THE GOOD LIFE

Today is the last day of summer, and yesterday in Denver, we enjoyed a very beautiful 83 degrees with partly cloudy skies! Today, the last day of summer, Denver has rain, snow and temperatures varying between 38 and 52 degrees depending on your location. The mountains and front range areas of Colorado have had a few inches of snow today! Crazy, crazy, crazy! I guess the new edition of the Farmer’s Almanac is correct: this winter will have below normal temperatures and above normal snow fall! I say “BRING IT ON!” I love fall/winter weather!

If you are looking for a wedding update (yes, in case you didn’t know, Laura and I got engaged a few weeks ago), check out the wedding website at www.weddingwire.com/brentandlauradowney. All the information is there and more is being posted every week. We also have a wedding blog with more information at www.wordpress.com/blwedding.

OK, now onto my main topic: “Me? Addicted to my iPhone? No Way!”

I have a confession to make. I am an Apple addict. I am not talking about the fruit. I am talking about the company. I have an iMac at home with a Time Capsule, I have a Classic iPod, and a new iPhone 3GS. I love this company! I cannot stand to work on a PC all day at work. I have to come home in the evenings and use my iMac just to work out my frustrations and have a fun and exciting computing experience. I follow Apple and Mac news, I get excited when I start hearing rumors about new products, and I even have an Apple logo sticker on my car.

Knowing that deep, dark secret, you can imagine my frustration and pure heartbreak when my iPhone stopped working last week! Here is what happened:

I purchased the iPhone knowing that AT&T service was crappy in my area, but I wanted the phone so bad that I purchased it anyhow. After just about two months of service with AT&T, I canceled my service, unlocked my iPhone and switched to T-Mobile. I love T-Mobile as they have excellent coverage, they have excellent customer service, and they have great value with pricing and service. So, I switched and was happily using my iPhone with no issues whatsoever.

About a week ago, Apple announced and released their new iTunes 9 which very quickly downloaded and was enjoying. I plugged my iPhone into my computer to use some new features of iTunes with my phone, and when prompted, click “OK” to an iPhone software update. I updated the software and went to re-unlock my phone but, to my horror, was unable to unlock my phone! CRAP! I spent the next 3 hours trying to figure out how to get my phone to work with no avail. Come to find out, the unlocking software I was using hadn’t released an updated unlocking software for that updated iPhone software and the company that provides the unlocking software said that they would not have a program available for a few weeks! AAH, what was I supposed to do! I ended up getting one of Jon’s old T-Mobile phones to use in the interim, but it has been a really hard few weeks!

Let me first just tell you that until you have had a smartphone, you don’t understand what you are missing! Once you have one, you cannot go back to a regular phone. You realize that it is a matter of convenience and an element of “cool factor” to have a smartphone, even though they are becoming more commonplace anymore. Within the smartphone community, the iPhone is an amazing product and the best smartphone I have ever used! So, when my phone stopped working, my wold came to a complete stop. I was lost without it! I then realized that I am so totally dependent on my phone to the point that it was ridiculous. I needed to see a map the other day to get to a location downtown, and I was freaking out because I didn’t have my GPS Google map available. You find that things like identifying songs and then purchasing them directly from your phone through iTunes becomes very important. So, hopefully this weekend, I will have the software update from the unlocking company which will allow me to use my iPhone again, and once again, I will be complete!

**iPhone Situation UPDATE – 10/14/2009**

Since publishing this post, I have sold my iPhone to Gazelle (a tech recycler) for $373 due to OS 3.1 software issues and my unlocking software! I have purchased the brand new HTC Hero Android smart phone on the Sprint network, and I am quite satisfied. In fact, I love it more than my iPhone! There are some things that I miss on the iPhone, but those a trivial things like the animation of the windows and programs, the way the scroll bar bounces in an email or text message window and so on. All trivial.

I have to say that if you are thinking about ditching your iPhone, DO NOT HESITATE! It will be the best thing you have done! Take a look at any Google Android phone. I heard that Android phones will surpass iPhones in sales around 2012 so jump on the bandwagon early, and congratulations!

PS: If you are interested in getting rid of your iPhone and don’t feel like selling it to another person (that can be a hassle), check out Gazelle at www.gazelle.com. They have very good rates for iPhones right now and you do not have to pay a cent to get the phone to them. I have done a review on their services and provided the link in my blogroll. Have fun!