It started out like any other day really.  Get up, make chocolate milk for Alli, make tea for Monica and myself, watch Spongebob.  Monica was soon to be leaving to start doing what brides do, as her and Alli had hair appointments.  I set off to take care of some things at the venue, where I found a host of family members helping setup the final touches.  Everything was going swimmingly. It was at this point that it began to rain.

Now, I’m not one for panic.  Sure, it’s an outdoor wedding.  Sure, it’s fall.  It wasn’t supposed to rain at all according to the weather reports, but here I was standing at the venue in the rain.  People begin to scatter, the venue owner asked if I wanted things covered or moved under shelter.  Questions of renting tents became an issue.  Monica called me on the phone as it was raining where she was at.  What to do?  Nothing.

Yep that’s right, I did nothing.  Everything stayed where it was.  Chairs, plates, flowers, gifts boxes…nothing moved.  If it was going to rain, I decided there was no reason to panic.  I could see blue sky on the horizon, and the wedding was some 7 hours away.  In the end the rain stopped.  The day cleared up.  It became an absolutely beautiful day.

It was in this brief moment of uncertainty that my Dad came over and explained that rain on your wedding day was good luck.  I thought he was just kidding me, but as always, he was right.  I had never heard of this superstition before he mentioned it, but people throughout the wedding would later comment on it.  Thanks Dad for cluing me in.

It was at this point that I headed home to get ready.  Most people think that all a groom has to do is put on a tux and show up.  My job entailed making sure envelopes with payments and tips was prepped.  To take care of this all I actually brought my briefcase to the wedding.  As requested, I did leave my cell phone at home however (hence no twittering of the wedding).

When I did finally arrive at the venue, it was a sight to be seen.  The sun was shining through the trees, the tables and flowers looked fantastic, and I could feel that buzz in the air.  Monica had done a wonderful job with setting this wedding up; it was her vision for the flowers that made it come together.  I soon met up with my best man, Gareth Coen, and my groomsman James Smith and my brother Jim.  We pretty much chatted and talked with people as they arrived.  People made the usual jokes (”I’ve got a car/truck/plane/horse waiting, you can still get away!”) and a good time was had by all.

It was at this point that I realized I had forgotten to bring the vows.  Not a problem, Reverend Dr. Grobner (a friend and former professor of Monica’s) had a copy.  I of course told the maid-of-honor Rebecca Snow that he did not and to panic that I would be back as soon as possible.  The look on her face was priceless.  A good laugh was had, and she went back to Monica vowing to punch me later (not really…well maybe). I could hear my sister Katie, Monica’s sister Lety, and Monica’s cousin Stephanie in the back as well.  I did sneak a peak of Alli playing with my Mom, but that was all.

Fast forward to me standing at the alter.  People had given me a lot of advice as to not faint, but I was the farthest thing from it.  I had non-stop energy, and just wanted to run around and jump for joy.  When Allison walked hesitantly to the aisle with my sister, her eyes furrowed looking at the crowd, it brought a smile to my face. When she saw me standing at the other end and screamed “Daddy!!!” and this huge smile came across her face, it’s a picture that will never leave me.  She threw her flower pedals and was just happy as could be.

It was at this point that I finally saw Monica making her way down the the hill to the ceremony.  The mere sight of her took my breathe away, my heart raced, and there was no doubt in my mind.  She is the one for me I thought.  I wanted to scream her name at the top of my lungs, I wanted to hug and kiss her, I couldn’t wait for her to stand there with me.  It was a glorious feeling that I never have felt before.

The vows were somewhat of a blur.  I couldn’t stop smiling, and from what I understand, I belted them out in the most theatrical voice most have ever heard.  I guess it was only natural for me.  Why would my wedding alter my presentation skills at the least?  Her voice, oh that voice, it was like an angel singing to me.  Her eyes glistened, her touch so soft and it just melted me.

We eventually made our way down the isle, Allison in the middle swinging between us.  I wouldn’t have written our exit any other way.

It was at this point that the party started.  We didn’t have a huge wedding, but we had enough people to have a good time.  The bartenders started serving drinks (hosted open bar was the only way to go from our perspective) while we took pictures.  Shortly thereafter, everyone had dinner and we mingled.

The funny thing about weddings is that you never really get to talk to everyone.  We had at the most 130 guests, and I feel like I never even saw or talked to half.  I’m told this is just how it goes, that with pictures and toasts and dances, you never really get to see everyone.  It still strikes me as odd.

