For an Eternity

I have been obsessing over this new phone…The Samsung Eternity. It has a 3.2 mega pixel camera. I really don’t know what that means exactly but I know it’s GOOD. I played with it in the store, the pics are incredible. Yes this is what’s important to me in a phone. That it works, takes pics, and has a reminder feature and stores numbers with pictures.

Anyway if I add a line its 9.99 a month for 550 minutes shared (way more then enough, I don’t use the hone much) and my kids can have my pink phone. For when they are away from me, they can’t take it to school or anything.

The cost of the phone is about 200 in store then I get a 50 dollar rebate in the mail. I checked three AT&T stores and this is the best deal I have found so far.

I don’t need this phone, my pink phone works fine, and it just takes crappy pics and has no key board so texting is a pain. The Eternity has a QWERTY keyboard. It’s a touch screen; you can use the touch screen with gloves on. I don’t have to sign up for a huge ass data package (Like with the iphone.) And yes I know it’s an iphone copy.. I just don’t care. I want it.

I am going to buy it on Friday.

Consumerism is alive and well. -Sigh- But I did my research.. I want this phone! It has 3g! I don’t know what that is but I want it. Look!

Also called the SGH-A867, the black-and-chrome Eternity has a 3.2-inch display with haptics vibrating feedback, Samsung's TouchWiz interface, and an accelerometer. Inside you'll find support for AT&T Mobile TV, GPS, a 3-megapixel camera, messaging and e-mail, Bluetooth, a microSD card slot, AT&T's Video Share, a full HTML browser, 3G connectivity, a speakerphone, and organizer options. The Eternity is $149.99 with a two-year contract.

Does the SD slot mean I can take pics and then use the SD card to print them out?

key specifications
• Camera Resolution : 3.0 Megapixel
• Video recording : Video recording
• Music Player : MP3 Player
• Mobile TV : AT&T Mobile TV

QWERTY keyboard
The Eternity™ has a unique onscreen QWERTY keyboard you can access in landscape or portrait mode (or even switch between the two). In either mode, the Eternity™ lets you type as fast as you talk.
3.0 mega pixel camera
With a full 3.0 megapixels, the SAMSUNG Eternity™ will shoot beautiful pictures every time. There’s also a digital zoom, brightness control and camcorder that shoots videos of up to one hour long.

Video review!

The good: The Samsung Eternity has an attractive design with a intuitive touch-screen interface. It offers a solid assortment of multimedia features and good call quality. It also has impressive battery life.
The bad: The Samsung Eternity's virtual keyboard isn't available when entering message recipients. It lacks a camera flash, Wi-Fi and voice dialing and the 3G connectivity could be stronger.
The bottom line: The Samsung Eternity succeeds as a multimedia device, but without Wi-Fi and full e-mail support, it stops well short of being a business-friendly device.
Specifications: Band / mode: WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM 850/900/1800/1900 ; Talk time: Up to 300 min ; Combined with: With digital camera

Pictures taken with the Eternity..
I tried to post them but they are huge.

http://www.infosyncworld.net/resources/products/samsung/samsung_eternity_s00.jpg

http://www.infosyncworld.net/resources/products/samsung/samsung_eternity_s01.jpg

http://www.infosyncworld.net/resources/products/samsung/samsung_eternity_s02.jpg

http://www.infosyncworld.net/resources/products/samsung/samsung_eternity_s04.jpg


And a message board



See, Alex? At least I am a smart consumer.. ist.

Christmas on Masslive

“Omg! I saw someone today buy king crab legs with food stamps and I am angry because I pay 25 grand in taxes a year and have to eat tuna out of a can.”

Several people chime in about how everyone on welfare is scum and should be shot, even the little welfare babies’ cause they don’t deserve to live. (So far it hasn’t turned into a race thing, but the day is early!) I read all of this quietly and sigh. By the way.. 68 bucks in crab legs? I’m not even sure you’re telling the truth. In fact I just called the S&S on Northampton st and Alaskan King Crab legs are 16.99 a pound so they got 4 pounds of mostly shell.. That’s not exactly a feast, you know?

This one made me snicker…

13712.6. whats wrong with the picture

is that you must make more than anyone in holyoke and you are eating tuna. how many kids do you pay child support on, 9?

Then someone makes the obligatory post (it was not me this time) about how it’s not a big deal and immediately they are called names and assumed to be on welfare.

You have to be poor to have compassion for your fellow man?

Now you know the original poster who is so upset about the food stamp purchase is a devout Catholic or Christian.. So let me just remind them that Jesus was a welfare baby who was born in a dirty freaking barn because his unemployed parents were poor run aways. They would have qualified for food stamps and when the three wise men showed up.. I bet they would have bought them crab legs if they could have.

I know I get on this a lot but I have been on welfare, I have used food stamps. I have seen you give me a dirty look as I swiped that god awful blue card. When I was making nine bucks an hour and the holidays rolled around.. everyone got food gifts from us.. Because I could use my food stamps to buy chocolates or exotic ingredients.

