P2 – Review

November 10, 2007 By

I went to see P2 tonight with Tori. I haven’t seen a good thriller lately. I knew it would be suspenseful, but this movie had me clinching my fists and on the edge of my seat the entire time.

The whole thing starts out in a New York City office building. The main character, Angela, is working late on Christmas Eve and ventures down to her car alone, in the parking deck underground on level P2. When her car won’t start, she seeks the assistance of the security guard, Tom, who seems friendly enough at first. After pretending to try to jumpstart her car, he locks the door to the building exit without her knowledge as she waits for a cab. When she goes back down to the parking lot, he drugs her and puts together a Christmas meal for the two of them in the security office while she’s unconscious.

The movie gets gruesome when Tom takes a man who hit on Angela after drinking at the office Christmas party and duct tapes him to an office chair, then proceeds to ram him into the concrete wall with his car, in an effort to “help” her, as he says throughout the movie. There are a lot of other gruesome scenes after that, but it was a really well-made movie. I won’t completely give away the entire plot. If you’re looking for some good suspense, check this movie out.

Overall rating:

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Enjoying Life

November 6, 2007 By

This article comes from a blog I frequent called Dumb Little Man: Tips For Life. Despite the name, it’s actually a great resource. This article is all about taking the time to enjoy the little things in life, stuff we often take for granted because of our hectic schedules.

There are so many delicious, comforting, joyous moments in our life every day, but they are lost on us because we are often going too fast to savor them.Take a moment to answer the call of the good in your life by sensing it and fully enjoying these little gifts that are there if you slow down long enough to grab them. Here are a few to consider.

Quiet Morning Stillness: Ahh, the serenity of quiet early mornings. Instead of being upset about having to get up early, drink in the gift of early morning peace.

Long Hot Shower: Instead of the daily 5 minute shower, take a day or two off from showering. Unless you’re getting really dirty and sweaty everyday, we often never really get dirty enough to feel and appreciate the clean that comes from daily bathing. Next time you do shower, stand still with your head under the hot water. Notice the droplets all around you and how the light hits them. Maybe light some candles before you get in the shower. Take notice of the scents of your soaps and shampoos and immerse yourself in the luxury of it all.

Hot Morning Drink: In Japan, there are elaborate rituals for preparing, pouring, and drinking tea. What this does is elevate the tea drinking experience into something special. Why not establish your own ritual for your morning coffee or tea that involves enjoying the process of preparation, savoring the aroma, and slowly experiencing the first sips of your hot drink. Notice the warmth as it goes down the center of your body and spread out to heat you from the inside out. The slower you go, the more you notice, the greater the experience.

Alone Time: Are you troubled by waiting in line, waiting in your car in traffic, sitting in a waiting room? Turn that coin around to the other side. Recognize that what you have there is precious alone time to think and daydream. Don’t spend that time being annoyed. Use it and enjoy it!

Dessert: Who doesn’t enjoy dessert? Yet, when we eat our sweets we eat them fast and afterwards we feel guilty. We rob ourselves twice. First we lose out on the enjoyment of the experience by eating fast, and secondly by not embracing the reward. For some people in some countries where life is hard and the people are poor, a small sweet is a tremendous luxury. Next time you have a sweet, have a small bit, eat it slowly, and savor it. Imagine that it is the one luxury in your life. Allow yourself to fully enjoy it. And when you’re done, grin gleefully and be happy. Relish the memory and move forward having been justifiably rewarded.<

Clean Teeth: Is brushing your teeth a chore? Or is it a luxury? Could it be a time to be thankful for your teeth? Could it be a time in which you are caring for your teeth, which is at the root of good health, and in reality caring for your whote self? Ah the feeling of clean teeth. Imagine life without being able to care for your teeth. Let that thought facilitate your appreciation of it.

What You Saw Today: What did you really see? Look for the beautiful, the miraculous, the wondrous, the spectacular. Look for it everywhere, especially in small places. What grand masterpiece is nature displaying for you today? See it. Drink it in. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to write a little poem and give it to someone you love or to someone you want to thank. Find some way to share that beauty. Remember, all it takes to capture that beauty is to pay attention.

Relief from the Elements: Close your eyes and imagine entering a warm home on a cold day after a walk in the brisk cold air. Can you feel it? Or how about during warmer months, when was the last time you truly appreciated the cool air of a fan cooling your face and body? Sometimes it is good to experience real heat or cold so we can grasp the luxury of a comfortable temperature.

