Reblogged from WordPress.com News:

Have you been paying attention to all the hubbub online about the proposed U.S. legislation (SOPA/PIPA) that threatens internet freedom? I wrote about it last week over on WordPress.org, but the gist is this: there’s a bill in the U.S. Senate that if passed would put publishing freedom severely at risk, and could shut down entire sites at the whim of media companies. Fight for the Future created this nifty video to sum it up better than I can.

On January 18, 2012, sites …

As you may have read, I was sucked into the world of Inuyasha recently. Well I finished all 167 episodes that where on Netflix and realized that the story was far from over. Apparently a second series called Inuyasha: The Final Act was made and it’s available for viewing on Hulu. Used to watching this series from the comfort of my couch facing the TV, I decided to give Hulu Plus another shot. Luckily for me, this particular show was available for TV browsing (you can see where this is going), because I soon found out that not much has changed since the last time I tried the 7-day trial of Hulu 1 or 2 years ago.

One of the things that still annoys me about Hulu Plus is that I still have to sit through commercials. It’s one thing to see Hulu for free on my browser and deal with commercials but to still go through this after paying for a subscription service is irksome. For that same price I get commercial-free service with Netflix. Also, as I mentioned in the last paragraph if somewhat indirectly, not everything that’s available to view online is available for TV or mobile viewing. I had to sit in front of my computer to watch the newest episode of 30 Rock because I couldn’t do it from my TV.

Speaking of commercials, there used to be just one commercial per break. They then made it to 2 when you don’t count the commercial telling you what’s available in their catalogue for instant-browsing (so really it’s 3 now). Currently they keep advertising the CW lineup. My curiosity was piqued and I decided to check out one of their shows, Hart of Dixie. One of the biggest selling points for Hulu Plus is that you get all the episodes of the current season of all their shows. Well that isn’t the case for any of the CW shows. All that advertising and not only do I not get the current season of Hart of Dixie but the episodes that are available for viewing aren’t even in order, so obviously, I’ll just wait for this show to be available on Netflix a year or so from now (if I still remember or care to bother by that time).

I’m glad that I got to wrap up the tale of Inuyasha from the comfort of my couch; however, in hindsight, I should of just saved my $7.99 and watched those episodes on my browser. Most of the shows in my Hulu queue have to be watched like that anyway. What’s one more?

I noticed their wood series and loved the look of the Mahogany skin. I was sold when I read that it was real wood veneer and not just a sticker drawn/painted to look like wood.  Within a week I got my new wrap and immediately installed it. I’m pretty pleased with the results what do you think?

I like how it gives my phone a retro 70′s wood-panelling/steam-punk look and feel. Anyway, if you’re compelled to get a similar skin like this by all means check out SlickWraps. Giving my phone a new look has definitely sated my I-need-a-new-phone-itch (for the remainder of my contract at least).

Words With Friends

This game is a version of Scrabble.

Hanging With Friends

This game is a version of Hangman with a twist. You’re represented by an avatar that’s suspended over a volcano with balloons. Every time you lose a round you loser a balloon. The loser loses all their balloons and plummets into the lava.

Scramble

This game is a version of Boggle. For some reason I never got into this game in my youth but I can’t get enough of this now.

These games are easy to play, have fun animation and you look forward to your next turn. I can’t get enough of them anyway, What are your current favorite games?

When Google Chrome came out a few years ago my curiosity was piqued and I gave it a try. I’m a fan of most of the Google line of products (Gmail, Google Reader, etc) and thought this should be a half decent browser. It was built out of WebKit after all (the same open-source layout engine that is the foundation of the Safari browser). Well I was sadly disappointed and didn’t give it another look until about a year later. By then it was definitely better and was giving Safari a run for it’s money. But it still couldn’t quite match up to Firefox at the time. How times have changed.

One of the biggest issues for me with Google Chrome was that, though it was fast, it didn’t always behave correctly with every website I went to. Like Safari, it would have some issues with some site formats. One such site was WordPress.com. Firefox was able to render every website with no such problems. Its only problem, as has always been the case, was that it was sometimes sluggish. Especially if you used a lot of extensions. Because of this sluggish issue I would keep my extensions to a minimum and only used what I considered were essential.

