Sep 1, 2009  •  In Gadgets, Geek

The Mobile Phones of My Past, Present, and Future

One of my favorite things to do while battling insomnia is to make lists. Endless, pointless lists.

Last night I did a mental rundown of all the cell phones I’ve had since my first purchase during my freshmen year in college in 1999.

(Before then was pagers. Having access to Korean import stores, I had some sweet pagers – ones that always made my high school peers green with envy. Now, kids don’t even know what pagers are.)

Can you believe that I have owned TEN ELEVEN different phones since then?

Nokia 6190
purchased in 1999, carrier: AT&T

My very first cell phone. Back in 1999, not too many people in my freshmen class had cell phones and if they did, almost all had the Nokia 5100 series or the Motorola StarTAC. I felt speshurr because I had the newest and greatest Nokia.

Nokia 8190
purchased in 2000, carrier: VoiceStream (now T-Mobile)

As soon as these mini-Nokias were released I ran out and bought one. I loved the interchangeable faceplates and keypads – I used to buy pretty, imported ones from eBay every month!

Samsung Uproar
purchased in 2001, carrier: Sprint

America’s first MP3 phone. I was the only person I knew who had one of these babies, and people were always amazed when they saw it.

Samsung A460
purchased in 2002, carrier: Sprint

Probably the least gadget-y phone I’ve ever owned. However, I liked the sleek lines and the bright blue background of the display.

Samsung A500
purchased in 2002, carrier: Sprint

A small upgrade from the Samsung A460 (I decided to purchase this when my A460 got too scratched up…yes I’m technologically vain like that). This was the first full-color display phone I owned and I loved the vibrant colors!

Sanyo 8100, lavender & pearl white
purchased in 2003, carrier: Sprint

My first camera-phone. I fell in love with the girly lavender and pearl white version and so I went and bought this on the day it was released.

Motorola Razr V3, black
purchased in 2005, carrier: T-Mobile

I drooled over the Razr when it was first announced. When the prices dropped after its first year on the market and the gunmetal black color was released, I immediately ran out and got this. Soon, everyone had a Razr.

Samsung E870, “Valentine Pink”
purchased in 2006, carrier: T-Mobile

When the Razr became über-popular, I soon lost interest. In addition, the call quality was horrible. I saw this phone in a display window in Chinatown NYC and I immediately fell in love. Sleek and minimalistic but very girly at the same time…I loved it!

Sony Ericsson M600i, white
purchased in 2007, carrier: T-Mobile

I knew I had to have this phone after watching Casino Royale. I even downloaded the “ping” notification sound used by Vesper Lynd in the movie! While I loved the looks and concept of the phone, I was not a fan of the Symbian OS.

LG Voyager
purchased in 2008, carrier: Verizon

I had been holding off on getting a phone because the Apple iPhone had been announced in 2007. However, weighing the pros and cons of the iPhone and the Voyager, I ultimately decided that the Voyager would be a better fit for me. I loved this phone and I was devastated when it died on me.

The phone that I currently own is the HTC G1 Developer Edition:

Google had gifted its employees with this phone last December, and J graciously handed it over to me.

I’m a firm believer in the superiority of the Android system over that of the iPhone. However, since this was the first phone developed for the Android, I must admit that it has its flaws.

In addition, T-Mobile sucks. After having had a taste of Verizon Wireless (which, in my opinion, is the best network in America with its superior call quality and data transfer speeds) I hate, hate, hate T-Mobile.

My only hope is that Verizon will release an Android phone in the near future. If the rumors are true, I won’t have to wait too long with the Motorola Sholes to be released later this year:

Yummy. Of course, the design is nowhere as sexy as that of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X3 (which is supposedly the first SE Android phone), but I need my physical keyboard, dammit!

How many mobile phones have you owned? Do you, like me, go through them like crap goes through geese?


Eta: J just reminded me that I had left out the Sony Ericsson M600i! I knew I was missing one! The list is now updated…thanks hubby!

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Aug 31, 2009  •  In Pregnancy

Pregnancy Update, Week 6

We just returned from my second appointment.

Ladies and gentlemen: we have a due date! Tater Tot is due April 22, 2010. So there’s still a chance of it being born on our second wedding anniversary (4/18/2010).

…I just hope it’s not born on four-twenty. When I voiced my concern, the Sperm Donor laughed and said “That’d be AWESOME! Yeah, buddy. You just wait and see when the baby comes out of my woo-woo with a blunt hanging from its lips.

This time around, they gave us a copy of the ultrasound:

I can’t believe how much it’s grown in just two weeks. Last time, all we saw was a black circle representing the embryonic sac. Now we can see a vague representation of Tater Tot (the white bean-like blob)!

The best part? I saw the heart beating!!! It was completely magical and I couldn’t help but be enthralled by the tiny little movements.

According to BabyZone, Tater Tot is about the size of a pea and looks like this:

It looks less like a seahorse but more like the alien from the Alien movies.

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Aug 31, 2009  •  In Pregnancy

Morning Sickness Linked to Higher Child IQ

I read this on BabyZone this morning (when my head was not bent over the toilet):

The Scoop: Although it can be a major nuisance for moms-to-be, morning sickness may actually make for smarter kids, according to a recent Canadian study. In an effort to understand the effect of first trimester nausea on fetal brain development, researchers followed 121 women who had contacted a pregnancy hotline. Among children (now between ages 3 and 7) born to these women, those whose mothers experienced morning sickness scored higher on certain tests of IQ, memory, and language skills, compared to those whose mothers had no symptoms of nausea or vomiting during pregnancy.

