Despite being into technology I am usually always behind on having the latest and greatest. One, I’m a college student (‘nough said), and two, I’d rather wait and get feedback from others about a product before buying. I’d rather be late in the game than wasting money on something that turns out to be underwhelming.

I have been an Apple user since ’05, and say what you will about their prices, they produce great products. Just this year I upgraded my Powerbook G4 to a Macbook. I probably could have waited a little while longer but with the software I needed for college it was running a little slow for my comfort. It has now been passed on to my sister. My current iPhone is the 1st generation that I bought off of a friend when they announced the first 3G model. I’ve been using this phone for the last two years and it has served me well but it is time. Oh, it is time!

After the debacle of trying to pre-order the phone on the 14th, I was finally able to reserve one at the Apple store. The following day I was finally able to pre-order it, but it wasn’t scheduled to arrive until July 6-8. I was a bit bummed but I could wait. I waited until Friday and decided to trek up to the Apple store in Louisville. Heh. I was not getting my hopes up because after seeing the lines on launch day I didn’t think they’d have any left. I got there about 8:30am and there were only 20 people ahead in line. After waiting about 20 minutes the concierge at the door said they had sold out of the 16GB model; what I wanted. BUT I made the special trip, and I was already waiting; I’ll shell out another $100. An hour after arriving I was in and out with my phone activated!

I think the girl who was helping me in the store was a little too excited that I was upgrading from the original to the newest model. I can understand her excitement now after using the iPhone 4. Just simple things like turning the phone on and off is significantly faster, checking in on foursquare (my new addiction) is substantially faster, too.

I’ve spent a lot of time playing around with the phone this weekend and I am in love. I’ve only ran into one issue so far and that was pairing my Jawbone headset up with the new phone. After doing my own troubleshooting, looking at forums and what their solutions were, nothing was working. I finally had a friend look at it and it almost immediately paired to my phone. Go figure!

The one thing I am completely blow away by is the display. Seriously, the colors are so vivid and the text looks incredible. The screenshot below from twitter is a perfect example of how amazing the text looks. My only wish for the future is the ability to install themes without having to jailbreak it. I have no intention of jailbreaking this phone any time soon so I’ll be patient and hope that one day Apple will jump on the bandwagon.

I first began this post wanting to detail 2008 and the many things that happened, but I don’t want to bore you with what you’ve been able to read in the past, or that I’ve told you. Most of my readers are close friends who hear about what I’m up to on a regular basis, especially if you read my twitter updates. I probably update twitter more than I should at times, but I suppose there are far worse addictions. Overall, 2008 has been a wonderful year. I’ve met a lot of new friends, mostly through flickr, that I continue to see on a regular to somewhat regular basis. Most importantly, I traveled more than I’ve ever done before in a year span. I think that was my big “resolution” for 2008: to travel more. To view photos from 2008 click here.

As for 2009 I’m not making any “resolutions” per-say, maybe a few goals. The word “resolution” seems like a doomed word, who really keeps their resolutions? Well, I suppose there are people out there with willpower, but I’m not one of them. I guess my big goal for this 2009 is to complete Project 365.

I attempted Project 365 last year and it fizzled out shortly after day 100. I lasted longer than I originally thought I would . . . so that’s positive? If you’re unfamiliar with Project 365 it’s pretty simple: you take a photo each day. I recall learning quite a bit about my camera when I was participating, and it’s not a crazy goal to have to keep up with. It helps that some of my friends are participating this year too. I posted my first photo (left) yesterday of my niece. If you’d like to keep up with the my project without joining flickr, you can subscribe to the feed here or livejournal users can add tmg_flickr to their friends.

I’m also brainstorming design ideas for a personal photography website. My brother told me I should do it, and for some reason I’m listening to him. What’s the worst that could happen? Not getting any clients? I’m at least attempting a step forward.

I hope 2008 treated you well and 2009 continues to do so! Happy new year!

I always pass Bernheim Forest on my way to Louisville, but in the twenty-four years I’ve been living here, I’ve never stopped. I didn’t have class today because of Election Day, so my flickr friend JJ and I headed up there. After getting there and walking on one of the trails I was kicking myself for not visiting Bernheim sooner. It’s so pretty and peaceful to be surrounded by the woods. I live on a 185-acre farm and I am surrounded by woods but they’re not as extravagant. If we have any more warm days and I’m off I’m definitely going back before we head into Winter.

