No Business Naming Things

As a quick followup to the helpful article on themes posted to the Eclipse Tips blog, I would like to point out that all of the values that are in the currently active theme are also in the JFace registry. Yes, it is possible to get the current ITheme from the workbench IThemeManager, but that’s only REALLY useful if you’re interested in direct theme manipulation or you have non-color/font values that you’re trying to utilize via getInt/getString/getBoolean. If all you want to do is track the current value for a given element regardless of the theme that’s currently active you’re better off obtaining it from JFaceResources.getFontRegistry and getColorRegistry. The advantage to obtaining the value from here is that if you attach a listener to these registries you’re notified of changes not only when a value within a particular theme has changed, but you’ll get notified when the user selects a new theme. The workbench will always push the values in the current active theme into these registries.

So, yesterday late afternoon I picked up my iPhone only to discover that it had no service.  Attempts to get onto the Rogers network were met with nondescript registration issues.  My first instinct was that the hardware issue with my phone was more widespread than the headphone jack but after getting the same problem after putting my SIM into my old phone I decided to call Rogers.  Again.

After another 40 minutes on hold my first contact there is determined to shunt me off to the iPhone department for what could only be another 40 minutes of waiting.  I insist that it’s a SIM problem and ask him to verify the PIN he has on record.  The PIN isn’t even close to right.  I explain to him that the SIM I was using was the SIM from my old phone - the one that came with my iPhone was never activated.  He suggests that I put that SIM in and try again.  Still no dice.  Once again he tries to shunt me off to the iPhone help desk but again I insist that we check the numbers.  They STILL dont match.  Somehow during my exchange with them the other day not only did they disable my SIM card they reenabled one that I dont even have.

What the shit?

*sigh*

For those that are curious, this is me contact juggling:

After dealing with a VERY helpful Rogers employee on the phone (who took me on my word when I said that I had already tried a restore/reflash - I had) I now have a brand new iPhone coming to me in the post.

I have now been on hold for 40 minutes with Rogers. Thank goodness I have a speaker phone - if I had to be concentrating on holding a handset for that long I am sure I would’ve put it through a wall by now

Edit: after an hour I’ve given up.  I will try again later I guess.

The problem with my iPhone pausing/unpausing songs during playback was unbearable this morning so after getting in I called Rogers customer service. After wading through their system for 5 minutes they told me to call back on a land line. After wading through 5 minutes again they put me through to someone who can’t exactly grasp the problem. This was almost certainly my fault - I am not the most articulate person on the planet, particularly on the phone. After a couple of tries she understands and goes off looking through her database. After another 5 minutes she says that I’d be better off talking to Apple. She forwards my call to them and hangs up. Problem is, Apple technical support isn’t yet open.

*sigh* c’mon guys, you must know when they’re open. Why forward me at all?

So, I’ll be calling Rogers back after 9 so if/when they forward me to Apple again I might actually be able to get somewhere.

Incidentally, the problem was so bad this morning that I couldn’t take more than 5 steps without it pausing. It even skipped tracks a couple of times. When I got in I tried swapping out my Bang and Olufsen headphones for an old pair I had in my desk. Same problem. I then tried a last-gen pair of iPod headphones that I keep for the gym and they worked a lot better. If I REALLY tried I could make it pause but I dont think it’d happen under normal circumstances. What’s more, the connection felt a lot more secure than either my B&O or desk headphones. Hopefully this is something they can correct for without having to send the device in to Apple.

Although particular to gaming cons, this post brings up a good question: what policies do Eclipse conferences espouse that protect (woman) attendees from unwanted interactions? Although I haven’t had my ass groped at EclipseCon I have had some experiences that have left me uncomfortable and a little shaken. I’m not alone here either. I’ve heard stories from at least one other woman attendee relating similar experiences. Being the stubborn loner that I am I never reported them but honestly, if I had wanted to, I’m not sure where I would have reported them too.

Given that we’re typically outnumbered by a very large margin, tech conferences have the potential to be an awkward place for women to be, particularly the shy and introverted ones like me. After a cursory inspection of the EclipseCon and Eclipse Summit websites, I can’t find any policies relating to interpersonal relations (or anything else) whatsoever. Would it be reasonable to expect this from our conference organizers?

I don’t intend this to come off as a flame to either conference or its attendees. The vast, VAST majority of attendees are civil, courteous, intelligent and thoughtful (even Steve) but there is always the possibility of a bad apple. I know from personal experience it would have been reassuring to know there was a policy in place and somewhere to turn if a situation occurred at a conference.

Wow. I downloaded the new Brian Eno/David Byrne collaboration last night. I knew it was going to be good, but I didn’t expect goosebumps or getting weepy for no discernible reason. Holy shit. Do yourself a favour and go buy this album right now.

Edit: It appears David Byrne will be playing in Montreal on October 30th at the Metropolis. Tickets are on sale here.

Thanks to a friend who lives downtown I now know that The Watchmen are coming to town to play on September 19th at Mavericks!!!1!  It’s a week before our wedding, and while we have our trial up-doos scheduled for that day I’m sure it wont be an issue.  EEEE!!!

I honestly don’t know how long I’ve owned this thing.  Whatever segment of my brain that is responsible for measuring time has died and rotted.

Rogers 3G service is… spotty… at best.  At several times throughout the day, the most common being 4:30-5:30 pm, I cannot get data service.  Nope, nada.  It appears to be connected to 3G but any attempt at using Safari or Mail or Facebook will time out.  There are additional times throughout the day where it doesn’t work as well, but that time period seems the most consistent.  It’s not working at the moment nor has it worked for the last 15 minutes or so.  How very frustrating.