Rohdesign Weblog: General

Here you'll find all posts file under the General category.

October 14, 2004

Thursday Tidbits

There are times when I want to write, but no major topic seems to bubble forth. Those are tidbit days. In no particular order, here are the latest tidbits...

A Clean Bill
Visited the doctor yesterday and received a clean bill of health. I'd been waiting for this visit for a few weeks, because of my weight loss now that we are on the South Beach diet. I was genuinely curious to see how my doctor would react. He was pleased, listening to my explanation of getting interested and trying the South Beach diet.

Boy, it's a wonderful feeling to hear the doctor say "great job!" His reaction surprised me, as I'd suspected he'd be pleased, but not this pleased. But hey, I'm not complaining. I still have a blood test Friday, which should verify if my cholesterol levels are down.

Jasmine
We now have decided on a name for our new kitty — Jasmine. It took a while to settle on something Gail and I both liked. Oreo and Checkers were cute, but we both felt a girl's name suited her better. Jasmine has been settling right in, and becoming warmer each day. We can even pick her up and hold her now, and she loves being brushed. She's still very gentle with Nathan, even after his constant chasing. ;-)

Podcasting
There have been some good developments on the podcasting front this past week. I've created three private podcasts for friends of mine, using the iSight camera as a microphone through a freeware app called Audio In. Audio In generates an AIFF file (uncompressed audio), which is then converted to MP3 format in iTunes.

These podcasts have been great fun, bringing back memories of mix tapes I loved to create in the 80s and 90s. One podcast was created as a reply to an email, another as an audio update sent to friends in the UK, and the latest included Gail, Nathan and myself, sharing some thoughts about eateries, with Michael Ashby (who may be visiting with his wife and mom on Saturday).

I can truly see some benefit in doing private, dedicated podcasts. There's no real schedule to meet, and they can be as short or as long as needed. In all cases, the recipients commented on how nice it was to hear my/our voices in this way. Private podcasts also avoid bandwidth over-usage that many podcasters are seeing lately.

As long as it's fun, my friends enjoy the results and it's easy, I'll keep doing it.

Tungsten E
I've been pleased with the combination of my 256MB SD card and Tungsten E, directly related to hearing other podcasts and music. It's great to carry a selection of favorite tunes and podcasts, particularly for listening on the road.

When my brother Steve was here last weekend, we tested out his Griffin FM transmitter and I was hooked! I've been using a cassette adapter for years, which works, but wireless FM is much more convenient. Have to keep a sharp eye open for deals on these now.

So, that's the tidbit update for Thursday. I have a few fuzzy ideas for dedicated posts, which might appear early next week. Until then, have a great weekend everyone!

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August 21, 2004

VW Beetle for Sale

Our good friends Sharon and Conrad have gone back to the UK after a few years here in the States and we're missing them greatly already. They sold and shipped away everything but their toaster and their VW Beetle before departing last week.

I've been entrusted with selling their little red VW Beetle. I thought it might be interesting to mention their car here on the weblog, in case any readers out there are interested.

Features at a glance: 1999 VW Beetle GLS, 57,000 miles, manual transmission, 4 CYL, CD Player, Cruise Control, Remote Keyless Entry, Anti-Lock Brakes, Airbag: Driver, Power Windows, Power Locks, Alarm, A/C: Front, Power Steering, CD Changer, Fog Lights.

If you're near the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area and might be keen on a clean, fun little red 1999 VW Beetle, drop me a line at mike (at) rohdesign.com. The car even Includes a ski rack, all for $8,000 (well below Blue Book value of $8,477).

UPDATE: The car has now been sold. :-)

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May 14, 2004

Friday Notes

Well, it's now been nearly two weeks away from my weblog, with the combo of vacation and a busy follow-up week. I've intended on posting here later this week, but nothing came to mind, so it just didn't seem right to force it yet. Today, I feel as though there are several tidbits to mention that would be a good way to roll back into daily postings once again.

Rest & Evaluation
While I was trying to drum up ideas for weblog posts on Thursday, I realized how out of the loop I've gotten in just a 2 weeks. I've stopped visiting most of my daily sites, and now I feel out of the loop.

But you know what, at first it felt like I was "behind" but now, after some thought, I like this feeling. In some ways I feel as though I have a chance to decide what to continue doing, which sites to keep reading — a second chance to evaluate my time and energy choices.

Moveable Type 3
Today I learned about Moveable Type version 3.0 from a post at Mashby.com. It seems there are big changes in the licensing and pricing of 3. From what I can tell, Six Apart is becoming more controlling of MT, which they certainly have a right to do.

There is now more emphasis on paid users (good for Six Apart) as free modes are now limited to a single user and 3 weblogs. In fact the personal license is identical to the free, except for support and some other tidbits. For some users who had enjoyed the unlimited author/weblog of past MT versions, this seems to be quite a shocking and potentially pricey change.

Should be interesting to see if the new licensing and pricing restrictiveness will push old MT users elsewhere, or to stick with older versions of MT. I'm guessing that for most people (like me), the single author / 3 weblog limit is just dandy. My gut says that folks to have many author/weblog instances are the exceptions rather than the rule.

Not sure what will happen on this weblog, since I just have one MT installation that's hosted by my company, MakaluMedia. I'm mostly happy with MT 2 — other than the scourge that is commentspam. If the commentspam continues to get worse, maybe MT 3 is a next logical step. But for now, 2.X seems to work just fine.

Dark Star Safari
The book I bought at Paul Theroux's Milwaukee appearance, is excellent, as I expected. It's a treat to read his descriptions of places and characters in Africa, just as I'd read about South America, China, India or the Mediterranean in his past travelogues.

!! Spoiler Alert !!

