Nokia's Turn at the Red Curtain

Following Apple's marketing lead with a timer and red curtain to boot, Nokia's teaser site is up and running without providing little hints as to what they have in store for Wednesday's unveiling. Speculation hints to the N82 but its only a couple of days away so just sit back and enjoy the countdown. You can also revisit Symbian Guru who, back in May, posted some images and specifications on what the N82 might have in store for its public and since then, its been really quiet...too quiet. While your there, you can browse through the N810 Tablet mini site. It looks like Nokia finally has a winner with that one but its going to be facing some stiff competition against the Asus Eee PC.

A New Phone for Sprint

Christmas has arrived early this year with the recent offering of the Motorola Q2 also known as the Motorola Q9m) available today on Sprint's Network.  Too bad the marketing ad is off to a bad start depicting the device using Palm OS Garnet while listing under specifications that it runs Windows Mobile 6.  So, if you were worried that you would have to use a 5 year old operating system, don't fret because Windows Mobile 6 on the Motorola Q2 can be yours for only $149.99. 

downgrading....

Ever since I became a Regional Airline Pilot, I have succumb to a simple life. I didn't have one that was too extravagant I might say but of course, others have had a difference of opinion. I ended up selling my Mercedes C55 AMG because I no longer wanted to bear the responsibility of the monthly payment (not that I was making it either while in school) but I felt like it was time. I will also be transporting my car bar to my mom from Atlanta and driving once more the 1985 Turbo Diesel! I'm excited to be driving that car again, but getting it there is one thing. I'm too sure exactly how I might accomplish this car swap, but we'll see how it goes.

To date, I have been spending less and less and becoming a little more frugal with my cash flow as it has been restrained by the paychecks that the airline provides me. Even though I am as skilled as I feel I am (BS degree and professional airline piot training) I'm forced to be dealt the cards of a poverish wage. It'll be a while before I can ball it up again, but I will once more. It'll just be by slower and different means. I have been able to experience the good life and I am more than eager to get back there. I do feel a sigh of relief and look foward to just being simple. I hardly buy clothes anymore or things (although I want the new PS3 and no I didn't get an iPhone) but we'll see how things go in the next few years. It's going to be an interesting ride!

Supposedly August 7th is a good day to keep in mind for new and upcoming Apple products...we'll see what ALPA and ASA provides for the pilots in the next few weeks.

waiting and waiting...

I decided that I should finally get my 10K mile service this morning right after the Valdosta Nap that I had. I'm not that tired just yet but I guess that I should be especially after having only 2.5 hours of sleep. I've been slacking when it comes to the daily things such as bills, car washes, you know...the basic stuff. I've been spending a lot of time just traveling and relaxing a little bit. Today marks the last day of my relax schedule as you can see if you click on my July Schedule, I'll be flying around 96 hours and some change. It's going to be a doozy and I guess if you were to take in the time that I am "On Duty," I'll be working more than 40 hours a week when you compare it to the normal worker bee. Make sure that you look at the calendar and see if you are going to be at the cities that I will be having a layover at and if you are, leave a comment...Let's have dinner.

I was driving yesterday to work while the thunderstorms were surrounding Atlanta and of course, we were delayed by a few hours. What do you expect you know? But one the way to the parking lot, I had my windows down and the driver next to me in a Honda Accord coupe looked at me, and rubbed in fingers together in a way while saying, "You making the ends eh?" I was just laughing a little bit, but I have to admit that I'm a little irritated that people or the general public still think that pilots make a lot. It provides for the perception that since we make so much that 1) We don't care about the passengers 2) We are too good to be them 3) We don't deserve the raises that we are fighting for. It makes us look spoiled and in fact, I have to think twice if I can buy a stupid value meal at McDonald's for breakfast which in fact I just did and it was good. We couldn't even get breakfast at the hotel this morning because they don't start the service until 0700! We left at 0545 of course to go get ready. The fact is is that ALPA needs to begin informing the public a little bit better at the airports or something. I mean, it'll definitely be a while if not it'll take me my entire life to achieve the American Dream if I just sit back and hang out at the airports.

