Friday night I became aware that my phone, a Motorola V180, was able to send SMS messages (text messages), but I couldn’t receive them. An hour on the phone with Cingular got me to the Motorola help desk where I found out that there’s a known issue with the V180 software. They discovered this in December, but somehow they didn’t notify anyone and I don’t see it anywhere on their web site.

To determine if you have the affected software, dial *#9999# on your phone. That will show you the version number (look for “S/W Version”). The version on my phone right now is R365_G_0B.D2.2ER. The important bit there is the 0B.D2.2ER part - that’s the version. If you have 0B.D3.06R or better, you’re not affected by this problem. If you have less than that, you will have issues with SMS messages (both text and multimedia) as well as “other problems” that the service person didn’t bother listing off.

How do you fix it? Well, in this day and age, with a phone that has a USB link to it, you’d think you could just download the ROM from the web site, hook the phone up, and update the software yourself. Not so. You can either send your phone in and have them update the software for you and send it back; or you can have them send you a replacement, you can transfer your information over to the new one yourself, and then send in your affected phone. Either way, they have to do the update at the factory.

That’s one of the benefits of having this thing through work - I go talk to our telecomm guy and the problem solves itself.

Had a really awesome weekend. Friday night got together with Stu and Tiff and all of us went shopping at Washington Square. Stu and I set a new record for shoe buying - 10 minutes from store entry to store exit. Came out with some pretty nice dress shoes, too. Dinner at Newport Bay and some games back at our place and the night was a success.

Saturday we woke up to the neighbor’s dog barking. Again. Still. I’ve talked to the guy about it before (it’s a reasonably new dog, just been here a few weeks) and he said he’d take care of it, but it seems that any time they leave their house and the dog gets put outside, it barks… and barks… and barks… for hours at a time, no end in sight. I left the guy another note; hopefully he’ll get this together. I’m going to play a “three strikes, you’re out” sort of thing on this - one more time and I’m calling the cops. That dog barked from 8:00a until at least 10:00a.

At 2:00p, though, Stu and Tiff came over again and we went to a catering tasting at Premiere Catering. Tasty, tasty, tasty. We’ll definitely be going with them for the wedding food. The preliminary menu is looking like:

• Bruschetta with spinach and artichoke dip for hors d’oeuveres
• Fresh green salad with assorted dressings
• Fruit kabobs
• Assorted breads
• Chicken piccatta with raspberry sauce on the side
• Top sirloin with a brandy/vermouth reduction sauce
• Pesto ravioli
• Ginger/plum ravioli

It’s going to be the first wedding I’ve been to where I’m actually stoked about the food.

We went home after that and we all got dressed up because that night we had tickets for the Cirque du Soleil show, Varekai. Amazing. Astounding. Beautiful. As usual, Cirque put on a fantastic show and we all loved it. It was Jenn’s third Cirque show and she liked it better than the last ones; it was Stu and Tiff’s first, so it was a fantastic introduction for them to the world of Cirque. I can’t wait until they come back.

Sunday morning I woke up with another of my recent headaches. I think this one was more sinus-related, and with Spring here I don’t doubt it. I’ve started back on the Allegra so maybe I can pass on some of the symptoms. (I’m sure this would have been much worse already had I not taken allergy shots, but the shots didn’t 100% cure me, so I’ve got to supplement.)

Anyway, Sunday was spent lounging about nursing the headache - napping, watching some TV, and playing Playstation 2. I’ve been having a fabulous time with the 24 game - they really got that one right. It’s a total blast and it’s all I could have hoped for in such a game. Not too difficult, not monotonous, all the characters with the real voices… definitely worth the time and money.

And now it’s Monday. No headache, which ties in with a theory I’m working on: Before going to bed on Friday, I had a couple of wine coolers with the gang when they were over and Saturday I didn’t wake up with a headache. No drink on Saturday night and Sunday there was a headache. Had another wine cooler last night before bed - no headache. I’m curious if the alcohol is slowing my brain down enough to relax so I can sleep. Not that I’m going alcoholic with it or anything, but I’m curious if that’s the case.

I’ve been watching a lot of TV on DVD recently, probably because you can be more selective about which episodes of which series you want to see combined with the distinct lack of time-wasting commercials. Found this site called TV Shows On DVD that tells you all about the current and scheduled releases of TV on DVD. If you’re into that, it’s definitely a site worth bookmarking.

Now the question is, when are they going to get around to putting Voyagers! or The Wizard on DVD?

Jenn ordered my wedding ring online and, after a reasonably significant education for both of us in not only the German language but also how to make international wire transfers, it finally arrived.

It’s a black titanium Lord of the Rings “One Ring.” I think it’s awesome and, being titanium, won’t get destroyed as easily as other stuff I might get. Jenn’s still getting used to it since it’s not the traditional gold band.

Apparently it’s luck we even got the thing. After wading through their site using Google Language Tools and getting the size calculated and everything, after figuring out how to get the wire transfer done, and after beating our heads against trying to contact the online store, it turns out they don’t actually accept orders that ship to the US and the only reason they sent it was because they already had our money. Bad online store design, folks - if you don’t offer shipping to the country, don’t offer it as an option.

Regardless, I’m stoked. The ring rocks. One more item off the checklist.

Before I get into this, something somewhat unrelated: In guys’ bathrooms, the urinals are generally set up so one or more are at one height and one is much lower. It’s an accessibility thing - shorter folks can use the shorter urinal and have the same experience as taller folks at the taller urinals. In smaller bathrooms, there’s one tall one and one short one. I think my new favorite thing is having the five-foot-tall guy run into the bathroom two steps ahead of me and take the tall urinal so that I (at six-foot-two) can piss down around my ankles in the shorter one. Keep doing that, folks. No disrespect felt here at all. Next time you can’t reach something on a high shelf, you be sure to let me know. I’ll get right on that.

Back on topic now - the physical effects of stress.

I’ve been waking up in the last couple of weeks with these ridiculous tension headaches that last the majority of the day and sometimes into the afternoon. I have one today, in fact, that started about 2:00a and is almost gone (but not quite). I’m sure I’m destroying one or more fairly vital organs with my dosage of over-the-counter pain killers, but nothing seems to really kick its ass. I know this thing is a tension headache because if I push on the gigantic muscle knot in my right shoulder the pain instantly transfers from my head to my shoulder.

I’m stressed out, folks.

And the thing is, I’m not sure if it’s just the ol’ “I need a vacation” or if it’s more “I need something to change up at work.” I’m not too stoked with the stuff I’m “getting” to do right now (it’s not creative, it’s not cool, it’s not fun, it’s not challenging, and frankly I don’t see a whole heap of value in it even though I very well know it’s gotta get done) and I wake up in the middle of the night with my mind racing about this stupid thing. It’s stressing me out.

Not only that, but I’ve had this little patch on my foot (probably the size of a pencil eraser) that’s been itching for a few months now. I went to the dermatologist and it’s not eczema or psoriasis or any fungus or anything. You know what it is? It’s nerves. I was talking to the doctor and telling him how I don’t notice it itching or anything really during the day, but when I sit down at night and watch TV or basically decompress, that’s when I notice it. He said it’s connected to stress - my brain may not be thinking about the day, but the stress is manifesting itself as an itch in my foot. (Apparently it’s not uncommon and the doctor himself has the same issue.)

I’m not sure what can be done, but I’m positive something’s gotta give. My foot’s going to itch off or I’m going to end up calling in sick with the most insane migraine recorded in medical history.