this weather is truly making anything potentially soggy soggy.



click above to view small video clips on what it looked like from my office at lab on friday afternoon. for a seemingly apocalyptic moment, an endless period of raindrop violence shook its angry fist at the world. or, perhaps, at least cambridge. never mind my geekily-engrossed pal and easily-entreated bag model, orkan. the second one has a really good thunderous moment. anyway, i think the height of the storm was like three times worse than the footage i captured here. at that time i was too busy taking time oohing, aahing, and freaking about about getting struck by lightning. orkan just continued pushing buttons. and admittedly, i too went back to pushing buttons as well. such is the life.

lots of lovely new things in the world of liucubed! i am exhausted and excited to show all, but the latest thing to infuse my consciousness with pixels and superfluous features is my new phone (purchased from amazon), samsung t809 on t-mobile. conceptually i am pretty anti-gadget, but i give initial approval on the phone on its sleek and seductive form factor. the sonic wellness feature and japangrish (?) dialogue in forgotten warrior also amuses in those dark moments of atrociously rendered ringtones.



here's a side-by-side comparison of the new phone on t-mobile versus old phone on verizon. i'm kind of lucky that they both happen to be samsung phones, because the icons and general user interface are similar (though there are a few updates here and there). although the new phone is wider, it's soooo light! and the slidey thing makes it easy (with subtle sound effects, ooh) to open the thing without a hinged tug and clap. not that i mind the flip-phone format so much as in... it's boring. everyone has one (even the RAZR counts) and i just wanted something a little more stylish and different. relatively speaking, of course. no hypocrisy here, we're all lemmings. (beep! or whatever sound they make!) but i do uphold my own... no iPod! never!

one thing i am trying to figure out: the new phone doesnt seem to have a small hole or anything to attach a phone charm to. i know this is really insignificant, but i like the option to accessorize! plus, what will happen to beloved war-torn doraemon? it's not like a hole like that is difficult to include in the design... it's literally just a looped notch. i know i'm not an aZngRrl in any shape or form, but this lack of decorative dangle capability just breaks my heart a little.

click to check out (interactive! i mean, watch the video) the happy slidey action. try not to pay attention to the lonely, neglected phone looking on. never fear, i wiped its tears because it short-circuited itself. poor dear never knew what moore's law hit 'em.