mid 2007: I buy a competing mp3 player (SanDisk Sansa), thinking, “oh this has to be just as good.”  It wasn’t.  Apple releases the iPhone.  I have jealous thoughts, and bought a phone I thought was better.  It wasn’t.

late 2007: I ask my parents for an iPod for Christmas.  My Dad buys me a Zune, thinking, “oh this has to be better.”  I remember him saying, verbatim, “I just can’t see myself ever buying anything made by Apple.”

early 2008: I give the Zune a good, honest try, for several weeks.  I actually like the interface on the device, but didn’t like the Zune software.  The thing crashes multiple times.  One time it crashed so bad, a hard reset wouldn’t even phase it.  The advice I got from MS support was to let the battery drain completely, until it turns itself off due to battery power loss.  Then charge completely, and turn it on.  Fed up, I trade it in for an 80 GB iPod Classic.

mid 2008: iPhone 3G comes out: bigger, better, faster, cheaper.  Now I’m convinced my next phone will either be an iPhone or an Android phone.  I might have gone the Android route, but Apple beat everyone to the “App Store” concept, which really sold me on the iPhone.

early 2009: my iPod Classic is still going strong, having never crashed, not once.  The battery still lasts for 12 hours of continuous playback, at least.  Sprint changes their administrative fee, releasing me from my 2-year contract.  I change cellular service providers, buying the iPhone 3G.  I decide I want to become an iPhone developer.  I look into downloading the iPhone SDK, and find out it is only available for Macs.  Apple, in their infinite wisdom, decided to limit the iPhone development community to those owning one of their computers.  At first glance, this seemed rude, inconsiderate, and mean.  I wanted to buy a Pystar system out of spite, just to get back at Apple.  ”That’ll teach ‘em.”

I spoke to the people I knew that were Mac users.  They all were convinced that Apple products just work better, more intuitively, and can really do anything any PC can do, and more.  I was awed by the amount of software that Mac OS X comes with, all for free.  A video editor??  A music studio??  These types of  products aren’t simply given away.  And then it dawned on me, this is why Apple can charge so much for their hardware.  The software included is more than worth the price difference.  I decide to save my money, enough to buy a Mac.

My PC, two years old, breaks down.  I think the hard disk (or SATA) controller decided to die on me.  It was probably a long time coming, as I’ve had quite a lot of hard disk problems in the past year.  But my computer breaking was all the excuse I needed.  I drove to Best Buy and bought a MacBook, liking the idea that it could serve as a desktop replacement, and a portable.

Do I miss the windows button, the start menu, the task bar, the task list, the control panel, the delete/backspace distinction?  Maybe a little, but only because I’m like a computer newbie again, trying to learn all the Mac equivalents.

For those of you that have helped me, I thank you.  I’m sure I’ll be calling you again soon.

I’m not so sure.  If this were true, this definition could be applied to any necessary, physical process.  I’m addicted to my habit of breathing.  If I stop breathing my face turns red, I can feel my heart start to pound in my chest, I have a great deal of anxiety, and feel the strong need to continue breathing… I must be addicted.

There has to be at least one other criterium for addiction which helps us to rule out things like breathing: tolerance.  So for someone to have an addiction, we need (1) a habit (2) which causes withdrawal symptoms upon termination and (3) grows over time due to tolerance.

I’ve been trying to decide whether or not I’m addicted to the Internet.  Granted I spend a lot of time here, so I’ve established (1).  When I avoid the Internet I find myself bored, wanting to check the latest posts on my Google Reader account.  I even begin to worry, thinking I might miss some big story, and by now everyone has heard of it before me.  So I’ve established (2).  But, even though I use the Internet quite a lot, it is a steady pace.  I don’t have to read more and more every day.  So it hasn’t exactly been growing over time due to tolerance.  So I suppose, given that last criteria is missing, I’m not addicted. 

In conculsion,  a habit + withdrawals do not an addiction make.  

Personal aside: the reason for my thoughts in this matter is I haven’t had an Internet connection at home since Wednesday morning, two days ago.  I called just now to get new service, and the earliest they could install was 1 week from today.  It might be a painful week, but I’ll live.  You learn just how much you love something only when you lose it.

This, the fourth, season of the show has been by far the most interesting of all of them. There is rarely a repeated episode on Fox or USA that I haven’t seen. And I have to say that tonight’s show is the best show. I was so moved.

I don’t want to give away the story, but tonight’s show was part two of a two-part series. The first part aired last week and had a plot twist, basically, at the 59th minute of the show. I was on edge, and the show just ended! This week, the conclusion did not fail to disappoint. I was shocked.