What I think is being forgotten by those so upset is that today is Christmas Eve. Let them eat cake! Or crab. Because I want to be happy today I am going to assume that the shopper has kids and maybe Christmas crab is a tradition, maybe this is a tough year and they already scaled back gifts, cable, activities and the guy just doesn’t want to see the look on his kids faces when they serve spam instead of crab. Who the hell knows.. and who the hell cares?

There are jerks out there abusing the system, I know. But do we have to collectively punish them all for the screw ups of a few? And before anyone goes there.. let me remind you that in Massachusetts we have the Family Cap law, you cannot be on welfare and have a baby and get more money. You get NOTHING for any baby you have after you sign up for assistance. Your family is capped.

Merry Christmas to all the scrooges out there and to all my fellow Holyoke’s who try to make every day the best it can be in our sad little city.

I am buying some crab tonight I think. With cash.

Being Poor

I came across this today and it really struck me. I have lived more then half of these things, my children have too. I think most people have at least experienced something on this list. Especially in Holyoke. Have you?

Being poor is knowing exactly how much everything costs.

Being poor is getting angry at your kids for asking for all the crap they see on TV.

Being poor is having to keep buying $800 cars because they’re what you can afford, and then having the cars break down on you, because there’s not an $800 car in America that’s worth a damn.

Being poor is hoping the toothache goes away.

Being poor is knowing your kid goes to friends’ houses but never has friends over to yours.

Being poor is going to the restroom before you get in the school lunch line so your friends will be ahead of you and won’t hear you say “I get free lunch” when you get to the cashier.

Being poor is living next to the freeway.

Being poor is coming back to the car with your children in the back seat, clutching that box of Raisin Bran you just bought and trying to think of a way to make the kids understand that the box has to last.

Being poor is wondering if your well-off sibling is lying when he says he doesn’t mind when you ask for help.

Being poor is off-brand toys.

Being poor is a heater in only one room of the house.

Being poor is knowing you can’t leave $5 on the coffee table when your friends are around.

Being poor is hoping your kids don’t have a growth spurt.

Being poor is stealing meat from the store, frying it up before your mom gets home and then telling her she doesn’t have make dinner tonight because you’re not hungry anyway.

Being poor is Goodwill underwear.

Being poor is not enough space for everyone who lives with you.

Being poor is feeling the glued soles tear off your supermarket shoes when you run around the playground.

Being poor is your kid’s school being the one with the 15-year-old textbooks and no air conditioning.

Being poor is thinking $8 an hour is a really good deal.

Being poor is relying on people who don’t give a damn about you.

Being poor is an overnight shift under florescent lights.

Being poor is finding the letter your mom wrote to your dad, begging him for the child support.

Being poor is a bathtub you have to empty into the toilet.

Being poor is stopping the car to take a lamp from a stranger’s trash.

Being poor is making lunch for your kid when a cockroach skitters over the bread, and you looking over to see if your kid saw.

Being poor is believing a GED actually makes a goddamned difference.

Being poor is people angry at you just for walking around in the mall.

Being poor is not taking the job because you can’t find someone you trust to watch your kids.

Being poor is the police busting into the apartment right next to yours.

Being poor is not talking to that girl because she’ll probably just laugh at your clothes.

Being poor is hoping you’ll be invited for dinner.

Being poor is a sidewalk with lots of brown glass on it.

Being poor is people thinking they know something about you by the way you talk.

Being poor is needing that 35-cent raise.

Being poor is your kid’s teacher assuming you don’t have any books in your home.

Being poor is six dollars short on the utility bill and no way to close the gap.

Being poor is crying when you drop the mac and cheese on the floor.

Being poor is knowing you work as hard as anyone, anywhere.

Being poor is people surprised to discover you’re not actually stupid.

Being poor is people surprised to discover you’re not actually lazy.

Being poor is a six-hour wait in an emergency room with a sick child asleep on your lap.

Being poor is never buying anything someone else hasn’t bought first.

Being poor is picking the 10 cent ramen instead of the 12 cent ramen because that’s two extra packages for every dollar.

Being poor is having to live with choices you didn’t know you made when you were 14 years old.

Being poor is getting tired of people wanting you to be grateful.

Being poor is knowing you’re being judged.

Being poor is a box of crayons and a $1 coloring book from a community center Santa.

Being poor is checking the coin return slot of every soda machine you go by.

Being poor is deciding that it’s all right to base a relationship on shelter.

Being poor is knowing you really shouldn’t spend that buck on a Lotto ticket.

Being poor is hoping the register lady will spot you the dime.

Being poor is feeling helpless when your child makes the same mistakes you did, and won’t listen to you beg them against doing so.

Being poor is a cough that doesn’t go away.

Being poor is making sure you don’t spill on the couch, just in case you have to give it back before the lease is up.

Being poor is a $200 paycheck advance from a company that takes $250 when the paycheck comes in.

Being poor is four years of night classes for an Associates of Art degree.

Being poor is a lumpy futon bed.

Being poor is knowing where the shelter is.

Being poor is people who have never been poor wondering why you choose to be so.

Being poor is knowing how hard it is to stop being poor.

Being poor is seeing how few options you have.

