Hi, Wanna Run! Congratulations on your iPhone. It was something I didn't know I wanted, either, until I got mine. Now I can't bear the thought of not having one! My land lines were constantly out of service, and they would send out repairmen over and over, only to have them go down in two weeks. I had a basic cell phone, too. Finally, I got mad and decided I was going to cancel the land lines and go get a GOOD cell phone, and that would just be IT. I already had AT&T cell phone service, so I stopped by their kiosk at the mall...and fell in LUUUUV. I adore all the ringtones you can download, and I've learned how to make my own from snippets of favorite CD's. My default ringtone is the opening music from the HBO series, True Blood. ("Bad Things," by Jace Everett...it's so cool.) I found tutorials on how to make my own and spent a whole afternoon getting different ones to personalize for certain callers. I don't have nearly as many apps as Kate, though I do have a lot of the ones she mentioned. Since I'm back on Weight Watchers, I couldn't do without iWatcher. I also found the best birding field guide, EVER. (iBird South) It cost me $10 and was worth every penny. It not only has tons of info on each species, range maps, line drawings AND photos, but it plays their bird calls, too. It's so cool to always have my bird ID info with me when I'm out anywhere. That is the only app I paid more than $.99 for, I think. I don't do many games, but I do like Card Shark. (Everyone needs a game of solitaire for killing time now and then.) I also have a little game called Ant Hill. When I'm really mad at the fire ants in the yard, I come in, pull that up and spend fifteen minutes or so dropping land mines on them, just to hear 'em squeal. Unlike Kate, I don't care for audio books, but I do read all the time, so I got Classics, which she mentioned. (I'm finally reading Call Of The Wild, which I somehow missed in school). I read regular books at home, but in the waiting room or in line, I pull that up and read another chapter or two in it. And there are several others in there I plan to read, as well. I have another book one called Stanza, and I can download books from from several different bookstores into that, at a price. You pay for the books, of course, but not as much as a "real" book. I haven't used it yet, but I plan to. I found a free wildflower ID book called iPlant. It's not REAL comprehensive, but it was free, and I HAVE used it a few times with success. I like Nightstand, which is a great travel clock with several options, and free. I like Just Light, which is a terrific little flashlight. There is an app called iStat which lets you free up memory when things start to slow down a bit. It shows a pie chart of how much free memory you have available and with one click it dumps stuff (from a cache file, probably) and improves performance. It's free, too. I have a good dictionary and iWiki, Showtimes for local movie times, completely with synopsis of the film and reviews, and a real favorite, iTranslate. In that one, you can pick your From language and your To language, type in a phrase and it translates it for you. There are 42 languages to choose from. (If you want to call someone a jerk in Swahili, it's there!) We are AAA members, and I found a Discounts program that does a bunch of stuff, including tracking where you are and telling you what hotels, etc, in that area offer AAA discounts. But it also has a one touch button to call for your AAA roadside assistance, and because of the GPS feature, it can send a tow truck, etc, straight to you, from the nearest garage. Cool!! I love changing my wallpaper daily, and have an app that has hundreds of scenic photos to choose from, plus I use my own photos, as well. The camera is actually pretty darn good, too. It's a feature I just love, because I don't have to remember to take my regular camera along with me. There is a Voice Memo app that I didn't download, but that wasn't on the phone when I got it, so I'm guessing they have upgraded to include it, and it was installed automatically the last time I synched the phone. You can leave messages for yourself there, and it's a lot faster than typing on the tiny keyboard. Oh, yeah...synching...they did NOT explain that to me when I got it, and it was a couple of days before I found out you need to do that regularly. And that's how you add everything. They never even told me I NEEDED to have iTunes installed on my computer to make everything work properly. But I blundered my way along until I figured it all out. There is an app called Wallpaper Maker that lets you add text to your phone's wallpaper. You can put a contact number on there if you want, in case you lose it, and someone HONEST actually finds it. I'm nervous about doing that, but it is fun to add captions to family photos, etc, and use those as wallpapers. I made one with my dogs and a saying under them. Have2Eat is a restaurant finder that will give you a list of restaurants in your area, with info on them, wherever you happen to be. And I forgot, the Showtimes movie finder does that, too. So if you are out of town and want to go to a movie, it will tell you what's playing THERE. Another useful one is WhitePages. It's a phone directory, and saves you the charge of calling 411 for a number. Plus, it gives you a location map of the business or person you are searching for. This device is so amazing, I can't believe it. It's an entire computer in your pocket. I hope you love yours as much as I love mine. Nicki's says I'm obnoxious about it! Hahaha. So I downloaded a ringtone that has a girl with a really obnoxious voice saying, "Look, Everybody. I have an iPhone...and someone is CALLING me on it!" Hahaha. I set it to say that when SHE calls me! Have fun! Hugs, Marcia

