This weekend, Google Contacts sync somehow managed to delete most of my contacts, so I decided that I might as well try my hand at upgrading my phone to the leaked Android 2.1 OS. (Yes, I backed up everything else. No, I did not get manage to get my contacts back automatically. Yes, I’ll be switching back to the OTA update once it’s available.) While everything seems to be working pretty smoothly now, as someone who’s not a hardcore Android developer, I thought that the original instructions could use a bit more detail (it took a few tries before I got it working), so here’s my version (which may only be relevant for anywhere from a day to a week, as Verizon’s supposed to officially roll out 2.1 anytime now):

1. Download the patched 2.1 ROM
2. Make sure the zip file is: intact (not unzipped), named PB00IMG.zip exactly, and in the SD card root (mine originally went into the SD card’s downloads folder, but I was able to move it, thanks to the ASTRO File Manager app I had)
3. Turn off your phone (again: make sure you have things backed up. You can do this in a variety of ways; I used the free version of MyBackup, since the Pro version isn’t yet available in the newer Apps Market)
4. Press and hold the Power and Call buttons down at the same time
5. A menu will appear on your screen with the default option of FLASHBOOT. You should “scroll” (with the Volumn Down button) to select HBOOT instead. If you see messages about “No image!” (this caused me a bit of panic initially), but still have a blue status bar loading upwards on the right of the screen, you’re fine.
6. The phone will reboot a few times. Just press the trackball to keep selecting HBOOT initially and let it finish.

I have to say that my phone feels a lot faster and smoother after the upgrade, and I’m even happier with the Eris now. Plus, the boyfriend and I have been having way too much fun testing out Google Goggles on things all around the apartment.

At least every few months, I go on a hunt for new music and artists. I can’t quite remember when I developed this habit or how I discovered Lovebird, but I stumbled across the band towards the end of last year, and was really surprised at how unknown they are. Lovebird’s indie rock has a beautifully soothing sound that transitions smoothly from mood to mood on the (self-titled) debut album, and I’ve been especially listening to them en route to work in the mornings.

• Listen if you like: Eisley, Sixpence None the Richer, The Cranberries
• Album available via: Amazon, iTunes

As someone who wasn’t born in the United States, a lot of the decisions I’ve had to make have been weighted heavily by the legal implications and the financial burden any choice would entail. Amongst all my worries, I also want to know: when can I really just be free to pursue what I want? And in the end, how much am I sure of what I want and how much am I willing to do or give up to get it?

I understand you’re not a Morning Person, but perhaps you should get in your early dose of hugs or something (though maybe not caffeine, judging by the way you were about to plow down that poor crossing guard as he was trying to help the young girl cross the street) so that you can resist the urge to kill the rest of us. Alternatively, trying public transportation or punching bags might also be a good idea. It would be much appreciated. <3

Sincerely,
Concerned Fellow Autoist

To start from the beginning, Gregory apparently found me via the footer credits for Women 2.0, a nonprofit organization that I used to do web maintenance work for, and for some reason became fixated. I couldn’t make heads or tails of his nonsensical first email message (included at the end of the post) and ignored it, but he persisted by continually sending me messages through email in addition to social networking sites, like LinkedIn and then Twitter, though he clearly realized at some point that I blocked him (which also kept me from noticing all the tweets he was trying to send my way for awhile) and eventually ended up deleting the majority of his posts.

All the while, I had been hoping that he would simply move on, since he seemed more mentally unbalanced than malicious, but once he set up the domain under my name, the comments he included in the source code (along with the whole site itself) were unnerving:

I’m not going to leave this [source] up! We must never let in-essence.org be anything less than the essence of in-essence.org. That means that we must 404 eleachang.com so nobody else can 200 it! Does that make any sense? (Well, we can also 403 it and 302 a list of hip and useful subdomains)

And since we can put HTML in our Forbidden 403…
not yet Elea, its unforbidden 4now — I get to nudge you at least once

- elea

PLEASE REMEMBER, I’M AN ARTIST AND I’M SENSITIVE

And also remember, I play around with all types of people and or.ganizations

Finally, after Gregory sent along a screenshot of eleachang.com rising in my Google search results, I broke my silence and responded.

Gregory,

I am not sure who you are or why you keep sending me messages through various mediums. I am even more unsure as to why you’ve bought the domain of my name. When I blocked you on Twitter, it should have been clear that I would rather not correspond with you.

Whatever your aim is with these actions, please stop. I will not respond to future correspondences, but I will be pursuing further legal action as necessary.

Elea

This seemed to get through to him:

Elea I’m very sorry for bothering you and I promise this is my last message to you. Please understand that I never wanted you to feel uncomfortable and I am sorry about taking your domain. I will send you the transfer code soon, if you would like. I just wanted to be your friend from Austin and I realize I did a poor job of introducing myself. Don’t hate me for being a weirdo.

Weaver

However, the domain is still up right now, he still comes to comment on my blog posts, and he continued working on the SEO of eleachang.com to get it to become the top result under my name. I shouldn’t be surprised though, as he seems also to be a pathological liar, judging by the way he liked to make up stories about me. So now I’m exposing his actions and asking you all for suggestions regarding what my next steps should be. Online stalking may still be a murky area legally, but I should not have to feel powerless.

First email correspondence:

http://www.google.com/search?q=essence-of.org
http://or.ganization.org

INVENTIONS (-of elea)

sidetext ? itty bit of text on the side — enough to read on the edge

gradient pink background in a new direction? DIAGONAL !!!!!! Ok thats what blew me away and made me do this

the best her had the worst link. it was littlest and 256 kb of random return
the link her had the link in
the home page of the web developer with the wordpress (i was in the middle of my mu-press pro never public distro, after all I am unpress.wordpress.com lol)

and the women2 page always looks good even in tiny text as RSS 2.0 in Mail.app (which is how I get it)

http://anme.gif.png.url-of.com/anme.jpg

my anime animated jpg gif.png x-generic imagae

http://or.ganization.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/lol.m4a

so you will never be forgotten in the noetic age

(i am so scared of twitter after angie said it was like dodgeball on her oldest twitter)

– weaver

p.s.
essence-of.* is for you. check out the irony (john steward mill). Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
I owe Stanford so much love. If I ever went to a w2.0, I would want to +1 with Ms. Protege after all they did while I was writing SNOMED ontology software!

Thanks for being

p.p.s.
If you made custom stationary… with a business plan !!!

p.p.p.s
Tell me if anything I post should be unposted — some of my jokes are hard to get, but the Women 2.0 are at the edge and so important for me to follow. (sex toy startup was the best in branding and koollage is best in breading)*
*in my opinion.

http://gregoryleroy.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/xhtml

(i was suppose to make this email perfect but I’m in the middle of interviewing with frog design and I have to tell you first before they see or.ganization.org. So, don’t save this — i’m going to edit it later. version 1.0

• Would you like me to extend your WordPress?
• Do you want me to show you my plugins?
• Help me extend my platform.
• I’d like to fiddle with your widgets.
• May I commit to your repository?
• Is that a widget in your sidebar or are you just pleased to see me?
• Wanna click my turbo button?
• Can I Interest you in a QuickPress?
• do_action('you');
• How about you and me make a child theme?
• If I pinged you, would you ping me back?
• Let me help you open your source.

Feel free to chime in and comment with your own!