Table of Contents

1. Playstation Phone?

There has always been speculation about how blurry the lines between different devices could get, but now it seems like those lines are being removed. For example, the kids and I now rely more on my ipod for music and movies than the DVD or the VCR. And I will typically turn to the computer and the Internet for my entertainment.

The latest focus these days seems to be on smartphones. Apple's iPhone has become the standard to beat in the phone market, but who would have thought that it would compete in the game market as well? Now, Sony plans on developing a portable playstation system which would double as a phone.

I am in support of converging separate devices into one, but we should be really careful about the functions we combine together. Do we really need a phone that doubles as a gaming system? I could say this seems like a bad idea, but then there was a time when a phone that doubled as a media player didn't seem like a good idea. Then, the iPhone was released and proved us all wrong.

But all of this convergence won't really for the better if we lose sight of one very important factor: quality. Will a "playstation phone" from Sony advance the development of the smartphone, or are we actually going to get a gaming system that just happens to also recieve and make phone calls? Despite the iPhone's popularity, there have been plenty of comments about its drawbacks which include its fragile screen.

My experience with the combinations of other devices have not been very positive. A few years ago, my wife and I got a combo DVD/VCR player for Christmas. We stopped using the VCR side a few months later after it began to eat tapes, so really there was no benefit to having a combo. How much does a malfunction in a smartphone impact its other functions?

I guess we'll have to see.

2. Mowing the Lawn

I've had to adapt just a little to the way that lawn care is handled inside the Village of Shepherd. Growing up, I always lived in a rural area so I was pretty casual about mowing the lawn. Some weeks, I'd mow a different section of the lawn on a different day so that the whole thing would be done in two or three days.

Of course, our lawn here in Shepherd is about 1/5 the size of my parents' property, so it takes less time to get done. But, I've learned to be far more self-conscious--and less casual--about getting the lawn mowed now that we are surrounded on all sides by neighbors. Grass length is relative, so the last lawn to be mowed ends up looking really bad if everyone else has already mowed theirs.

My wife has been very helpful with my "re-education" on how often the lawn should be mowed. She is very in tune with how short everyone else's lawn is, so the moment she hears a lawn mower running she will make sure to remind me that our lawn will look like crap unless I get it mowed right now.

Another different is the equipment that I use. When I was younger and mowed my parents' yard we always had lawn tractors, and then a push mower for trimming. I don't know what I would have done if they had asked me to mow their whole yard with only a push mower. Even when I mowed my Grandfather's yard, which was smaller by comparison, I used his riding mower.

A lawn mower would be nice for our yard now, but slightly overkill. We rely on the push mower our landlord loaned us; we don't have any mowers of our own. I'm certainly aware that a ride mower would be a lot easier and faster, but the push mower saves us both money and maintenance time.

1. Third Time's the Charm

My wife sounds like she had a good time at the NKTOB concert she attended this past week at DTE. I guess there was a little more bonding than normal with the breaking news of Michael Jackson's death. The New Kids were rather teary eyed.

During the concert, they wore white gloves and performed a classic Michael Jackson song while pictures of him were displayed on a jumbo-sized screen behind them.

I am going to add a photo which shows Theresa standing in the very front row to the left of the stage. This photo was the first opportunity for me to see her while she was gone for her concert.

2. Plans for the Fourth of July

I wanted to give the kids the chance to see their grandparents during the summer, so I had been watching for a good time to go down for a visit. The weekend of the Fourth of July seemed like a good time, plus I knew that there was a chance that my cousin would be throwing a party back at the lake. I've missed the parties during the last few years.

We could have gone down starting on July 3, and then came back on July 5, but I wanted to have a little more time so I took a couple of more days off. As it stands now, we'll be leaving on July 1 and returning July 5.

Now, my mom has been saying for months that she should take the kids (meaning me too) to the Detroit Zoo. Wouldn't you know it, I talked to her today and learned that she had decided to take us on Thursday. We hashed out some of the details, discussed the possibilities of going on Wednesday instead (somewhere between slim and zilch) and ultimately decided on Thursday as our official day.

So, our simple trip to my mom and dad's house has now developed into what I'm sure will turn out to be quite an adventure at first (the trip to the zoo) and then, hopefully, a chance to relax and talk with some of my relatives who I haven't seen for a while.

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