Aside from my getting started on my 2009 daybook (the first point of business was to write a 2010 new year’s message for my first Photohunt pic) there are a few other new and useful items at casa az…
Finally got the new washing machine last Wednesday. Man, those delivery guys worked fast – zipped up the three flights of stairs , then had the old one out and the new one set up in about five minutes…
Have been trying to get through the laundry mountain that has built up ever since, but it’s been raining non-stop all week so we’ve had to slowly dry everything on the clothes rack, which is set up in the middle of the living room as it’s the only warmish/dryish place in the house. But hey, at least the new machine works well and it looks like we should be able to start hanging stuff up on the roof again today. I can’t wait to see the sun again!
I also renewed my residency permit on Friday, so my new card should be ready to pick up in a couple of months. Crap photo of me this time, but oh well. The good thing was that a ‘connected’ friend of mine had me meet with someone he knows at the immigration office, which not only cut through all the red tape but also hours and hours waiting in queues. In fact the whole thing only took about half an hour, which was amazing (thank you Juan!).
And last but not least … the iPhone has arrived!!!
Now I can finally take down the tree.
It turned out that Telefónica did me (well, Nog) a favour by not supplying enough 8GB iPhones to their stores to meet the demand of their “customer loyalty” bonus points offer, which expired December 31st. Once it became clear that Telefónica had no intention of getting more phones in we looked around at other options and found that at Fnac, not only did they have lots of 8GB iPhones in stock but, as a new customer (meaning I had to change my mobile phone number), they would give us a very good deal. Except the woman who was handling those contracts was only working at the store at the weekend … then the computers were down until Sunday afternoon … but we were finally able to pick up my fabulous prezzie and put it under the tree early yesterday evening. It is soooooo cool! Now I just have to think of a name for it.
Also found out that the sleek little black suede cover that came with my iPod fits the iPhone perfectly – bonus! 🙂
And one last item of special importance … Happy Birthday zoomer!
casa azahar 
yay! Way to go on the iPhone! 🙂
*Hello from my iPhone to yours*
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Glad you got a good deal on the phone. It amazes me when businesses screw themselves by doing things like that. And offering an iphone for free to new customers, but only a discount to people who have been with them for years. Too bad they don’t let you port your phone numbers over there. I could change telephone companies without changing numbers here.
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That sounds like some good new stuff. The iPhone in particular sounds pretty sweet. I look forward to learning its name. (Not naming the washing machine, are you?)
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that’s still a pretty good photo of you
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I sent my first email by iphone last night, truce. Way cool. 🙂
You can also change companies here and keep your same number, Silverstar, but my present company has the monopoly on providing service for iPhones in Spain. So although there are some other stores selling the actual phones, the contract has to be with Telefónica/Movistar. Without the “customer loyalty” bonus points, the phone would have cost about 300 euros (eep!), so I had to apply as a “new customer” to get the great deal from Fnac. As it turns out, I like my new number better and had it memorised in about 30 seconds. And Nog is going to take over my old number & contract (he’s got a prepaid card in his present phone) and then switch to another company and get a snazzy new free phone with a camera. Take that, Movistar!
Yes, it really is annoying how customers are penalised for sticking with one company/bank etc these days.
No, not naming the washing machine, alejna … it’s just gadgets that end up with names around here. But inspiration hasn’t struck yet.
It looks much worse “up close and personal” nursemyra, though I’ll admit that the hair looks good (pic was taken about an hour after I got it cut so it had been seriously blow dried into submission). The old photo is so washed out that I look a bit like Michael Jackson (or Voldemort), with just two holes in my face for a nose.
The new year also brought some unpleasantness … a new infection under my incision. So I’m back on antibiotics for awhile. One more week until I see the oncologist and the surgeon.
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Congrats on your new iPhone…it’ll take you about thirty seconds to become addicted! Now you need never be OFF Twitter and Facebook!
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Yummy IPhone…
Nice washing machine too! 🙂 I’d definitely give it a name – how about Howard?
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“it’ll take you about thirty seconds to become addicted!”
Yeah it was something like that, Rain. Then the initial battery charge ran out today and I was told to recharge it for a solid 8 hours without using it and so I’ve been going through withdrawal all afternoon and evening.
Howard? Um, let me think about that …
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Nah. Howard’s a vacuum cleaner. Washing machines are called Maurice.
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Never off Twitter and Facebook? You’ll be as bad as Rain. Sometimes we have to wait for her to pull the coffin lid over her head to get a word in edgewise.
Washing machines are definitely Maurice, and not Howard. I agree with Nog, Howard is a vacuum.
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I’ll never be as bad as Rain, Silverstar. First of all, I only post on Twitter 4-5 times a week. And my tweets go directly to Facebook so that I don’t have to. I gave up on FB after the whole scrabble debacle.
But I have been obsessing on the (still nameless) iPhone. Spent about two hours reorganising my contacts and then sent out a text message informing everyone of my new mobile telephone number … completely forgetting that it was 1.30 in the morning! I sure hope most people are like me and switch off their ringer tones before they go to sleep. 😳
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I’d say the washing machine looks a bit like a Larry to me. And a genius gadget like the iPhone’s gotta be Leonardo. (This from the woman who calls the cupbaord at the head of her bed, Fred.)
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I am one of those people who likes a phone to be a phone and a computer to be a computer and a camera to be a camera…. I have a camera in my phone but that was only because all the phones have them. I have used it only a couple of times when I am caught short without my camera I which rarely happens).
