the Iphone is its price. City Fido 1Gb data plans and a $20 unlimited evenings and weekends plan will cost $50 month. Yet I don't like forking out $299 for the Iphone 3Gs and that's the phone I want. I also want to get Boots fixed up so we can keep him inside this winter. Anne's a little reluctant in lieu of her job and our rent situations. Then again it all comes down to what payroll is going to grant me. What I expect and what I'll end up getting on my cheque tomorrow is a coin toss.

So I began thinking about scaling back the Iphone to something a bit more affordable. After doing a bit of research on YouTube I found 2 Smartphones that have perked my interest: The HTC Touch and the Palm Pre. I like the Palm because of it's multiple window page flows. I Like the Touch slightly better for its screen size and its connection to the Android marketplace, which is going to give Itunes a run for it's money. I also like the cost of the Touch as well, $80 on a 3 year term or $399 for a 2 year term. The Touch has a nice video camera and can shoot video like the Iphone S. Not that video is important to me. I don't like the slide out keyboards but I like the Touch on screen keyboard. I called Bell and they have one Touch phone left in stock. They also do a credit check as well but there is always a work around that. I like the Fun 20 which is bundled feature added onto the phone. The only problem with Bell is after I get the data plan and the feature, its like $65/month. kind of hard to justify that on a smartphone and in light of the above. Of course this would only work if I could get a pay as you go plan and of course depending on a credit check and what I get from my VP. There are a lot of if factors involved here. I mean for all time I'm away from my home Internet do I really even need a Smartphone? It could be a glorified toy I can make limited use of. The other nice difference between the Iphone and the Touch is that the Touch uses Flash memory and comes with a 2Gb card. I can hold all my vido on that.

The other thing is as nice as all of these things are, how useful will they be for me? Sure I might be able to listen into Hardcor sports radio and catch the Oiler games on the way home from work and all but from the time I leave the office I'm home 45 minutes later and will I be able to get a connection underground on the train home? If I can get Ched radio on Viigo in the tunnel on the train home, then it would be worth it to me. I'd listen to Hardcor on my way to work and the Oiler's games time remaining on the way home. Of course this would mean only if I work extra hours. As for actually using the phone I can call Anne during the afternoon while I'm at work on a break. I have only a few friends as it is and I'm not really big on this whole social networking thing.  

Anne stepped out an hour ago and her Vacuum repair call said her vacuum cleaner was ready to be picked up. Since Anne isn't working I get to use the bus pass but I might just give WM a call and ask if he could pick me up tonight. It's just a regular business meeting anyway. I'm happy about that and I have $5 for the festive board so I can get a beer.

We're about +13 out there at the moment. The temperature drop is really noticeable but we're supposed to climb up to +14 Saturday. For early October this isn't bad.

Today the NHL season gets underway and its Calgary/Edmonton on Saturday at 8pm. I'm looking forward to this. OK here's my prediction for the Edmonton Oiler's. Like last year the Conference will be tight. The Oiler's won't make it into the playoffs this year as they will finish 9th. Next year however in 2011 the Oiler's will make the playoffs. The salary cap will level the playing field of Star quality when it drops next year bringing a lot of teams in the West more or less even with everyone else.

I got 2 numbers on my 6/49 tickets last night. In light of Lotto Max debut last week, I'm considering playing this instead of the 6/49. I get 3 lines of numbers and the payouts are bigger and it's a Friday draw once/week to pick 7 numbers for a minimum of $10M and it stops at $50M until someone wins. I might opt out on the Festive board tonight and buy a Max ticket instead. So what I'll do is take a bottle of Cola with me and buy a ticket at the Redi mart on my way into work tomorrow.

Anyway gang, that's about all for now

Jim