On raising a geek: The Force vs. The Federation

This year for Halloween, Elliot is borrowing a Yoda costume from a friend. Here, you see him using The Force to stand and walk from the ottoman to the coffee table. 

Here, he's using The Force to levitate a box of Cheerios. I didn't get a picture of the box, sorry- they spilled everywhere.

Something I need to clear up, though- even though he's in a Star Wars costume, we're a Star Trek family. We'll raise Trekkies, without a doubt. We don't even own the Star Wars movies. When he does see them, I'm sure this costume will make more sense to him. For some, introducing your kid to Star Wars is a big deal. For us, the politics of the relationship between the Federation, Klingon, Cardassian, Romulan and Vulcan cultures will probably take a more prominent role in our household.

He already loves the Next Generation theme song!

He makes a cute Yoda, but pulls off a pretty cute Star Fleet recruit, too! Unfortunately, the Star Fleet uniform fit him in March, rather than for Halloween.

Lucky

This is getting ridiculous.

I've been lucky lately. I mean, I feel like I've always been lucky (Have you seen my husband and kid? Proof, right there.), but lately, it's been more obvious. Like, I keep winning things. Here's a list from the last 10 months or so:

- Dinner at a fancy restaurant and IMAX tickets in October from @IMAXIndy
- Tickets to Prairie Home Companion in Cincinatti from @paulapoundstone
- Gift certificate for camping and a local restaurant from 8greattowns.com
- Conner Prairie tickets from 8greattowns.com
- A really nice stroller from @Safety_1st
- A camera strap cover from Baby Makin' Machine
- Handmade notecards from Adventures in Babywearing
- Indianapolis Indians tickets from In Good Cents
- State fair food from Indiana Family of Farmers
- Symphony on the Prairie tickets from 8greattowns.com
- Bowling games from @Pinheadsbowling
- Restaurant gift certificate from @DevourDowntown
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It's been a lucky week! Edited to add: - Shutterfly photo book from Once A Month Mom
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It's not like I enter tons and tons of contests all day long! These are mostly around Indianapolis, from local companies or organizations. I've loved having the chance to explore local events with these opportunities- we've had a lot of fun, and gotten to do date nights we wouldn't have otherwise. But, now? I check the calendar before entering any contest, because that "off-chance" I might win doesn't seem so "off" anymore!

Seriously, though, I'm thankful for all these bloggers, twitterers and companies and wanted to give them a shout-out. The nice dinner in Indy and the Prairie Home Companion show were some really memorable dates Josh and I got to spend together right before Elliott showed up. The Indians game recently allowed us to bring along my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, two nephews, and Josh's cousin & wife. The family outing was fun! The stroller has been a blessing- it folds up small enough to pack in either car with lots of room to spare, and the sun shade on it has made summer outings at the fair or parades much cooler than if I was wearing the baby. We've got a few more date nights planned, courtesy of the bowling alley, symphony, and  downtown dining.

Now, to find a babysitter!

Google Plus

The word of the day: Compartmentalization.

I'm not on Facebook. I've held out because I wasn't satisfied that the privacy settings would outweigh the benefits. I've wavered, but not made the leap. Enter Google+. I do everything with Google- email, photos, search, RSS reader, phone number, documents, this blog... everything. I had to give it a fair try. And then... Circles! I can compartmentalize my contacts! Those who want All Elliott Pictures, All The Time can have it! Those who don't care about babies, but do care about social justice- I can share with you, too! I can share news and jokes with geek friends without annoying or confusing my non-geek friends! Parts of my profile can be viewed by family, but not coworkers (or vice versa). Circles! Choice! Compartmentalization!

And then, it has been said... you know the first guy to put his friends in Circles? Dante.

So. There's that.

Find me on Google Plus.

Holiday Smartphone Adventures

I'm a bit of a gadget geek, in my own way. I think that new technology is fascinating, and, thanks to my dad who has worked for a cell phone company most of my life, I've followed advances in mobile device features for a long time. On the other hand, I'm also a cheapskate, and I never have been able to justify paying extra on our cell phone plan for the frivolity of being connected to the internet when not in front of a computer. Thanks to my Peek, I had email on the go, and that was enough for me. I still thought the technology was way cool, though.

