Category: General

I just purchased a ticket to see Barrack Obama speak tomorrow night at the Oregon Convention Center. I’ve never really heard him speak except for brief bits on TV. Right now, early in the process, I’m leaning towards John Edwards; I liked him a lot better than John Kerry last time around, especially after Edwards debated Darth Cheney. But I’m still open to new information.

I’ve only done a quick search, so I don’t know if anyone else has made this connection already. It doesn’t look like it, though if anyone’s got another link feel free to share it with me.

But can we now assume that the $200 price drop for the iPhone is the “product transition” that Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer couldn’t “get into”, during Apple’s quarterly phone conference last July? It seems obvious, at least to me.

Everyone knows that Apple doesn’t keep much of the $0.99 per song they sell through the iTMS.

How much of the additional $0.99 for custom ringtones will they get to keep?

Ringtones are huge profit centers for the cell companies. I imagine Apple will get to keep a lot of it.

Oh, sorry, AT&T, you probably won’t be getting those profits.

What’s the best announcement from Steve Jobs’ at today’s Apple Special Event?

Could it be the iPod widescreen nano? Nice, but who besides a teenager would want to watch anything on that tiny little screen?

Custom ringtones from the iTunes Music Store? Not even close. I almost always have my phone on vibrate. Besides, if I want ringtones I’ll just rip them from the music I already have instead of forking over ninety-nine freakin’ cents for the privilege.

High capacity hard drive iPods? My 30 GB is nearly full, sure. But I’m gonna have say, no, that’s not the coolest announcement.

iTunes Music Store via iPod/WiFi? Yeah, that’s nice and stuff. But out of my 25 GB library, there’s maybe 20 songs in there that were from the iTMS, and I didn’t pay for any of them. I got them as free promotions. I don’t buy music that way. So that’s not a big deal to me.

I know what you’re thinking? What’s left? What’s the best part?

iPod touch? So damned sexy, yes, yes, yes… It’s basically an iPhone without the phone! Touch screen, CoverFlow, WiFi and a freakin’ BROWSER built in? This could not be any sexier unless it was, in fact, an iPhone. And thin! How did they make this thinner than an iPhone? The iPhone is basically the screen and the battery; the circuit board is tiny! Removing the phone part does not, in my head, enable them to make the rest of it 8 mm. Maybe it is magical?

…and yet, no. That’s not the best part. Want to know what the best part of today’s announcement is?

$200 price drop on the iPhone.

Yes, that’s right. I saved an additional two hundred dollars by not breaking my contract with T-Mobile and buying an iPhone when they first came out. Sometimes waiting is a good thing. I am a Super-Genius. Or closely resemble one.

Oh, T-Mobile. Buh-bye. You’re so doomed.

Ken and I are in his car coming back to work from lunch. An amazing blond girl rides by on bike. She and we both stop at a red light. The view is… stunning.

I carefully roll up my window just in case I say something she might hear. I say something about her ass.

She reaches back and grabs her own ass… no, wait, she’s pulling out her cell phone, sliding it from the confines of her pocket.

“Weird, I wouldn’t have thought she could fit a cell phone in those tight jeans,” I say to Ken.

Ken looks at me, aghast, and rolls up his window.

I bust out laughing. “Did she hear me?” I ask.

Ken just keeps looking straight ahead, trying not to stare, trying not to care if we got caught looking or not. “Is it getting hot in here now?”

I’m feelin’ scruffy, in basketball shorts and a running shirt, in the elevator at the Multnomah Building. I’m going from my office in the basement, to the 5th floor, the one with the break room.

Guy in Dockers and a button-shirt gets on at the first floor. Gives me a suspicious “sideways glance”, then notices my badge. “Oh, you work in the building? County employee?” He brightens considerably and offers his hand for a shake.

“Yeah” I say. Shake his hand.

“And what department do you work for?” he asks. The doors for the 4th floor open, he starts to step off.

“I.T.” I say.

“Oh, excellent, excellent!” This seems to confirm his suspicion, based on my casual dress, and steps off. The doors close. I laugh, once, out loud.

My Oregon state tax “kicker” is going to nearly pay for my new iPhone.

In other news, still blogging about that article on Ridley Scott, I wonder what the political slant of his next movie, titled “Body of Lies” and focusing on the most current Iraq War, will be?

If only there were some clue. C’mon, toss us a bone, Mr. Scott. Sheesh.

I must be out of step, because I still prefer the original theatrical release of “Blade Runner” to any of the subsequent director’s cuts.

There was nothing wrong with the narration. I liked it, anyway.

This morning I did something I haven’t done in a long time: I got up early, and ran.

Yes, it was raining. That only meant that I couldn’t bring along my iPod.

And actually, considering how muggy it’s been lately, running in the rain felt pretty good.

Thirty-five minutes and I only had to walk once – for the brief moment I was crossing SE 17th @ Umatilla, near the very end of my run.