Anyway, wanted to record that… we have a puppy. His name is Pippin. Some notes - he’s extremely friendly to everyone and everything, he likes to nip at heels because he’s a corgi, and he’s a big fat wuss when it comes to pain. Let me amend that last - he was fine GETTING shots at the vet but the soreness afterward caused all sorts of drama.

Here he is being cute:

This is easily the game of the year thus far for me. The campaign mode is a pitch perfect 10-15 hour experience, which I greatly prefer over 40 hours of drek. And the challenge modes provide extended playability. Wonderful game.

1) I hate to say this, but the most overrated team in college football right now is LSU. I am an LSU fan. I grew up in the state. I root for Louisiana teams in general. But geeze, they have won some tight games. I know their week one opponent beat USC last weekend. I don’t care. I personally think if you punch USC in the mouth they shrink, and if they played in the SEC they’d average more than their one loss per year. LSU is just not that good this year. Witness their recent win. They could easily be 2-2 or 1-3 if it weren’t for some lucky bounces and some incredible individual performances.

2) I’m writing this as the Saints take on Buffalo. This is a game the Saints usually lose. They have some national attention. The aerial game is struggling outdoors, in the Buffalo wind. Except. They are running the ball and the defense looks good. (Admittedly I think the Bills offense is still in the test tube). Buffalo’s defense is underrated. Their coverage has been really good. It’s the fourth quarter now. No guarantee that I won’t delete this segment of the post, especially if Buffalo rips my black and gold heart out and shows it to me. (NOT an unfamiliar feeling).

But I think the Saints are good this year. If their running game holds up… and it’s mostly line blocking that makes it good, like all running games… they won’t be an easy out in bad weather this year. And they have a passing game that makes you scared.

3) Directv’s internet and mobile applications are scary good. Way better than ESPN360 or any other alternative I’ve seen. I’m piggy-backing on my mom and stepfather’s directv Sunday ticket to watch whatever game I want. The picture quality is roughly equivalent of standard definition television but… any.game.I.want. That actually trumps High Definition for people rooting for a specific team. And… holy crap, what a great mobile app. I’ve barely used it but it is tight. Even if I weren’t watching live games with it (and… wow), I would use it to keep track of game scores on the go. Great job guys. PLEASE MAKE THE INTERNET AND MOBILE PORTION OF YOUR SERVICE AVAILABLE TO NON-DIRECTV SUBSCRIBERS. You’ve already done it for Manhattan. Do it for the rest of us. You will make a thousand million billion dollars. I promise.

I recently upgraded to an HTC Fuze and I really do think it’s the bee’s knees, baby. Read on after the jump from some pollywompus from a real kluck.

To high-level it before I get into details… it does some iphone-y magic tricks to convince the local populace that you are traveling hedge wizard, but unlike an iphone, I personally have a bit more control to haxor it and make it do tricks that I want it to do. Plus… it fully supports… actually it practically encourages… tethering. Until AT&T allows the iphone to share its data connection with a laptop without being a complete jerk about the whole thing (they recently stealth-disabled a hack that had previously allowed iphone tethering), it’s just not a viable phone. For me. I know I’m odd.

But this thing. Wow. See, I use my phone as much as a web browser and text messenger as a… phone. It’s fascinating to see the evolution of these devices into communication centers. Opera mobile comes pre-installed as the default browser and is a wonderful mobile experience, rivaling Safari Mobile. Touchscreen browsing is great - full web page displays and a double tap lets me zoom in and out if my rapidly aging eyes cannot read the text. I can copy and paste, open links in new tabs… and if I need to type more than a couple of words, out comes the sliding keyboard and away I go.

It also has a sensor in it to detect which direction the phone is facing, and will automatically orient the screen appropriately, which is okay. I personally think the REAL reason it does this is because of motion-based games and pointless apps. Duh.

And underneath the pretty touchflo user interface that HTC designs, it has Windows Mobile. Yeah, I know, Windows Mobile has some issues here and there. But if you want it to do something, there’s probably someone out there who has created an application to do it. I downloaded a… dog whistle. The only purpose of it is to make high pitched sounds. Which drive the cats nuts. I am endlessly entertained by this. I think I am still in trouble with my wife for using it.