Being poor is running in place.

Being poor is people wondering why you didn’t leave.

I'd love to call you sometime

Why do men ask for a womans number and then not call? Seriously. I admit it, it's bothering me. And what you said.. Was that a line? Because it freaking worked, I can't stop wondering what in the hell you were talking about. I swear to god I was 13 the last time I saw you. So what kind of first are you even talking about? If you had called, I would have asked. I hope this isn't like when I was 13 and it took you like 2 months to call and say Happy Birthday.
Meh.

Buh Bye Bratz!

I am bound to piss off someone’s mother today but can I tell you how pleased I am that MGA has been told to stop making Bratz dolls?

No more Bratz Dolls will be sold after 2008!

Personally I don’t give a damn about Mattell, Barbie, Carter Bryant (who sounds like a sleaze) or MGA. What I do care about is your daughter growing up to be a hootchie and dating my sons. And yea I really do think these dolls encourage very hootchie like girls.
I even have examples!

That is a dress. It is a whole outfit. That doll is completely dressed about to go out and be a really well behaved good girl with good grades and a bright future. As a hooker. The purple lipstick really completes the look.

Baby Bratz… BABY Bratz. The toddler has make up on and it dressed like a 22 year old about to get her drink on. If she were 22 that would be just fine, but she’s 2. And wearing combat boots and a mini skirt. Because 2 year olds want to be sexy too. Love the eyeliner.
-cry- The shoes. If those shoes were in my size they would have six inch heels. They are the length of the dolls hands.. my hand is six inches from palm to middle fingertip. My feet (Yes I just measured) Are only 8 inches long! These dolls are marketed to your 7 year old. Why can’t she still be wearing keds and patent leather? Doll 1 form the left is not so bad to be honest. Sadly she has obviously been hit in the face with a baseball bat at her last frat party sp that her lips are permantly swollen but she is decently dressed. Doll 2 is apparently trying to make her gynecologist’s job easier, who needs a paper gown when you’re already flashing your cooter at the world? It just goes on from there.. too much make up, too little clothing, too extreme styles for children dolls. It is not the clothes and make up itself though. They are styles and colors I might wear and therein lays the problem. I am a grown woman, little girls do not want to dress like me (Unless they are incredibly precocious little dears!) but they do want to be like their dolls.

Suddenly Barbie seems like nun. I played with Barbie, My little Pony and something called Star Faries.

I had a blue plastic castle.

When I was 8 my father drove down here form New York and bought me this, then go drunk, yelled at my mom and drove away. A few weeks later my star Fairy castle disappeared. I was smart enough to not ask about it.
Disclaimer.. I am aware that responsible parenting can make toys such as Hootchie Mama Dolls acceptable but how many irresponsible parents have you come across in your time? Exactly.
Sidenote.. can you still even buy Keds tennis? Remember Jelly shoes? I grew Up in Jarvis Heights, back them there was a brook running though it and Scott’s tower only smelled like pee a few times a year. Chamura pool was a quarter to get into but they let us poor kids in for free anyway. I think childhood in Holyoke is another days post.
What was your favorite toy growing up?

Better late then never!

Things I am grateful for.

Oranges in December.
Kids that scrape the ice off my windshield without being asked.
Cake, in a jar!
My avocado plant is 12 inches high.
I have the luxury of throwing out leftovers sometimes
A decent job in this economy
The man at Nicks Nest who said I was a good mom.
Next years desk calendars came early.
Everyone coming to help at the BookFair
Holyoke’s Bloggers
The nice rep at Comcast who didn’t hang up when I told him the rate hike was fucking lame.
Spellcheck.
Netflix.
Glitter in a glass tube
Chunky heels on boots
Brown paper wrap and jute twine
My ninja like bow making skillz.
LOLCATS. (Shut up, there funny)
Red cell phones
Camping at the beach, I am so ready already.
Space heaters
Lentil soup and goldfish crackers
Coffee
My 5 and a half readers!
And one of the biggest things I am grateful for.. College. I want to be a writer, a photographer, a teacher, a nutritionist, a horticulturist, a chef and raise goats. How lucky am I that I live in such a place and such a time that I can want all those things and someone will actually say that I can do it all. There are people in places so unlike what we have that it would shock most of us pampered spoiled brats. Even those one welfare are affluent as compared to most farmer laborers in Africa.

I realize I left out health, family, love and all that cheesy crap but I figure enough people said that boring crap to cover me so I wanted to list the little things, the things that make every day a little brighter. Like having a good pen. You know what I mean? Driving down Riverdale and hitting all green lights. Getting something nice in the mail. Hand lotion that smells like the holidays. Bread. Post it notes! Chocolate donuts (Which I can’t eat, I just like to look at them and sigh wistfully) Rollover minutes. Lazy Sundays. Pizza with spinach and kalmata olives. The Asian art display at George Walter Vincent Smith. Physics. And Alex actually knowing what a Charter School is.

Oh and let’s not forget.. I am grateful that 20 bucks this morning filled my tank. I would have high fived the attendant but bullet proof glass hurts my hands.

Tag, your it, what are you grateful for?