iPhone - the midnight hour

Listen - do you hear what I hear?

It's the sound of iPhones activating and syncing through iTunes across this great land.

What a Country!

I went over to the Apple store to do a final wrap up around 11 pm and got to spend some quality time on the iPhone. With a pretty impressive user interface, it works as advertised. I wish I could have taken some photos, but none were allowed in the store.

All of the 8GB flash drive models were sold out, leaving just the 4GB available. Still a few buyers were walking out having purchased the shrink wrapped boxes in a black heavy stock paper gift bag.


(photo courtesy of ThinkSecret)

First chance you get, I would advise spending some time with the iPhone. And while you're there, soak up the customer experience - from the instore signage, window displays, and Apple staff to the online Apple tutorials, I have never seen a greater marketing and merchandising case study.

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If you prefer visiting the AT&T store, go tribal like the apes approaching the mysterious black monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey.



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I'm curious how Allen, Kavasia and Taylor fared in the sun at the Cingular store...



Allen arrived at 10 pm Thursday night (he's calling his mom and dad for his 1st iPhone call)...



Kavasia is being paid to wait in line ...



Taylor who not only thinks the iPhone is "AWESOME!" especially compared to her current Motorola Silvr, is planning on calling her boyfriend. But she assured me that he is not getting the iPhone. Smart girl - make him wait in line!

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This morning I wanted to meet the last person in line - who happened to be #48 at the time - mDave - (a local blogger at NashvilleFeed.com!) mDave took the time to live blog the launch day seen here leaning up against the Cingular kiosk.



Check out his play by play commentary... Good stuff.

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My Palm Treo friend Mashby was over at the Hickory Hollow Mall AT&T store and files this report:



Seems they [the Hickory Hollow mall security] don't allow photos to be taken in the mall and I was warned not to take anymore. :-)

Anyway, there were about 20 people there at 4:14pm and the store was set to close at 4:30 pm. The staff looked like they were preparing for an occupation.



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I'd like to send a big shout out to Chris Mohney at Gridskipper for the honor of representing Nashville as #12 of 20 cities on the coast to coast coverage.

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To my writing buddies over at GearDiary, I am thrilled that you were scoring your iPhones! Congrats to Doug, Vincent, Mike and Matt - let's see those unboxing photos soon!

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And to wrap things up, all I have in my hands iPhone wise to enjoy are my color PDF printouts - and be a pretender...

But the team over at Think Secret have disassembled a fresh iPhone and have posted a gallery of photos - ENJOY!



Good night to all!

iPhone - the line up!

Last November 2006, I had a lot of fun visting with some neat people camping for a PlayStation 3.

Back in the seventies, I camped out in line overnight at the Omni in Atlanta for four tickets to see Beatle George Harrison. The tour was subsequently cancelled as he lost his voice during the tour. And it was cold!

The other time was to see the Rolling Stones at the Fox Theatre, also in Atlanta. That was more fun. It was on a Saturday morning plus I drove a Chevy Van at the time with a sectional couch inside, and so the wait was comfortable. My friend Stan had enough administrative skills to buy a roll of tickets to set up a voucher system. Thus, we could mill around, leave and come back as the crowd consensus was to line up in order two hours before the tickets went on sale.

And Woodstock? - That was a long time ago and a different story.

Today is the day that Apple Fans have been anticipating - the iPhone.

So early this morning, I ventured out the the Nashville Apple Store and got to visit with some nice folks -



Let's say hi to:

The first iPhone dude in line!



Patrick arrived at 4:20 am. He loves the quality of Apple products and was hooked after seeing Steve Jobs' keynote on the iPhone. 1st call on his iPhone? His stepdad to "rub it in"...

Patrick's friend Adam arrived at 4:20 also. He's giving up his Motorola phone for the iPhone.



1st call on his iPhone? "Work"... Might be good to let them know!

Meet Devin. He arrived soon after to claim the number three spot. He has a Blackberry.



1st call on his iPhone? His friend whose wife won't let him get an iPhone. Yup, making a mortgage payment takes precendent.

Benji has been rocking out with some iTunes since 4:45 am.



Why an iPhone? One word: "MacJunkie"

1st call on his iPhone? His mom-in-law (protecting the favorite son-in-law status... I would!)

And here's Megan who gets the employee of the year award.



She caught the 5:15 to stand in for her boss who works at a recording studio (probably sound asleep!) Megan will hopefully catch some overtime pay, if not a raise on her next paycheck.

Meanwhile around the corner at Cingular... it is H O T outside.





And keep watch on my Flickr set

Can't wait for an iPhone?

If you can't wait for an iPhone, then this will have to do:

For of us poor suckers who can't wait

iPhone line starts here!

Unlike New York, here in Nashville, Tennessee it's very quiet the evening before the expected multitudes decend upon the jammed packed Hillsboro Road in Green Hills leading to the Cingular store or the Apple store inside the Green Hills Mall.

If I can get my carcass up at 5 am, then I'll take a few photos of the first ten people in line. The Mall at Green Hills is set to open at 5 am with the Apple store opening at 10:00 am. The crazy thing is that they will close at 2 pm to reset the store, train the employees, roll out the monolith display... and then open at 6 pm.



