New Phones - Palm Pre & Samsung Exclaim

So & I are on Sprint and our phones were dying quick and painful deaths. Not holding a charge, ringing once then going to voicemail, etc. were problems we saw with increasing frequency. Hey, they were 4 and 5 years old and stellar until just recently so I give Sanyo and Sprint credit for that.


The Plan - Sprint Everything Plus Family Data 1600 + pick 3 + pick 2)

First things first. The Sprint voice + data network where I am now (O'ahu, Hawaii) and where I travel (usually Los Angeles, CA) has been excellent. Anecdotally, Sprint seems to do better on the coasts and now Hawaii I guess and worse in between. All the phones I've had have been Sanyos which may explain why I've never had problems. Free phones are a bad idea as a rule and give every network a bad name. When you can't make or receive calls reliably it's something of a problem. This is for the people who maybe haven't used Sprint or have used a bad device on the network or heard from a friend how crappy it was, etc. I'm not an apologist or fanboy as Sprint's got more than their fair share of problems. It's just kind of funny hearing people dismiss a network they haven't used. Done.

The Sprint Everything Plus Family Data 1600 - $109/mo. (taxes not included)

• 2 lines of service
• 1600 shared anytime minutes
• Unlimited Nights and Weekends starting at 7pm
• Unlimited Data (web, email, IM, Sprint TV, Sprint Music, Pandora, etc.)
• Unlimited Text messages (SMS & MMS)
• Unlimited picture and video mail
• Unlimited in network calls (Any Sprint number you call doesn't count towards your minutes)
• Unlimited Sprint Navigation (provided by Telenav, subscription included with plan) - Turn by Turn audible GPS navigation - Woot!
• Additional lines are $14.99/mo. ?
  

2 year contract with full discounts on phones, 30 day trial (and return on phones if they don't work out for you), and of course the dreaded ETF or Early Termination Fee.

I don't think this is the plan where mom or dad gets a smartphone and everyone else gets the free phones. There are probably a few family plans out there where you can customize text and data options combined with a minutes package to get something cheaper but probably not by much and if you plan on using data or going over your text allotment at all, this is by far the simpler and likely cheaper plan.

If you go to the regular Sprint.com website you'll see the regular single and family plans which are more expensive and include less minutes. The key to the Everything Plus plan is it's a referral plan which means normally you need someone on the inside to refer you. Luckily you've got a friend in Russ McGuire, VP of Strategy for Sprint. Click here for his blog with the link to the Everything Plus sign up plan and his employee info you need to get there. This is all fully legit and the easiest way to save an extra $20 a month. There are also very nice discounts on all plans except Simply Everything plans which include all the above but unlimited minutes. The plans speak for themselves and if you're in the market for a new phone and Sprint's network is competitive in your area, do yourself a favor and check it out.


The Palm Pre (or Palm^® Pre™ if you're at the Palm website)

$199 after rebate. It's not an iPhone and it's not perfect but it's beautiful and good at what it does, and hopefully Palm keeps up with steady firmware OTA upgrades.

The short - capacitive 3.1" 480 x 320 touchscreen, full qwerty vertical sliding keyboard, 3.1 MP camera w/LED flash(no video yet), micro USB for charging/tethering/data transfer, 3.5mm headphone/headset jack, Bluetooth, GPS, WiFi (b/g)

The long, and the rest of it tomorrow.

There's a whole lotta sadness going on.

I was perusing Digg just a few minutes ago when I ran across this story. Go ahead. Read it. I'll wait. This one's actually old but it sums it up pretty well.

So the Congressional Black Caucus asks for a moment of silence. Big deal right? In the middle of what appeared to be an important debate on energy legislation. Oops. Congressman Yarmuth decided not to participate in this nonsense, as is his right, and the BCC and Louisville NAACP are condemning him. Apparently there are other, perhaps more appropriate ways to show your love for MJ. Two things about that link. 1) Note Pelosi's remarks about halfway down. B) A Congressional resolution honoring him? Really?