golddust, if you get into problems of a more technical nature, don't know if you know about crackberry, but their forums are outstanding for phone problems. It's mostly geared toward berries but they do have Droid & iPhone forums now. There are a lot of people trying to get their VZW iPhones up and running. Think I read some issues with syncing and what worked for some. See "vzw iphone just arrived" thread.

You're making me hungry Live_Wire_Oak...I happen to like Middle Eastern food... I've given most of it up though since being diagnosed w/Celiac b/c I've had difficulty explaining my dietary needs..it's mostly a language barrier, I think. Oh well. Claybabe & others...for those who are planning to attend, we can exchange cell phones to coordinate. If you haven't already, email me via My Page and let me know if I can share the # w/others who are meeting. I've never driven to PF Chang's, only walked so I don't know how obvious it is while driving. Walking it isn't that obvious...that's one of the reasons I suggested meeting in the Qwest/Vangent building's lobby (the Qwest sign is on the top of the building, the Vangent sign is over the doors...two revolving & one regular). It's 4250 N Fairfax Drive...on N Fairfax b/w N Stuart & N Taylor. Vangent/Qwest building (4250 N. Fairfax Drive): Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=4250+Fairfax+Dr,+Arlington,+Virginia+22203&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=49.71116,72.509766&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FeJKUQIdUlxn-w&split=0&z=16&iwloc=A Street View: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=4250+Fairfax+Dr,+Arlington,+Virginia+22203&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=49.71116,72.509766&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FeJKUQIdUlxn-w&split=0&z=16&iwloc=A&layer=c&cbll=38.882101,-77.112202&panoid=F-tRRqzIWQ1QsdbTKy73Aw&cbp=12,198.66,,0,5 [In case the link doesn't work, here's the address to use in Google maps (maps.google.com): 4250 Fairfax Dr, Arlington, Virginia 22203. Click on the "Street view" to see a closeup of the front of the building.] PF Chang's (901 N. Glebe Road, Arlington, Virginia 22203): Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=901+N.+Glebe+Road,+Arlington,+Virginia+22203&sll=38.882097,-77.1122&sspn=0.012027,0.017703&ie=UTF8&ll=38.882064,-77.115505&spn=0.012027,0.017703&z=16&iwloc=r10 Directions from Vangent/Qwest building or Ballston-GM Metro station: http://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=901+N+Glebe+Rd,+Arlington,+VA+22203-1853+(P+F+Chang%27s+China+Bistro)&geocode=CcthITD85uJIFQ1KUQId4E9n-yFIIzADuTQPsQ&dirflg=&saddr=4250+Fairfax+Dr,+Arlington,+Virginia+22203&f=d&hl=en&sll=38.882064,-77.115505&sspn=0.012027,0.017703&cid=12758474238590985032&ie=UTF8&z=18 Note: When walking, you cut straight across.

I might try Anylist, but I hate typing anything on my phone, and so if it requires much typing, I will never use it. I'm fine typing on a regular keyboard, however, but I never type with my thumbs, other than the space bar. What would be nice would be a list to keep inventory of what is in the refrigerator and pantry, along with expiration dates so that I will know when I need to use certain things. In the past, I have bought too much pasta and forgot to use it before its expiration date. I'm better with flours because I use them frequently, or else store them in the freezers. I have several fountain pens and four different colors of fountain pen ink, and so I like to write my lists with pens. I used to write my grocery lists in Russian and German, partly to help retain my vocabularies and partly to help with my German and Cyrillic calligraphy. One roommate I had would get very irritated when he would find one of my grocery lists written in Russian, and so I made a point of leaving them around so that he could find them. My brother and I still write all our lists on paper, but I use pen and cursive, and my brother uses pencil and prints. I find cursive to be much faster, and I'm very good at it. We get free notepads from real estate agents almost every week and find those very useful for our grocery lists.