The only downside, at least out of the box, was battery life. Under heavy use on the first day without a mid-day plugin, it didn’t make it 12 hours. BUT. I did some optimizing and it seems much better, getting through a day with 50% juice now. See, it’s set up by default to bang weather servers for updated information every 5 minutes or so. There are many interesting default choices like this one.

Okay, one more thing, as long as I’m in a complaining mood. AT&T packs this thing with a lot of bloatware. Lots of stuff that you can click on and then click again to get hit with additional charges. Not only that, they make you go through a bit of pain to remove the stuff… it involved doing a soft reset WHILE THE DEVICE WAS STARTING UP to avoid installing AT&T crap, and even that doesn’t get rid of the icons. You have to install HTC tweak software to remove the AT&T software tab. As if that weren’t annoying ENOUGH, they don’t provide a simple utility to remap buttons like the wonderfully placed Push To Talk button, which I want to use for anything else other than Push To Talk. It’s right on the side of the phone, great place to put a task manager and/or voice command, but I actually had to hack the registry to make that change. All the information I needed was on the internet, but geez, AT&T… I guess you guys and Apple really are made for each other.

The only other minor adjustment I’m going through? My last phone, a samsung blackjack, had a full keyboard… that was functional single-handed. I could hold it in my hand, and thumb the whole keyboard, without using my other hand. (I have big hands). If you are going to use this keyboard, you really should use both hands for optimal keyboard thumbing. This is by design… it is NOT a flaw. It’s just different and takes some adapting. I’ve taken to using the touchscreen to tap out really quick note text messages, and to the phone’s credit, the touch keyboard is pretty good.

I should be clear, after my research into new phones, I think that for someone that does not have my obsessive need to tinker with a device, and for someone that does not have a requirement for tethering, that the latest iphone is the best phone out there in the consumer market, especially at the price. My Fuze was a little more expensive than a new iPhone. And as I’ve said, the way it comes out of the box from AT&T, it’s already begging for someone to tweak it. The iPhone’s (in my opinion) more closed platform probably results in more consumer friendliness… Apple always wants it to just work, after all. Even for grandma.

But for someone like ME, this phone fits. This is my first HTC device, and I have to say I do now understand some people’s devotion to them. My last few phones were Samsung devices, and I like those too. We’ll see if the HTC can stand up to those Samsung devices build-wise over time. My wife’s slider phone, for instance, is still going strong, though I don’t think she abuses it the way I would. My blackjack is sitting sad and alone, but still fully functional, in my bag. This new phone certainly feels solid, but I can’t really assess how it will hold up long-term after only a week.

Right now, though, I am pretty happy with the thing.

Backstory: I grew up in Louisiana. What an odd world, where we go to do presentations in New York and meet people who grew up in our home state, which is half a continent away.

During the presentation, someone mentioned they were from Dallas.

Me: “Wow, big presence from the south today.”

Lady Next To Me: “That’s okay. We have a big presence from the Northeast too. I think we could take ‘em!”

Me: (Thinking) “Okay, I think she thinks I’m from the Northeast too. Act casual. I’m CERTAINLY NOT A SPY. I hope I didn’t say any of that out loud.”

Luckily, gmail saves everything, and I have confirmed that I’m registered for the half marathon. In November. I feel relief that I have two extra months to train.

I’ve been thinking about doing the Houston half in January. Should I do a half marathon so soon afterward? I suppose I could use the Philadelphia half as a warm up half, without an eye on a specific time….? It’s probably unwise to Actually Race with so small a gap…

“So I was once on this flight to Puerto Rico. They made multiple announcements making sure everyone was on the right flight before we took off. They even walked through the cabin, checking on people. They obviously thought something was wrong, but no one spoke up.

Midway through the flight, the guy sitting next to me says… hey, we are flying south. Where are we going? I tell him, and he says, crap, I am supposed to be going to Los Angeles!”

Me:

“He… noticed you were flying south?”

Coworker:

“Yes.”

Me:

“Wow, that’s incredible directional awareness for someone with very little situational awareness.”