Music: Have you ever listened to music without doing anything else? Probably not in a while. In my humble opinion, if there is a heaven, it must feel a lot like the joy of listening to music. Next time you listen to music try to melt into the sound. Try some classical or other music without words, and imagine what the message is. Does the message speak to you in words, pictures, feelings, or something else? And speaking of feelings, go with your feelings when you listen to the music. Let the music cleanse you completely!

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Dan In Real Life – Review

October 27, 2007 By

I went to see “Dan In Real Life” last night with Tori. I’ve never seen anything bad with Steve Carell in it, movies and television alike. This movie was no exception. I thought maybe it would be sort of a chick flick, but it actually had a great story line and had a lot to say about the way life is. Steve Carell showed a whole new side to his acting talent in this movie. In The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Evan Almighty, and NBC’s The Office, he’s in a more comedic role. That’s not to say that this movie wasn’t funny, but it had a more serious undertone than his other roles.

My overall rating:

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The Little Things Add Up

October 23, 2007 By

Here’s an interesting article I came across online. It’s amazing how the little stuff adds up. And the last item on this list? Shoot, I go out to lunch/dinner almost every day in some form or fashion. It’s hard to believe how much money you can save by making small changes. This article comes to you from the researchers over at Tesh.com

If you’ve ever wondered where all your money goes, even when you’re not a big spender, I’ve got the answer. It’s actually surprisingly easy to blow THOUSANDS – a few dollars at a time. Here are some tips from Bankrate.com to help you stop frittering away your hard-earned cash on little daily expenses. Avoid these money traps:

Your daily cup of coffee. The average price for a cup of brewed coffee is $1.38, which comes to almost $360 per year if you buy one every weekday morning. If you go for the fancier lattes and cappuccinos, your morning habit could easily set you back over a thousand dollars a year – for COFFEE! So save money by brewing your morning cup at home.

Cigarettes. Just in case you needed one more reason to quit, this has become not just a bad habit – but a really expensive one. If you’re a pack-a-day smoker, you’ll fork out almost $2,000 a year.

Bottled water from convenience stores. One bottle a day costs $365 a year. All that plastic costs the environment as well. The tap water in most areas is safe to drink, especially if you install a filter.

Car washes. Spending $10 every couple weeks to get your car washed will set you back $240 a year. Add in basic auto detailing twice a year and you tack on another $120. It’s better for the environment to go through a car wash than to wash your car in your own driveway. Just 30 minutes washing your car with a running hose will use more water than the average family uses in a day. To save money, only go to the car wash when you really need to.

Manicures. The average price of a manicure is about $20, which means this weekly indulgence will run you over a thousand dollars a year, ladies. So paint your own nails.

Your weekday lunch out. This one’s a biggie. If you figure $9 a day for a decent lunch, you’re shelling out about $2,400 a year! There’s a reason those little brown bags were invented.

Your grand total? Cut out all this frivolous spending and you’ll save $6,500 a year.

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Taking Time To Chill

October 8, 2007 By

I’m so busy lately that I barely have enough time for myself, much less anyone else. Between school, work, and GACC, I’m a busy beaver. This weekend, though, it was nice to just have some time to relax and catch up with friends I haven’t seen in a while, as well as the family.

First off, last week, I went to Casa Grande for dinner with Jenn, Winston, and Lizzy, three of my favorite people who I never get to see anymore. I used to pretty much hang out with at least one of them most every day during the summer, so after a month and a half of not seeing them basically at all, it was awesome to get together and catch up.

Friday night, I went to Deep Run’s Homecoming Game. It was great to go back and see everyone and talk about what we’re all up to lately. I’ve gotta say, though, that it was kind of weird at times. While I was glad to see people I haven’t seen since last year, it’s just kind of awkward to walk up to someone and say “hey” and then really not have much of anything to say to them. I didn’t do this, but people did it to me. I mean it’s cool and whatnot, just kinda awkward with certain people. I hate awkward situations and will do anything to avoid them when possible. I equate this thing that was going on to calling someone up on the phone just to say hi… that’s why we have text messaging. Now don’t get me wrong though, I had a great time talking to so many people, but it was just certain people who made things weird.

Saturday, I went out to lunch with my dad, who I rarely see anymore lately. Between my school and work schedules and his work schedule (which often entails going out of town on business trips), we hardly ever see each other. It was really nice to get to talk to him for once.

