It all started at a wedding in Austin, Texas. A joyous affair with drinks and cowboys, friends and family, food and dancing. It ended in a hazy drive back to the airport, sans one Beaver Believer Orange Envy (the phone). In it's place I held a headache in my hands. Not the proverbial headache that includes turning the phone off and getting all of my friends numbers - again - but the real life headache that follows a weekend consisting of too much drink and food and not enough sleep. So, in the midst of pounding aspirin and water I realized this fact: all my numbers were lost, as well as all the shitty camera pics I'd taken too. Bummer styles. Headache*2. This frustrations was further compounded by the fact that the phone was lifted (not lost, mom), with my jacket, while I was on the dance floor giving some serious lessons to the locals (which points to my theory of why it was lifted. Jealous much, tex?).
It wasn't all bad though. I spent the following 3 weeks in phone deprived bliss. Oh, you want to get in touch with me? Send an email. You want to meet up for a movie? Let's plan it out two days in advance. I was unbridled with communication and set free to wander around, doing what I wanted to at times of my choosing. It was a pretty good 3 weeks. However, this apparently could not last. My wife bubbled with growing irritation, "how could you NOT have a phone when I NEED you to pick up cotton balls at the store on your way home from work." "What are the cotton balls for?" I would reply. Her response, "for stuffing the dogs ears when she's in the shower, of course. And we NEED them." Well of course we need them. Of course we do. My mother's annoyance echoed my wife's on a seemingly daily basis. I didn't even have a phone and yet she seemed able to share this annoyance, through one vein or another, at least once an evening. I began to wonder, how similar is my wife to my mother and what does that mean for my future?
After my three weeks was up, I headed down to the Verizon store and started looking through phones. It was an easy process, as there's actually not that many worthwhile choices out there, and I made my decision rather quickly. Within a half hour I decided to put my ear to the early HTC google phone, called the Droid Eris. This is first phone I've had where applications can matter, if you want them to. I've had friends with iPhones and I've seen them snapping pictures with filter applications, or mapping out pinball machines throughout the Portland area, so I'm accustomed to this wave of info and multimedia platforming. It's something I was excited to try.
And here comes the point of this long winded story. Yes, you could have skipped to here; if only you had known. I've been trying out photo apps for the android system and I've found one that I really enjoy, Vignette. Similar to the Hipstamatic application for the iPhone, this program allows for a multitude of filter options, as well as normal film processing or no processing at all. Here, check out a couple of examples.
That there first one is some crab meat and the second one is a lemon end on a cutting board. Decent stuff, right? Who knows, I may put a gang of these together and bind it up in a nice little zine for the kiddies.
All in all, I'm still a little murked about the jacket that got grabbed up in Austin. But after three or so weeks of phonelessness, at least now I've got a happy wife and a happy mom. In addition, I get to take some cool photos with my phone. Oh, and my headaches gone too. So, thanks, Tex, I owe you one.
