Blog-Casters: Apple Runs My Life- Lovefest Coming Don

Blog-Casters: Apple Runs My Life- Lovefest Coming Don: "The iPad 2 Launch Party - Buffalo, NY Edition As much as I love Apple, and it is well documented on this blog just how much I do. I have ne..."

Apple Runs My Life- Lovefest Coming Don

The iPad 2 Launch Party - Buffalo, NY Edition

As much as I love Apple, and it is well documented on this blog just how much I do. I have never been able to be at an Apple Store for a launch. I got my first iPhone (3G) the first week of August about a week after the launch. I got my 4G iPhone for my birthday. I bought my iMac about 3-weeks after the refresh. I got my first iPad in November (nearly six painful months after the launch), and even though I got my Mac Book Pro on the first day it wasn't a major launch. 

I decided weeks ago that I was going to be there for the launch of the iPad 2. I had to experience the fun of a launch. Here is my day:

I arrived at the mall at around Noon for some lunch at PF Changs with a friend and about 50 people were already milling around the store. I came out after a delicious plate of Mongolian Beef and the line had tripled. I got in the line (as I would later find out) at position 144. They were giving out vey cold and very delicious bottles of Smart Water. 

At 2:00, the store closed its doors to all customers to prepare for the launch. 

Around 4:00, the bossman came out with some girls and some tickets. You could get two tickets, 1 per iPad. The ticket guaranteed you an iPad but not a specific color/model. 

Around 5:00, all of the employees came running out giving high fives and pretending to be SOOOOOOO happy idiot sheep like myself rolled around on the floor of the mall all day. I decided to take two tickets because by 5:00 about 900 people were in line and 300 of them walked away without a ticket. Plus, after some quick iPhone research, I found out that the iPad was already back ordered 2-3 weeks on Apple's website. It was clear that by morning, there wouldn't be an iPad 2 to be had unless you turned to a secondary market. 

Around 5:30, I was to the front of the line and was greeted by a police officer, a few security guards, and a homely looking lady with a blue Apple staff shirt. Ms. Plane Jane asked me what make and model I wanted to buy. I pried, looking to gather information about what model was in such demand that it had sold out in the thirty-minutes it took me to arrive at the front of the store. Jane was as robotic as a Wrestling Buddy, and wasn't giving away any information. She stood stonewalled waiting for me to answer what make and model I wanted to purchase. I blinked first and blurted out 32/Black/Wi-Fi and was granted admission into the glorious space filled with Apple delight.

Eric Kaiser (he gave me his card) was the "specialist" that would serve me. He was a nice kid, but a couple of things about the launch made me very angry. None of it was his fault, but he was gracious enough to listen to these complaints:

1. Inexcusably, the Apple store was stocked with ZERO docs for the new iPad 2. First of all, the original iPad dock was engineered in such a way that it is completely obsolete after one version of the product. No adapter, no tricks, iPad doc 1 garbage when paired with the iPad 2. I know some people think the docs are useless and to some extent they are, but I love to doc my products. Shame!* Shame on you Apple Store for not having any docs for me to waste my money on (*Shame is property of the Shek Republic).
2. One of the highlights from Steve Jobs presentation a few weeks ago was the introduction to the "Smart Cover." The word was that these covers would come in cloth for $39 and leather for $69. I figured I would save $30 and buy a black cloth cover. Here is the catch, they only make black in the leather more expensive version of the product. Only the pastel looking, girlish, hideous colors come in cloth. The black, red, and navy are all leather only. Apple has left you with two choices, dress your new iPad like an easter egg for forty dollars or pay seventy and get a cool one. Like I said, I am a sheep. I bought the black one. 

Otherwise, the launch was a giant success. I made two separate purchases as follows:

2 separate checks please Eric,

First:
1 Black iPad 32G WIFI ($599) 1 Black Leather Smart Pad ($69) 1 HDMI ADAPTER ($39)

Second:
1 Black iPad 32G WIFI ($599) destined for E-Bay (Starting Bid, $700) 

A Few Notes:

• The line was mostly people from Canada trying to figure a way to get back across the border with the box in-hand and without having to paying duty. The guy behind me asked me if I would mail him the box. I said no. Pay your duty. 
• Many of the Canadians were large groups of Asians. 35% of the line was Asian. 

