Getting Ready for Vacation

My plan this weekend was to get ready for my vacation that starts on the 18th of June. Since I'm going camping next weekend, this is the last weekend I'll be home. I accomplished almost all my goals, and the rest I can do during the week. On my to-do list was buy a new cell phone. Partly because mine was getting old but mostly because I needed one with bluetooth due to the new law that takes effect July 1st in California that prohibits talking on a cell phone while driving that isn't hands-free. Now, I rarely talk on my cell phone while driving. In fact, I don't use my phone much at all. But this gave me an excuse to buy a new phone with more features. I got the cool Motorola Razr V9m. It is slimmer that my old phone, but slightly bigger, which is nice because it has bigger screens. The phone has a camera that takes 2 megapixel photos and it also can take movies. The bluetooth allows me to be one of those people who walk around talking to themselves. I was able to get my Apple MacBook Pro to connect to the phone and transfer a photo from the phone to my computer. The phone also came with a 256 MB micro SD card, which can be used to save photos and (kind of) easily transfer them by placing the micro SD card into an SD card adapter. However, to get to card, you have to power off the phone, remove the battery and then remove the card. I'll probably upgrade to a 2 GB card so I have lots of memory. I'll also try to find out if there is an easy way to transfer phone numbers and e-mail addresses from my PC to the phone so I don't have to type them in using the small keypad. One more feature of this phone is it has a faster connection to the Internet at no extra cost!

I tested the new phone camera today during my bike ride to and around Miramar Lake. The first photo I took after completing my ride around the lake. Last time I mentioned that the water level was down, but today it was back up. I also learned that if I want to take a normal photo, I'll need to turn the phone 90 degrees in order to get a "landscape" view. The second photo is of a band playing in a park near my house. On the way to the lake I passed by the park using my new short-cut, and heard the band playing, but there were only a few people in the park. On the way back, cars were parked everywhere and the park was filling up with people. I don't know who the band is, but they were playing a combination of classic songs and their own music. I only watched long enough to take a couple of photos and then left. There are lots of events like this in Scripps Ranch and even after ten years of living here I never attend any of them. In fact, I tried to find out the name of this park and it isn't listed on Google Maps/Earth, but I can see that there is a park there, sitting in the shade of the many eucalyptus trees. So, go Padres!