Thursday, December 29, 2011

iPad Apps Need Not Apply

Dear websites that I otherwise willingly sign up for email updates: I do not have an iPad or an iPhone.  I do not, therefore, need an email a week advertising that you now have an app for them.  Please cease and desist.  And even if I did, I don't necessarily see why you need to advertise that you have one.  Either, a) you are somewhere to par with Twitter and would be remiss for not having an app, or b) have an app that seems to do nothing but repackage the website information that I already otherwise enjoy in a more convenient manor.

Your efforts are noted, please move on.

As for why I do not have an iPhone or iPad?  Well, I just can't justify the out of pocket expense.  I much prefer getting a laptop for about half the price with the same shelf life as a Macbook.  I've heard many a friend lament at the two-year lifespan of their laptops, and with one exception of a faulty motherboard, my PC's have lasted me just as well.  I have one faithful little Dell that is seven years old this year, and still works as good as it did then.  The same can be said, therefore, for iPhones.  I don't have $500+ to drop on a new phone every time it comes out.  My phones typically cost me $100 with contract renewal, and that's about the best I can do.  I personally don't feel the phones' superiority to my Android phones.  And I do not have a tablet whatsoever, as I still can't justify shelling out all those clams one my tight budget.  But if I did, I would spend the money on one that supported flash...as in NOT the iPad.  Perhaps that's why everyone has an iPad app--because their websites which are 70% reliant on flash do not work on iPads.  And Apple has managed to convince us that their product is superior, and it is simply our fault that we cannot adapt.

All of this is not to say that Steve Jobs/Apple-fiends/hipsters/artists out there are bad/evil/unlikable.  You're just wired different than me, and if Apple is what you value, that's great for you.  It's just not what I value.

Insomnia File #1

I have in insomnia tonight.  It's all resulting from medication that's supposed to knock me out.  I think I'm doing it wrong.  I'm also sick, miserable, and with no one for company other than two rats, a snake, and a turtle.  So to keep myself distracted, I've made the logical decision to list things about myself you probably never knew.  Or cared about.  Narcissism is truly the balm to all ails.

  1. I love skulls.  No, really.  Not just my own--though it is my favorite.  I think they're cute.  And they're a reminder of the expiration date stamped on the bottom of our feet.  They make you appreciate the good times, and give you the patience to survive the bad.  Besides that, there is a part of me that enjoys the reaction I get out of the rest of my Christian friends when wearing skull earrings.
  2. I bought a yellow truck so that I wouldn't lose my vehicle in the parking lot.
  3. My skin is allergic to the deep south, and is threatening to slough off entirely if I don't move to a cooler climate.
  4. My favorite thing about my Kinect for Xbox is yelling at it to play the next episode of Toddlers in Tiaras
  5. I own six Captain America t-shirts, but I still love X-Men the best.  No one else seems to remember that Cap is not my favorite.  Sometimes even me.
  6. When doodling myself, I always depict myself as having a pony-tail, no glasses, and rain boots.  In reality, I usually have a braid or a bun, I wear thick glasses, and I own no rain boots.  The doodles are a lie.
  7. I own over sixty bottles of nail polish.
  8. I have slept two out of the last 39 hours.  
  9. The funniest and best book I've read in the last year is Patricia Brent, spinster written by Herbert George Jenkins during WWI.  (read / listen)
  10. The song "Riu Chiu" as recorded by the Monkees is stuck in my head currently.  (watch)
  11. I decided that I was a Beatles fan when I was in sixth grade without ever owning an album.  I have since purchased many albums, and am in awe at my blindly applied good taste.
  12. I hate clowns.  And no, I will consequently never watch It.  I don't care if it's "not scary" as an adult.  My nightmares have enough red noses and fuzzy wigs in them without Tim Curry adding to the collection.
I'm going to try to go to sleep now.  Maybe Tim Curry won't follow me there.