Sign Sign Everywhere A Sign

I think I'm in the minority when I say that I don't really care whether the billboards stay or go.

On the one hand, I won't like it if the City of Tacoma backs off its guns, and I see that Tacoma could look better with out them.

On the other hand, if I own a giant flat space I think I should be able to put an advertisement on it. I do think that First Amendment rights to free speech have to come into play here, even though the issue is ostensibly about commerce.

That is, of course, the idea Clear Channel is trying to promote by plastering their "Constitutions Matters" billboards everywhere in Tacoma. It is certainly a big statement on their part and I understand why they are doing it. Follow the link for a good discussion about it at Exit133.

But I think Clear Channel has made a tactical mistake with their new campaign. They've pointed out to residents just how many billboards there actually are in Tacoma. By making such a large number of billboards the same, the boards call themselves out where before I only registered them subconsciously. Yesterday I counted 13 "Constitutions Matter" signs on my way home from work.

If you'd asked me last Monday how many billboards I passed on that route, I would have said ... 5? 10? But now I know it's at least 13, not counting those that hadn't been converted.

At the very time when the continued existence of the billboards is being questioned, I'm counting them like never before! It was a bad move on Clear Channel's part.

So now I'm thinking I'd like the billboards gone. Asked a few months ago, I wouldn't have cared. Asked a few years ago, same thing. But now that I know how many I see--thanks to Clear Channel's helpful means of counting the billboards--I'm much more OK with them going away.

Way to go Clear Channel!

I love fake trailers

I found this today:

Mary Poppins done as a horror film "Scary Mary."



I although thought this one was clever. "Goonies of the Carribean," a mashup of Goonies and Pirates of the Carribean.

The Annexation Report

Last week there were two interesting stories in the Tribune about local annexations.

First, citizens of Ruston are upset that their Mayor had met with the Mayor of Tacoma to talk about annexing Ruston into Tacoma. Actually, they're mostly upset that they didn't know about the meeting, even after a Public Disclosure Request, but not a lot of them like the idea, either.

Ruston is fighting the same trouble as other suburban cities: without sales tax revenue, largely residential towns and cities don't have enough to support a city government. The move of Ruston in to Tacoma could make a lot of sense for both Tacoma and Ruston. For Tacoma, the tax revenue is certainly good, and for Ruston they can tap into better services.

The big sticking point: can Ruston keep its identity and autonomy if they are part of Tacoma? I would hope that if the city is pro-active and addresses the vital concern of residents' identity, Ruston could become a model for future annexation, including Fircrest and UP, both of which can project a long term fight of tax income vs. providing services.

Ruston could be given a strong neighborhood council which could vote on building standards, streetscapes, speed limits, and other local issues. I could see this working very well for cities that want to preserve their ability to address what their area looks like while being folded into the central city.

It looks like the issue might be dead for awhile, but it is a good one to continue discussing.

In other news, Puyallup is moving forward with their attempt to annex "North Puyallup" into Puyallup proper. Good for them. Of course, one of the benefits of aggressive annexation is controlling sprawl, and Puyallup is already the King of Sprawl. Witness Meridian.

Tag - but not the theater

I mentioned Andrew Fry below, who Simpsonized himself. But I want to also mention that he has a very cool post over on his site about Tag Clouds. What are Tag Clouds, you ask? Well, notice at the bottom of posts I will sometimes tag what's contained in it

For example my post on hosting out of town guests in Seattle is tagged Tacoma, which is the key word I can use that lands a post of FeedTacoma; St. Helens Neighborhood, which I use when I'm doing hyper-local blogging and talking about the goings-on within a few blocks of me; and Restaurants, because I mention a few.

The idea is that if you like an article that discusses Obama or Urban Studies you can read more about that topic by just clicking the tag.

Well, tags are also an interesting visual way to assess whether a site has something you're interested in. By scanning through tags and their frequency, a Tag Cloud can show what is discussed regularly and makes that word bigger. Here's mine, courtesy of Andrew's hard work on technorati:


Tacoma scores high, with theater and Horatio noticeable as well. I like that "The Issues" scores high, too, since that's the tag I use when I'm ranting about something. And "travel blogging," which I love to do as well (both the traveling and the travel blogging, actually).

