Avenue C & Eagle Drive

Finally got a new cell phone last week. I traded in the terrible old Palm Centro for a new Motorola Karma. Sure, it’s a step down from a smartphone to a dumbphone, but once you really compare, the Karma is definitely the smarter of the two. It’s 3G, has a full HTML browser, a 2MP camera, a crazy bright flash light, and threaded text messages, which was the only reason I kept the Centro for as long as I did.

Although the HTML browser does a pretty good job, it still didn’t render pages as well as I had hoped. Mobile pages load fine most of the time, but it sometimes decides to only load certain images or not allow me to click on a particular link. I decided to give Opera Mini, Opera’s browser for dumb/entry-level smartphones, a try. What a difference it makes. A good 95% of websites loaded exactly like they would appear on your desktop, and the zooming and panning around the page on the small screen wasn’t as much of a hassle as people made it out to be. The only issue is that it asks you for permission to access the network everytime you click on a link or visit a website. This is really AT&T’s fault, since they really prefer dumbphone users to buy their exclusive apps instead of downloading and installing third party ones. However, the interwebz have revealed that a hack is available to allow any data usage on the phone without permission. I’ll just have to get a USB-to-MicroUSB cable and an outdated version of P2K commander, a Motorola phone system management program. I plug in the phone, change a setting, and done. Other than those couple of gremlins, the Motorola Karma is a fantastic, outrageously well-made phone.

I also turned in my taxes this week. I’ll be getting a hefty refund of…53 dollars. It would have been over three hundred if I couldn’t be claimed as a dependent. So, the new year’s resolution of buying a nice camera will have to wait for a while longer.

I have a trip to Austin in the works with my friends this June. Some of them will be staying a week, but I will probably just take three days off of work and stay from Wednesday to Saturday. Since they’ll be driving there earlier in the week, and I don’t want to put any extra miles on my old car than need be, I’m contemplating wither taking a train or flying to the capitol. Flying will probably win out, since I can get there in less than an hour and I’ve never flown before, so this would be the perfect first flight. Southwest will probably be the airline of choice, since they’re reasonably priced and fly out of the far less busy Dallas Love Field. I may also get a discount from a family friend. Yes, flying wins.