Battle for the Future?

I think not.

iPhone 4, 3DS, or PSP?

Not much to say except that the iPhone will never be competition for true hand held systems no matter how great they design the phone for gaming. Many (like me) are turned off by the fact that you have to sign on with AT&T to use it. Plus after having a Droid for a short three months, I would stay away from the iPhone, even if it came to Verizon. The other two are designed for gaming and appeal to folks from the casual crowd (my mom wants one) to the hardcore gamer. Apple is getting a little too big for itself it seems, and there are plenty of iSheep (borrowed term, not mine) who will go out and get whatever shiny new thing Apple puts out no matter how pointless (iPad anyone?).

Besides, the 3DS isn't even out yet, and Sony is still going strong with its original PSP. I honestly cannot see developers ever completely jumping ship to hop on board with a phone no matter who makes it.

Tribute to my Scooter

Back in the good old days, my mom used to travel a lot for her job and earned rewards (thus allowing us to take a vacation in New Mexico almost for free). One of the airlines gave her points, and she was able to pick from a catalog of stuff. My brother had received a scooter from my dad the year before (2001) when they were just starting to become popular. I always wanted to use it, but he was a stingy little brother. My mom then used her points to get him for Christmas a new blue Razor with a kick bar from Sharper Image (i.e. it had their logo on and that was it). He ended up getting a goped, which was a motorized scooter. He traded a part for it for my ownership of his new scooter. The blue Razor became mine after that. I used it extensively when I was 15 through 17 (to get to Jon's house and to get to Wyatt's so we could walk to school together). It got so beat up and scratched from me.

Flash forward to when I am 24 and going to UCR. I noticed many people using scooters and bikes to get around our sprawling campus so I decided to use my Razor in the summer to get from the engineering building to my anthro class since the passing period was only 10 minutes (talking about a half mile walk here and the still slightly sprained knee along with the desire to not rush). Then I realized just how well this thing had served me. It saw me through high school and watched as I gave it up for my car. It was left in the garage alone to sit there, waiting for the day I would once again pick it up. I used my bike on more occasions that I used it. That is, until university.

Sure, the foam handlegrips are falling off, and the plastic end caps for the handles are also falling out, tethered only by the old elastic bands. It has more scratches than I can account for, but it is still mine. I find it funny how, as a teenager, it brought me closer to my best friends of the time. Now it brings me closer to my goals (and yes, makes less sweaty and hurried walking between classes). I never took the time to appreciate it so this blog is kind of dedicated to that fact.

Viva la scooter.