Thumb Pain From Cell Phone Use

I love reading the New York Times on my iPhone when I have spare moments. Sorry to say that this is the first and last activity I do while in bed.

Over the last two weeks I have noticed that my thumb joints have aches. I just wrote it off to aging. As I observed the use of my thumbs during the day I realized this pain has increased with my reading of the NYT. It is exacerbated by writing emails on my phone.

I also notice that using my eyes this way - narrow, small focus and squinting - also causes ocular pain. Lesson I am learning: relax in bed and buy a paper.

Crack is Back!

A crackberry, that is. Went to the Apple store and it would have cost me $499 for a new iPhone - even with my "service" plan, because I still had 18 months on my contract and wasn't ready for an upgrade. I ended up talking to ATT for two hours by phone - first for an hour in the Apple store and then another hour in the ATT store. It became clear, after conducting a cost-benefit analysis, that closing out my account and paying the early contract termination fee and then starting a new account and getting the $99 iPhone was going to save me about $200. When I went to do it, ATT put me through to various departments until the final customer service representative offered a "deal I couldn't refuse."

So, now I'm back to having a crackberry. I'm actually quite excited for a few of reasons. First, the keyboard is so much better on the crackberry. Second, it is kind of nice to be going backwards a bit and not having the latest hottest technology (is that weird?). Third, as you know I love endless change. Here I've changed again. Oh yes, the camera on the crackberry allows me to take better self-portraits and I can post more easily to my blog. That's why you haven't seen portraits in about six months - very challenging on the iPhone.

Here's a YouTube video comparing an iPhone to the Blackberry Bold.



Never a dull moment in Amyville.

Iphone-less

Oh bummer. I lost my purse with my iPhone in it this evening when I went dancing with Hisun. It isn't the end of the world but now I have to replace it. Hisun was kind enough to drive me all over Berkeley, Oakland and Emeryville to look for the lost phone. This crazy path was because we tried out so many dance clubs. We ended up having a lovely evening at The Den in Oakland. When we returned everyone was so nice to us, trying to help find the phone. In my previous life I would have cried and called myself stupid for the loss. Now I have no emotions because it is just stuff and what does stuff really matter? Replaceable.

Funky iPhone Photos

You get some mighty funky iPhone images when you move the camera mid-shot.

Morning Bike Ride in Alameda

This morning I was up at the crack of dawn because last night I lost my keys and I had to find them. They were in my hands when I locked up my City Car Share vehicle. Then I went to Alameda Bicycle to get my tires filled. From there I cycled home from Fruitvale BART. Arriving back at the house I went to open the storage room door to park Ike the Bike for the evening...no keys! I didn't fret. What's the point. They're only keys.

As soon as I opened my eyes this morning I called Alameda Bicycle to see if they found my keys. Nope. Okay, I pulled myself out of bed, put on my sporty biking clothes (what a nice change from biking in fancy business outfits) and started retracing my route back to Fruitvale BART. I figured the keys could be anywhere along the route or even on the fender of the City Car Share vehicle - hopefully.

Just a few blocks into my ride I stopped to adjust my seat and when I looked down at the ground - there were my keys! What were they doing on this side of the road? If I hadn't stopped I certainly would not have seen them. They were run over by a car and a bit mangled but most of them still work and just one was lost in the accident. Ah yes, another lesson in not fretting and just getting on with the search.

Took advantage of the beautiful morning and did some bike riding along the beach. Alameda is so beautiful. This image got a bit weird because I moved the iPhone mid-shot. But I'm liking the effect.

International Ocarina

My neighbor and fellow consultant Theron just introduced me to the coolest iPhone application I've ever experienced. Its called the Ocarina, which is like a flute and the application is created by Smule. This application turns your iPhone into an Ocarina with the touchscreen acting as the wind instrument and your breathing into the microphone is the wind. It instantly produces beautiful music.