Suffice it to say that I have only cried in front of the TV or in a movie theater three times, counting tonight. The first time was with Christian Slater in Bed of Roses, and the second was with Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: Nemsis. I’m actually somewhat embarrassed to say that tonight was the worst of the three. I had to blow my nose and wipe my eyes afterwards, both eyes.

If you are even a passing fan of this show, do not miss this episode. I recommend buying the entire fourth season, when it’s released, so that you understand the complete picture behind this episode.

I did not wear sunscreen yesterday. Softball season is upon us, and I’ve joined several others who work for The Company in a local, co-ed league. We had practice yesterday, and I came home red as a beet.

Today at work, I came across a coworker from India who moved to the US about the same time I moved to the north. She had not seen a sunburned person before. She was asking me why my skin was pink. I was shocked that there are people that do not know about this. I tried to describe the pain, and how it changes when it heals. She told me about an Indian festival called “Holi” where people paint their faces all different colors. But, when they wash their skin, the next day, it is pink. That was the closest thing to a sunburn she had ever seen.

One thing I want to remember for next year is to remember to calculate the travel time with time zones in consideration. I live in the Eastern US time zone, and O’Hare is in the Central US time zone. I left home at 6 am this morning, thinking it would take 4 hours to get to the airport, which it did. However, I had thought this would mean 10 am. It didn’t. I arrived at 9 am, over 4 hours before my flight was scheduled to leave. This was much more time than I needed to park my car, arrive at the terminal, check in, check my bags, go through security and eat lunch. I still had time available to take a quick nap and write this, after all that.

When airports advertise that WiFi is available in all terminals, they should advertise whether it costs something or not to connect. I was surprised to hear this airport does in fact have WiFi. They announce this availability every 15 minutes on the overhead speaker system. As I pulled out my laptop, wanting to connect, I search and find out that you have to pay to use the service. If I had had nothing else to do with my laptop, I would have been upset. Imagine someone wanting to connect to a free WiFi hotspot, which are becoming more and more common these days, only to find out that it is a pay service, and have to shut down. They probably just wasted 5 minutes or more, depending on the speed of the computer.

Another thing I’ve noticed about this airport (O’Hare) is that the bathrooms are considerably inconsistent when it comes to amenities. The first thing I noticed when using one of the stalls here is the automatic sanitary toilet seat dispenser. I had never seen such convenience. You wave your hand in front of a sensor, and a new sanitary toilet seat cover slides across the toilet seat, ensuring a healthy experience. I thought it was worth mentioning, because I had never heard of such a thing, much less seen one. This must have cost some money to install and keep in working order. Not to mention the cost of the disposable seat covers. But after using the toilet paper, I was thoroughly confused. Why spend so much money on a disposable toilet seat cover, and then have toilet paper thinner than the thinnest tracing paper? I thought about joking with one of the janitorial staff, “Do you think we could get some thinner toilet paper here? This stuff is unacceptably thick.” I reconsidered, imagining he has to deal with all kinds of complaints like this, and it’s not even his fault. The second thing I noticed was the automatic sink. This is always nice. No handles to breed germs. But the soap dispenser and towel dispenser both required to be touched in order to be used, defeating one purpose of the automatic faucet. I suppose the main purpose of the automatic sink, as far as the airport is concerned, is to save water. The last thing I noticed was that the soap dispenser and towel dispenser were unusually high on the wall. I mean, I’m 6 ft tall, and they were both above eye level. The first time I ever flew alone, I was 12, and probably couldn’t have reached either well enough to wash my hands properly. I was shocked. Imagine if a little person wanted to wash their hands!?

All of this shies in comparison to the stress I normally have during the day on a Friday lately. So the change of pace and unexpected happenings are welcome. The flights in my end of the terminal are suffering from over booking, and many of the passengers are stressed out, wondering if they will be able to make their flight. One of the gate agents seemed to be overly perceptive, and decided to lighten the mood. He proceeded to take the microphone, usually reserved to page passengers and make announcements, and sang a song, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”. The crowd, all waiting for their over-booked flights, seemed to appreciate the gesture. He had a wonderful voice, and received sincere applause from everyone that heard the young man serenade us. American Airlines must have good hiring practices.

I now have about 20 minutes before my flight and should probably shut down. I’ll upload this when I come across free Internet access. More than likely, at my parent’s house.

What is even more upsetting is the way I found out. I was out on a date, and the girl I was with was looking at my hair, and said, “wow, you’re going to gray early.”

I replied, “What are you talking about?”

