Charging too much for text messages?

Did you ever feel that you were being charged too much for the tiny amount of data you send in a text message? $10 a month? Again - this could be in SNL's "Really!" segment. It takes next to nothing to send a text message. It is one of the smallest packets of information used today. Phone calls actually require some work to send. Text messages are a cakewalk - in fact, they're so small they get tucked inside of another packet that your phone has to send to communicate with the tower in the first place just to say, "I'm here, if anyone wants to call me."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/business/28digi.html?_r=1&em=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1230668512-q+r/s+Y+gEm5tIkDYeKt+A

A rip-off? I certainly think so, especially after discussing this in my digital communications class last semester. Texting should be nearly free (if not simply included free with any voice plan, or purchased minutes - no increase in the standard plan price should accompany such a change). Anyway - you be the judge. Things are going to get a little interesting here if a price-fixing hearing is begun.

Gas Prices

Four months ago, I was paying the most for a tank of gas I had ever paid. In fact, I couldn't fill my tank when it got close to empty by using my debit card. There's a $49 limit, you see, and it cost more than that to fill my tank.

Today, I did something I haven't done since SeaGal and I were dating, or perhaps at the very beginning of our marriage: I filled the tank to our car for less than $20! Now, it is a different car, smaller tank, etc., so there's some falseness to my perception of just how cheap gas has gotten, but I'm still elated. It would have been around $24 to fill the tank if we still had the old car. Pretty cheap compared to what we had been paying.

Isn't it just a bit odd that this dramatic decrease in gasoline prices coincides with the end of our oil-baron's rule (Oh, sorry! I meant the end of George W. Bush's presidency)? Yes, I voted for him the second time. I've changed a lot in the last four years. I'm a registered Republican who votes like a Democrat. It is probably time to remove myself from the Republican Party.

So, when Emperor Bush was elected the first time, I was a missionary. I felt the impact of the beginning of his presidency, even though I was so far out of the loop on the news I didn't even know he was the president at the time. I was serving a mission in Long Island, NY, so I didn't read the news at all. The price of gasoline doubled. On the meager stipend we were given as missionaries for our sustenance and transportation, the doubled gas price was a concern. Looking back, I believe I understand a bit better what happened at the gas pump in the winter of 2001.

Bush's cronies no longer had people watching them, and the price suddenly increased dramatically. Turns out that this worked just fine, the American public kept purchasing gasoline. The oil companies' coffers quickly filled with more money than ever before. It fluctuated back down below $2.00 again by the next winter. Once Bush's reelection was sure, the price shot up, and continued to do so for a long while, just now returning to what I find to be a reasonable price.

Well, now that's over! Hooray! At least, I hope. Perhaps my poor understanding of economics doesn't really shed any light on this issue. But then again...

At any rate, here's hoping that my poor understanding has a foot to stand on, and gas prices stay lower for the next 4-8 years.

Majel Barret Roddenberry Dies

Wow! Another era ends. Majel Barret has passed away.

For those of you not quite nerdy enough to know, she was the wife of Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek. She had various parts through the incarnations of Star Trek, including the computer in most of the series (how do you pluralize series: "serieses?"). She just finished one last time in that role on the newest Star Trek movie (soon to be released).

This was a week ago, but here is the link to the family website and AP obit.
http://www.legacy.com/LATimes/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonID=121554052
http://www.roddenberry.com/?action=site.majel

I just learned that in the original pilot sent to NBC, she was cast as the second in command on the Enterprise. How cool is that? The Roddenberrys certainly rocked the boat.

Eve's Second Christmas

What a delight it is to watch her open her gifts with such joy! This year she received two books from Grandpa and a miniature farm set, comprised of a barn, cow, calf, horse, foal, ewe, and a lamb.

Here are some fun pictures and videos of Christmas morning:

This book about a farmer caring for his farm animals goes great with the farm!

Prince Caspian Flops

When I was a child, starting around when I was seven or so, my great grandparents began giving me a book at Christmas and on my birthday. They began with the Chronicles of Narnia. I was so excited to get the next book each time. I loved reading them with my wife again a couple years ago. There is something precious about the old yellowed and weathered pages and bindings, traveling the same lines again with my sweetheart. 

C.S. Lewis's work on this series is a beautiful depiction of the Savior, Jesus Christ, and His interactions with us, His children. I'll post about that later...

Now, I'm a sucker for a good movie. In fact, I'm not even that picky about them (considerthat I like Transformers, Iron Man, Labyrinth). I was so very excited when The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe came out in 2005. They strayed from the book a bit, but not too much. Their additions were at least in line (fit in) with the original story. I was excited again to watch Prince Caspian when we got it from Netflix last night. 

My mistake. In the first half hour, they tore through the first 100 pages of the book (it's only 200 pages long), and until the last 15 minutes of the movie, they made up stuff. So, let me enumerate a partial list of crimes against Lewis:

• Peter became more of a pretty boy
• Butchering of Lucy's encounter with Aslan
• Adding of romance between Susan and Caspian
• Reintroducing Jadis (the White Witch) more than was done in the book - she was only mentioned in the book, not nearly reconstituted.
• Leading/leaving of the people to die in the castle (did I just forget this part in the book?)
• Susan is annoying! She was made of sterner, more devoted stuff in the books (until The Last Battle, but that's another story entirely)
• Susan was powerful for a moment, but women always have to be saved, so Prince Caspian comes and saves the day when she suddenly loses her archery skills in the heat of battle, protecting Lucy from pursuers. And Caspian does a crummy job of it, one gets away and keeps chasing Lucy.

Well, that's enough of a tirade about that... I'll keep the book series, but I will certainly not buy the newest incarnation of the live-action Chronicles of Narnia. My wife says it feels like we were used. They took the good name made by Lewis and duped us into watching a mediocre movie made terrible by the false association with a great book. Imitation is supposed to be the most sincere form of flattery - well, I guess they just don't know how to flatter, because a good imitation this was not.