It's a cool way to look at a site. After two years of blogging I can look back and say ... "Oh, so that's what I was interested in." Not that it's been a secret or anything, but it's fun to see the trends.

Transformers & The Simpsons

Last Sunday, I called my friend Phil up early in the day and suggested we see Transformers that night at 7, which he had wanted to see for awhile. What a foolish, foolish mistake, I realized, when 6:40 rolled around and I had less than 100 pages to go on Harry Potter.

Nevertheless, I rolled over to the Galaxy for what turned out to be an utterly ridiculous movie. Lots of people have liked this film, which is too bad. Michael Bay has made some good movies. I rather liked The Island, although many didn't. And The Rock ... well, it rocked.

Transformers, though. Man, this movie was dumb. I can usually handle dumb, but it was needlessly boring, too, the unforgivable sin in a movie. For a big action movie, there wasn't enough action. For a movie about transforming robots, there weren't enough of them, nor did I ever get a good look at many of them. The villain of the movie didn't show himself until the last half hour. It was just boring.

Then this Sunday night, I repeated my ritual and went to a movie and 7, this time The Simpsons. I would love to say that it was absolutely priceless and incredible. But it wasn't. It was good, but it was hard not to wish for more. There were some truly wonderful moments, with some funny asides, good commentary, hilarious sight gags, and some pull-at-your-heartstrings moments between Marge and Homer, which somehow the show is always able to pull off.

I wish it had been better, but it was not bad at all.

After seeing Andrew Fry turn himself into a Simpson over at Living & Working in a Virtual World, I thought I'd try the process out on myself. This is me.



It's not bad. My bard really connects with my hair, but otherwise I'll take it. It's a cool bit of technology, though--as Andrew notes--is not easy to work with.

Who knew turning yourself into a Simpson could be so hard?

Adopt A Seattle-ite Success!

Two of Mary's friends from Seattle came down to Tacoma yesterday and left with a new impression of the City of Destiny. High on their list was the Stadium area, with a big thumbs up to the neighborhood feel of the Parkway.

We took them down to Pacific Ave where we had a great time outdoors at the Matador and people watching. How great that there were enough people to watch! The streets had a lot of activity on the walk down.

And then we enjoyed a few good hours on the deck with some Coronas. They definitely went from nay-sayers to believers in what Tacoma has to offer. We stayed with them back in April at their place in Magnolia and had a great time exploring their city with them. Glad we could return the favor and impress them as well.

Ethnic Fest - Great Day for Wright Park

Mary and I wandered over to Ethnic Fest this afternoon. One of the nice things about living in the St. Helens area is that Wright Park is just two blocks away.

It was full of people today and the food is great. Gateway to India is there with a good bargain on their garlic naan and chicken curry. Go!

We also ventured over to Hannah Heights and took a tour of the nearly-completed penthouse suites. They are really well done, and some of them have incredible views. Triangle Townhomes, across the street, looks incredibly inviting from 4 or 5 stories up. I really believe that if you are a skeptic on the project it's worth going to Hannah Heights just to look out over the rooftop decks at the Triangle. The appeal is self-evident. I know they have a lot of problems, but on a Saturday in July I don't know that anyone would care about those when you can sit on the roof and drink a beer.

We'll probably grab some more food from Ethnic Fest tomorrow and wander around the neighborhood a little bit more.

A Walk at Chambers Bay

Mary and I ventured out to UP and walked the long trail around the new Chambers Bay Golf Course. It is very beautiful and very very hilly. Your calves are going to get a stretch, that's for sure.

It starts you up at the road at Grandview, a few hundred feet above the water with a stunning view of Fox Island, McNeil Island, and the Sound. From there you descend right to the level of the train tracks and the water, walking past what feel like Roman ruins of the old gravel pit. And from there ... well, from there's is back up. And it's a long way back up.

