Thursday, March 27, 2008

I've been iPhoned!

Yup, finally got around to getting my iPhone. I was originally psyched about the prospect of keeping my reasonably inexpensive pre-paid account AND having the iPhone (see previous post). Alas, the information from phonenews.com didn't work as advertised. After going around and around with Apple and ATT, I gave up. (Some support reps claimed I could add the iPhone to my current account, others said it was impossible. In the end, I ran out of patience.)



I converted my pre-paid account to a post-paid account. Bleah. It's more expensive and now I have that stupid 2-year contract. Getting a pre-paid account for the iPhone requires you to force the ATT system into thinking you have failed a credit check and I just couldn't make that happen (I did try).



I think ATT is fairly unethical in not allowing you to attach an iPhone to a pre-paid account unless you're a credit risk...how does THAT make any sense? I'm tempted to write to the Attorney General asking them to investigate ATT's unethical business practices.



On the other hand, I DO like my new phone-gadget. It's cute and it's fun. I was recently at a very, very boring meeting. I used my iPhone to take some personal notes, surf the Web, and in general, amuse myself until an interesting topic at the front of the room caught my attention :-)

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Dophin rescue story...true or urban myth?

I liked this story even if it's an urban myth: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/03/12/nz.whales.ap/index.html

In this story, a dolphin rescues a whale and her calf after they repeatedly strand themselves. Human rescuers tried to move the whales into open sea, but they continued to get stuck. Along come a well-known dolphin who then leads them out to sea (the story takes place in New Zealand).

Kinda cool, eh?

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Museums, NPR, and MIT scientists

Friday night, my friend B and I took a trip to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. On the first Friday night of the month, they bring in food, a cash bar, music and a whole slew of people. OK, the Museum doesn't import the people, but hundreds do show up. Couples, singles, young people, older people; people of all sizes and shapes. I had never attended one of these events before and was surprised at the size of the crowd. One of the bar tenders mentioned that he thought there were close to 1,000 people there. Food was good, drinks were expensive and small, and I don't think I actually heard much of the music.

Not a whole lot of art viewing going on, but the people watching was fascinating :-). B and I are thinking of going back next month to enhance our people skills :-)

We did get to meet Chuck Goldstone, who has been on NPR's Marketplace show. Cool! A NPR Celeb. We had a lovely and very entertaining chat while waiting for the line to the parking lot kiosk to dwindle (it takes a long time for hundreds of people to filter out of one place at the same time :-). You can hear some of his humourous commentaries at: http://www,chuckgoldstone.com.

We also had the chance to chat with an MIT researcher who is working on fusion (or was that fission?) energy sources. Sort of like meeting a real "rocket scientist." I do like the scientific types.

All in all, a diverting night out.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Satellite Radio Rocks!

I love Satellite Radio. When I bought a new car last year, it came with a free trial for XM Radio. I never thought I would keep the subscription, but I discovered that I love having satellite radio. Now, wherever I go, NPR goes with me! As well as my favorite folk and acoustic music stations.

And, I can listen to XM Radio over the Internet. Came in handy last weekend when I had the previously mentioned Bed Warming party. Rather than using the old fashioned stereo system that only plays one CD at a time, I connected my speakers to a laptop and logged into my XM Radio account. Worked out quite well. That is, after "B" fixed the connector for the volume control for the speaker system. I managed to mangle the pins in the connnector while setting up the system with the laptop. "B" did a fantastic job of getting it back into working order. He's my hero :-)