Saturday night, I went to see “The Heartbreak Kid” with Megan and Tori. The plot just sucked. I’ll go ahead and ruin it for you since it’s not worth your time anyway. Ben Stiller marries this girl after only knowing her a few months, then she annoys the crap outta him on their honeymoon, so he cheats (emotionally, not physically) with another girl who thinks his wife has died. And repeat. Same thing over again. That’s how it ended. Go spend nine bucks on something else. Had fun hanging out with Megan and Tori, though.

Sunday, I did Tech Team Leader duty at GACC South Side, then headed straight out to the State Fair with the family. Brooke and her friend went to the Jonas Brothers concert after a little while (by the way… a couple thousand pre-teen girls screaming at the top of their lungs for an hour, non-stop… even way away from that amphitheater… is absolutely excruciating. It’s this shrill, awful sound I can’t even describe). I got bored waiting around for my sister and her friend to get out of the concert with my parents, so I left. Randomly happened to see Becca and Megan out there before I did, though!

So I went straight over to GACC for Christian Community with Tori. The Praise Band was even more incredible than usual. I always feel the presence of God there during services, but wow, I really felt it last night.After the service, Tori, Anthony, the Phillips Family, and myself went to Nonna’s Pizza and had dinner. It was fun.

So now, it’s Monday night, and I’ve been at VCU just shy of twelve hours. I got here at 11:30 AM and it’s now 11:00 PM. I’m with Jen. We’re at the library and she’s finishing up a paper. I’m exhausted, but I wouldn’t even think of going home, though, because I’m not leaving my best friend down here alone! She needs me here to keep interrupting her every two minutes and keep her from finishing the darn thing. Right Jen?

Anyway, it’s off to work tomorrow, then maybe out to dinner. I have a really interesting post about something I’ve thought a lot about lately that I’ll hopefully write about in the next couple days.

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Two Weeks Of Random Blurbs

September 30, 2007 By

Wow… I haven’t updated in almost two weeks. A lot’s gone on in that time. Let me get everyone up to speed on what’s happening in my life, with a few quick blurbs.First off, last weekend I went to Field Day of the Past out in Goochland. I’m usually an exhibitor out there, taking my history exhibition out there, displaying old pictures of Short Pump and the three-dimensional model and whatnot. I decided to take this year off, however. But I still went out to see everything, and one of the highlights of my visit was getting to see the choir of Springfield Baptist Church perform at their relocated church building on the show grounds. In a joint effort initiated by myself and others in the Henrico Historical Society and officials with the County, Springfield Baptist Church was moved from its original home on Brookriver Drive behind Best Buy in Short Pump, to the Field Day grounds in Goochland. It was really moving to see how incredibly happy the congregation was that their circa 1880 church was saved from the bulldozer and preserved for everyone to see and enjoy. I filmed the entire move from a pickup truck directly in front of the church as it made its way westward on Broad Street. I’ll edit and post it up here someday soon. Here’s a video of the choir’s performance that I filmed last weekend:YouTube Preview ImageSpeaking of music, I also went to the Jon McLaughlin concert at the Canal Club with Megan and Tori. It was amazing. Jon was awesome, but I’ve gotta say, Sara Bareilles stole the show… well at least in my mind. She is absolutely incredible. Her vocal style, unique music composition, and overall aura were just mind-boggling. She is so extremely talented. Here’s a video I took of her song “Long Song” (for the rest of the videos, visit my YouTube site… just click on the link in the video):YouTube Preview ImageThis past weekend has been a mixed bag, I guess you could say. It started out great. Friday night, Tori and I worked on video production stuff at church, then went to dinner at Max & Erma’s. It was great to just chill out for once and talk about life. Yesterday, I went to Casa Grande with two of my friends from high school, Sarah and Becca. It was awesome getting to catch up with them because we never really see each other anymore. They’re always a lot of fun to hang with and definitely keep me laughing. The fun kind of got cut short, though, because somehow, while at lunch, I was rewetting the contact lens in my left eye when all of a sudden it felt like I had an eyelash in my eye, or something of that nature. I got up and went to the bathroom to see if I could get my contact out and see what was in my eye. I couldn’t see anything. I even got Becca to look and still nothing. So after lunch, we went cruising in my mom’s new convertible (She just got a new Toyota Solara… it’s pretty fun to drive!). It was a lot of fun, but my eye got increasingly worse.By the time I got back home after dropping them off, I could barely keep it open anymore. So as I laid on the sofa with a cold compress, my best friend Jen called me and asked what time we were going to dinner (we had planned to a couple of days ago).  I explained the situation, and said I should probably go to Patient First (the only medical place open on a Saturday afternoon) and get it checked out. At this point it was hurting whether or not I had it open or closed. So she offered to drive me up there, and we had to have been in there an hour or more. It turns out I scratched my cornea. I know that sounds really bad, and I thought it was, but it actually heals within 24 hours in most situations, and now, about 36 hours afterwards, I’m feeling a lot better. But last night, I was in a lot of pain and kept the eye shut for the most part. Jen took really good care of me, though. Not only did she wait patiently with me at Patient First, but (after we grabbed dinner at Tara Thai) she drove me to get my prescription, back home to get the South Side campus hard drive to take to church, and to Blockbuster to get a movie, which we took back and Jen pretty much just watched, seeing that I really felt more like closing my eyes. But I just wanted to post this to let her know just how much taking care of me like that means to me and how much I love her.So it’s been an eventful couple of weeks. I’m chilling out for a little while in preparation for another busy week ahead. I’ve got a lot more to post on, coming in the next couple of days!

