le nano

Well, a few weeks ago I decided to make a change in my music listening life. I sold my ipod mini on ebay and got the new aww inspiring nano. I must say, this little beast really is impressive and has pretty much lived up to everything it has claimed. It has a lot of cool added features like the color screen, picture viewing, extended battery life, and other small add-ons that one would probably never use like the stop watch feature. The greatest improvement, obviously, is the size drop while keeping the same amount of memory as my old ipod. When I had the mini, I generally never took it anywhere with me except my car because it was just another thing to carry around in my pocket. This little wonder slides right into the "secret pocket" (right above the normal one) in pants that before, no one ever used.
So the new ipod is perfect, right? Well, there is one obvious err-or that I have found with the design of this, and reading the reviews, I may be finding many more in the future. This problem makes me quite angry actually..because I believe they did it intentionally for this purpose - to sell one of the myriads of ipod accessories that are available for the nano. The first thing you'll notice when you look at the nano is how sleek and shiny it is, right? Well, get used to it because the first time you slide this bad boy into your "secret pocket" you'll find some not-so-nano scratches all the way across the front of the player. In my mind the only reason the all-knowing apple co. would build the next breakthrough in portable entertainment with a polymer surface that you can scratch with your fingernail is to force sell the screen protector accessory. Now I wouldn't mind if these were just a few dollars, but 18.00$ for a 1.5x4 in. piece of plastic? There are also the "nano tubes" which are rubber sleeves that come in a pack of four for 30$. A little better, but still no bargain. There are a lot of angry people in online forums complaining about this same problem, but those complaints seem a little drastic. I have acquired a trait that I haven't always had (probably from my brother Jake) which makes me be extremely careful with expensive, fragile things. Now I admit, I'm probably not perfect in this area, but claims are being made online of not being able to view pictures or read what's playing on the screen after two weeks of ownership because of these scratches. I have personally seen these types of people do things such as slide their ipod across a table face down, place it in a pocket with several sharp keys and go jogging, or in a purse with heaven knows what digging away at it (never give your ipod to mom to hold). So, while this ipod does scratch very easily, maybe it will teach more people to be careful with their stuff. And instead of complaining about the irreversible effects of not having a nano tube, lets be how apple wants us to be and go buy one.

let's do this

Well, after reading everyone's great posts, I figured I'd try it out. Life has definitely been different since all my brothers have moved into their new beautiful homes. Now, I'm the only one in "normal" school. I don't consider dental school to be normal, I guess. I am currently 1 credit short of being a sophomore at Utah Valley State College, but that doesn't keep me from bragging that I am no longer a freshman. I am currently taking Hydrology, Environmental Microbiology, Research Writing in Science and Technology, and Algebra. While I thoroughly enjoy my Environmental classes, the other two make me dread waking up at the crack of 10:00am. My new apartment complex is right next to UVSC and this is very convenient especially for my car which sometimes goes days without being driven. When a car has 199000 miles, its good to give it a rest a bit. The only time he really gets driven is to my brother's house in Highland, a 42 mile round-trip, the one mile drive to Wal-Mart, and an occasional trip to friends in provo. Another nice feature of my apartment is the basketball court right in the middle of the buildings. This not only allows me to brush up on my skillz, but I've also met some cool people in the short week I've been playing lately. There is a work out room as well equipped with treadmills, and a nice weight system. I've been working out for the past three days in a row now, and am quite sore, but it feels good to be active. There are down sides to my apartment, however. Whoever lives directly above me seems to enjoy music with a ridiculous amount of bass accompaniment. He plays it at the oddest times of the day such as 7:00am and 2:00am. Sometimes I think he just leaves it on all day while he leaves. The ward here is good, but none of my roommates seem to go for some reason, which makes for good opportunities to be an example I guess. They for some reason have never done the dishes since I've lived here either. We'll save that for a later blog, though.