Carl's Big Adventure

I had to say good bye to my trusty friend the La-z-boy. We had some good times me and him.

I put it on Craig's List at 6:00pm on a Sunday night and by 7:00 it was gone from my apartment.

Not to get all nostalgic on you, but I used to subscribe to Craig's List back when it really was just Craig's List. It was a mailing list he created to tell people the happenings around San Francisco, I remember hanging out with him in the early days when there were lots of small tech events around town (and back when I cared), my favorite being the Web Grrls (not that I was ever a welcome addition to those events).

Anyway Craig's list is huge now and I can get rid of an old la-z-boy in an hour on a Sunday night, so Thanks Craig!

Here's why Craig's List Rules (No that isn't me, I just thought it was funny)

Posted by Carl Haynes at 12:08 PM | Permalink

It's getting to be crunch time. Here's my list of stuff to do by next Wednesday

1) Send Packages to Denver (mixer, cookware)
2) Return Tivo's laptop
3) Book hotels in London & Dubai
4a) Send in my Cobra payment for April
4b) Send in my EFT Cobra forms
5) Do my Taxes
6) Change my address
7a) Drop off business cards
5b) Pick up business cards
8) Put my comfy tv watching chair on craigslist
9) Cancel my phone/cable/electric/water
9a) Return cable box to Comcast
10) Make about 100 75 65 50 runs to the trash chute to throw away the rest of my worldly belongings.
11) Change the oil in my car, get it washed.
12) Coin star - cha ching!
13) Deposit last TiVo checks
14) transfer money to bank accounts
15) Gorge myself on yellow peeps
16) Buy Camera/laptop Bag

Oh yeah, I also need to finish the new website for Kiva.

I've got 4 days! I wonder what's on TV?

P.S. In the laptop saga, They are supposed to call me on Monday to arrange a replacement Notebook, hope they don't send it to me FedEx!

P.P.S. In my new saga, I opened a citibank account because they have a branch in Uganda and I can do wire transfers over the internet. They screwed up opening it an there's now a block on the account that they keep telling me they are putting in orders to remove it and it never gets removed. So I may have no laptop and no money when I get to Uganda. At least I'll fit in!

Posted by Carl Haynes at 1:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Here's an update on my computer that I had to send back to HP for repairs the day after I bought it:

FEDEX LOST MY NOTEBOOK!

It never reached HP and now fedex is pretending to look for it and I have one week before I leave. My guess is that I'll have to file a claim against FedEx and some months later, if I'm lucky, I'll get some money back.

I'm giving 'til next Tuesday before I have to go get another computer.

Posted by Carl Haynes at 2:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So I buy a new laptop to take with me to Uganda. I went pretty cheap and bought a hp notebook because Fry's was having a good sale on it.

The day after I bought it the sound goes out and after several calls to tech support, the FedEx guy showed up today and its now in the shop. It's going to be fun trying to get this fixed in Uganda if something goes wrong. Maybe I should have spent the extra money on a Dell!

Hope they mail it back to me before I leave!

One cool thing about the computer that I like is that you can play a DVD without booting up the computer. Hopefully that'll help with battery life on the plane.

Posted by Carl Haynes at 3:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I finally got around to booking my tickets my itinerary looks like this:

Fri Mar 31st Drive to Denver
Wed April 5 Denver - London
Fri April 7 London - Dubai
Sat April 8 Rock the Casbah
Mon April 10 Dubai - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - Entebbe, Uganda

arrive at 2:45pm on April 10th in Uganda

Posted by Carl Haynes at 3:04 AM | Permalink

I just received this email from a guy at the the phone company in Tororo whom I asked about prices. I'm not so sure now why I thought the telesaver was 128k, if it is, then it seems like a pretty good bargain.

we have a wide range of internet brand portfolios.One as you are already aware is the telesaver plus which costs about 193 dollars only.Please note that these are total costs including a Usb cable and one months Subscription with unlimited internet access.

The other option i would highly recommend you is the ISDN 128K.This shall enable you enjoy fast internet connectivity.The total costs for this service including Value Added Tax is 964 Dollars.The package includes three months of unlimited fast internet access and a personalised e-mail account e.g carl @utlonline.co.ug.
This will certainly meet your internet needs am confident about it.

$964 to set up a 128k ISDN connection! The good news is that it looks like I may have a pretty good shot at continuing to do some consulting with TiVo from Uganda so I may be able to justify the cost. I'm still waiting to hear what the monthly rate is for the ISDN.

----

OK here's an update: the telesaver is a 64k connection and the ISDN is $200 a month.

Posted by Carl Haynes at 3:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It looks like this is my most likely internet connection possibility:

http://www.utl.co.ug/utl.php?t=personal&i=5

its basically a 128k wireless modem that provides a full time internet connection as well as a phone. The biggest downside seems to be that it is required to be plugged in to an electrical socket to work. That may not be a big selling point these days in Uganda!

Posted by Carl Haynes at 5:54 AM | Permalink

It is a very sad day, Today I gave my TV away.

Now I don't know how to waste away all the extra hours in the day. I don't know what people without TVs do to fill up the emptiness of their lives. Maybe I'll take up drinking.

Posted by Carl Haynes at 4:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Its amazing how you've never heard of a place before and as soon as you start to know about it, you see references to it everywhere.

HBO is showing a 5 part documentary on AIDS and the one of the parts take place at the Tororo hospital and features an orphanage in Tororo.

http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/pandemic/index.html

Here's the schedule if you want to see it:

http://www.hbo.com/apps/schedule/ScheduleServlet?ACTION_DETAIL=DETAIL&FOCUS_ID=608792

Posted by Carl Haynes at 1:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I finally got around to thinking about my tickets to Uganda. So far I've gotten as far as London, leaving on the 5th of April and arriving London on the 6th.

My plan is to leave london on either the 9th or 10th and to fly through Dubai to take advantage of their cheap layover program. I will probably arrive in Uganda mid to late week of April 9th.

Posted by Carl Haynes at 6:24 AM | Permalink