ipod Touch 16G

Okay, I know I said I wasn’t going to get it. But, work has been a bit stressful lately and I needed a release.  Besides, I had already transferred the money from savings to checking. So on Wednesday, I bought the 16G iPod Touch at the LaCosta Apple Store.  I got it home and was pleasantly surprised that I did not have to deauthorize my 2nd Gen iPod.  I didn’t realize the authorization limit of 5 applies to computers, not devices.

After having it for a couple of days now, I’m very satisfied with my purchase. My rave’s are:  1)  The lock-button – not only does it lock the screen, but it turns it off and saves battery life; and 2) When listening to a podcast, if I pause it and go to another podcast or application and come back to it, it picks up where I left off.  This is a huge deal since on my 2nd Gen I’d always have to remember or write down where I was at. Something that made listening to audio books a pain.

Although I like it, I can come up with two rant’s as well:  1) My iMac has frozen twice each time I’ve had it plugged in; and 2) It is very thin, almost too thin.  I bought a slip cover for it and that seems to help. I think I’m just used to have weight and feel of my 2nd Gen.  I haven’t gotten too much into buying apps yet, I wish the iTune’s store would play a preview of the apps instead of just screenshots.

Ipod Touch 16G, where are you?

I’ve been looking to replace my 2nd Gen 20G iPod I’ve had for about 7 years.  After playing with my niece’s 2nd Gen Touch at a birthday party on Sunday, I went out to buy one. Unfortunately, none of my local stores carried the 16G version.  Sam’s Club, Costco, two Targets, Best Buy, and Circuit City all out.  So, I’ve decided not to get one ever and continue to use my current iPod until is completely dead.   Then I’ll reconsider, maybe.

Jack-in-the-Box Commercial on Airforce One

Saw the commercial last night where Jack is talking with the President on Airforce One.  I noticed the ‘P’ was missing from ‘President’ both on the outside of the plan and inside on the Presidential Seal.  They both just said, ‘Residential’.  Just found the whole thing ridiculous.  Kind of like the black censor bars over bare assess and boobs on public television, or the ‘bleeps’ when you can still read the lips when people say shit or fuck on telivision/radio.

I drove down to La Jolla cove during lunch today to buy Michelle a gift.  I like that place, not the shopping and type of people there, but the dramatic views of the ocean. It seems to be very high up and the ocean below always looks blue and dramatic.

After getting accosted by a Green Peace solicitor (quite good at her job, but I wasn’t willing to give up $20 bucks a month) and buying Michelle’s gift, I decided to have lunch at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican food place.  When my two beef tacos came (meat was too runny for my taste, but chips and salsa were good) I unwrapped my fork and knife that was rolled up in a paper napkin and sealed with a one inch wide piece of paper.

I’ve seen hundreds of these, but today I paid particular attention to the U.S. Patent printed on the piece of paper.  Now, I word for a biotech company in Carlsbad.  Every week I either listen to a podcast or read an article where someone sequences a new genome, or figures out what a particular protein does, etc., and here I am holding a piece of paper with a bit of sticky stuff on one end used to wrap a paper napkin around a fork and knife.  Hardly what I call innovation.

There are two things in life that I have sworn to accomplish before the sun explodes. The first is to write a book. I have settled on writing a children’s book because I am not talented enough or motivated enough to write a full novel (although I have the title, the book is proving much harder to write).  The second is inventing something and filing a patent.  How cool is that. I don’t believe you can consider yourself an American if you haven’t filed a patent for an invention at least once in your life.

For those interested, the patent number for the paper napkin ring is, U.S. Patent No. 6,644,498. I did a Google search an indeed, the search results give a very detailed description of what the patent involves.

Itunes podcasts not auto updating

2008 was the year of the podcast for me. A little late in the game, but you know how the old saying goes.  Nowadays, I religously listen to about 8 weekly podcasts and another handful on a monthly basis.  I manually update my podcasts and songs so not to clutter it up with my wife’s stuff.  Every Sunday evening, I plug it in, download the latest podcasts and I’m good for the upcoming week.

Why then do I seem to randomly get the ‘!’ icon indicating I have not updated a certain podcast in a while and I then have to go through extra steps to download it. Although it is not a huge deal, I have to sometimes go back through the Itunes store and resubscribe to the podcast.  Seems something is awry. Not sure if it is Itunes or the podcaster updating/changing addresses.

Where have all the comic books gone?

Gabe loves superheroes. First it was the Power Rangers.  While still a favorite, he also loves The Hulk, Spidey, Batman, and Ironman.  Although I’ve been slacking the past couple of months, he and I got into a good rhythm in going to the library on Saturdays and picking out books for the week.  Gabe always gravitated toward the hardcover comic books and I would let him get one as long as we got some other books too.

I wasn’t much interested in comic books when I was a kid. However, I remember comic books being readily available in limitless supply at grocery stores, 7-11’s, Thrify’s, and pretty much everywhere magazines were sold.  These days, I cannot seem to find them anywhere. The only place I do find them are in bookstores. However, they’re not the same. The bookstore versions are hardcover, on glossy print and tend to be very expensive.  Missing are the softcover, $1.99 deals that can be read, colored on, and ultimately destroyed without too much fuss.  If anyone knows where they have them, please let me know.

Also, whatever happened to Mad Magazine and Cracked?  The grocery stores I shop at don’t seem to carry them.  Although too mature for Gabe, I wanted to get copies for my 4th grade nephew. He hates to read, and I thought this might help. I loved them when I was young and would read them from cover-to-cover.