After dinner, the toasts begin.  They were starkly contrasted in a very good way.  I did not expect the toast that was given by my best man Gareth.  His girlfriend Kim did not warn me and when the cards came out (oh yes, props), it was nothing short of classic.  The fact that he originally thought I was a gay porn producer upon our first meeting so many years ago makes me laugh every time I think about it (and had the crowd rolling in the aisles), and the Irish blessing was very nice touch at the end. Rebecca’s speech just about made me cry; she is an endlessly gifted writer and her speech really touched me and Monica.  My sister also toasted at the pushing of many people and when she’s really serious as she was as she spoke there, she always amazes me.

The toasts were more then we could have ever wished for, and the love and kindness that people showed us both on the mic and in private throughout the night was touching.

Our first dance soon followed; we danced to Modern Nature by Sondre Lerche (which is in the film Dan in Real Life).  We took foxtrot lessons from Gay Grant at the California Ballroom Company (we’ve taken swing, salsa and merengue from her as well).  Gay really knows her stuff and while our dance wasn’t perfect (we did have an issue with the dress being a bit long and the fact that I’m not very good) we had a great time.

Other choice moments: taking Monica’s garter belt off with my teeth and having Emily and Jim’s little boy Jackson (age 4) win the toss up for it (hint: not much of a rumble for it).  Monica dabbing cake in my nose during the cake cutting.  Smoking fine cigars that my good friend and groomsman James had brought. Dancing with my Mom.  Watching everyone have just a great time.

The wedding exceeded any expectation I had.  Marrying the girl I love, being surrounded with family and friends, and everyone just having a great time in a beautiful setting, I just couldn’t ask for anything more.

On that note, we’d like to thank everyone who helped make this happen.  We had a lot of family and friends help with flowers, champagne, liquor, food, setup and everything in between.  Without you, this wedding would not have happened.  We’d like to thank our guests and those who could not attend that sent their well wishes; we appreciate it so much.

Let’s talk pictures.  Everyone wants to see some pictures, and we haven’t gotten the negs back from our photographer yet.  However, you are not out of luck. A few of the pictures that you see in this article are from our friend Jaimie Griffin Lewis (see her full wedding gallery).  You can also see all the photographs guests took with the disposable cameras in my new wedding gallery.  Monica has pictures she’s been collecting from friends in one of her MySpace galleries.  Jennifer soon-to-be Lancaster has some shots up in one of her MySpace galleries. Marco Tovar has pictures up in one of his Myspace galleries. Our bartenders, Mobile Bar Trio, have a gallery up on their MySpace page (they were outstanding…can’t recommend them enough).  If you have photos, we’d love to see them!  Send me a link and I’ll make sure it gets posted.

I want to mention our vendors.  They all were simply class. Our bartenders, Mobile Bar Trio, did an absolute amazing job, and we can’t recommend them highly enough. Food was handled by the Tasty Taco, whose staff went beyond the call of duty by busing tables and serving cake.  Their food was absolutely fantastic.  Sound Express handled the music and Todd kept the whole event on schedule; he was a visionary.  Our photographer Tammy Hughes let us do some really fun stuff which we’ll be posting when we get the negs back.  The venue, Del Rio Vista Garden, is a hidden treasure.

Finally, thank you Monica for making me the down right happiest I’ve ever been in my life. I love you.

I’ve rewritten this opening section four times now. I keep thinking about the line in The Grace of Great Things “injunction to self knowledge is a heavy challenge” (111). How true this statement is. How do you even begin to explain who your “self” is? Do you start with traits? Do you start with beliefs? What is the essence of my self? Is there a structure I should be taking when approaching the explaining of my self? These very questions ran through my mind for the better part of an hour as I started, stopped and erased opening after opening.

This all seemed counterintuitive to me; did I just not spend the semester exploring my “self” through class exercises, books and papers? Did I miss the big “Ah ha” moment? Did I somehow lose my “self”? Why am I asking so many questions? This should just flow out like a water from a facet. Stop. Ask dumb questions. I remember that chapter in Creativity in Business. So I revisit it, thinking it will shine some light on who my “self” is. It makes me feel better about asking these questions by stating that “a question is an opening to creation” (94). But at the same time it frustrates me by stating that “a question is an unsettled and unsettling issue” (94). Tell me about I think to my self.

But the more questions I think of, the more one question would lead to another set of questions. So I stopped again. Maybe asking questions is a part of my “self”. Maybe through questions I find what I’m looking for: creativity. Not answers. I think I ask questions seeking answers, but it’s the moment that I stop seeking answers and allow them to come through creative thought that allows me to be creative. I think my “self” uses the ability to ask questions as a way to foster curiosity. It integrates with the four tools of the creative hero rather well. “Ask penetrating questions.” So simple, yet so difficult to do. This tool is a part of my “self”.