While I kept plowing and waiting through the load times of web pages when navigating with Firefox, Chrome was quietly, and constantly, updating itself. Currently Firefox is now up to version 9.0.1; whereas Google Chrome is up to 16.0.912.63 in, at most, 3 years time. Chrome no longer seems to have those compatibility issues with websites and it’s still super fast when compared to Firefox (I’ve done the last few blog posts with Google Chrome with absolutely no problems). Chrome has also gotten extensions. Though Google’s library isn’t as extensive as Mozilla’s they have the same ones that I use on  Firefox and they haven’t affected the speed or efficiency of Chrome. I now find myself using Google Chrome more than ever before and Firefox has become a bit of an afterthought.

I usually don’t feel any loyalty ties with technology. I switch from PC and Apple without a thought except for what’s most convenient for me at the time. But with Mozilla, I feel like I’m letting them down. Firefox is built by a nonprofit organization that cares about a free and open Internet. They run a lot of programs to help steer the new generation to using the Internet in a lot of exciting new ways. They even have red pandas on webcam!

Do I abandon the cause of the everyman to use a browser that’s made by big corporation? Is the speed of Chrome enough for me to forgo my ideals because of the convenience of shaving seconds of load time? Maybe I’m making too big a deal of this. I don’t know. I haven’t removed Firefox from my dock but I’m using Chrome to write up this post. Make of that what you will.

The End Of The Dreamer And Wanderer:

It’s time for me to let go of my whimsical flights of fancy. They just aren’t going to happen. The very core of my being just won’t let them come true. Through high school and college I had thoughts of being a cartoonist, a writer and doing something in the performance arts. Heck two years ago, I was playing around with the idea of being a stand up comic. Unfortunately, the facts are dead set against me doing any of these things.

The last time I seriously put any effort into my cartooning skills was in high school. I even had an opportunity to pursue this goal by preparing a portfolio to seek admittance to a college that would aid in this. But of course because of my lazy care-free attitude I only made a half-hearted attempt and I was immediately discouraged when I realized the amount of work that it would entail to set up this portfolio. I didn’t want to put that much effort into it. Instead, I rationalized that I prefer to do my artwork for the love of it and if I detested the amount of effort it took to set up a portfolio I would most likely loath a profession in cartooning and that career would only kill my love for drawing. To this day I only doodle every so often.

My college years were the only times I really worked on my creative writing. The only type of writing I do now is what you see in this blog. It was hard work trying to come up with stuff from my head. I was also overly-critical with myself and it was a lot more stressful than fun. On top of that, I was enrolled into CSTEP, which mandated I take a Science as my major. I had applied to both this program and HEOP (HEOP doesn’t have the same restrictions as CSTEP). Both of these programs were designed to give those less fortunate an academic and financial safety net of sorts. Unfortunately for me, because of the status of my high school as a Regents school and my B+ average, I was deemed overqualified for HEOP but just right for CSTEP. Also, that same year of my enrollment, Governor Pataki, had cut the funding of CSTEP. This made CSTEP into more of a tutoring program and I was to fend for myself with financial issues. I decided to stick with CSTEP despite all this. I thought, it couldn’t hurt for me to have a safety net if ever I felt overwhelmed with academics (this decision highlights my conservative nature and will only foreshadow things to come). Of all the Sciences in my school (Manhattanville College by the way), Sociology seemed to be the only one that really appealed to me. I didn’t like Math past Calculus. Though I was fast becoming a tech geek (I had just acquired my first PC the year before), whenever I thought of Computer Science I thought of coders and the IT department. I just didn’t see myself as someone that would spend all day staring at code scrolling down my monitor or as someone that would troubleshoot other people’s computer and network issues all day (ah the folly of youth). I was never good in Biology or Chemistry in high school so that was definitely out. The Psychology program also didn’t appeal to me; hence,  Sociology was it. At first I was content with my decision. Sociology didn’t really teach me anything I didn’t already know (The rich are getting richer, the poor poorer, gentrification, globalization and the exploitation of third-world countries, etc), but it did give me fancier collegiate ways of expressing my views. Then I started taking my electives.

The more I took Fine Arts classes, or English literature or Dance and Theatre classes the less fun Sociology became to me. I realized that I didn’t come to college for the same reasons as most people. I wanted to go to college for Higher Learning not for career-development ( I saw myself as a modern-day Renaissance man). I wanted to take more classes in writing, drawing and acting but my my Sociology classes kept getting in the way. Looking back at it now, I realize I should’ve just left the CSTEP program. It wasn’t doing me any favors. Thanks to the rigorous curriculum at Xavier High School, I never needed tutoring. College wasn’t that challenging to me. But I didn’t leave CSTEP because I saw it as insurance and it gave me ease of mind. Of course, the irony is, that in the end of it all, I burnt out and dropped out of college anyway. Without financial assistance I had to work part-time when I wasn’t taking any classes. Because I liked my electives more than my core classes I kept stretching them out, which led to an extra year in College. The mental idea of my huge building debt and reluctance to figure out my thesis eventually overwhelmed me. Also I had another rationalization that made dropping out an easier decision for me.

