Saturday, June 26, 2010

Decisions, decisions....

I've been contemplating about getting a new phone since my current phone is a little old and possibly getting one of those smartphones rather than just a mobile phone. The idea of having my e-mail, Facebook and Twitter all infront of me is kind of exciting in some ways and I'd be curious to see how some of my forum sites would appear on a phone's screen instead of my 24" home screen or 19" work monitors. This is still at the contemplation point because of a few things:
  • When would that new "Droid X" come to Canada? I know it comes out in the States in mid-July so I wonder if a Canadian launch would be far away from that.
  • Even without that new phone in the mix, do I know which model I want? Do I want a Blackberry or one of those newer Motorola phones? I know I'll probably not get a HTC phone but that still leaves me with plenty of choices.
  • How much more would the cheapest data plan be compared to what I pay now? This is likely one of the stickier pointst. Also, do I change carriers or stay where I am?
  • When will the Android update come for some of the newer models in Canada like the Backflip that looks kind of cool?
As I said before, this is still something I'm mulling over and trying to sift through to find what phone will work for me. No, I will not go for an iPhone unless someone is paying me a million bucks to get one. My current phone is a LG chocolate slider but like I said it is kind of old and I could go for an upgrade soon.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

My quest to be a man....

Today I was told a few things about what men want and what women want that I'm going to post here and see where my trains of thought take me, possibly into nonsense or insanity. In a sense, I understand that I'm still trying to become a man and resolve in the 21st century what is the role of an adult male in society which I may never fully resolve. Anyway, onto these few points of what it means to be a man:
  • Live an adventure - Men are supposed to take risks and have a life where exciting things happen. This prevents a guy from having a dull boring life, like I ever had a shot at that even.
  • Fight epic battles - Men are supposed to fight for justice and honor, all that jazz. I can relate to this more than the previous point as I do see the various battles in my life.
  • Find a beauty - Men aren't supposed to be alone. The theory here being that God made Eve for Adam and thus men even now are supposed to follow in that model.
For women, here were the points given:
  • Irreplaceable object - Women are supposed to feel like they are special to a man.
  • Lean into strength - Women are supposed to rely on men.
  • Be a beauty - Women are to be valued highly as the wonderful people they are.
What I notice in this is how the women's side tend to be more intangible than the other side. While I can get they are supposed to complement each other, it strikes me as odd that one side seems to be a bit more real and physical than the other. If anyone else reads this and has thoughts feel free to post them as I'm curious as to how others see this.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

My adventures last night....

Last night, there was a "Chill-out and Geek-out" party that I attended an Irish pub in town. This was my first time going to a Meetup of this group and I was curious as to what would happen. Would there be various discussions on technology? Would there be some "Star Trek" vs "Star Wars" fanboy debates to be navigated? Someone mentioned possibly bringing an xBox or Playstation which I found kind of odd. I managed to be the second one there as the first one just entered ahead of me and thus I wasn't alone. Woo-hoo! At the same time, neither of us was an organizer but we did chat a bit and I got settled down in this room in the basement of the pub. There was a silent auction outside raising money for cancer so that did play a little role in how loud other things were. I now appreciate much more how I just have a hard time sitting in a bar with loud music and wonder, "Ok, now what do I do?"

Thankfully I wasn't alone so there are others to converse and try to have some kind of adventure for the night. Time seemed to fly by as while I was there just before 7, I didn't leave until 11:40 and even then it was because my friend who borrows my car was wanting to go to bed. Alternative strategy for future meetings would be to see if someone could give me a ride home but I'll save that for later. There were a couple games of "Zombie Fluxx" and a few rounds of "A-hole" along with someone bringing an iPad and various discussions on things like the idea of a "Geeks with Guns" club which was kind of funny.

On my way out, there were a couple of women who stopped me as I had my lunchbox with me. The lunchbox has my glucometer, journal, and a few snacks in it just in case my sugars go low which can happen quite a bit of the time. Anyway, they wanted to know what I was carrying. I was polite and civil, but afterward I thought, "Why didn't you exchange some contact information?" Ugh, I so suck at continuing relationships which I get but there are those opportunities in life and who knows what my next one will look like. Anyway, I said that I had a glucometer and the other one knew what that meant and did tell the other one that I was diabetic. It also dawned on me that I have never gone to a bar on my own without there being either friends at the bar or an event that I'm attending. I always have something else that connects me there.