However, I can sense a much more personal view and reflection in Dark Star Safari, since Paul spent several years in Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer and then teacher. In general he's very disappointed to see that Africa in general and Malawi in particular are no better off 40 years after his time there. In fact, Theroux's impression is that Africa may be far worse after 40 years of charity work and donations from other countries.

I'm at about the 75% mark of the book now, and by this time Paul has concluded that Africa's problems must be taken over by Africans — that the charities which are intending to help Africa are in reality turning Africans into beggars, living for chartiy and forgetting how to do things themselves. Meanwhile, he observes that those who leave Africa for education elsewhere (in Europe or the US) seem to seldom return.

I could really sense Theroux's despondency in the chapters about Malawi, where he lived, because the school where he taught had nearly fallen apart. Houses were in ruins, the books of the library had been stolen and nobody knew who he was or why the school had been founded. There was a real sense of despair in those chapters... a sense from his descriptions of anger and pain at seeing something he and many others had worked so hard for, forgotten and having no impact.

!! End Spoiler Alert !!

Anyway, I don't want to give away the entire book here, but I can say that I am thoroughly enjoying the read. It's funny, interesting, challenging and sobering to hear the account of a traveller crossing Africa the hard way.

So, I'm back to blogging. It was a good break (they always are) and now I'm ready to roll once again. Thanks for all the emails of kind support while I was away. :-)

Have a great weekend!

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April 13, 2004

Family Photo Flashback

Heh! Last night, while spring cleaning, I came across a cache of old photos my dad took back in the mid 70s with his Minolta SRT-101 35mm SLR. The photo to the right really cracked me up — it's a shot of my brother Steve and I, when we lived in Chicago. I have no clue what we're holding up in this shot... some kind of box as far as I can tell. I suspect it was a box of candy, but I can't quite make it out.

What cracked me up was our fashion... check out the stripes and plaids there! That patch on my poplin jacket is a Road Runner patch (I had to enlarge the shot massively in Photoshop to read the patch). Steve's hat has some sort of baseball motif going on — so stylin!

Check out our glasses: molded industrial grade plastic, heavy duty glass lenses, all designed to withstand a nuclear blast — very important for rough and tumble 5 and 9 year old boys.

This is one of those reality-check pictures — the kind that reminds me no matter how cool I think I am, I can't avoid the fact that I was once a 9 year old wearing striped pants and geeky horn-rimmed glasses. ;-)

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February 7, 2004

Friday Tidbits

Well, it's been a busy week and while quite a bit was accomplished here, I'm glad to be at the end of it. Well, a busy weekend is ahead, but that's another story.

Since I haven't a clue about a specific topic tonight, I thought it might be better to post various tidbits as I think of them. Hope this isn't too stream of consciousness...

PalmSource DevCon
I'm getting very excited about PalmSource DevCon coming next week. It'll be great to see old friends there and meet some new ones too. Traveling to other places is always enjoyable for me, so this is something I'm looking forward to.

I'll be trying out a few new things this trip, such as a battery operated Remmington shaver, my Tungsten E and a copy of Day Notez for taking notes and blogging/traveloging en route. I'll also be bringing my analog journals (diary, sketchbook and idea journal) to capture thoughts and ideas. I hope to scan and include sketches with my travelogue journals, right here on the weblog.

I sill haven't worked out how the travelogues and Mobile Whack Dispatches will look, but once I get into them I think they will become more defined. Probably the travelogue entries will provide much more extracurricular observations. Look for those posts to begin Monday night or maybe Tuesday morning, depending on how things go once I arrive.

The PDAs Zenith Reached?
My friend Andy and I had a short conversation Thursday that's made me think. I really want to devote an entire (separate) post to this, but essentially the idea was this:

What if the popularity of the PDA has hit its zenith? What if nearly everyone who might have wanted a PDA has now gotten one?

Could it be that there are just a small chunk of people in the world that would be willing to use any organizing tool, like a PDA or even a paper planner? Is there a large majority of people in the world who will never, ever use anything to get organized? Hmmm.

It seems pretty obvious now that compared to the mobile phone, the PDA is a niche item. I mean, the mobile phone has clear attractiveness and ease of use -- dial a number and talk. No organizing to worry about, unless you choose to. Yeah, a mobile phone could also do more stuff, but the basic functionality is communication (voice, then text, then images) which are immediately apparent to anyone.

A PDA, on the other hand, is much less obvious to use and takes somewhat of a learning curve to adapt to (Graffiti, UI, etc. depending on the user). In that context, it seems the PDA will never eclipse the mobile phone, but of course these are two very different devices. Smartphones are yet another thing, halfway between, which are maybe better than a straight PDA, but how much?

I don't know the answers and frankly, taking this line of thinking is kind of bumming me out. I love my regular ol' PDA and don't have much need for a mobile phone, but I also realize I am a pretty unusual user. Question is, how unusual am I?

I'm still working through this thought, and would love your input. I also plan to pose this question at the DevCon, to friends, developers and bigwigs at PalmSource to see what their thoughts are. More on their thoughts and mine in a dedicated future post.

Sharing My Sketchbook
I've begun sharing pages of my little Moleskine sketchbook. If I know someone is artistic, or is just willing to share a sketch, I've been offering them a page to play with. So far I have two pages filled by artist friends. In fact, just tonight, an art student friend put a sketch on a page, thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to sketch with a gel pen. It's wonderful to have a bit of a my friends' art in my little book. :-)

So, it's late and there is still a busy weekend ahead. By the way, I've greatly appreciated all of the emails from readers in the past week -- thanks to Arthur, Nicola, Tom, Kevin, Bryan, Zane and David particularly. You guys and gals have really made my week, and have encouraged me to keep on bloggin' with a passion! :-)

Have a great weekend everyone!!

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January 5, 2004

Hello 2004!