When I heard my friend Cherie was planning to have an event in conjunction with Verizon Wireless for local bloggers to try out new phones based on Google's Android platform, I was pretty excited. I mean, I am Google loyalist, with Gmail, Picasa, Google Voice, Google Calendar- my entire online life is rolled up in Google, The Android project sounded pretty cool, and, even though the rest of my family has iPhones, I liked what I was hearing about the open-source operating system. I looked forward to checking out the new devices, even at the risk of being disowned by my dad for going to a Verizon-sponsored event.

Turns out, attendees were given phones to take home to try out for six weeks! The six week trial period ended pretty much on my due date, so I was curious how having a smartphone would make the holidays easier while being 9 months pregnant.I ended up with a Motorola Droid2 phone, a new-ish model exclusive to Verizon, with a slide-out keyboard. While I wasn't thrilled with the battery life of this model, I did like the hardware keyboard and the size of the phone (Though, admittedly, I didn't actually use it as a phone, since I still had my regular cell phone with my regular phone number. Reportedly, Verizon phones don't do data and voice at the same time terribly well.) Mostly, I loved being connected all the time. From a gadget perspective, the Droid2 was really cool.

Where smartphones really differentiate themselves, though, is by the operating system- Apple, Android, Windows 7, Palm, Blackberry (are there others?)- and the applications available. I was impressed with Android. The interface was intuitive, and the free apps available in the Marketplace were just what I needed. Throughout the holidays, a few made our lives a little easier, beyond the expected email and Twitter apps:

• Mint.com - I'm an avid Mint user- I love being able to see all our accounts, including our mortgage, retirement, and credit card, all in one place. We recently refinanced our mortgage, and there was some miscommunication about how the payment would deduct from our accounts at the beginning. Checking the app on the phone helped us catch an error on a Saturday morning and rectify it the same day. The app also helped us keep track of gift spending on the go!
• Amazon - We did about half our Christmas shopping online this year, but when it came time for me shopping for Josh, I did it all in brick-and-mortar stores. All kinds of sales were going on, but I still wanted to make sure I was getting a good deal. Amazon's app allows the user to photograph the product or UPC code and finds the same product on Amazon. This price check saved me money, because I was able to tell when a "sale" wasn't actually a great deal!
• Angry Birds - Josh got kind of addicted to this game.
• Application development- At work, my company was developing an Android app, and, thanks to my handy dandy Droid2, I was able to help with the testing stage of development. It was neat to be able to see that aspect of the open-source operating system too- the ease of app development. 
• Contraction Timer - As I mentioned in my birth story, this ended up being invaluable. I used it the entire way through my labor to time contractions, to know when we should call the midwife, go to the birth center, and to keep track of the pace of labor once we were there. Without this app, I'm not sure how we would have been able to time contractions for the hours and hours that was needed.

I had to give the phone back about a week after Elliott was born... and, not too many days later, Josh was convinced enough that having a smartphone was worthwhile and that Android was robust and easy to use, that we went out and got him an Android smartphone (with AT&T, free with an upgrade & contract renewal) As for me? Josh got me an iPod Touch for my birthday- all the advantages of a smartphone (when on WiFi), none of the monthly costs. Apple's operating system has some pros and cons compared to Google's, but that's for another post- this one has certainly become long enough!

P.S. I have an iPod Touch now, so if anyone wants to play Words With Friends, my name is keepingfeet

P.P.S.

Thanks to Verizon for letting me borrow the Droid2 for 6 weeks & providing a data plan & service for this #VzWhAPPy event. This post is my honest, uncompensated opinion- promise.

Watch it.

Josh and Joanna, a love story...



Make your own search story Google ad.

Bonus points to someone who can explain each of those searches.

Time-independent

Last night, we were driving around during the first thunderstorm of the season, trying to see if there was any stormchase-worthy cells nearby. Josh turned on the ham radio, and a club meeting was in progress. It was kind of interesting to listen to the radio protocol and the ham radio news- a whole world I barely knew existed. Something that was said struck me as odd- then I realized that the fact it struck me as odd was evidence of my age.


An announcement was shared and then it ended saying "To get involved, contact Jim, call sign AB1XYZ"


Knowing how ham radios work, my first thought was, "What? How is someone supposed to get a hold of him? There's no way to leave a message on ham radio, so people will only be able to contact him if they happen to be on at the same time as he is, and on the same frequency."


