Looking at an email from my dear friend Beck today, imagine my surprise when i noticed a link to her blogger blog. i didn't even realize she had one!

Anyways, since this is none other than the friend w/ whom i made the famous, fabulously successful "Barbie Antigone" movie (which was an instant classic, garnering tremendous critical acclaim from the roughly 5 people who watched it), of course i have to plug her blog:

http://beckwoodward.blogspot.com

btw, Colette is here! in Austin! YAY!!! =)

Here is an actual recipe review found on http://allrecipes.com (for no-bake chocolate peanut butter oatmeal bars):

"Excellent recipe. I made it with bittersweet chocolate and chunky peanut butter and it's absolutely delectable! Perhaps it would be better to cook the oatmeal a little longer, at least to the maximum time it says, for better results. However, now that I'm not allowed to bake, recipes like these are highly appreciated!"

wait a second, here....

"not allowed to bake" ???

...you can use your imagination.

here is an excerpt from an email I sent my brother a few days ago, that i thought others might find useful if they're considering a new cell phone.

***
also the new phone (the LG6000vx, i believe..) is not anywhere near as cute and dainty as the a530. However these disadvantages are easily outweighed by the fact that it has a much better interface. although unfortunately there is a single button wasted on the "Get-it NOW!" propaganda, it's merely one of the 4 directions on the round direction key (you know, i mean the button that has Left, Right, Up and Down) so it only functions as a "get it now" button when you're not navigating a submenu. and (thankfully) there is an OK button in the center. there are also buttons on either side and an additional camera button in the center below the OK button, providing quick access to the camera submenu. Overall, this phone is without a doubt much easier to use- most of the functionality is no more than 2 touches away, and there are shortcuts on each menu you can access by using the number keys.

i'm *very impressed* w/ the quality of the camera itself. it's way better than my web cam even. it also has 3 different resolutions to choose from, the highest being 640 x 480. i'm not sure how much nonvolatile memory it has, but i've got a decent-sized collection of pics (both ones that i took and ones i picture-messaged to myself from the internet) and i haven't yet run short on space. the picture caller ID is really neat, but unfortunately it only displays on the interior display- the phone's exterior LCD is a text-only single color scrolling display. it also has a very strange series of dots that light up, much like the diagnostic lights found on some motherboards, that you can program to display in different patterns to indicate different things. so you can tell by looking at the exterior display whether you're receiving a call in normal vs. roaming modes, or a text or pic message or voicemail and such. these lights display in about 3 colors.

there are 2 things though, that i still really miss about my old junky Kyocera phone- which i might possibly be able to achieve on this phone w/ some customization that i haven't yet discovered-
1. the phone allowed you to create a few of your own shortcut keys. this is such a great feature but i haven't heard of a lot of phones doing this.
2. 1-touch access to my Contacts list via the number keys (each number would jump to that alphabetical section in teh list). But this is fairly minor, since you have basically the same thing w/ most new phones, only it's 2 buttons away

anyways, i'm expounding on the qualities of the phone so that you have some idea whether you might be interested in this particular phone yourself. based on what i've seen so far, i'd recommend it. the camera is really neat & handy to have for situtations where you might want a pic but it's not important enough to want to take your digital camera along. the phone is sturdy- as is shown by the fact that i've already dropped it several times onto pavement- 2 of the times it was at fairly high speed- with no ill effects.
***

So, last night I was once again saved by Google. You see, I just got a new phone that night, a spiffy camera-phone. Since I have a talent for breaking things/ doing the ONE THING you're not supposed to do, naturally the *first* thing i did was accidentally LOCK the phone.

not after i had made a single call with it.
not after i had taken a single picture with it.
or received/sent a single text message with it.
or even LOOKED to see if my contacts had all transferred correctly from the previous phone.

No, the very First Thing i did was engage the phone's security lock. Naturally, the phone came with a code programmed in- a code of which i was unaware. So, at about 9 PM when i got back from the bookstudy, i was starving. but there's no food in my apartment, because last time i went shopping i only bought food for when my brother was here; i didn't buy any additional food. and he ate me out of house and home! (j/k).

End result: i'm STARVING but i can't order pizza because i have no way to call the pizza place! what a nightmarish scenario! of course, i can't call Verizon, either- i couldn't call anybody. the phone's manual gave no clue.

luckily for me, googling the name of the phone + "lock" or something (i don't remember the exact search term i used) came up w/ a posting on a forum where somebody posted about doing the exact same thing i did. A helpful respondant suggested trying the last 4 of the phone's number. i tried it, too- and it worked.

phew. i even managed to order the pizza before they stopped delivering for the night.