Well, I'm back. It's been a wonderful break for myself and my family here, I enjoyed having time with family and time to get some good sleep and quality time in over the past few weeks and more importantly, time to reflect on 2003 and think about 2004.

I see that Michael Ashby has posted three new year resolutions on his weblog and I may do so as well. I'm still mulling over what they ought to be, but I like his approach.

It was good to step away from the computer and my Palm for much of that time as well -- in fact from Wednesday evening (New Years Eve) through Sunday afternoon, I often carried my Tungsten E along but used it very sparingly. I only stopped in the basement office to check email here and there during that time, choosing to spend time with my family and doing non-techy things for the weekend instead. I spend all year using my Mac and Palm, so it made sense to have a nice long break, allowing techy stuff to regain freshness.

Christmas was a good time, meeting with family and friends for food and gift giving. Unfortunately our family (Gail, Nathan and I) all came down with colds shortly before the holidays began and battled them for a few weeks. That was the only bummer and that's not bad, though I'm glad we're all better now.

Gift highlights for this year were Lord of the Rings Two Towers extended edition DVD (the two Appendices discs are awesome viewing), Get Shorty DVD, clothes, two Caribou Coffee gift cards and a lighted hex-head screwdriver. ;-)

During the break I saw the final episode of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Return of the King. I enjoyed this film immensely, finding myself yelling out loud with joy at several points during the film. As you may recall, our church youth group had a marathon of LOTR, watching parts 1 and 2 then seeing Return of the King together at the local Ultra Screen. This was alot of fun to do, though we didn't finish both extended editions of films 1 and 2 until about 2am! :-)

However, there was a big payoff in doing the marathon. Seeing all three in a row (and the extended editions) really help tie things together and help bring out things to ponder. I'm amazed that no matter how many times I read or see or hear Lord of the Rings story, I'm always presented with new insights from the story -- very much like my experience reading Scripture. Cool stuff.

Our family also rented a few films (with a Hollywood Video $0.99 each coupon): Seabiscuit, which was nicely done for its historical look but not as surprising an ending as I expected. Pirates of the Caribbean, a very fun film with Johnny Depp as the Keith Richards-styled pirate and great special effects. Lastly, we rented Finding Nemo, which Gail and I loved in the theaters and was good on DVD, though the DVDs extra features were a little disappointing.

An interesting side-effect of watching Seabiscuit was a sudden interest in the Depression era, which led me to John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath which I started just after Christmas. I've been really enjoying Grapes of Wrath and Steinbeck's writing styles; his ability to build tension with his description and narrative is very enjoyable. I'm several chapters into the book and I am glad to report it has passed my 100 page test. As I go through or complete the book, I may mention tidbits here and there. Funny how required reading in school seems like a bear, but when you come to these same books on your own they can have such a different feeling about them.

And as an NFL and Green Bay Packer fan, these past few weeks have been a wild ride to say the least! If you're not a fan or just haven't been in the loop, the Packers have been on a winning streak the past 5 weeks. Brett Favre, the quarterback of the Packers lost his dad several weeks ago prior to a Monday Night Football game, but elected to play -- and had an incredible first half of 4 touchdowns against the Oakland Raiders.

But even better, the final week of the season Green Bay was launched into the NFL playoffs with an improbable 18-17 Arizona Cardinals win over the Minnesota Vikings in the final seconds of the game. The Vikings loss gave Green Bay the division title and a spot as a wildcard team, hosting a game at home (Lambeau Field).

That game, played this past Sunday with the Seattle Seahawks, was and incredible and emotional game as well. The Seahawks and Packers battled back and forth into overtime (sudden death) and neither could score. I was worried that the Pack would lose the game but didn't give up hope, as this team seems to find ways to win. Gail and I sat on the floor in front of our TV watching to see what happened.

Well, the end came on a second Seattle possession. Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck (who started as a Packer years ago) threw a pass which was intercepted by the Green Bay defensive back Al Harris and run back for a winning touchdown to a howling Lambeau field crowd. I know we were screaming with joy along with Packer fans all over Wisconsin, the nation and the world! Wow, what a great ending. Wooohooo! :-)

I'm happy now as a Packer fan that Green Bay has made it as far as they have. If they lose the next divisional game, I'll still be very pleased with their run. They're a huge underdog from here to a potential Superbowl berth, playing Philadelphia Eagles at Philly, who they certainly have the advantage of playing at home and statistically being favored to win.

However, Philly has lost some critical games at home, including last year against the eventual Super Bowl winner Tampa Bay. Further, Green Bay is on a roll right now. So, who knows what might happen (which makes this alot of fun!). In any case, this season has at times been a hard one as a Packer fan, but the end of the season has been great fun.

As for the weblog, I've contacted Julie and Judie over at the Gadgeteer and they've agreed to do an interview. Questions are now off to them, so once they come back I'll post them here for your reading pleasure.

Also, I'm intending to do some rebuilding here on the weblog, re-building it using DIVs and CSS positioning instead of tables as an experimental project. I was inspired by a book sample I'd read last week and want to get serious about CSS table-less layouts. My own weblog seemed like one good way to experiment with these techniques.

Alright, that's enough rambling for today. I do hope your own holidays were enjoyable and that you feel refreshed and ready to take on 2004.

Happy New Year!! :-)

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December 16, 2003

Reflection Journal Update

Just had a few moments today to post, so I thought I'd offer an update on my reflection journal mentioned last week. So far, so good. In fact, I have to say I've really been looking forward to journaling each evening before bed. Seems a nice way to wrap up the day, even if it's a few lines or a single page of the journal.

Kyle asked a good question in the comments of my initial post: why I hadn't gone to something like DayNotez for my reflection journal? Well, while I think DayNotez is a very nice journalling app for the Palm, I decided that this reflection journal ought to be an analog one. I love small journal books, good fountain ink pens and the feeling of writing with them, so it was a natural decision for me.

