shove it up their collective ass, I’m cancelling. I’ve been paying them monthly for over eight years, and this is the loyalty they show me? I’m fucking cancelling.

Yours Truly,
Adam M. Anklewicz

My bandwidth averages at 130GB per month. With that in mind, the Bell FIBE, beyond being stupidly priced in comparison to TekSavvy, it’s out. My peak bandwidth usage over the past 11 months is 210GB.

So now my question becomes, do I save $27/month and go with the 5Mbps plan? Do I save $25/month and go with the cable, which is quite a bit faster, but then I’d have to worry about the cable line coming into my apartment which has never been used in the three years I’ve been here.

Or, I could pay an additional $14/month and get insane speeds that I’ll only use for torrenting… legal content, or course.

Thoughts, boy and girls?

Wanna suggest stuff?

1. See people
   • Visit my family¹
   • Visit the Millers
   • See Emily, tonight, post-Sadies, perhaps another time²
   • Visit Graeme and Heather³
   • Do some hangouts with Vince
2. Concerts & Events
   • See The Sadies, tonight
   • Ron Sexsmith in-store
   • The Weather Station at Holy Oak, FUCK that’s the second sedar night. Damn goyim.
   • Go to at least one other show (anyone suggest any?)
   • Spelling bee!
3. Books
   • Read “Life” by Keith Richards
   • Read “René Lévesque” by Daniel Poliquin
   • Read “Make Me A Woman” by Vanessa Davis
   • Read “William Lyon Mackenzie King: Dreams and Shadows” by Lian Goodall
   • Read at least three other graphic novels to be borrowed from the Toronto Public Library
4. Television
   • Watch remaining seven episodes of series two of Waiting For God
   • Watch remaining two episodes of The Increasingly Poor Choices of Todd Margaret
   • Watch all six episodes of Jekyll
   • Watch remaining two episodes of Being Human (UK)
   • Give the North American version of Being Human another shot
   • Watch the season premiere of Doctor Who
5. Films
   • Watch Polytechnique
   • Watch The Hanging Garden
   • Watch The Town
   • Watch Toy Story 2 with the Millers, continuing our Pixar marathon
6. GSD & go places
   • Do two client gigs
   • Get passport paperwork filed and applied
   • Go to the Island, at least once
7. This here blog
   • Write at least three blog posts a week. This doesn’t count.

1. Okay, so this one is easy as it’s the sedars.
2. Perhaps overlapping with Millers.
3. Maybe help them move

I figure a simple WordPress install, with one page of listings, and that’s it. A handful of admins, and people can comment like they did before to add shows.

What’s the domain? Thoughts?