Man, those birds sure are angry!

Recently I've become obsessed with the game Angry Birds. I play it on my iPhone at almost any focus on whatever I am actually supposed to be focusing on. For example, this morning in our business affairs meeting, when I often daydream of a day my name might be one of the writers listed on that overwhelming grid, I actually paid a close attention to the discussion, as well as cruise through six levels of Angry Birds! Now, that might just reveal how out of control my ADHD is - I mean, I need to be doing about three things at once for me to be able to focus on anything apparently - but I like to think of it as excellent multi-tasking.

On a related note - I adore this Angry Birds inspired birthday cake:

Man, those birds sure are angry!

I can't lie. I look at this picture and am already thinking up a strategy for catapulting those birds onto those green pig-hog thingies. Like I said - I'm addicted.

Picture via Pocket-lint.

OK. How am I NOT going to want a new iPhone after watching this ad?

Talking to Myself

I'm brain dead.

In other news, I am LOVING my new iPhone software update. Why? Because I am a geek. No really, why? Because I am obsessed with the new app for voice memos (see? GEEK). When I am driving to/from work I find it's sometimes when I am at my most brilliant. Not really. I just tend to think of 900 things and rather than get myself in yet another car accident I talk to myself. AKA I speak into my iPhone.

Recently I verbally outlined my latest screenplay. Oh you didn't hear? I'm writing a screenplay (I'm not). It's going to be a must-see.

Let's get real: I talk to myself. I do. It's usually unintentional but this hand iPhone app has given me the means and the way (in this sentence was that redundancy? I told you I was brain dead).

I'm wearing a Lilly Pullitzer top today that my grandmother bought me four years ago and I have never, ever worn until this very day. That doesn't happen often.

I have holiday-itis. Can you tell?

Hi! Hi! It's me again!

Oh wait, sorry, didn't mean to get your hopes up. Still in a level of hell and revisiting with my old friend EXISTENTIAL CRISIS. Fun times.

But I just wanted to say hi! And brag about the software update to the iPhone because it is AWESOME. And if you don't have an iPhone you should be jealous.

And I am wearing a pair of Becca's sandals today and they are about 1.5 sizes too big and it looks funny.

OK bye. Real posts to resume next week... this afternoon if you are lucky... maybe tomorrow...

conversations with my "cubemate"

This is what happens when you have IM conversations with the person who sits next to you and has to see your every move and gives you plants that you name Horace and asks what's wrong when you are strangely talking to yourself.

Please note that before recieving this IM I was going through my Twitter on my iPhone but I had my head in my hand.

Cubemate [4:08 PM]:
are u sleeping?
Me[4:08 PM]:
no
i wish
i am so tired
looking at my phone
Cubemate[4:08 PM]:
well, u look REAL comfortable
Me[4:08 PM]:
hahaha
Cubemate[4:09 PM]:
u should talk to horace
he'll keep u awake
Me [4:09 PM]:
he's delightful
i was just thinking i dont have anyone to procrastinate with
Cubemate [4:09 PM]:
tell horace
that's what he's there for
very good at listening

Twitter: The Future of Blogging?

In the past two weeks Twitter has BLOWN UP. I like to think I joined the movement before it was everywhere, but I think I am more on the cusp of figuring it out before it got cool, and being on the first wave of those who discovered its trendiness. For the sake of my own narcissism, I am going to argue that I obviously jumped on the bandwagon BEFORE it was cool.

In any case, I have more and more friends who are signing onto Twitter, and I've noticed a significant increase in press that is Twitter related.



Twitter is, in a sense, micro-blogging. However, I've found that in the past week or so, as I've been increasingly busy with work, all I have had time to do is micro-blog (tweet), and subsequently my actual blog has been suffering. It's significantly easier to tweet on the go--I have the app "TwitterFon" on my iPhone--than it is to blog, and there's significantly less pressure to write anything profound or well thought out (although I'll be the first to admit that these posts lack much planning or anything too profound). I don't feel the need to edit my tweets for spelling or grammatical errors; when you only have 140 characters (or less) to write something, all spelling and grammar rules go out the window.

I'm also noticing that various public figures who's blogs I've read in the past are now Twittering more than they are blogging--why read their blog when I can get quick tidbits of info from a Twitter feed? It's more time efficient--like an RSS feed of various peoples' streams of consciousness.