I'd begun this particular small reflection journal back in 1997, which had been used only when the need to reflect and then write would hit me. Most of the book was still empty, so it also made sense to continue filling it with my daily reflections. I have many pages to fill yet (maybe 40) but now that I've gone daily, those might be filled quickly.

As for how reflection has helped me deal with all the info I consume -- I think it has. I have been thinking about many things I had not before and in ways I hadn't before, which leads me to suspect there is a positive correlation between reflection journaling and deeper thought. However, I do think that a longer term review of my reflection journaling in say 6 months might provide more evidence. We'll see.

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December 11, 2003

Reflecting and Digesting in an Info-Overloaded World

As I'm sure you're aware, we're living in a time when information can become overwhelming, if you choose to let it. There are so many ways to fill our minds with data: websites, weblogs, email, RSS feeds, SMS, IM, phone calls, radio, TV, newspapers. magazines, books, and the list goes on and on.

While our info-overloaded society is a great for learning and information, it can become the very thing stopping us from reflecting on and digesting the information it offers.

Today, while briefly pondering life at the café, I came to realize that I don't set aside enough time for reflecting and digesting all of the information I consume. I'm doing a good job of getting input; but I see now that there just isn't a proper balance of digestion time available to me to deal with all that input.

Funnily enough, it was the very shortness of the time I had available for pondering, that clearly reinforced my need for dedicated reflection time. I'm reading or processing information during the day, but am I taking time to really digest it properly? Of course some bits of information need no digestion but many do, and I find myself so interested in what's new that I'm not stopping to evaluate what I've just read.

Reflection time is a luxury in fast paced technologically driven world and it means that I must step off the roller-coaster of life now and then to indulge in that luxury. But while it is a luxury, it is also necessary. If I don't take time to reflect, I lose the opportunity to step back from the rush of life for a broader look at how information applies to my life.

Where am I going? What have I done well or badly this past day, week, year? How does this new technology or news tidbit or thought effect me? What can I learn from what I've done or what others can teach me? How can I improve myself?

I have a small bound journal that I take out from time to time and write in, when the mood strikes. I usually take time to get away to a quiet place to reflect and then write my thoughts. After I've done this, I always feel much more focused. Often the very act of writing is what helps me process in a tangible way, what I may have been subconsciously thinking about.

Michael Ashby, in a recent post on his weblog (about paper) mentioned a separate personal journal he keeps in a bound book. I know other friends who do this as well and have always admired the idea but never thought I could maintain a daily journal. I think my daily weblog proves that I can indeed do something daily, even if it's a minor thought of the day, written before I nod off to sleep.

So, today I've decided to start a ritual of daily reflection for at least 15 minutes followed by writing my thoughts in a bound paper journal. I want to see how just a little reflection time and writing each day might impact my life and how I view the information I consume. Should be an interesting experiment, eh? :-)

If you have experiences with your own personal journal you can share, I'd love to hear them. If this post has encouraged you to start your own reflection journal, I'd be very pleased to hear about that too.

"The unreflected life is not worth living." -- Socrates

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December 4, 2003

Obervations on Working Environments

Morning was in full swing. Cars and trucks were rushing in all directions, but I was semi-insulated from the traffic noise by Dido's "White Flag" as it played on the Tungsten E tucked inside my coat pocket. I was feeling good as I walked home, because I'd managed to do a good bit catch up on some things while at the local café.

You see, I meet my friend Randy at Caribou Coffee every Thursday at 6:30am. We like to meet there to catch up and have discussions while enjoying a cuppa coffee. It's a nice routine; something I look forward to each week.

But beyond this get together time, I'll often bring along my Tungsten E, AlphaSmart Dana or Mac Powerbook to read or get some work done after Randy leaves at 7:30. I found this time at the café to be very helpful, because for whatever reason, I tend to become very effective while I'm there. I've always found that intriguing.

Today, I had the Powerbook along, to catch up on my personal emails. Sometimes when I'm at my home office I just don't have the desire to reply to personal emails after a day of work on the computer. So, non-urgent messages tend to get stale in the inbox.

At some point the amount of emails growing moldy reaches critical mass, and I just have to deal with the replies. Usually I do my replying at home in the later evenings, but today I came to the realization that the café works even better for this task, since I can really focus and get through many email replies pretty quickly.

I think the atmosphere of the café is suited for working and thinking. Of course there are people sitting around me talking when I work, but their discussions are just one part of the "buzz" in a café. Their voices blend with other discussions, orders being taken, the background music, the grinder pummeling beans to dust and the espresso machine cranking out shots and frothed milk. That's what I mean by "buzz" (not to be confused with the buzz from caffeinated coffee!).

Being away from the "normal" is also helpful for any kind of work like email, because the usual walls, sounds, atmosphere and smells of the office or wherever are gone. I can especially sense this, because my home office has limited natural light, while Caribou's walls are 90% open windows. I feel as though I'm free to think with all that openness and light, which may fuel creativity and writing.

Now I'm not saying my home office is like a dungeon because it isn't. It's more that these once and a while café visits seems to spark my creative side: sketching, writing and designing. If I spent every day at the café it's likely that it would become the "normal" place and would lose its positive effect.

What's interesting to me is, I know the library or the bookstore both have different effects on my mindset than the café does. I can also say that there are definitely different senses of atmospheres in different places. For instance, a train and an automobile have very different atmospheres, just as the woods and a lakeshore do.

Do you have a favorite place to "be" when you read or think or are creative? I'd love to hear about your special place and why it helps you do whatever you do there.

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November 24, 2003

Monday Tidbits

Seeing as I have no real theme for today's posting, I thought a bunch of tidbits might do quite nicely.