After thinking that, I realized that ham radio was a time-dependent communication medium. You and the person you're communicating with must both be sending and receiving at the same time for any communication to take place. Every other communication medium I've used, save face-to-face, is time-independent. If I email someone, or IM them, or send them a letter or a text message, they can read the email at their convenience. TV can be DVR'es, and newspapers have always been time-independent. If I call someone and they aren't there to answer the phone, I can leave them a message. The time I'm sending the message is independent of the time they receive the message and reply. The two actions can happen hours or days apart. This is what I am used to. Voicemail and digital answering machines were invented before I was born. In my experience, "being present" has never been a requirement to communicate.


So, what type of communication is time-dependent? Face-to-face, obviously. If I speak to someone else, and they're not within earshot, communication doesn't happen- the message is lost. In the same way, telephones without answering machines are time-dependent- both parties must be present on  the line to communicate.  People in secretary or admin jobs rely on time-dependent communication- they're he ones greeting visitors or answering the phone when it rings. Radio is typically time-dependent. The only very-modern invention I can think of that is time-dependent is the live chat room, assuming no transcripts are available. Well, and the new Chatroulette- but that's a risky (or risque?) proposition.


Sadly, I participate in very little time-dependent communication every day. I send emails and IMs at my convenience, and answer them when I have time. I blog and twitter so others can read it later. I'm ashamed to admit I even avoid answering my cell phone when it's inconvenient, knowing that I can tell who called at a better time. Time-independent communication is ingrained in me.


So, is this bad? I don't think so- I mean, time-independent communication has existed as long as the written word has. But, I feel like I ought to be time-dependent more often. Make time for face-to-face conversations. Be present more. Drop everything an answer the phone, even when I know a long, inconvenient conversation could ensue. I love listening to the radio, and do so daily.


OK, so this is a really random rambling on a concept that's really not that groundbreaking. I can't believe you got this far. What do you think about communication- is time-dependent or time-independent more valuable?

Strange Spam

A spam email this weekend got past TWO spam filters and ended up in my inbox. Most spam is concerning pharmaceuticals or good-looking women or better SEO, gets caught by the filter, and I tune it out. This one slipped by. The subject was a dubious "hello". I opened it, curious as to what could have bypassed both filters, only to discover it was in a language I didn't recognize. Gmail did recognize it, however, and offered to translate it from Croatian to English. Hmm, that's odd. I don't know anyone in Croatia. Here's what the email said, in English:

Make a pact with Satan for riches now! this is your chance to be very rich. Make a pact with Satan now. You'll be the richest person in the world. I am a priest at the alter of his temple and I will guide you through the pact. now contact me for more information and to be rich in 2 days.

First, the Croatian email isn't that enticing. On Easter weekend, would I really make a pact with the devil? Or, really, ever? It's a new tact I haven't heard of- I thought all riches on the Internet came from Nigeria. Second, besides the subject of the email being in English, something in the text of the email makes me suspect that the message was written in English, then translated to Croatian before being sent- what is it?

Off-center

In college, I went to a technology conference. Among other, more important things going on, one of the vendors at the conference was a Segway dealer, and people were lined up to try out these fascinating contraptions. I remember when the Segway was first featured on Good Morning America, and the speculation and excitement leading up to the device codenamed IT. Anyway, I like gadgets, so I wanted to give the Segway a try.

When I stepped up on the two-wheeled platform, the device leaned forward under me. I leaned back to compensate, and it moved backwards, too. To avoid falling off the back, I leaned forward again, and it rolled a tiny bit forward, again. I went back and forth like this for a while, leaning forward and back to keep my balance, and the machine stuttering and shuddering underneath me, matching my movements. Finally, the employee assisting me said "Stand still!" I thought I was trying to standing still- I wasn't trying to move, just trying to balance! It was the machine that kept moving! I had to consciously force myself to not compensate when I felt the Segway move underneath me. I stood straight, and stopped trying so hard to balance. Amazingly, the Segway immediately became still; the platform solid under my feet. Only when I got my footing by becoming still could I actually go anywhere, and drive the Segway by leaning forward in a controlled way.
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This is kind of how I feel right now. There's nothing wrong- I'm just a little off-center, and that prevents me from moving forward. I'm doing my best to keep my balance- but I'm not doing what I need to do to stay centered. Life's not particularly busy right now exactly; I just feel disorganized, I think. My life isn't like fast-paced PS3 games, nor do I want it to be. Things are pretty simple right now, but it's as if I'm maintaining Life right now, but not making much progress. Like on the Segway- I'm managing to stay on top of it, but not go anywhere. Until I make a conscious decision to Be Still.

That's really what I need- to Be Still. To live consciously, rather than just trying to keep my balance.

This is what I've been thinking about lately.


