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A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by WOM World via Flickr. Colin, the person who contacted me, explained that WOM World was a Nokia-sponsored site that tracks Nokia buzz on the web, and that they also run a trial program where they send out Nokia devices for testing and review. He offered me a 3-week trial of a Nokia N95 8GB. He wrote:

The N95 8GB North American version is one of the latest releases and we’re seeing social media users like you would be interested in having the device for three weeks to put it through its paces.

It has the same spec as the regular N95 8GB, so; 5MP Carl Zeiss lens camera with auto-focus, full GPS, MP3 player with integrated player keys, dual sliding action, WIFI, etc. But this version comes with updated software and full US 3G network support. In addition to being on Symbian, which means it’s open to literally thousands of applications, everything from Google maps to Twitter.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything of substance here. I’ve been too busy with real life lately that I haven’t had much time to pound out a full post. A lot of what I’ve had to say over the past few weeks has ended up on either Twitter or my shared items. Some of those items are NSFW, or will at least result in strange looks from those around you.

As you may have read, I took the leap and bought Xbox 360 Elite and Rock Band, stimulating the economy just a little bit. So far I think it was money well-spent. I found out last week at Pete’s graduation party that Mike and I actually have different versions of the Xbox 360. I was unable to plug my AC adapter into his Xbox 360, and I found out that there was a change to the design sometime between June 2007 and January 2008. This resulted in a lower-power AC adapter for my Xbox 360, which has a different plug than Mike’s. It was pretty annoying, because the Xbox 360 Wikipedia entry is the only place I was able to find why I couldn’t use my AC adapter with his Xbox 360.

With the new console, I also signed up for a Xbox Live Gold membership with the gamertag markomni80. I tried to sign up with markomni, but the registration site kept telling me it was in use. After being frustrated with it for a few days, I gave up trying to get my gamertag and just signed up with my alternate screenname. Now I can do cool things like purchase new songs for Rock Band and play the game with Hersch or Mike or whomever.

I kid you not! A 9-year-old girl went to the hospital in Greece with stomach pains. Doctors found a growth next to her stomach. Inside the 6-centimeter growth, doctors found a head, hair and eyes, but no brain. The growth contained the girl’s embryonic twin!

Thank you, Mr. Bush, for the stimulus check. I am doing my part to help stimulate the economy. I have finally taken the leap and just ordered an Xbox 360 Elite from Amazon.com. I also ordered Rock Band Special Edition so that family and friends could rock out at Pete’s graduation party on Saturday. I may need to borrow a second guitar *cough* Michael *cough* if I don’t decide to just go buy one Friday afternoon.

To round out my major purchase, I also bought a second wireless controller and an S-Video cable (which will keep me content until next year’s HDTV purchase – Chris, you have been warned). I haven’t dropped the cash on GTA4 just yet, as I am still playing Guitar Hero III and Mario Kart Wii.

Since I won’t be going into work until the afternoon tomorrow, I think I’ll look at the wiring situation by the TV. I know I’ve got to clean things up a bit before everything arrives. I didn’t get the wireless adapter for the Xbox 360, but I already have a network cable just sitting by the TV for either the laptop or PS2. That should work just fine for the time being.

Well, it’s off to bed for me now, assuming I can contain myself enough to sleep.

Last night Chris and I went out to an early Mother’s Day dinner with my mom and Michelle. After some discussion this afternoon, we had decided on Zed451 in Schaumburg. It turned out to be a very good decision.

The first bit of goodness came when I reserved a table using OpenTable.com. Normally, reservations are just 100 points each; however, with the relative newness of Zed451, the reservation was 1,000 points. This reservation pushed me over the 2,000 point mark, the lowest number of points required to get a gift cheque from OpenTable.com.