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Trading In, Trading Up: iPhone

September 22, 2007 By

Ever since the iPhone came out in late June, I wanted one really bad. I told myself I wasn’t going to get one. Well, for one, I had Sprint and had no intentions of dropping them. But when Apple dropped the price of the 8GB iPhone by $200, I just had to take the opportunity to get one. I know I posted before about my enV (I got Verizon after I dumped Sprint about a month ago, but bought the iPhone when they dropped the price and got my money back from Verizon- they have a 30-day money-back guarantee) and I have nothing bad to say about Verizon. Unlike Sprint, I had great service with them and got a signal just about everywhere, including my office building downtown, which is a concrete barricade for most all cell providers and even the majority of local radio stations. But, I just felt that I needed more of a PDA-like device to organize all I have going on with school, work, everything I do with church, and extracurricular activities.

I absolutely love my iPhone. It’s just like my Mac: intuitive interface, easy to use, simple yet powerful, minimalistic architecture, aesthetically pleasing, elegant, and is designed beautifully. Everything made by Apple just makes sense, and this device is no exception.

I’d like to go through and review each home screen application individually, as they appear on screen, based on my personal experiences over the past week. Here’s my personal review:

Text – Sending texts on this phone resembles an iChat conversation (it’s not too far off from AIM, either) with the talk bubbles and conversation-based layout. The on-screen keyboard is very easy to use despite it’s small size because of the shear precision of the touch screen interface.

Calendar – Syncs with iCal (Mac) or Microsoft Office Outlook (PC). I have four color-coded calendars set up in my iCal: Personal, Work, Church, and VCU. They all sync seamlessly with the iPhone. All alerts, reminders, and other features remain intact and all events are editable on the fly. My Mac was already helping tremendously to organize my busy (as of lately) life, but now that I have my calendar with me at all times I always know what I have going on.

Photos – Displays photos automatically synchronized from iPhoto (Mac) or any set folder on your Mac or PC, or those taken directly with the iPhone’s built-in camera. Nifty interface with options for slideshows, transitions, and other cool things. You can also quickly zoom in or out on photos by “pinching” the screen (sliding your thumb and index finger together/apart).

Camera – Nice 2.0 megapixel digital camera that takes photos comperable to the iSight webcam built into my MacBook Pro. Good color quality with little to no brightness wash-out that you sometimes get with cameras on mobile devices.

YouTube – Excellent mobile version of the site with options for search, most popular videos, bookmarks, and more. Nice widescreen, full display of videos, fast loading, especially when connected to wi-fi as opposed to over AT&T’s Edge data network.

Stocks – As you could imagine, I’m not really into the stock market, but very nice interface for checking up on the performance of your favorite companies should you so choose

Maps – A mobile version of the Google Maps application, and just as with any Google software, it’s feature-rich and intuitive. “Pinch” to zoom in/out, view satellite imagery, get directions, search for the nearest anything (a simple search for Starbucks returns all the nearby Starbucks locations, complete with wi-fi information and phone numbers. Some even include store hours!

Weather – Simple, easy-to-use weather interface that shows the next few upcoming days’ weather forecast and high/low temperatures, easily customized for multiple locations

Clock – Includes a timer, stopwatch, alarms feature, and world clock that displays the time in any city of your choosing worldwide

Calculator – Does the job. Simple, big buttons, does what it needs to do

Notes – Similar to the Stickies application in Mac OS X, useful for writing down “to do” items or anything you need to remember

Settings – Controls for everything on the iPhone, including really cool built-in ringtones. A lot of times phones come with lame ringtones, but Apple did a good job with this.

