“We Need a Blog Post”

So I just received an email from my mother titled, “we need a blog post.” And so we do, but alas, I have only a few minutes before I need to dash out the door.  I have been percolating on several ideas, but none are ready to be brewed. I have, therefore, decided to report on my love of the new iPhone.

I have mastered the taking and emailing of photos.

Found these in Amy's back yard when pickcing tomatoes.

Gracie (r) and George (l) have such a hard life!

My awesome new purse - seldom am I so trendy

I’m sure I have already exceeded my texting limit and I have made numerous phone calls, none of which have been dropped!

There is a lot more going on these days – lots of house projects (which will merit their own post soon) , afternoons at the pool with friends, and many more late nights than I have had in years, starting with our June DC trip, but the trend continues. Thoroughly enjoyed Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince this last weekend – haven’t yet read the book – but thought the movie was perhaps the best to date.  And Chris and I have become addicted to AMC’s Mad Men, which Comcast is showing on their On Demand in high def (that accounts for a few more of those late nights).  So summer is more than half gone and that is a brief smattering of what we have been up to.

I will do my very best tomorrow and this weekend to add a couple more posts an prepare a few others so next week should have more to entertain you all.  Happy Day to one an all.

Sarah Brings Eileen to the Modern Era

It is a modern miracle.  Thanks to my big sister, I have an iPhone at home (and now a Blackberry at work)!

My last phone, as many of you know, was a (please pardon me) POS. The final straw was four phone calls on on my birthday with Common Loon.  That would be four phone calls back to back in order to have one measly conversation.  (This was SO NOT the first time that had happened.)  What is the point of having mobile communication if when you are mobile it disconnects all the stinking time?! That phone, a pretty purple LG, had been exchanged once with no improvement.  So  I decided it was time for an iPhone.

Tell that to the people at AT&T and Apple.  Since the POS was acquired last September, I am 18 months out from my next “approved upgrade.” Which means $400 for a 3G instead of $200. Urgh!!!  I had a phone that would not work but I refuse on principle to pay double, especially to a phone company.

I had all but given up my iPhone dream when Sarah, who has been itching for the 3GS since Jen got one, explained that I could activate her 1G without all the A&T BS of buying a new phone (and only $20/mo. extra for the data plan). So a big box arrived on my doorstep on Monday containing my birthday present from my big sister. She even wrapped it up in her 3GS box and sent fun cases – I went with the pink, btw! (Note to Chris. You got off easy on this honey; you still owe me a birthday present!)

Anyway, I visited the evil empire yesterday to get my new SIM card, and Chris set it up last night, and gave me the first of many tutorials. So I am good to go.   When the alarm went off this morning (figured out how to set it myself!), Chris and I were the picture of modernity, laying in bed with his and hers iPhones, checking our mail and reading the “paper” before our feet hit the floor. Perhaps there is hope for me yet.

Thanks Sarah, you rock! (Oh and can you send instructions on how to blog via the phone?)

***

Updated by Sarah, since the phone I sent Eileen was  a first generation iPhone, and what I got was the 3GS, the newest one. I don’t know that my original phone was necessarily called a 1G, but explaining why would be boring, as well as a lenghty hijack of Eileen’s post.

iBrick

I spent a big chunk of last night playing around in the iTunes store, looking around at the new applications that were going to be available with today’s “iPhone 2.0″ software update. Given that little this week has taken me away from reading my cheesetastic teen vampire novels — only work, baseball, and tonight’s planned outing to the jazz in the NGA sculpture garden so far — I was surprised that perusing the apps captured so much of my attention.

So, imagine my disappointment with the news that Apple’s servers haven’t been able to keep up with the demand for either the new 3G iPhone activations or the 2.0 upgrade. Then, take that and multiply it by the biggest number you can think of, because I became aware of this problem when I was midway through the update and could go no further. This has left me with an entirely non-functioning phone — or brick, as it’s known amongst the Apple-people.

I’ve been trying pretty regularly all day to keep refreshing iTunes, in the hopes of getting a connection to the activation server, but am still having no luck. So, it looks like I could be spending a second weekend in a row sans-phone. I don’t know if I can take it.

My settings are fine, Apple. Have you checked yours?

ETA: I had no more than hit “publish” on this post when, at long last, my phone sprang to life on the desk in front of me. Had I realized that writing a blog post would have the same effect as going to the restroom while waiting for a restaurant to bring my dinner, I’d have done this hours ago. It’s now restored and syncing, so all appears to be well (knock on wood).