Chances are I’ll be getting the Droid Incredible. The HTC Sense UI is smooth as silk, so much so it makes the Droid X seem choppy. I can’t deny the X’s 4.3″ screen is impressive, but the phone is basically too bulky for me. The only other feature the X has over the Incredible is a panoramic photo shooting mode, where you can take multiple photos and it will stitch them together. I’ve seen some of those photos and it’s pretty slick, but not a must have that overcomes the snappy Incredible. OK, one other thing the X might have on the Incredible: battery life. There is no doubt that the stock battery life on the Incredible leaves a lot to be desired. The latest Android 2.2 update for the Incredible is suppose to improve battery life, and so far my wife says she has seen a slight improvement. 90% of the time (at home, in the car, at work) I’ll have charging capabilities on hand, so I’m not to worried about that either way.

I’ve even asked two people on two different Android forums who own both phones, which phone they would choose if they could only choose one. Both answered the Incredible. Feel free to leave a comment if you feel differently or have more insight as a current X and/or Incredible owner.

Bitch-slapping America.

Obama has recently appointed a Golf Czar to make major rules changes in the game of golf that will become effective 01 May 2011.

This is only a preview as the complete rule book is being rewritten as we speak.

Here are a few of the changes:

Golfers with handicaps:
- below 10 will have their green fees increased by 35%.
- between 11 and 18 will see no increase in green fees.
- above 18 will get a $25 check each time they play.

The dollar amount placed in bets will be as follows:
- for handicaps below 10, an additional $10.
- between 11 and 18, no additional amount.
- above 18, you will receive the total amount in the pot even if you do not play.

The term “gimme” will be changed to  ”entitlement”  and will be used as follows:
- handicaps  below 10, no entitlements.
- handicaps from 11 to 17, entitlements for putter length putts.
- handicaps above 18, if your ball is on green, no need to putt, just pick it up.

These entitlements are intended to bring about fairness and, most importantly, equality in scoring. In addition, a Player will be limited to a maximum of one birdie or six pars in any given 18-hole round. Any excess must be given to those fellow players who have not yet scored a birdie or par. Only after all players have received a birdie or par from the player actually making the birdie or par, can that player begin to count his pars and birdies again.

The current USGA handicap system will be used for the above purposes, but the term ‘net score’ will be available only for scoring those players with handicaps of 18 and above. This is intended to ‘redistribute’ the success of winning by making sure that in every competition, the above 18 handicap players will post only ‘net score’ against every other player’s gross score.

These new Rules are intended to CHANGE the game of golf. Golf must be about Fairness. It should have nothing to do with Ability.

Baby fist pump!

August 15th Donovan was 5 months old, so about 3 months adjusted. His growth assessment with the doctor yesterday went well, nothing earth shattering came out of it, which is good. The doctor is pleased with his growth and development for his age, adjusted age and with his prematurity all taken into account. In fact they don’t need to see him until March 2011 now. The doc did notice his femurs seemed a bit short in proportion to the rest of his body, but wasn’t sure or even alarmed by it. She left it up to us to decide if we wanted a referral to a geneticist / bone specialist, more as a precaution. We decided to go ahead with that, I’d like to know of any issues or concerns now, rather than find out when it might be too late and regret it.

The numbers: He measured 19.75″ long, head was 15.70″ around, and weight was 9lb 15oz. He could be 10 pounds today!

Shannon has worked at 4pm all week, so Donovan and I have spent a lot of time together. One thing I noticed this week is he doesn’t freak out so bad when it’s time to eat. Usually the way it goes: he decides he is hungry and instantly goes into a temper tantrum. I mean the “start coughing, can’t breathe” type of tantrum. Although this still happens at times, other times he will just mildly cry until the milk is warmed and ready. It’s just one of the many little things I notice changing for the better as he continues to progress.

Donovan is up to 9 lbs 11 oz!

Reading to Donovan.

Shannon makes it a point to have books lying around to read to him, which I think is awesome. I admit too often I turn the TV on and it can distract me, so it’s a nice change to shut it off and just read to him. And when I catch him watching me turn the page, it is so worth it!

