Archive for the ‘blog’ Category
My iPhone 3GS has become a fancy iPod touch
I have been using Android for a while now and have also been maintaining two phones. Now those two phone days are coming to an end. Well, maybe, let me explain.
In the past I have had an iPhone 3GS with AT&T as well as a MiFi and HTC Hero with Sprint. The MiFi and Hero have since been cancelled and replaced with a Droid Eris on Verizon Wireless. So far I love Verizon and I love my Droid Eris. Unfortunately I am missing the MiFi, but more on that in a minute.
Due to pain of paying multiple wireless bills and the joy of using a Droid Eris on Verizon I am canceling my AT&T account and turning my iPhone 3GS into a fancy iPod touch. The reasoning behind that is that its cheaper and easier to just keep that iPhone than it is to sell it and buy an iPod touch. Plus I want/need to keep an iPhone (or touch) because I really like the device, and well, I still write for a dedicated iPhone site. Plus this is not about ditching Apple or AT&T, its just about the bottom line in terms of money. Which means I am not ditching the iPhone as much as I am ditching the bill that comes along with it. I still love the iPhone, but for now Verizon has better deals on family plans. Plus I was able to get a Droid Eris for myself, my wife and my daughter — all for $20 plus shipping.
Now getting back to the MiFi, I miss it and am considering either the Palm Pre Plus or MiFi on Verizon to fill that void. Of course the Palm Pre Plus is adding another phone but it would primarily be used as a data device because it allows me to share the connection by creating a mobile (MiFi like) hotspot. In terms of prices on those, the MiFi is $60 a month and adding the Pre Plus to the existing family plan with the data and mobile hotspot only comes to $80 per month. So really for $20 extra I am getting a whole other phone. Now some, ok many will argue that its not needed, but having an extra phone can be nice at times — if for no other reason than those times when I forget to charge or overuse and drain my battery.
Anyway, that was a lot of words to say that I am turning my iPhone into an iPod touch and picking up a Palm Pre Plus to use as a fancy MiFi. Oh, and I still love my Android based Droid Eris.
Current eBay auctions: HTC Hero, Sprint MiFi, Zune 80 and more
Once again I am cleaning out the home office and getting ride of the items that I no longer need or use. Most of the auctions offer free shipping and have no reserve price set. Check out what I have listed and bid away.
My Clearwater Half Marathon race results
Over the weekend I ran the Clearwater Half Marathon, which was a great race. Overall it was wonderful and I will say that it will be added to my “to-do” list of races for 2011. The course was nice to run as far as scenery to look at, it was very well marked and had plenty of aid stations and volunteers. You really cannot ask for anything more. But that is not to say the post-race was something to say was shabby — they had a nice finish line setup plus some good food. They had the usual oranges, pretzels, soda and water — but in addition there was also some hot food. A nice plus especially when the morning was a slight bit chilly.
Anyway, like I said the race was great in terms of support and all that stuff, and I also had a great run personally. The official results have recently been posted on the Clearwater Running website, but I ran with my phone which has SportyPal and tracks my progress by GPS so I have two sets of results listed below.
According to the official race results, I ran a 1:54:29 which means I ran with an average pace of 8:44 per mile.
According to my results, which you can see below (map above) I actually ran a little more than the 13.1, but I still had a respectable time. My race goal was 9 minute to 9:10 minute miles and I beat that so I am very happy.
- Date: 23/01/2010 07:10
- Distance: 13.55 mi
- Total Time: 01:54:41
- Average Speed: 7.09 mph
- Calories: 1372 kcal
- Start time: 07:10:56
- End time: 09:05:37
- Max Speed: 10.53 mph
- Max Pace: 05:41 min/mi
- Average Pace: 08:27 min/mi
- Total climb: 200 ft
- Total descend: 200 ft
Now I will continue to run and begin to think about my full marathon next month, which I am running at the end of the month as part of Gasparilla in Tampa.
Google will not let me purchase a Nexus One online
The day the Nexus One became available I hit up the store website at www.google.com/phone with thoughts of making the purchase. Of course at the time reality set in and the fact that I already have two smartphones (an HTC Hero with Sprint and iPhone 3GS with AT&T) made me aware that I really did not need a Nexus One. I just wanted one, and want is different from need.
Anyway, just a few minutes ago I was looking for some Nexus One information (for a post that I was writing on Androinica) and found myself back on that store page and decided to *maybe* make a purchase. So I clicked the nice “Get your phone” button and was greeted with a strange message.
The message read;
Your session has expired. Since buying the Nexus One requires your personal information, we want to make sure it’s still you behind the keyboard.
Still me? Of course it’s still me, I am still logged in under the same Gmail account. How could they not know that it was me? And then I did the natural, re-clicked the “Get your phone” button and was again greeted with the same message. I then logged out of my Gmail account, closed my browser, went back to the store, logged back in and once again hit the “Get your phone” button. Only to be given the same message.
Bottom line, I am sure this is a simple fix, but instead of trying to figure it out I wrote something about it here and figure that Google just saved me a bunch of money. Thanks Google.
Running a 100, miles that is
The words “100 Miles and Runnin” could mean a few things depending on who you ask. It is of course an older NWA song, which does currently reside in my music collection. But more importantly it also serves as a goal for myself. That goal is to run 100 miles — an ultramarathon or more specifically I want to run the Keys 100 in May of 2011.
I have talked about this race before, and had hoped to run it this past May (in 2009) but timing was wrong and the finances were not available for a undertaking like this. So it was put on the back burner for a while. Now the timing is better and with some advance planning it should be easy to at least make it to the starting line. What I do from there will have to wait, but at least I know I can go in with a good plan, good support crew and most importantly plenty of supplies and plenty of training.
But in reality this post serves as a way to make my intentions public. And I am doing that because the more people that know, and the more people that I talk about my goal with, the harder it will be for me to chicken out.
Yes, attempting to run a 100 miles makes me nervous, but its a big challenge and honestly I am more afraid that I will finish and then want to do something harder, longer or crazier. But more on that after May of 2011.
In the meantime, I will continue training using my current plans, which will accommodate both my regular marathon and summer triathlon plans. I am also doing research into supplies that I need, and trying to read anything and everything that may help me in regards to ultramarathons.
But the first order of business, I need a new pair of running shoes.
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