PhoneBoy Says

I am reposting this from my other blog.

Cybette tagged me on this Symbian History meme Olly started. Some of my Symbian history can be summarized in this video:

PhoneBoy and His Mobile Phones

So let's see if I can do this in chronological order, or roughly.No, I don't know which version of Symbian is on each one, though I'msure I could look if I had the inclination:

• Nokia 9290, i.e. third generation Communicator. We called it "thebrick" and the biggest problem with this phone was that it was releasedafter GPRS was the norm, and yet this phone didn't have it. Made the phone a useless brick.
• Nokia 3650. Yes, with the annoying round keyboard and no GSM850. My wife actually liked this phone (we both had one for a while).
• Nokia 6260, which I imported from the UK. Also lacks GSM850. I'dsay it's a decent pre-cursor to the Nokia N90. I didn't end up usingthis phone for too long, though I still have it.
• Nokia 9500, which is a prototype. Thanks to the WiFi and the keyboard, I carried this phone for almost a year.
• Nokia 9300, which wasn't a prototype, but was really missing WiFi.
• Nokia E70 (a prototype), which until I realized how little memory it has compared to, say, the E61, was my favorite phone.
• Nokia E62 (prototype), which I really liked until I got annoyed at the record button and the lack of WiFi.
• Nokia N73 and Nokia N93: Got these on the same day from NokiaBlogger Relations. The Nokia N73 is a great camera, the Nokia N93 is agreat video camera. My wife has even used the Nokia N93 to tke videobefore.
• Nokia E61: My work horse phone. Love the keyboard, speed, and memory on it, though I am not enamored of the memory management, which is a problem on all S60 3rd Edition devices. Would like to get a Nokia E61i, which has a camera.
• Nokia N80 Internet Edition, also from Nokia Blogger Relations. Theslider can be annoying occasionally, as can the battery life. After thefirmware upgrade to 4.0707.0.7, it seems to be a lot more stablenetwork-wise and the camera seems to be a little better.

So what am I carrying right now? The N80 Internet Edition. Seems tobe the best compromise. I may add the E61 back into the mix next weekwhen I travel to NYC for a couple of days.

• Luca Filigheddu
• The guys at rawsocket.org
• Jeff Pulver

This looks weird, but it does seem to work. This is part of that Paul McKenna program I found, and you can see this part of it thanks to YouTube:

TFT Weight Loss

The basic idea: while thinking about your "addiction," which in this case is food, but it could be something like cigarettes too, tap on the various acupuncture points with your fingers while thinking about the addiction. Yes, I know it looks daft, but it did seem to work for me, or at the very least allows me to bring certain cravings down to a reasonable level.One example of this occurred on Sunday when I was driving back from Tacoma. I really wanted to stop on the way back to get a Starbucks. I discovered Chai Green Tea Lattes, and well, I'm pretty sure they are calorie bombs and not the best thing for you. So while I was driving, I did this little technique. It didn't completely eliminate the craving, but it reduced it to the point where I was very okay with driving past the exit with the drive-thru Starbucks.

It's no secret that I have been struggling with my weight as long as I can remember. Pretty much all diets such for one reason or another. The main reason: they forbid some kind of food. Who in their right mind likes being told no?

Anyway, I was finishing watching TV downstairs a couple nights ago and was putting the TV on the right channel for the kids in the morning. I stopped on another one of Kevin Trudeau's infomercials. This time, he claims to have found the secret for losing weight. I haven't seen the ones that supposedly got him convicted as a felon, but I've seen one or two of his more recent ones where he's just selling information in the form of books, which of course is protected by the First Amendment and no doubt pisses off the government.

I had no intention of buying his book, but I figured if I hunted around enough, I'd find a review or something that would explain what the process was. Sure enough, hunting around on Amazon reveals the details, particularly in the discussion section.