That being said, Twitter still isn't as mainstream as Facebook or even the general blogosphere, and the average person might remain uncomfortable about signing on. At it's core, Twitter is most useful to celebrities, writers, reporters, and public figures of any notoriety, and especially brands looking to track buzz. It's a strong branding tool, either for an individual or for a company, and as I've mentioned before I'm convinced that it's ushering in a new phase of web 2.0.

However, AND LET ME BE CLEAR, just because I have a new found love and appreciation for the simplicity of Twitter, I vow to NOT LET this blog become obsolete--I shall continue to write and ramble and do my best to entertain or annoy. I shall Tweet and I shall Blog and I shall remain, above all, a huge, huge nerd.

Evolution (BlackBerry version)

I was thinking earlier how I've never used a BlackBerry. Ever. In fact, if someone were to put one in front of me right now and demand I use it I would struggle (initially, because let's be honest I've got some serious intuitive prowess when it comes to tech stuff). Besides my iPhone, the only PDA I'ever used was a Treo. Which was pretty... meh... Anyway, in honor of the Zack Morris phones of my youth, I am loving this photo of the evolution of the BlackBerry. Who knows, maybe one day I'll use one (and finally discover what this "BBM" everyone raves about is) but I'm an Apple girl all the way.

Photo from Gizmodo

I Love My iPhone Because

Every time I send an email it automatically stamps "Sent from my iPhone" on the bottom. Which really just means my default settings are on "pretentious asshole."

The Return of Huey Lewis & The News

I couldn't be more thrilled right now. I was just tooling around on my iphone (working hard, right?) and was browsing some of the new tunes available on iTunes (wow Apple sure does have a hold over me) and am so pumped that Huey Lewis & The News have a brand new track written just for Pineapple Express.

HUEY LEWIS!!!

I love Huey Lewis. Not enough to fork over around $50 two summers ago to see him in Boston (boy was I cheap then--granted I was an intern making $10/hr which is sadly not too far off from what I make now), but enough to convince my roommates that we NEED a framed photo of Huey Lewis for our apartment. Ashleigh went a step further and ordered an issue of Rolling Stone from 1984 with Huey himself on the cover. It's going to be AWESOME.

And now I am going to download this hot new jam... oh wait, no I am not. It's available on "Album Only." Damn you iTunes, that's $10 that can be used to payoff one of the many car-related fees I owe right now.

Yep, still that cheap.

And here's Huey Lewis & The News, performing the new single on Jimmy Kimmel recently. God his hair looks great.



P.S. Pineapple Express is the kind of POT they are smoking (apparently). hehehehe.

Live Blog (from the hospital?)

Well... I am not sure where to begin... Let's start with the happy moments of my day and we'll get to the reason I am blogging from the Santa Monica hospital from my iPhone in just a minute.

The first day of work was a breeze. I only spilled on myself once and I even had friends to eat lunch with. Unfortunately I can't even access the blog at work so things might be slow around here for a little while. After work (which I got to leave early) I joined current roomie Ashleigh to have dinner with our soon to be roomie (another Annie) and her mom at West Hollywood staple The Ivy. It was divine. On my drive home I was thinking about how much I was dreading getting up early to workout when BAM the car in front of me slams on his breaks, I slam on mine and would have been clear if in that instant I hadn't been rear ended by the car behind me, causing me to rear end the dude in front.

Thank God I was wearing a seat belt. Everyone was okay for the most part, although I was pretty shook up and the seat belt, while life saving, did a number on my sternum, which is why I am currently waiting for a cat scan.

All in all a great evening, huh? (Please note sarcasm). Fortunately Ashleigh provided some comic relief when she picked me up at the scene of the accident, doling out Tylenol like candy and humoring the guy I hit when he asked if she was Persian. Even better was the crazy homeless lady making a scene at the ER.

So after determining all other patients are old people on the brink of death I sent Ashleigh home with the agreement that if I am still here after 5 am she'll come pick me up. Let's hope not. What a night.

Great first day at work, no?

Selling Out to the 310

I should be really happy right now. Ecstatic, even. I am not. I am not happy because my impulsiveness, desire for pretty, shiny, new objects, and inability to let go of nostalgia/accept change, is preventing the total elation I should currently be experiencing.