I mentioned earlier that I saw college as an opportunity for Higher Learning and not career-development. I also saw it as an opportunity to find true love. I was very idealistic and romantacised everything (even more than now. I have become, or would like to think that I have become, more realistic and cynical in my 30s). Xavier High School was an all-boys Jesuit private school so, on the one hand, it prepared me well for academia but I was very much inexperienced with the fairer sex. Since girls weren’t around my school I didn’t go out of my way to pursue them. I was much too shy and in my head for that kind of effort during my early teens. Being in a co-ed environment in college immediately demystified my awe of females and though I was more mature than my earlier high school years, I was still an infant when it came to relationships. That and having a campus population of less than 2,000 you would think this quest of true love would be mere folly; however, this was definitely a goal that I put my entire being into and without any reservations or inhibitions and by my sophomore year I met and later fell in love with Claudia.

By 1999, two years into our relationship, the only thing I was sure of was that I wanted Claudia as my wife. I proposed, she accepted and with that out of the way I resolved myself to leave college and enter the workforce to help support our future. I’ve done a series of jobs in all that time and everywhere I’ve gone people kept telling me that I should pursue IT work. I’m always talking about tech and helping people with issues with their computers. There were even times when I made a better diagnostic of system issues than the IT department in some places where I’ve worked (not often, but enough that it only cemented in everyone’s mind but my own that IT was the line of work I should be pursuing). Every time that has been mentioned I would bring up my same old arguments about how I just can’t see myself doing the same thing over and over again trouble shooting computers all day (never mind that I was saying this as I was busy helping someone do exactly that). All this time, I kept having circular arguments about how I don’t want to do a boring job but something that would seem new and fresh all the time and yet I don’t want to do a job in something that I love because that would make me not love that thing anymore. It made no sense obviously but when you’re young and idealistic its hard for you to hear your elders sometimes (they just don’t get it, right?). It’s taken all this time for me to see what a non-argument that was.

As time went by I’ve come to realize that all the jobs I’ve done have been repetitive and while I’m doing them I didn’t seem to mind their repetitive nature. When I did, I would find other ways to distract myself. I was so relieved when I became aware of podcasts in 2006. They really helped my mundane life go by.

For a good number of years, Claudia worked at our old Alma Mater and whenever I visited I would be revisited by my past regret of not graduating. I even tried to go back in 2006 but finances made me drop out again. I kept using my responsibilities of being a husband and provider as my crutch and excuse for why I was feeling unfulfilled. I would always lament that I never  had the opportunities that would be needed to pursue my creative dreams.

Also all those years (1995-2009) in the suburbs (or as one my of my new favorite shows calls it, Suburgatory), I felt a lack of something. A need to funnel my energy or creative force (whatever you want to call it) into something. But I didn’t see an outlet for that in suburbia. Then I started blogging and eventually podcasting and those things did help to alleviate some of that frustration. As I was doing these new hobbies I did fantasize of becoming an Internet personality but as we all know that is a long shot and of course requires an amount of energy and determination that I don’t have in me. I did it for the fun of it and whenever I felt like doing it. Whenever it felt hard or difficult to blog or podcast I would just take time off from it. No one gets famous or successful, as far as I know, with that formula.

So anyway, my hobbies helped alleviate some of my dissatisfaction with my lot in life but every now and then I would feel resentful with the world, that it would let a dreamer like myself just whittle away little by little and not be given an opportunity to achieve their goals. I would feel this way even knowing that I still wasn’t sure what it is I wanted to do. I kept dithering between the idea of cartooning or writing or acting but not put any energy into either. Then I had the best opportunity I would ever get.

This past January, I was laid off from my office job with the Passport Agency. In some ways I was relieved because this meant I no longer had 4 hour round trip commutes from Brooklyn to Norwalk, CT. I could finally catch up with my sleep (I was averaging about 4-5 hours of sleep a night). Also, since I was collecting unemployment, this was a good opportunity to pursue one of my dreams. I had plenty of free time to either start writing seriously, go out and look for auditions or start drawing. Instead, I kept hesitating between all three and put more effort into looking for work. Again I opted for the safe choice. I knew that our current economic situation was a bad one and it was getting harder and harder for unemployed people to find jobs. There were even news stories earlier in 2011 about how employers were opting for hiring people away from other companies rather than hiring an unemployed person who was obviously quite available. That little seed of knowledge rooted into my mind and I kept pursuing work more than deciding on which dream to strive for. When I wasn’t applying for jobs I would spend my nights at comedy shows and laughing it up.