Phone – Well, this IS why I have the thing, right? Among other things, yes. View all your contacts (synchronized from Address Book (Mac) or Microsoft Office Outlook (PC)), and just click to see all their details. Click below to get to your “Favorites” list (basically speed dial on most phones), and the voicemail menu brings up one of the coolest features: Visual Voicemail. No more dialing your mailbox to retrieve messages and listening to frustrating audio prompts from within. Visual Voicemail does just what it sounds like- visually displays your voicemail messages and lets you click on them to play (click below to stop or pause) and delete or save them, scroll through them much like you would with a song on the iPod, and call the person back, all with one touch of the screen. Amazing feature.

Mail – All mail messages and account settings are imported during sync, and you can set your iPhone to automatically check for new messages from multiple accounts up to every 15 minutes. Very sleek, nice interface, easy to read and reply. I have my two personal accounts, VCU, and GACC accounts set up and they all work together seamlessly.

Safari – The iPhone is the first phone to offer “true” internet, not the mobile version you find on most phones. With the ability to “pinch” and “pull” to zoom in and out on the page, you can easily view everything in a snap. The screen will rotate from the normal portrait mode to landscape (widescreen) when you flip the iPhone 90 degrees. Very, very cool.

iPod – All the features of a regular iPod, with the ability to actually hear the songs on the built-in speaker, and view Cover Flow (shows your album artwork like a jukebox) when you turn your iPhone in landscape mode.

So with all these wonderful features, I will say that there are actually a few downsides that I’ve noticed. Nothing’s perfect. Apple is due for another firmware update (1.0.3) within the next week or two, and I think they are going to squash most of the bugs. Here’s what I’ve found so far:

1. When I listen to music on the iPod application of the iPhone and open up Safari and get online, either Safari or the iPod application will crash sometimes. It’s about a 50/50 chance. You’re supposed to be able to multitask and have multiple applications open, so I think this is definitely something the update will address.

2. No picture mail (!). Can you believe that? A phone that can send emails, have full web access, and get on YouTube can’t send multimedia messages? Wow. There is a workaround I’ve found, though. You can email photos you’ve taken on your iPhone, so let’s say you wanted to send a picture to a friend who has Verizon. All you have to do is email it to FRIENDSNUMBER@vzwpix.com and it will be sent to their phone as a picture message. Cool, huh? It sucks you have to do that, but it works.

3. No instant messaging/AIM support. The texting application looks like iChat and resembles an online chat, but for some reason no AIM support was included. This is rumored to be included with the update that’s coming out, so we’ll see. There is a nice version of Meebo built for the iPhone, though, although it sometimes causes Safari to crash.

4. No video support. This is also a rumored update. The camera is completely capable of good quality video, so I think this will be supported.

5. Limited settings. The Settings application is very clean, but limited. For example, you can’t change the alert tone for texts, voicemail, email, or calendar alerts. Lame!

Overall, the iPhone is amazing. It’s far beyond any of the competition. Years away, I believe. I’m very happy with my purchase and look forward to the future additions and updates.

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If I Had $330 Million Dollars

September 2, 2007 By

So last week, driving to and from VCU, I kept seeing the Mega Millions billboard, growing all the way to $330 million by the end of the week. I’ve never played the lottery before, but I decided I just had to this time. First of all I was tempted all week by the billboard, but that’s a heck of a lot of money. I had to play. Friday night after I went out to dinner I bought ten tickets at the Short Pump Shell station, where someone bought a multi-million dollar ticket only a couple months ago. I was feeling lucky! I ended up matching two numbers on one of my tickets, but you need three to win anything. My dad played and won $7 for three numbers. Me? Well I’m just out ten dollars. Oh well. Anywho I kind of thought about what I’d do if I actually won $330 million. Here’s how I’d break it down:

- $50 million for my church (Glen Allen Community Church), who’s vision and goals I share to the deepest extent possible, to start locations and build buildings for any and all of their campuses, and expand the ministries all over Richmond, maybe even the whole state, and beyond
- $40 million to a few charities, distributed equally between the VCU Massey Cancer Center in honor of so many people I’ve known and loved in my life who have died of cancer, the Freedom House Homeless Shelter downtown, the Richmond SPCA, and Young Life because of how much it’s enriched my life and helped so many of my friends come to know Christ
- $10 million for International Christian missions projects especially in Africa, but all around the world
- $10 million to purchase a complete Mac video editing suite in my house and purchase field production equipment, as well as finance my first movie production, in which I’ll promote environmental issues such as stopping global warming
- $5 million to buy my parents, who have always done anything and everything to help me succeed in life, the beach house in the Outer Banks they’ve always wanted and talked about
- $200,000 to put myself as well as my sister through college, with extra money left over for all those extra living expenses life throws your way
- $60,000 for a new fuel-efficient hybrid car to reduce my impact on the environment
- $50,000 to travel all around the world and visit places like Italy, Australia, Greece, Lebanon, (the preceeding two because of their food!), Spain, and a few other places
- The remaining money would be invested and saved for the future

So there you have it… how I would use $330 million dollars! Guess I better keep buying those lotto tickets.

