Jason Colby’s Blog

It’s been a while since my last update on here.  The weather here in the northwest has been cool and wet which I am enjoying.

A couple of months ago as I walked out from the dentist I reached for my cell phone to change the ringer from vibrate to ring.  As I pulled the phone from its holster it began to fumble in my hand and before I could react the phone struck the sidewalk screen first.  Pieces flew and I thought for sure the phone would never work again.  I reached down and found that the pieces I had seen were the battery and removable back cover so everything was looking okay…until I turned the phone itself over.  A crack ran diagonal across the entire touch screen.  A sickness came over me and I felt faint, my G1 which I love is cracked.  To my amazement the touch screen still worked though the crack is all too visible.  As my phone continues to function I will continue using it though I have begun eyeing replacements.  My next phone will also be an android and will preferably have a full keyboard which limits my choices.  So far the likely replacement will be the Motorola CLIQ.

I had wanted to save for the new Barnes and Noble Nook device.  Now I saving and will have to decide which I will purchase the nook is over a hundred dollars cheaper while the phone gets constant use.  These are the kinds of decisions I don’t like to make.  Today I go in for my eye exam and new glasses are not a luxury, they are a necessity and will be purchased no matter what…Thats an easy decision.

It’s hard to believe that Christmas is under two months away!  A month from now I will begin the decorating process which I am looking forward to.  This past weekend I actually watched a couple Christmas movies…guess I am ready for the season.

It has been a while since I posted an update on here and for that I apologize.  One thing I have realized is that the address to this site is linked to my various social media accounts for visibility and that in turn limits what I can freely post on here.  I suppose this is one of those double edged swords I always here so much about. 

I will just say that I have been extremely busy at work with repercussions carrying over to after hours.  Today is Friday and though the weekend is supposed to be much hotter than I like it will be nice to do what I enjoy.

Many months ago (maybe even a year ago) I signed up for a number with what was then grand central and after much waiting and a change in company ownership I am all set up.  A couple of weeks ago I received an email notifying me that I was invited to receive a google voice number which I jumped on.  One nice thing is that an application was created for the Android mobile platform that easily integrates the google voice number with my G1 phone.  Now when I place calls they are directed through my google voice number.  The beauty of this is that by adding my google voice number to my “Fav 5” all outgoing calls do not count toward my anytime minutes.  The same rule applies for anyone calling my google voice number which is automatically forwarded to my G1.  Theoretically this would mean unlimited calling while having the plan with the lowest number of minutes.  Additionally there is a texting feature you could use so eliminating or dropping your texting plan is an option.  There is still some configuration with groups and spam filtering I have to work on but so far I am very happy.

In the next couple of days I am going to imbed a PSA regarding the Lupus Foundation walk that I will be participating in.  As a reminder you can donate to this cause through the link on the right side of the page titled “Support My Walk for Lupus”.

As a person that loves all things technology it is always exciting when I am able to get a new toy. My latest purchase is a T-Mobile (HTC) G1 phone. The phone arrived yesterday and I have barely been able to set it down. Admittedly if I had the spare money to throw around I would buy an iPhone though I can’t see paying nearly $600 for a phone. As a Mac owner and overall Apple fan it’s a tough call but I am also a Google fan so there was some solace in that fact.

The touch screen on the G1 is awesome though lacking multitouch capabilities at this point (I hear it is coming). Applications abound in the Android market place as well as online. Much of the next few days will be spent trying out the various features of the phone. The first app I installed was Twidroid which is a twitter application. In addition to throwing out some tweets from the phone this weekend I plan on making a blog entry from it as well.

And now I am off to various stores for some much needed shopping.