Milwaukee Christmas Parade
I was at the Milwaukee Christmas Parade on the weekend, and saw a somewhat humorous accident (nobody was hurt) along the parade route. This involved the Starbucks float, which was essentially a covered vehicle with waving Starbucks employees in green aprons on top, surrounding a huge inflated pseudo-cup of Starbucks coffee.

Well, the Starbucks float planners must not have driven the route beforehand, because as the giant cop-o-coffee came to the walkbridge over Wisconsin avenue at the old Federal building (where I was seated), it clipped the bottom of the walkbridge and began tipping sideways, until it broke a seam and started deflating. The coffee cup slowly drooped over as the float drove away... good thing it was the very end of the route. Needless to say, other inflated float drivers turned the other way on Wisconsin avenue to avoid this.

Figures I'd leave my digital camera at home the one time it would be useful! ;-)

Shaun McGill's PDA 24/7
I also read Shaun McGill's latest PDAThoughts column entitled How long can it last? (scroll down) this weekend, where Patrick Robbe of EuroClie worries that Shaun is facing some serious decisions about running PDA 24/7, with his new daughter Alice on the way. Patrick writes:

"...don't be mistaken though: with the arrival of your second child, your best PDA days are behind you, I fear (at least, that's what happened to me, my second son being just over one year old now), so it's more or less a gamble for me: either you manage to get your personal server up and running before your second child is born, or I expect PDA24/7 to dwindle and disappear within the next year or so."

I hate to say it, but I found myself agreeing with Patrick, at least about Shaun's time demands. I do believe Shaun will work hard to keep his site running. I don't know if Shaun will have the energy to maintain his current high level of activity on PDA 24/7 with a new daughter arriving.

However, Shaun has the advantage of many helpers and a format that can benefit from people working in many time zones to keep things running smoothly, like Sammy at Palm Addict does. Shaun has assured me that he's been planning for his second child's arrival, and has a good crew to keep things running. That's good to hear.

All I know is, when I still ran the Palm Tipsheet, which was a monthly thing, it would have been very difficult to do it alone. I opted to stop doing it for several reasons (one of which was the arrival of Nathan) and ended up selling it, but I do know that if I had tried to keep it going, I would have been seriously sleep deprived. I was sleepless as is was, without the worries of the Tipsheet hanging over me.

So, I wish Shaun the very best, as I enjoy his work. I hope that his planning and posting helpers can keep PDA 24/7 (or whatever he might choose to name it next), going very strongly for years to come. :-)

Nathan Walks!
Speaking of children, Nathan started seriously walking this weekend, which is exciting and scary all at the same time. He is very excited to walk, while I'm trying to be the eagle-eyed dad who stops him from boppin' his noggin' on various things. There's only so much child-proofing you can do though. So, the next few months are going to be very interesting...

Number Portability
Oh, BTW, if you live in the US, today (November 24th) is Number Portability Day, otherwise known as The Day of Mobile Carriers Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth. Carriers would have you believe this is going to kill their business -- well yeah, if you offer your customers terrible service and treat them badly. But isn't that the case normally? Number portability is a great step toward bringing more competitiveness to the market and breaking the carriers' utter control of mobile services and devices. It's about time that some power was returned to the actual users of the mobile phone systems.

And that's all he wrote...

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October 16, 2003

Thoughts on the Cubs Meltdown

In some parallel universe, the Chicago Cubs are headed to the World Series today. Unfortunately, this isn't that universe. Last night was tough for me, seeing the good ol' Cubbies blow their shot at a World Series after 58 years of waiting. However, it was certainly a much harder shock for hard-core Cubs fans that were at the game, watching another chance at the Series slip away. I could see that by the faces of Cubs fans on TV, shocked, wondering what happened, crying.

Me, I'm a nominal fan, and I'll hapilly admit I've jumped on the bandwagon when the Cubs made it into the playoffs. Still, I at least can claim to be an original Cubs fan, having spent many sunny summer afternoons at Wrigley field, as a kid from the North side of town.

Those days at Wrigley, years ago are some of the best memories of my childhood. The gang of guys from our neighborhood would oil up our "mitts" and don our Cubs hats in the morning and start our pilgrimage to Wrigley by bus and EL train. We didn't have alot of money, but that was okay, bleacher seats were pretty cheap, and for a kid whos greatest goal was to catch a home run ball, they were the greatest seats in the house.

I still remember ol' Wrigley vividly, with it's ivy covered brick outfield walls, the aroma of hot dogs, beer, fresh grass and the aging ballpark itself filling my nose. Wrigley had a sound to it as well, a kind of hum genrated by fans talking, cheering, broken only by the occasional vender yelling a sales pitch in the aisles. There's something very special about that field as is the case with old ballparks like it; those old parks have soul, character and a certain feeling that new parks just can't replicate. Its a feeling of ease and comfort that is incredbly relaxing.

Our neighborhood crew would of course get to the park early enough for battting practice, and try to convince fielders to toss us a ball, because while a home run ball was a treasure, a batting practice ball was not too shabby. It never really worked but we kept trying. I even recall one game that we made a sign to encourage the big home run hitter of the time to send some balls our way to catch. We got a few homers, but none that we managed to catch.

Of course we'd buy a hot dog and pop, and before the game we'd sometimes wander around the park, checking out the baseball gear stands, arguing which hat looked coolest and predicting what might happen in the game that day.

Once the game began, we were like extra players, ready to help the Cubbies to a win using our mental powers. Sometimes we'd get a win, but more often than not, the Cubs lost. But that didn't matter to us... we just loved the experience. Then there was the trip home, proudly wearing our Cubs hats even after a loss, wearing our well-oiled by baseball-less mitts back to the neighborhood, working out teams for the game we'd play when we got back.