After going on a short trail and then across the Canopy Bridge we headed back to JJ’s car to find another spot to take pictures at. When he put his key in the ignition his key would not turn. He wrestled with it for about 30 minutes, I even tried and no luck. He eventually called a tow truck and I had to find someone to take me back to my car, my car was about 15 minutes away. I’m usually not in these situations so after calling my brother and finding he was unavailable I didn’t know who else to call. I could’ve called my parents but they would freak out if they drove on the expressway. My friends were all working and by the time they got off of work the park would be closed. I finally decided to call my boss and he picked me up at about 4:30-4:45. After I got back to my car I called JJ to see if he was on his way home. He was still waiting, it turned out that the tow truck went to the wrong address, and it was going to be another thirty minutes before he showed up. Needless to say, today was not his day. :(

Despite the inconvenience of JJ’s car being temperamental I had a good day. Today was the perfect fall day, high of 75, with the sun out showing the beautiful fall leaves. I truly love this time of year! The past few years in Kentucky we haven’t had a very long fall, it usually went from really hot to really cold over a few days. I’m happy when days like these come along and I can actually do something with them. You can view the rest of my photos here.

I was considering leaving it behind on vacation because of the limited space in my Crumpler bag, but I’m very happy that I didn’t. If only I would have thought to bring it along when we were at the shore, I probably would have used an entire roll (12 photos or 16 if you’re using a different mask) while there. All these photos were taken on vacation with the exception of the photo in the middle. There are a couple of holga photos that I uploaded to flickr that are not on the website if you’re interested. Click here.

Thanks again to my wonderful e-friend, Kris who sent me a roll of Fujifilm Superia film for my birthday. All of the photos I took on vacation was used with that film, and it’s probably in my head, but I do like it a lot better than the Kodak I had been using. Must pick up more film and keep practicing! :)

Thanks to one of my friends who recently upgraded his iPhone I now own an iPhone. I’m always behind on technology and I end up buying things long after the hype, so I’m happy that I have some kind of moderately new technology. I haven’t went to AT&T to add phone service to it, I will eventually, but there is still so much you can do with an iPhone outside of using it as a phone. I had originally intended to buy an iPod touch because the “smart phones” phone+data plans were too steep. Basically I needed something where I could store notes and add events to a calendar. I have been utilizing iCal more than ever before by adding my work schedule and dates that I need to remember. I’ve even been using Notes to add to-do lists as well. I know I’ll be using both features even more when I go back to school in a month. I’m becoming forgetful in my old age! hee.

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As you know the iTunes store is now selling apps for the iPhone and iPod touch, a website I visited recently said that over 10 million apps were downloaded within the first weekend. That’s crazy but I can see why. I’ve been checking back daily for new apps – these apps are very addicting. If only there was a way to get daily emails from the app store on new apps. Maybe there’s something that I’ve missed?

Current Apps:
- AIM
I prefer Adium but until they make an app AIM will suffice.

- Check Please
A good way to make sure your waitress/waiter is getting their deserved tip.

- Crash Bandikoot
The most entertaining app that I’ve stumbled upon…so far. Unlike the other apps listed here this is one you have to buy. However, this app is worth every penny because all you have to do is move around your iphone to the movements. I completely suck at it right now but it’s a lot of fun.

- Exposure
I’ve been told that Mobile Flickr is better but I’m cheap. I don’t do a lot of flickr browsing on my phone so I can’t justify purchasing an app.

- Facebook
A simple way to keep up with your facebook friends when you’re away from the computer.

- Phone Saber
It’s a light saber and it makes light saber noises when you move your iPhone. It’s one of those apps that provide brief entertainment then it gets old.

- Scribble
Bored and want to draw something? My thoughts on this app is similar to Phone Saber: brief entertainment.

- Tap Tap Revenge
This app would be incredibly cool if it had more than one song available on each skill level. If you’ve played Guitar Hero or Rock Band (who hasn’t?) it’s similar. This app has a lot of potential if you were able to download more songs or able to use songs in your iTunes library.

- Twitterrific
I’m addicted to twitter and can’t help but love the interface for this app. I wish that there was a way to buy both the ad-free app and ad-free mac app as a bundle instead of spending $35 for both.

What apps do you have installed? Favorites? Apps you’d like to see made? How many times can I say “apps” in one post?