Note: I originally posted this with a rant about loser ex-friends and offhanded remarks about “the life she deserved”. The more I thought about it, the more I decided it was too much effort to put into something that, on the whole, mattered to me far less than the amount of time and energy I devoted to it. Not only that, it just seemed to feel… I dunno… counter to what I’m about. I don’t really feel like dwelling on other people or their faults. People are people. They’ll be whoever they’re going to be, and nothing I say or do, or feel, is going to change them (or me). It’s especially not going to make an impact on my pretty much awesome life, so why bother? So I deleted it. If you stumbled upon it before I deleted it, then I’m sorry for venting. I’d like to keep this place, and my contributions to it, above that sort of shit.
So have I drank the kool-aid?
The short answer? Yes. I don’t wanna go all “Apple Fanboy” on your ass, but I gotta admit it, when something’s good and it just works… well… it just works. I’ve been an Android User now for almost exactly two years, and when my contract expired I decided to jump over to the iPhone 4. I have to admit, if I didn’t have an iPad already, the switch would’ve been a lot more “jarring”. The UI is different and there were some minor annoyances (seriously, I’m still not used to not having an actual keyboard, and typing on the iPhone really does take some getting used to) but if I had never touched an Android phone prior to getting an iPhone, I could see how it could turn into a life-changing purchase for some people. It just “feels” better in your hand than the Droid 2, even though the Droid 2 is no slouch in that regard. Something about how “solid” the iPhone feels. I’m scared to death that I’m going to drop it and shatter the glass front (like so many of my friends who cart around beat up war-torn looking iPhones already) so the way you handle it when it’s in your hands is just built upon a completely different attitude. Give you an example. When I was over at Tracy’s and I wanted to show him the new Droid, I didn’t even hesitate, I just pulled it out of my pocket and tossed it to him. He, being the artist that he is, completely missed it and it landed on the ground. I didn’t even flinch. Didn’t need to. It’s just a different phone. Now if that were my iPhone, I wouldn’t even think of “tossing it”. I’d have pulled it out of my pocket with a reverence only reserved for iPhones and iPads, gently handed it to him and added, “be careful dude…” for good measure. So it doesn’t feel like something you just “use”. It feels like using it is a bit of an event. Which again, is why I understand completely why people who have never had another type of more “utilitarian” smartphone would think the sun rose and set on the Apple iPhone… and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Now… the most important thing that’s happened over the last week or so is that now I’m REALLY interested in developing apps. I thought when I got the iPad that I’d take a stab at it, but something about it gave me pause. Now, not so much. From a developer standpoint I’m really getting on board the “eating your own dogfood” train.
And it’s not just the iPhone. The new Droid 2 is hot. We’re talking, “why-didn’t-I-get-one-of-these-two-years-ago?” hot. I mean, I know the answer. After all, I purchased a G1, but this is the phone I always wished my G1 was. Put aside for a moment the shit malware that Motorola and Verizon dump on them. I don’t think that really bothers me. Yeah, it kinda sucks, and yeah, it gives the “the iPhone doesn’t do that” crowd some justifiable ammunition, but I’ve always sort of been laid back enough to not really let it bother me. Service providers have been doing that shit since you could put something on a phone, and I’ve always just not used it. But the phone is awesome. It’s snappy, it’s fun to play with, and again, back to my previous point, it just feels like a phone you’d use. Not be scared to use… and don’t even get me started on how great it is to have a keyboard with actual keys on it.
I’ll take that dynamite… I can get 15 caps for it!
I’m only going to say this one more time and I promise not to say it again. Fallout: New Vegas is fantastic. Here I am, two weeks into it, and I love it. Not only do I love it, but I suspect I’m only about 10% into it, with another 90 to go, and I’m already so committed to the direction my character has gone, that I’m plotting about 5 different ways I’ll play it again once I finish this current path I’m on. Yep, it’s that deep, and yep, it’s that fun.
“Hey, hey, easy kids. Everybody in the car. Boat leaves in two minutes… or perhaps you don’t want to see the second largest ball of twine on the face of the earth, which is only four short hours away?”
I’ve started to get things together for our first “family vacation” (ever) and I’m so excited. I’m not going to really blog or write a lot about it until after we’re back home, and it’s not happening for a while, until well after the holidays, but I’ve been putting together itineraries and getting hotel reservations squared away as well as planning obligatory family side-trips and I have to say, I haven’t been this excited about a vacation since the wife and I went to Jamaica. I think I’ve probably been waiting my whole life for this experience, and I don’t see any way it’s not going to just be the most awesome vacation in the history of vacations.
The part that I’m most excited about is that my oldest daughter will be the age where you start to remember family vacations. This will be the one where we show the family movie, where we create the obligatory scrap book and have all of the familiar “Griswold” family moments.
And I can’t wait. It’s pretty much all I can think about lately, and I know I’m not alone. I feel like my wife is just as excited as I am. It’s been such a great last couple of weeks as we look over maps, read websites, create google maps with all of our “must see” attractions, and share our excitement with our daughter.
Anyway, that’s it for this week. Great week. Lots of great work, tons of new things floating around in my head, and even more blogging fun next week. See you Monday!
They don’t call me Butterfingers Floyd for nuthin’