He is falling into a nice routine now. Once he falls asleep at night, you can usually count on him sleeping about 4 hours, sometimes 5. At that point if he eats well and is changed he might sleep another 3 hours. This is a big change recently, considering he used to be up about every 2 hours to eat and his feedings could sometimes take as much as an hour. So although we’re still very tired most of the time, the opportunity for blocks of sleep is at least there.

He hasn’t been on his apnea monitor for at least a few weeks now, and they officially picked it up on Monday. So he has been wireless for a bit now. The only prescription medicine he is taking every day now is Zantac for his reflux. Just like everything else though, his feedings are slowly getting better too.

Some stats: On Friday July 16th he weighed in at 8lbs 13oz and his length was about 17.5 inches. So he is putting on weight OK but not growing much yet. That’s about it for now. Thanks for stopping by!

2008 Nissan Altima

It’s been a while since I wrote about my first ever new car, my 2008 Nissan Altima 2.5S. As of this writing it has 21,920 miles, and so far I haven’t had a single power train failure or even minor issue. The only warranty work I’ve had to have done is a replacement door latch. Something in the latch and associated mechanisms froze up and broke, rendering the door latch useless. I received a loaner car and excellent customer service at the dealer, so even though the part took a few days to come in, they took good care of me.

For the last few months I’ve had my son in the car a lot now. The LATCH system fits our car seat perfectly. Part of the reason I bought a new car in the first place was in preparation of starting a family. I needed something dependable and safer, and I’m happy to say up to this point that is exactly what I got with my 2008 Nissan Altima. With the 2.5 engine and CVT (continuous variable transmission) I’ve never felt like I just don’t have enough power, while still getting pretty solid gas mileage. My calculations for MPG for 2009 was 25.73 mpg, and I didn’t miss many fill-ups in that calculation. The car calculates about 1.5 MPG higher, not sure why but there are some variables involved I’m sure. Either way it’s a solid MPG for mostly city driving.

The bottom line is, if someone were to ask me how I like my Altima, I would not hesitate to recommend it to them.

He is doing very well. Just last night Shannon weighed him at home and he was 8lbs 8oz! Hard to believe he was 2lb 11oz at birth. Tomorrow he has an official weigh-in with his doctor. [Edit] Looked at the calendar wrong, his weigh-in is next Friday the 16th. I did miss him very much on my golf trip, but we made up for lost time when I got back. Shannon worked all weekend and I had a 3 day weekend. We had a great weekend together and I was sad to see it end when I left for work Tuesday morning. We haven’t been using his monitor much these days, we’re fairly confident his data will show he doesn’t need it anymore. We’re just waiting for the official word on that soon. He still is taking Zantac for reflux and HMF for weight gain. I have a feeling that now that he is well over 8lbs the doc will discontinue the HMF soon.

That’s all I have for now, I’ve had enough of typing on this little phone.

It’s no secret I love to golf, but it’s also no secret I love my son more than anything. Which makes my upcoming annual golf trip bittersweet. I’ll be gone 5 days, which is by far as long as I have been away from him. I missed a day or two while he was in the hospital because I felt sick. The good news is we have a netbook with a webcam built in, and my dad (who runs the golf trip) is bringing his laptop which also has a built in webcam. So at least I’ll have the opportunity to see him. Plus I am uploading some of Donovan’s latest videos to Youtube so at worst I can view him in that capacity. Here is one of his latest videos.

Be back in about a week, look for more updates then.

My path has constantly been changing.

Yesterday I upgraded my WordPress installation to 3.0, the latest and greatest. Of course the theme I was using didn’t work, which may have been a blessing in disguise. Now I am using the new default WordPress theme, called Twenty Ten. It’s simple, clean and fast. I’m liking it. No more clutter and very little in the way of distractions. Although I’ll admit, most clutter is of my own doing, but the new install forced me to use a different theme. The fresh start reminded me that less is more. Let me know how you like the new look? If you are using WordPress 3.0, I’m curious what theme you might be using that utilizes all 3.0 has to offer.