As I suspected, there was some "okay" information there, but it certainly wasn't worth the money. What do you expect from a slick infomercial guy. However, the discussion did lead me to something better: a gentlemen by the name of Paul McKenna. Specifically, I was led to this program, which seems a little odd on the surface, but once you dig into it, it actually makes a lot of sense.

The first thing he focuses on is eating like a thin person, which generally follow four simple rules:

1. When you're hungry, eat!
2. Eat what you want.
3. Eat consciously.
4. When you're full, stop!

Eating when you're hungry, well that's just a dream. Eating what you want, well, that's even better. The trick is to eat before you get so hungry you could eat a bear. Start eating when you're a little peckish.

The "trick," if you want to call it that, is #3: Eat consciously. What he has you do is slow down your eating quite a bit. Each bite is to be savored. Try to make each bite last as long as it can. Try to taste all the different flavors and textures. Put your eating implements down between bites. If you're got your hands on your sandwich, put it down.

When you slow down your eating, you can supposedly feel your stomach getting full much easier. Instead of stopping when you're stuffed to the gills and ready to puke, you can stop when you're full or satisfied. Leave some food on your plate when you're done to reinforce that point.

His system also has some other techniques, some of which are outlined on the site. I will write about them at a future time, I'm sure. If you can find the video for the program on SkyOne, I highly recommend watching it.

Over the past few days, I have tried to implement these rules. So far, so good. I haven't weighed myself, but I can tell you that it is already making a difference. Maybe not on the waistline, but at least in how I feel about eating. I know that I am eating less food. What I am eating, I am enjoying more. I feel more confident in my ability to remain in control around food. I am not gorging myself.

The proof will be on the waistline, of course, but it's too soon to tell how that's going. But the feeling is wonderful.

Hope the Easter Bunny stops by your house and drops off a present for you.

Today marks the first day of the year where my office hit 80 degrees. Heck, outside it was nearly 80 degrees in some places around here. When that happens, the portable AC comes out, and it looks something like this:

The tube to the window is where the hot air vents to the outside, and trust me, in this office, there's a lot of hot air. Aside from the stuff that emanates from my mouth, there are some computers generating heat. Also, the office is in the roof of the house, so it tends to get afternoon sun, literally baking the office. If I start the AC unit early enough in the daytime during the summer, it does a fairly good job of keeping the room a comfortable temperature, or at least the part of it that I am working in.The rest of the house has AC as well, but it's not warm enough to run it in the rest of the house yet. Even when it is, it doesn't do much to cool my office as the rest of the house is cool when my office is sweltering. There is a 10-15 degree temperature differential between my office and the rest of the house during the summer without this AC.This AC ends up running between about now and October with more or less continual use in July and August. Once things cool down here in the next day or two, I'll probably shut it down, but I'll leave it hooked up. The first hot day of the year means that other hot days are a coming. Given the amount of trouble I have to go through to get this thing set up, particularly with respect to the ventilation, I want to minimize the amount of times I have to set it up and tear it down.

This was an interesting find. Apparently, instead of lighting up, you smear this gel on your hands. Well, I guess if you're hard up for a smoke, this might be the ticket.

That reminds me, though, my dad was trying to quit smoking by taking Chantix. How's it going, dad?

What's your best tax tip?

Hire an accountant. ;)

Recently, while cleaning up the office, I discovered my old white board that I hadn't used in a while. The big issue with the white board is that there's not really many good places in my office to hang it up. Mostly it's because there's very little high-up vertical space thanks to my office being in the roof of the house. However, I did find a place for it just to the right of my desk.

Right now, what I am using my white board for is my to-do list. I like it because it's nice to be able to erase something off my list easily, not to mention adding things. I had a major sense of accomplishment yesterday with all the erasing of items I did. It's also easily reachable and visible from my desk, which is a huge bonus.

I'm hoping that actually being able to see the To Do list will actually help me to get things done. A visual reminder that stuff needs to be done.

More Nokia N80ie play