Mostly, I need to start spending more "Being Still" time- with God, or reading, or exercising- which isn't physically being still, but it clears my head. I'm wired to need time to reflect, maybe more than most- and it's not that I don't have the time, I've just not been taking the time. They're different. It's all about making a conscious choice to be still. I'm working on it.

Awaking a Sleeping Giant

The American church is a sleeping giant.

So many in America claim to be Christians. Relative to so many countries, we have so much wealth. We have the opportunity and ability to make a gigantic impact.
And yet.
We sleep.
We do nothing.

We have allowed atrocities to take place around the world, and neglect to go on under our nose. What can rouse this giant?

Yesterday, I observed the giant stir.

At 8pm Tuesday night, a local foster-care ministry got a call saying in the next day or two, a plane with 300 Haitian orphans would be headed to Indianapolis. Could they quickly find foster families?

Around 11:30pm, an email went out to my church of more than 6,000 people. "Could any families take in two or more non-English-speaking kids for a month or more, potentially to adopt?"

Half an hour later, they had found homes for 92 children. I sent off a tweet to a blogging friend who I knew was an adoption advocate, and she knew the right people to contact. Twitter lit up. By 10am Wednesday, Safe Families was receiving eight emails a minute about wanting to host children or help in some way. Throughout the day, because of the overwhelming response, they required that applicants have a current background check and home study and agree to take in two children and be a potentially-adoptive home- and even with that requirement, at 1pm they cut off applications, saying they had plenty.

Wow.

God's people stepped up. Hundreds of families in less than 24 hours were willing to radically alter and rearrange their lives in a permanent way to make space for "the least of these". Wow.

Reports are that the airplane headed to Indianapolis isn't as looming as was reported, and fewer children may eventually be on it, when and if it is put together. That fact is disappointing for many families, but misses the larger picture: Thousands of people in our little area were ready to deploy for the Kingdom. The church stirred, and was ready to make a difference in a big way.

Where to go from here? The hundreds of emails demonstrated to me that there are hundreds or thousands of empty beds and bedrooms in Hamilton County and the Indianapolis area, and thousands of families who love children. As a local adoption agency tweeted in the midst of the day yesterday, the orphan crisis isn't just today, it's every day. There are parentless children that could fill all those beds and hearts, not just from Haiti, but from China, Ethopia, Ukraine, and our own neighborhoods.

Hopefully, this event sparked some good conversations in families in the area, and fostering and adoption will become priorities. Or the plight of Haiti won't be forgotten, because yesterday it became personal and, very literally, close to home. Or the "least of these" living next door or a few miles away will be served with the same life-altering willingness.

Let's hope the giant doesn't drift off again.

What I've been up to: TwitterPeek

This summer, the buzz about TwitterPeek hit the Internet. Some were excited about a dedicated Twitter device, some confused as to its purpose, and others ridiculed it as a Unitasker. Although I'm always skeptical of unitaskers, I've mentioned my love for my Peek before- having my email in my pocket is convenient and sometimes a lifesaver.

As much as I like my Peek, there are a couple limitations that have annoyed me. First, I can send tweets via twittermail but can't receive them, except for direct messages, which get emailed anyway. Twitter is one of the primary ways I keep up with friends, so is was problematic. Second, I can't open links in emails on my Peek, and some emails are entirely useless and out of context without being able to follow the links.

TwitterPeek obviously solved the first problem- it is a dedicated twitter device and sends and receives the tweets flawlessly. I really appreciated the numerous keyboard shortcuts that made reply, re-tweeting, and direct-messaging a breeze.

Will this device "make it"? If you have a smartphone with a data plan, the TwitterPeek is unnecessary- but probably easier to use, and cheaper than your data plan. If you don't have a smartphone, and are using Twitter via texting, the TwitterPeek definitely makes sending and receiving tweets easier- it would depend on whether you're up for carrying an extra device, because the cost is comparable to a texting plan, with a MUCH better interface. If you're like me and have a plan ol' cell phone (or no cell phone) with just a voice plan, but you'd rather stay in touch via Twitter, the TwitterPeek is awesome. I have a feeling I'm in a pretty narrow market share, but we're here none the less.