• A guy behind me had 0 (that stand for ZERO) APPS on his iPhone because of a strange fear that Apple will steal his credit-card info, they are a waste of money, and the free ones are junky. Huh? He rented a car for the 90 minute trip from Toronto to Buffalo. He bought 2 iPad 2s, one to never have a downloaded app and 1 for ebay to cover the money for his rental car (he hopes). He was from Moscow (originally) and spent the spare time reading a book in Russian. I thumbed through it but the plot seemed very thin to me. 
• I spent most of my time in line reading Jeff Duncan's incredible, "From Bags to Riches" I don't know if it will ever be our book of the month, but it is worth a read for any fan of football, human nature, and miracles. 
• A lot of the chatter in line was on the topic of Apps (and boobs, but that is for a different blog). What apps are the best? What apps can't you live without? So I wonder, and maybe you can comment, what app do you consider a MUST have? 
• Ok twist my arm, (Like the great Dave Dameshek, I love a good list!) Here are my top 5 apps for the iPad only. Maybe some other time (by "maybe," I mean almost definitely) I will post a list of apps for the iPhone (a totally different animal). 

1. Flipboard: It was not a mistake that Flipboard was named the App of the Year by iTunes. Basically, the app takes your Twitter or Facebook feed and turns it into an elegant, slick, and functional magazine. 
2. Dropbox: Dropbox would be number 2 on my iPhone list as well. I couldn't live without this online cloud (free for 2GB of storage) that makes sharing files form iPhone to iPad to iMac to Mac Book Pro easier than shucking stones (See: below). Another cool feature to Dropbox is that it offers a public folder that allows you to share files with friends at other computers (This would even work if you have an e-pal in prison, provided he had internet access.) (See: Below, Below) 
3. DirecTV: Even though it took DirecTv too long to create this app, when they finally did drop it, I wasn't disappointed (See below, below, below). The app is functional as a remote control, a TV guide, and has a ton of cool sports features. 
4. FLUD News: This app is free. This app is very functional and a great way to follow RSS feeds like this one. It is considerably more useful than Pakistani flooding. (See below, below, below, below)
5. 60 Minutes: This app comes in at a pricey $4.99 and I always hated 6o Minutes because it always meant the end of the weekend, but this app is a great way to follow the longest running news magazine on television. The best part of the app is that they keep that old curmudgeon Andy Rooney (See below, below, below, below,below) in the corner by himself so you never have to cross paths with him. 

All right, time to go play with my new glorious toy...

Does anyone else have  a tale to tell about launch day?

Do you have an iPad 2 in hand?

One of the cool new features on the iPad 2 is the enhanced Photo Booth app. Tammy really likes this option:

Say goodnight Brady :)

The case of Chara v. Pacioretty v. Sanity

Chara v. Pacioretty v. Sanity

Let me start by saying the Chara hit on Pacioretty was absolutely devastating and unfortunate, that is without question. The grey area however comes into play over intent.

Steve Montador, an ex-teammate of Zdeno's, said in an interview yesterday that players hit to hurt, not to injure. He also went on to add that Chara probably knew exactly where he was on the ice, even if he didn't want that result. I'm not hear to argue intent. I think the NHL is starting to get to the point where intent is irrelevant.

David Steckel turned to skate up ice in a game against the Penguins. While doing so, he clipped Sidney Crosby in the face with his shoulder. There is a strong argument to be made that Steckel didn't even see Sid, and not many people would claim there was malice on the play.

So what?

Crosby has yet to get back into the Penguins lineup due to concussion symptoms. If it was determined that Steckel meant to hit Kid Crosby, Steckel would likely have been suspended since the NHL has now outlawed "east/west" hits where a player hits an unsuspecting player from the side. Chara was deemed by the NHL to have done nothing wrong other than hit a player in the wrong place at the wrong time. It doesn't change the results.

If a player accidentally trips someone it still gets called. Same with a high stick. Same with delay of game. Why not suspensions?

