I can recall vividly after a football game I was starving and I was in the car with my parents as we drove home. I requested we drive through and get me some food. We stopped at a Wendy’s and I ordered not one, not two, but three chicken sandwiches. And fries. And a soda. Oof. High school metabolism why hast thou forsaken me!?

It was my Junior year when sports stopped being fun and I began to really discover how much I liked hanging out with friends or better yet, working and earning money. So I quit. But as far as I can remember, I still ate like I was an athlete.

Once I entered college I fell victim to the Freshmen 15. Even with a meal plan and its healthy meal options, downing endless sodas in an effort to burn the midnight oil, the sedentary life of a programmer, and a healthy dose of depression after getting black balled from a fraternity, and that quickly adds up to a fattened Patrick.

There was a period in my freshman year where I was trying to work out, I had a workout buddy named Neil who was a fit Indian/American who was focusing on bulking his thin frame. Our workouts lasted maybe a month before I fell off due to some school project. The long programming projects made for convenient excuses for that sort of thing. Also, it gave me license to eat horribly. Long night in the computer lab? Order pizza or wings! Chug sodas and partake in the life of a Computer Science student.

On through college that’s how I went. Convinced of immortality my health and fitness concerns were minimal. In my junior year I left GT and had a programming job. My life consisted of getting out of bed into my computer chair, driving to work just to sit in a chair and program, drive home to sit on the couch, and then crawling into bed. Any walking beyond this was purely incidental like fire drills or… yeah.

This is when I really packed on the pounds. Depressed over school stuff. Work was a low wage job but had growth potential. I would drive through McDonalds on the way to work, go drive through Checkers for lunch, and then come home and maybe have a healthy meal with roommates or go drive through somewhere on my own.

Then I decided to move back to Orlando. Family needed me and I was there. Once in Orlando I decided to lose the weight and I hit the gym, without a job or school I was having an easy time with making the gym my job. I was going two hours a day with cardio and weights and I stripped off probably 20–30 lbs. It felt good. I didn’t break the 300 lb mark though, I nudged up against it and then life kicked me in the teeth.

My mom died.

Me, my dad and my siblings celebrating mom’s life.

And my progress was completely derailed and I spiraled back into depression and eating poorly and since then I had packed on 60 lbs. I peaked at 360 lbs. Through sedentary jobs, omnipresent sodas and snack foods, and life in general I got fatter than I’d ever been before.

Fat with a food baby at my sister’s wedding

And that boys and girls, is my fat story. Next time, I’ll tell you all the times and ways I tried to stop being fat and what has finally started to work. (Hint: It requires work.)

I spent a fair bit of time before my last post, and after, considering why the changing of Android to iPhone bore such weight for me. In some ways, I’ve tried to champion Android among my less tech savvy friends. I held up the openness, showing off my customized interface with unique icons and moving wallpaper. I constantly defended Android to my tech savvy friends who had iPhones. I even, for a short time, converted one to the world of Android only to see him return to iPhone ‘because it just works.’

The fact is that Android is following the path of Windows, becoming a more open OS and trading cost to the detriment of stability or smooth function. When a sizable OS change occurs, as did with their still-rolling-out Ice Cream Sandwich version, old phones are left in the dust. And unlike Windows, where users tend to cling to the versions they know and love, many Android fans lust for the next version. Why? Because it might do more better. The OS still feels unfinished.

So here I am, converted, happily using my iPhone. I would estimate that I spent roughly $50 on apps for the phone, from top notch games like Puzzlejuice and Ascension, to the best app for Twitter, Tweetbot, and on to other necessary apps such as ones used to help me eat healthier. It’s sad, because I’d happily weigh the best Android apps with the best iPhone apps and say that they will often match up excellently. But there are also arenas where Android simply falls flat. Tweetbot far outshines anything I found on Android, but on Android I found I prefer the selection of Reddit apps such as Reddionic (which is still in Alpha.)

In the first days I had the iPhone, I spent probably six hours toying with it and adding apps, here is the current list of apps I’ve downloaded.