But a fabulous night for it. Actually, it's been a great week for going all around town. We ventured into the Harmon on Monday--their marionberry seasonal ale is very good, by the way--and then climbed to the rooftop Deck at Masa on Wednesday for good tacos and a lot of sun. We also walked most of the length of Ruston Way this week too.

I am glad summer is back. It's good to be outside.

What the heck were these guys thinking?

There are times when people say stupid things off the cuff that get them in to trouble because it is (or could be) racist. Usually, you can see what they meant to say and realize that they botched it. That they are not racist necessarily, but they didn't think before they spoke.

(Of course others, like Don Imus, Mel Gibson, and Michael Richards, go so far over that "kinda, maybe racist" line that there is no going back.)

But it is unusual to see things that make your eyebrows go up ... on the funny pages.



This was the Family Circus cartoon in today's Trib. Someone--someone at the Keane's home, at Universal Syndicate, someone somewhere--should have looked at this cartoon and suggested that they re-do it.

It's not a racist cartoon exactly, but it is very very dumb to toss the phrase Uncle Tom--even if it's describing an uncle named Tom--into a short 13 word caption. First it kills the funny (not like there was any here to begin with). But it's hard to be funny when you're wondering if the creator is that dumb or that racist.

It reminds me of when John McCain used the phrase Tar Baby. It's not actually a racist phrase, despite what a lot of people think. Here's a good description of its origins on Wikipedia. But it's a sensitive word and people trying to be President probably shouldn't use it. Just like they shouldn't use "niggard," a Norse word that has nothing to do with the other word it sounds like, but imagine trying to explain why you used it.

Someone at their syndicate should have called up the cartoonists and said, "Bill and Jeff, we've got to change the name of Dolly's Uncle. It's not that it's bad, but there's no reason to have the words Uncle Tom in the comics. Let's just change it a bit so it wont' surprise people over their morning coffee."

Although I would have preferred that they also add, "Please stop showing kids confusing words for other words. It's funny when your grand children do it, but it's God awful when it's published in the paper. You must stop."

It's hard out there for a Cat(olic)

It's been an interesting month to be Catholic.

First, there was the creation of the Ten Commandments for Driving. SayWA? The Church has nothing better to do than tell me not to tailgate? And isn't using the Ten Commandments in that way a trifle sacrilegious? I'm all for a little sacrilege now and then, but coming from ... well, the pope ... seems a little weird to me.

Second, the Latin mass is allowed again? Really? I know some people like the "mystery" of their faith and the ritual of a Catholic mass in Latin has a certain appeal now and then. But after 12 years of Catholic education it's hard to throw out the narrative we learned of Church history, culminating in Vatican II, when the mass went into the language of the people. So it's hard not to see it as a step backward.

Third, there's this whole thing about the Catholic Church being La Iglesia Numero Uno and the rest of the churches being not so much.

There's an article in today's Tribune about this. Fr. Mike McDermott, priest at St. Charles where I went to school for eight years, is quoted.

“It is possible, according to Catholic doctrine, to affirm the church of Christ is present and operative” in other church groups, McDermott said.

I'm glad to hear it's possible. But that's not the whole story. I've heard from a few people that the press took the Vatican document out of context and that reading the document is not that bad.

So I read it.

Maybe I'm not a theologian, but 12 years of Catholic education and a bit of extracurricular study gives me a little bit of a leg to stand on when I say, Pish posh to that. The document is pretty darn clear.

The document does not change official Church teaching. But it makes it very clear that Vatican II did not change Church teaching either. Here's the interesting paragraph:

According to Catholic doctrine, these Communities do not enjoy apostolic succession in the sacrament of Orders, and are, therefore, deprived of a constitutive element of the Church. These ecclesial Communities which, specifically because of the absence of the sacramental priesthood, have not preserved the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic Mystery cannot, according to Catholic doctrine, be called “Churches” in the proper sense.

So it's possible to affirm the Christ is in other Churches, but we can't call them Churches?

This is very frustrating.

