Monthly Archives: September 2007

Thank you very much American Express!!

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2 weeks ago, right after the infamous iPhone price drop announcement, I came across a bulletin board posting claiming that AMEX has some sort of price match guarantee, and they’re refunding the difference on the iPhone. I’ve always been very happy with my purchase and I believe the phone is ever bit worth the $600 it cost me, but if somebody’s going to hand me $200, I’m gonna take it. So I called up AMEX who promptly informed me that they do not have a price match deal, and there’s no guarantee that they’ll give me my money back, but because they’re having so many people call about it, they were taking claims, and in 2 to 3 weeks they’d make a decision. So I said what the heck, went through the claim process with them, and forgot about it totally. Yesterday, on a Saturday afternoon, I received a voicemail from American Express saying that its not their policy to refund based on price changes, but they’re making an exception for this occasion since I am a loyal card member (heh) I’ll be getting a credit of $217 on my bill next month. Woo Hoo!! Membership does have its privileges!

On that note .. here is a list of some of my favorite ways to use my iPhone (besides the obvious phone & iPod parts)

  • Baby Distractor – the iPhone is the best $600 (now $400) baby toy ever. My niece Ella loves when I load up a favorite song of hers and turn the screen off so she can dance all she wants without shutting it off. Also she loves when I pull up Yo Gabba Gabba clips on youtube :)
  • Planning my next mix – I love to download new music, and make mix CDs for my sister. Now that I have XM radio in my car, whenever I hear a song that I enjoy, I photograph the screen with my phone so I can look it up later.
  • Price Check – I’ll check Amazon.com prices and availability if I come across a book I’d like while out shopping.
  • Photographing Products – I also take pictures of things I’d like to buy, or check on later. Things in my phone right now: retaining wall stones, patterns, sewing books, and fabric.
  • Portfolio – the iPhone makes it really really easy to show off my favorite images from my growing portfolio, and I do love to show them off :)

I’ve also checked movie times on the way to the theater, refilled prescriptions while out running errands, searched for store locations when out shopping .. I’m sure there are other non-phone ways that I use my phone, I just can’t remember them at the moment. I’m overall very happy with my iPhone and I’m always finding new ways to use it!

Memes

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I remember way back in the junglephotography.com days I used to have fun doing daily Memes when I had nothing to write. Mike’s lists of the day reminded me of them. Anyways I decided to introduce them to you new bloggers :) For those of you who dont know .. Memes are like theme writing, giving you a prompt, questions, a list to write .. something to get you to post that day. Some of the ones I used to participate in were The Friday Five, Wednesday What-Ifs, and This or That Tuesday .. it just so happens that all 3 of those are no longer operated :( Boo! So off I go to search Google for some new worthwhile Meme sites, and maybe a Meme to do today.

[10 min of searching]

Here are a couple sites with lots and lots of topics to write about, all broken up by days or occasions :)

  • The Daily Meme – Lots of links and descriptions here! Shows memes that are themed on today’s day.
  • The Memes List -This guy was around back in when I used to blog, hooray not everything is gone! Anyways, looks like he’s kept up with his list (and was featured in the NY Times) great place to check out.

Now an example of what the heck I’ve been talking about .. if you visit either of those 2 sites, you’ll find that there are a bunch of Tuesday themed sites with questions or discussion topics on them. Here are some links for today:

Unfortunately I’m not really fond of any of these :( I miss This or That Tuesday .. so here is one that I did  back on 4/29/03.

This or That Tuesday – Take Comfort…
Which is more comforting for you…

1. Lying down on the couch, or stretching out on a recliner? Lying down on the couch, don’t have a recliner.
2. Going barefoot or wearing soft slippers? Barefoot, slippers make my feet hot.
3. Eating ice cream, or pizza? Ice cream, def.
4. Watching on TV…a classic movie or a reality show? Classic movie .. avoid commercials
5. Wearing: blue jeans or sweat pants? Jeans
6. A long, soothing bubble bath or a quick, invigorating shower? Candle lit bubble baths .. Mmmmm.
7. Furniture: leather, or something more on the fuzzy side? Leather
8. Soft, classical music, or upbeat rock & roll? Uh, rock and roll, if those are my only two choices.
9. Darkness or light? Tough one, can I pick something in between, like twlight? Light, darkness, twlight, they are all comforting to me.
10. Thought-provoking question of the week: You get married, or otherwise begin cohabitating with a significant other. S/he moves into your place, but brings with them the UGLIEST chair you have ever seen! You really don’t want this thing in your home, but SO says it is the most comfy chair s/he has ever sat in, and no way will they part with it. Do you: grin and bear it, or scheme to get rid of the montrosity somehow? I’ve never had a problem with any ugly funiture, I’ll adopt any piece anybody wants to give me, so most likely I’m the one that’ll be bringing the crappy stuff to the marriage. Although I’m also not attached to any of my furniture, so getting me to get rid of it would be easy.

Heh .. I’m pretty sure I’d have the same answers today :)

Okay in the new tradition of blogging .. if you read this .. you’re tagged .. now copy and paste these questions and answer them yourself .. and post me a comment so that I can come check out your answers!

MTV Awards ..

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I can’t remember the last time I watched an MTV Awards show .. probably been like 5 years .. but this year I fell for the hype of Britney Spears’ return, and supposedly she was going to have magic in her opening act taught to her by Criss Angel. Well she sucked .. bad .. like no energy .. barely dancing .. and yeah .. pretty jiggly for somebody wearing hot pants and a bra top. Poor Britney, I really was pulling for her .. for some strange reason.

But after her performance, and Sarah Silverman’s crappy routine .. the MTV Awards ended up being pretty awesome, surprisingly. They changed the format, took over the Palms hotel in Vegas .. and put together like 4 parties in suites in the hotels. Now I’m guessing I liked the show so much because I liked most of the music they featured. Justin Timberlake & Timbaland, Kanye West, Foo Fighters and Fall Out Boy each had their own mini concert going on during the show in these suites. Not only did they play their big hits, but each had guests come and play/hang out/drink with them. 50 cent showed up at JT and Timbalands room .. Cee Lo performed Darling Nikki with the Foo Fighters, Rianna sang with Fall Out Boy & Gym Class Heroes. I can’t remember anybody in particular hanging out with Kanye .. he played most of the music from his new CD, but I everything I heard from him I really liked, so it looks like I’ll be downloading his CD later on today :) Before and after handing out awards & commercial breaks .. Mark Ronson had like a little group together and performed songs from Akon and Maroon 5 .. and the lead singers joined him in sortof a lounge act / celebrity karaoke .. it was really cool.

One performance I must mention .. Chris Brown .. never heard of him before last night .. he is an insane dancer (and a pretty good singer) .. if you can .. go over to MTV and check out his perfomance .. Its really really entertaining. Anyways if you visit MTV .. they have every performance there for you .. just skip Britney :)