Around this time I even dreamed of possibly pursuing a job in audio recording when I went to an open house at The Institute of Audio Research. I sincerely believed that I was ready to learn what it took to become an audio technician and maybe do a radio show or work at Audible.com or something like that. I even started interning at Keith and The Girl. I had free time (obviously) and on top of working for one of my favorite podcasts I thought that I would glean some insight on how to be successful in this area of audio production. I did actually glean some wisdom but it didn’t register until recently.

So eight months go by, my unemployment ran out and in all that time I only manage to seize a retail job where I currently work. I think I’ve reached my bottom or low point in life. And yet I don’t feel as anxious or as uneasy about my life as I used to be when I was working and living in suburbia. At my current job, in between my retail work, I help my associates troubleshoot their Android phones or tell them about some new gadget I read about and they keep telling me that I should be doing something better with myself and definitely in IT work. Finally, I’m starting to agree with those sentiments.

I realized, especially this year, that the thing that successful artists all have in common with one another that I don’t, is a single-minded ambitious-driven focus that also requires a huge level of selfishness and self-preservation in order to achieve their goals. I remember hearing somewhere about a comic asking Seinfeld for some advice about being successful. I’m paraphrasing but basically Seinfeld asked the comic what did he want to achieve and the comic replied he wanted to be successful and have a stable relationship. Seinfeld’s advice was that he first had to work on being successful and once he achieved that level of success he can then work on getting a relationship. That’s why a lot of these successful types are either single, divorced or in short-term relationships. You can’t aim for both with the same amount of fervor.

In the beginning of my adult life I pursued a relationship and found one with Claudia. Everything outside of that was secondary. I built a long steady foundation that was planted in July 30, 1999. There is no way I can put off my relationship and just focus on me and my whimsies with that single-minded focus and not risk what I’ve built with Claudia in all those years. I value my marriage too much to endanger it in such a way. I rather work in my current retail job and maintain our financial stability while helping Claudia pursues her Masters in Interior Design. When she’s done with that she’ll be able to command an even better salary than with just her BFA and I can then pursue something more reasonable like schooling in IT work (heck, I may actually be able to start on that this year  as well).

Fact is, most jobs are repetitive and mundane and I haven’t died of boredom yet. I do in fact love tech, have an affinity and patience to deal and troubleshoot tech. So why not finally make a living doing that. Also, the fact that I had an opportunity to pursue my dreams and I opted for any job and spending my free time time indulging in entertainment attests to my character.

As much as I’ve dreamed about acting and and drawing I spent most of my energy consuming those areas of entertainment rather than working in them. Even though, most of my time interning with Keith and The Girl involved stuffing merchandise in envelopes for shipment I did notice the amount of work and effort that went to create their daily shows. They spent so much time prepping for that days show. While they were doing that they were also discussing future plans and projects that would come out many months later. After the show was done, they weren’t. They would then edit the show for posting. Maybe talk to the guest some more before they left the studio. They would still be working on the show after I would finish my duties and leave in the early evening. They were career-driven and that’s why their show is such a hit. I never put that much effort into any of my podcast episodes.

Assessing all this, it’s clear to me now that my days of dreaming and wandering are over. I now know what I want to do with my life and it doesn’t involve a career in cartooning or writing or performance art. I may still do some of those things as hobbies but for now I must really push myself towards a career in tech which is not only more feasible and financially stable but also something that I’ll enjoy. I do love tinkering with tech after all.

Restrain And Focus The Dabbler:

I pretty much broke this down in the last paragraph. I like to dabble with stuff. I played with HTML when I was creating my websites for my podcasts and self-hosted blog. I installed Ubuntu on my old PC and played around with that for a bit. I even jail broke my iPhone a few times to get some customizations that I wanted to try out. Now instead of dabbling to and fro I’m going to try to focus that energy into my future career goal and learn what I need to learn to work in the field of system admin and/or IT.

