Born to be wild...

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This weekend has been fairly interesting. For one, I went to the Nokia showroom on Saturday, and it was totally worth the trip. I did take a look at the N79, the E66 and the E71. About a year ago, I think, I had bought both my parents a new cell phone each - the E65 for dad, and the E50 for mom. Both had very recently started their own companies and I figured this would be a well deserved gift for each if them.
Offcourse, them being my parents, I didn't really think about how usable these two devices are, but they having used these devices for a year, mom now complains about the font size on the E50. Yes, I have noticed it too.. The font is surprisingly small and there is now way to increase the font size without paying for it. So coming back to my original story about the weekend - one of the things I wanted to achieve out of going to the Nokia store is find a suitable phone for mom that she could use ok a daily basis .. And didn't have trouble with keyboard or font or anything of the sort - and yes, the E71 is that device.
It has a gorgeous screen, the software is simple to use, and most importantly, mom will (hopefully) love using it. Anyhow, after all of this, I have been wanting to visit a stationary store in the US for some time now (haven't been to one in the 7-odd years I have been here, and bookstores dont count!).
About a block away from the flagship Nokia store was this stationary store called 'Kate's Paperie'. My girlfriend, on my birthday, had gifted me a moleskin.. My first one in fact, and I have also been wanting to see a few more at a stationary store. This store was simply fantastic .. had journals, diaries and all things stationary-ish!! I must have spent close to an hour at this store looking through all the various books, journals and planners but ended up buying none .. Not worth the money! LOL :)
Now, I am on a flight back to Pittsburgh and planning for my busy week ahead.

Just had lunch at max brenner in manhattan. Fantastic drinks! Love the glass for a frappe

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What exactly is the etiquette nowadays for birthdays, anniversaries and
special events? It was my birthday a few days ago, and it got me thinking.
Now, I classified friends into categories, and also classified the types of
communication:

1. Phone call
2. Email
3. SMS (texts)
4. Chat/Facebook/Twitter, etc.

All of this got me thinking about who can/should send me what, and in what
medium. In terms of friends, you have the following:

1. Close friends --> phone call
2. People you talk to often, but are not very close too --> email/SMS
3. People you hardly talk to or are close to - acquaintances --->
chat/facebook/twitter,
etc
4. random other people --> chat/facebook/twitter, etc

Obviously, on my birthday, none of this happened.. some "close" friends
completely forgot, some just sent me a message on facebook, and others
chatted. Some called, and it made me wonder.. what about the others?

My parents are coming to town tomorrow, and they will be here for about a week. I am really looking forward to them being here, but more importantly, a lot has to happen before they get here: cleaning the apartment! 

My Nokia N96, which I've had for about 2 months now, started giving me trouble today. I got home after work, and was going to make a call when the phone just hung. Okay... restart it.. or take out the battery and then restart.. none of that worked.. it drove me nuts.. trying to get this thing working for over 2 hours.. and nothing! 

Test post

sailboats_1

One day while walking down the street a highly successful Human Resources
Manager was tragically hit by a bus and she died. Her soul arrived up in
heaven where she was met at the Pearly Gates by St. Peter himself.

"Welcome to Heaven," said St. Peter. "Before you get settled in though, it
seems we have a problem. You see, strangely enough, we've never once had a
Human Resources Manager make it this far and we're not really sure what to
do with you."

"No problem, just let me in," said the woman.

"Well, I'd like to, but I have higher orders. What we're going to do is let
you have a day in Hell and a day in Heaven and then you can choose whichever
one you want to spend an eternity in."

"Actually, I think I've made up my mind, I prefer to stay in Heaven", said
the woman

"Sorry, we have rules..."

And with that St. Peter put the executive in an elevator and it went
down-down-down to hell.

The doors opened and she found herself stepping out onto the putting green
of a beautiful golf course. In the distance was a country club and standing
in front of her were all her friends - fellow executives that she had worked
with and they were well dressed in evening owns and cheering for her. They
ran up and kissed her on both cheeks and they talked about old times. They
played an excellent round of golf and at night went to the country club
where she enjoyed an excellent steak and lobster dinner.

She met the Devil who was actually a really nice guy (kind of cute) and she
had a great time telling jokes and dancing. She was having such a good time
that before she knew it, it was time to leave. Everybody shook her hand and
waved goodbye as she got on the elevator. The elevator went up-up-up and
opened back up at the Pearly Gates and found St. Peter waiting for her.

"Now it's time to spend a day in heaven," he said. So she spent the next 24
hours lounging around on clouds and playing the harp and singing. She had
great time and before she knew it her 24 hours were up and St. Peter came
and got her.

"So, you've spent a day in hell and you've spent a day in heaven. Now you
must choose your eternity," The woman paused for a second and then replied,
"Well, I never thought I'd say this, I mean, Heaven has been really great
and all, but I think I had a better time in Hell."

So St. Peter escorted her to the elevator and again she went down-down-down
back to Hell. When the doors of the elevator opened she found herself
standing in a desolate wasteland covered in garbage and filth. She saw her
friends were dressed in rags and were picking up the garbage and putting it
in sacks.

The Devil came up to her and put his arm around her. "I don't understand,"
stammered the woman, "yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and a
country club and we ate lobster and we danced and had a great time. Now all
there is a wasteland of garbage and all my friends look miserable."

The Devil looked at her smiled and said ..

"Yesterday we were recruiting you, Today you are an employee".

The phone rings and the lady of the house answers, 'Hello.'

'Mrs. Sanders, please.'

'Speaking.'

'Mrs. Sanders, this is Doctor Jones at Saint Agnes Laboratory. When your
husband's doctor sent his biopsy to the lab last week, a biopsy from another
Mr. Sanders arrived as well. We are now uncertain which one belongs to your
husband. Frankly, either way the results are not too good.'

'What do you mean?' Mrs. Sanders asks nervously.

'Well, one of the specimens tested positive for Alzheimer's and the other
one tested positive for HIV. We can't tell which is which.'

'That's dreadful! Can you do the test again?' questioned Mrs. Sanders.

'Normally we can, but Medicare will only pay for these expensive tests one
time.'

'Well, what am I supposed to do now?'

'The folks at Medicare recommend that you drop your husband off somewhere in
the middle of town. If he finds his way home, don't sleep with him.'