How I Fixed The Stupid System Error in the Starbucks App

So, I recently got myself a new phone. Switched from Android to iOS (because I never tried an iPhone before). Now, having payment options and loyalty cards right on your phone is pretty handy. So, I downloaded the Starbucks app, among others. However, I could not log in. I kept getting a message that said "We're sorry, a system error occurred. Please try again later." No matter how many times I tried again later, I could not get rid of this error. Strangely enough, it worked on my old phone, and still worked on my work phone (both of which are Android). Usually a search with this phrase would bring up plenty of fixes, but unfortunately all could find was other frustrated people unable to get it to work. Looking at the reviews in the App Store, I could see some people having this problem, but mostly it worked fine for people.

Uninstalling, reinstalling, and rebooting didn't work. None of the fixes that I did find worked for me (one was talking about turning off and back on the automatic clock, for some reason). What finally got me along the path to fixing my issue was reading about how someone tried to make a new account instead of signing into their old account. So, I tried that on a whim... and it worked. Now I'm thoroughly confused. But something did stick out to me when making the new account, and it was the password requirements, which made it mandatory to have a lower case letter, upper case letter, number, and special character. On this dummy account, I wanted the password to be as simple as possible, so I just used a single special character. Contrast that to the password on my current account, which was a complex random password generated in LastPass.

That's a long way of getting to the point. But here's how I fixed the system error: I changed my password. I used a single special character in the new password, and it worked like a charm. I don't know why this was an issue... maybe it's something about iOS and special characters (because I had plenty... #, @, !, %, etc).

So, if anyone stumbles onto this page with the same error, I just wanted to suggest this fix and hope it works for you.

Predictions for Roar of the Rings

As the Canadian Olympic Curling Trial start this weekend in Ottawa, I just wanted to throw down my predictions, so I can point to them at the end and show everyone how right I was... or delete my post.

A month ago, I thought the men's side was a foregone conclusion. Brad Gushue's team has been lights out since the beginning of 2017. In fact, I was already awarding him the gold medal for PyeongChang (although Team Edin of Sweden hasn't been too shabby either in the past season). But at the previous Grand Slam, there were upsets aplenty with Gushue losing in the quarter finals and two teams playing in the finals for the first time (and neither of them Canadian). It just goes to show that any given week, some team can get real hot or real cold and anyone could win. The men's field is pretty tight with the Big Four (Gushue, Koe, Jacobs and McEwen) all being potential unsurprising winners (Big Five if you include Carruthers). I don't really have a rooting interest as none of the teams are really a favourite of mine (I need someone to replace the Glenn Howard shaped hole in my heart), but there are certainly teams I don't want to win.

After saying all that, I'm sticking with the favourite. Team Gushue to win. Dark horse pick is Team Morris.

For the women, the favourites are Homan or Jones. Going into the season, Homan was the hot team, but they've struggled so far this season while Jones has been on point. I look for Team Jones to be the first team to wear the maple leaf in two consecutive olympics. Dark horse pick is... oh I don't know... let's say Team Tippin. Because I like the teams that come through the pre-trials, apparently.

I would love to see lots of action in terms of the standings and have the teams moving onto the playoffs not to be clear until right until the end (including whoever finished first).

Also, I wouldn't mind seeing both national champions winning this thing (Gushue and Homan). With the inclusion of the wild card team at both the Brier and Hearts this year for the first time, it would add just that little bit of chaos to the tournaments if the Team Canadas aren't there (or at least be last year's runners up). I'm firmly on the curling version of #teamchoas.