Ah, those were great days. And it's when I put myself into that frame of mind I feel most for the now die hard fans of the Cubs. Me, I'm bummed, but not like they probably are. I, as a nominal fan can move on pretty quickly, but I am sure that current Cubs fans can't let this pass so easily. I know that feeling, which must be on par with the Green Bay Packers losing the Superbowl in 1998 to the Denver Broncos. On paper they ought to have won, but they blew it, and it was a shocking, devastating loss for me and many other Packer fans.

Anyway, as to the loss itself, if you don't know already, there are some Cub fans who want to blame a fan who tried to catch a foul ball in game 6, for the Cub loss. In a nutshell, the Cubs, with just 5 outs from a World Series bid, saw a Cubs fan triy to grab a foul ball flying just over the left field wall. The ball was being pursued by Cubs left fielder Moises Alou, whom the fan says he didn't see. The fan's attempt to catch the foul prevented Alou from catching the ball for an out. In a weird twist of fate, the Marlins rallied after this (with lots of help from bad pitching and infield errors) to score 8 unanswered runs the top of the 8th inning.

This fan was shouted at, threatened, had beer and objects thrown at him and was finally escorted from the field by a group of security guards, given a new jacket at sent out a different exit so he could escape a beating. The next day, an incredibly irresponsible Chicago Sun-Times newspaper actually printed the fan's name, making him a marked man in Chicagoland. With the Cubs being eliminated, this guy will have a very hard time living a normal life in his own town, because he made a mistake and is being wrongly scapegoated as the cause of the Cubs' demise. I feel really terrible for him.

Now, I want to be clear that while I think that this fan's action was pretty dumb, it was the reaction most fans in that situation would have made. In fact, there were several other fans surrounding this poor guy, who were also reaching for the same foul ball. So he screwed up -- did that cost the Cubs the game? No!

While he certainly didn't help the Cubs with his action, he had a very little to do with the Cub meltdown in my opinion. Why? Well, that same batter who fouled the ball away was walked by the Cubs pitcher Prior who honestly looked like he was pooped out. On the very next play the Cubs shortstop, Alex Gonzalez, bobbled an easy double play that in reality began the the meltdown. Cubs manager Dusty Baker refused to take his gassed out pitcher Prior out of the game, blowing the lead the Cubs had held for 8 innings. Once behind, the Cubs just folded.

Yep, the Cubs are the team that pitched poorly and made fielding errors that let the Marlins sneak in and win game 6. That fan wasn't on the field for the Cubs, pitching badly, making poor plays or cracking hit after hit for the Marlins. He was on his way home feeling terrible about his action.

No, the Cubs blew this series. They had three chances to seal the deal and blew all of them -- two of which were on their own home turf of Wrigley field! It was just the compunding of errors and mistakes that cost the Cubs so dearly, not some clueless fan who screwed up. It's easy to blame some fan, but not right to do so, when the Cubs had every opportunity to beat their opponent. Cubs fielder Moises Alou, who was denied the foul ball by the fan says it best:

"Please leave him alone. It's not his fault."

It's really sad that the Cubbies are out, but the Marlins deserve their title as National League champions. I can't deny them that. They played a better series, coming from far behind and against the odds to win, while the Cubs just choked in the end.

I would have loved a Cubs vs. Red Sox World Series, but it seems that it just wasn't to be, at least in this universe anyway. Too bad for that. But hey, life goes on. I'll still be optimistic and root for the Cubs. Maybe next year they can manage another run at the World Series. Meantime, I'll pull for the Boston Red Sox to beat the Yankees and get into the Series and maybe even win it... we'll see.

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October 15, 2003

Chicago Cubs: Loveable Losers Again

It's late, and I've just watched the Chicago Cubs blow the last of 3 straight games in baseball's National League Championship Series (NLCS) and lose their first shot at the World Series in 58 years. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Man, what a bummer.

I have more to write on the Cubs and their loss (I'm an old fan from when I lived in Chicago) but I haven't the heart to write about it tonight. Ah well, maybe tomorrow morning. Maybe things will look clearer then.

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October 10, 2003

Late Friday Nite Tidbits

It's late Friday night and I don't have the gumption for a long post, so instead I'll just plop several little tidbits for you to enjoy.

First, PalmAddict's Sammual McLoughlin has been featured in Manchester Online, a local Manchester newspaper, discussing his New York style loft he's put together in Manchester. It was great to read a little about Sammy that's not Palm-oriented; I think this helps me gain a richer view of him as a person, which is very cool.

Looks like bad news for e-books from the Frankfurt book fair... apparently some research reveals that people still prefer the dead tree versions of books. I admit there is something nice about a traditional book, but I also do love e-books as well. I guess for me it's a toss up -- I like both. However for the mainstream, it might be more of a long-term option, once the reading experience is closer to paper and cheaper than needing a Palm or specialized e-book reader.

Lastly, if you happen to be a British Airways traveller like me, then this BA Palm electronic timetable application for their schedules might be a great little tool. The app is separated from the actual timetable data, so you can download the app once and from then on, just get the data. Thanks to Shaun at PDANews24 for the heads up!

Ok, I'm outa here. Have a nice weekend all and we'll see you next week. :-)

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October 9, 2003

The Humor of Demotivators

If you've never heard of Demotivators from Despair.com I have to share them with you. I imagine at one time or another you might have encountered the Successories line of materials, designed to motivate you in work and personal situations. At the local shopping mall, Successories used to have a kiosk in one of the mall hallways years ago, which I would see whenever visiting that mall.

I don't know how I stumbled on Demotivators, but it was years ago and I laughed so hard I cried when I saw their materials. So, what are Demotivators? Essentially, they're pessimistic parodies of the Successories line of motivation items. Instead of using encouraging or motivational messages combined with beautiful imagery like Successories does, Demotivators combine pessimistic messages with beautiful imagery. The result are some really, really funny items, like posters, calendars, mugs, t-shirts, etc.

