Firstly, a couple of weeks ago I decided to splurge and take a trip to Hawaii. Since I had the miles and someone was willing to host me there, I figured I’d go before work got crazy. Let me tell you, it was one of the best ideas ever. I spent most of the time laying on the beach and lounging around. It was amazing. I didn’t make it to see any of the famous sites, but I figure I’ll go back and do that again later.

Beyond the trip to Hawaii, my life has pretty much come down to a few basic activites: training for Ragnar, working, and climbing.

As is normal for the month of July, I’m completely deep into my training for the Ragnar relay. As has been the case in previous years, I’m in a good regimen of running, lifting, and abstaining from drinking in any way. This year, I’m actually pushing myself a bit more in my runs, and I’ve decided not to ease off the lifting. As it turns out, I’m seeing great benefits over my training in my previous years and I’m really excited to see how things go with this years race. I’ve also been training in Vibrams, which I feel have helped me a great deal. As the relay is less than two weeks away, expect to hear more from me about the whole thing soon.

The next big thing in my life has been work. With the upcoming of release of Windows Phone 7, my team has been ramping up for the last push. As it often goes with software, this final push is where it all falls into place. Unfortunately, this also means a lot of work, some long hours, and a bit of a toll on me physically is all in store. I am, however, really loving what I’m doing. I’ve always been a bit of a phone freak, so getting the opportunity to work in this technology space is a real treat. It’s very much akin to my time at Zune. Although we aren’t quite marching like we did there.

The last big thing I’ve gotten even more into has been climbing. Since November, I’ve gotten into a pretty good rhythm of climbing with my friend Shawn. We’ve been climbing generally at least once a week, and life permitting, even more. Given that Shawn is quite a bit better than I am, I’ve actually improved a great deal, which has been rather awesome. I’ve also started climbing outdoors and leading, which is something I never thought I’d be up to doing.

So yeah, that’s kind of the life I’m living right now. I’m really happy with everything. As I told my friend Josh today as we were walking to dinner, “Life is good.”

Before you read this, please read this.

Eric Burns makes an interesting note about the MACWorld keynote. There really wasn’t anything about…I don’t know…Macintosh computers? Seriously, at the conference that was the unveiling of so many major computer releases (Original TiBook in January of 2001?), and is supposed to be about the Mac, where were the computer announcements? Where was the…you know…Mac? Gone.

Computers were an afterthought. And apparently, computers aren’t the big thing at Apple either. They dropped “Computer” from their company name. They’re Apple Inc, now. Apple Computers is dead.

Stop to think about that for a second. Has that sunk in yet? It’s ok, I’ll wait a bit longer.

That’s right, Apple Computer, the company that changed how we look at computers, who’s machines my generation grew up using in schools, no longer exsists. This is now Apple Inc. Maker of the IPod, the IPhone and the company that runs the iTunes Music Store.

Without much fanfare, Apple has smoothly turned themselves into a consumer electronics company. They are like a sleeker, hipper Sony. They make computers, but it isn’t their primary business anymore.

One could say the writing has been on the wall for a while. Increased pushing of the iPod at various conventions; the major shift in revenue and profit no longer coming from the computer devision. Even Apple’s pulling out of the PowerPC camp and using Intel for it’s computers (and then making it easy to install Windows on them). It feels in a way like Apple is now just putting up a token fight, but they are more concerned with other areas.

I wonder when the iPod went from a device to try and get people hooked into Apple’s computers, to the device that was the flagship for the company. I wonder what kind of computer announcements Apple will make in the future. What is the future of the Mac OS?

I decided to bring this back. This past WWDC makes me really wonder.

Seriously, I never realized how spoiled I have become till I realized I wanted to put what my Mii on my site. Suddenly I couldn’t do that. There’s no slick and awesome way of including my favorite Zune tracks in an email signature (I actually see my gamercard tags in email signatures at work). The Zune thing I find truly funny since the slogan is “Join the Social” Sure, I raved about this when I first go the 360, but I kind of just took it for granted. All this community stuff…I need it. I expect it.

I understand that there are people who don’t want that level of information to be available about them, but there are privacy settings for just that reason. I, on the other hand, like letting people know what I like to play and listen to. Shoot, I actively blog about it.

You have me hooked, XBox Division, you have me truly hooked.

