Jake’s Life

I really haven’t posted that much lately. This year, rather. Things get busy…you know how it goes.

Here is my official check in, photo style:

My accident (I hit a patch of ice, spun out, hit a median, went up onto the median, and got stuck. My entire axle was pushed several inches to the left.):

Holiday Report (Gifts, etc.):

I also got a car detail kit from a co-worker.

Weather report:

Sandro and I finished moving on Sunday to our new place. It feels great to be out of the old one and here with each other. We made a last minute switch in new apartments from the 2BR to a 1BR down the street, and we’re so much happier with it. The apartment we moved into is less than two years old, everything is new, we’re on the 3rd floor (which makes it easier to be a day sleeper), and we find things everyday why we love the place even more.

On moving day Sandro’s parents decided that we have a moving truck and can get their new 63” TV from the store for them. By the time we got it to their place and to the floor it was to be on, we got their 52” TV for our new place!

Here’s Sandro on move-in day…we still have a few things on the shopping list…

Our bath tub, which I can actually fit in!

We have pretty high ceilings, so here’s something short to give you an idea how high they are.

Our fireplace.

Closet.

Kitty found an issue…the ledges are skinny…

It’s getting to freezing temperatures around here at night now, which means turtleneck time!

I love it.

I never realized just how much I missed the form factor of my T-Mobile Dash until I got my Blackberry. I’m finding that I don’t miss Windows Mobile though. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those Crackberry addicts that hate the Windows Mobile OS, I just don’t feel it’s right for me. And no, a Mac is not next on my list of things to buy.

The one issue I’ve had with my Berry so far is the small piece on the very bottom in the middle of it, which happens to be the mass produced piece that carriers stamp their logo on and snap on to cover the antenna.

Since it was ordered online the store “100% cannot” exchange it, and according to them by the time that I do get it back to the warehouse it will be out of the 14 day exchange period, and will then be covered under warranty, giving me a chance of getting a refurbished one as a replacement. So, I’ve decided to go at it myself. Hopefully my big sausage fingers and a small pry tool, maybe with a dab of some sort of super glue, will fix it.

Back to what I like about it. The messaging app, is great. All of my accounts in one box (and no, I didn’t make that snazzy @tmo.blackberry.net address for myself yet). Blackberry users are also issued a PIN which identifies yourself on RIM’s servers, and you can send peer-to-peer messages which are not taken out of your SMS.

Aside from the usuals; calendar, address book, tasks (all of which sync with no problems with my Outlook), messaging, IM, web browsing,the interface is great. Besides looking for the settings initially, there’s been no hunting for anything: Everything’s right there.

Battery life is amazing as far as handsets go. It was at 40% when I went to sleep the other night, and 2pm the next afternoon it was at 35%. Another great thing I like is the option to turn an e-mail into a task. From the messaging screen you open a menu, click the option to turn it into a task, and the e-mail is copied into your task list. So simple, yet so smart.

Anyway, all in all, I love it so far. If you have a Blackberry and want my pin, just let me know.

Yesterday I ordered a Blackberry Curve through a friend of Sandro who works at T-Mobile. It’s something I’ve been considering for a while now, even though I have always been a Windows Mobile fan. I’ve had some frustrations with Windows Mobile in the last few months and looked around at different mobile platforms. The Smartphone Round Robin, an event put on by a group of mobile web sites, had users of the iPhone, Blackberry, Palm, and Windows Mobile trade in their native device for another for a week at a time, until they had a chance to experience all of them as their everyday device. Reading through them everyone liked the simplicity and messaging of the Blackberry.

Don’t get me wrong, Windows Mobile is great. I’ve always considered myself a power user when it comes to technology. With Windows Mobile I can tweak the phone all I want, customize nearly every aspect of it, and have access to thousands of third party apps–many free. I’m not sure why, but messaging, which us a huge part of why I own a mobile device, has been bugging me on my Wing. I have my blog address on it, along with work e-mail, Live e-mail, Outlook sync, and SMS/MMS. In Pocket Outlook each of these are listed in different inboxes, so to get to a specific e-mail it can get involved, especially one-handed. Messaging on a Blackberry has all of your messages–SMS, e-mails, etc.–in one inbox. SMS is also threaded, a huge plus for me and wish that Windows Mobile would catch up on.

Overall, one handed operation and getting to what I want quickly has become important to me. Instead of hitting a hard button, scrolling, getting the stylus out and tapping, the trackball on the Curve makes it so that I don’t have to have my hand all over the place to open a program or send an e-mail. Another thing I like about the Blackberry is that the hardware is made by the company which makes the software, so mostly everything works well together, instead of different speeds, types, and configurations of hardware with the same operating system.

Anyway, I’ll report back when I get it to see if it’s all that my mind says it will be. Either way, I’ll be having either my Wing or a brand new Curve for sale soon!

New toy!

Working at night has its quirks. You have to have the right kind of light for the laptop. Up until this week I had a standard soft white light that rested at the top of the screen facing the keyboard but recently bought a red snake-like LED light. Now my car seems dark! But it’s a lot easier on the eyes.

I have felt a bit bad lately about the time that Sandro (Spidey) and I have been able to spend together lately, which I don’t think has been enough for either of us. Working nights it puts a strain on anything normal in life. But sacrifices have been made on both sides to help make things work. Even if it means waking up in the middle of my night (most likely your day), or staying up late after coming home from work, going out and doing something when I’m really tired I still do it. And when he comes over and ends up being lazy with me or hopping in bed and taking a nap (or watching me sleep…weirdo), going to the late movie when he knows he’s going to end up falling asleep, he still does it. It’s nice to know that someone is willing to make sacrifices to spend time with me and get to know me and knows I do the same.

In other news, i picked up a few new pieces of outerwear, if that’s what you fags call it nowadays. To me, it’s a jacket and a hoodie.