I was on top of the iPhone news debut yesterday and am still frantically thinking about getting one. I can't believe it because I can't afford it, but damn...all the videos look sick! I guess I'll do better as long as I don't go to the store and look at one. I heard that once you touch it, you can't let it go. Damn this tech addiction!

Anyways, like I might have mentioned a few days ago, I'm going to try and be better in updating this blog. Please leave you comments and stuff and it'll motivate me even more.

updating + time

I've been just really up to no good lately. I've gotten lazy and after I get to the hotel at the various places that I go, I'm just tired. I'll try to better again in July and keep it more up to-date. I'm not sure if you have been following along but I'm activated the "twitter" feature and usually you can find the latest short ramblings to the right of the main title of the blog. It's meant to be short and sometimes I'm just that lazy to type anything out so I just use my phone. It's actually really nice.

I've also update my pilotcrossings profile with my full July schedule. (it's easy to look at my schedule as long as you sign up for it. It's free for everyone and its actually really cool. I'm blocked to fly approximately 96.06 hours!!! It's going to be a crazy month but I guess that I should get with the program and accumulate more hours rather than sitting on my ass. I get to fly to Freeport, Bahamas next month but its not an overnight. It should prove though to be a lot of fun. I can't wait. I'm doing the same trip for 3 weeks in July and I'm also planning to go to Anchorage to visit one of my buddies from CAPT. Should be fun and I hope that the loads work out!

My friend Bobby is finishing up his Doctor of Osteopathy degree and studying for his boards on July 22nd. I was able to catch up with him and he even showed me a thing or two. It's awesome how I'm at the age where my friends are now professionals. I still have a way to go till I get upgraded, but maybe once I'm there, I'll feel like I'm somewhat on par.

I haven't gone shopping in a while but there were some awesome sales at Ruehl, Abercrombie and Hollister so I had to buy a few shirts. I've been watching movies like crazy lately with Adelle. We were able to catch up with some of the latest and greatest such as Spiderman 3 on IMAX, Shrek 3, Pirates of the Carribean part 3, Oceans 13 (wow that's a lot of sequels eh?), and Knocked Up. The most fun was probably the last one but they were all somewhat entertaining. The most disappointing of the batch was probably Shrek the Third. They should stop probably with this one.

The iPhone is coming out and I'm not as excited for it as much as I am for the new Sprint Mogul phone. It can do just about everything but just has a smaller screen and runs Windows Mobile 6. There are a lot of limitation with the iPhone but I'm sure that when Apple can release different models on other carriers, I'll start to garner a little more interest on it. I'm probably going to call Sprint though and see what kind of deal I can get by staying with them. If not, then hey, I'll go grab the iPhone!

Padres are doing alright and we were first for a while, but once again, the hard division that we are in is just getting the best of us. I hope that it ends well though which I'm sure it will!

I'm checking out the Otterbox right now and am tempted to grab it for my iPod video. I'm into swimming more so right now as it is less intense than running on my joints. I just feel like doing it with some tunes in my ear. We'll see how the headphone set works with it too! I'll do a review or something of the set once I get them. Alright, that's enough right now. I'll post more later. CYA!

I was home this past weekday to celebrate my mom and girlfriend's birthday. I didn't get to do anything with my mom, but Adelle and I went to Sea World and just hung out. It was good times!

of Peter Pan Peanut Butter

Apparently the last two jars of peanut butter that I bought have a chance of containing Salmonella Tennessee. Yeah for me especially when I already finished 95% of one of the jars. Sorry babe if you had some of it too. Luckily, Adelle or I did not have any symptoms or anything. I took a picture of my jars and posted them on trelijah. Usually its fun to be part of something cool, but this time around it just isn't that exciting. =(

I finally got a chance to take some pix of unboxxing the new Jawbone Headset from Aliph. It is really comfortable and the sound quality is actually pretty good. Since I'm still not on the receiving end, I'm not really sure on how the quality is, but I'll post more on a review later. The presentation is definitely top notch and the little extras are great too. The boxes that you see online on ebay from Cingular are definitely a lot different than what I got. Since I ordered it directly from Aliph last week, the packaging was without a branded cellular provider box. I haven't had the chance to try out the different ear pieces because the standard one fit just fine. It is a little bigger than other headsets, but it does boast to have 6 hours talk time. That's a lot more than the competition. Here's the company's website, http://www.jawbone.com.

