Sunday, January 31, 2010

Thinking on a Sunday afternoon...


I don’t want to use this blog to espouse my religious beliefs, but there is a concept I hold to be true that I want to speak on here. I believe that every day we wake up, we have an incredible opportunity…the chance to get it right. I don’t know about you but I screw up every day. Far from perfect, I can see at least one major personal shortcoming every day. Not to say I’m all down on myself, just owing up to my own brand of suckiness.

But I wake up again…not dead yet! So this new day is my chance to get right the things I got wrong yesterday. That’s a pretty cool thing when you think of it. I won’t dwell on yesterday’s suckiness, I’ll put my thoughts & efforts to getting it right today. Will I get it right or screw up again…sure I will, time & time again. But I hang my hat on that chance a new day brings me.

Perfect? Nope! Willing to try, you bet…and I will, every time I get that new day.

P.S. 6 1/2 hours later, the garage is clean and the Daddy Wagon is detailed for the first time in a year. I had to take a picture so I can remember how it's supposed to look.

P.S.S. Deschutes Brewery, Mirror Pond Pale Ale is a good end to a day like this.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Working on Saturdays


I've been working most Saturdays for the past 23 years. It started out casually, I would go to the shop to "get some things done". While there if the phone rang or someone would knock on the door, I would help them best I could. After a while some customers came to depend on my being there on Saturdays. At one point I just declared us open on Saturdays, set hours, and scheduled one of the staff to come in and help. Some Saturdays we'd hardly see anyone (like I suspect today will be like). Some we'd be super busy and do more business than the preceding Friday. So I work Saturdays. That makes for a 6 day week not counting a Sunday here or there and when I bring work home. I'm fine with it, and even enjoy being here when it's quiet. But it's still working on the weekend. To make it more than another work day I started going to breakfast on Saturdays. Today was no different. I was reminded of a favorite after a brief exchange on twitter with @zztype, @scrivener, & @Melissa808. So there I was this AM, enjoying blueberry pancakes, bacon, & coffee at The Original Pancake House in Kalihi. And it was magnificent. That thick bacon is worth the small fortune it cost ($4.99 for 4 pieces). The pancakes are creamy and had plenty of fresh blueberries. A little butter and a dollop of syrup and they were good to go. That breakfast will take care of me long into the afternoon, which is good since I think I'll be in constant motion until then. Nice way to start my extended work weekend.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Aloha Friday Suggestion

This Friday and in the Friday's to come, I'm going to post my "Aloha Friday Suggestion", something that has popped up on my radar this week and think you may enjoy. So with no further a due...

My Aloha Friday Suggestion for this week is a song by the band Anitproduct. Based in LA but the darlings of the UK, featuring A. Product (Alex Kane from Life Sex & Death), Claire Product, and an eclectic rotating roster of players. Press me for a label to put on the music, and I'd go for "power-pop on acid". OK...it really is better than that sounds. Revved up power-pop with a twisted sense of humor. But the songs are very, very catchy. The song I'm suggesting is called "Parties All Over the World" from the cd "Please Take Your Cash" (available from the band at antiproduct.com).

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Thursday, January 28, 2010

iPad...do any Women work at Apple or what?

Now from Apple the revolutionary, life changing, magical* devise!

So Steve Jobs showed off his latest wiz-bang can't miss toy yesterday (Got an Apple TV? Didn't think so). The iPad is Apple's "magical and revolutionary devise". It appears to be the same form factor as a iPhone or iTouch, only bigger. I love my iTouch, carry it and use it all the time. I covet an iPhone, but alas, as a Verizon customer I'm out of luck (for now). So to say I'm a prime potential buyer is no overstatement. But after seeing the big announcement I'm...not blown away.

The tech press had been teasing that something really different, a game changing killer app was a foot. I'm still waiting. The mail & picture handling is a step up from the iPhone/iTouch, but nothing better than I have on my laptop. iTunes store, App store, yeah my Touch has those too. Listen to music? Check. Watch videos? Check. OK then, how about a book reader? The reader is what looks to me to be the app with the most potential. As a student I lugged around a large bag full of heavy books. Expensive books. Books that the book store would often be out of, causing me to miss reading assignments or have to photocopy others books. Then I had the task of trying to sell them back to the book store after that semester for pennies on the dollar. Down loadable digital books would be a quick, always in stock, easier to transport, and (one could hope) more affordable than the dead tree version. If it catches on, I can see devices that serve as book readers (& more) being a really big thing. I would have loved such a setup in high school & college.

But for me, middle aged family with a mortgage, it's a harder sell. The reader is cool, but not the killer app I want. For me, the killer app would be Excel on my iPad. It would make certain important tasks at my shop much easier, replacing a lot of hand written pages with direct entry. Certainly a time saver, and would probably add to accuracy too. I know there's iWork Numbers in the app store, and yes you can export to Excel...but I would want to avoid all the extra steps to do so. Email myself the Excel file, modify it, and email it back. That's what I want.

And the price. I won't grumble about the price since hey, it's an Apple product...if you want a super low price don't sniff around the Apple tree. If I had an extra $499 burning a hole in my pocket, it would be a nice, less squint worthy alternative to my iTouch. But without MY killer app, it's just a cool toy.

And the name, oh the name. Was it some passive aggressive move by the women at Apple not to point out the obvious FAIL that is the name iPad? Even before the introduction was over, Twitter was being deluged by hygiene product jokes. Steve Jobs, hello! Didn't you run this one past your wife?


*Apple had the nerve to call it magical? Well perhaps it is, if it can make $499 disappear from my wallet in April.

You gotta start somewhere...

OK, this is it...finally have made the jump to a blog. For a blow hard like me I find it incredible I haven't done this yet. But bam! Here it is. And the noise starts, now...