Todd Bradley’s Galaxy

Why is it that whenever I work at a company that gives me stock options, the stock price immediately sinks below the strike price of those options? And then when it turns around and heads up, the price has great resistance at exactly my strike price? Murphy’s Law, I guess.

I’ve got some options at Polycom that I got when they bought Voyant, and the strike price of those options is right around $20. Well, of course as soon as Voyant got bought, Polycom’s stock price sunk like a stone. Now, 2+ years later, the price is coming back up finally. But it’s stuck at between $19.25 and $19.75. It just can’t seem to break through $20.00. And I want a Mac and a new bicycle!

Oh, and I was going to mention my disappointment at two facts I learned this weekend.

First, the Pappadeaux’s restaurant in Westminster, which was originally scheduled to open in Q1 of 2006, is late. According to the manager of their other store, it’s more likely to open in July or August.

Second, I’d heard that there’s going to be an Apple Store opening at FlatIron Crossing mall (which is only about 5 miles from our house by car – less by bike, actually). They’ve been running job ads since December, so I assumed that they were going to open fairly soon. However, according to the person at the Cherry Creek Apple Store I talked to, they’re going to open in May or June. I had been thinking that if they opened in the next month, I could be one of their first customers for my iMac purchase. But I don’t think I want to wait until May or June. So I’ll probably buy the iMac online.

And now I’m off to physical therapy!

It’s a glorious Monday morning, and we’ve had a busy weekend.

Beth had fight class, of course, Friday night. Then Saturday we got up extra early and drove down to Denver to a particular house across the street from a park where a rare bird had been spotted. Beth was lucky enough to spot this bird, which normally ranges only into Texas, but is off course in Colorado for some reason.

After that, we went to a coffee shop and filmed a movie! It was another improv movie by Patrick Sheridan. I brought Beth along to help out on the set, but she ended up acting in it. And I wanted to just do sound, but I acted (a little) in it, too. Not sure what it’s going to be called.

Then we went to Pappadeaux’s for a mid-afternoon meal that was lunch and supper together. In celebration of Mardi Gras, all their crawfish dishes were half price, so you can imagine what I had. Enough crawfish that we brought home about a full meal’s worth.

Saturday night we went to the 50th birthday party of Frank Boles, where we ate and drank and sang along to karaoke!

On Sunday morning, we spent some precious time at home, but then went into Boulder to see Shakespeare. The Upstart Crow was performing “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and we caught the matinee. It was a very funny production, and we enjoyed it. One of the actors told me afterwards that they were extended the show for another 2 shows since they’ve been selling them out pretty consistently. That’s awesome! Ironically, attendance at The Upstart Crow’s shows were down so much last year that they moved into a smaller theater this year. Now they’re selling out every show.

In the evening, the director of a local short film called “The Breakup Bunny” came over to show me her project, and see if I was willing to do sound editing on it. It looks like a fun and quirky little film with fairly good production values (especially since this is her first attempt at writing and directing her own movie). Plus it’s got a couple actors that I’ve worked with before – Carl Anderson and Leigh Ann Hubbard. So I agreed to help out. I’ll probably spent one weeknight and one weekend day cleaning things up as much as possible and re-recording some dialog.

Meanwhile, I have ideas for 3 separate short films that I’d like to make. And I’ve got a DP on board for the first one, which is a documentary type piece. We may start as early as Thursday on that. I’m planning to get an Apple iMac with Final Cut Studio within the next couple of months, so I can do video editing (and sound editing) at home. But I’m not sure how I’m going to pay for it. Boy I hope Polycom’s stock prices soar in the next month!

I just finished my 2nd week of physical therapy. My leg is getting stronger and more flexible, but the therapist said I’m not ready to give up my one crutch just yet. My leg is too weak to walk normally, and she doesn’t want me having a silly walk since that might screw something else up.

Went to the knee doctor today. I’m now officially allowed to be “partially weight bearing” meaning I’m down to 1 crutch instead of 2. And I start physical therapy ASAP. The goal is for me to be able to walk without pain within the next 2 to 4 weeks.

I’ve just had about the worst imaginable experience with TurboTax Online and Intuit’s tech support. They’re both badly broken, and I just wasted an hour of my time getting nowhere. Here’s what I wrote to offer to Intuit as feedback. Unfortunately, their feedback form was apparently designed to only accept a much smaller amount of feedback, as this wouldn’t fit in the text field.

Hi, I would like to offer some feedback on your TurboTax Online product and on your online live tech support. My experience with both have been very poor, far below the standards I’m used to from Intuit.

First, I tried out TurboTax Online for the first time today. When I went to import last year’s tax return from my desktop version of TurboTax 2004, the web app never imported the data. Instead, it displayed a screen that says “Updating…” which never went away for over 30 minutes.

Second, I looked through your online knowledge base for troubleshooting problems important previous years’ data. It had instructions for doing the import, but nothing about what to do if the import is unsuccessful. That’s an area where you could improve your knowledge base.

So, I finally tried out your online live help through text chat. After waiting in the queue for much longer than was reasonable, I got connected to a support agent who was less than helpful about the problem. I got the feeling he didn’t really even know the TurboTax Online product, as he was asking me questions relevant to the desktop version of your software. For example, he referred to importing files through the File menu, but TurboTax Online doesn’t even have a file menu! The final straw was when he suggested I reboot my computer and try again. Given that this is a web application and none of the code resides on my computer, this is a ridiculous suggestion. Any technician who really understands how web applications work would know that rebooting the computer running the web browser isn’t going to fix anything.