Improve My Health Lifestyle:

I’ve decided to cut dairy from my diet. This decision has more to do with selfish self-preservation reasons than some sense of a higher moral ground. Dairy makes me more mucousy which makes my throat have more phlegm and my nose have more congestion. This extra level of mucous in my throat and nose also makes me more sensitive to my allergies and probably more prone to the throat infection I get every year or so. By switching to Soy milk I hope this will clear my throat and nasal passages and make me healthier overall.

I also want to make a concerted effort to eat more vegetables and less processed foods. I even bought a new George Foreman Grill and rice cooker so I can spend less money on take-out and deliveries and make more of my own food to eat at home or bring to work. So far I’ve been semi-successful in this but I’ve cheated a few times already.

The last and hardest thing for me to do regarding my health is get back to exercising. This mainly has to do with my irregular sleep pattern. That old 2hr one-way commute really did a number on me and I’ve yet been able to regress to my old early-bird morning self. I mainly work the night shift at my retail job so the best time for me to exercise would be the morning. But since I keep waking up with just enough time to get my stuff ready and to run for my work shift, exercise has been nonexistent. The past few weeks I’ve been stocking up on whey proteins and other supplements to help with a workout regimen so here’s hoping I nip this issue in the bud sometime soon.

In Summary:

This last month has brought with it a lot of insight and reflection which will hopefully steer me to a more purposeful future. Of course to err is to be human and I’m sure I’ll have my share of stumbles but I think I’m finally seeing things a lot clearer than I ever have before. Here’s to a productive 2012.

All of a sudden I felt that I had a lack of stimuli. My Facebook feed wasn’t giving me enough data (for lack of a better word) to satisfy my need to feel connected with the world outside my work day. Sure I read blogs in the morning and at night but whenever I have a few minutes to kill, my games on Words/Hanging with Friends just weren’t enough. That and I saw some re-posts on Facebook that originally came from Twitter and one thing led to the next and I reactivated my account.

As for creating a new Google+ account, I consolidated all my email to one main account and decided why not make a Google+ account with that one. One of the reasons that I had stopped going was that I found it a hassle to constantly switch between accounts to access my Google+. So there you have it. I am once again on 3 social networks and who knows what my status will be in the future. I just can’t seem to make up my mind and/or stick to a decision.

As much as I like the technical specs of the Samsung Galaxy S II, I’m almost as equally appalled by the bloatware that’s installed on this device. Unfortunately Samsung, like every other Android phone maker, feels the need to add their own twist to an already good OS when left alone. On top of that, AT&T adds a series of their own apps to further take away from the storage memory, it’s efficiency, and the overall experience that I’m looking for in an Android device.

This led me to look into rooting options and mods that would be a good replacement for Samsung’s Touchwiz version of Android. The best one on the market, so I’ve read and heard, is Cyanogenmod. Alas, it’s version for the Samsung Galaxy S II isn’t too stable and is still considered experimental at this point in time. I won’t call it a conspiracy, but it is interesting that the founder of Cyanogenmod  can’t seem to get a stable working mod for his current employer’s device.

I’m sure If I looked a little harder I can find a more stable mod of Gingerbread (Android 2.3), but the fact of the matter is, Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) has already come out with the release of the latest Google phone, The Galaxy Nexus, and that is the new OS that the developers are working on getting a mod for. Instead of rushing into the latest and greatest, like most early-adopters, it’s better to just wait for ICS to mature past it’s infancy stage. It’ll take at least 6 months, or so, for all the most current Android phones to upgrade to the new OS (Only the Nexus phones have it at the moment), and the mod developers have a lot of kinks to work out to get a working stable mod released for the impatient rooted-phone users out there. Lastly, the Galaxy Nexus is only available for Verizon and by the time it is available for AT&T (if ever) it will once again be outdated like the previous models. So better to wait, when my contract is up. That way I’ll be free to weigh all my options. LTE will have expanded more in NYC for all the carriers. There will be newer and better devices which will hopefully have better battery life to handle the new 4G networks. Finally, who knows what the iPhone 5 will be like by then. Maybe I’ll end up an Apple user for yet another 2 years.

If you’re wondering, “what about jailbreaking your iPhone to get features you want like Swype?”, I did in fact look into that as well. Unfortunately, the easiest untethered jailbreaking solution for the iPhone has ceased to be available once iOS upgraded past 4.3.4. Another non-conspiracy but interesting fact (or is it?), the author of jailbreakme.com also happens to work for Apple now. Anyway, the only non-tethered jailbreak for iPhone isn’t recommended for casual users. In fact they insist “this jailbreak is intended only for developers of jailbroken apps!“, which definitely means that it isn’t Julio-friendly. I’ll  just have to stick it out with the standard Apple iOS. Lack of Swype notwithstanding, my iPhone 4 isn’t a bad phone to have.

