Android Review pt I

So after losing my phone Saturday at a place that I will only refer to as a gentlemen's club, I decided to replace it with the HTC/Google G1 and let me just say; I think I made an excellent choice. Before I go on and on about this product let me say that I KNOW I'm not the first person to write a review on this product, I just wanted to give my pov.

The first thing that you have to do when you fire up the G1 is log in to your gmail account. Gmail serves as a "hub", if you will, to manage the way you use your phone. Once logged into your Gmail account the G1 will automatically pull all of in all of your Gmail contacts. From then on you can either update a contact on your computer's web browser or on the phone, and each will sync with the other; with this interface I will never have to worry about lost phone numbers again...too cool!! When I was IM-ing on the G1 I asked a friend Instant Message me her phone number. As soon as I received it all I had to do was use the G1's touch screen to highlight the number, search for her name and email address (which I had in my Gmail contact list) and voila! Her number was saved both in Gmail and on the phone!

Speaking of Instant Messaging, the G1's AIM and GoogleTalk interfaces are a breeze to use; I hardly need to use my PC's IM client at all anymore. All of this is great but the biggest advantage of the G1 (to me) so far is the multimedia capability. With the capacity for a 32Gb micro-SD card I can store my entire (current) music library on my phone and use the device as my default mp3 player...as a matter of fact I haven't used my iPod all week. The down side is that the music player's controls are a bit clunky, especially when trying to change tracks and keep your eyes on the road. But one feature makes up for the oversensitive controls: If, when playing music through your car stereo, you receive an incoming call, the music will fade out and the phone will ring over the car speakers. When you accept the call you will hear the caller's voice surrounding you like the voice of God and you can carry on a conversation with the phone safely cradled in your lap!!! As soon as the call is complete back comes the music! Kick Awesome.

Coming up: pt II - Interwebs and The Google

Oh, and this one is for jacobes:

Kiss the Flag

Welllll, my application to UT Law is going out today...it's really been a team effort getting this thing ready; professional reviewers, professional letters of recommendation...lot's of logistics and leg work involved...phew, glad it's almost over.

National Defense and Intelligence Policy is a pretty eye opening class this semester. As a student of International Politics I sort of understand the relationships between states and their allies, but what really puts into perspective how intertwined the relationships are is the types of ballistic missiles these states have in common...you can get a great deal of relationship insight, for example, by which nations share China's CSS "DongFeng" missile technology...very cool stuff...well if you're a dorkus malorkus like me it's pretty cool (by the way the whole missile/relationship exercise wasn't a class assignment, that was just for fun...next step is to find the Chinese missile manufacturing plants on Google Earth).

Workouts are going great, except that I've lost my work out partner due to my school schedule...and it's so difficult to stay motivated by myself; but onward I must trudge.

Oh, and the title of this post? Well, I just can't get enough of Evans Blue lately. Evans Blue precariously walks a fine line between good music and generic pussy rock, but their lyrics have enough depth, and their guitars enough hook to pull it off.

Wait a minute...Where Are We Going?

Time and time again we are told that life is about the journey, not the destination; this is true in literature, poetry, music, and art works of all sort. My thing is; you never undertake a journey without knowing the destination. So if life is a journey, where are we going??!?!

Heeeeres my take on it: The destination in life is goodness and wisdom-- the good life. There is no path to get there, no map or road; we get there by daily winning our interior struggles. We all wage internal battles on a daily basis; it's how we rise to fight our self adversaries that determines whether or not we reach our destination.

There is a story in Native American folklore that speaks volumes to this concept. A Native American man is talking to his grandson:"There are two wild animals inside of me. One is greedy, cruel, and hateful. The other is generous, compassionate, and loving. They are constantly at battle; they fight every moment I am awake". Upon hearing this the grandson asks "Grandfather, which one wins?" To which the grandfather responds: "Whichever one I feed".

On Friendship

A good friend sent me this quote the other day and I just can't get over its elegant simplicity.

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.
-Albert Camus

If I were more laconic in nature and I were to provide a compendium on friendship, this would be it. In other words, please don't judge your friends for the way that they are or seem to be. Don't try too hard to understand them or to relate; Just give your silent friendship and in return you will have their eternal allegiance and constancy of character. Unfortunately we are often asked to give more than God has graced us with the capacity to give; to justify actions or to provide reason-to sacrifice more than which with we are endowed. Please refrain from requiring of your friends that which they are unable to give...just walk beside them.

