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I discovered around the time our youngest turned one that my cell phone can be used as a quick-fix “pacifier.” I hand it to him whenever he gets fussy, and say, we’re stuck behind a slow grocery line. It keeps him entertained for a while. He takes removing the case as a challenge and finds great satisfaction in finally doing so. The novelty, however, has worn off as of late. He would promptly reject it whenever I hand it to him and would continue on with his wailing. All is not lost though. The Mobile Baby Toy may allow me to continue using the cell phone as an entertainment device for the baby.

The Mobile Baby Toy is software that turns your phone into a device “that triggers kid-themed pictures and sounds with every key-touch.” Cool, eh? But hold it. I just checked the website. My Sony Ericsson T616 is not supported. Waaaahhh!

[via Mercury News]

Just to move this blog along, I will be posting, once in a while, pics I have taken with my T616. I’ve created a new category for this kind of post. It’s called Faux Phlog. It’s because the pictures are not posted via the camera phone, although they are taken with it. Rather, I upload the phone pics to my computer when I get home, resize them, then post an entry using MovableType. So technically this type of entry is not a phlog entry.

Below is a snapshot of a poster touting Philippine coffee taken at Red Ribbon, which has the chewiest, tastiest palabok I’ve ever tried.

Is that Juan de la Cruz, the Philippines’ answer to Juan Valdez?

This deserves its own entry and not just an update (read the original entry here).

My phone has been found!! The bus driver handed it to me this morning when I got on the bus. He knew about my lost phone because I spoke to him about it yesterday. He said he was going to ask around when he got back to the bus yard. And that he did. Apparently, another bus driver who took over the bus and drove to Stockton (yes, that far) saw my phone and handed it over to the cleaning crew at the end of his shift. The cleaning crew then handed it over to their manager. The manager turned it in at the Lost and Found department. And that’s where Mr. Bus Driver found my phone. The bus driver’s name is David G., by the way. He went out of his way to investigate. Thanks, man! He and the whole Amtrak motorcoach crew are awesome.

God is so faithful. He’s even faithful in the small things. I prayed about the phone but honestly, I considered it as good as gone. Oh, I’m of such little faith! God’s been so good. Praise Him! Praise Him! I’m not just happy about the phone being returned to me. This is just a small part of the many things he’s been doing in my life. He even used this incident to deal with one particular area of my life. I’ve been praying to God to deal with my reactions to certain situations and I believe this was an answered prayer. When I told the wife about the lost phone, first of all God gave me the courage to do so (hehe). Next he allowed me to calmly cope with the storm that was to follow. Normally, my wife and I would be at each other’s throats over something like this, pointing the finger and blaming each other. Because I’ve applied certain principles about dealing with anger in a Christ-like manner, the matter didn’t blow up into ridiculous proportions as it would have in the past. Now my wife and I could look back at this incident and say we’ve worked it out in a manner pleasing to God. Additionally, we know for sure that there is a better way to handle stressful situations like this.

Praise the Lord for putting us through trials. Praise him for the sanctification process that we go through. I feel so blessed. (I wonder if Ganns would mind if I call this site SuperBlessedTwo.net, hehe).

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

I don’t normally carry a cellphone with me. If anyone needs to reach me, there’s e-mail, landlines (at work or at home), or iChat. The only phone I ever owned in the past was the thin but odd-looking Qualcomm QCP 2760. My former employer provided it for testing purposes. Prior to this, the primary means of people getting a hold of me was through a Motorola pager the size of a garage door opener.

Recently, due to my father-in-law switching service carriers, I’ve acquired a new cellphone - the Sony Ericsson T616. With the AT&T Family Plan, my wife and I each get a new phone and we share minutes with Dad. The T616 was what I got - I didn’t ask for it. With the plan and the accompanying rebates, it comes out to be around $40. Not bad, I suppose. It’s a pretty slick phone with built-in camera, WAP and Bluetooth capabilities. I won’t be using the camera - my digicam’s portable enough. And I won’t be using the mMode WAP service, for sure. One can run up a hefty bill just navigating through the thing! Now as for the Bluetooth capability, being able to synchronize with my iBook’s address book and calendar apps appeals to me. I’m not much of a texter, so inputting data through my laptop is ideal. And with Apple’s iSync software, synching should be a snap. For my iBook, I’ve just ordered from Amazon a Bluetooth USB adapter which will arrive in a few days.

Update: I wasn’t meant to have this phone. I unknowingly left it on a bus seat yesterday. Yes, barely a day after I post about the phone, I lose it. Must’ve slipped out of my pants pocket. Called the bus company and informed them of the incident. I’m hoping some honest soul will turn it in. And if it doesn’t turn up, that’s okay, one last cool feature of this fancy phone is its security. No one can swap out its SIM card and use their own because of the layers of security I’ve activated (i.e. passwords). *sigh* My replacement phone is going to be the free one that comes with the plan. Somehow, I feel God is teaching me something.

Anyone need a Bluetooth USB adapter? (the offer no longer stands. the phone has been found!)

It was drizzling as I was doing my usual one-man Critical Mass trek to work this morning. Thanks to my new bright yellow poncho, I kept myself and my backpack dry. I had to wipe down my bike, however, before bringing it in the office.

Obtaining the poncho in preparation for the rainy season was a smart thing for me to do. I’ve done a few inane things, however, when it comes to biking. A couple of weeks ago, I attempted to use my cell phone while on my bike. As soon as I hit a bump, the phone flew out of my hand and landed on the hard asphalt, rendering it useless for a couple of hours. Then last week, I rode my bike at night without the proper light beam attachment. Halfway to my destination, I incurred a flat tire. Upon close examination, thorns had pierced the back tire in two places. I’m giving up biking at night altogether, with or without proper beams.