With my complaints now vented, I'm going to give you a YouTube video of the Helsinki Complaints Choir singing about their complaints. Hopefully it will make you feel better, as it did me.

Book Report: The Deathly Hallows

NO SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW!

It all started Friday night with a wait and Kings Books and Doyle's for the last installment of Harry Potter. I saw a few bloggers there including ZestyEnterprise and TacomaChickadee, and a whole lot of other people waiting to capture the last book.

I read it for a little while Friday night, but by the time I went to an afternoon wedding Saturday I was less than 200 pages into the 784 page behemoth. I was able to do a fair bit of reading last night and after some work today on the condo I finished the 7th and final book of Harry Potter at about 10:30.

What all can I say without giving anything away?

The NYT review (published before the release, incidentally, but not read by me until after finishing the book) says that JK achieved a certain "convincing inevitability" in the story and that is true. The book felt right pretty much the whole way through.

There were a few places (Chapter 12 mainly) where I was surprised by the true darkness of book and the twists the story had taken to get there. But other chapters were still great fun with wonder and excitement (Chapter 26, for example).

The writing still drives me crazy. A good rule of thumb would be: if you wouldn't say it out loud, don't write. Matter-of-factly? Maddeningly? C'mon, JK! How exactly do I say something maddeningly?

But I can forgive that quibble easily. I'll probably re-read all 7 sometime, just to put everything back together in my head (it was very hard reading this book with Book 6 two years in the past).

This was a really wonderful way to spend a weekend. I'm happy that the book held up, even with all the expectation.

Thanks for a great read.

Daily Kos picks up Lefties for Obama!

My pet project LeftiesforObama.com got a jolt of traffic earlier this week when a lefty website called the Daily Kos (a very significant lefty website I should say) linked to LeftiesforObama.com and had some good fun extending the joke.

Think of a joke, make a logo, and throw up a poorly designed html table and who knows what kind of traffic you'll get out of it.

The internet is a weird, weird place.

Now if I can just get Obama to call me and thank me for bringing him the left-handed vote ... I'd even run the NEA for him if he asked.

... on the way to the Forums

I have been blown away these last few weeks with what's going on in Exit133 forums. After their initial introduction I didn't participate much, but have suddenly found myself drawn back in. There's a wealth of information there and I've been missing out!

If you're not a regular user, it's worth investigating. The Exit133 homepage allows you to see which forums are active and this is my easiest way into the forum. Also, you can register in the forum and then after you've browsed for awhile new sections will show up with a blue square so you can see what's happened in a certain section since the last time you were on.

Part of what makes the forums so good is the amount of information there. It's staggering. The usage numbers are pretty high for a forum dedicated solely to a mid-sized city like Tacoma. 249 users. 502 threads. 2,580 posts! (Note I checked the stats 24 hours before writing this post and there were 9 fewer threads and 21 fewer posts. It's a busy place.)

That's an average of more than 10 posts per user, which is crazy high. The forums have a bunch of running discussions going on. Recently updated threads include topics about the Sounder, high rise in Tacoma vs other local cities, good lunch spots, Tacoma elections, and a whole bunch of other topics.

But what's really interesting is that some people are breaking news in the forums. Just this week a thread in the forums about Calendula's building in the Stadium District selling prompted a post on the main page. Questions and answers about the closing and reopening of the Kickstand and Corina Bakery, new businesses all over the place ... it's really good reading.

Others are posting very interesting essays on urban development, etc.

Anyway, I'm back in to reading them again.

(Since I'm plugging Exit133 today, I'll also go ahead and plug Andrew Fry's Living & Working In A Virtual World. Andrew is very much into arts and technology in Tacoma and writes about how those two topics frequently cross paths. Actually, this post was written in the spirit of his site. There you can find reviews and plugs of interesting tech stuff that bringing people together on-line and off. Well worth adding to your Google Reader page as I have.)

Very cool night

I was very excited to be part of the Business Examiner's 40 Under 40 List for 2007.
It also felt good to be the young 'un of the group--I was the youngest of the 40.

