It’s end-of-the-year time. As has been tradition here over the last couple years, I’m going to make a list of things I’d like to do/achieve in the coming year.

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Tags: health, iPhone, life, music
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Almost two weeks ago, I decided to upgrade from my old iPhone 3G to the new iPhone 4. Here’s a few photos of the new phone.

Brand new iPhone 4, still in the box.

New iPhone 4 on the right, in comparison with the old iPhone 3G on the left.

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Tags: Apple Computer, Flickr, iPhone
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Last year, I wrote about how I was trying to save some money on my monthly expenses. At the time, I was able to get my cell phone and home phone bills lowered. Since then, I’ve upgraded my cell phone to an iPhone, and that’s caused the cell phone bill to go back up. I found out earlier this month that AT&T has reconfigured its iPhone rate plans for data, and the company is now offering a $15.00/month plan for users who transfer less than 200 MB worth of data over AT&T’s network. I downgraded to this new plan from the $30.00/month “unlimited” plan I’ve had since I first got the iPhone. I checked my statement for last month, and found that I only used about 25 MB, so 200 MB should be fine. Also, AT&T only counts data that’s transferred over their 3G network, so when my iPhone’s connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi, that doesn’t matter.

This configuration wouldn’t work for everyone, and AT&T has received a lot of well-deserved criticism for the nature of its restrictive policies in relation to the iPhone. But I’m glad that the company is now offering alternative rate plans to the original $30.00/month plan. Saving money is good.

Tags: iPhone, money
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I lost four pounds last month. This is good, as I had been stalled out on my weight loss for awhile. I began using LoseIt! at the beginning of the year. The app suggested I could lose two pounds a week by consuming 1900 calories a day. Knowing my snail-like metabolism, this seemed like a pretty optimistic/unrealistic goal. And indeed, it was. I lost no weight in January on 1900 daily calories. I decided to shave it back to 1700 calories per day in February. This also yielded no positive results. I reset the daily goal on March 1st to 1500 calories per day. And for the most part, I achieved that goal. And I lost weight. So it’s 1500 calories a day or bust from here on out. At least, until I stop losing weight again.

If you’re a LoseIt! user and you’d like to add me as a contact, just search for me using my e-mail address listed in the sidebar of Shawnogram.

Tags: health, iPhone, life
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Today, my busted-up iPhone arrived in my mailbox. And it’s no longer busted! Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Since getting the phone back, I’ve reinstalled all of the apps I was using before I sent it off for repair (I removed some for security reasons), and everything’s working just fine. It’s almost like new, except the home button feels a little different. Nothing wrong with it. I’m pretty sure the button is part of the digitizer/display, so it was probably replaced as part of the repair. I give much credit to uBreakiFix for performing a flawless fix. I’d definitely recommend their iPhone service to anyone who’s unwilling to pay Apple’s expensive repair fees. Also, the entire process only took a week. Not bad, considering the phone had to be shipped from California to Florida and back, and it’s the busy holiday shipping season.

I’m definitely glad to have my iPhone back! Now, I need to find a good protective case for it. I’ve received a few suggestions, and I’m considering an OtterBox. Please leave a comment if you have any recommendations.

