Life As It Comes 

2008 Ford Focus6 Comments

I haven’t posted about this here yet, but I traded in my 2005 Chevy Equinox for a 2008 Ford Focus. It gets 35 mpg as opposed to 20 mpg in the Equinox. With gas prices soaring ever-higher and my commute from Georgetown to North Austin, it definitely is making a huge difference for me on my gas bill.

Plus, it’s a pretty sweet ride. The Focus has a new body-style for 2008, and my particular model has Microsoft Sync and ambient lighting, among other features.

I Chose Wisely1 Comment

It looks as though I chose wisely as far as timing my iPhone purchase.

A couple weeks back, Apple chopped $200 off the price of their new flagship handheld device. This was an exciting move, but it made me consider a few things which I had written about earlier.

1) Storage - Apple canceled the 4 GB iPhone but positioned the 8 GB next to the new iPod Touch at 16 GB. I think this means they will be unlikely to “up” the storage on the iPhone lest they steal consumers from this new iPod (since the only reason not to get an iPhone then would be if you didn’t want to switch cell carriers).

2) 3G Wireless - Steve Jobs is quoted today as saying: “[3G] chipsets work well apart from power. They’re real power hogs. Most phones now have battery lives of 2 to 3 hours and that’s due to these very power-hungry 3G chipsets … [iPhone] has 8 hours of talktime life. That’s really important when you start to use the Internet and want to use the phone to listen to music. We’ve got to see the battery lives for 3G get back up into the 5+ hour range. Hopefully we’ll see that late next year.” This statement was made at the announcement for iPhone availability in the UK just this morning.

So, it looks as though I can take comfort (for now) in the choice to buy my new iPhone when I did.

Why I Will Not Be Buying an iPhone (Yet)5 Comments

First of all, David Pogue’s review of the iPhone is a good one.

Here are the reasons why I will not be buying an iPhone as soon as I can get my hands on one:

1) EDGE - The first-generation iPhone supports AT&T’s outdated EDGE network exclusively. This generation will never support the faster network AT&T is currently building (and has deployed in many U.S. cities). Using the EDGE network with iPhone has been compared to using a brand-new top-of-the-line computer to connect to the internet via dial-up.

2) Flash Memory - Flash memory has been going down in price recently with many manufacturers offering 64 GB flash cards/chips suitable for sub-compact notebooks, etc. It won’t be long before an 8 GB iPhone or iPod Nano will be laughable. If the whole point of this device is to have my songs, pictures, and video on my phone, then I’d rather have most of my data on there rather than only a fraction.

3) 2.0 in the Works - I’ve heard rumors of an iPhone 2.0 as early as September/October. I’m sure that will not be the case, but they can’t be far away (maybe January for Macworld) in light of points 1 and 2.

4) Cost vs Likely Upgrade - The iPhone is an expensive gadget. Though Apple can easily attract me to this device (I really do want one), the likelihood that this generation will quickly be obsolete is high. I’d rather spend my $600 on version 2.0.

Quite a Day7 Comments

Today was a full day. I did a lot of work for class, and I’m just now finished with one class for the night (circa 2 AM), but my new camera came, and I decided to break a little bit for dinner to shoot Georgetown’s Christmas Stroll 2006. I didn’t really read about the camera yet at all. I just went out and started taking some pictures. As I learn more about it, I’m sure the picture quality will improve. These photos are unedited — a little editing could have helped some of them.

Here’s how I spent my day today:

I worked on my project for my Mobile Computing class for my Masters at UT. Our work is coming along nicely, and I’m excited to see how it stacks up against other projects next week.




As the sun was setting, it was time for a break, so I went outside for a bit to take a few shots, before deciding to go downtown for the Christmas Stroll.




This is one of many floats that I saw, but it makes for a busy picture, so I thought it was interesting.




The square in Georgetown is all lit up for the holidays.




One store has especially many Christmas decorations.






Part of the reason why I went to check out the Christmas Stroll and parade was because I was hungry for one of the County Seat Cafe’s chef salads. They are delicious. Here is a view across from my side of the balcony to the other side.




On my way out, I came across the free-carriage-rides-with-Santa line.

Then, finally, it was a trip to Starbucks and home to finish my work for the night.

More Than a Feeling4 Comments

It’s more than a feeling (more than feeling),
When I hear that old song they used to play (more than a feeling)
I begin dreaming (more than a feeling)
‘Til I see Marianne walk away
I see my Marianne walkin’ away……

Last weekend I washed (WASHED!!!!) my iPod Nano in the laundry! Yikes! I took it out mid-cycle when I realized what I had done and tried to press the buttons - any button - to see if it would work. No dice.

I pronounced it dead.

Today, on a whim, I plugged it into my Powerbook (thinking that it might be a very dangerous and stupid thing to do), but it lit up, booted, and is playing Boston at this very moment!