But at the fun party tonight at Varsity Grill I really appreciated the chance to see a whole range of people that I used to see regularly when I was at the CVB. It reminded me that I was at one point rather plugged in to the business world of Tacoma through the tourism work I did.

Once I started at the Grand my contacts and circles definitely changed and I became much more involved in art, film, non-profit work, etc.

No question I feel much more comfortable in the realm of the arts and such, but the business community here is strong and close-knit.

All in all, it was a very fun night with a lot of re-connecting with old friends. Good night out in T-Town.

I thought Democrats liked the environment

Upsetting news from New York today.

Mayor Bloomberg's proposal to overhaul New York City traffic was besieged in the State Senate by Democrats who, en masse, decided they would oppose the measure.

From the NYT:

In a tense meeting on Monday, testy exchanges erupted between the mayor and the Democratic state senators he was trying to win over. At one point, according to several people present, Mr. Bloomberg told the senators that his administration had sent plenty of information about his plan in the mail, and that it was not his fault if they had not read it.

...

So angered were Democrats that they decided to vote as a bloc to defeat the measure, and there were not nearly enough votes among the Republican senators for it to pass.

Guys. Congestion pricing for a city the size of New York makes a lot of sense and will be an incredible boon to the environment as it gets more people out of their cars and onto mass transit. I can understand that there might be concern about how the measure would affect poor families but, let's face it, if you live in the New York metropolis region and commute to Manhattan in a car, you're probably not poor.

It taxes rich people, which you like; it helps the environment, which you like; it's awesome, which you should also like. But the idea came from an ex-Republican, which you don't like. Why is it that Arnold and Bloomberg are greener than all of you in the New York State Senate? Why is it a Republican governor in Florida is on the bandwagon and you're not?

Oh, right. You don't like Bloomberg. That's just dumb.

A Weekend In & Out of Tacoma

I was all over this weekend, it felt like.

Starting with a long and lingering dinner at CI Shenanigan's Friday night. Mary's aunt and uncle were in town and we thought the waterfront restaurant would be a good treat. We were there for my dad's birthday a few weeks ago but before that I hadn't been there in years. It is a pretty cool place. And they've discovered a novel way to do dessert.

Saturday morning it was an early riser so we could catch breakfast. We tried PSP but they didn't open til 9, so we jaunted over to 6th and went to the Old Milwaukee Cafe. From there four of us took the excursion to the beach (like the one with the ocean on it) and pitched a couple tents at Twin Harbors campsite just south of Westport.

We spent the day in Westport and along the beach. It happened to be the Kite Festival, so we watched the hundreds and hundreds of kites while standing in the surf. (Note to self, standing in the surf is awesome and should be done at least once a year.)

In proper spirits, my friends egged me into volunteering to judge part of the kite flying contest. I was a guest judge for the "Open Field Individual Unlimited" competition, which was part kite flying and part performance art, put to music. It was quite a sight and I took my judging responsibilities very seriously. I had to judge on entertainment value, theme, and clarity of execution of theme.

Hmm ... from the kite flying we returned to the camp space and bunkered in for the night with grilled corn on the cob and hot dogs. Today was wet, though, and we escaped the coast early.

Mary and I got back in time to walk the bridge, which was pretty cool, except that their pedestrian management system showed especially poor planning when it came to navigating around the podium area. A bottleneck of the worst kind erupted and people started getting a wee bit testy. I know I pissed off at least one guy by cutting in front of him (he announced loudly that he was going home because people were too rude).

Once out on the span it was great fun, but the 20 minutes it took to go 50 feet were awful and irritating.

Much fun, though. I'm interested to see what tomorrow morning looks like. My "Good To Go" transponder is on its way.

Harry Potter is Da Bomb

I was very happy with tonight's show of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Most of the Harry Potter movies have had big problems adapting the book to the screen.

HP#4 nailed the Tournament Challenges, the ball, and the finale, but pretty much skipped everything else.
HP#3 flew through the story so that we would understand what happened in the last 20 pages of the book (which took up about 1/3 of the movie).
HP#1 tried to cram way too much in and lost a good deal of magic along the way.

