iPhone 3GS

ouch. click the photo for the full set.

(but first, i must share that my letter, along with what i am sure is a whole slew of other letters and calls, forced ATT into relenting on their upgrade cycle model. good on us and on ATT. the consumer wins.)

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tomorrow, as i’m sure many of you know, is new iPhone day. and it seems to all be working out.

pictured above is Jackie’s former iPhone. she now has my iPhone 3G and i’ve been using that phone (yes, that one) for the past 24 hours. i have to say, i kinda’ miss the slight heft to it and the metal backing. as it is, though, it does present a tangible danger for cutting. as glass is wont to do, the cracks will continue to spread and deepen, and pieces will fall out. when i pulled the screen protector off, small shards actually pulled away from the face of the phone. yikes.

anywho, that incident opened the door to this recent upgrade.

(proceed with the shaking of heads and non-verbalized thoughts of “i just don’t get it.”)

i know. no one really does, except for Jackie and i’m pretty sure she only “gets it” half the time. as i tweeted to Mrs. H last night, when asked “i’m not exactly clear on the rush? what’s so awesome about it?” (in regards to my furiously quick upgrade to 3.0)…

because this is what i do. and that’s about the best explanation i can give right now.

so yes, i’ll be in line, at the ATT Store at Eastchase pre-7am, with proof of my pre-order and proper identification, to be one of the first to get their grubby little, barely awake hands on the new iPhone 3GS.

[of course, if it hadn't have been for some quick thinking and shenanigans, this wouldn't be happening at all. if i'd had to pay the full-on upgrade price i was given, i would, sadly, not be standing in line]

so there’s that. w00t.

———

Jackie’s in Jacksonville, FL right now. it was a mad dash to the BHM airport, fighting both Montgomery and B’ham rush hour traffic to get there in a timely manner. she’ll be there through Saturday night, after which she’ll board a plane at JAX at 7am and be home by 10.30am, just in time for Happy Father-to-be Day. and then…

its back on a plane Monday (morning?) bound for Charlotte, NC for their summer manager’s meeting.

(sigh)

———

that’s about all i got. congrats to Rachel B. and her hubs on the birth of their son, CJ (shortened for privacy’s sake). she hasn’t updated her blog, but amazingly, she tweeted just about all the way through the whole process (with the help of her hubby, Z, i’m sure). momma, dad, and baby all seem to be doing quite well. good on them.

g’night.

more photos & other random bits

the family of chucks

not much to report on today. i took today as one of my two comp days for working this past weekend, and MAN am i glad i did. i spent most of the day in a weird, not quite awake haze, but able to move enough to cut the grass (which somehow looked like it had not been cut in three weeks… not the case).

Jackie also got home much sooner than i was anticipating, so that was a huge plus. she had a great time at the beach with her mom and sister, and she brought me back some surprises: a couple of things from the J. Crew outlet (w00t!) and a pair of baby Converse All Stars.

that’s right: our child will have a brand spanking new pair of Chucks when it finally becomes of age to wear shoes. and you can see a small set of pictures that we took of our expanded family of Chucks here on flickr.

———

we also watched The Graduate tonight. unbeknownst to me, Jackie had never seen it before (!!). she really seemed to like it a whole lot, which is good. if she hadn’t, there may have been some trouble.

———

i forgot to mention this earlier (but mainly because i hadn’t posted the pictures): when i was working on the video for Spring Fling, we were visited by a tree frog inside the auditorium. and here are those pictures.

———

we did lunch today at Café Louisa and caught up on some off gossip from Jackie’s trip. apparently, one of our old mutual college friends (Rachel B. likely knows who i’m talking about, and… no one else will, so whatevs) has become incredibly anti-social, at least in regards to old Montevallo people.

its just weird. she was someone that i never could put my finger on until the run up to the wedding when she pulled out as a bridesmaid and then suddenly it all started to become a bit clearer. soon after, i cut all emotional and friendly ties that remained.

it doesn’t distress me or bother me, but its just… weird. i’ve never known someone quite like her and likely never will again. its just… weird.

hm.

———

and now i am going to bed. its back to work tomorrow.

g’night.

the art & consequences of defriending

as some of you may have caught in your late-night or early morning facebook scrounging, a ’something’ happened on teh interwebz between me and a friend. it got particularly nasty, with the friend going so far as to post our private conversation for the whole world to see in a facebook note (he’s since removed it, thankfully).

obviously, as you’ve read in the title of this entry, i defriended this individual in a final “throwing up of the hands,” and hoping to salvage some semblance of that friendship, i made certain to let him know that we could still be friends outside of facebook, but i just didn’t see any other way of carrying on our relationship that involved an electronic swapping of social networking information.

this didn’t work out… at all. he’s now determined that we cannot be friends, in any way, shape, or form because of this, and quite frankly i’m a bit dumbfounded. i feel i did my best to explain why it was silly to continue on in that manner, but obviously, he didn’t see it that way.

oh well.

i don’t feel like any less of a person for it. let’s face it: i barely knew him in middle school, so when he found me on facebook, we may as well have been starting completely from the ground level, kinda’ like with my other friend from middle school, Chaaaaaahlie. we knew each other then, but we didn’t really start a friendship until we happened to cross paths while i was playing music and the band was in Tuscaloosa one night.

but this whole thing brought something else to my attention: are we now in an age where the basics of friendship are founded solely on whether two people are connected on facebook? that someone’s very definition of whether a friendship is healthy is if they are connected with someone on a social network? is this yet another dark side to the era of social media & networking?

i’m not sure. maybe this sort of thing has always been in play, just with different types of mediums, like pen pals or telegraph buddies or whatever.