Even when I don’t have my camera with me, I never think of using it to take photos.
I have only texted a couple of times when it was easier than leaving a message.
It always irritates me when I am sitting having (or trying to have) a conversation with someone and they are madly texting away… or worse… texting away while more or less ignoring me.
I have NEVER emailed from my cellphone. The way my phone was set up when I first got it, every time I pressed what was my phonebook on my old phone, I would start logging onto the internet… It took me two months or so the figure out how to change the buttons.
Besides, even if I cared to surf from my phone, my eyes are so bad, I couldn’t SEE the screen.
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I text from my phone, I email from my phone, and I call from my phone. I won’t send tweets from my phone, as any replies would cost me, and I have control issues with how much I spend using the d*mn thing…
Someday, I’ll get a better phone, but for now, it’s a @10 Virgin Mobile special, which fits my needs. 🙂
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That would be a *$10* phone.
Cool washing machine; definitely not a Howard, but I’m thinking maybe Wallter?
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Oh Mudhooks, get with it already. 😛
Actually, I’ve never had a phone with a camera before. My last one is now about four years old and is just a plain old phone.
But I always send text messages. I also like receiving them. I dunno, they just seem less intrusive than getting calls. Especially when the messages are just about passing on some info.
I sent my first email on the iPhone the day I got it … way cool!
“Besides, even if I cared to surf from my phone, my eyes are so bad, I couldn’t SEE the screen.”
Better not get a Mactini then. 😉
It’s actually easy to enlarge the images on the iPhone and when you turn it sideways the pages flip (even more way coolier!) but I agree that it would get tiring after awhile. But it’s going to be so great having this option during all the upcoming hospital visits and especially in the chemo chair. I checked out Youtube on the iPhone yesterday … 😎
I haven’t checked out the Twitter app yet, SC. If it means I have to pay anything extra then I won’t be doing it.
The head of your bed is called Fred, Bea? Okey dokey… *backs away slowly not making eye contact*
And nooooo, I wouldn’t actually name an electrical appliance – that would be just silly. Gadgets on the other hand…
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I’m with Mudhooks – a phone is a phone etc.
That doesn’t mean I don’t want all of the “appropriate” functionality on each device though.
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“And nooooo, I wouldn’t actually name an electrical appliance – that would be just silly.”
What? I may have to start a campaign to name your washer. In the name of silliness.
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No, not the head of my bed. The cupboard at the head of my bed. As in “Where are the Christmas decorations?” “Oh, I shoved them to the back of Fred.”
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I was listening to something on the CBC where they were talking about how technology developers still think that designing technology for women means making it come in “cute” colours, having “pretty” screensavers, or having a mirror on it…
They make phones smaller to fit in a guy’s pocket but never think about what happens when a woman puts her phone in her purse (and I mean in a side pocket of a purse, not at the bottom of her purse)… It never occurs to them that they need the ring to last more than three seconds because it takes longer to unzip a pocket and get the phone out than it does to reach in your shirt or pants pocket.
And it never occurs to them to enable the ringtones to be loud enough to hear from your purse pocket.
So, if you CAN hear your ring, you usually don’t have long enough to open your purse and get the phone out and open in time to answer it.
Of course, car designers still think the way they did in the 50s… Paint it pink and put a mirror on the visor and that’s all women want in a car…
How about seatbelts that don’t constantly slip up over your boobs and strangle you while driving?
How about armrests that aren’t 4 inches lower than your elbow?
Better yet, how about designing a seatbelt mechanism that doesn’t get tangled and actually automatically retracts instead of falling out of the car, getting covered in oil and dirt, doesn’t get jammed in the door, and doesn’t take 3 minutes of fighting to get it to retract?
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Case(s) in point: http://www.dodgelafemme.com/literature.htm
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1955-1956-dodge-la-femme2.htm
Then again: [though I note the “numerous exchangeable seat covers of various colors and materials (linen, leather, felt, etc.); compartments for handbags”] http://www.roadandtravel.com/newsworthy/newsandviews04/volvoconceptcarbywomen.htm
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“I’m with Mudhooks – a phone is a phone etc.”
Philuddites!
I can’t imagine ever buying anything pink, mudhooks, so that sort of design strategy would never work on me.
Excellent campaign idea, alejna! Though I will probably also need one for the iPhone. How about Mercury? Hermes?
Is Fred red, Bea?
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Don’t be silly, Fred’s white! But I am nagging Roger to do me a large painting to hang over the doors, so there might end up being some red in that.
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For the I-Phone, how about Granny Smith, or Pippin? 😉
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“I can’t imagine ever buying anything pink, mudhooks, so that sort of design strategy would never work on me.”
Hence my point that designers think that that is “designing with women in mind”. No features we REALLY want or problems we might have using the technology they’ve designed… “It’s pink… what more could they possibly want?”
Pantihose, which is designed by men (it HAS to be… no woman would design them with legs so long that the crotch should be somewhere up around your armpits) comes in a billion different colours and whatnot but NONE of it fits.
Bras are made for women whose backs are the size of linebackers’ so the straps always fall off… except that they assume all women have tiny shoulders so they now make the straps non-adjustable for only adjust for 1.2 an inch… So that not only do the straps fall off but because your circulation is cut off by the straps, you can’t feel your arms to pull them up.
And, I’m sorry, but God didn’t put my boobs up around my neck, so why are the cups up there?
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Ooooo, pantihose are pure evil…
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