Now don't take Demotivators too seriously -- they have a strong Dilbert-esque bent to them. The idea is to approach these posters as dark parodies of the more positive Successories items. The idea from my point of view, is to have fun, and in many cases (like in the Consulting poster) see the kernel of truth in the humor.

So, head on over to Despair.com and have a good laugh... it'll do you good. :-)

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October 8, 2003

A Little Miscellany

Time to take a break from all the Palm-oriented stuff of the past few weeks and mention other tidbits that have been on my mind lately.

First off, it's been Indian Summer around here, which is very nice! It's a nice last gasp for summer temps before the cold hard blasts of Old Man Winter get us in his grip. It looks like upper 70s and sunny here through the weekend, so I aim to get out and enjoy it while it lasts.

Books -- picked up a copy of Michael Crichton's Prey for 7 day loan last week and read through the book relatively quickly. Crichton has a nice, fluid writing style that makes for quick reading as compared to say William Gibson's more lucid, snapshot style of writing. I enjoyed Prey, which had a pretty good story line, though I did feel bit as though Crichton may have leaned a bit too much on his Jurrasic Park formula. I also felt that some of his story was a bit of a stretch -- though that's OK in a sci-fi thriller, which I expect to be a little edgy. If you're interested in nanotechnology and a nice thriller, this is a good read that will also get you thinking.

Now I'm starting on a much older book by William Gibson called Neuromancer. Oddly enough, I'd heard a lot about Gibson and this book, which was the start of terms like cyberspace, the matrix and other terms. Guess I just never got a copy, which is probably sacrilege for a tech geek to not have read. So far so good -- a very interesting look at the future (written back in 1986) especially considering none of our current Internet or other technologies even existed when Gibson penned it.

Mac OS X 10.3 (code-named Panther) comes out October 24th, which is excellent news! From what I know, this upgrade will improve speeds on older hardware like the Titanium Powerbook G4 I use and looks to add several cool features. Probably the most interesting for me is the ability to log out of your user 'environment' without having to quit apps (which I understand is standard on Win XP). For me, the ability to have separate work and personal logins will work really well for the way I like to work. Still, I may just let others test Panther out for a few weeks before upgrading though, to make sure there are no serious problems -- though I suspect this release ought to be a solid one.

And that's all for today's installment of miscellany... :-)

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August 21, 2003

Ownership Has its Benefits & Demands

Was just thinking the other day about the benefits to owning things, when I was reminded that along with the "benefits" of owning things there are also "demands" which things place on their owners. Of course this is true with most anything, and for each thing we own we must find the balance between its benefits and demands.

I was thinking more about ownership benefits/demands in terms of technology, but I think this idea applies to anything that can be owned. For instance, owning a handheld is a great thing: I can track my time, read e-books, play games and many other wonderful things which can truly enrich my life. On the other hand, a handheld is a time drain that "demands" my time, energy, memory, or what I call "care and feeding".

For instance, I have to remember to carry my Clie along when I go out so I have my phone numbers or can check dates or setup spur-of-the-moment appointments. I'm required to drop my handheld in the cradle every now and then to top up the battery or it might just up and die on me. I have to sync it with my Mac weekly (if not daily), to keep my work time recording up to date. And of course I should back up regularly or I might risk spending more time, energy and memory cells rebuilding the Clie from older backups.

That doesn't even take into account time spent finding, installing and learning to use third party software, or troubleshooting problems and errors, both of which are time energy demands. After a while all of these "care and feeding" issues start adding up.

On the monetary side of things, you might want to buy accessories, like a protective case, a travel sync cable, memory card(s), a nice stylus, third party software and so on. Pretty soon even the most basic handheld can begin to get pricey if you don't watch it.

Now don't get me wrong -- I love my handheld and think it's a wonderful addition to my life. I keep much better track of my time, I have immediate access to all of my contacts when I'm on the go and can read e-books anywhere.

What I'm trying to point out is this: anything you own (which in this example case happens to be a handheld) will place demands on your time and energy. Because we all live in an ownership-oriented, materialistic and advertising-driven culture, we often fail to take this "demands" aspect of material things into account, because we are often more focused on the "benefits" an object may offer.

When I weigh the "care and feeding" demands of a handheld against its benefits, I think it's a pretty decent trade-off, but maybe something else isn't a good trade off -- I want to be more aware of that. I'm happy to find I am starting to do this kind of weigh-off more and more. I believe it's just a habit you need to be foster in yourself, if you feel knowing the "total cost of ownership" of an object is valuable to your decision making.

Anyway, just something to consider... :-)

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May 21, 2003

Would You Go Back in Time?

This morning I was listening to a radio talk show, where the following question was posed:

If you could go back in time to your twenties, would you do it?

Of course the question was clearly aimed at those not in their twenties. In fact, the show is probably aimed at 30 and 40 year olds, a group of which I'm a member. I pondered the question for a little while and came to the conclusion that no, I wouldn't want to go back to those years again. Here's why:

I generally enjoyed my life in my twenties, so that's not really the reason. I enjoyed the freedom of being single, my life heading off in the horizon before me. However, I do think that as we grow older our memory of the past changes. I think we as humans have a tendency to romanticize the past -- recalling all of the great times and memories we had, while filtering out most of the bad times, lonely times and the boring times.