Here's the best part - you can link into people playing their iPhone Ocarinas all over the world. They can hear your music and you hear theirs. Now to get in tune!

iPhone Challenges

Posting photos from my iPhone is proving challenging. As you can see I get that horrible ShoZu logo and it takes forever for them to be sent. That's why you're seeing my Bike to Work Day image three days late. Working out the technological glitches.

Another Technology Meltdown

What a challenging tech day. The rollerball mouse on my crackberry got stuck and so I searched on the web for cleaning options. I found a website that explains how to get the rollerball out and clean it. Mind you, I am not a gentle technology user. As soon as I had the little mechanism removed all the pieces exploded. Plus, there was no little fuzzball clogging up the rollerball like they showed on the website. Like taking apart a car engine, I tried to put it back together but there were extra miniscule parts and the little cover wouldn't fit back on.

Well, time for a new crackberry. However, I have to pay full price because I still have many months left on my current one. Suddenly I had a brainstorm - why not get an iphone (aka icrack) instead? It would synch with my Mac computer and be so super hip and cool.

I packed up all the little bits and pieces from my poor crackberry, that now has a hole in its head like it had a lobotomy, and treked into the City to get an iphone. The guy at the store was nice enough, of course since he was selling me a hugely expensive vanity phone product, but he didn't seem to get the phone setup correctly - or even at all. I had to run to facilitate a client board meeting so I figured I would get back to the icrack later in the evening.

Here I am, later in the evening and I can't get my Mac to talk to the iphone. Are they in disagreement? One jelous of the other? Plus, I can't scroll through my crackberry to get phone numbers and check my calendar because the bloody rollerball is out. To top it off I can't find hte little bag that I put the roller ball into to save all its itsy bitsy parts.

So sorry Mr. Crackberry that I poked your eye and was disloyal in quickly replacing you with an icrack that is spiteful. Ah, another technology meltdown.

Giving Off a Friendly Vibe

This evening I think I was giving off a friendly vibe. After hanging at my new favorite cafe in the Mission, La Boheme (great decaf Chai lattes, casual atmosphere, filled with creative types and always a place to find my friend Andrew), I headed down to 24th Street BART station and started tapping away on my crackberry. An older, professional looking man approached and asked if he could sit next to me. I made space and continued my crack addiction while he pulled out his crackberry and started looking over my shoulder. I didn't know what to make of his actions so I kept an eye on him and noticed that he was comparing his crackberry to mine.

"You're Blackberry is so sleek" he said.
"It is the newest one - I got it on Monday." I responded.
"Oh it is so nice. Mine is not so nice. It is too big. But it is for work so I have to carry it around."
"This is an addiction - you can keep getting the latest and greatest ones - just look at people going crazy over the iphone." I commented.
"Yeah, I guess this one works for me. Oh, gotta go, that's my train. Nice chatting with you." He reaches over and gives me a nice pat on the shoulder.

This guy didn't try to pinch (British term for stealing something) my crackberry, he didn't try to pick me up, he just wanted to chat about our technology.

Then I got on the train, took a seat and pulled out my new book The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Chabon. The woman in the seat next to me said.
"Ooh, do you like the book?"
"Just started it, on page 11 and good so far."
"I'm reading Salomon Rushdie. His latest book is fantastic."

On and on went our conversation and it extended into clothing, mortgages, Victorian lifestyles, and Alameda - where we both happen to live. The woman offered me a ride home and I said yes. Well, should could have tried to kill me or something crazy but I decided to take the chance. We chatted the entire way.

It is still a reverse culture shock to have people be so friendly to me after my time in the UK, especially on London's Tube where even if the person next to you is reading the same book as you no conversation is made. I love that folks from the San Francisco Bay Area are eager to make small talk and get to know people. In the past I would have shied away but now I'm "living out loud" and trying to connect to people. Seems worth the effort.

iPhone Post Explained

My brother-in -law Mandeep let me use his iPod. So amazing. The resolution is like looking at a computer screen. I was able to reach my blog and post a title but it couldn't read the flash for the body of the post. That will be in the next iPhone generation.