I was able to relax today but I think that I can squeeze in a couple of hours for studying. Just two really. Well, I'm off to get something done. I might work out, but might not. We'll see how I feel. Tomorrow is definitely going to consist of at least 6-8 hours of hardcore review and studying. Wish me luck on that plan!

...living without roommates

This past 3 weeks have gone by rather quickly and I have to admit that living by myself in a hotel room once again has yet to spike the "awesome" meter. As I tell everyone else, it's only cool when you're 18, single and wouldn't mind inviting people upstairs every now and then. Living the true penthouse life-style. Well, that couldn't be done here either at the oh so luxurious Red Roof Inn, Atlanta North. It's quite enjoyable when you hear little scratching between the walls then upon breakfast, your peers tell you that what you hear is the sound of mice. That's a spike in the sarcastic "awesome" meter.

Again, back to the subject, I've since lived in a place where there was always social interaction with at least someone else. From 2005 up until living in the hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Luxembourg and now, it's just not fun. Even though there are more than 16 of us floating around the floors and halls of this hotel, not to mention the other 30 or so new employees, it just doesn't have the common room effect where you could just lie down on a coach, talk random stuff and "hang out." It almost is a production every time you want to get people together. Don't get me wrong, we're all here for one thing and that is training, but still, a living room can bring the needed ingredient for sanity...at least on my end.

I was able to get a lot of studying done tonight and am surprised by the amount of notecards that I have learned. It's definitely one of the best strategies to get to know simple facts quickly. Now if I could only get the memory action items down pack, I think that I would be 50% ready for the test on Friday. We'll see how my studying goes for tomorrow.

Let's see here is my dining menu for today:

• Breakfast - One Jimmy Dean's Ham Cheese Sandwich (where after I microwaved the thing, all the cheese melted onto the plate so I had to improvise and just eat an American Kraft singles square along side it), one glass of orange juice, bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal and a Banana.
• Lunch - amazing leftovers from Smokey Bones which included half of my leftover Pulled Pork Sandwich, 1 potato skin loaded with cheddar cheese and bacon, and 1 chicken strip.
• Dinner - Canned Italian Ravioli, Deli Meat Sandwich with melted cheese and some carrots with dip.

All of this was within the confines of my awesome hotel room. I have to say that I'm very happy that I was able to save up a little money today. I even went back to Best Buy to exchange my camera, bought some batteries, and still spent less because I brought the $30 worth of coupons. Good deal! After that, Eric, Justin and I went to Barnes and Nobles and I didn't buy a thing! Yeah! That's what I'm talking about.

Now, if I could only find some time to actually configure my Linksys Router to the DD-WRT firmware, I could share my internet connection and save more money! Loving it! I didn't get to work out today, but at least I ate well and am drinking way too much water. I'm doing just about 750 mL every hour or two which definitely is just awesome!

sports news: Bill Parcells retired today so does that mean that the Chargers are going to lose another one of their staffing coaches, Wade Phillips? It's going to be a tough year next year. We're already lined up to play both SuperBowl contenders. How exciting!

of frostbite

I got the wonderful idea of wearing my rainbows (slippers) tonight as we walked to dinner across the parking lot. I think that I actually hurt myself! The windchill was just too much to bear on my feet. I wore my trusty new Gap Pea Coat which has definitely served its monies worth but that only protected my upper half. Next think you know, I'll have some dual layer sockage going.

