Snow day/Centro

Freaky stuff: my commuting buddy and I got halfway out of town when her hubby called and said school was canceled (we got like a foot of snow last night). We basically have class one day a week, and that day was today. Whoops! One of my groups used Google group chat to have a meeting so we didn’t fall behind, and it worked fine. Easy peasy.

I have not totally slacked today, but I have relaxed some…I ended up working Monday night (in addition to Saturday night), only I didn’t know I was going to work Monday so I didn’t sleep in. It was grim. So I am just now returning to my original, upright position. This Saturday is my last night shift! Anyway, I found this video about the new MacBook Air everyone is so excited about.

The things seem to have some problems, and Apple appears to have flat-out lied about the battery life, so I’m a little annoyed with them. They’re also late with the promised Apple TV Take 2 software updates. I own neither of these products, but as a Mac cult member it pains me to see Apple behaving in this fashion. Happily, the iTunes rental thing is fabulous. I love not having to schlep movies back to the store.

My friend L’s roommate has a pink Centro that I’ve been drooling over of late, so I got one. I had a pretty cool Katana DLX phone that I settled on because I couldn’t afford a Treo when I needed a new phone the last time. The Centro was announced shortly thereafter, thus causing much wadding of panties. Anyway, I really started wanting a pink Centro, but I was in no way eligible for the “big bucks off a new phone every 2 years” discount. I also wasn’t about to spend $400 for a Centro. I called Sprint and made noises like I was unhappy and wanted to cancel my account. The rep asked why, and I said, “If I have to spend $400 to get a smart phone, I’ll get an iPhone.” In order to keep my service, he offered me a Centro at the new-customer price ($99) plus a $50 rebate! And he shipped it overnight! And I sold the Katana on eBay for a decent price! Therefore I have the gadget I wanted AND $75 I didn’t have before. What a story, eh?

I bought The Missing Sync before even passing go, even though I read about quite a few problems with it. I have had no problems at all. I already had a license for Splash Photo, which you need to sync iPhoto libraries, but had I not, I would have been steaming pissed. Their claims about photo syncing are just misleading; you can’t use that feature without Splash Photo. Anyway. Using a Palm with a Mac is far more rewarding than doing so with a Windows machine because of the iCal integration. I have devised a byzantine system of importing and exporting involving Gcal, iCal, and Remember the Milk that does a lot of cool stuff that, I think, mainly allows me to waste a lot of time feeling super organized, although RTM has become way more useful since the last time I messed with it on account of its integration with Google Gears and its incorporation of tagging. (IOW, I can use it offline, and I can slice and dice the tasks any which way I want.) Also, the Mac allows working Bluetooth connections, so if I want to just sync up my calendar right quick, I don’t have to hook up cables and stuff. I never could really get my Windows Bluetooth to work reliably.

The Centro itself is partly cheap crap; I feel like holding my breath if I take the back cover off lest it break, and once I do that to get to the micro SD card slot I’m stricken with fear that the slot cover will break off. (Also: it’s a dumb idea to have to go through all this to GET the SD card out!) The rocker button and home/mail/calendar/phone buttons are similarly cheap plasticky feeling. Despite this, as a whole this gadget feels weirdly sturdy. It’s got a good heft to it, and it doesn’t creak even if you squeeze it and twist it pretty hard. It works fine, just as advertised, and it’s unbearably cute. A baby Treo! The keyboard isn’t optimal, but it’s way better than the iPhone keyboard. All in all, it’s WAY worth the net $50 I paid for it…I’m very very happy. I like the threaded SMS-ing and some other bells and whistles!