MichaelandSonja.com

Just a heads up... I've started to build a website for our upcoming wedding. It's up now at MichaelandSonja.com.

Right now, it's nothing fantastic. But it's a website and I put it up all by myself (which is an accomplishment even though I used iWeb and "Made it on a Mac"). Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas for what else I can do with it.

The Big Day: Dunkin Donuts and Apple Store

Tomorrow's going to be a big day in New England, my friends.

Not only is it the most wonderful day of spring and the first, official sign of summer - Dunkin' Donuts Free Iced Coffee Day - but Thursday also marks the opening of the very first Apple Store in Boston.

It's unfortunate that I no longer live in Boston, since I used to work right around the corner from five D&D's AND the newest Apple Store. You can bet I'd be down there on Boylston, a coffee in each hand, waiting for the store to open so I could be one of the 1,500 people to get my greedy paws on one of the t-shirts they're giving away.

Seriously - how cool are those Apple t-shirts? My brother has been working for them for six months and he still hasn't given me one yet. I'm calling BS on that. Lil' bro, it's time to stop hoarding the shirts and sending one my way, okay? Otherwise, I'm going to stop buying that Hennepin beer you like so much.

My love for Dunkins is well documented. However, I do have to admit that my performances on previous free iced coffee days has been somewhat lacking. I don't believe that I've had more than two in a day, which is just sad. I can generally visit D&D's up to four times on a hot summer day for a medium iced, one cream no sugar. I had better do at least three tomorrow - I'll keep you updated. I'd say I'd go for more, but I am genuinely trying to cut back on the caffeine right now. I'm down to a half-pot a day. Not too shabby, eh?

How about you guys? How many iced coffees are you going for?

Also, anyone going to the Apple Store's grand opening?

iCamera

In case any of you are wondering what I do in my free time or, better yet, how good the camera on the iPhone is, I present to you my hot-off-the-press, just updated Flickr site.

Check it out. I had a few minutes to kill, so I uploaded about 20 random shots taken from my iPhone over the past couple months.

Enjoy!

iHeart

<------- isn't it pretty? Just look at it. Ah - it's a thing a beauty. One touch, one single swipe of my pointer finger across the screen was all it took and I fell hard. Yes, my internet friends, I finally was able to purchase the iPhone. I bought it two weeks ago and was actually able to activate it (thank you to Verizon for making the degree of difficulty for leaving your network and keeping the same number an 8.2) on Labor Day. I don't know that it's changed my life. Yet. But the potential is certainly there. All my gmail now comes to me instantly, no matter where I am (I can then continue my standard process of reading the email, saving it for 6 months without replying and then deleting it because the person that sent it probably doesn't even remember who I am anymore), I can access the internet with a subtle wave of my finger (I feel like a king!) and learn trivia tidbits such as, "Who the heck are The Everyday Visuals and how'd they wind up opening for Mute Math's stop in Boston? or the Sox score. I've already started keeping track of my budget using the "Notes" function, so that will help me at the bank. Oh, and the "iCal" and "Contacts" functions mean my entire life now fits into my pants, instead of just my future childrens' lives, if you know what I mean.

It didn't take long for me to become a believer (okay, okay, I was a believer just by watching Steve Jobs' keynote address in January where he debuted the iPhone) and y'all probably know what it does by now, so let me just address the main complaints people have so you can all build a bridge and get over it and buy one.

Cost - well, we all know what happened yesterday. The price dropped. Am I mad? No - it's the first time Apple's ever done that. I bought it at a discounted price, anyway (no, I won't divulge my sources) and I hear tell that I'll get a $100 store credit so I can buy the new operating system that I need anyway.

But anyway, now that the iPhone costs roughly the same as a BlackBerry - what's stopping you from getting one? It's way awesomer. Plus, by paying just $60 a month for unlimited data usage, you actually save over the standard BlackBerry plans (about $85 per).

No Mac - you can run it on Windows. If you did, it's roughly the equivalent of buying an Enzo and getting an automatic transmission, so I don't know why you'd want to do that, but you could.

Cingular sucks - they do. I'm still a Verizon guy at heart, but I haven't had any problems with getting a signal. You do have to make sure you're always on AT&T's "Edge" network, or you get hit with roaming charges, but anyone who buys one probably lives in a city and shouldn't have to worry about it.

Does it work? - Yes... and, seriously, why did it take phone manufactures this long to figure out including WiFi would be a good thing? It's just as fast as my laptop (actually, probably faster).

Battery life - Apple will replace the battery for free within the first year. And, if you buy the AppleCare plan, they'd do it for two years. You can't do that on a "normal" phone unless you're willing to cough up $14 a month.

It's the flavor of the week - Anyone with that objections probably still uses a discman.

Just go buy it already!