Lots of Monkeys

And of course, by that, I am referring to a video quiz game, naturally. BUZZ! on the PS3, to be exact.  I picked up the game on a whim today, and it ended up being entirely too much fun in a group.  I do have fond memories of quiz games, due to my involvement in Academic League in high school.

What’s nice about the game is that although I do have some training in quick response and answering, it really only affects one of the rounds.  The other rounds even out the playing field, keeping it even and competitive for all players.

What I found while playing the game for about four hours, is that I enjoy the game not so much as a test of knowledge, but as a human behavioral observational experiment.

I enjoy playing it, but I enjoy watching other people play it as well.  There are bits of personality that become apparent in a competitive environment.  I really passed on playing a lot of times just so I could see how matches played out from round to round.

Barring that, it’s actually a really good game, and the fact that the buzzer peripherals are included in the purchase price, makes the game well worth it.

Owning an unlocked phone is in a way, declaring that you’ll be taking care of a pet for the next couple of years.  There’s a lot you have to do when you aren’t just leasing a phone from a carrier.  Things like firmware upgrades, and swapping SIM cards and installing apps and setting up preferences that you’ve never seen before.

This is a lot of work.

That said, it’s kind of liberating to be able to use a phone and have access to all the hardware on it.  The GPS isn’t loaded with carrier specific apps, there’s a QR code reader preinstalled, the mail client isn’t crippled, and overall the phone is how the manufacturer wanted it to be.

Although, I can see why providers want to make things easier.

Fortunately, the E71 plays well with iSync.  Which was great when I decided to upgrade the firmware, which wiped out the information on the phone.  I didn’t brick it, although I was damn sure I was going to.

I had panicky thoughts about the following hypothetical situations:

1. Power goes out in my condo during firmware upgrade.
2. USB Failure on front port of PC during firmware upgrade.
3. Failure to follow the exact instructions given to me by Nokia during firmware upgrade.
4. Bird flies through window and pulls out USB cable from phone during firmware upgrade.

Of the three, option one is pretty likely.  I still need to get an electrician into the condo and ground all of the outlets.

I’ve been using the work phone as the primary for the last decade year or so and have decided to commit to the personal phone.

So, if you get a call from some strange number you don’t recognize, it might be me.