Pros:

• Concept - if I had to choose between my email Peek and the TwitterPeek it would be a close call. Email has important, targeted messages for me, sure, but Twitter's more fun, and I'm able to stay in touch with more friends more easily.
• Keyboard shortcuts - These are necessary to make it easy to use, and they were executed well. I'm able to do what I want to do on the device quickly and without using lots of menus
• Speed - Tweets seem to deliver to the TwitterPeek in almost-realtime. It's as good as a desktop client, I'd say.
• Links - You have no idea how excited I was when I saw that the TwitterPeek woudl open links and retrieve the text of the webpage. If I said above that emails can be out of context without reading a link, tweets even moreso. This is a hugely helpful feature.

Cons:

• Yet Another Device. Carrying my phone and email Peek for the last almost-year hasn't been so bad. I barely use my phone, and the Peek is thin enough to fit in my pocket. The TwitterPeek is identical hardware-wise to the Peek, but have three devices in my pockets proved to be too much.
• Default settings - I follow somewhere in the neighborhood of 350 twitterers, so the tweets come quickly and at all hours. I don't need a notification every time someone posts- just when the post is directed at me. This is a setting, but not the default.
• I broke it :(

The picture explains why this entire post is in past tense. My TwitterPeek met its demise just days after I met it, and I'm bummed. Now, I'm back to the twittermail-from-my-Peek route- so if I'm out and about and you need to get a hold of me, email, don't tweet :)

Disclosure: I was sent a TwitterPeek to review with free service, and was not compensated in any other way. The opinions expressed are enthusiastically my own.

Peek Saves the Day!

My humble little Peek, oh how I underestimated you...

I don't get online much over the weekends. I'm in front of a screen all week, and there's so many off-screen tasks I need to accomplish. I have my phone and my Peek if anyone really needs to get a hold of me.

We were out and about Sunday morning. Right before we left, I hopped on the computer to check email. I had pretty much seen all of it already on my Peek, so I archived it, and we got on our way. In the car, I pulled out my Peek to clear off the already-read emails, and one jumped out at me. "Ebay User ID Reminder". It was definitely from Ebay, and definitely had our Ebay ID in the email- so it wasn't spam. The real mystery was, this email, now sitting on my Peek, never appeared in our email box. At least, it wasn't there a few minutes earlier when I checked before we left the house. Josh didn't request our Ebay user ID and neither did I- we both know what it is.

I get home and hop on the computer. The Ebay message is nowhere to be found in Gmail- not in the inbox, not archived, not in the trash. According to my Peek, it was sent at 10:30 the previous night- when neither of us were on the computer. The only conclusion I could come to was, someone had our email password, requested our Ebay ID, then deleted the resulting email, and deleted it from the trash. I can only assume they wanted to try to see if our Ebay password was the same as our email password, to get them into our Ebay account as well. Obviously I changed our email password, and Josh changed our Ebay password too, just to be safe.

I'm a tad freaked out that someone could get in our email account, but without my Peek, I would have never known the intruder was there. The Ebay User ID request email would have been deleted and out of sight. Our email password would not be changed, and the stranger would still have access. Because ALL my email, regardless of what I do with it in my Gmail box, gets forwarded to my Peek, I don't miss any of it. And, you better believe, I'll be paying attention to it for now on!

Peek FTW!

State Fair Adventures

I need to start this post with... CAN YOU BELIEVE I FORGOT MY CAMERA?!?

Yeah, me neither.

In the past, I've done a whole series of posts with pictures from the state fair. This year? Zero. Except for the few I snapped with my cameraphone, but I'm not sure how to get them off my phone. We have a Bluetooth adapter for the computer somewhere. I'll see if I can dig it up. I digress.

We walked though a variety of buildings, and saw a giant cheese sculpture, a sandcastle depicting cows lounging at the beach, and Red Gold cans stacked in the shape of the Starship Enterprise. Of course I didn't miss the animal barns, and saw the pigs, horses, and sheep. The sidewalk in front of the barns was crammed with food stands full of Fried Fill-in-the-Blank, and we resisted all of them. Hooray for the diet! We also resisted the booths touting jacuzzis, lottery tickets, and insurance quotes, but that was a lot easier.

The highlight of the trip was the free concert we caught on the way back to our car. The State Fair snagged none other than the '90's superstar MC Hammer for the free concert.We got to watch some early-'90's dance moves, and see 2 Legit 2 Quit and Can't Touch This live. Who knew he was still around?! 