I'm not for suspending players for totally legal checks that result in injury. Its a contact sport, its going to happen. But Chara, at the very least, was reckless. Steckel, although accidental, was not conscious enough of his surroundings and may have hurt a superstar for the year. And in both cases, its debatable if the hits were legal.

I'm also not saying they should throw the book at these guys. Most hockey pundits seem to agree with the NHL's ruling. But a one to three game penalty for each guy would've at least sent the message that players need to be responsible for their actions. The legality and result of the play should be the first factor used to decide if a suspension is in order, the determination on intent should then be used to decide length.

-

All the above said...hold the freaking phone. Air Canada and Louis Dionne need to calm down. Air Canada is claiming that "Unless the NHL takes immediate action with serious suspension to the players in question to curtail these life-threatening injuries, Air Canada will withdraw its sponsorship of hockey." Also, Quebec's director of criminal and penal prosecutions, Louis Dionne, has requested a police investigation into Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara over the hit that hospitalized Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty.

I'm not even really sure how to respond to this. I think both are seeking PR attention and trying to come off as chaste soldiers in the army of goodie-twoshoes. Todd Bertuzzi has yet to face trial for an incident that was clearly intentional and brutal. Good luck get big Z into a court room. And Air Canada can't really think that people who need to travel are going to make moral judgements on their airline of choice's take on head shots in the NHL. Both of you, take a deep breath and stay out of my hockey news.

Apple's Marketing Department: The Smartest People In Any Room

Let me start by saying this won't be a popular article with Steve. Or any Apple fanatics. But I'll try to remain objective. I want an iPad. If they were considerably cheaper, I would probably own an iPad. But (our site's tech guy) Bob and I recently had a conversation about how we couldn't figure out why?

Apple does a few things really well. Appearance is one of them. All of their products are amazingly polished and beautiful superficially. Integration is another. iTunes is a brilliant piece of software for managing everything Apple creates, from the iPad to the MacBook to the iPhone. Their software in general is very very solid. The bundled software with the Mac OS is light years ahead of anything Microsoft can offer. But none of this holds a candle to their ability to create buzz.

Let's call the iPad what it really is, a severely crippled laptop combined with a phone that can't make calls at worst, and an improved Tablet PC at best. There is very little that is innovative about it (other than its size), but Apple's marketing wizards will have you believe they came up with something new and magical.

And it doesn't stop there. New features are added every year so you can buy a new one as often as a new Madden game. This is where they take the cake in their brilliance. The new iPad has slightly upgraded specs, two cameras, is thinner and lighter, and has options (that you can pay extra for) for things like USB and HDMI which are included with even the cheapest of laptops.

This isn't intended to be a total hate-fest, I actually like their products. But the next thing gets me above all else. Price.

The highest end MacBook Pro (without any upgrades) retails for $2,499.00. But don't try to convince people that Toshiba's highest end laptop in their Qosmio line betters it in a majority of key areas for $1,999.00 or that the $1,599.00 Qosmio is comparable (and still better in many ways). And this holds true across the board for laptop manufacturers. One more piece of wisdom. Internally, Macs are identical to PC's. The only major difference is software.

The original iPad, cost $499. The actual product, cost apple about $260 to create. For a grand total of about 100% profit on every one sold. Yet people line up as though they are giving them away.

I wonder how much of these huge profit margins go into marketing? Like I said, I know this sounds like a hate-filled rant, but it really isn't. They are absolutely brilliant. They have made polished hardware combined with excellent software into something of a status symbol. I wish one of them could market our podcast.

I guess I just don't get it. I'm curious to hear from Apple fanatics. Clue me in! What am I missing?

It seems customary to end the blogs with pics of our dogs so here goes.

Sit Lukin, sit. Good dog.

Book Club

The Book Club

To me the book club is goo fun. I have had a blast so far with The Best American Sports Writing series being the book of the month. I have ordered copies from Amazon, I have pass out copies to friends, and I have spent hours on the couch just reading through a volume of the series. Today, I planned on blogging a bit, but I got side tracked with articles from the 2008 version of the book. Now, its 2:00 in the morning and Livia just gave the okay for Junior to whack Tony. I should really go to bed.