“Suspend negative judgment.” A tool that resonated with me the first time I heard it. The tool sounded like such a good idea; why contain my “self” with judgment that does not benefit anyone’s creativity? The books further influenced my view on the subject of this tool. Leap spoke of “toss[ing] out all our preconceptions and prejudices…creative business ideas know no limits” (24). The Art of Possibility talks about “being with the way things are by clearing judgments” (104). Creativity in Business has an entire chapter called “Destroy Judgment, Create Curiosity” (39). It was this chapter in Creativity in Business that really sealed the idea that the tool of “Suspend negative judgment” would forever be a part of my “self”. The discussion of the voice of judgment was a shocking reminder of the negative judgment that I had in myself. The stated goal exercise on page 63 at the end of the chapter really allowed me to pinpoint judgments against my stated goal; it’s amazing what kind of negative judgments we have against ourselves. In many regards this voice of judgment had worked against first tool of “having faith in my own creativity”. Without suspending negative judgment, I don’t think my “self” could be as creative. Therefore, this tool is a part of my “self”.

While these tools make up pieces of my “self”, there are traits that I think are contained in my “self” that lend themselves to make me more open to creativity. The one trait that comes to mind almost instantly is humor. Humor is often over looked I believe because people think that people with a sense of humor are often not serious about their work. However, I see it in a different light. Without humor we are not able to laugh at ourselves, to explore the world around us. My “self” does not concern itself with the concept that an idea I have may be laughed out of a room; I’m simply not concerned about my image. I’d rather make mistakes and be laughed at then not take the risk in the first place. How can I discover new things if I don’t try or are worried about being laughed at? Like the Grace of Great Things explains “humorless people are unlikely to discover much…they are usually more concerned with their own dignity…” (32).

Tools and traits explain pieces of my “self”. It paints a picture of who I am and what I do and believe. But one must understand where I come from, the people who instilled values and beliefs in me. I look over the charted web of family we composed in class. I read the traits I wrote down at the time for each person and my mind wanders onto stories or events I’d shared with each person. With 30 plus people on my list, trends are easy to see. My family came from working class roots in farming and the trades. My father and mother still farm today; I grew up on such a farm. I knew how to drive a tractor before I ever sat behind the wheel of a car. Both of my parents’ parent owned farms when they were growing up; one, a dairy farm, the other peach orchards. World War I and II, Korea, and Vietnam each had at least one of my family members in it. They amazingly all made it back from each war. Everyone in my family has hard work and determination in their blood, in whatever field they found a passion in. My father once told me one early spring morning “it’s hard work…but I fire that tractor up and smell that diesel and morning dew in the air, and I know I was meant to be a farmer.” I was 10 years old when he told me that. It has always stuck with me.

My passions may be different then that of my family, but they never discouraged me from pursuing them. They always backed me up even when I failed. Their spirit is a part of my “self”. To them I owe a great deal of the fearlessness, strive and hard working attitude I take into everything I do. This is a part of my “self” that cannot be quantified. This is a part of my “self” that can never be forgotten or taken away. It is a part of my “self” that I am the most proud of. I do not forget where I come from for I owe them a great deal.

Who is my “self”? I am curious. I ask questions that no one else would dare to ask. I believe in my abilities and my creative nature. I use the tools of creativity to my advantage and do not fight with them. I accept failure and mistakes as stepping stones to greater discovery. I laugh at myself, and find humor in my surroundings. I strive for creativity, but am willing to let go. I am the culmination of generations of my family. I am proud of my roots and where I come from. I believe in magic and inspiration.

What is my “work”? A question that leads me to the chapter in Creativity in Business “Do only what is easy, effortless, and enjoyable” (113). Having completed the exercise in class based largely on this chapter, I see many things that I find that could very well be my “work”. I find my love for soccer, baseball, acting, photography and writing to be on the top of the list. The list continues on, covering all matter of topics. To the common reader there may seem to be no trend in the list. But in fact I see a trend that offers clues into what my “work” is. The trend is that there is no trend. My interests are varied and across the board; sciences, business, theatre, sports, philosophy, nature, the arts. There is no rhyme or reason, yet I find all these many different things to be easy, effortless, and enjoyable. What does this say about my “work”? That it must contain the elements of curiosity. Given what I’ve stated about my “self” this makes sense; my “self” seeks out new discovery and experiences in all matter of fields. It is not constrained by borders or job titles.

