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iPhone vs. Blackberry

Bottom line, I need a new cell phone. The Blackberry Torch is out today. It is the latest in the Blackberry line and includes a pullout QWERTY keyboard. you know what’s funny? I hesitated when I went to type QWERTY because I was looking for the keys. Think about it. Hilarious. Anyway, the iPhone 4 is pretty cool and other than the antenna issue, I haven’t heard any major complaints. They are both going to cost me $199. I haven’t met anyone yet that thinks I should get the Blackberry but I do like the idea of having a physical keyboard. Perhaps it is time to learn how to type on a touchscreen? I’m going to check them both out at lunch today.

Update: If I were to consider a phone with the Android OS, which particular phone? I have AT&T.

Update #2: I went with the Samsung Captivate at the advice of John W. So far, so good! Thanks.

Illinois

July 29
I just straight up skipped yesterday. I had one of my favorite meals for lunch yesterday: beef stroganoff. It was awesome. Dinner last night was merely ok. I had a really good tuna sandwich and some nice scallops. I think I’d like to make some scallops in the near future. This training thing has gotten progressively better but I’m about ready to head home.

July 27
I don’t remember what I had for lunch. For dinner it was another awesome mix which included saltimbocca (veal), sushi rolls (salmon, tuna), curry chicken kabobs, shrimp, walleye, steamed carrots, stuffed tomatoes, finger-length potatoes and crab cakes. This training has been quite tiring but I do see the value in it from a variety of angles. As with anything in my particular career model, you get out of it what you put in it. Sometimes that it as simple as taking the time to do some self-reflection and making some personal improvement plans.

July 26 – 6:30pm
For dinner tonight it was swordfish, wild mushroom ravioli, scallops, garlic cilantro shrimp, chipotle crusted pork and jerk chicken. I’m going to be so fat by the end of this thing.

July 26 – 12:30pm
One thing I really like about this training facility is the food. I think the food is excellent. The options are also pretty diverse. At lunch I had wild mushroom ragu, lamb kabobs, citron chicken and wild rice with lentins. I also had grape juice to drink which I almost dumped all over my shirt.

July 25
It has been a while but I’m back in Illinois for another training session. I don’t have any particular expectations for this one. I’ve spoken to a few people and they all said it was decent. The subject is project planning and estimating. Could be interesting. At the least I found a cool sounding beer bar about a mile from where I’m staying. I think I will throw in a few runs along the local river too. Oh, I brought my camera along so maybe I can shoot a few cool pictures too.

Rap Line

I was lying on the couch after work today and I was inspired with a line that would be great for a rapper.

The ladies call me ‘bank’ cause I’m too big to fail..

For real. I said it first. Wait for it to be quoted on the next hot single. I’ll be ricccccchhh!

Upcoming Goodness

I had a rare stress-free moment at work the other day and I took the opportunity to think about all of the great things I’ve got coming up in the next few months.

• Selinsgrove Hops & Vines festival this weekend (beerfest)
• Four buckets of beer in the basement that need to be kegged (5 gallons each)
• Beer festival at the Philadelphia Zoo on July 24
• Training session outside Chicago last week of July
• Trip to Toronto in early August (will visit my favorite bar in the world – C’est What?)
• Annual poker picnic with my dad on August 7 (I’m going to win the games tournament this year)
• Musikfest in Bethlehem August 15
• Camping with the guys one of these weekends
• Dinner with one of Erin’s good friends on August 21
• Vacation with Erin in the Riviera Maya, Mexico from August 22 to August 27
• Promotion announcements in late August (I’m feeling good about it but no guarantee)
• Option to visit Northern PA again for Labor Day
• Penn State football season and tailgating with the gang
• My birthday on September 17

It is going to be busy but definitely an exciting part II of the summer.

House Plans

I’m going to keep on the theme of homes tonight. I want to buy a house. Not today, but in the next few years. I’m sure that doesn’t come as any sort of surprise. However, actually taking the time to sit down and think about what it means and commit to the idea is significant. The two key factors I see right now are as follows:

1) Start making financial decisions so that I’ve got at least 10% for a down payment when the time comes

2) Figure out what I want in a house and even more importantly, finding where I’d like this house to exist

Erin and I were driving around today keeping our eyes peeled for open house fliers or balloons. We didn’t find any but did see a couple nice townhouses for sale in my current neighborhood. I’m thinking a townhouse is probably the right answer for a first home. I don’t have a good explanation of why that is the right choice but I do like the modern feel of most that I’ve looked at.

I’m also hoping that I’m not buying my first house on my own.

House Hunter

I hate to admit it, but I’m addicted to HGTV. It is such a great channel. Now that I think about it, I believe there is a pattern to the TV I’ve been watching lately: HGTV, Travel Channel, FoodTV. It either means I want what I cannot have or I’ve eager to experience new things. I’m leaning towards that latter. Anyway, in particular I’m loving the shows that have to do with buying a home; House Hunters is my drug at the moment.

I especially like to critique the people buying homes. Let’s take a step back. Why would you ever go on a TV show where you see three places and end up picking one of them with the three options are never equal in quality or actually matching what you are looking for in location, price or amenities. It makes me wonder if the channel pitches in financially if the people play the game.

I’ve got two questions as of late.

1) Can you get new construction that is tasteful yet doesn’t look cookie-cutter modern that came from some book for an affordable price?

2) Can you get an existing structure that is renovated with modern, though not tacky in the features though allows for improvements?

Donations

I finally got around to sorting through my clothes for potential donations. I found 23 shirts and 5 pairs of shorts of which I could part ways. To make things even easier, there is some sort of clothing drive going on here where I just have to leave the box outside my house and they’ll pick it up. Can’t get much easier than that. There are probably still a few things I should give away but 28 items is a good start. I want to take the next year and really focus on de-cluttering and only keeping things I really need.

Tomorrow

I came up with a really great thought about life tonight.

God created tomorrow so we can fix the mistakes of today.

Bay Leaf

I made soup on Monday and added two bay leaves. Today I was scooping a bowl and found one of the leaves. I dug around for a while looking for the second. As far as I knew the bay leaf needed to be removed because it was “bad.” I did not know why it was bad but grew up with this mindset that I should not eat the bay leaf. Oh no!

Turns out, they aren’t poisonous or anything like that. The problem is that they don’t break down even when you leave them cooking for a long time. They stay fairly stiff and there is the off chance that it could get stuck in your throat or scrape your insides in an uncomfortable way. Deadly? Not really.

Project Plans

I have no issues with outlining the tasks necessary to complete a large project but I have absolutely no interest in aligning dates to those tasks. Perhaps I’m not meant to be a project manager.