Just saw this article on Lifehacker yesterday. Hopefully it explains a few of the other options and points you in the right direction. <a class="postlink" href="http://lifehacker.com/5848002/five-best-ways-to-use-a-regular-phone-for-internet-calls" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://lifehacker.com/5848002/five-best ... rnet-calls</a>
I'm considering moving to Thailand next year. If you've spent any significant time there, specifically Bangkok, shoot me a PM. I am seriously not going for sexual tourism. Seriously. I swear. Not even the Internet believes me.
Since I know a few of you live in Chicago I need some advice. I currently live at home and commute to school and it is time to get my own place. Through a family connection my friend found a medium-sized house for rent in a suburb outside the city. I would have my own bedroom and bathroom, and split a living room and kitchen with her plus the homeowner's burnout son who is usually out of sight since he works a graveyard shift. Splitting the house (fully furnished, includes all utilities): $400/month I sifted through google/craigslist and am still trying to figure out if this is a steal or a shitty deal.
I've had both and while the iPhone was easy to use, I personally didn't like the typing on it. Specifically when texting (which is what I use it for the vast majority of the time) The predicitive type blows. With my Droid, if I type "ency" it would bring up "encylopedia" so you just touch the word instead of having to type the entire word out. Much faster then the iPhone which will not bring up any predictions unless you start to spell a word wrong. Also, if you mistyped "Nice" as "Mice" you have to erase the entire word whereas with the Droid, "Nice" and other word options would be there. Just touch and keep typing. The iPhone short cut words don't work well either. With the Droid if I typed "Il" it would automatically fill in the apostrophe and the second "L". With the iPhone, you hit the "I", hit alt key button, hit the apostrophe, and then "LL". Same things for words like "She'd" "We'll" "I'm" "We're" etc etc. I also think the EVO is a better "phone" then the iPhone. I have better reception and far less dropped calls then with the iPhone. (I have Verizon and live in a good sized city) The bad thing about the EVO is battery life. It SUCKS. I have a charger at home, in my car, at my desk & at the GF's house just in case it starts to get low. The iPhone battery life was so much better.
HTC phones always seem to have shitty battery life. Have you considered something like the Motorola Photon: <a class="postlink" href="http://shop.sprint.com/mysprint/shop/phone_details.jsp?prodId=dvc5750006prd&deviceSKUId=57500024&flow=AAL&planSKUId=null&tabId=dt_phones&ptn=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://shop.sprint.com/mysprint/shop/ph ... hones&ptn=</a> Or the Galaxy S II: <a class="postlink" href="http://shop.sprint.com/mysprint/shop/phone_details.jsp?prodId=dvc5890001prd&deviceSKUId=58900014&flow=AAL&planSKUId=null&tabId=dt_phones&ptn=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://shop.sprint.com/mysprint/shop/ph ... hones&ptn=</a> A guy I work with has the Galaxy S II for AT&T and it's top notch. Stellar performance, nice screen, and with your wife also having an Android phone, you will have the same ecosystem for apps. Motorola phones always have excellent build quality, battery life and the best radios (and thus reception) in the business, so the Photon is probably also a good choice (also, I believe the Photon is a world phone so if you like to travel, you can use it overseas where CDMA isn't common). Reviews for both have been overwhelmingly positive. The iPhone is decent but has a very closed app ecosystem/customization (maybe not a deterrent if you don't want to play with/customize your phone or leverage some of the more deeply-integrated apps), and the small screen is a pretty big deterrent if you like the size of your wife's phone.
You should be able to face talk to futurewife using any phone with a forward facing camera. It doesn't have to be the same phone as hers. Skype is even cross platform, so you should be able to do it even if you decide the iPhone is the best phone to have. You can even call computer-to-phone using Skype and a webcam - a couple coworkers were just testing that the other day using a Galaxy S II and a Macbook. I find the larger screen makes for a much better experience when typing or surfing the web.
So I'm looking for a new set of earbuds so I can listen to my phone when I'm on the train going to school. I hate the one Apple sends with their products because they are so uncomfortable and hurt my ears after a few minutes. I've been shopping around for a new set but the prices are all over the place and I have no idea about the quality. Is there a pair anyone could suggest to me for under 60 dollars? Is that even a reasonable price for something decent?
I have a pair of sennheiser headphones, Particularly the earbuds that seat not only in your ear but have what they call an "ear fin" that seats in your outer ear so they stay put when I'm working out. They're a little pricey but I've definitely gotten my moneys worth. Just my .02.
I'm thinking about doing a 5k tomorrow and a half marathon on sunday. I've never ran, and I feel accomplished when I run 5-6 miles in an hour. I walked/ran a 5k a few weeks ago with no problem. Am I underestimating a half marathon? Or is it pussy stuff and should be able to man through it because 13 miles is easy? I feel like I've walked 13 miles in a day before.
As long as you have the option of walking, you should be fine, unless you're in horrendous shape (like morbidly obese, toughest workout is shoveling doughnuts) you should be able to walk 13 miles no problem, especially if they have water stations. This is assuming you don't have serious injuries of course. Just bring an ipod if you're doing it alone, it'll get really fucking boring otherwise.
Frank is right, you may need to walk a bit, but if you are in reasonable shape you should be able to finish at least. Ideally you should probably try out a 10K first and maybe even train for the half, but as long as you aren't thinking you can win the damn thing you should be OK. What is making you want to tackle a half marathon when you typically don't run more than a few miles at a time? and an aside, what half are you doing? I am running one on sunday too.
Yep. Either them or Shure (as I mentioned in a PM to him). <a class="postlink" href="http://store.shure.com/store/shure/en_US/pd/productID.121026300" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://store.shure.com/store/shure/en_U ... .121026300</a> Bit expensive, but I've had mine for almost 4 years, and use them a lot. And they sound amazing.
All friends and the girlfriend are out of town, looking for things to burn time. Most of the time when I attempt to motivate myself the motivation is very strong until I move or change thoughts. I thought this would be a start of a kicking my own ass extravaganza. I did a 5k a few weekends ago because it was all-you-can-eat burgers afterwards, and it gave me some ideas. Despite the context of this paragraph, I'm actually in decent shape. The race was actually full, so I'll have to postpone this anyways. I did run 5 miles today and realized it hurts a lot.
Why not use that motivation in the moment to actually sign up for one and do some proper training for it. I fear that if you just did it blind you would realize that it does kind of hurt (like you mentioned) and never want to do it again. When you have $100 on the line you may be more likely to hit the pavement a few times a week in preparation. Better yet, instead of doing it when your friends and girlfriend are all out of town, get a group to sign up and make an event out of it. it's fun! I just did the St Louis half with a group, maybe even the one that you were going to sign up for as I know it sold out. Good time, huge crowd of 22,000. Nice course through downtown and awesome weather. And then of course the stuffing yourself after
Okay, I'm thinking that, for the first time ever, I'm going escape this cold Ontario winter and head for a beach. I've never been further south than Florida, so I need recommendations. Cuba? Costa Rica? Barbados? Bahamas? Jamaica? Dominican? I'm talking all-inclusive (with fun stuff to do off the resort), 7 days that won't break the bank. Help a girl out.