Flokoulnater's blog

iPhone scam

2008-07-11T20:38:29-05:00

O.k., so I was excited about getting a new phone today, the 3G iPhone, but I'm not one that has to be the first to obtain a product. I'm not materialistic. I just wanted a new phone since I was up for replacing my 20th c. phone (that needs a new lightbulb, and therefore is blank right now!!!) with the new iPhone, but alas, I was disillusioned with my beloved Macintosh folks after seeing that the iPhone rollout began with a marketing scam, as I see it. You see, I arrived at a location where I had pre-registered with ATT the day before, this a.m. around 9:00. There was a line (to be expected) of about 20-ish people. The registration took some time, so the line moved very slowly. By 9:30, one of the managers came out to inform us that I was in a part of the line that would not be receiving an iphone today since their stock would be depleted. WHAT?!?!?! After asking how many folks had received the phone & figuring how many folks were in front of me, I figured that the store only received about 80 phones. Immediately, I figured that this tact would enable Apple to brag about selling out the iPhones within the first couple hours. However, it doesn't reveal the reality that undershipments were made. I mean, come on, why only ship 80 phones to a location (when all ATT locations would not be selling the iPhones)? Why wouldn't they ship an overabundance to each store, assuming that they would eventually sell? Obviously, this way they hold the power to publicize this sell-out in such a way that attracts even more customers who might think: "what am I missing out on, that so many others waited for and lost out on?" It's rather simple, clever(?) marketing, and from an outsider's perspective, I can see the plan, but from someone who wanted a damn iphone today, this game sucks! Come on Mac, you're more mature than this...at least I thought so before...

The new iPhone

2008-07-07T22:24:56-05:00

I'm about as excited about a new technology as I have been in a while. The new iPhone, to be released this coming Friday, 7/11 has bitten me. it helps that my own 20th c. cell phone has lost its LED readability, and I'm about up to my neck in frustration with it (who knew that i'd be so dependent on the visual capabilities of my cell phone--I'm really amazing myself how addicted I've become). Now, I'm not going to wait in any ridiculous lines just to be a first owner of one of these 3G puppies; I just want a phone that works properly first and foremost, and secondly, since the iPhone is coming out, why not that? I have been a devoted Mac person since the 80's, which I now boast about. The price reduction on the iphones helps too. 200. & a plan that's really comparable to my own current cell plan with Verizon and I have no data access at all. In preparing for our upcoming move and comparing tech. "utility" service prices, it really seems to me that prices are lower now than in year's past. Don't know if I understand completely, but it certainly works in terms of drawing us suckers in to the newest gadget. But my, my I feel blasphemous calling a Mac product a mere "gadget" (do they have my "number" or what?).

Ingrid Betancourt's release

2008-07-05T22:08:57-05:00

So I'm fixated with the story of the release of Ingrid Betancourt. I had loosely been following her captivity through the years after having learned about her as a Colombian political figure prior to her kidnapping. I felt a sense of solidarity with her, though perhaps that was what media effectiveness. Even so, we're both Colombians in our 40s with 2 children, a boy and a girl. I guess our similarities end there truth be told(...or not?). Nevertheless, I felt empathy for her family upon her capture in 2002, and I had since just assumed that she had been killed by the FARC soldiers who had kidnapped her. Unbelievably, she was still alive (along with quite a few other people who had also spent many years in captivity by the FARC), and so now I find her freedom after all this time overwhelming. What must it be like to see your children again after 6 long years in captivity? They have since become adults at 19 & 22. I just can't imagine. We watched an HBO documentary this evening on her kidnapping, which was produced by HBO. She really was quite a figure, and after having read about her capture, I wonder how she could have been so naive? (She traveled by ground to an area she was warned about was heavily infiltrated by rebels.)

And so now, I wonder what she'll do in her freedom? Will she, like Mandela, return and try her hand again at politics? Or, will she safely step aside for consideration of her children? The HBO documentary had a quote from her saying that she was in fact running for the presidency of Colombia so that her own children could safely return to a better, safer Colombia. Like the conflict in Israel, this too seems highly intractable. What were once Marxist rebels (the FARC) have seemingly been pulled into the illegal drug trade (not necessarily a typical socialist occupation), and so their cause seems long gone; however, perhaps they justify the arrangements they have made as a needed means to an end. That's at least what it seems to me from my very naive understanding of the conflict.

So, what will become of Ingrid Betancourt?

'tis the season

2008-07-04T22:18:20-05:00

Spending the day in Washington DC today was a terrific way to close out on our Baltimore/Washington experience. Sure, driving around looking for a parking spot wasn't terrible exciting, but the time soak was made up for by the ultimate proximity of the eventual garage to the 4th of July parade route on Constitution Ave. (about 4 blocks away!). Sure, the heat was overbearing at times, but seeing Olivia's face when she saw the baton twirlers, Hello Kitty in a tutu & Garfield was worth every aggravation. Oh sure, we could have seen Duff, the Ace of Cakes dude if we had stayed local and viewed the Towson parade, but nothing beats seeing a 4th of July parade in our nation's capital surrounded by government buildings. We saw Falun Gong, Vietnamese folks, and Hari Krishnas rounded out the parade. Bands were plentiful, with the state band from Mississippi being my favorite. We also got lucky and we're able to inch our way up to the very front for a nice pavement seat on Constitution Ave. until the police decided to push everyone back towards the very end. As a topper to the visit, we went to the Gordon Biersch brewery/restaurant on 9th & G (?). I recall Gordon Biersch from my days in Northern CA, and now it's a thriving national chain. It's housed in an old Riggs bank building, with a loft level that gives folks the chance to see the top of a leafy column up close & personal--stunning. Julian was pretty tired while we were there, so he didn't partake in the yummy flatbread & hummous appetizer like his sister. All in all, it was a great little trip, putting closure to our close proximity to the Nation's capital.