Ack! - I need a January post

So the start of 2013 has come and gone. In fact, we are getting close to the end of January already - only a few more days. And I still have not posted any new entries here on the blog (until now!). Since I'm suffering from some combination of writer's block and procrastinationitis, I figured I should just start writing (as my former pastor taught us) and eventually something useful or noteworthy may find their way onto paper (or computer screen as the case may be). This post is what you get using that method.

THMMC New Year of Motoring Run Recap

On the one lane bridge

Lots of changes in the Tar Heel MINI Motoring Club during 2012 with some of the older members moving on to new chapters in their lives. With this change comes the need for some transitions and folks to take over things previously handled by others. So, since the club has traditionally done a run to Stone Mountain in January, I figured I would try to keep that going. For the 2013 version, I went ahead and moved the date up to the first Saturday in January and dubbed the event the "New Year of Motoring Run". Since my Turkey Ramble route had been run three times over the previous two months, I decided to look for something different. Plus, running to Stone Mountain would have been a stretch to then get the gap runs back into an overall route.

Welcome Samsung Galaxy Note ll

[caption id="attachment_1021" align="alignright" width="409"] My new Samsung Galaxy Note II[/caption]

2013 is upon us! Before 2012 came to a close though, I had one last item to take care of. That was to pick up a new Samsung Galaxy Note II. The GN2 replaces my HTC EVO 4G that I have had for two years now. I think the EVO is probably the first cell phone I've ever owned that by the end of the contract term I wasn't completely frustrated with it and ready to absolutely toss the thing. For about the last nine months or so I was constantly battling a memory shortage on the phone which was quite annoying. Probably the worst part of that was it would cut off my GMail delivery on the phone. For probably the last three months, I started to note some degradation in the battery life. I could still get about 5 hours of regular use out of the phone, but that was quite a bit less than normal.

I became eligible for an upgrade in November, but I was hoping to hold out for a price reduction on the GN2. The Galaxy S III came out over the summer and by October and November there were already specials in place. Unfortunately, the GN2 has proven to be very popular, so there weren't really any discounts over the holiday shopping season.. As I watched football games over the weekend before New Year's Day, I kept seeing ads for the GN2 and knowing how popular they are, realized price reductions were probably a ways off. So I went ahead and took the plunge with a run to the Sprint store on Monday afternoon.