Sorry, guys. My answer to “So, do you have a sister?” is now “Yes, but she’s getting married next summer.”

:)

Congrats to The Sister and Grumple Dan on their engagement!

Happy birthday to The Sister and my esteemed Irish buddy, Fucker.

I REMEMBERED!

Also, a preemptive happy birthday to Lance, because asking me to remember two birthdays in a row is just too much. :)

Today, I had to drive to Lewiston to pick up a set of truck tires. As the title of this post suggests, I have thrown my concerns about cell phone triangulation and GPS stalking to the wind, and embraced the dark side. (I say this only partially tongue-in-cheek… But I figure if “they” want me bad enough, they’ll find me.)

It was with great glee I watched that little blue dot track my progress in the map app, with startling accuracy. And when it guided me directly to my destination with nary a glitch? Love. True love.

I then used my iPhone to find the cheapest diesel in town (Safari + GasBuddy.com – there’s an app, but I’m cheap), and to track the calories in the frappucino I bought. (Lose It! app – and oh em gee did you know a venti caramel frap with whipped cream is like 540 freaking calories!?!?!)

I’m an addict. In my defense, I have wanted one of these bad boys since before they even existed, so. My life is pretty much complete.

IPhone users: What apps do you reccomend?

Hmm.

EvilEgg over on LiveJournal pointed this out, and…

Hmm.

I’ve generally considered myself personally anti-abortion but politically pro-choice – but I’ve always felt like the line ought to be drawn at viability.

Seeing women forced into court-ordered c-sections justified by Roe a) makes me want to start a shooting war and b) makes me get… thinky. That wasn’t the way I thought the slippery slope was sliding.

Hmm.

From the police log in the university fishwrap:

Tuesday, 6:10 pm
University Avenue: Caller reported a group of construction workers whistling and catcalling as she walked by.

Letter to President William McKinley from Annie Oakley, offering the government the services of a company of 50 “lady sharpshooters” who would provide their own arms and ammunition should war break out with Spain, April 5, 1898.

I love Annie Oakley. So much. She also once said,

“I would like to see every woman know how to handle [firearms] as naturally as they know how to handle babies.”

I hope I grow up to be that cool.

USAA has a Deposit@Home feature for full members, which allows you to scan a check and deposit it instantly online.

They ALSO have an iPhone app that allows you to take a picture of a check with the iPhone camera (and it doesn’t even have to be a very good one) and deposit it instantly.

Since we have laptops and don’t have a scanner hooked up, the app is fan-shmastic for my purposes.

Today’s iPhone cost justification: COMPLETE.

P.S. I really <3 USAA.

Definitely posting this from the WordPress app on my new iPhone. I couldn’t beat ‘em, so…

Just rented/watched it. Lots of ’splodey things. Kind of an infomercial for the US Military. Storyline a leetle shallow. Megan Fox is hot. Giant robot battles.

The most notable feature of the movie, in my opinion (save Megan Fox’s hotness) was: They made a very big point of letting you know the POTUS in the movie is Obama. And then they made a very big point of sending a really annoying bureaucrat who did not know what he was talking about to screw up the military’s arrangement with the Autobots by order of the POTUS…

…An order the military promptly disregarded in the interest of Doing The Right Thing and Saving The World.

So. Take from that what you will.

My AT&T contract has been up for a couple of months, and I’m debating what my next cell-phone move should be.

The obvious choice should be an iPhone, but I have no interest in the $30/month data plan. I don’t care that much about visual voicemail, and I spend 95% of my time in WiFi range. It’s theoretically possible to get a iPhone+data plan, call AT&T a few days later from another phone saying you sold the iPhone and don’t need the data plan, then block data/spoof the APN on the iPhone so you can use WiFi exclusively. Thing is, if AT&T catches on, they reserve the right to charge you for data and/or re implement the $30/month plan, and… well, frankly, I don’t even know if I want to reward them for these shenanigans by playing along.

I’m considering going into the AT&T store and telling them they can either sell me an iPhone and contract renewal without a data plan or I’ll switch to Verizon when their Android phone comes out… which is not a complete fabrication, though it’s unlikely.

I’ve heard good things about Verizon’s coverage but not about their customer service, and it looks like the basic plan at the level I use would cost me quite a bit more than AT&T. (I also have a University of Idaho discount with AT&T.) Plus, pretty much everyone I know uses an AT&T phone, so I save a lot of minutes with their mobile-to-mobile thing. Furthermore, their coverage is decent all the places I need it, so I’d need a really compelling reason to switch to Verizon. Have one?

Oh, and don’t laugh at me, but I just realized my digital camera is a whopping – wait for it – 5.0mp. Holy new camera time, Batman – the cheapest Kodak point-and-shoot is 9.2, and models comparable to mine are 10-14!. I’m wondering if I should combine purposes with something like the CyberShot (which weighs in with a modest 8.1), or just have a phone for a phone and a camera for a camera. Maybe for Christmas. Cough. Hint. Inconvenience. Cough.

Another alternative is: Do nothing. My Samsung Sync is holding up just fine, and there’s no reason to blow my upgrade on something I’m not totally sold on. There are rumors they may come out with a better iPhone deal for people who aren’t jumping on the data plan bandwagon, so I can always wait to see if those materialize. I feel like AT&T should give me something for continuing to use their service while not obligated by a contract, though. Any thoughts on playing that bargaining chip?