Yesterday was a special day…

So yesterday I finally did it… yep I decided to get myself an early birthday gift. I went to the AT&T store and picked up one of those 8GB touch screen goodness. It was a little odd I just could not believe the way I was treated in the store (been having bad customer service experiences of late). First of all as I was walking into the store this nice young man greeted me with a hello welcome to AT&T… that put a smile on my face after being stuck in the office all day… A minute went by and he came in and asked how could he be of assistance. After telling him what I wanted he left and came back in 30 seconds with a little black box in hand which he gave to me and passed me off to a rep that assisted me further with my purchase. She had a sheet that she ticked off after discussing certain terms, warranty info and rate plans with me. I actually had to initial this sheet of paper with all the info. She helped me pick out a case then wrapped my special purchase into a sealed bag (I kid you not) and handed it to me (she even shook my hand and handed me a card afterwards). Maybe this is usual fanfare but I have never seen someone so excited to sell a product. On the way out of the store the same young man who assisted me earlier noticed that I had a flat tire… after worrying just a tad bit about that I went to the gas station and put some air in there which seems to be holding up just fine. I could hardly contain myself on the way home I was so excited. I took extra special care on the drive home… Upon reaching home, I made myself eat something first then sat down and opened the bag. I had a heck of a time opening that bag (that was the hardest part). After that it was open the black box, attached the cradle to my computer and sync. All was well and I was pretty excited to say the least. It did take me a bit of time to update to the latest software… I suppose the firmware update that everyone is talking about coz some special ring-tones that I had made a few days ago would not sync. I was really surprised how easy it was to use the thing… I should know by now that Apple knows how to design products for people to use but it was so intuitive almost second nature…

My first Impressions:

• Its intuitive and easy to use as I stated before
• The keyboard takes a bit getting used to and I didn’t realize how fat my fingertips were until I started trying to use said keyboard
• Videos and pictures looks really amazing on this thing even better than my monitor and my monitor is pretty sharp
• The AT&T edge network is slow for browsing the web but pretty snappy for sending emails
• It recognizes when a wireless network is near with no problems was surprised as my computer takes longer
• Its not all that clear to me at this point how to sync just my newest email messages it seems to sync one too many (I’ll figure this out later)
• It definitely draws attention so if you don’t like that kind of thing keep it hidden
• It seems to take longer to sync than an iPod perhaps because of all the stuff its looking for…

Free iWeb Templates

If you happen to be one of those folks who uses Apple’s iWeb and has not upgraded to version 2 but is looking to refresh your website with a new template or two then check out these free iwebtemplates did I mention they were free? For now and you can download most of them install and be on your way to creating something exciting. If you are using iWeb 2 and would like some new templates then check out 11mystics. Suzanne’s got some version 1 and version 2 templates as well ($14.95 per template). You can also get iWeb templates for version 1 and version 2 at Lamiavia ( $~14). Enjoy!

Boy does this new iPod Nano look familiar…

Its September 5th and those of us in the Apple camp were expecting some big announcement by our favorite company. After reading through a few proposals at work I decided to take a break and log on to Engadget and TUAW to see what went down. I expected an iPod that looked like the iPhone I really did so I was happy to see the iPod touch. I also was looking for a larger screen Nano of some sort but when I saw the new nano I almost fainted coz it looked like the thing that I saw in my dream. I had this silly dream a few weeks ago that I went into a department store and found this weird looking iPod like thing. It was short and stubby just like the new Nano and had the same color as the silver/white one. I can’t believe the similarity to the thing in my dream I’m seriously weirded out right now but anyway there it was/ here it is in living color. I was planning on getting a new iPod w/out the phone but now that the price of the 8GB iPhone had been reduced to $399 (same price as the 16GB iPod touch) I’m seriously considering getting an iPhone instead. I am wondering if I should hold out for the 16GB iPhone though. I just might. I figured I got rewarded once by not plunging into the iPhone market early so maybe I’ll be rewarded once more if a wait a little longer. I do feel sorry for folks that has gone out and bought the old 4GB iPhone though. Here is some advice if you find yourself in that boat.

A Fair Day

It was a fine day today. The skies were blue, the sun was high and not too hot and I went to the NY State Fair with my friend Mary.
I felt like a kid just walking around taking in all the scenes and smells. I came close to having some cotton candy but opted for the pina colada drink thing myself mostly wanting to have something cool and it was nice and refreshing. Anyway, it was Mary’s second day at the fair since she had entered some of the crafts competition so she knew her way around. We went and saw the sand sculpture, the butter sculpture and a few other things including some arts and crafts. She made a really nice Afghan that took second place. Lastly we ended up at the Indian Village (native American) where we were treated to some traditional Indian social dances. All in all it was a really neat event and I’m so glad I went. Now I’m back and I’m pooped and I’m sorting through my pictures.