Here's what's going on:

Around 9:30ish this morning I was walking back from the gym and passed the Apple store. I noticed the line was down significantly, and if I jumped in then I might only have to wait behind 25 people or so. I thought, sure, why not--rumor has it they are conquering about 100 phone owners and hour so it looked totally doable. Two hours later I had about 4 new friends, some enemies (you Sir with the balding head of hair and the wire-framed glasses who deemed it necessary to speak loudly on your phone for an hour about how you should just go find the iPhone re-supply truck in the back), and was standing just at the cusp of entry into the store. It was not what I planned on doing this morning, but about 45 minutes in--I realized there was no turning back. And at long last my patience was rewarded when a little man in a blue shirt came to the door and I was allowed inside.

I should preface this by saying the entire wait I had a feeling something wasn't going to work out. I joked to the nice mom next to me (because I guess her 11 year old son REALLY needed the new iPhone) that I was probably going to get up there and they'd be like, "uhhhh sorry, not gonna happen for you." I just had a sense.

Anyway, my dude's taking me through all the initiation steps, etc etc, and the time comes to transfer my number from my existing Verizon account. My beautiful Maine number, with the 207 area code dating back to high school--a final lingering and essential component to my self-identity.

"Hmm. Not working," Blue-shirted iPhone dude says. I knew it. I knew it would happen!

"The number won't transfer? I can't keep my number?"

"Nope." Blue-shirted iPhone dude doesn't seem to care much. In fact, he seems pretty apathetic about the whole iPhone enterprise, and I begin to doubt his enthusiasm or the likelihood he would be on "my side" in this matter.

His explanation for the impossible transfer? Miserable:

"No. It won't work. AT&T just wont. Not in this coverage area." A well-spoken man. Probably jealous of those pretentious assholes at the "Genius bar". Wait is he laughing at me? Am I making that scary freaked out panic mode face I do whenever in distress?

"So there is nothing I can do? Unless I go to Maine right now and buy my iPhone there, I can't keep this number? I just can't?" (The 12 year old inside of me is dying.)

"No." He wouldn't last a day at the Genius Bar, asshole.

"Okay, great, what's my new number?" I want to cry. Remember those business cards I made for myself? Thanks to Steve Jobs they are now useless.

Bitter blue-shirted man gives me my new digits, watches me sign over my first born child to AT&T and there I am, holding a highly coveted object, but feeling somewhat let down.

I leave, new phone in hand, new number impossible to memorize, but within ten minutes I am sending emails while I sit poolside. It's pretty sweet.

And that Maine number? I'm still holding onto it. I think there is a way to essentially end service but keep the phone number (I am pretty sure I did something like that when I studied abroad) or I am just going to try to figure out how I can go to AT&T when I am in Maine in May and somehow merge the number... or something.

Whatever, I'll get over it. Maybe I am really happy right now? Yeah, this iPhone is awesome. Damn you Jobs, Damn you.

On a side note, some dude paid what I can only describe as a Mexican worker to stand in line for him. Really! Santa Monica is VERY white and there's a Mexican man in work clothes standing five people in front of me the whole time I am waiting, and he doesn't really fit the iPhone demographic (not trying to be a close minded asshole, I just can't think of a better way to explain). He gets to be around number two in line, and BAM some Cali white dude shows up and shoos him away. Was he evil? Genius? An evil genius? It was uncomfortable But I think about half of the people around me wished they'd done the same.

Is it iPhone time yet?

I know you're expecting this post to be about me bragging about my kickass new iPhone and how I was the first person in line after camping out last night and I made so many new great friends who also happen to be serious technology lovers etc etc etc. Well, that's not the case. I did walk by the line into the Apple store around 7:45 am this morning when I was on my way to the gym. Miserable. Seriously, there was no way I was going to tolerate waiting in that line. I am the type of person where if I am in a store and am going to buy some clothes, if there is a line longer that 3 people I will leave. Generally I am quite patient but when you are waiting in an unnecessary line? No thanks, not for me. Also miserable was the poor shmuck who's job it was to pep up the crowd. Another thing I couldn't tolerate at 8 am on a Friday morning.

My plan is to check out the situation later today and see if the hoopla has calmed down any. Otherwise I am going to wait until Monday or Tuesday when all the geeks are satisfied and the lazy iPhone lovers, such as yours truly, can make a quick stop and pick up their new gadget in line-free peace.

July 11

I've got plans and $150 saved (so far), how about you?