While ya’ll were sippin’ on your mojitos and checking out the cute bartender, yesterday, after a long day of interning, I spontaneously decided I was going to wait in line for my new iPhone 4. So at around 6pm, I hopped in my car and  drove to the closet store (Old Town Pasadena) where I was flabbergasted by the line that formed around, yes around, the Apple Store. The crowd had literally snaked past three other buildings and people were camped out with their fold out chairs, magazines and electronics.

No joke, for a moment I thought I took a wrong turn and ended up at the Eclipse premiere.

By the time I had parked, the line had tripled. But I knew that if I didn’t wait in line for my iPhone then, my reservation would be canceled and I would have to wait till the second week of July to get my electronics fix.

Which was not going to happen.

Not feeling defeated, I added myself to the end of the long line and began waiting. Initially, the Apple “geniuses” (AKA crowd-control) had predicted a 2-3 hour wait. Ugh. I was hot and sweaty and really wasn’t in the mood to stand in line in my prickly flats for so long. But by the time I got inside and sat down with a Genius behind the counter, it had only been about one hour. 15 minutes later, I was down $325 and had the newest iPhone 4 in my hand and I was happy as a clam. While I was initially annoyed at the longs lines, the wait was surprisingly fun and a real eye-opening experience. (Revelation #1: Apple fans are really weird.) I think everyone who was waiting felt a real sense of camaraderie, knowing that everyone there in line was just as crazy excited about the iPhone as they were.

Now onto the iPhone itself…..

Disclaimer: First things first, I don’t consider myself an Apple junkie (or tech savvy). I was actually opposed to the idea of getting my first iPhone two years ago because I felt I would always be “juiced” to the phone. I hated how much I relied on my computer on a daily basis and did not want a phone to become another crutch. Well, 2 years and a new iPhone later, I am absolutely in love and seriously cannot imagine having another type of phone. Apple has consistently made a product that is reliable, chic and super user-friendly. As I always tell my friends:“once you go iPhone, you never go back.” (Yeah, it doesn’t have a nice ring to it, but whatev.)

Feel/ Touch/ Look: The only way I can accurately describe the newest iPhone is that it feels like a really well-made candy bar. No longer round and curvy, iPhone 4 is blocky and rectangular. Instead of the plastic that used to encase the phone, Steve Jobs added actual glass to the front and back layer of the phone, making “Jose” (I name all my iPhones, puh-lease) visually appealing. A silver band now wraps along the edge of the new phone, allowing multitasking users, like me to hold coffee and text at the same time have a sturdy and firm grip on the phone.

Use: Compared to the wonderful 3g, “Lupe,” that I had for two years, “Jose” is significantly faster and, of course, smarter! The interface is basically the same, but wow, I really felt and saw the difference in terms of applications loading, filming HD videos and surfing the web. The flash added onto the camera is very bright (almost too bright) and the newest addition of the front camera reallllllly makes taking those self-portraits that we girls love so much easier.

Another great addition to the phone is the use of “multitasking.” Remember all those time when you wanted to listen to your Pandora station while going on Facebook? Now you can! Two simple taps on the Home button, and you’ve got yourself an array of previously opened apps that you can revisit at anytime. It’s honestly pretty freakin awesome.

The Bad: I can’t find anything bad to critique about iPhone 4 other than one tiny detail: the reception can be spotty at times. I discovered that if I held the phone in the palm of my hand, with my fingers “wrapped” around the phone, the reception and 3g connection was generally pretty poor. But if I used only two fingers (thumb and index) and held “Jose” on its side, the reception was significantly better.

Overall, I am very pleased with the newest iPhone 4. I know some people are stringently against Apple because they think it’s just another company out to get more dough in their pockets (which is sadly, very true), but you can’t deny the fact that those people at Cupertino really take the time to build a great phone or, what I consider it, a companion.

If you’re in the market for a new phone (or even if you’re not), you should definitely throw down some cash for the iPhone 4. I haven’t felt this strongly about anything since Edward Cullen hit the scene. Well, minus the desire to grab this by the cheeks and make out with it…..

Easy on the soda water, homegirl.

A couple of days ago three bars at Penn State were fined for “lack of alcohol training.”

What?!

What exactly were those bartenders doing wrong to piss off the authorities? How hard is it to open a bottle of Bud Light or mix vodka and tonic together? It’s not like us college kids are ordering difficult drinks like mudslides and daiquiris at the bar. I think I speak for all of us when I say the only qualities I’m looking for in a bartender are speed and a heavy hand (well, the hand that’s holding the booze). And if they’re a bit slow at math and can’t add my tab correctly, that’s OK too.

The thing is, bartender experience is the least important offense when it comes to college bars. There are far more pressing and disturbing issues that should be addressed. And fined. And fixed!

The Line
I don’t mind waiting in line if the bar is hopping – I’ll just sip my 40 while I wait – but making people stand in line when the bar is empty only to make it look cooler? That should be illegal.

Watered Down Drinks
I did not pay $7 for soda on ice; if I wanted that I would go to the McDonalds down the street and get unlimited refills for a dollar. If I order a Cran-Vodka, I want it to sting as it goes down, not taste like I could put in my 3 year old cousin’s sippy-cup. So stop filling my mini-cup with ice to make me think I’m getting more booze and tip that bottle in there. I’m paying you more for this one drink than a full bottle at the liquor store so stop being so damn stingy.

Bathroom Mayhem
How can the girl’s bathroom look like a hurricane went through it an hour after the bar opens? There are paper towels everywhere, toilets are clogged and overflowing (with god knows what) and there is some unidentifiable sticky substance covering the floor. Can we maybe run a mop through this sucker? A vomit covered bathroom at 4 am? Understandable. Being in this state at 9:30 when we’ve only had time to down three watered-down drinks and are coherent enough to gag at the stench? Not cool.

Show Tunes
There is a certain time when playing “You’re The One That I Want” and “Dancing Queen” becomes acceptable. By 1 am we have had enough to drink that we will dance to absolutely anything, hugging our friends and singing at the top of our lungs. This, however, is not the case at 10 pm. At this time playing show tunes takes us back to those awkward Sweet 16′s where everyone stood in clumps, swaying on the dance floor, not wanting to look stupid in front of the gorgeous guy from class. Help us out a little and play some hip-hop, would ya? We might actually have a chance of looking sexy and luring in a hookup if we have a beat to shake our ass to.

Last Call
If the bar is closing at 2, then a 1:30 last call is acceptable. What is not acceptable is turning on the lights at 1:40 when there is clearly twenty more minutes for me to hunt down my evening prey. How am I supposed to rope in a boy when he can see the makeup melting off my face and my hair plastered to my forehead? Be a dear and leave the lights off, please. I just dropped $30 on soda water with a splash of vodka, so it’s really the least you can do.

What else do bars do that have you guys wishing you could call the authorities?