So that's sad. Sad that MJ died. Sort of.

Sad that the Congressional Black Caucus was so overwhelmed with grief that they decided to forgo protocol and interrupt proceedings.

Sad that they were so outraged by one Congressman's walk-out they felt the need to reproach him with the help of the NAACP.

But wait there's more!



A link from Google News turned up this gem. Again, I'll wait. Horrifying, sick, atrocious, insert-adjective-here. I'm not making light of the allegations, I truly don't have words to describe the illness I felt reading them. That's sad. There's more. Read any further without losing your lunch and you'll find some interesting logical twists.

It's not a black/white issue. "At its core, the horrific occurrence in North Carolina is not a black/white issue."

It's definitely a black issue though. "Black Americans, do you wonder why our "leaders" aren't getting involved?"

Aaaaaand it's also a black/white, homosexual, religious, issue. Oh, just read the damn thing would you?

The sadness comes where she condemns the alleged abuser not for being white, or a fucking broken, useless piece of shit (yes on both counts by the way) but because he's (wait for it) GASP! HOMOSEXUAL! Yes, dear folks, she's condemning the CBC for not racing to save the black children from the homos. Nice to let your religious beliefs get in between other people and their civil rights.

Ironic then isn't it (follow me here, I'm shooting for literal, not colloquial) that the very people she'd like assistance and action from are busy trying to honor an entertainer who was in the exact same position.

She's condemning the CBC for not aiding the black children allegedly molested by a white man because they're too busy condemning a white Congressman for not observing a moment of silence for a black man who allegedly molested children, some of whom may or may not have been white. Whew!

Michael Jackson is dead. Long live the music.

Some people are gay. Get over it.

Pedophiles come in all colors, all races, all sexual preferences. Just like assholes, freaks, geeks, losers, winners, artists, madmen, etc...

My cousin has cancer. No, not that one. Another one. Yes. Another cousin with cancer. Strictly speaking, my wife's cousin's wife if that makes sense. I don't know much about her personally but I DO know she is a radiologist, we attended their wedding, and she is about as nice and genuine as a human can be.

She is stage IV.

She will be undergoing chemotherapy immediately.

We don't have much information.



Fuck cancer.

The House

Took down the monstrous Rubbermaid shed and am going to be taking the slightly-less-monstrous shed from my parent's house and putting it in the backyard. In preparation, I'll be leveling the ground and setting 6x2x16 cap blocks for the floor to sit on. I've been three days in the sun and getting darker and sweatier and it is no fun. Once the shed is up though, I can throw all my tools and ladders and junk in there to clear space in the kitchen for the cabinets.

The cabinets have been ordered from Ikea, and should be on their way from the distribution center to our freight forwarder, Mercantile Freight in Santa Fe Springs, CA. The furniture we bought for ourselves and my parents should be on its way here any day now barring any more incidents like the one that cropped up today. The one where I find out that the stuff that should've been there on Monday supposedly wasn't.



The Dog(s)


Sammi (the 13-14 year old Chihuahua Maltese) is the same but deafer. Fin (the 3-5 year old abandoned poodle mix) is getting shaggier and I think we're going to have to buzz him for the summer, something I wish I could do. A side note: Anyone with untreated (no coloring or perms, etc) longish hair should consider donating some, or all of it to a good cause... Fin IS getting better though. By better I don't mean running around like those dogs in those dog food commercials. He doesn't really run unless he's just relieved himself in the yard. By better I mean that day by day he's getting more comfortable in the house and also comfortable with being alone. When I start working again neither of us will be home during business hours. Pics later.