Tags: iPhone, life, uBreakiFix
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It’s been a little over a week since my iPhone got all busted up. I have since shipped it off to be repaired, and am now awaiting its return. In the meantime, I’ve had to revert back to a pre-iPhone lifestyle. And it’s been surprising to see just how much I had come to rely on that device. There’s the rather banal stuff, such as mobile Twitter posts and Brightkite check-ins. But I’ve also been using the iPhone’s clock as my personal watch. Being out and about and unable to easily check the time can be problematic, especially when traveling by bus. I’ve found that using the time stamps on cash register/ATM receipts has been helpful in this case. I’ve also spotted some things that I would’ve liked to have photographed. But that wasn’t possible.. Another thing I’ve missed is the iPhone’s built-in iPod media player. I’ve been using my iRiver to listen to audio files, and it works well. But it lacks the convenience of the iTunes/iPhone sync, and it only holds 512 MB worth of data. And finally, the iPhone is, after all, an actual phone. I don’t make many cell phone calls. But without the iPhone, I can’t make any. I haven’t found myself searching for a payphone yet. But it could happen. Anyway, I’m anticipating the return of my iPhone. According to the most recent update I received from the repair company, it’s on its way back to me. Considering that we’re in the heat of the holiday shipping season, it’s hard to say how long it’ll take to get here. I’m hoping to have it back by the end of next week. Then, I’ll be able to get back to the important business of letting everyone know where I’m having lunch.

Tags: Brightkite, iPhone, life, Twitter
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I was walking somewhere this morning. As I crossed over what I thought was a clear corner between a parking lot and a sidewalk, something grabbed my right foot. I went down on to the concrete. It wasn’t a particularly hard fall, and I had managed to shift my weight on to my left side, which somehow helped to disperse the impact’s energy. And in that hurried moment just after the fall, as I was laying there on the wet ground (we’ve been having some actual weather this week), I watched in slow motion as my iPhone tumbled through the air, landing on its back, right next to me. I mentioned above that I had managed to fall on my left side. And I almost always carry my iPhone in my left coat pocket, and I almost always keep that pocket zippered up. But for some reason, this morning, I hadn’t zipped the pocket closed. A couple guys nearby, who witnessed the fall, asked if I was OK.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m fine. But my phone’s not.” I could see that the iPhone had been damaged. I picked it up to get a closer look. Here’s what I saw:

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Tags: Apple Computer, California, Flickr, iPhone, San Luis Obispo, uBreakiFix
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Jen and I attended today’s portion of the events happening as part of this year’s Central Coast Railroad Festival. We were able to take a short ride on a Speeder car owned by the San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum. I recorded our ride using my iPhone. The audio ends rather abruptly as I wanted to take a couple photos (also using my iPhone) before we stepped off.

Jen, sitting opposite of me inside the Speeder.

Speeder cars lined up on the track.

Speeder car with a somewhat larger railway vehicle in the background.

After our ride on the Speeder, we were able to take a guided tour of the new railroad museum and its facilities. The museum is still under construction, but we were excited to learn of its existence and are looking forward to its future development. More photos from the museum and the festival can be seen here.

Podcast: Download (4.1MB)

Tags: California, Central Coast Railroad Festival, Flickr, iPhone, podcast, San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum
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When Jen records a podcast, it’s time for me to clear out. I’ve jokingly stated before that it’s as if she’s “sent me away,” and that sounds kinda bad. But it dawned on me tonight that it’s actually kinda nice. It’s almost like doing me a favor. I actually have to move away from the computer! So while Jen was doing some recording tonight, I spent that time hanging out in our back room. And that’s when I realized that it might just be the funnest place in our home. Not only is there TV:

But there’s also video games. And a guitar! And an iPhone!

I think I’ll just live back there from now on. It’s pretty awesome!

Tags: Flickr, iPhone, Line 6, music, podcasting, TV, Variax, XBox 360
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Last month, I signed up with AudioBoo. It’s an audio podcasting service that works with the free AudioBoo iPhone app. Posts to AudioBoo are limited to five minutes in length. So far, I’ve added five posts (or “boos”) to my profile. At first, I thought I might archive my AudioBoo posts here, but I’ve decided to just let ‘em live over on the AudioBoo site. If you want to hear ‘em, go to my AudioBoo profile page. You can either stream the files from the AudioBoo site or you can subscribe to them as a podcast using either the iTunes or RSS links on the left. I have no plan for AudioBoo posts. It’s been about a week and a half since my last post there. But they’re there, if you want to check ‘em out.

Tags: AudioBoo, iPhone, podcasting
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