Category: Uncategorized

Is it worth upgrading to the iPhone 3GS?

Short answer: yes.

Longer answer: Absolutely!

Hillbilly answer: You betcha!

Beancounter answer: I purchased my first iPhone 4GB (2G) in Oct 2007 for $300, direct from Apple. Today, I sold it on Craigslist for $225. I purchased my 16GB iPhone 3G for $300 in July 2008. That phone is about to get sold on Craigslist as well, for about $375. My cost to own for both iPhones is $0. I expect to sell my 32GB iPhone 3GS next year, for more than I paid. It’s an unbeatable deal.

Geek answer: The combination of a faster processor and more RAM makes a huge difference. I would bet the RAM is contributing more than the faster CPU. A good analogy would be using OS X with 1GB of RAM and then upgrading to 2GB (just enough). With the memory pressure relieved, nearly everything is more responsive.

The previous iPhones lagged when switching apps, [re]loading web pages, and especially when taking and saving photos. All those little pauses are gone. Switching back and forth between apps is nearly instantaneous. That alone is worth upgrading for. Seriously.

But I upgraded for the better camera. The previous iPhone camera was quite poor. The 3GS camera is not yet good, but certainly better.

physi-cally fit

Biking 10 miles to work is almost fun. After all, it’s downhill nearly the whole way. Riding that same 10 miles home is not as fun, because it’s nearly uphill the entire way. But it keeps me in modest shape as it’s a challenging ride. But for the last 4 rides home, I’ve had a headwind all the way home. Tonight it was 6 mph steady with gusts of double that. I’ll sleep well tonight.

Summer in Seattle.

Average temperatures in the 60s. Thirty straight days of sunshine (fantastic climbing weather). Completion of my ‘required’ climbs. Weather that begs and screams, “Go Play Outdoors, NOW!”

Fresh local produce, especially strawberries and bing cherries. (California strawberries don’t cut it). Berry bushes everywhere, laden with fruit. Halibut and salmon, fresh from the docks. It’s so good to be back.

health care envy

There’s an email that floats around a couple times a year. It details how wonderful the government health care plan is that our elected representatives get. The premise of the email is always the same: they should get the same crappy health care plans we do, so they’d have some incentive to fix them!

Now they’re proposing to make that same government health care plan available to everyone. Considering how rapidly prices are rising for my employer sponsored plan, how insanely expensive COBRA options are, and the complete absence of reasonable options for the self-employed head-of-household, having another option available sounds like a great idea.

If that option pressures private health care providers to become more competitive to survive, so much the better.

beat the heat, on the cheap

Our house sits high on a ridge, facing West towards Puget Sound, and the setting sun. From mid-day through sunset, our kitchen, dining room, and living room are bathed in sunshine, rising as much as 20°. All the windows have wooden blinds, but they are dark colored. Instead of reflecting the heat, they absorb it and radiate it into the room. They are effective at controlling light, but not heat.

Because high temps are rare in Seattle, houses here don’t have A/C. After the first day of last week’s heat wave, I took action. I did some research on cooling methods, including whole house fans, rigging up a cool air intake to my furnace’s intact duct, window films, etc. Because we rent, I can’t just start cutting holes in the house and moving ducts. So I settled on a less invasive (and costly) solution: box fans and window film.

I purchased two box fans ($15 ea) to place in windows. (Why do box fans not come in sizes larger than 20″?) The fans draw air in the shaded East side of the house, creating a cool breeze that pushes warmer air out the West side. Turning them on at 7PM is sufficient to cool the house down to 70° by bedtime. What a relief!

Window films have come a long ways since I last used them. Good film is now reasonably priced, uses water to ‘set’ the adhesive, and doesn’t require a ‘pro’ to get good results. Lowes had Gila Platinum Heat Control Window Film in stock so I picked up 4 rolls, enough to tint most of my 15,000 sq/in of West facing glass. I stripped the blinds off the windows and went to work. It took me about an hour per pane to apply the film, with half that spent cleaning the glass, scraping the crusties off, and cleaning it again.

The results are outstanding. Amazing. Phenomenal.

4:02 PM Jen: Wow the kitchen is much cooler!  Great idea and thanks.

We should not be surprised at how effective the film is, yet we are. The product fulfills the claims made by the manufacturer, and exceeded our expectations. And just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, window film qualifies for a 2009 Tax Credit.