Actually, I knew he was still around. I happened across his often-updated blog a few years ago, and apparently he's on Twitter too. How on earth did I happen across his blog? Well here's the story... The very first stranger to link to me, to Keeping Feet, was back in early 2006. I was doing a Google search to see who linked here, and this blog came up- a developer in Serbia. Serbia! Under his "Nice People" blogroll  was just me, by myself. Awkward. Soon after, a couple more people were added- MC Hammer and Linus Torvalds. I thought it was an odd group. Since then, he's added links to other people, but I still am the odd one out, not being a celebrity and all. I don't know anyone in Serbia, I don't think. But someone in Serbia thinks I and MC Hammer are both nice people. I was glad to finally get to see this other nice person in concert.

Josh sent me this today, to commemorate the time at the concert...

Wordless Wednesday: GenCon adventure

See the rest of the GenCon & BlogIndiana pictures

Telling a Story

So, I proved myself a geek yesterday and went to Blog Indiana, a small conference for local bloggers (and then proved myself an even bigger geek and stopped by GenCon, but that's another story). While I learned some useful information, the highlight was seeing the people there- reconnecting with some, and meeting others for the first time.

I'm not a big-time blogger, nor do I aspire to be. I love writing and taking pictures, and so I do, simple as that. I am beyond appreciative of those of you that read along and join me on the journey.

The first panel was about business bloggers, full of marketing people and a business owner, talking about how they further business connections via Twitter and blogs. Next up was the food blogger panel. To be clear, this was a "foodie" panel, and I never fully realized the difference between "foodie" and "person who likes to cook" until listening to this group. Because I do have a food blog, I was looking forward to this panel, but most of the discussion was about wine (which I don't drink and know nothing about) and restaurants I can't afford. Kinda disappointed, but I was too shy to speak up with my own questions, so it's what I got.

The last panel I attended yesterday was originally called the "Mom Bloggers Panel" but the discussion turned into women bloggers (and blog readers) in general, and how they differ from everyone and everything else we've heard at this conference. Some of the points made:

• "Mommy bloggers" is not a valid description of all women who blog. This may be obvious to you. I'm a woman who blogs about home and family stuff, but I'm not a mom. There are moms who blog about things other than being a mom, and they don't fall under the "Mommy Blogger" label either. Even those that do blog about their kids don't necessarily like the "Mommy Blogger" label.
  
• Women online are a force to be reckoned with. Women make a huge percentage of a household's purchasing decisions, so figuring out how to market to them, how to reach them, and how they spend their time online should matter to marketing folk. It was sad, to me, to see that the auditorium emptied out for this panel- all the men who had been hearing about online marketing strategies for the last 3 days didn't see the value in hearing from influential bloggers from a segment of the population that carries the nation's pocketbooks. To me, it goes to show how big the disconnect between men and women online is, as I think the moms panel felt discounted and set aside for the Serious Man Talk of SEO and CSS and other, more important acronyms.
• Women blog to connect. Each and every panelist said they first started reading blogs, first got online, and first started blogging to find people going through the same things they were. They blog to relate, to be in and find community, and to be known- and know they're not alone in their experience. Many of the blogs by men I see exist to share information, while blogs by women share stories. Disclaimer: I know this is a generalization and not true for everyone- just an empirical observation.

That last bit- blogging as a story- is what's gotten me thinking. I'm in the middle of a draft of Donald Miller's new book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life. (Proper review forthcoming) Miller, in the book, talks about the importance of Story- our lives as an overarching story. The basic form of a story is, "A Character that wants something and overcomes conflict to get it." Every good, engaging, compelling blog tells a good story- a story of desire and conflict and overcoming. Women seem to want to tell this story, and find people with similar stories- other Characters walking the same journey. Blogs about the latest tech tips or best business practices or commentary on news events don't capture me as much as a story of even the mundane bits of life.One panelist says she waits to blog about an event until it has a resolution- I could relate. I like being able to tie up my stories. I waited a week to mention we got a dog, just to see how it was going to go. Other stories on my blog include the Daybed Story, the Debt Story, the Hail Story, the Car Swap Story, the Engagement Story, and even my Bean Story. I'm not a compelling or funny storyteller, but I write down these stories to make sense of them- to give the trajectory of my experience a beginning, middle, and end. When you look at blogs in teh context of Story, it's easier to get beyond the flashing ads and silly insurance marketing, and see the heart of the writer.

Stories matter. They help us make sense of life, and connect with others' lives, I'm thankful for my friends who let me share in their stories, both online and off.

Yearbook Yourself

If I was a high school senior the year I was born (1984), this could have been me:

If I was a high school senior in second grade (1992):

If I was a high school senior in 6th grade (1996):

And, if I had dark hair during my high school years (2000):

Now YOU try- Yearbook Yourself!

