iPhone Battery “Meter”
So, I was using my iPhone on wednesday, bright and early. I had it charging all night and then I unplugged it around 7 in the morning to get started on my day.
Full Battery.
I spend the entire day playing around with it, online, playing Boom, checking out the latest tweets on Tweetie 2… you know, my usual day on the iPhone.
Next thing you know, it’s 10:30 at night, and I’m looking at my phone… Still full battery. How is this possible?
I ended up rebooting, obviously under the assumption that the battery life shown on the phone MUST be wrong, and then when I started it back up, unsurprisingly enough it wouldn’t even LOAD unless I plugged it into the wall.
This got me wondering on a bit. Given that the battery was completely dead to the point that I can’t boot it up (and honestly, I’m surprised the phone didn’t die on me earlier in the day, like around 3-4 pm), I wondered if I hadn’t rebooted, how long the phone would’ve lasted until it shut down.
The way it was acting, however, I came to the absurd conclusion that the phone never would’ve shut off. But of course the battery would die eventually.
I guess I’m still just surprised that the phone lasted as long as it did.
Progressive Nation Tour!
My reviews of concerts are never that impressive (in my opinion) as I don’t know song names for most of the bands I check out in concert. I just know I love the music.
It was a last minute concert this time. I was supposed to go see Aerosmith last week (postponed), and I’m leaving for a week-long vacation this week, so I originally said no to Dream Theater in an bid to not spend too much money prior to the trip. However, I was on my way home from visiting family as my friend messaged me telling me he got the “green light” (from his wife) to go see Dream Theater, and he already bought a ticket. I was anxious to go to a concert since I didn’t get to go to Aerosmith, so I decided to run along.
I didn’t get there until after both the openers played, so I don’t know how they sound, and I can’t make any comment on them. BigElf and Scale the Summit were the openers. Only slightly disappointed I missed them, as I like checking out new bands.
We had amazing seats, about halfway up the theater – Ruth Eckerd Hall – and literally dead center (there was even a line on the floor right in front of me that represented the center of the theater). My only disappointment is that it was a theater, as I prefer general admission shows. Assigned seating just doesn’t have the same vibe as being in a packed group of people on the floor.
We did talk amusingly to some of the ushers in the theater. The place really seemed to be more “upscale” than it should for a band like Dream Theater to play in. Most of the ushers were old (I’d put them at 60+), and they really looked like they were a little out of place among all of the prog rock fans.
Zappa Plays Zappa came up next. I honestly can’t think of a single Zappa song as it is, and I don’t know if I EVER listened to his music, so I didn’t know what to expect. It started poorly and I just really didn’t have a high opinion of the group. It was just very slow, and the first song they played all I could think of was “is the song going to pick up?? come on… more beat! MORE SPEED!”
Thankfully they read my mind, and they certainly kept improving with each song, and I did enjoy them by the end of their set (atleast, the first half). We ended up going downstairs for a couple more beers, picked up the Dream Theater tour shirt, and talked to some random fellow concertgoers. I picked up the black tour shirt with brown “Dream Theater” written going up the left side, with of course all of their Tour information on the back. Apparently Florida is the first stage of the US tour (they just came from touring in Europe).
After Zappa Plays Zappa ended, we went back to our seats to get ready for Dream Theater.
Dream Theater played an awesome set, and the crowd was going almost the entire time. During a couple slower songs the majority of the audience actually sat down… I was a little surprised at that. I honestly only have their Train of Thought album, so I didn’t know a lot of songs, and I wasn’t expecting to figure out any of the songs. My friend said earlier today, after listening to one of the songs on Pandora, that he DID recognize, possibly “Endless Sacrifice”. Beyond that, we don’t know what songs they played. It was all very good, though, of course. I’ll definitely try to see them again next time they come around. Also, I definitely need to pick up more of their CDs.
They had a very short break (not even 5 minutes…) between their main set and their encore.
One of the coolest parts was that I noticed that the keyboardist had an iPhone/iPod Touch on his keyboard, and during one of the songs, he started doing a “solo” using the iPhone. I was completely blown away and thought that was so cool that he used it in that way. The guy in front of me actually heard me say “what app is that??” and he showed me on his phone. So if you want to spend 1.99, check out “Bebot” app for the iPhone/iPod Touch. It’s basically just robot (synth) sounds depending on where your fingers are on the screen. Very fun to play with. The default sounds that I used didn’t sound like what he played, so I’m sure he fidgeted with the settings quite a bit! Jordan Rudess actually has a video demo of him using it.
A great show overall, that I’m glad was “early” (ended at midnight)… as it WAS on a Sunday and I had work in the morning. I’m certainly glad I sucked it up and went!
I certainly hope a friend will update this blog entry in the comments section with a setlist when he sees the band this coming weekend, to fill that missing bit of my review! Though I’m jealous of him because Queensryche is on the bill for that show, as special guests. I saw them once a couple years ago and I’d love to see them again.
UPDATE 2:15 pm -
Here’s the setlist!
[source] – Thanks to John Z for the link