Now I’m left with a bad taste in my mouth about the quality of both your TurboTax Online software and your online tech support. They both need work to bring them to the standards of quality I would expect from Intuit.

Sincerely,
Todd Bradley

In case you want to see the gory details, here’s my exchange with the online tech support guy. It really started off on a bad foot when I had to wait something like 15 or 20 minutes to get to chat with an agent in the first place. And then the first thing I learned was that the full description of the problem I already typed in somehow didn’t make it to the agent, so I had to repeat the whole story.

It’s enough to make me want to hire someone to do our taxes, for the first time ever.

Allan A: Thank you for contacting TurboTax Help and Support, my name is Allan A. How may I help you?
Todd: Hi, did you already read the long description of the problem I entered?
Allan A: im sorry but not yet, pls do send it again
Todd: are you serious?
Todd: The chat system asks for a fully detailed problem description and then discards it after the user has taken the time to describe the problem?
Allan A: You have been idle for more than 5 minutes. If you have sent your question and we have not yet replied to it, please resubmit your question.
Todd: ah
Todd: ok
Todd: I’m trying to use TurboTax Online. I used the non-online version last year.
Todd: I tried to import last year’s tax return file into TurboTax Online.
Todd: Once I selected the correct file and clicked the button to the do the import, the web page changed to say “Updating…”
Todd: and now it’s stuck in that state
Todd: It appears that TurboTax Online is stuck trying to import the file. It’s been over 20 minutes now and the screen still says “Updating…”
Allan A: non online? the desktop turbo tax?
Todd: yes
Allan A: Thank you for holding, I am still researching this issue could you hold for another moment please?
Todd: I checked the online help for assistance in troubleshooting what to do when the TurboTax Online import becomes unresponsive, but there was no help that I could find.
Allan A: Is this PC or Mac?
Todd: PC
Allan A: when your doing the import,did you choose the file menu, located at the upper left side?
Todd: no, TurboTax Online doesn’t have a file menu
Todd: I used the file selector dialog box that popped up when I clicked the Browse… button in the middle of the web page.
Allan A: did you save your last year tax return in the same computer?
Todd: yes
Allan A: before you import, did you clear your online data first?
Todd: no
Todd: this is a new return
Todd: and I didn’t see an option to clear the online data
Todd: how is that done?
Todd: ah, now I see
Todd: it’s Other Options -> Clear My Return
Todd: I just did that and am attempting again to import last year’s return
Allan A: follow the process, until the part it will it prompt you to import
Todd: OK, it is once again at the “Updating…” screen
Todd: How long should I expect to wait for the import to happen?
Allan A: are you using dsl?
Todd: no, cable modem
Todd: about 2 Mbps
Allan A: just wait for it to finish,pls dont interrupt the updating….
Todd: ok
Todd: it’s still updating
Todd: so far, it’s been about 5 minutes
Todd: last time it was over 30 minutes before I interrupted it
Allan A: if thats still the case,pls. reboot your computer,restart..then try importing again..
Todd: So I have a feeling there’s a bug in the web app software, since it’s definitely not taking that long to transfer a 1258 KB file.
Todd: Reboot my computer? You’ve got to be joking! This is a web application. All the application logic resides on the TurboTax web server, not on my computer. What do you expect to gain by rebooting the computer that’s just running a web browser?
Allan A: its just a part of general maintenance procedure…..we are just narrowing down the issue.
Todd: I could understand that for a desktop application, but for a web app it’s ridiculous.
Todd: I don’t see that this line of troubleshooting is really heading toward a resolution of this issue.
Todd: It sounds like your general maintenance procedures need to be improved.
Todd: Thanks for your help and patience. Goodbye.
Allan A: Thank you for contacting TurboTax Support.

I had a good week. I got to do lots of cool stuff at work, and now it’s the weekend.

There’s not much new to report on my knee surgery recovery. I’m still on crutches. Next week I go in for my 2nd followup appointment, and hopefully they’ll say I can start weaning off the crutches. Unfortunately, since I haven’t walked in a month now, my right leg is atrophied and it’ll take me a while to build back enough strength to do anything, I suspect. I have been riding our recumbent exercise bike at the lowest setting some (every day or two), but that’s mainly just to improve flexibility, not strength.

I’m really looking forward to being able to walk, and I’m looking forward to spring. I’m hoping we can go on many more camping trips this year than last. And I hope to go on several rafting/kayaking trips, too. This all means making a lot fewer commitments on my time compared to last year. So I’m not going to be nearly as involved in the annual Conviviality show this year, and I’m definitely not going to be the Ultimate Frisbee league coordinator.

This weekend, while everyone else is watching or getting ready to watch the Super Bowl, I’m planning to spend some time writing. First, I need to finish writing the Broomfield Independent Film Series’ grant application to the SCFD. Second, I’m writing a D&D adventure to fit into a campaign story I’m developing. I also need to work some on getting stuff together to do our taxes. I think I’ll use TurboTax online this year, instead of the store version.