BONUS: If I was around in 1950...

Hogback Summit makes its debut!

So, as I've mentioned an FEW times before, I'm not on Facebook. Via a blog, I saw a fun Facebook meme that I wanted to give a try (Sorry! But it looked fun!). Here were the rules:

The "Pretend Rock Album Cover Game"

1. Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random article” and record the title of the random article, like "Rahmane Barry" or "709th Airlift Squadron". This is your band's name.
2. Go to "Random quotations"  The last 3-5 words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
3. Go to "Flickr/Explore Last 7 Days" Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4. Use Photoshop or similar photo editor (Picasa, Picnic, whatever) to put it all together. Yes, I used Paint.
5. Force all of your friends to view your angsty/sexy/inspired/brilliant work by posting to your own blog or Facebook profile.  If you do share yours in a public arena, let me know so I can appreciate the genius of you as well!

I ended up with the band name Hogback Summit and a quote by Lyndon B Johnson. Not exactly sensical, but that's not really the point.

Let me know if you play along- leave your link in the comments!

Why Peek?

For the past four months, I've been using a little device called a Peek. You've not heard of it?! Let me fill you in:

• A Peek is an email device. That's it.
  

Can I make phone calls? No.
Can I surf the web? No.
Can I play music with it? No.
Can it take pictures? No.
Can I do ANYTHING besides email? Well, sort of. But, no.

I can receive email on my Peek. I can do anything that is email-powered from my Peek. Which means I can use the twittermail service to post to twitter. I can set up an email address to send my blog posts to so that they'll automagically post (Like I'm doing with this one!). There are services I can email that will reply with a weather report. To be fair, Peek has a built-in the ability to text message cell phones, but before they did, there were email addresses that could be used for that sort of thing.

So, if all I can do is email, why would I want one of these?

• I may want one if I'm afraid of technology. Got a Grandpa who can use a cell phone, but turning on a computer and starting up email is too much for him? The Peek is seriously easy to use, so is a great gift for technophobes. It provides a way to stay connected with, seriously, two buttons and a scroll wheel to figure out. I appreciate the really simple, well-designed interface.
  
• I may want one if I want portable email, but don't want a smartphone. Maybe I don't have a cell phone. Maybe I like those phones where it's simple to actually make a phone call- and I don't care to type out emails on the numerical keypad. Maybe there are times I want to be reachable by phone but not email (or vice versa)
• I may want one if I like gadgets. Because, really, this is a simple, durable, well-designed gadget.
  

While I DO get starry-eyed over gadgets, I fall into the second category. I really like being able to be responsive to email and keep abreast of friend and family news without turning a computer on all weekend. (And, often, I don't turn on a computer all weekend) Not long after getting the Peek, we went on a vacation to Hawaii, and I didn't want to be bothered by my cell phone, but could respond at my leisure to emails that came in. Really, my friends and family will tell you, I'm pretty averse to talking on the phone. I much prefer the written word to stay in touch. Hence this blog. And hence the Peek.

The second reason I like my Peek is sillier- over and over, Josh has told me "Stop taking the laptop into the kitchen when you're cooking. You're getting the keys gunky. You're going to spill something on it." I tell him I NEED the laptop in the kitchen, because that's where the recipe is! Why waste paper on a one-time recipe? But he is right- I got a crumb stuck under the T key, which made typing anything hard for a while. Now? I email recipes to myself, and the Peek, with its rubber-coated keyboard, is durable and not threatened by my messy baking adventure. I doubt this reason will appeal to everyone, but it works for me!

The Peek retails starting at $20 (the price down from a recent $90!), and service starts at $15 a month. I think the concept would really take off at a $7-$10/month service charge, and the $15-$20 is harder for people to justify, especially since data can be added to cell plans for that price and provide email plus web browsing. Peek claims the device saves you money, but I think the math is a little fuzzy.

All in all, I'm very glad for the use I've gotten out of my Peek so far, but I see that it has limited appeal as a one-task device. It's not for everyone. So far, it's worked for me- to the point it may replace my cell phone. And, it sure is cute!

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Sent on the go from my Peek*

*And then edited in Blogger for formatting and to add links.

** This is NOT a paid review- I just get asked fairly often what I think of the thing, so I wanted to get it out there. For disclosure, I did win the device back in February, so I didn't buy it myself.