Games

Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer — $4.99
I love this game and was always frustrated at being unable to play on my Android, so it was one of the very first apps I put on my phone. The game is a great game made by Magic: The Gathering pros.

Words with Friends — $0.99
I have had a long standing running series of games against my brother Adam, and I enjoy playing them so I needed the most popular version on iPhone. Though I am also like to get Scrabble. As for why pro? Well, I hate the ads.

Chess with Friends — $0.99
Same as with Words with Friends, enjoy playing with others and hate ads, so I pay the minimal cost to save me the frustration of interspersed ads.

Puzzlejuice — $0.99
Now this game, just don’t get it. Don’t put it on your phone. You’ll end up regretful and angry that I let you become addicted. It’s like that episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where Wesley plays that video game, or doesn’t play that video game and everyone else does. Whatever the plot was, it’s like that. This game is addictive and awesome. I’m curious how many hours I’ve sunk into it in the 4 days I’ve had my iPhone.

Bejeweled — $0.99
Old classic, great for passing time in waiting rooms without having to think too much.

Notable absentee: Tetris. Puzzlejuice fills some of my Tetris cravings, but I may succumb and send more money to Mother Russia EA.

Productivity

Wunderlist — FREE
Best productivity / to-do list app I’ve found. I loved Android’s AnyDO, but it hasn’t come to Android yet and until then I shall make do with Wunderlist. If AnyDO is a 9 on the scale, Wunderlist is an 8. Still strong, just not the app I know and love.

Evernote — FREE
Fantastic notebook app, stores pics, content etc. I’ll use it more now that I’m on iPhone, on Android I used more GoogleDocs.

Photography

Instagram — FREE
Instagram is great fun. Sort of its own social network, but more a fun camera app with easy and nifty filters for your photos.

Camera+ — $0.99
Another fun camera app, has some excellent features missing from the standard camera app including improved post processing and things like timer shot, or setting it to snap a photo when the volume peaks which is pretty cool (though I haven’t tested it yet.)

iMovie — $4.99
The most expensive app I’ve purchased, but also one that I am not sure was worth it. BUT, I also haven’t really tried shooting video on my phone yet aside from a few journal-esque videos.

Action Movie FX — FREE
Mostly silliness. Has some fun effects to add to your videos.

Health

Weightbot — $0.99
The best looking weight tracker app you’ll ever find. You have your portrait mode for entry, and then turned one way for stats, and turned horizontal the other way to see a graph of your weight log. Lacks the other feature I wish I could find in a good weight tracking app, which is allowing a second chart for body fat tracking. But that’s minor as no one else seems to have it.

Nike+ GPS — $1.99
I bought it, but RunKeeper is free and provides the same sort of functionality. I haven’t used this one enough to really be able to talk much about it yet.

MyFitnessPal — FREE
I’ve been using this to track my daily calories which I eat and how many I burn while working out. A great app with a huge directory for calories in foods, and an online website it integrates with.

Media

Downcast — $1.99
A fantastic podcast app for downloading and managing them on your iPhone. Huge directory, smart playing, lots of features. I use it for my daily commute and sometimes while working to listen to my favorite podcasts.

Netflix — FREE
Watch Netflix. Makes sense to me.

TwitchTV — FREE
For watching gamers stream games on their iPhone. I have a guilty pleasure of watching Starcraft 2 streams without owning or playing the game, and also Magic: The Gathering streams have picked up and are gaining steam. Great to watch them while on the treadmill working out.

Pandora — FREE
For when I need radio music. A general guideline of music and off we go for aural pleasure.

TED — FREE
For inspiration and awesome videos from the TED conference. Easy enough.

Xfinity — FREE
For controlling our home DVR box while out and about. I admit I thought there was some more TV streaming capability when I installed it but it’s functionality will still come in handy… eventually?

HBOGO — FREE
Watch Game of Thrones on my iPhone? Yes please.

News

AP Mobile — FREE
Seems to be among the best news apps on the iPhone, it’s ad supported but they aren’t full screen or anything like that.

