I finally was eligible to upgrade my cell phone last week and got the new iPhone 5. I debated about getting the 4S because it was cheaper, but since the 5 is 4G, I went for it instead. I hear that Hillsboro will have 4G service sometime next year.
My DroidX was a nice phone, but this one is so much smoother and, since I am used to Mac, it is so easy to figure out what does what.
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And then there?s Siri. I really like the voice recognition for e-mail and texting so I no longer need to type them out. You just talk plainly into the phone and hit ?done? and your words are entered and ready to send. It occurred to me that I could write this entire column with Siri and may give it a go at some point.
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This just in. The world ended at precisely 5 a.m. Friday, Dec. 21, and immediately restarted a fraction of a second later. I didn?t even notice it.
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Our Free Press ?save your receipts holiday rewards program? was another success. About $40,000 less in receipts were turned in this time, which was off about a quarter million total last year.
I have read that holiday sales are down a bit, on average, nationwide. Most of that is attributed to purchases being about the same in number with a bit smaller price tag than last year.
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We are planning for a third Biz Expo at the new Meridian Center in Newton Feb. 28. It?s a three-way partnership with the Meridian Center, the Newton Chamber of Commerce and the Buyer?s Edge. The first event was in 2010.
It will be open for participation by Marion County businesses. Details will be forth?coming?or you can visit our Biz Expo website: bizexpo.buyersedgeks.com.
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We received five free movies from Dish Network for a referral we made. We had trouble finding five we might want to watch. One we chose was ?Christmas Story II,? where Ralphie wants a car instead of the Red Rider BB Gun.
In our view it fell flat and we didn?t finish watching it. In fact barely started watching it.
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I saw my first basketball game at the Marion Sports and Aquatic Center Friday night. I really liked the layout and the way the facility is set up. The scoreboard is first class: it?s big time indicating who is on the floor, fouls and points scored.
On this night the towns went home half happy with the outcomes. There certainly has been an ebb and flow over the years, especially when it comes to the boys. Traditionally Marion was stronger in football and Hillsboro in basketball, but it has flipped somewhat in recent years.
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One really nice feature of the iPhone is the FaceTime application. Since grandson Louis has the Apple phone, I face-timed him the first day I got mine. That is a cool feature if you have relatives and friends who live a distance away.
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In my Facebook alerts this week I was informed that the Marion County Fair has a birthday Jan. 1. And the fair?s gender is female.
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Here is wishing everyone a joyous and prosperous New Year.
If you wish to share your comments or ideas, my e-mail address is joel@hillsborofreepress.com.