Links today

• Local groups are protesting Indianapolis CVS stores for selling expired medicines. Other local groups are protesting the lack of Free-after-ECB deals. (Just kidding!)
• Once upon a time, Google's annual April Fool's joke was Google Paper- claiming to snail-mail your emails for free. Apparently someone thought this was a viable business model (albeit not for free). Meet Sunnygram.
• Lately, I've been weighing the pros and cons of getting a Kindle. Slate explains why an old-fashioned newspaper is better.
• On the way back from Georgia we passed two semis packed full with chickens off to slaughter. Seeing them stacked high in the little cages made me thankful for my opportunity to meet & eat "happy chickens". Here's an analysis of the chicken industry.

The Hail Story

Two weeks ago Tuesday, there was a hail storm in the Indianapolis area. While our house barely even got rain, neighborhoods south of us got pounded with baseball-sized hail. Josh's commute that day took him right through the hailstorm- he was helplessly stuck in traffic as our 2004 Civic was dented all over. Thankfully, he got home safely, but the damage to the car was poorly timed, since we were leaving for Georgia early Thursday morning. Josh called the insurance company as soon as he got home, and they instructed us to go to a local dealership for an estimate of the damage.

At the end of Wednesday, with a million other things I had to do to get ready for leaving the next day, I go to the prescribed dealership and, go figure, they're busy and can't check out our car that day. I was annoyed they didn't let us make an appointment ahead of time (Josh specifically asked) and Josh was annoyed we couldn't get this taken care of before leaving for five days. But, alas, we had to leave our poor, damaged car at home.

While we're on our trip, Josh gets a call instructing him that the hail storm caused enough damage to be considered a "catastrophe," so our insurance company was setting up tents to do their own estimation, and we needed to report to one of those. During his lunch break Wednesday, Josh took the Civic to the tent. I sent him an email after lunchtime saying, "how's the car?" and he replied with "Damage = very yes" - which I got during a very serious meeting, and almost burst out laughing. That's what I get for bringing my Peek into a meeting, I guess.

I finally got a longer version of the estimate. There was enough damage on the top, hood and trunk of the car to warrant replacing them, plus dents that had to be popped out on every body panel of the car, plus some trim pieces. The insurance company handed Josh a check on the spot for the repair costs, and coincidentally, by our figuring, it came to $100 shy of the 70% value of the car (at which it would be totaled).

So, a week ago, we had a $5,000 check, a damaged car, and some decisions to make. Did we want to put so much money into a car just to improve its appearance? Did we want to drive a dented car and save the money? Even if we fixed the dents, would some still rust, giving us more headaches down the road? We wanted to explore our options, so, that night, we went to a couple dealerships to see what we could get in trade-in for the car, and had our eye on a car we've wanted fro a while- a station wagon.

Long story short, we ended up coming home Wednesday night without our dented Civic, and with a new-to-us car, a Volvo station wagon. The cost of the new car? The insurance check + our deductible + the damaged Civic's trade-in value + sales tax. When figuring out a target price, we forgot to take into account sales tax, but it really turned out alright in the end. And I LOVE the new car. Which will be MINE tomorrow when I start driving it to work. (Josh drove it for a week to make sure everything was OK with it. I'm oblivious to stuff like that) This is easily the nicest car I've ever owned, with leather seats and windshield wipers on the headlights and power everything. I'm in awe.

As was pointed out by a friend, this is the first time in my life (excepting a couple years from about ages 5-8) when I or my family didn't own a Civic. The end of an era.


I didn't take this picture, but ours looks exactly like this- same year, color, etc. Josh doesn't like the color, but I do.

Swagbucks update

So, I posted a week ago about signing up with Swagbucks... just a week later, I am 75% of the way to having enough points for an Amazon gift card! I am amazed how quickly the points add up- and I haven't been doing anything differently than my usual searches, except using a different search engine.

Adding Swagbucks as my Chrome default search engine is the primary reason this has worked for me- I've been able to search quickly without going to another special web page. A similar thing can be done in Firefox. I you can't figure out how to add the search engine to your browser's search bar, there's a Swagbucks toolbar- but I'm paranoid about installing anything extra, so I've avoided that for now.

I do have to say, I checked out the list of prizes, and the ONLY thing I'd want is a gift card. Everything else is really random- band posters, Star Wars toys, comic books, slot cars, POGS?! Do kids even play with POGS anymore?! Honestly, it looks like a collector trying to empty out his basement. Except for thr gift cards. I can get just about anything I want on Amazon- I'm excited about that!