I’m not on fire.

Here is where we live:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=2637+3rd+St,+Santa+Monica,+CA+90405&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=38.092988,69.521484&ie=UTF8&ll=34.002059,-118.481026&spn=0.001219,0.002122&t=h&z=19

Zoom out and you’ll see the milllions of tons of concrete between us and the hills.   The only thing that could affect us is the air quality, but I haven’t noticed it yet.   You can certainly see the giant plumes of smoke rising over the hills, which is a bit ominous, but other than that we are fine.

Just an update, because I know someone out there might care :).

I have an iPhone Palm Pre

After over a year of constant kvetching about my iphone, I’ve finally kicked one of the top 50 frustrations in my life to the curb.   I went ahead and ate the $175 cancellation fee today and got myself a Palm Pre.   Before my iphone, I had a Palm Treo that was completely awesome.   Palm does it again with the Pre.   Right out of the gate the Pre is leaps and bounds better than the iphone so far in all categories: usability, speed, interface, call quality, applications.   What’s that?  You say, Chris, what about the app store - the Pre doesn’t have the "App Store"!  Afraid to tell you that Farting applications and video games are not exactly what I consider a value add.  Besides, Palm does have their version of the app store, and guess what.   The apps I used on my iphone?  The palm store has them too.   Pandora, Where, etc.   Natively, the Pre also has turn by turn directions, live TV, background app support, and the list goes on.  Also, for $15 bones extra a month, I can tether to my laptop and use the Pre as a modem - no more shelling out $$ every time I want to work at the airport or starbucks.

Did I mention I’m saving $90 DOLLARS PER MONTH by switching to the Pre?

Only place that the iphone seems better so far is browser rendering - but the Sprint 3G network is way faster than AT&T’s, so it’s pretty much a moot point.