iPhone Unboxing Goodness

I unboxed my iPhone a while back and it was the neatest thing ever and I even took some photos. Woo hoo… However, I mainly took photos of the iPhone itself after it came out of the box. I was more interested in the product than the process I guess. Anyway I came across these unboxing photos and I thought that they were the coolest unboxing photos I’ve ever seen. I can’t believe that someone took the time to set all this up but I found it very artsy and interesting. I’m wondering if the artist had a deeper meaning because I can think of a few.

Almost 12

Gosh I can’t believe this I’m so wired. Here it is almost 12 AM in the morning and I’m on my computer listening to slow jams from the 90s? I’m listening to Don’t Let Go by En Vogue. Not sure what’s up with me but I’m in that kind of mood tonight. I started off with some Regina Belle and just kept going. I haven’t listened to this kind of stuff in a while and realize I actually missed it just a little. The words are something else. I wouldn’t recommend listening to this all the time but once in a while you just gotta relax and just let this stuff blow in your ears for a bit. well I’m off to get some much needed rest.

Would you trust this face?

I was browsing around the web and came across this piece by Jon Fortt over at the Fortune Tech site in which Tom Gibbons, head of Microsoft’s Specialized Devices & Applications Group, admitted that a team of Microsoft Engineers has been getting comfortable with the iPhone SDK. he mentioend that the focus would be extending Office Functions onto the iPhone and iPod touch. So he’s mainly talking software development no surprise there. However, I’m wondering how long it will take Microsoft to produce their own iPhone/Touch like device. After all they have Surface which is basically like an iPhone in table form. Now that they have the SDK what’s to stop them from getting out the copy machines and start copying features to put in the next generation of their Windows Mobile Software and hardware. I think its inevitable lets see if they do a better job this time than they did with the Zune and Vista. BTW the Surface idea is really cool they just need Steve Jobs to refine it, miniaturize it and market it… Oh Steve already did that with the iPhone my fault ;-).

No more O’Soy Yogurt for me!

I have an unfortunate sensitivity to dairy products so I try to be as careful as possible b/c if I’m not, pain ensue upon consumption. This means that grocery shopping is an adventure for me because I have to read every label. I was looking for yogurt that I could have and came upon Stoneyfield Farm’s O’Soy yogurt. I was very excited and bought some right away and it soon became my favorite snack. I tried it for some time but at some point I noticed that my stomach was becoming irritable so I stayed away from it for a while. Recently I started missing the blueberry flavor so I decided to buy a few and give it another go. I had one last night and this afternoon there was much pain and suffering. I was thinking weird what could have caused this it was never this bad not even when I ate more than 2 in one day what is the deal? As I usually do when I have problems with a product. I flipped over the back and decided to check if I had missed something… Well! there in fine print were the words that I either missed or they were recently added “contains milk (our live active cultures are milk based).” Odd that this wasn’t there before at least I did not notice it. Milk usually stands out on a label for me. I did not find the mention of milk on their site for the cultures but then again they did not say that it was Vegan derived either. Now that I know I won’t be buying anymore of it. I just have to figure out what to do with the other two that I have left. Thank goodness for my ginger tea remedy at least now my stomach no longer hurts, etc. I guess that’s what I get for being cheap and not sticking to Whole Soy which uses Vegan instead of milk based cultures in its Soy Yogurt. Nancy’s Soy Yogurt also uses vegan cultures instead of milk based one so I’ll be checking that out also.

Money Challenge 2008

I have to admit that I spend way too much money on frivolous things and as a result I have gotten myself in debt in the past and came close to going hungry more than a few times. One of my resolutions this year is to make a budget and stick to it. Now that I’ve gotten past a major debt I don’t want to fall back in and its time to build some equity so I’ve decided to sit my but down and use the nice software that I have sitting on my computer to make a budget and stick to it. In line with the Money Saving Mom financial shape in 2008 challenge I’ve decided to get in financial shape for the year. If she can do it by golly so can I! I don’t have a lot of the expenses that she’s got in her budget for one (although my grocery bill will be significantly higher due to cost of living in this area and special dieting requirements). Well, there goes the software budget. That means no new post Macworld fancy toy from Apple either. Check out Money Saving Mom if you haven’t she’s got coupons and lots of money saving tips.

