Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Thank You, Thank You, ....NO NO NO

I am really excited that the Canadian dollar has jumped from the 85 cent US mark to nearly 90 cents US this week. Now why am I caring about this? Because I'm taking off the Chicago in 22 days, and this means a better exchange rate for me.

This will mean that I'll be able to have more buying power in the US. I can buy more crap at the Comic Con. I can get extra cheese on my Chicago Deep Dish pizza. I can do extra in getting the US economy to turn around, so to my neighbors to the south, You're Welcome.

It's actually like trading stocks at this point. Do I buy my US dollars now, or let it ride and hope the dollar goes up even more? I remember about 6 weeks, ago, the C dollar (The Canadian Dollar will now be known as the C dollar), was around 91 cents US. I then thought, I should buy my US currency now, but then I though maybe it will go higher. Maybe it could get back to par....and then the dollar dropped for 6 straight weeks. I was so mad.

Now the C dollar is nearly back at that point, I'm left to wonder...do I get my money changed now or do I ride it out and hope for a 95 cent C dollar?

I'm a little sad though, because one of the people who is looking forward the meet up might now be able to go due to medical reasons. It's really sad because she and I were the organizers of this meetup. She was looking forward to it, and she might not be able to go. Oh and she has already paid for her flight and hotel. I hope the doctor has better news for her when she sees her again. I think she needs this little holiday more than most of us. Especially now, that she's having to deal with this crap.

I don't want to go into the details of her medical problem because....it's none of your business, and she's trusting me not to blab it all over the net.

Some of my online friends have gone through a lot of crap lately. The one person with the medical issue. I also had another online friend loose his house due to a fire. Luckily he got his wife and kids out in time. I think God might have had a hand in getting them out to safety. He's a Reverend after all. Still I wonder why fire would strike the home of a man of God. Now if anyone needs some fun, it's this guy. Oh for the record. Even though he's a married Reverend, he's still a big flirt.

I keep focusing on the trip. Everything is about the trip, because it's something different. It's not the same old, same old. I just hope that my friend can go, and that the dollar keeps climbing so I can buy everyone breakfast at Ikea.

My 2 Bytes

Friday, July 03, 2009

If I need to blog about my cool phone to get back into blogging, so be it



So let’s see, I blogged three times as much in June than in May. What that really means is that I blogged three times instead of once. Pffttt. Still sucky but I’m trying,

I’m down to 35 days until my vacation. I really think that this trip will “recharge the batteries”. I’m going to try and blog every night of the vacation, but I make no promises. I’ll be taking lots of pictures, so maybe I’ll be posting with a little blurb instead.

I’ve been resisting the urge to blog about my new smart phone, but dammit, it’s a Google Phone, and I love everything Google related. As I once blogged long ago, there should be a tattoo that says “Property of Google”.

Anyway I picked up the HTC Magic (Google) Phone a few weeks ago and I LOVE IT. Like the Apple Phone, you can download a bunch of cool application, but unlike the Apple Phone, you don’t have to wait for some control freak at Apple to allow them to be sold/given away on the I-Tunes Store.

I’ve downloaded some cool apps for my phone like Weatherbug which gives me local weather information, and a movies app from Flixster, which gives me local movie listings, theatres and show times. Of course there’s some cool apps that came with the phone, like the GMail reader, the Google Maps applications, that works with the GPS on the phone.

Then there are the less than useful apps which I like anyway like the Swartz saber (from Space balls)app, and the Beavis and Butthead soundboard. Because you never know when you to have Beavis say “10-6-90, 10-6-90, we’ve got whores on the street, we need backup NOW”.

Now knowing my readers (all three of you), you’re probably thinking that my phone is just a cool high tech toy, and to you I say “and, your point is”. Yes my phone can do some cool things, that a normal phone can’t do, and I can download cool apps, from my phone. Yes I have a GPS on my phone, and yes smart phone are becoming, an all in one device. I could add more memory to my phone. I can upgrade the 2 gigs into 4 or 8 at a low cost, and turn my cell into an IPod, like the IPhone. The point is, my phone reflexs who I am.

There’s a person who worked HR in my old job, and she had a pink Razr. She loved it because it was pink. She told me that she could have gotten the same phone in black for free, but paid extra to get it in pink. These days our cell phones are a badge of who we are. Being a Blackberry owner will say something about you, as being a IPhone owner will say something else. My Google Phone will say something about me.

Bottom line is I love my new cell phone despite the sudden price drop after I bought it. Oh yeah, I bought it for $199, last week and now it’s $99. Needless to say, I was not impressed, but I did call the Rogers, and they gave me a $100 credit, so everything is good.

My 2 Bytes.