Pulp Free

There have been a few new additions to the family clan that I've been needing to talk about… It's been a long time coming, but we're now parents to a brand new Wii.

Now already being a long time XBOX camp member, the Wii was a nice addition for C and I to play some fun games together… (It was rather stressful playing racing car games with her!) Funny part of the story being that I asked a few of my friends to keep my eye out for them during their travels. It happens to be that two of them found them on the same weekend and purchased one for me. What would the odds be of that happening again knowing how hard they've been able to find? (They seem to be coming into their own again… being a bit more available now…)

C		D
		(I don't usually have my mouth hanging open like that!)

I've now spent enough time with WiiSports to become a pro at Bowling (just barely) and I'm making my way pretty well with Tennis… I just need to get C to put in some more time practicing!

Second up has been a real "Life Changer" - a shiny 16GB iPhone has also made it's way into my life.

Since starting my new job at HP I needed to become more connected with e-mail and it's works really well. Add the ability to sync my Microsoft Outlook information, a gorgeous screen for watching videos and a being a pretty decent phone it looks like I couldn't go wrong. (Notice I didn't say anything about how pitiful the EDGE network with AT&T is… - oh wait - I just did… ugh…) Of course, I'm sure that an even shinier 3G phone is just on the horizon but in reality - I'm not that much of a mobile network user… It works great with our home Wi-Fi which is where I use that kind of functionality the most…

With the introduction of my iPulp phone (yeah - I named it iPulp) - that meant it was time to let a few of my older iPods go… I've had my first few experiences with Craigslist and I have to say I've made out pretty well. My 30 GB black Video iPod went for a respectable $125 (of course - $300 new!) and I know that they're actually selling for more than that now. But it went to a better home! A few of my sound modules have also headed out to some other musicians and if I'm lucky - my 65" Mitsubishi HDTV might have a new home as well! Cross your fingers!

Well - that's my story for now (and I'm sticking to it!) We do have a big milestone coming up next post… That's right - #100 is coming up next… Oh whatever will I write about?

Well… it’s just under 24 hours before all of America will be drooling over their new Apple iPhones. Do I want one? Meh… Maybe version 2.0. I still have 18 months left on my renewed Spring PCS contract. But it does look cool. And way better than the other phones trying to compete with it. Time will tell how groundbreaking this latest effort by Apple will be. Granted - I’ve been Apple’tized since the 3rd grade when our family bought an Apple //e (just had to use the same forward slashes!) We even had an Apple SilentType. Mmmmm… Thermal printers!

Anyway - I digress. The point of my ramblings is more specific to how Apple spoke about their employees on this “dawn of the new age…”

Steve got a “look on his face that was kind of the same look as he had when introducing the Mac in 1984.” He said that it sounded like Steve thought the iPhone launch was a really huge deal, and considered it to be one of the most revolutionary and exciting products they had ever created. Steve said, “Don’t worry about two years from now,” they’ll deal with that as it comes. Apple employees will be able to tell their grandkids that they were at Apple when they launched the iPhone, and that it was all worth the sacrifice.

To thank the employees, all full time Apple employees in the US who have been there for a year will be getting an iPhone at the end of July. Multiple sources have told me that they believe this includes retail employees.

Granted - $600 bonus? Yeah, maybe. But I work in technology. I have the projects that seem to last in terms of “years” rather than weeks. Everything pushed aside (including reason) to make the date. It just seems that in this effort - I think the Apple employees really think that their management teams really do appreciate them. There’s something substantial being released at the end of their project. Something tangible.

Maybe I’ll get a paid-in-full mortgage…