For Baby: Women in the study who reported the most severe bouts of morning sickness symptoms tended to have children with the highest test scores (this was even more pronounced if the mom also had a high IQ). According to researchers, morning sickness is most likely triggered by a rapid rise in human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) and thyroxine—two hormones needed during pregnancy to grow and maintain a healthy placenta. While morning sickness is viewed by most as an unwanted side effect of pregnancy, researchers now speculate the condition is a sign of a healthy pregnancy and nourishing placenta. Other studies have linked morning sickness to lower rates of miscarriage, stillbirth, and preterm delivery.

I must be carrying the next Kim Ung-Yong in my womb.

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Aug 28, 2009  •  In Blogging, Personal

TTFN!

Posting will be light this weekend, because I’ll be driving down to Maryland to attend this lovely lady’s wedding:

I will be joined by these fabulous ladies:

            

         

Happy wedding day, D’orsay! And I can’t wait to see everyone else there!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

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Aug 27, 2009  •  In Geek, Movies, Personal, Star Wars

The Top 5 Most Chilling Lines from Movies

Star Wars – Episode III, Revenge of the Sith was on TV earlier tonight. Although this must be my twentieth time watching the most bearable of the prequel trilogy, I couldn’t help but feel chills running down my spine during a particular scene.

I then delved deep into my memory banks for the most chilling moments in movies. Not necessarily scary, but chill-inducing. There are some lines that will never cease to cause goosebumps, no matter how many times you’ve watched that movie – don’t you agree?

So I present to you, my top 5 picks for the most chilling lines in movies:

5.  “You’re going to need a bigger boat.”  – Brody, Jaws

4.  “I am home.”  – Dr. Weir, Event Horizon (aka the scariest movie of the ’90s)

3.  “They mostly come out at night, mostly.”   – Newt, Aliens (also parodied by South Park )

2.  “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”  – [written by] Jack, The Shining

1.  “Execute Order 66.”  – Palpatine, Star Wars: Episode III

Can you think of any chilling lines that should be included on this list?

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Aug 27, 2009  •  In Art/Design, Home

IKEA Catalog from 1965

Check out these photos of a 1965 IKEA catalog, courtesy of ikke tikke theo‘s parents:

These furnishings would be a big hit today especially with the revival of all things ’60s spurred by AMC’s Mad Men. I’m especially digging that orange sofa set.

Via kottke.org.

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Aug 27, 2009  •  In Geek

De-Clutter Your Firefox Tabs with FaviconizeTabs

If you’re anything like me, you probably have endless tabs open in your Firefox windows at all times.

There is good news for us. Today, J alerted me to a Firefox extension called FaviconizeTabs which allows you to minimize the size of pre-selected tabs in order to make your favorite browser more user-friendly.

In my case, I always have Gmail, Google Reader, Facebook, and this site open in Firefox. So I simply minimized them and voila!

See how much more room I have for my other tabs?

I love having a geeky husband. I hope our baby will be geeky too.

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Aug 27, 2009  •  In Art/Design

Beautiful Matchbook Designs

The pyro in me screams, “Fire! Fire!” The designer and art afficiano part of myself squeals in delight. Here are three unique and beautiful match packagings.

Marlboro by Radi Designers:

Energy Calendar by Yurko Gutsulyak:

And, my personal favorite, the Flower Match by Cung-Young Chu:

For more, visit CrookedBrains (via Neatorama).

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Aug 26, 2009  •  In Movies

Capitalism: A Love Story

On October 2, Michael Moore’s new movie Capitalism: A Love Story will be released.

Although I don’t agree with all of Mr. Moore’s political views, his last movie Sicko was an eye-opener and I couldn’t help but cringe at our flawed healthcare system.

As a victim of this recession, I will be sure to watch Capitalism. It is discouraging to live so close to the heart of the problem (Wall Street) and witness these executives continue to prey upon others’ money.

Do you plan on watching this movie?

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Aug 26, 2009  •  In Blogging, Personal

Geek in Heels Tagline Contest!

I’ve been thinking long and hard (that’s what she said) about a tagline for my website. I tossed a bunch of them around in my head and even seriously considered a couple but concluded that I didn’t love them.

Then I realized…why don’t I ask you, the readers, for help?

As an extra incentive the winner of my choosing will receive these prizes:

  1. Not one, but FOUR packages of Kodak Premium Photo Paper, 4 x 6 Inches, Gloss, 100 sheets.

    That is a $55.96 value! What will you do with 400 sheets of photo paper? That’s for you to decide!

  2. A DVD of one of my favorite wedding movies of all time, My Big Fat Greek Wedding

  3. My eternal love and gratification. Which is worth more than the top two combined, don’t you think?

You can enter the contest in three different ways:

  1. Leave a comment below with your tagline entry.
  2. Email me at jenny (at) geekinheels [dot] com with your entry.
  3. Tweet your entry to @geekinheels

The contest will end on Wednesday, September 2nd at 12:00pm Eastern time (just one week from today).

You can enter as many times as you want, so get those creative juices flowing! Good luck!

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