The Onion — FREE
The older I get, the more I enjoy the Onion. Having it mobile is handy and good for an awkward laugh in an elevator.

ESPN Scorecenter — FREE
This is largely a direct equivalent to the app I had on Android. Good for tracking the scores I most care about.

Read It Later — $2.99
Fantastic for syncing and reading interesting articles on the phone. Good for the morning constitutionals and other such times.

Shopping

Amazon — FREE
Being an Amazon Prime member, being able to place orders quickly when out and thinking about it is a fantastic utility.

Amazon Price Check — FREE
Amazon does it again. I can’t bear to spend extra money on something i can as easily order from Amazon for free shipping.

eBay — FREE
I do very little impulse shopping on Ebay but there are times when I’m trying to find something or curious how things are doing, or also for monitoring auctions I’ve bid on if I go out and about.

Oink — FREE
Like Yelp, but for the things inside restaurants or stores. It’s the brainchild of Kevin Rose’s latest business Milk, developing mobile apps. It’s a good app though it still is struggling to catch on as a service and so it can be hard to find places which have rated items unless you’re in a metropolis like NYC, San Francisco etc.

Yelp — FREE
Like Oink but for rating the businesses as a whole, not the things inside them. Unlike Oink, it does have a big following and can be quite good to learn about locations or businesses.

Money

Bank of America — FREE
Say what you wish about the bank, but the app is fantastic and makes my life quite a bit easier in terms of making sure accounts are what they should be.

Paypal — FREE
I don’t use Paypal much, but it comes and goes in spurts for side business or something.

Square — FREE
The main thing I use this app for is for sharing the cost of a meal. Got a friend with a card and I have cash, then I’d use this to swipe their card while I pay the bill. Easy, simple, straight forward.

Social

Tweetbot — $2.99
This is the best Twitter client on iPhone and the difference is stark. Allows multiple accounts, a clean and responsive interface. Leaps and bounds above any Android Twitter clients.

Facebook — FREE
A good way to access Facebook, it does have some problems in showing new content with it being slow to load updates for comments.

Google+ — FREE
I don’t do a lot on G+ right now, but it’s good to have. I do miss the autosync of photos that G+ provided on Android.

Pinterest — FREE
I’m still wrapping my head around Pinterest, but it is pretty and a good diversion from time to time.

Path — FREE
Another social network I’m still learning, but the app is quite good.

WordPress — FREE
I use this only to post photos and videos to a small private blog I share with a small group of confidants. Does its job well!

Misc

Gmail — FREE
A great app for my email. Much preferable to using Gmail through the iPhone mail app.

Dropbox — FREE
Ahhh Dropbox, how I love thee. Such a great app.

New York Times — FREE
Why isn’t this Media? Because it’s not classified as an app. It shows up on the Newsstand in the phone. And the free version lets me scan the headlines and see what’s the news from the grey lady.

And there you have it, an in depth look at the apps on my iPhone. Hopefully I shared some which you haven’t seen or used before!

But, are there any I missed?

Today, while driving today, I nearly threw my phone out the window. I thought about rolling it down and chucking it out as I rolled along at 50 miles an hour, watching in joy as the phone shattered and broke on the pavement and snow. I had had enough.

You have to understand, I’ve supported the Android OS since the Droid 1 got into my hands. It was a fantastic phone and I was very happy… for the first year or so. And then the phone began to fall behind, technology moved forward and the Droid 1’s processor and memory quickly fell further and further behind. I was able to combat this with custom ROMs and thanks to the prevalence of the Droid 1 I was able to enjoy a thriving hacker community to squeeze every ounce of power out of it.

Come a few months ago and my Droid 1 was nearly dead. It limped along with a broken power button, poor battery life, and increasing forced reboots. I held out and fought, dragging the phone kicking and screaming to my two year phone upgrade with Verizon, but when the time came the promised phone — the kwisatch haderach for Android was not to be seen, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus kept getting pushed further back. And I was forced to succumb to a subpar phone, the LG Revolution. My patience had run out, and I did not relish the thought of driving across the country with a half operating phone. And my loss of patience led me to make a rash decision.