I ate a little heavy today (Wendy's for lunch then a burger at Ruby Tuesday's for dinner) even though my stomach was still going through some bloaty and achy feeling. I also ordered a Chocolate Frosty which probably didn't help at all either. I don't know what's going on, but I was definitely unable to do anything last night because of this. I was finally able to ease my pain a little bit today, but its still hurting. I hope that I get better and fast!

I was dying today in class. I couldn't stay awake if it was to save my life! I definitely was trying but I just couldn't resist the sleepiness. I had to do one of those "just working out my neck" thing to counter my head falling back as I just dozed off! The harder that I concentrate on clicking and reading, I start to dream of doing those things. I can't even tell when my eyes are closed or open! I got to class 1hour early so that I didn't have to stay later or be passed up by my collegues in class, but 2 hours into the regular scheduled lesson, I was already behind. Not by far, but I now recognize that I have to start early and end late just to be on par. It's definitely worth it, but it does take a toll. When I get back to my room, I can't even open a book because of how burnt out I am. I'm looking forward to studying all day on Saturday and Sunday. It's going to be an awesome weekend!

I'm still debating on whether or not to upgrade my phone so that I could benefit from EVDO and get over this 1xRTT internet connection or slowness at this place!? I'll try holding out for a little while longer. As the sales specialist told me, something cool might come out by the end of February.

bout time....Happy New Year!!!

What an awesome 2006! I closed out two chapters of my life and ushered in a new one. I hope that everyone has been able to follow along. This will be "the blog" to check out for a while until another significant even starts up.

It's has been about 1 year to the day since all the blackberry users received a nice gift from Google. Finally, today, I just noticed that Google released the Google Maps Application for the Palm Treo. I started playing around with it already and it is everything that I could have wanted. This application alone was one reason why I even contemplated switching to the Blackberry 8700. Now, hopefully they'll start playing with some integration that will enable you to add in the contact to your directory.

Still no hope for the gMail Google App that is on the Blackberry for the Treo. We'll see in the next few months!

Adelle is here and we were able to celebrate the New Year together. We also got to watch The Pursuit of Happyness the other day which was a sweet movie. I still need to catch Good Shepherd, but it will be a while until some funds roll around. I spent it with a couple of friends at a local bar. It was everything that I could have hoped for. :-) I hope that everyone else had a good and safe New Year. It's going to be an awesome 2007!

oh yeah, I also bought some awesome Wrangler Khakis pants from "the Wal-Mart" the other day and they feel better than the ones that I have been buying from Banana Republic. I know that it is weird that I've said that, but we'll see how the Dockers feel when I get a chance to buy them somewhere. (I left a pair of BR Khakis in the Luxembourg Hilton a while back but it didn't matter because they weren't that great. ) That's probably my next purchase during this year. Have to get back to the business casual attire again. Oh joy!

Google Maps and It's Wonders

So, as I was reading my daily tech news, I stumbled up the new jawbone bluetooth headset from aliph. I know that some of this was posted 4 days ago and in tech news that's like so last year's news, but you have to watch the video that they have on their site regarding its functionality. It was also uploaded to YouTube and its just down below for you peeps.

There are also multiple sites that talk about the new toy such as i4u to engadget. I found another website called bluetomorrow (link provided by engadget) which has a great write up on the device. It's getting great reviews and I just can't wait to try it out. I must get my hands on one of these. What do you guys think of it? Look below for explanation of the title.

You might be wondering why I titled this entry "Google Maps and It's Wonders" huh? Well, me being my obsessive compulsive self decided to see if I could locate one around my area. They are only currently being sold through Cingular Wireless Stores around the country so I located a few on Google Maps and I found a new feature! When I clicked on the red balloon it had the regular fields of drive to, etc but then I saw that it had a "call for free" dialogue box. Further more, it was a feature that would call you number that you specify and then call the other line once you pick up. You don't even have to dial the number manually anymore...it just works! How awesome is that?!