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A Clean Slate

August 27, 2007 By

So last Friday could most likely be described as a preview day of sorts, in terms of college. I had one class. I’ve had three so far today, with one more tonight, and still without much of any real homework for at least another class period, I’m sitting here in the Cabell Library waiting for Jen to get out of class so we can go to dinner somewhere around here. I’ve had Art History 104, Focused Inquiry, and University 101 thus far today, and I have Psychology 101 at 7:00. It’s now 4:50 PM and I’ve been down here since 11:00 AM. I’ll be here until almost 10:00. Monday is going to be my heaviest day by far. I like all my classes so far, though, and I’ve met a few more people, which has been a little easier because a good 80% of my Focused Inquiry class is also in my University 101 class, so I’ve talked a little with a couple of the guys I sit with in my first class in the second one. Everyone I’ve encountered so far has been very nice, and as much as I liked high school (mainly the last two), it’s so cool to be able to get a fresh start and have a clean slate in front of me.

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Everything’s Changing

August 22, 2007 By

This has been an interesting week thus far. Things are kind of stabilizing. Nothing was ever that wrong, and I appreciate all the comments and Facebook messages (of both concern and praise) I got from my “vent post” this past weekend. Everyone seemed to share my sentiment about the mess up at The Dominion Club. I might have written all of that to let off some steam, but I wasn’t exaggerating how things are at the club, and I’m obviously not the only one by far who feels the way I do.

So anyway, as the post title suggests, I’m in a season of change in my life right now. One obvious change is college. I start classes Friday, and even though I’m living at home, there’s still so much change around me. A few of my really good friends have left this week for their respective colleges away from Richmond, and it’s just weird right now. It’s strange to think that they’re not coming back until Christmas. I feel a little disconnected at the moment not living on campus at VCU, especially after visiting Jen’s dorm and seeing all the bustling activity going on down there, but I know I’m going to meet a lot of cool people who I’ll end up becoming friends with, so it’s not a big deal. I’ve already met some really nice people in just the few times I’ve been on campus.

So I made another change today, hopefully for the better. I switched from Sprint to Verizon. Now I know I’m going to get a bunch of fingers pointed at me if I don’t first make this disclaimer: I know I’ve always told anyone who asked me why I didn’t have Verizon all the reason I didn’t want it (I was happy with Sprint, Verizon has (supposedly) bad customer service, and their phones are slow because of all the software they cram into them), but I don’t think I’m being completely hypocritical by switching. I have plenty of justification for my move. Just about all my friends, those I call and text both a lot and a little, have Verizon. Plus, for some reason, Sprint’s service has degraded a lot lately. I’m not really sure why. You’d think if anything it would get better as they build more towers and improve their network coverage, but who knows. I’ve had it for less than a day as I write this, but already I’ve noticed that I have a very strong signal everywhere I’ve been, including at church, which has notoriously been a really bad dead spot for my old service.

Review of the LG enV:

The new enV by LGThe service is better, sure. But what about the phone? It’s awesome. I got the new model of the enV by LG. The battery performance is far better than my old phone (often I would charge my old Samsung Blade all night and the battery would die after normal use by dinnertime), not to mention it’s just really cool. It has a dual-interface, meaning you can use almost all of its features on the front of the phone without opening it (and frankly you can’t even tell it opens up on first glance), but when you do open it you’re presented with a full “QWERTY” keyboard and crisp widescreen LCD that, believe it or not, comes close to the resolution of my MacBook Pro’s screen. The 2.0 megapixel camera has a very good white balance, and pictures actually look like they were taken on a full-featured digital camera rather than looking like the bright, washed-out pictures most phones’ cameras (including my old Blade) produce. Video quality is better than on many phones, and Verizon’s mobile internet service looks great and runs fast. Email came through almost as fast as over my Comcast broadband at home. Overall, after an afternoon of heavy use, I’d give my new phone 4 1/2 stars out of five.

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