Before I do that, I want to tell you about three articles I enjoyed in the 2008 book and they were all penned by people we know (sort of). 

The first two articles were written about Bo Jackson. The first was from the mind of our friend Joe Posnaski.  

Here is a link... Part of the story is in the comments:

http://slumz.boxden.com/f16/legend-bo-jackson-916947/

The second was a longer piece about Bo written for ESPN.com. It was called Bo Knows Best and written by Michael Weinreb. It is a really cool piece and can still be found.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=bojackson

They are both a basic reminder of how great of an athlete Jackson was before a bum hip took him away from football and for all intensive purposes baseball too. I can remember Bo was hurt just before the Bills were to play his Raiders in the 1991 AFC Championship Game. I think BO was listed as questionable and it was the talk of Art Wander's sports talk show that whole week. Will Bo play? Nope, not next week, never again. Bo knows hip injuries. 

The last piece I read was written by Michael Lewis the Babe Ruth of non-fiction writing. He wrote about kickers and started with Rob Dempsy setting the record 63 yard field goal at Tulane Stadium. He goes on to talk about modern day kicker and how missing importnat kicks carries more weight than random kicks during the season. He also touches on the issue of clutch, and if anyone can actually be clutch. I hope the Scorecasting guys did deep into the issue of being clutch and if its possible in the sequel. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/sports/playmagazine/28lewis.html?pagewanted=all

That is all for now. I will type more about more subjects later. In the mean time, say goodnight, Brees. 

Home After a Great Weekend

Covelli Centre Staff

I spent most of the weekend in the abandoned Youngstown, Ohio. Youngstown is typical of many of the cities I have been to in Ohio, and that is to say it is a total dump. I have no problem with Cleveland, Cleveland feels like Buffalo, but outside of that the state is in hideous disarray. Toledo is the worst city I have ever been to in the entire United States of America, and I have been to Detroit. Anyway, right now we are talking complaining about Youngstown so here is my list of complaints compiled in only a short 36-hour stay:

• When we arrived at the hotel, my Mom (always very anxious on these trips) suggested that we all make our way downtown to find some dinner before the game. This was out of the question. There is not a single light lit in the city of Youngstown on a Saturday night. 
• Why is it the Covelli Centre and not the Covelli Center? Canada is 195 miles away. Centre?
• The Covelli Centre is obnoxiously loud. The music is obnoxious. The in-house production was obnoxious and minor-league. 
• After the game, we were visiting with my brother. It was a large group so everyone was fighting for a few minutes with Anthony. There were many families attempting to visit with their loved one and apparently spent too long doing it for the Covelli CentRE staff. The swarmed the area in their piss yellow jackets and screamed and hollered for everyone to get out and to get out now. I seen one annoyed guard smack a little baby across the face with his walkey-talky. These yellow coats proved to be the scum of a city filled with scum and disparity. Go to hell Covelli CentRe.

The Sports-Casters Season 1 Episode 9

The next episode of The Sports-Casters is all booked and ready to go. Dave Dameshek will make his second appearance on the show to yap about sports and attempt to calm a neurotic Shek Republic.

Also on the show, Greg Wyshnski the editor of the Puck Daddy Blog on Yahoo Sports is also making his second appearance on the show. Greg is a big Devils fan and we will found out what has led to their 20-2-2 record over the last 24 games. We will also try to sort out the crowded playoff races in both conferences. 

The show will also feature regular features "Pick 4" and "3 Things" will be in their regular spots. Also, The Sports-Casters @ The Movies returns with the guys taking a look back at Major League staring, Charlie Scheen and Wesley Snipes. 

I like to get your week started with a few fantastic links. Here they are:

• Have you looked at the iPad2 yet?
• Friend of the podcast has a great piece in this week's Sports Illustrated on Derrick Rose. Here is a piece he did for the website.
• Friend of the podcast Joe Posnanski has a new found passion in sports, hating Labron James. 
• The gloriousness of thus app is going to be the subject of one of my three things this week.
• Lots of the books that are eligible for this month's book club can be found here for very low prices.

