Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Just another day..in Hawaii

Isn't his what we're known for -- traffic and rainbows?

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Hawaii has too many cars on too few roadways, so gridlock isn't unusual. But it gives drivers time to take pictures, which I saw others do as we crawled along -- but didn't see any others snapping them on iPhones!

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

More ways to squander the summer

Other than fiddling w/my iPhone

Summer vacation ends (and school starts for teachers) in exactly two weeks. So you'd think I'd be making the most of it, soaking up the sun, gettin' things done -- but nope.

Here's what I made today out of recycled floppy disks and the back side of calendar pages. I mean, do you know ANYONE who uses either of those? I guess I could count it toward my little effort of going green. Want to try your hand at it? Here are more ways to recycle floppy disks.

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I took a look at my stash of never-to-be-used-again floppy disks and figure I might be set for Christmas gifts this year!

PS: To friends who actually bother to read my blog -- you know I'm kidding...

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Got mine!

Apple iPhone

I really didn't want to be in line for more than a few hours, but since I heard that people had lined up early Friday morning (but no females, according to my mother who was at the mall at that time), I decided head out just after 1:00 pm. I know, nothing like the crazies who had camped out in Chicago on Monday, but this is Hawaii where we're laid-back and don't have as many iPhone/Apple fanatics.

I packed a lunch of fruit, carrot sticks, trail mix, bars, and water; grabbed a chair and cushion, and took along my iPod, a paperback, and a bunch of sudoku puzzles. I like to be prepared. There were fewer than 50 people ahead of me, and we were told we were in a good place in line, meaning the store would have enough iPhones for all of us. I should hope so.

Apple employees cruised through the mall to answer what questions they could, passed out bottles of SmartWater, and, toward the end, even served Starbucks coffee and tea! We wondered if that was part of the Genius' job description.

As the clock ticked closer to the i-Hour of 6:00 pm, people were getting pretty tired and achey from sitting on the floor. Earlier on a guy two spaces away left to watch "Live Free, Die Hard" for a couple of hours. Various mall security came by to tell me I wasn't allowed to sit on my chair, even though I told them my chiro said I needed to. This nonsensical outburst of pseudo authority upset my line-mates, but I didn't want to make a scene, and gave it up toward the end. I just went to my happy place with My Chemical Romance and Butch Walker on my iPod.

At 6:00 pm the line moved forward, but it was almost anti-climactic. This was the first time I wasn't within the first 20 (as I had been at the early morning Apple Store openings and OS X unveilings), and I actually was in line longer.

Those of you who I'd never pay full price if I could help it would be proud: I purchased my iPhone with two Apple Store gift cards, saving over $200!

Love it, love it, love it. Web pages load slowly on AT&T's EDGE network, but, hey, I never was able to surf the web, check email, play w/Google Maps, watch YouTube videos, etc., on my phone before, so I'm thrilled.

One definite drawback: it's a time-sucker. I've been spending waaay too long fiddling with it than I should, but I'm on summer vacation!

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