YES YES YES FINAL FANTASY 8 DOWNLOADABLE PSP PORTABLE/PS3 RELEASED TODAY YES YES YES

Free Macheist bundle. If 500,000 people sign up/download the last serial gets unlocked. Hey, we like free stuff, right?

Arcreus download at TRU Nov 7-15th.

I have a really big problem with getting new bags and shoes.

Seriously, I have way too many.

I found this cool website through Slickdeals a while back called Sierra Snowboard. They carry lots of great gear at very reasonable prices. They're in Utah, so that means even with the slowest shipping I manage to get my stuff in about 3 days. I've picked up a ton of Gravis stuff from there at stupidly affordable prices (last week I got a new luggage set thing marked down from $260ish to about... $60ish, and it's matching little brother for less. I picked up some smaller bags for $5 and $10, including a new toiletry bag. The best laptop case I ever got was from there for $5. The only problem is their stock on the good prices goes fast. None of the stuff I bought less than a week ago is even available anymore. It's crazy! They also do this thing where they credit you money back if they were selling something, you bought it, then the price went down again. Great service and great stuff.

This totally happened at the Disney Store today.

Guy cashier: "Are you wearing a Wildcats button?"
Me: "Yeah?"
Guy: "That's HOT."
Me: "I know, right?"

This time, to Mexico to visit nanakaoru with catsonmarswhile she's still on maternity leave. Yay!

I look forward to warm weather.

I saw the Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time in theatres. I have that ticket stub somewhere around here...

Rose: "Besides, what does Spock know about raising babies? On Vulcan all the kids are born in pods."

Random commentary, George was a hottie. I'm just sayin.

I found this AMAZING BLOG.

KITTI GRAFFITI.

I wish I thought of this first! But knowing the internet, no one will have seen this at work when I decide to do this to a kitten calendar in 2010.

Here it is in five 10 minute installments.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Enjoy!

And because I've finally figured out how to upload YouTube videos correctly, this means some older AX ones that are small enough will be uploaded at some point. Muahahaha.

So, about a day before my trip to Florida, I accidently broke the screen on my N81. I was devistated, as a replacement screen for the aproximate price of $30 could not be shipped to me immediately. I would have had to wait a week. Since it was right before my birthday, I knew I'd be away from home quite a few days and needed some kind of contacting device and I honestly could not go back to the N-Gage QD (I love you, but you are now past your prime).

I had an old 2G iPhone that I had repaired with many hours, along with blood sweat and tears. It was a beast, but it was my beast and I was prepared to update my plan to an unlimited internet plan just so I could use this thing for the week until I got back and fixed my N81.

Size:

All the iPhone sizes are relative to what you want in a phone, but the iPhone (all versions, 2g, 3g, etc) are still kinda bulky when it comes down to it. You could get a tiny ass candybar phone with no qwerty and have something that's really portable instead. I found a case for it, but found the case along with all the protectiveness I put it in to be rather bulky. If you're used to a Sidekick, this is about the same relative size without a flipout screen.

Functionality:

Now let me get this straight, there is only one thing I enjoy in my phone - customizing it to be mine. I like changing the pictures, ringtones, message tones, etc, to be specifically me. At one point, every single one of my friends had the Kim Possible beep as a message tone - but I started that trend, yo!

As of the previous OS (I hear they're working on this?), the iPhone could not do a custom message beep. You could set the ringtones to be for specific people, but unless you are Apple-Savvy, you are stuck with default tones or paying Apple for a ringtone to a song you like. More Apple-Savvy folk can use the current iLife Garageband to cut the tone to your liking, then rename the file. But that seems like a lot when the previous phones I could just dump mp3's or midi's onto it and choose that as my tone. No extra steps, costs, or hardware involved.

For those who text, messaging a party meant you could send a text and maybe send the same text to multiple people. This isn't so with the iPhone. Your SMS messages are kept like a conversation, such as bubbles coming from one side and another. If you wanted to remove just one singlular part of this conversation (such as an inappropriote text or unimportant one), you had to remove the entire conversation. It does stay linked to the person you're talking to, and it's neat to look back on a frame of reference... but doesn't seem like a traditional text. My friends sometimes forward texts about party invites, and that would be impossible with this phone. Also, despite incorporating a camera? No picture messages.

But, you're going to tell me, that's not the beauty of the iPhone. It's all about the Apps! The Gps! The Weatherbug thing! Widgets!!!!!!1!1!11one

I'll admit, if you're aching for an application that does what you want for little to no thought, iPhones got a crapload. Some great, some not so great. Twitter was a breeze, actually looking at my Facebook was no longer a hassle. Look, a fake zippo! How original.

But that's not what I want in my phone.

Techspec wise, it's got the usual bands for the future. You can go to most countries and actually call from them now. You couldn't with the 2G, but they finally included that pesky 2100 band this go-around.

Wi-Fi is cool to leach off of. In fact, I use my iPhone without a sim card in it and play with it like it's an elaborate iTouch through my router here at home. However, most new phones have this and have an option to search for wi-fi so this isn't a selling point.