“You have gray hair!”

“No, it just looks gray because of the way the light is reflecting off it.”

“No, that’s gray hair. You didn’t know you had gray hair?”

I was in denial for another hour, until I saw a mirror. I ran my fingers through my hair, and sure enough, many, many gray hairs were living right next to all the brown ones I’m used to seeing. I had to really get up close to notice them.

I started debating as to whether or not to get rid of them. Dying hair is ongoing, life-long process. I don’t even like to brush my hair; some times I cut it short enough that it requires no styling in the morning. So dying it is out of the question.

Depressed, I called my mom. She informed me of a cousin of mine who had a full head of gray hair at my age. Things could be worse. It didn’t make me feel too much better. She also told me my dad has similar hairs on his head. I had never noticed. Maybe people won’t notice mine, either. I can only hope.

I’m not paranoid. I realize they were just doing their job. I’m not saying they did this on purpose. But, the circumstances weren’t exactly fun to deal with.

I go back to my ophthalmologist next year for sort of annual monitoring. Because the pressure is a little high, I still need to have a specialist take a look every year. When my optical nerve starts showing signs of damage (if it does), I’ll have glaucoma, and need to start using eye drops every day. I hope that doesn’t happen. I don’t like eye drops.

While the results were positive, the experience was not. I had a really bad headache that day, and was feeling somewhat nauseous going into the office. The tests and probes and bright lights and whatnot just made it worse. I almost threw up twice into his garbage can. Humiliating!

But I was able to walk away with good news. So that made it worthwhile I suppose. I also learned something today that surprised me. I found out that holding your breath can artificially inflate an eye pressure reading score. Perhaps some of my high eye pressure readings were skewed because I was holding my breath in anticipation of that puff of air, or the blue ring touching my eye. I had no idea. Also, squeezing the corners of your eyes together, like you do when you smile or squint, can also make the readings high.

He pointed his bright lights into my eyes, and examined my optic nerve. He didn’t see any damage. He wants to take a closer look next time, with my eyes dilated. That means I won’t be able to drive myself home. A friend will take me. Also, I’ll have to repeat the visual field test. If I pass, that will be the final proof that I don’t have anything wrong with me.

The field of vision problem is unnoticeable. If I hadn’t taken the test, I would have never known. Apparently, without testing, it is impossible for me to know that I have it until it progresses to tunnel-vision like symptoms. As long as I treat it, it will never progress that far.

Treatment involves eye drops taken daily. I have a follow-up in a couple of weeks to confirm. After that, it seems I may start taking Xalatan daily. I’m really not looking forward to that, but I suppose I’ll get used to it.

Marijuana has also been shown to treat glaucoma, if taken daily, much like eye drops. There are currently 12 US states (and many other countries) that allow the medical use of marijuana. I don’t happen to live in one of them. That, alone, is obviously not reason enough to move. I’m not sure I want to take that much time out of my day to treat glaucoma anyway. Eye drops are much faster, and more convenient. Also, I’m not sure how long-term treatment would work with marijuana. In drug trials, patients who smoked, but didn’t get high, showed no improvement in intraocular eye pressure. Like any drug, a tolerance would be built to marijuana, eliminating the high, and possibly the treatment. But I’m no doctor, and wouldn’t want to speculate on such things.

I have a new laser pointer. I’ve discovered many different ways of amusing myself with it. I’ve had a red laser pointer for years. I bought one when they first came out, in the early 90′s. But this one is green, and appears much brighter, as the human eye is much more sensitive to green light than red. I got it from China, for half the normal domestic price.

In early December, I bought an XBox 360. Actually, I bought two of them, but the first one turned out to be a fraud. The online seller was offering a too-good-to-be-true price, and I went for it. I ended up getting my money back, but ended up waiting much longer to get the game system than I had intended.

I also bought an extremely nerdy toy, a 500 GB external hard drive. I think I get a few bonus points, though, because it was designed by F.A. Porsche. I have put every song, book and movie I have ever downloaded on it, and it only a quarter of the way full, if that.

I have a subscription to blockbuster online. I recently switched from Netflix. I get way more movies per month with blockbuster for the same price. I can have six movies at a time with the three movie plan. Awesome… I’ll explain how that works later.

Soon enough I’ll finally be getting a DVD writer. I’ve waited long enough to join that revolution.

I don’t see myself writing too much about the hard drive or DVD writer. Not all that much new you can do with that stuff. I’ll be writing some reviews for games that I enjoy, my thoughts on the various movies I’ve watched with blockbuster online, and new ways of enjoying my green laser pointer.