January 2006

I wrote the following review about a new phone I’ve been testing, the Treo 700w, for a couple of websites. I posted it here in its entirety for everyone else to see.

I have been running around with the Treo 700w for a couple of weeks now, and I absolutely love it. The Windows Mobile 5.0 platform is significantly more stable than previous WM versions, and the Verizon service has been superb.  Here is the breakdown:

PROs:

• WM 5.0 is a very solid platform
• The device itself is packaged well: the keyboard provides speedy input, the display and lighted keypad are bright and easy to use at night
• The camera produces amazing images, for a phone-based camera
• Signal strength is unparalleled in the DC area with VZW
• Included WM applications function flawlessly, and it took less than two minutes to set up Exchange ActiveSync via EVDO
• EVDO is lightning fast, and is highly available in this area
• Battery life is much better than expected, especially after I altered ActiveSync to update only when I have new e-mail available (otherwise, EVDO stays connected constantly and really drains the battery)
• Paired seamlessly with my Motorola Bluetooth headset

CONs:

• Phone doesn’t ship with a case, but I easily ordered one from Treonauts
• The phone is a little pricey

Bottom Line:

I highly recommend this phone, and as long as the user is smart about installing only well-tested applications and adjusting settings to conserve battery life, they will be very pleased as well. While the price may be a little high, I expect it will come down slightly in the coming months and is well worth it in terms of increased productivity.

Other Tips:

I think someone else stated it best, but essentially this phone is designed for work use, not for multimedia. I have installed only the essential applications and have yet to encounter a lock-up that others have described. In fact, it’s been running solid for the two weeks I’ve had it.

Before I purchased, I did a significant amount of research. The most helpful website that I found was the TreoCentral.com Forums which offered many cool tips and great insight for this phone.

(Cross-posted to PhoneScoop Treo 700w Reviews)

Friday night I went with Erin’s family to see the Capitol Steps perform live at the Ronald Reagan Building downtown.  They are a skit/comedy/musical group that pokes fun at all sides of the political spectrum, and they do it very well!  They featured songs about everything ranging from outgoing Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan to a debate between Kerry and Bush about why the chicken crossed the road.  There was even a song with Bill and Hillary Clinton making fun of the 2008 presidential election.

If you’re interested in going to one of their shows, they offer one every Friday and Saturday night at the Ronald Reagan Building.

When I moved to DC earlier this month, my car insurance rates nearly tripled. Combine that with the fact that I could never find a parking space anytime after 5 PM (meaning I couldn’t go anywhere at night and expect to come back to a place to park my car).  I made the decision to invest in a new Vespa LX 150 scooter.  It fills in the gaps left by Metro, and has so far been extremely easy to park (just tether it to a lamp post or tree, and let it sit on the sidewalk).

The 2 gallon gas tank only cost $4.30 to fill, and is advertised to get gas mileage as high as 75-80 mpg.  It’s very zippy with amazing acceleration and has a very comfortable seat.  The part that will take a little getting used to is how other people react.  I’ve gotten a lot of turned heads, and outside the grocery store today one woman even stopped walking to watch me lock up my Vespa.

I’ll post more pictures of the Vespa during the next couple of weeks to my photo album.

This is fun, and so many of them are true!

You Know You’re an Expat Kid in the Middle East or Have Been When…

1. You can’t answer the question, “Where are you from?” (And when you do, you get into an elaborate conversation that gets everyone confused and/or makes you sound very spoiled.)
2. You flew before you could walk.
3. You have a passport, but no driver’s license.
4. You think California is cold.
5. You watch National Geographic specials and recognize someone.
6. You run into someone you know at every airport.
7. Conversations with friends take place at 6:00 in the morning or 10:00 at night.
8. Your life story uses the phrase “Then we went to…” five times.
9. You can speak with authority about the quality of various international airlines.
10. You feel self conscious around all white people.
11. You get offended when someone turns down an offer for food.
12. You live at school and go home for vacation.
13. You treasure pork and root beer as highly-valued commodities.
14. You have ever had to wait for prayer call to be over to finish shopping.
15. You are fascinated by any wildlife bigger than a gecko.
16. You know the true meaning of “football.” (and in your mind can hear the shout, “GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”)
17. You know that it truly is a small world.
18. You have ever gone to the “hammam” or endured a “shamal.”
19. You get all the jokes in Aladdin.
20. Rain is still one of the most wonderful sounds in the world.
21. You haggle with the checkout clerk for a lower price.
22. Your wardrobe can only handle two seasons: hot and warm.
23. Your school memories include duck-and-cover drills.
24. You are used to being stared at.
25. You think VISA is a document stamped in your passport, and not a plastic card you carry in your wallet.
26. You call a chicken burrito a “shwarma.”
27. Your dorm room/apartment/living room looks a little like a museum with all the “exotic” things you have around.
28. You’ve heard of or tried “hubbly bubbly.”
29. You’ve woken up in the middle of the night to watch the Superbowl on cable.
30. You have sat in a “men’s” or “women’s” section in an airport, hospital, or restaurant.
31. You know the geography of the rest of the world, but you don’t know the geography of your own country. (Isn’t Philadelphia its own state?)
32. Your best friends are from 5 different countries.
33. You’re spoiled. You know it. You’re VERY spoiled.
34. You ask your roommate when the houseboy is scheduled to come clean.
35. You have never spent a summer with your friends from high school because you all go back to your home town/state/country June – August
36. Camping involves duning, getting stuck, and counting how many camels you saw.
37. A sports tournament involves flying to another country in the Middle East.
38. You remember when the first McDonalds in your country had its grand opening.
39. You got days off school for Christian and Muslim holidays.
40. You secretely wished the rulers of other Middle Eastern countries would die so that you got days off school.
41. Not being able to eat in public during the day during the holy month of Ramadan.
42. Traveling to the states required buying candy, CDs, and Abercrombie and Fitch clothing for your friends back overseas.
43. You are used to giving directions according to landmarks, not street names.
44. It’s normal to wake up and have four or more Pakistani men fixing your AC.
45. You didn’t know how to do your own laundry until you left for college.
46. How come the houses in America don’t have servants quarters?
47. You are used to seeing Arabic commercials dubbed in British English about Lux soap, Carnation condensed milk and Dove shampoo.
48. Seeing police drive on the shoulder of the road and cut people is not unusual.
49. You understand that being addressed as “ma’am/sir” by Filipinos is not an insult.
50. You know someone is referring to Pepsi when they say “Bebzi”.
51. Having a walled in, cement house is standard.
52. Ford Explorer sized cars seem small compared to Toyota Land Cruisers and Nissan Patrols.

Shamelessly stolen from somewhere… I can’t remember.

The past few weeks have been extremely busy, here’s a quick recap.  I spent a week in Minneapolis visiting my family for Christmas.  Thankfully the average highs of 25°F and 30°F each day were much more tolerable than last year’s -10°F to -5°F.  It was great to see my dad, who recently returned from a six-month tour in Baghdad, Iraq.  For Christmas I even got a replica of a Ba’ath Party watch featuring Saddam Hussein’s picture.  I imagine that at one time on the streets of Baghdad, having a watch like that to identify one’s self with the Ba’ath party was as valuable as having a Rolex was in the west.

Work has also been busy, and I’ve still managed time to have fun.  The AITP Holiday Party on December 8th was great with a good show of members, and the other various holiday parties were also a blast.  With that, I’d like to wish a (somewhat belated, at this point) Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year to all!