Phone Moans

Hi all. Taking a break on a beautiful long weekend and managing a few minutes to post.

I am getting very stoked for our next gig (June 1st) at Four Dogs Tavern. The outside area has a great, party-friendly vibe. I've sat in with Hake & Jarema many times there, and always had a blast - meeting dozens & dozens of people, all of whom were very, very cool. Should be an awesome time.

On the home front, Baby & mom are still doing great. More & more baby pics are being taken all the time, and I cannot keep up with posting them on-line. I did manage to send a few up a week or to ago - here they are. She already looks different. Fatherhood rocks - I can't wait to see how her personality develops.

In other (totally irrelevant to almost everyone else) news, I am going through hassle of upgrading my cellphone. I say "hassle" because, despite being in IT, I am not a 'gadget guy.' I am a tinkerer. I tinker. I like to know how things work. I like to get the most value out of something that I can, which means often upgrading it, customizing the hell out ot it, and avoiding replacing it if all possible.

Case in point: My home PC is about 5 years old. Over time, it's received a new power supply, upgraded memory & video card, and external add-ons in a bout to extend its useful life. And generally, that tactic has worked for me. In the case of cell phones, I typically buy a phone that is considered "old" by market standards, and use it for 2+ years. My previous Nokia 6236i was 'old' when I got it 2.5 years ago. Nothing fancy. The camera is crap. The screen is tiny. But I knew how to work it, browse e-mail in a pinch, and - most importantly - send & receive phone calls (imagine that...). In 2.5 years, I had a grand total of 3 issues with the phone, all totally resolved by turning it off and then back on again. As far as I'm concerned, that is brilliant in terms of phone performance. It just worked.

So, how do I replace that? I ended up getting the LG enV2. This phone has 2 interfaces - an "old person" phone on the front that has large buttons and very little 'flash.' Inside, it's a bit more modern with a flip-up screen and a full (albeit tiny) keyboard. The 'old person' interface suits me fine because it's perfect for what the phone will be doing 90% of the time for me - making calls. The flip part will help for watching Elmo vids in a pinch when the baby needs to be entertained when we're traveling somewhere. And the keyboard will probably save me from becoming insane when, while traveling, I actually use it to type an SMS message or compose an e-mail.

I don't know why this crap is so difficult for me. Other people seem to replace PCs and cell phones every other month and don't complain about it (at least, not to me). Maybe I'm just cosmically cursed when it comes to gadgets - I usually end up seriously disliking the ones I own after a few months...

Anyway, hope all is well with you out there. Don't forget - only about 1 month (and counting) until Summer Solstice XVII...!