Battery life is so-so. In comparison to the N81, it's not good. Standby it'll last multiple days, but if you had to use it for what it's made for (such as internet browsing, any apps like games, whatnot) it wipes the battery like it's hungry. Within a half hour, it seemed that the battery went from full to zero because we were trying to access a bank website that kept timing out (no one's fault, but the battery is the one we're looking at right now). Listening to music or watching movies does an equal amount of drain that you wouldn't normally have on it. Expect to charge often if you use a lot of apps and features that require doing something other than standby mode.

I also don't like the extra costs they include just because it's an iPhone. I could spend a crapton of money and get an N97 that has a touch screen, has all the Nokia-like features I enjoy, does just as much as the iPhone and still pay less for my plan because it's decidedly NOT an iPhone.

Also don't be fooled by the price it claims. For example, yes, a new 3GS at the 16GB with a 2 year contract will cost you, what, $199 out the door, but what if ... you are driving down the street and accidently left it on the car, it falls off the car and shatters dramatically. You need to replace it, it'll cost you more like $500 - $600 without a contract. The hardware is expensive.

We're all careful, even me. I was real good to my N81 and still managed to accidently break the screen. Screen cost on that off the ebays was like $30 shipped. It required me removing like 1 screw and popping up the buttons to get to the plug on the board. Took like 5 minutes.

For 2G, the digitizer+glass+LCD (which is all fused together as one, ironically) costs a good $100-$120 just for self repair. 3G is a little easier to swallow, as the items are separated but could still be like $50 for each individual part. If you're daring enough to open the sucker, it's like a maze of tiny tiny screws (about 10-15) just to crack open the case and get to the heart of it all, and it's still woven through the device to make sure you will make a mistake. Did I mention this is a process that can take 30 minutes to an hour depending on your speed and precision? Sure, most end users will not get there... but it's $100 vs $600, right?

The iPhone is sleek and pretty and trendy. It's got a lot of everything that a netbook or computers can do, but wrapped in a slightly bulky and theftable package.

If you don't care about the few sound options or text message options above, then maybe the iPhone is for you. In theory, nearly 3 years later, they're working on correcting those flaws. Wow, only took 3 years of being in the phone business to do that? If you want a little more control without having to jailbreak the thing, perhaps a smartphone is more what you're looking for.

I used it for a week and couldn't wait to get my other phone back. I'm glad I got it on the cheap and repaired it, because it taught me to respect the iPhone for what it was and also that I never, ever, want to buy one new with a contract. To each their own.

I can't find my toiletries bag from AX.

I either did one of many things with it. Mind you, I was very tired by the time I got home at 4:30somethingam that night, so I have a mixed memory of what may have happened.

1) I packed it in my black backpack instead of my regular bag at the end of con, then I remember opening this bag during the trip. Bag may have fallen out and not got put back, therefore in theory could have fallen out of car at one of our various stops or, possibly, at one of the houses I dropped people off at when car was mostly full.

2) I left it in rental car???

3) I may have had it packed in regular bag, opened it to pull something else out then didn't feel like unpacking and put it aside then it disappeared.

4) Following scenario #1, I might brought it into the house and placed it into a mysterious spot in my living room since I was too tired to actually unpack that night and it's been put in a box or under something that I would never look in.

5) While I don't recall NOT seeing it at home after the trip, I could easily just have not seen it as well and it may have been left at the hotel room. Tommy hasn't bothered replying to my text message about if he saw it, so that's just mildly annoying.

I have ransacked my bedroom, parts of my living room, and my office. Everything is a mess and I still don't have my toiletries bag and comic-con is less than a week away :( I just got this great mini-deoderant too! And I possibly lost a really nice perfume thing. Everything is replaceable except for the bag it was in, that came with my luggage. Ugh.

Where are you??

Doofinsmirtz just made a reference to liking LOL cats. He was all "Oh oh! And you know what else I found on the web? It's these pictures of cats and they're ri... oh look at this one! Invisible cheeseburger! No, huh? Well, it's not for everyone. I just think they're funny."

INTERNETZ!

And I had a pretty good time.

With the exception of longer shifts than what they even pay me for at work, along with limited eating times/them running out of food and a lack of sleep.

Had a great time in K2, not so much in K1 even though most of the events were pretty great. Had bonding moments with quite a few folks and really enjoyed that, even though it really had nothing to do with the con.

I even sang some songs for once. But only a few. Karaoke is where it's at, yo.

When someone passes away, you tend to look at all the details from the past. Remembering the good and bad times, reading old notes, look at pictures, etc.

Recently, someone from the RENTboard I frequent passed away. I found out by way of ash_ketchum through a twitter post. Through the digital age, we have more. I did not know her or talk to her, but because of that I looked at her tweets as a way of getting to know about her. I guess it's kinda a morbid curiosity. She seemed like a pretty cool chick and was only 25.

This of course got me thinking about Amanda. She blogged very little, but for mine and Harold's own amusement, she signed up on Livejournal a few years back under missfoxworthy. She didn't post much, and her last post was inane and about a bad haircut she got before went into the hospital.

I checked the comments again today and one post was done a few days ago. It said only this:

(Anonymous)
2009-06-17 01:59 pm (local)
I miss you.

I miss her too, Anonymous.

Why on earth does home depot open at 6AM?!?! I feel sorry for their employees. On that note, I'm going to now visit a home depot.