The LG Revolution has been nothing but painful as far as phones go. For our drive we relied on Katie’s iPhone’s GPS to get us navigated safely. Why hers and not mine? Because using the GPS was causing my phone to reboot. For phone calls we had iffy quality. Sometimes when I get a call the phone never shows me a useful screen and just vibrate rings endlessly. The only way to stop it is to pull the battery. I mean seriously, What… the fuck.

Now, my anger isn’t against the Android OS. I think it does fine and will continue to improve. But if a perfect Android phone exists out there, then I might have to go through three or more phones before I find one which works. Whereas if I go straight to the iPhone I know I’m guaranteed a satisfactory performance. Maybe not stellar. I know there will be frustrations there, but… well… I’m ready for a change.

So in the next few weeks I’ll be going for it. Time to try out iOS.

With the tree decorated we got dressed and went out to do some shopping. Living in Seattle gives us access to a few new stores and we’ve been slowly exploring them. Brands like Trader Joe’s, Frys, and World Market. None of these are in Orlando so it’s awesome to finally get to check them out. World Market was the one we explored with our primary goal being to purchase items to use in stuffing each others’ stockings, and the second goal being to find a tree topper. At the store we bought the first Nutcracker I’ve owned since I was a child.

As a kid I had a sizable collection of Nutcrackers, literally probably nearly 50 of them. I had begun collecting them as a 7–8 year old, and kept collecting up into my teens when I lost interest and got rid of them. I think we sold them at a garage sale — I can’t remember for sure. I regret not having the collection any more, while I’m sure it’s not a major collection of any financial worth — it still brings back memories.

In any case, once we finished up at World Market we took to exploring the rest of the area around Bellevue and trekked around the mall. In the mall we continued our hunt for a tree-topper. We found a wooden table decoration of a female angel holding a heart, though not technically a tree topper we thought it would work wonderfully and could be tied with wire or some other means to the top of the tree.

With our primary missions completed we indulged in the ultimate mall treat: Auntie Anne’s pretzels.

# # #

On our way to dinner, I knew we were running early but I wanted to allow us enough time in case of traffic or getting lost. When we arrived with a half hour to spare I decided to take the opportunity to explore some more, so we kept driving and came to a dead end loop in a quaint shopping area that abutted Lake Washington. After sitting and enjoying the quiet Christmas eve on the lake we got up to head back to the car and on the walk back Katie spotted a woman carrying fresh baked goods.

It merits explaining that my family has a tradition of having monkey bread on Christmas morning, it’s not a long standing tradition but it’s one I am particularly fond of and one that Katie and I intend to keep. But up to this point of time, we had not found a store selling it — fresh or frozen. So the bakery was our hailmary pass.

The bakery was the Madison Park Bakery and they were in the midst of closing up shop for the holidays, leaving for a week. We had a wonderful chat explaining our delight in finding monkey bread, as well as getting cookies for Santa and for us. They were quite generous with extra cookies and giving us a bag of sweet buns. We’ll definitely be going back.

With the baked goods acquired we begin making our way to Nishino for dinner. (Of note, a google image search of Nishino brings up some anime character, not restaurant related images as hoped.)

Our dinner was fantastic. Expensive, but fantastic. We enjoyed wonderful sushi and the only thing which let me down was a soba noodle bowl, but I am willing to overlook it as the sushi was truly fantastic. Did I mention it was fantastic? Because it was fantastic.

During dinner we chatted and talked about Christmas, about this year and marveled at the fact that we now lived no the west coast. I remember the feeling when we moved across Orlando from the west side to the east side and how “odd” it felt — now we’re on the opposite side of the country and I’m feeling perfectly fine with it.

I’m off work until the 3rd of January, and our goal is to get moved into the house during the time off. Also during that time I need to get my drivers license and license plate moved up to Washington. We’ll see if the west coast DMVs are as unbelievably disorganized as they are on the east coast.