Day to Day

I’m not saying bad things about the iPhone when I say it’s a time suck. I’m just sayin… it’s a time suck. Or it can be if you let it. I’m being pretty darn good about NOT letting it but it’s hard. Very tempting when it’s sitting here next to me while I’m working and the sunlight streaming in through the window catches it just right. But no. I’m not giving in – well not too much.

Today when I picked Michelle up from school she was excited to tell me about some dude who installed third party apps on her iPod touch so now she has sudoku and butterfly and AIM. Cool, right? Yea. So cool that during my lunchbreak (the one I rarely take) I tracked down the same installer and grabbed some third party apps for my iPhone. And that, my friends, is a serious time suck.

Here’s what I installed today:

* Butterfly – quickly uninstalled ’cause it’s boring
* Sketches – heh. scroll down ’cause everyone is loving this Etch a Sketch like time suck
* Apollo – for AIM
* Pedometer – fascinating and oddly compelling but not particularly accurate
* iFlickr – uninstalled ’cause I wasn’t thrilled with it but I’m probably going to reinstall it.
* iWoman – because I was fascinated with the idea of tracking your cycle on your iPhone. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do anything and wouldn’t let me delete “samples” that were included for some weird reason. Uninstalled.
* Tap Tap Revolution – uninstalled ’cause it either didn’t work or I don’t know how to play it (the latter is most likely)
* Pushr – another flickr tool that I’m also not loving and will probably uninstall
* Vnotes – a voice recorder that’s ok but you seem to have to talk really loudly or really close to the mic. Is there a better one?

So. Yea. I’m tempted to dig back into the installer and try some more stuff. But I won’t ’cause I’m still working and I haven’t even finished setting up my contacts or calendar or even my iTunes. And then there are the maps and the lists of coffee joints and vegetarian restaurants in towns we visit often and are always having to look up the address and directions for.

iPhone is a serious time suck. But it’s fun. Even TW is enjoying it. Every time we get in the car, I drive and she plays with my iPhone. Here’s her “etch a sketch” picture from this afternoon’s trip to Petsmart….

I’m thinking we did not buy enough Billy bookshelves when we went to IKEA.

I’m thinking our copy of Valencia has disappeared, possibly into the hands of one of Chris’s former girlfriends.

I’m thinking about the difference between public and private info.

I’m thinking that I feel like I was hit by a train – or had a glass of red wine – though neither has happened.

I’m thinking TW should not say negative things about The Female Eunuch to Michelle Belle.

I’m thinking it is nap time.

TW and RJ left early this morning for their weekend at the Happiest Place On Earth. It’s very quiet here, with just me and the still sleeping Prince and the mostly sleeping dogs, cats, rat, turtles (wait, I don’t believe the turtles actually sleep) and bird.

I’m making use of the quiet to catch up on my inbox and my feeds. I keep seeing things I want to share with TW or comment about to TW. So every now and then I start to think “OK I’m going to send her an email about this stuff” (like she won’t have enough to read tonight when she gets back to the hotel room.)

But, here’s the weird thing, every time I start to think about sending her an email – she calls me. (Or she has RJ call me.) That’s nice but instead of talking about my feeds or email or blog comments or her message boards, we talk about the weather or the rest stops or the exit ramps at I4. I could still send her that email but every time she calls, it causes me to forget whatever it was I was going to tell her in the first place.

Weird, right?