My New Preserve Toothbrush

I’ve been using an Oral-B powered toothbrush with soft cross-action bush head for some time but lately my gums have been a bit sensitive so I went looking for a manual toothbrush. I was already quite familiar with the other manual choices (Crest, Reach, etal.) but I didn’t want anything to do with any of those mainly because they haven’t worked out well for me in the past. This weekend, I decided to give the Natural section of the local grocery store a try. I’m fortunate enough to live in a place with grocers that carry a large selection of natural foods and products. A quick scan on the shelf revealed a toothbrush that I have seen before but never picked up… the Preserve toothbrush by a company called Recycline. They come in all sorts of colors; red, blue, eggplant, and white just to name a few. After a while of sorting and looking to pick a color I settled on the white which looks more like grey. It has a curved handle, a 45 degree ultra soft head, and the packaging can be reused as a travel case with holes for ventilations. The angle of the brush and head is what caught my eye but the best thing about this toothbrush is the ultra-soft head. My gums have never been so happy! They should be using this brush is like giving my gums a regular massage. My teeth also looks and feels a lot cleaner. I’m so excited about this toothbrush that I’m brushing my teeth a little too much b/c of the softness of the bristles… Compared to the Oral-B “soft” bristles my mouth feels like they have been floating on a soft cloud of late. Yah I really like this toothbrush and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a change.

Out of Focus

I came home today without my car. First off I gotta complain just a bit. On my birthday a couple weekends ago I took my car in to get one of the wheels replaced. Next thing I know I get a call from the tire place telling me they have to replace all four tires. It cost over $4 big ones and I wasn’t happy about it but I figured fine winter is coming so better to be safe than sorry. After lamenting the fact that I got 4 new tires for my birthday I let it go and moved on. Today I took my car in for an inspection and the guy on the phone was like Hi sorry but we can’t pass your car for inspection because this is broken and that need fixing and blaaaah blaaaaaah (at least that’s what I heard after he told me how much the fixing was going to cost). I’m like wow another $6 big ones you say? He’s like I’m sorry do you want to go ahead and fix this? I’m rolling my eyes and thinking bad thoughts and huffin and puffin and wondering if I really have a choice… not like I have a spare car hanging around or anything. Anyway, I’m sorta not having a great October. I am thankful that I haven’t gotten into any accidents but with all the money I’m doling out of late it sure does feel like it. Guess I can’t complain, all new tires, wiper blades, springs and a bunch of other new stuff. Woop-te-dooo!

Can you Say Busy

I’ve been so busy the last few weeks I haven’t had a chance to throw anything up here. Should be asleep right now but there I am… Let’s see I had a birthday over the weekend. Had the tires on my car replaced, found out what it was like to eat your desert first before your meal (awful don’t do it), revised a website, did a lot of lunches with friends, saw a movie (loved it) and ran around town doing this and that. Oh yeah and there was work in my spare time as well. All in all its been an interesting last couple of weeks. Glad that’s over my life is getting back to normal and I can return those phone calls that I’ve been putting off on account of not much time to talk. Its odd that I usually have a phone on me all the time now but no time to talk on it coz I’m either driving or working or have other stuff in my hands.

iPhone Stress Test: What Happens if you dropped this thing on the sidewalk?

PC World has this interesting vide where they put the iPhone through a series of scratch tests and drop tests. I have to say that it was painful to watch them do this to the little iPhone they actually took a key and ran it across the screen of the iPhone as well ad dropped it on the concrete more than a few times. To see the results check out the video. Its not for the faint of heart especially if you own one but a good video nonetheless.

For the Price of a new Mac Mini…

My curiosity got the best of me this afternoon and I found myself wandering into the local AT&T store to check out the iPhone. The first thing I noticed was all the iPhone accessories they had a whole rotating rack full of goodies. I was waiting on the rep who was helping another customer and since I was in no hurry I took a quick look around the store to see if I could espy the object that got me there in the first place. I noticed that there was no demo model on the floor but being that this is the iPhone I thought the reps had stashed it in a secret place and can whip one out at any moment. No such luck. The rep informed me that they didn’t have a demo model and won’t be getting one until sometime next week. You see that was the main purpose of me going there in the first place to have a look at the demo and play with it a little before I even think of plopping down any hard earned dollars which I didn’t have to plop down anyway but I was determined to go check it out for myself and see what all the big to do is about. Anyway I asked the rep a few more questions and I was informed that if I was a go-phone customer that they would transfer my number and all that without charging any activation fee so all I would have to do is plop down money for the phone itself. So I walk in, pay $599 plus tax and take the device home (assuming they had one in stock) end of story. So that’s $599 plus 8% tax which come out to $646.92. Interesting that an entry level Intel Mac Mini costs the same if I ordered it from Apple and ~ $46 less if I order it locally with my Alumni discount. So for the price of a Mac Mini I can have a phone that connects to the internet and allows me to play video and audio… I still think that its a bit steep a price to pay and still plan on waiting until all the hype calms down and they release generation 2. BTW the iPhones were sold out yesterday and they got another shipment in that was sold out again by the time I got there today so that 2-4 weeks waiting time on the Apple store makes a lot of sense.