Apple, Saints, Youngstown, Random

Apple Products

If someone took the time to check, they would find out that my heart is actually shaped as an apple with a bite out of it. I can't help but think about, play with. or talk about my apple products almost all day long. Here is what you are looking at:

iPhone 4 16GB (second from the left, docked)

iPad Wi-Fi 16GB (first from the left, docked)

Apple TV (Second Generation) (All the way to the right then one stelp left, black item leaning on iMac)

iPod 5th Generation 60GB White (Not pictured)

iMac9,1 2.93 GHz (The Big one in the middle)

MacBook Pro 15inch 2.3 GHz Quad Core Intel Core i7 (All the way to the right)

Other fun stuff in the picture: Wireless Keyboard, Magic Mouse, iPad Keyboard Doc, my check book

In an attempt to keep up with Apple, I put my iPad and accessories on eBay with the hope of moving the items for enough money to buy the iPad2. I have to have the iPad 2. 

What do you have? I am interested to find out what kind of Apple materials you are rocking?

Do you want to buy my ipad? Sure,  I will sell it to you. 

Chilli's is a Bust, The Sopranos, A Few Sports Notes

I went to Chili's with the girlfriend tonight. The same girl that made her debut in the podcast last night. We had seen a commercial advertising a great deal that would get us an appetizer to share, two entrees, and an Adrian Peterson bobble head. We easily decided on the half order of Texas Fries for out appetizer and we considered our dinner options (as limited as them might have been). I wanted to get some fajitas and lucky for me Chicken Fajitas was on the list. the only problem is that Chili's serves chicken that tastes more like cardboard than chicken. I asked the waitress if I could substitute beef, I figured that since Chicken and Beef fajitas are the same price on the menu it shouldn't be a problem. Well, it was a problem, NO SUBSTITUTIONS. The whole 2 for 20 thing was a big bust. I got the beef fajitas and the half order of fries anyway. Tammy got some wrap thing. I have no idea what they wrap up in there but I was positive I saw her nibbling on a lego. I think the bill was around $30.00 and I decided Chili's is on a six-month suspension for lack of flexibility.

The Sopranos

I have been watching season one of The Sopranos the last few nights and it is fantastic television. I wonder how the series would have been different if Tony's mother Livia didn't die when she did. Her character was a tough, ruthless, rotten soul capable of okaying a hit on her own child. She would have really made Tony's life miserable has she not passed away when she did.


The most underrated part of The Sopranos has to be the dialogue. In the last fifteen minutes Tony has provided us with three laugh out loud moments. In the episode "Down Neck," Anthony Junior is caught drinking the wine in the church at his catholic grade school and then coming to gym class wasted. The school decides to bust some balls and make AJ go through some tests for ADD. When it is time to go over the results of the test, Tony is an absolute beauty disputing the finding of the test. The school is discouraged with AJ's fidgeting and Tony isn't amused. 


School Turd: He often has difficulty waiting his turn, is often quote unquote, "on the go" or acts if driven by a motor. Often interrupts or intrudes on others. And often fidgets with hands or feet.

Tony: He fidgets with hands or feet? 

School Turd: That's right. 

Tony Soprano: You mean, like, he fidgets? 

School Turd: Uh-huh. 

Tony: And that's a sickness, to fidget? 

School Turd: Mr. Soprano, it's one of nine possible symptoms. 

Tony: What constitutes a fidget? 

Carmela: Tony... 

Tony Soprano: No, no, what constitutes a fidget? I mean, so what if he fidgets? He's in school. Who doesn't fidget in school? And he doesn't wait his turn? The kid's in puberty, he gets a hard-on every ten minutes, for chrissake.

One more classic quote from Christopher before I move on. Chris is in a deli waiting to buy some pastries for the guys. When his number is up a fat man walks in and the kid behind the counter looks over Chris to serve the zeppelin that just walked in. The boy says he was in line but left to get gas. Christopher's response....

"Oh so I can go out, fuck your sister, come back Saturday and go straight to the front of the line?"