Firstly, the hardware itself is pretty sweet. The screen looks awesome and the interface is really slick. It also has a nice feel which I prefer to the iPod since it’s not metal. Since I’m going from a fourth generation iPod, the size of the Zune isn’t that big a deal. It’s bigger than a current gen iPod and definitely bigger than a Nano, but it’s still smaller than my DS lite, so it’s fine. I’m not sure about the battery life right now because I tend to keep it charged, but at some point, I figure I’ll have an idea how good it is for me. I’m also a fan of having my photos on the device; it lets me view pictures of good times when I’m feeling down. (Which has been awesome) Now all I need are some videos.

What really gets me psyched about the whole thing is actually the software, or more specifically, the Zune marketplace. For $15 a month, I will have unlimited download access to a great library of music. While I have to keep paying to keep the music, that’s basically the price of one album a month, I can listen to a whole lot more. This will definitely help when my friend Dan asks, “Have you heard , yet?” So now I can just download it and hear it. And it’s all legal. (I’ll discuss the DRM subscription thing at some point)

But yes, I’ve joined the social. I’m a big fan. I’m not sure how cool the wireless stuff will be, but I’ve heard that it will get better from a friend on the team. So for now, this thing is awesome.

2. The T’s new Charlie Ticket machines? They’re beginning to win me over. Today, in about 60 seconds, I was able to purchase my monthly commuter rail pass. Seriously, if I went up to the ticket window, it would take like three to four minutes. It was awesome. Now if only all of the stations would move to them and get rid of the half and half situation we have now. Consider this my partial endorsement of the new system.

3. Why are my computers choosing now to die? Can anyone explain this to me? My powerbook’s network adapter is broken and my dvd-rom drive stopped working. My Windows box has become a weee bit unstable and randomly crashes, not to mention that it doesn’t always boot. And my raid array is having trouble sending data across the wire, and I think the machine is just in it’s dying days. I mean, i know my youngest machine is 2 years, but man, this is just not a good time for this to happen. Or maybe it is. I get replacing everything at once will at least let me have a unified solution, but still. This sucks. I don’t think I can afford to go to Kumori-con now since I have to buy a lot of computer equipment. Awesome.

Fast forward a year and switch up the locations. Now I’m on the east coast, where apparently, Cingular doesn’t care about anyone. My reception is bad everywhere. My calls are always dropping, and my phone is slowly dying. I wouldn’t mind so much about the phone, but I’m now hooked on having a smartphone, and Cingular refuses to insure my phone. Thus, they want me to buy one in full.

And oh yeah, Verizon now has mobile broadband. Super.

So…I’m going to be leaving my carrier when my phone dies. Given how much it would cost to get a smartphone; it’s a better deal for me to break my plan with Cingular, pay the fee, get a new smartphone from Verizon (which they will insure) and be done with it. Plus, the rate plan is better and costs me less money.

And the phone is better. The only thing holding me back is my desire to try and save a bit of cash. Plus my smartphone currently works…err..85% works. But I can feel it dying, so in the next couple of months, my wireless life will improve. Booo-yah. I can kiss Cingular and it’s awful service good-bye.

I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited about one of devices failing. But that should tell you how much I hate Cingular service. Love the phone, hate the GSM carriers. Oh well.

….

So I’m trying to post this and Cingular has dropped my data call. Seriously, I have full bars, and they dropped my connection. This is so incredibly dumb. This always happens, I have good service and then… BAM…call is gone. This is exactly the reason I need to switch.

So Friday there was a moral event for all of MScom that took park at a local lake. Part of the event involved the riding of jet skis (which is awesome and everyone should try it). Unfortunately, on my last run out, I forgot to take my phone out of my pocket; so when I jumped off the jet ski, my phone was completely submerged in water. D\’oh.

When I pulled the device out of my pocket, it seemed completely dead. I couldn\’t turn it on or anything. After letting it dry for a bit, I tried once again to turn it on. Still nothing happened. One of my house mates, who works in the Windows CE group told me to just let it dry out all the way. Figuring he knew what he was talking about, I followed his advice.

And after 24 hours of drying, my phone operates as if nothing had happened. It\’s actually pretty remarkable. I was already impressed with the mobile Internet; the ability to sync up with my work email, and all of the cool little features offered by the platform. But the ability for the phone to survive having been entirely submerged in water is awesome.

The crazy part is, this isn\’t the first time it\’s been subjected to heavy water. While at Reunions back in Princeton, my phone was thoroughly drenched during the P-Rade monsoon. And it worked flawlessly still.

I guess they really knew what they were talking about when they dubbed it the Typhoon.