Month: October 2008

 

G1, gee whiz

So I got to the local T-Mobile store today at Countryside Mall. First time I had actually found the location of the store inside the mall (it kept moving). And what do you know? Launch day for the G1! Who would have thunk it.

While I didn’t toy around as much as I would have liked to with the HTC G1 as I would have liked (and they had 3 dummy models and one working model), there was one problem with the device that kept me on the fence with the phone: the keyboard.

Folks, those keys are not raised in any way – they seem flush with the rest of the device. While the bottom of the phone has been remarked as a hindrance to typing, it’s the keys themselves that seem to be a problem. I am basing this off scant use, of course, but also by comparison to the Blackberry 8700g’s keyboard. While having a large display on the G1 is superawsomecool and all that other stuff, that keyboard is a pain in the ass to type on.

Of course, in comparison, I didn’t like how ultra-compact the Blackberry Curve 8330 has turned out to be in person. It feels smaller — not just thinner — than my 8700 and squeezes the keys together even tighter.

I dunno folks. I dunno. I told the sales person, and I am honest about this, that i probably would have bought the G1 today (and learned to live with that keyboard) if I wasn’t curious about the new Curve / Javelin that is due out from T-mobile before Christmas.

We’ll see

"Are you eyeballin' me, son?!"

One fo the tough things I have to do when handling graphic design is trying to eyeball graphics out to see how aligned the graphics are — or how pleasing to my eye things look in their final arrangement. It can drive me crazy.

That being said, I got a kick out of this Eyeballing game. It’s basic geometry and a lot of alignment spotting. Though my average is quite high, it was better than I figured it to be.

What to do, what to do…? (ongoing)

All right, I don’t usually post polls here on der Stonegauge but I’m putting a poll up and inviting everyone in for discussion (yay discussion!):

So, as my previous entries on this PDA future discussion have told, my contract with T-mobile expired. I’m really interested in upgrading my Blackberry 8700g, I’m on a data-only plan due to hearing problems and (this hasn’t been stated here) T-Mobile is sadly the optimum cell provider for me because their data only plan comes with no additional costs (unless I make calls) compared with AT&T or Verizon (both cell networks require you purchase separate plans for text/sms messages, AT&T requires you to jump through hoops in order to enjoy data only iPhone use, Verizon is extra costly, AT&T has unclear policies and usage charges for non-national data)

So chime in, people, about hosts, but this poll is about phones. I’ve narrowed it down to upgrading to 3 models (all of which I can attain from T-mobile, but I invite other suggestions):

The HTC G1
The Blackberry Curve
The Blackberry Javelin/8900*

[poll id=”3″]

(The Javelin has not yet been released to the public)

This Shoulda' Killed Me

Upon arriving in Los Angeles, I was greeted by clear blue skies, temperatures in the 90’s and smog so thick that I couldn’t tell where it ended and the mountains began (that changed as I rode FlyAway closer to downtown).

Yeah, I was happily back in the City of Angels and thinking about the steps ahead of me… Get to Union Station and walk down the ramp to the Metro subway terminal, take Metro to the Julian Dixon transit center, walk up Fig 4 blocks to the Bonaventure. Check in.

Easy enough, right?

Oh, some of that went off without a problem. That walk, however, proved more difficult than it should have been. I employed my cane (which I’ve basically stopped using back at home) because of how uneven the ground would be. Between uneven sidewalk (not steep, just uneven) and a backpack stuffed full (along with a long sleeve shirt stuck in the top loop of the bag), that walk was a challenge. Oh, add to it the heat and you have the makings of quite an undertaking for someone like me.

But lets flash forward. After that walk my head was clearly out of place — not discouraged but I didn’t think I was paying well enough attention to where I was going and what was right in front of me. That brought back memories over and over again of my LAST visit to Los Angeles and my last stay at the Bonaventure hotel.

Not paying attention, poor balance due to uneven surfaces, etc, etc. It had all contributed to my literal downfall.

I checked in, unpacked my stuff and was hungry. I wanted to not only get a bite to eat but maybe snap some pictures somewhere. But the only place that came to mind was on the Bonaventure property. The skybridge crossing 5th street to National City Bank Plaza.

Post lunch (which I had at Flower Street mall underneath National City Bank plaza), I take the sky bridge across Fifth and behold the scene of the crime:

Lemme use my own words from what happened to recount the accident:

So I find this exit to a skybridge — whoo hoo! — and start walking down a long corridor with skylights. I ignorantly think I am on the skybridge itself (the Bonaventure has several and ALL are uncovered) when in fact I am walking beneath the pool deck/patio of the building.

So I come to the end of that hall and find a pair of double doors saying thank-you, leaving-the-hotel, blah-blah-blah…. I can see a flight of stairs down and a flight of stairs up a short distance in front of me. I swing those doors open and walk a few steps — never observing the two steps down immediately in front of me.

Anarchy ensues.

I tumble and smash my face into a concrete-ornamental-edging at the side of the wall. I wither and moan in pain. I’m shaking, I’m bleeding, I think I’ve broken my nose.

2400 miles from home, no family in the greater Los Angeles area… The gimp-with-a-limp has worked himself ineptly into a fine mess.

You look at that edging, you look at those steps… It’s all poured concrete, that’s a two foot drop between those steps and the next solid level. I may have called myself a “gimp-with-a-limp” but that was only partially the truth. I was a gimp-with-a-limp who had a major operation just about 3 months previously. Major neurological surgery and then an accident like this where you miss two steps and smash your nose into the edge of a solid concrete curb with full body force?

That fall should have killed me. Not could have, should have.

I commented on that post from last year, saying I’m barely swollen, no black and blues or anything. Just a little tender in the shnozz but that’s that.

I’d like to say, John, that you are one lucky son of a bitch. Someone out there likes you…

You would think they knew SOMEthing

One of the minor treats being in Los Angeles late this week was the ease of gettign to and from things I wanted to check out without having to bum a ride, or take a cab. There were a few things I wanted to get done out there with national stores that I couldn’t get done here in Tampa Bay because of the disconnect and provincialism of the Greater Tampa Bay area.

One of those things was trying to find a T-Mobile store and get a demo of the G1, the Google phone. There were supposed to be demonstration versions of the phone in-store in several markets including Los Angeles. Places where they could utilize 3G technology and what not.

So, I got to Hollywood and Western and took a little amble over to the T-Mobile store… A nice place tucked away in a larger shopping plaza. Walking inside, I was almost immediately greeted by a sales rep. The problem was, and this seems to be a trend, the sales rep deffered me to their web site in dealings with the G1.

I shrugged it off and brought up the Blackberry handhelds. I told them that I have no access to a store where I am from (which is not outside the truth) and this would be my chance to check out a handheld in person. I also brought up the enigmatic Blackberry Javelin, which is to be the successor to the Curve. Once again, I got a rather clueless response that meets with the trend of an uninformed company rep.

That’s not trying to get on the Rep for not being able to answer my questions — I’m not deliberately trying to shoot the messenger here. I am more surprised that T-Mobile does not try to pass on information down to it’s staff in a timely manner. Keep them informed, keep them assessed of changes and the situation.

Never the less, the trip was a waste of time. I got to check out the Curve in person but I didn’t get anything I can’t get somewhere else.

preflight decrees

Airside C at tampa international is amazingly gorgeous.

Now if the average age of those around me wasn’t “fossil”