A handful of updates:
- I traded up, replacing my HTC HD7 (running Windows Phone 7.5) for an HTC Windows Phone 8X. The 8X is a flagship device that’s astonishing — larger than the HD7, but lighter. Sound quality is phenomenal, boosted by the on-board Beats Audio. The 8 MP rear-facing camera rocks; I snapped a photo yesterday of a cigar I was smoking and the camera picked up with astonishing sharpness not only the fine veins of the cigar wrapper but I could also clearly see fine hairs on my wrist and even the fingerprint on my little finger.
- I had to replace my laptop, too, because it well-and-truly died. I wanted to upgrade to a Win8 tablet but there aren’t non-RT models actually available (except for the Samsung ATIV) on the market. And the ATIV is an online-only order with a weeks-long fulfillment. So I ended up grabbing an HP Pavilion G6. It’s a perfectly serviceable machine with an AMD A8 processor, 4 GB of RAM and the usual specs for a lower-mid-grade laptop. Only glitch was that I had to buy it twice; the first model had a hardware failure straight from the box, so I had to swap it for a replacement at Best Buy. HP, your build quality is going the way of Compaq.
- NaNoWriMo is … going. I have all the tools I need to be successful (well, almost; my Scrivener files haven’t yet synced to the new laptop — but having more than 30 GB on SkyDrive to sync on a slow connection might be the culprit) and a good plot. I’m behind on word count but at this point is more a discipline thing than an organization thing.
- All’s quiet on the work front. Holding pattern.
- Tony came to town yesterday. That was fun. In my head, I thought he was still going to be in California.
- Been unusually tired lately.
- I saw Skyfall last week. Not bad. I’ve seen people go on both directions about the film, but I thought it was a successful pseudo-reboot of the franchise.
