Blog

Up until a few weeks ago we had no Thanksgiving plans, in fact our plans was to have a mini Thanksgiving dinner at home. Robyn had dreams of a tiny turkey for two, and little portions of stuffing, sweet potato casserole and what have you. Upon hearing this, John and Marchellina invited us up to their home outside Chapel Hill, it would be a small family Thanksgiving…

So we left work at around 1:30 and made our way up I-85 suffering from a little bit of traffic around Concord Mills area. After making a couple of stops for lunch and buying 2 extra Wii remotes (we brought the Wii so they could see the fuss) we arrived at about 6pm. After a pizza dinner and setting up the Wii, we showed it off as we played Wii Bowling, Tennis and Boxing, rocked out on Guitar Hero 3, and messed around with a few of the channels. I think they were suitabely impressed, now they just have to find one…

Thanksgiving Day its self was pretty quiet apart from the meal, we had a long walk along the banks of the Haw River to work up an appetite for the awesome platter laid before us before we had to say our goodbyes and head home around 6pm as we both had to work the following day. We also needed to begin the clean up process as my Dad is coming into town today… We also put up the Christmas tree, but more on that later.

The Hostess With The Mostest

Originally uploaded by FLC.

Pack up the cowbells, for the dream is over. It was in our hands and we had victory (or at least a draw) in sight and it was stolen in the cruelest fashion. Don’t get me wrong, Scotland can take a lot from the last two or so years, but after all the hard work of beating France home and away, it all came down to the 1081st minute of the campaign and well, no one epitomises glorious failure quite like us.

Sure if McFadden had slotted *that* chance away, we’d all be dreaming about a summer in the Alps, truth is we dared to take on the two teams that played in the World Cup final some 16 months ago. Even if that shady free kick decision hadn’t gone against us, nothing was guaranteed at 1-1, but if Ukraine do end up beating France on Wednesday, it’ll just be that much crueler.

I’m still in a state of shock to be honest. I’ve never been so upset at the result of a game of football in all my life, and after nearly 30 years of highs and lows with Scotland that’s saying something.

Once upon a time I once said:

God damn, I was hoping for something close enough to my current iPod capacity, but 8gb for 600 bucks? That’s like PS3 levels of pricing and as long as my iPod still works and my phone can make and receive calls, I’ll politely decline thankyouverymuchly…

Hmmm, well, that didn’t last as last Sunday we got iPhones, and it’s now surgically attached to my left paw. Really, I had my concerns but in the last week or so, it’s all been put to rest and now I bask in the glow of the touchscreen.

But It’s Expensive

Well, yeah, it’s now a $400 investment, still better than the high launch price of $600, but to put it in perspective when the Motorola RAZR first arrived on Cingular, it was $500 with a 2 year contract, up to $800 without a contract. New phones are expensive, just the way the market is… Of course, the flip side is the RAZR is now free most places but the RAZR2 is $300 with a 2 year contract. Wouldn’t you rather pay $100 more for an iPhone?

But I Don’t Want To Jump To AT&T/Sign A 2 Year Contract

We were already on AT&T Wireless/Cingular/at&t so this was a moot point, and even upgrading phones on AT&T Wireless/Cingular/at&t means a 2 year contract extension, another moot point. It did suck we couldn’t use the Lowe’s employee discount on our bill anymore, and we had to add the $20 unlimited data plan, but in the week and a half I’ve had this I’ve burned through nearly 80mb of data, on our previous plan, that would have easily doubled our bill. A whole month would have bankrupted us, so I think I’ll pay the extra $20.

8GB? I Can’t Fit What I Want On 8GB

Neither can I, I’ve only just managed to whittle my 27gb of music into just over 4, that’s why we’re keeping the iPod, but stuff I listen to most often is on the iPhone, and newer stuff too… I just hope I don’t have a Shuggie Otis craving one day, then I’m screwed… But why just 4 you’re asking? Well, I have a couple of movies on it too, namely Bourne Ultimatum and Ratatouille and a free episode of Mythbusters, even with these I have 1.5gb free. So I can add more if need be for when we go on trips like to the UK next year.

I Hear The Camera Sucks

It’s true, it’s only 2mp, no flash, no zoom, no video… But I like it, it has a little trouble in low light situations but then, my last few camera phones were never good at these either, you just need to find the right conditions. Also, the zoom on my last phones was pretty awful, so this is no biggie. The plus side is it’s a 1600×1200 output, great for cropping, but be warned, emailing images shrinks them to 640×480.

Bottom Line?

It’s handy, everything is handy, everything is too handy… Everything is a tap, swipe and pinch away… Thanks to Google’s Gmail IMAP option, it has all my email available anytime, it’s synced with my work calendar, the visual voicemail is awesome, near enough all the web browsing I’ve done at home in the last week has been on it, the built-in Google Maps has saved us already.

The list is pretty much endless right now, the only complaint I have is the same as with the iPod, the need to have the same library on my home and work PC and keeping them synced can be a pain. I’ve also noticed the way it’s changed how we talk about it, Robyn no longer asks for me to get her phone, it’s iPhone, it’s got brand name recognition like Coke and Hoover already. At least in our house.

Sure it could be better, 3G and larger capacity would be nice, and we’ll no doubt hate ourselves when these arrive, but that’s the way it goes. I’m extremely happy with my purchase and that’s all that matters right now.