So far, I really do believe HP#2 has been the best film at capturing the fun and excitement of the books. (Interesting, since it's my least favorite book).

But this movie comes the closest to #2 in terms of quality. It's good fun, the cast is awesome, the journey goes smoothly ... I really liked it.

Atlas Shrugged after reading The Fountainhead

I read Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead in just over a week. Helped to have the plane rides from SEA to MSP to STL and back again.

I was disappointed I think, because Atlas Shrugged was a lot more readable, save for the 60 page speech 4/5s through the book. But it was still pretty good, and I did like following Howard Roark as an incredible artist and architect than I did following the industrialists Hank Rearden and Dagny Taggart (although both were much better and more interesting characters, really).

It was also interesting in light of starting Jane Jacobs "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" shortly after. I picked it up for the Exit133 virtual bookclub and there is a lot of similarity in what both Jane and Ayn are fighting against, amazingly (considering one was a progressive academic and the other a capitalist philosopher).

Also interestingly, both point to the 1893 Worlds Fair in Chicago as a very very bad moment for cities in the US. It was surprising to read two books in a row that slammed it for what it did to the architectural movement and the planning of cities. Erik Larson missed that point in his book "Devil in the White City," which I loved, but having read that book so recently, it was surprising to see the fair brought up twice again, and in succession.

Anyway, if you're interested in Rand, read Atlas Shrugged. If you're still interested, try The Fountainhead; it really is a companion piece to her much better work.

Return from the Midwest

We wrapped up the last part of our St. Louis trip very well. A visit to the burial mounds of Cahokia in west Illinois, a tour of Anheuser Busch, where they make a whole heckuva lot of beer, and frozen custard at Ted Drewes on the old Route 66, which is like *the* hot spot in St. Louis. They even have a full entry at Wikipedia.

Lots of cool places abound in the city and next time I'm there I hope to do a lot more exploration of the neighborhoods. It's a very interesting place.

STL

Fun day out exploring the town -- a tour of the incredibly massive theater The Fox (with an incredible 4,300 seats). A good lunch in the Central West District, which is an awesome neighborhood. Followed by an afternoon wandering the Missouri History Museum (which was really the St. Louis History Museum, but that's ok).

Tomorrow we're venturing into Illinois across the river. Although we were there on the 3rd, too, to watch the fireworks from East St. Louis (picture above, without the fireworks).

We hear the weather has been awesome back home--one of the nicest 4ths in a long time ... ah well. It's only 90 and sweltering here.

David Pogue Music Video

The tech writer for the NYT has created a music video of himself (and people standing in line at the Manhattan Apple Store Thursday) signing "I want an iPhone" to the tune of "I did it my way."




If you're sick and tired of iPhone stuff, don't bother. But it is kind of funny.

The Fourth In St. Louis

Hot, but not as hot as it was in Northfield, MN a few weeks ago.

Last night we watched a massive fireworks display over the river, each burst reflected in the St. Louis arch. That was very cool.

It's kind of a cool city, now that I've been here a few times. It actually has the same grit back in Tacoma.

Happy 4th of July!

"Death Comes For The Fat Man"

I've been reading Reginald Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe mysteries for a good long time now. They are great British mysteries. They are confusing (because of the dialect and his stunning vocabulary) but they are very good.

If I had to pick a point in the series I'd suggest "The Wood Beyond" which is just as confusing as any other, but read forward from there if you want continuity. If you just want some of the highlights, there are some great ones -- "Arms and the Women," "Deadheads," "On Beulah Heights," and -- perhaps not just the best but one of my all-time favorite books, "Pictures of Perfection."

The most recent, "Death Comes for the Fat Man," was good, but it's a lousy place to start. Go back and find some good ones.

Ratatouille

After a birthday celebratory dinner for my dad on Sunday night, we all went out to see
Ratatouille. I also happened to see fellow bloggers ensie and frinklin there, too (I think I've matched the correct names to the correct psuedonyms, but I could be way off).