———

losing the ‘friendship’ with (insert name here) doesn’t bother me that much, especially considering his actions and words after the online tussle. it became apparent that whatever friendship we had in the first place was a tenuous one, and not very strong.

whatever. i’ve no reason to seek out his reapproval or forgiveness. he’s a good guy, but you know… sometimes the political thing is just too much to overcome, and i put that olive branch out there, willing to be friends outside of the facebook sandbox.

———

what a day.

(insert witty post title)

nom

just some random bits for this Saturday morning…

• jackie posted the pictures of the dinner from the other night. yummmmm.
• Dollhouse continues to be excellent. i’m a little disappointed they labeled this recent one an “event,” though. it was a turning point, and very good, but not really an event. oh well. if you haven’t yet, you should check it out.
• i’ve recently hit an impasse with an old friend. he’s a reactionary type, and very smart, and wants to be very proactive about… stuff, mostly related to politics and the government. while i admire his fierce passion and desire to turn things on their collectiv head, i’ve just hit a point in my life that i’ve had to become more inwards and concerned about what goes on under my own roof rather than taking action on the world at large. he seems to think i’m selfish for this, i think he doesn’t understand as he isn’t at the same stage of “life” as i am. maybe there’s a balance that could be found, but right now? i have no idea. i need to worry about the next 8 months and the impending arrival of a child and our personal preparation for it. is that so wrong? i’m sure there’s a much longer entry within this bullet point, but i just don’t feel like it.
• i had yet another meeting about a project yesterday and came away a bit bewildered, then later recognized my own stupidity on a particular aspect. this is quite frustrating.
• i need to learn more about building a website, and quickly.
• we’re approaching our first full week with Larry and i seriously cannot speak enough about how big of a difference he’s made already. yesterday i had to do some rearranging of wires that required me to get on the floor and for the first time ever, i didn’t come away with a sneezing fit or covered in cat/dog hair. i mean, the floor was spotless. it really is a thing of beauty.
• i have another telebeers post coming soon. nothing big, just an update.
• dentist’s appointment yesterday went well. more fillings. i’m not sure what else i can possibly do to make things better. my dental hygiene habits have improved so much in the last couple of years: brushing (usually) two times a day, daily flossing, mouthwash… its all a bit frustrating.
• if Obama himself even so much as sniffs this legislation, i’m likely done. seriously. i’ve been happy so far, but that will destroy any confidence i have in him. don’t do it.

i think that’s all for now.

have a good Saturday!

a big day

nothing huge to post tonight. its been a big day, though.

———

the Giffords & Taylors all came down today to visit. i finally got my new grill all pieced together and we cooked chicken on it for a nice, big Chicken Salad. very happy with the final product.

Brooke and Justin had to leave, though, which was sad. the Taylors and we wound up over at the Mielke’s house later on. we did Sinclair’s for dinner and watched SNL. now we’re at home. Jacob and Cassie are spending the night (our first overnight guests in the house!) and tomorrow, Jackie’s gonna try and do some shooting for them. unfortunately, the weather is not cooperating, which is exceedingly frustrating.

———

big things from today:

• Jackie’s new camera came in this morning. she has yet to throw a lens on it and play, though. i think in a couple of  ways, i’m more excited about it than she is. i’ve been chomping at the bit for her to shoot something with it today, but she just didn’t want to make it a priority. oh well. more time to read the manual and get things right the first time. it truly is a beast. its bigger than her current XTi, has more modes, and doesn’t provide for more than one fully automagic mode (which is a plus).
• while we were over at the Mielke’s, i decided to go ahead and sign up for a livenation.com account, in preparation for the Monday morning Coldplay ticket sale. as i am wont to do, i started to poke around the “presale” area of the B’ham show ticket page. there were a couple of options: Radio Promo code and Ticket Rush. a quick Google search turned up the codes for the Radio promo codes, but nothing for B’ham. so i Googled for the Ticket Rush thing, and BAM, i found the code. apparently, that section of the livenation website is under  maintenance, so they posted the monthly code on the front page since no one had access to it. on a whim, i tried it out… and at the end of it all, i had purchased tickets for us, the Mielkes, the Taylors, and Kevin & Jenna.

for a minute, i felt kind of bad about it. but then… i realized it was livenation/ticket master. they have no feelings. they just want my money (and lord knows they got it). and they suck. and we deserve to go to a big rock show; its been a good, long while, at least since April of 2003 (Pearl Jam @ Oak Mtn.)

so i don’t feel bad. at all. in the least.

so that’s now two big shows this year already: Dave Matthews Band on April 20th and Coldplay on May 16th.

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and now its bed time. good night.