Picture My World

I lost my cell phone a while ago. It was a recent-model Nokia and I replaced it with another recent-model Nokia slightly different than the lost one.

I was quite surprised to find many small differences in the interface. Many of the menus were subtly different for no apparent reason. In some cases, the phone was worse, in other cases, better.

In my old phone, if I wanted to change the current ring profile (for example, to switch to silent or vibrate-only), I could hit the power button and I’d get a menu that included all the profiles.  In my new phone, the power button doesn’t do anything like that.  There’s a “Go to” menu mapped to the left soft-key that allows me to pick either the “normal” or “silent” profile (among a million other options) but doesn’t reveal the other ring profiles.  If I want to switch to “meeting” or “vibrate”, I need to navigate many levels into the main menu.

On the other hand, the new phone has dedicated volume buttons on the side, which the other phone lacked.  I always wondered how Nokia missed those — aren’t they mandatory for a mobile phone?

So, what’s up, Nokia? Is this an example of the constant iteration and tweaking you do on your handsets? Did you make these subtle changes for a good reason or just because different teams designed the two phones?

It’s not that bad.

We’re travelling with a 3 year old and a 5 month old.  I’m taking the morning off and the rest of the family is at a friend’s house.

I was ready to write a rant about how tough it is to be away from home but, as I reflect, it’s really not that bad.  The worst parts, so far , are:

• The baby starts to hate the car more and more as the day wears on.  There’s a lot of driving (we are in California, after all) and that’s a problem.
• Shula is a little home sick and asks to go home at least once a day.
• Eating out most of the time gets old and Shula doesn’t eat as well as she does with home cooked food.
• Good naps are hard to find.

However, the novelty of being somewhere else does keep things manageable.  Shula is turning into quite the park fiend — she loves new playgrounds.  The kids also did really well on the flights down here.

Speaking of flying — if you’re flying with a toddler, check out this harness from CARES.  It turns the airplane seatbelt into a 5 point restraint and means you don’t need to lug around a car seat.  Highly recommended.

Where have I been?

The answer, sadly, is that I was immersed in a terribly addictive game. However, I’ve completed my last quest and cancelled my subscription. I had started writing a post about the game when I first started, but I never got around to publishing it. Ironically, I had written that I wouldn’t be signing up for the game after the trial…

I could tell you all about the great job Blizzard did with World of Warcraft, but I won’t.  Read a review or play the game yourself.  However, I don’t recommend it if you have an addictive personality.

Anyway, I’m glad to be back.  Maybe I’ll even write a little.

Now for a lighter topic.

I just got a new LCD monitor at work. It’s big and beautiful, but do you know what its biggest problem is? There’s not enough room around the screen for post-it notes!

What are office workers around the world going to do?