Anyway, the movie was good fun. Especially considering it was Rate G. Not PG. G. And yet it wasn't a kids movie. The movie was pretty adult in thematic matters--what does an artist bring? What is the role of a critic? Or of a consumer? There were some priceless moments. A few that were too long (I could have done without the strained relationship with Remy's father). And a few big thrills.

I should also point out that there were a few scenes where it was hard to escape what you were seeing: at one point, there were hundreds of rats in a restaurant kitchen. Sure they were cute rats, but when the swarmed out of the kitchen, they were just rats. And it gave me the willies.

It's a fun movie. I'd put it above Brad Bird's own "The Incredibles," and above "Nemo" and "A Bug's Life" too, but "Toy Story" is still pretty killer. I never saw "Cars" so I can't compare.

(On a side note, the Pixar movie next year is Wall-E about a robot. Um ... doesn't this look like quite a ripoff of Short Circuit? Right down to the robot's eyes and build?)

Anyway, high marks for Ratatouille. Good fun.

On iPhones and avocados

It's Sunday at 6, and the iPhone has been on sale for 48 hours. And I have one. How the hell did that happen?

Let's face it, I'm a sucker for good marketing.

A few years ago a bunch of California avocado growers decided that not enough people were trying their fine product and they launched a television, radio, and billboard campaign for avocados. I didn't fall for it because I knew I didn't like avocados. Of course I didn't. They had a funny texture and were puke green and weird. I didn't want one.

Well after who-knows-how-many years of good marketing, I decided that maybe I wasn't giving avocados a fair shake. I should at least try one, right? So I ordered one with a taco salad. And it was awesome! Who knew how good they were? Why had I avoided them for so long? And they go with everything--salads, burgers, tacos, everything. I've even gotten to the point where I make my own guacamole when the mood strikes me. Avocados Are Awesome.

Yes, I am a sucker for good marketing.

So imagine how easy it was to fall for the iPhone way back in January. I watched Steve Jobs' keynote presentation and just drooled. I knew then that I wanted one, but it was so expensive! And my Verizon plan wasn't going to be up until mid-August.

Then came the video "users' manuals" posted on Apple a few weeks ago, as well as some beautiful ads along with it. Then this week a slew of tech reviews came out and they were all pretty frankly stunned with the phone. So I really knew I wanted one, but I just couldn't justify it before my Verizon plan was up. So I was going to have to wait.

I was also concerned about what would happen if I dropped the iPhone (if you are curious about the same thing, check out the PCWorld stress tests they put the iPhone through).

Long story short, I was going to sit this craze out.

Until yesterday, when Mary and I happened to be in Southcenter and we thought, "Well, we should at least go see them since there probably won't be a line anymore." I swear to you, I really did not go in there thinking I was going to buy.

There were about 10 iPhones around a table right at the front of the store. Getting to the table was like approaching a full craps table. All around it were people smiling and shaking their heads in amazement and you had to weave through them to get close enough to grab an open iPhone when someone walked away. (Also like a craps table, most of the people in the Apple Store probably didn't realize how likely they were to drop a good deal of money before they left.)

15 minutes playing with an iPhone was horribly horribly convincing. Sure good marketing got me in the door. But if the avocado hadn't been so awesome, I wouldn't have kept eating them ... well, the same goes for the iPhone.

15 minutes. That's all it took. Then a cool down period involving a visit to the Verizon store to find out what canceling my contract would cost, and then drafting budget figures on the back of an envelope over lunch at Johnny Rocket's while I tried to figure out how I could afford it.

On the way back to the store to check out the phone again I tried calling my parents and my 1.75-year old cell phone did the annoying thing it's been doing for the past two months--the speakers died and I had to turn it off and restart the phone. If there had been any doubt, it was erased with that reboot.

And now I have an iPhone. It's been about 28 hours or so since I got it. I love it. It really is awesome. It's easy, it's fun, it's beautiful to look at, and it's very comfortable in my pocket. I'm smitten.

If you think you'd like an iPhone but are on the fence, then stay away from them. They may be flat, and they may only have one button, but they have deep hooks. Deep deep hooks. Be warned.