As an example: I can recall many fond memories of the past almost immediately, but if I stop and dwell on the past, I begin to recall the not-so-memorable moments. Like Friday nights spent at home watching bad made-for-TV movies. Or long nights at the office crunching for a deadline. And a particular favorite: cold winter evenings waiting for busses. And, I mustn't forget all of the lonely times that I wished for a girlfriend or wife to call my very own. While life was generally pretty good, it certainly wasn't fun 24/7. :-)

But the larger reason I wouldn't want to go back to my twenties is, I'd miss my wife and new son Nathan terribly. It's amazing how difficult it is to imagine how much a wife and children will one day mean to you when you're a single guy. Only now, as a husband and father, do I understand just know how valuable my family is to me. I think that's a very good reason to stay right here.

At face value, going back in time twenty years sounds like loads of fun, but after a little introspection, I'll pass. Even though my life now certainly isn't perfect, I like where I am. Someone else can step in to the time machine.

The next question is -- would you go back?

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April 9, 2003

Lifetime Guarantee Equals Great Customer Service

One of my favorite stories I like to tell when i want to demonstrate good customer service, is about a good German friend of mine who stayed and worked in the US for half a year. He was in the States several years ago on a practical term, where he worked for a local engineering company as part of his technical college education. He was a mechanical engineering student, so as you can imagine, he was very keen on buying some good quality American-made hand tools (wrenches, screwdrivers, etc.).

I suggested he pay a visit to the local Sears department store, to buy some well-made Craftsman hand tools, which happen to have a no-questions asked, lifetime replacement guarantee. My friend asked me exactly what this "lifetime guarantee" included and what it was about, so I told him. I went something like this:

Friend: So, what exactly does this "Lifetime Guarantee" cover Mike?

Me: Everything. If you bend a hand tool, or break a hand tool, Sears will replace it, no questions asked and for no fee. Even hand tools you've bought years before are covered -- all the way back to the very first Craftsman tools from the late 20s.

Friend: You're kidding right? You mean if I break the tool, even an old tool, Sears will replace it with not a single question and no fee? Must I bring a receipt as a proof of purchase?

Me: Yes, exactly. It's a no questions asked lifetime guarantee. I and my dad have both brought back bent and broken tools several times and they have always taken them back, no questions asked and provided new tools in exchange. No receipt is needed since they're clearly stamped as Craftsman tools.

Friend: So, let me get this straight... a tool that I break or bend will be replaced by Sears with a new one with no questions whatsoever? Are you really serious Mike?

Me: Yes, completely serious. Sears has excellent tools and stands behind them to the point that if one bends or breaks, they will replace it. They figure this kind of confidence and backup of their hand tools will give them a great reputation with their customers. It's also a way of providing great customer service which in turn drives more sales of their tools.

Friend: Wow! You would never find any such provision in Germany. I can't wait to buy some Craftsman tools!

In the end my friend bought a pretty big collection of Craftsman tools from Sears which he brought back to Germany at the end of his practical term in the US. He was very impressed with their quality. But he frequently mentioned how pleased he was with their lifetime guarantee and as far as I know, has never needed to return any tools for exchange. :-)

My point in mentioning this story is simply to show what great customer service should look like. Sears believes so firmly in the quality of their product they're willing to back it up with an incredible guarantee. I praise companies like Sears who offer these kinds of guarantees to their customers and I encourage more companies to adopt similar approaches.

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March 10, 2003

The Silicon Boys

While I and the family were at the library this weekend, I picked up a book called The Silicon Boys and Their Valley of Dreams, by David A. Kaplan of Newsweek. I wondered if the book had dropped out of a timewarp, as it was written way back in 1998, published in 1999 but was listed as a 'New Non-Fiction Book'. I can understand books taking while to get through the system, but 4 years? Whatever the case, The Silicon Valley Boys has turned out to be a great read and I've not even reached the 100th page yet [1].

The book is the story of Silicon Valley, its history and events surrounding its movers and shakers like Jerry Yang (Yahoo!), John Doerr (Venture Capitalist), Gordon Moore (Intel), Marc Andreessen (Netscape), Bill Gates (Microsoft) and Steve Jobs (Apple) to name but a few.

Before Kaplan gets into the story itself, he offers a glimpse of Silicon Valley culture in the prologue, which reads like a journal of the rich, famous, and the geeky weird! Money flows in Woodside, the residence of most Silicon Valley CEOs, and so does quirky behavior and arrogance. Of course this was written in the midst of the Internet bubble, so things may have changed. Kaplan offers a short epilogue on post-bubble life on Silicon Valley (I peeked) so it should be interesting to compare this section to the prologue.

The story then moves to a historical overview of Silicon Valley starting with Sutter's Mill and the gold rush of 1848-49, Stanford's beginnings, Lee de Forest and the invention of the vacuum tube amplifier, the invention of transitors, Hewlett-Packard's garage startup and the advent of personal computers. I can imagine the story continues on to the exapnsion of the Internet, IPOs and excesses of the late '90s. I found this historical view very intriguing -- I'd not connected the links between what made the area flourish and the hi-tech revolution that began there. Of course I've only read about and visited the area a few times, so this is all news to me, a Midwestern boy.

I'm currently on page 84 of 331, in the middle of the Steve Wozniak story, so I still have a bit of reading, but so far I really like the story's flow. Kaplan has a great dry sense of humor and pays attention to historical details and their relationships. Based on what I've read so far, I can already highly recoomend this book if you're curious about the history of Silicon Valley. I'll report back here once I've completed the book with a final update.

[1] My 100 page rule states that if a book cannot draw me in by the first 100 pages, it's more than likely not worth completing.

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February 27, 2003

We've Lost Mr. Rogers

Ah, some sad news came to me today... we've lost Mr. Rogers. He passed away today of cancer at age 74. He will be greatly missed.

I'll always remember Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood for the joy it brought me as a child; the encouragement to spend time in "make believe" as well as practical things learned from Mr. Rogers.

I do hope reruns of his shows continue to air, as I want to share Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood with my son Nathan when he's old enough to understand. It will be a tradition I'll be proud to pass on to him.

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