The oversized iPhone displays look awesome in the windows; inside all of the laptops have the iPhone screens shots touting July 29. "Touch Your Music" is one theme I saw playing.



Just less than two miles away is the Cingular store (no signage change yet) all dark and quiet. I doubt that there will be a line forming... No parking, little to no lobby space, and standing outside in humid Nashville weather is no fun... especially when the alternative is air conditioning and restrooms inside the mall.



Check out the Apple display... inside the Cingular store...



These Apple displays are amazing...



As they scroll though the screen shots...



Am I getting an iPhone? NOPE; I rather have a window display unit!



Meanwhile I'll just be content with the iPhoney skin on the Treo 650 & 680... and the 20" iMac. I've been using the Samsung Blackjack which I love, so I'll catch the iPhone down the road at some point.

Stay iTuned for an update in the morning...

And keep watch on my Flickr set

Back in Catholic School

Ever have those time warp flashbacks when you revisit your childhood? Yeah, yeah...

I had the priviledge of being in a kindergarten classroom at a Catholic school last weekend and two things that I have never understood in my early childhood when I attended Catholic school in Washington, DC - In first & second grade, I use to constantly get my knuckles rapped with a wooden ruler by a nun during prayer time because my hands were below my belt... AND I never understood why we couldn't talk during lunch time. If caught talking, we were made to stand up in the middle of the gym floor to eat our lunch standing up in front of the other kids silently eating their brown bag lunches on the bleachers.

One more thing - why did my mom (who worked fulltime) have to bake cupcakes for a internal fundraiser when all of the other kids' moms did the same thing? We were just buying from each other... be much easier just to bring some cash eh?

Anyway when I saw this:



I thought of this joke:

A little girl is failing math, so her father decides to enroll her in Catholic school with the hopes of improving her grades.

During the first quarter, the girl refuses to play with her friends or even eat dessert after dinner in order to have more time to study.

On report card day, her father is astonished to see she earned an A+ in math.

“Why the sudden change of attitude about math?” her father inquires. “Do the nuns punish you?”

“No,” the girl replies, “but when I saw the little man on the wall nailed to the plus sign, I knew that this school was very serious about math!”

Jesus, I repent!

Exclusive! Gary & Nora wedding photos!

Here are some Access Hollywood behind the scene style photos of Gary's and Nora's wedding done up West Nashville style brought to you exclusively by WonderDawg...

Backstage at St. Ann's in the kindergarden classroom:


Gary in deep thoughts...


Pin the boutonniere on the groom...


The band of brothers...


Pre wedding photo shoot...


Baby - it is slow broil H O T outside...


Dee the photographer...


Momma with Gary...

View the complete set at the WonderDawg Flickr page

Texas Treat!

I haven't seen my baby sister Sally in a number of years with my bud Ronnie and their two grown up men Jared and Brent. Awesome how weddings bring family together!


Jared is the ladies man, Ronnie "FlexDawg" Huggins and Brent (who is a Texas HS all-star reciever)


Baby sister Sally


Megan, Becky & Sally


Cousins!

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Living in Dallas, they hate the Cowboys as much as I dislike the Redskins, thus a little football smack talk is good...



So much to catch up on in a short amount of time...



...considering we're feeling sluggish on too much Maggiano's italian leftovers, much needed naps and outside, dang it is H O T Tennessee slow broil heat.

Time to slap on the tux, comb my hair, put on my girdle and go pose...

View the complete set at the WonderDawg Flickr page

The Almighty Woo - Bennett Wedding Rehearsal

The Five Choir Boys - Brandon, Mike, Best Man Harp; Blake and Josh (f)


Father Breen of St. Ann's explains how to pull the trigger on a proper entrance...


Walking into the outstretched arms of Jesus; thanks Lord for your kindness that leads to repentance...


Father of the Bride... Harvey & Nora...


The stellar lineup...


Carolyn, Megan and Katherine strike a pose...


Daughter Megan & Mrs. WonderDawg share a moment...


Laughter is good medicine for the bones...


Maggiano's - bring the entrees on!

View the complete set at the WonderDawg Flickr page

The big wedding day countdown...

I'm so proud of my son Gary marrying Nora tomorrow!



We've taken to Elijah seen here at a Easter egg hunt with Nora to the right..

We've been at it with lots of preparations, although being parents of the groom hasn't been as demanding as what the parents of the bride deal with logistics wise - since we're focused mainly on the rehearsal dinner side of things. Nonetheless, the emotions, activities and demands placed compounded along with my job loss have been a challenge... but that can be dealt with on Monday.

We're here to celebrate the grace of God and His kindness for our children - for that, we are blessed to see Gary and Nora united in holy matrimony.

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Meanwhile, liveblogging the tux fittings:


Elijah doing the Vegas thing...


Mrs. WonderDawg and Harp the Best Man chillin' or gellin'


Maybe wearing a tux will help me land that non startup job...


Brandon with the coolness...


Gary, checking the fit...

Off to the rehearsal and dinner tonight...
More later...

View the complete set at the WonderDawg Flickr page