New phone

My Verizon contract expires in a few days, and their service here is horrible (it's fun to get a call about a job and have the call drop), so I had been looking to switch providers.  I was highly impressed by the performance of my Kindle, which uses Sprint and gets 5 bars all the time.

My Dell Axim PDA is getting a bit long in the tooth (and short in the battery), so I decided to get a PDA-phone.  I have a bunch of software for Windows Mobile already, so that brought my choices down to three, the Treo 700w, the HTC Touch or the HTC Mogul.  I've dealt with Treos before and didn't like them, so it was between the Touch and the Mogul.  The Touch is a bit slimmer and came with GPS and Sprint TV capability, while the Mogul has a slide-out keyboard.  I opted for the Mogul because I tend to text more often than I make calls.

I spent Saturday night and most of Sunday installing software and getting my new phone tweaked out just the way I wanted it.

And wouldn't you know it, HTC released a ROM update Monday.  Installing the update wipes the memory on the unit, destroying all the work that I did the past couple days.  But the new ROM adds high-speed Internet access, GPS capability, a task manager, improved Bluetooth performance and some software fixes.  It's annoying that I have to reinstall everything, but the upgrade is definitely worth it.

I'll post pics and a review soon.


EDIT:  YES!!!  The new GPS capability works perfectly with Google Maps Mobile!  No need to pay Sprint $10 a month for their navigation software when I can use Google for free!

Cherry Coke

Drug agents seize candy-flavored cocaine at mall

Federal drug agents have seized cocaine in a variety of designer flavors and arrested three men in Modesto after a 10-month undercover investigation, authorities reported Monday.

The cocaine, in strawberry, lemon, coconut and cinnamon flavors, may be aimed at women and a younger, club-going clientele, said Gordon Taylor, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration office in Sacramento. It costs about twice as much and is less potent, he said, but dealers bank on its novelty and taste to sell the product.

Job Interview

I've got a job interview with Raytheon tomorrow morning.  I'm not sure whether I want this position or not; it would involve extensive travel, possibly even overseas, the pay is barely higher than my last job and it's only a contract position, but it's salaried and would net me a security clearance.