Update 12/27/11:

As if someone was hearing my concerns, an untethered jailbreak option became available for the iPhone. I tried it out and even had iSwipe for a brief moment. Unfortunately it was a little too unstable for my taste (my phone would just reboot for no reason every so often), and I ended up restoring my phone back to it’s normal state. It was fun to dream a little dream though.

So for no apparent reason, except because I’m me, I decided to check out my upgrade options on AT&T when I stumbled upon a gem. I have an opportunity to snag a refurbished Samsung Galaxy S II for only $9.99! Of course the tech geek in me was jumping up and down for glee and I had such an impulse to just hit the buy button, but my cooler head prevailed and I decided to talk it over with my wife first.

Of course this wasn’t her first time enduring my hot and cold tech-impulsive whimsies and a migraine began to surface for her as soon as I laid out this great deal. Immediately Claudia began to shoot down this idea. “What’s wrong with your current phone?” she asked. Though I know she is an Apple loyalist and this stance of hers was entirely expected, she wasn’t without a point. The truth of the matter is that my iPhone 4 is perfectly fine. It does what it does and there is nothing technically wrong with it. The only real issue I have with it, if anything, is its lack of Swype and Google app integration.

Yes, I’m the metaphorical dog with two bones. I got an iPhone for its aesthetics, uniformity and it’s customer-friendly user interface (not to mention that I have a MacBook Pro so obviously an iPhone makes sense). But of course I lament the closed-ecosystem of Apple and I crave the merits and potential of the Android phone and OS.

In this little debate I brought up my points (The phone is only $10.00. I can sell my iPhone on Gazelle and get about $162.00 for it . Minus the cost of a case and the $17.00 upgrade fee I’m up $100.00). I think I expressed myself quite convincingly and even believed myself, about what a great idea this was. Claudia then brought up how I’m never satisfied with technology and that I’ll be complaining about this new phone and how it isn’t working and so on. This argument would work if she hadn’t mention that “I’m never satisfied”. This means that I’m already griping about my iPhone as it is, so not much would change except the hardware.

She tried to use other examples of how she has had to deal with people lamenting how they never should have switched from an iPhone to an Android phone and eventually go back to their original Apple device. Of course she reluctantly admits that these examples won’t necessarily apply to me since I’m relatively computer savvy and these complainers didn’t know the home button from the on/off button.

Realizing how set I seemed with my decision to switch platforms Claudia used her Ace and Joker up her sleeves. First the Ace. She looked at me imploringly and then looked away and remained silent. I, thinking victory was within my grasp but not without some repercussions, emphatically asked if she was mad at me. She stayed with her back facing me, sighed and said, “No I’m not mad, just disappointed”. Talk about passive aggressive and just plain dirty! Of course, I started laughing hysterically. How dare she tried to use an old “Mother knows best” move. She, after a while, laughed along because she knew that was a low blow. But then Claudia played the Joker. The old wild card that might just work and then again it may be an Old Hail Mary with no result.

Claudia sobered up and let me know that she will be fine with my decision, as long as I’m completely sure of it, I won’t have any regrets and I won’t do anything crazy or get into a Tasmanian devil frenzy I sometimes get when things aren’t working like they’re suppose to. She also questioned that I look up the warranty and see that the phone be adequately covered. That way, if I end up with a lemon I can replace it with a working phone. I agreed and was ready to celebrate my victory. But doubt started to linger like an old familiar scent and it was just getting stronger the more I thought about my decision.

Is she right? Am I really too impulsive and hasty with my tech purchases? It’s true I have had a few situations where I was immediately dissatisfied with something and I quickly returned those items. Yes those items happen to be non-Apple products and were replaced with Apple products, but does that mean this pattern will repeat itself with the Samsung Galaxy S II? That Joker really played a number on me.

I began to research warranties and saw that I can get a really good one by SquareTrade for $124. So if you do the math (17+9.99+124+34.99-162=?) I end up owing $24 or so at the end of all this. I don’t make any money out of this anymore, but it’s still cheaper than if I were to buy a new case for my current iPhone (something I was planning to do when I saw the Andy Warhol cases in a catalogue. Wow, I really am impulsive, aren’t I?).

This is my current impasse. Should I stay or should I go? Do I buy the refurbished Android device or just let things be and run out the final year of my contract with my iPhone 4? Any and all suggestions will be appreciated.