The Rest Of It


Wanna know a dirty little secret of mine? No, no, it's not the porn. I hate people. I hate how petty and stupid we can all be. Myself included. Part of it comes from watching the news and reading the newspaper; things I don't do much anymore. Too much noise and too much bad news. It gets old real quick. So... I retreat. I withdraw. I shove the earbuds as far as they'll go in my ears and cut myself off from the world. Sometimes when I put in earplugs to use power tools, I'll keep them in even when I'm done using it to avoid listening. I want to avoid the noise, the static, the drama of life. When I have the earbuds I'm listening to music and listening for something beautiful and true. I find more truth in a good arrangement and lyrics than I find outside usually. Even when I sleep, it's with my headphones on. Usually these but sometimes these (at least the older, original version) depending on my mood. The music keeps me on a relatively even keel. It keeps me from doing and saying stupid things when I get frustrated and overwhelmed with the world. Music is my friend, my retreat, my release. I don't know how else to explain it without coming off like an asshole (oops, too late!) but here goes. If you see me with headphones on, leave me alone.

So for those who don't know what's been going on lately, we've got a new dog! His name is Finbar Kaneshiro but you can call him Fin. Christina and I named him after Finbar McBride, the diminutive protagonist of the movie "The Station Agent". We decided to name him that since we both love the movie, love the character, plus he seemed to like us calling him "Fin".

He is a ~12lb. poodle or poodle mix who enjoys sleeping, peeing on things, and being nervous. We've already had him to the vet for shots, deworming, and what amounts to a yearly checkup. Adoption is hopefully this Thursday which marks the end of the mandatory 30 day waiting period for strays. As soon as we register him then it's time for a chip (microchip for identification), a snip (poor boy!), and maybe another clip (trip to the groomers), or at least another good brushing.

All in all, he's a very well behaved little dog with trust issues and we all love him.


If I haven't been as diligent with updates and pictures recently as you'd like, please don't blame Fin. He is but a tiny fraction of what's been keeping me busy with either work or worry lately. A bit about what's going on:

• Cousin with cancer (surgery removed most of it but there is still some by the brain stem which may or may not be going down the spinal column)
  
• Neighbor with cancer (Surgery removed all of it. Weekly CAT scans for the next year to see if anything pops up. Keep your fingers crossed)
  
• So yeah, fuck cancer.
  
• Cousin with severe apnea. Yes, you Steve. I worry even though I heard the machine is helping you sleep.
  
• So yeah, fuck apnea.
  
• One wedding. (Sorry Jennifer, I couldn't make it but congratulations!)
  
• Two births. Actually three if you count my other cousin.
  
• One funeral.
  
• A handrail. Pics up tomorrow.
  
• A security door. Pics tomorrow.
  
• Two defective refrigerators. Pics tomorrow.
  
• Carpet, padding, tackstrips, labor. No pics but maybe a follow-up tomorrow.
  
• Cabinet for bathroom vanity. Pics tomorrow.
  
• Cabinet order for Ikea plus shipping.
  

Not that I'm complaining. I'm really not. We have a beautiful new dog, a house we can complain about, and other than the alarming number of people being diagnosed with cancer lately, everyone seems to be in relatively good health. I just thought you all should know.

Things I've fixed lately: 3 Printers (One dye-sub given away, and 2 HP inkjets which need homes). A Porter Cable 5" Random Orbit Sander. A Eureka Optima vacuum. One old dog kennel (Not really fixed but at least painted which was a huge pain in the ass, pics up tomorrow).

Up next are an older HP laptop, an EZ-UP 12' x 14' canopy, my HP desktop, my beloved Pioneer DV-333 DVD player, a whole shitload of cheap furniture, and a camera.



I have yet to sort through, tag, and post any pictures from Japan. I haven't planned the next trip in October with grandpa yet. I have to build a mirror frame, a cabinet, a headboard, an open shelf, and a cap for the pony wall at the top of the stairs.

That's it for now. Pics tomorrow. Night.

As promised, another vid and some pics. This time the video courtesy of Vimeo and pics hosted by Flickr.


Tak's Door from Jordan Kaneshiro on Vimeo.


Pics can be found at Flickr, here.

Enjoy.