Distracted

Not really, but The Loved Ones have a new album coming out on February 3 titled Distractions; their new single Distracted is already up on MySpace.

Week In Review: All in all it was a pretty good week; classes are good. I have 2 awesome classes (National Defense & Intelligence Policy, and Metaphysics) and 2 so-so classes (Astronomy, and Theology). The classes seem to go ok with my job schedule, so everything should work out! I'm also in the midst of serious research for my summer in Europe. A friend of mine helped me find some super cheap airline tickets so the next step is to plan an itinerary and figure out where to sleep!

Everything in the world seems to be at a lull right now. President Obama just took office and I think all interested world parties are taking a break to figure out how to deal with the new administration. There's still plenty of regional conflict of course, but nothing like the scale of conflict that we saw on the run-up to January 20th.

My Little Social Experiment

So it should be no secret by this point that I'm pretty easily entertained...here are the reactions from 2 friends with very different personalities when I decided to share "just a little too much" in an IM conversation. Let's call them "Friend A" & "Friend B". "A" was definitely more entertaining, but "B" had me ROFL'ing:

Friend A
(9:55:17 PM) MinimalistHobo: i just took a dump
(9:55:19 PM) Friend A: umm
(9:55:22 PM) Friend A: I don't need to know that
(9:55:27 PM) MinimalistHobo: No, it's ok..i don't mind.
(9:56:07 PM) Friend A: i do
(9:56:10 PM) Friend A: i mind
(10:04:38 PM) MinimalistHobo: oh
(10:05:20 PM) MinimalistHobo: ok, i thought we were the type of friends that "shared"
(10:05:25 PM) MinimalistHobo: my bad
(10:49:45 PM) Friend A: share is one thing
(10:49:58 PM) Friend A: imagary associated with what comes out of your ass
(10:50:04 PM) Friend A: thats for married people
(10:50:53 PM) MinimalistHobo: i'm sorry..i guess I thought we were close enough to share those kinds of details..i must have misjudged our relationship...I didn't just take a dump then.

Friend B
(9:56:13 PM) MinimalistHobo: i just took a dump
(9:58:06 PM) Friend B: thats insane
(9:59:09 PM) Friend B: where did you take it from?
(9:59:23 PM) Friend B: the cat turds?
(9:59:29 PM) MinimalistHobo: hahaha....bravo!
(9:59:41 PM) MinimalistHobo: i'm testing reactions of my friends
(9:59:54 PM) MinimalistHobo: to the phrase "i just took a dump"
(9:59:58 PM) Friend B: i win

COME FOR ME!!!!!

hahaha...I just cant get the line "Come for me!" from Peter O'Toole's portrayal of King Henry II in the film The Lion in Winter out of my head. That film is a masterpiece and I just can't understand how O'Toole has never won an Academy Award. I have now moved on to another O'Toole portrayal of the first monarch from the House of Plantagenet in the earlier film Becket...good stuff.

Something else I can't get out of my head lately is Anberlin's Adelaide...I know, I know, Anberlin is totally lame, but I do like that song. (also check out the new music on my iPod list)

I'm working on law school apps this weekend and I think I've turned a corner; for this very morning I finished my personal statement!!! Of course I'll be noodling it 'til the very moment I submit it to the Law School Admissions Council, but I'm done with the major edits, so that's a milestone! Next item on the list? -- Resume!, and college transcripts, and finalizing recommendation letters, and putting the finishing touches on the actual applications, and...

I'm also excited about applying to the joint JD/Masters program at UT Law. I think I'm going to go for a Master's degree in Global Policy.

School starts Tuesday. I found out on Friday that I need another Poli Sci credit to graduate which really pissed me off. If I had known I needed another credit I surely would have done the study abroad in Taiwan...I hadn't been that mad in a loooong time. I'm over it now and ready to get my last semester over with. Here's the line up:

* Theology: Pentateuch (Old Testament)
* Philosophy: Metaphysics
* Poli Sci: Federalism & Intergovernmental Relations
* Physics: Astronomy II

...should be interesting...