Geek Fest!

So it's only the first week and I'm already skipping blogging days. :( 

But if you're one of the over 1 million estimated happy new owners of the iphone4 (like me), I do believe you'll forgive me. Frankly, most of yesterday was spent "dealing with" iPhone in many steps.

1. Purchase iPhone4: As I was unable to pre-order the phone on the first day due to characteristically BAD planning on the part of AT&T wireless (and YES I'm blaming them), pre-order for pickup on day 1 was out of the question. Sadly, so was pre-order for home delivery, as they will only ship to your billing address. Naturally, my billing address is still up in the woods o' Maine (thanks M&D for supporting my technology habit, I promise to pay you back for the service), which pretty much negated the whole point. So, after some inter-office "strategery", careful blog reading, and a couple of phone calls I decided to try my luck at... wait for it......... The Shack! That's right ladies and gents your local RadioShack will be selling Iphone4. To make a long story short I am the proud owner of 1 of only 5 iPhone4's delivered to my local Shack, and the only one that was NOT purchased on pre-order. Seriously, I expect to be struck by lightening as I'm sure I have now used up a lifetime of luck. 
2. Attempt to authorize iPhone4 on home PC. --> FAIL! turns out I have to update iTunes
3. Spend approximately 1 hour "off the grid" downloading and installing iTunes 9.2, as my old 3G had already been de-activated by signing the paperwork at said Shack. 
4. Restore old settings to the new phone: Actually went quite smoothly. 
5. Add music: slow but mostly a function of the computer, not the phone. another hour essentially "off the grid" while synching
6. Time to PLAY!!! I first tried the camera, one of the enhanced features I was most excited about. Worked great until I tried to use the flash. When using the Manual flash "on" pictures starting becoming terrible and totally washed out. Perplexed, I decided to look at some other things for awhile. Eventually my little brain managed to figure out that "doh!" the flash wasn't working properly due to the protective coating I left on the back. The LED was reflecting into the plastic causing a huge amount of glare. Needless to say, camera functionality looks beautiful now. Excited to get the iMovie app and really start playing around.
7. FaceTime: Luckily, another early adopter decided to stop by for a beer on the deck, and after finagling with the wifi password we were able to trial the FaceTime feature. Yes world, in words of Beyonce and Gaga, "you can watch me on my video phone"!!! Picture quality was a little grainy, but this could be due to the poor lighting on the back deck. I'm excited to see how users end up utilizing this tool in the future. I expect that until wifi is not a requirement the full effects wont begin to materialize. Again, I blame this on AT&T and the service issues. 

Alrighty gang, i'll pick this up with more overall impressions soon! 

The Daily Grind: How I contribute to a 16 Billion dollar corporation

Trust me, there are many days when working for "the man" feels like being a single sardine in a giant ocean. There are also many days when I simply marvel at the amazing cafeteria, in-house bank, and olympic-sized swimming pool. Today is a special day because its the one day per year that my company announces the work I do to the world! So, without further ado here is the EMC Sustainability Report http://www.emc.com/collateral/magazine/h7215-sustainability-long-bro-hr.pdf  **Cheat by going straight to pages 39-41 to see my team's contributions** While reading this morning, I felt a little twinge of pride... looks like I might care more about my J-O-B then I think!

First Post: Naming the blog

Hello World! If you made it here, congrats, you're only about two clicks from the end of the Internet!

I thought I would briefly introduce myself and explain the method of naming the blog. I'll post later on "why" I decided to start a blog, after I have a better understanding of exactly why that was.

About Me: I'm 25, live in Boston, and participate in the following (note: this list is in order of approximate time spent participating, not necessarily in order of things I love to do). 

• Engineering - well technically, product compliance for a large technology firm 
• Schooling - back at my alma mater for a graduate degree in Engineering Management, whatever that is
• Dancing - teaching dance to adults and children in Brookline at www.dancefitstudio.com
• Renovating - two gut-job bathroom reno's and an upcoming kitchen blowout
• Blogging - I HOPE! 
• Other random and occasionally spastic things I'm sure you'll here about in upcoming entries?

 Now that we got that out of the way... on to the blog name. I am insanely intrigued by Alice's concept of "losing her muchness" in the new Alice in Wonderland movie. For some reason, this idea that we lose a bit of ourselves, or the selves we want to be, as we get older seems to resonate at this stage of my life. It's funny (to me) because most "great" women who speak about their lives, talk about "finding themselves". Perhaps I still have a bit more of losing myself, and rearranging myself, before I can "find" myself. 

And Massachusetts? Well, I'm sure that seems obvious. What I found interesting though, is only now am I actually associating myself with this geography. Apparently sometimes it takes eight years of adjustment to realize a place is really your new home. 

Alright, I think this is a sufficiently long post number 1. Don't want to burn myself out on the first day.