It became obvious to me that I must go beyond the list. I must look back as if I am at the completing stages of my life, as is talked about in Creativity in Business. How did I get there? What am I doing at age 80? Age 90? I started with 10 year brackets; I started at 30 and only found myself reaching to 60. At age 60 I was lost. I could not see past this time. And so I left this exercise for a few days and revisited it. Again, I could not find myself getting past age 60. I found myself to be very present oriented, striving to make things happen sooner rather then later. But the striving was not for myself; I found that many of my goals were set in place to make the lives of other better. I want to give my family a great life and make sure they’re taken care of. I wanted to provide grants to schools to provide more education resources to children. I wanted to help make the human condition better. At 60, I had completed many such goals, and while I could strive to continue, I feel a void. As if all this time I missed something that I was supposed to do complete in my youth that is now outside my reach as I am older. Fun. While I enjoy working and helping people, I forgot to have fun. I rework my timeline, and enter in new things such as getting married, having a family, and now I see my philanthropic side in a new light spanning until I’m in 80’s.

This exercise is actually very enlightening to me. It helps better define what my “work” is. But in greater detail it brings forth an important aspect that I had even failed to consider; balance. Without balance in my “work” what was once easy, effortless, and enjoyable would soon become difficult, distasteful and depressing.

It is from this balance of my “work” that I think that I become ordinary. Creativity in Business talks about being ordinary as “to know your purpose in life and find contentment in your daily doings, unimpressed with the accumulation of monetary wealth or public recognition” (178). If I do something that I find easy, effortless, and enjoyable and that matches with my outlook as I get older, I think the ability to become ordinary becomes a reality.

But what is my “work”? The exercises have helped me identify some very valuable insights. Can it be described in one word? A sentence? How do I express the overall image I see in my mind? In all regards I wish to foster creativity not only in myself, but in others. As the Grace of Great Things says “creative freedom grows, rather then contracts, when it is shared” (136). I agree with this statement. There has to be the ability for my work to bring out the creativity in others. I want to see other people succeed, and I want to provide an environment for them to do so. But even with the environment, I would have to make sure that they can in fact be creative and aren’t afraid to make mistakes. As Leap states “you can’t create a structure giving people permission to unleash great creative thinking and then sit back and expect that only great creative thinking and innovation will come out of it” (199). This also reminds of the Dateline video we saw in class. Something I took away from that video was that it was better to take the risk, make a mistake and then ask for forgiveness then to always ask for permission before you tried something. I like this concept, and I want to make that happen in my work. I want to be able to do just that, and foster this concept in others.

At this point, I’ve come to the realization that answering the question “what is my ‘work’” has taken me down some interesting and very non-linear thoughts. This is pretty much reflected in what I’ve written so far, as it doesn’t read all that smoothly, and is frankly bouncing all over the place as I hop from thought to thought. If this was last year, I would have scrapped it, but I think this really reflects a part of my “self” coming out in trying to describe what my “work” is. The six phases of the creative process rears it’s head. But I digress.

What is my “work”? My work is to foster in myself the ability to be creative. This creativity could be in any field that I find of interest. My work is effortless, easy and enjoyable and because of this, I see the world in a completely different light. I seek to help others understand their own creativity and help foster within themselves the ability to make their own dreams a reality. My work allows me to explore the possibilities that this world holds.

My self makes me an individual.
My work makes me ordinary.
Together, my self and my work make me happy.

We hadn’t seen boxes likes these before.  The top simply stated that they were Eastman Plates, with the usual “only open in photographic darkroom” and a black chalk mark in the corner stating 15 cents.  Exposed glass plates we thought.  We have a small collection of glass plates of various sizes that we’ve salvaged and printed over the last couple years (all 1890’s America), and my first thought was that we would surely add these to our collection.  We enjoyed them and liked the idea of saving a little history.

Being distracted as I was (my head was on a swivel looking for deals), it was only then that Monica leaned over to me and said in a low voice “these aren’t exposed…they’re sealed!”  And sure enough, there in front us where three boxes of Eastman Kodak dry plates, unexposed, sealed, as if they were brand new.  The only mark on them was the black chalk of the 15 cents price.

Further examination reveled that they were 3.25 by 4.25 inch “Eastman Post Card” plates or so they were labeled.  Odd we thought, given that from our reading the post card size was 3.25 by 5.25 inches, and that 3.25 by 4.25 inch was considered a quarter plate. The box did have the company name as Eastman Kodak Company, so they can at the very least be dated after 1892 (when Eastman changed the name: see timeline).

While myself or Monica are not experts on film history, we wasted no time purchasing all three boxes. We didn’t pay much for them, and promised the lady selling that we would shoot at least one of the three boxes. As crazy as that sounds, we shoot a lot of old film for the sheer fun of it. The earliest we’d ever shot was from the early 1940’s, and having never worked with glass plates should be a new experience.

We haven’t been able to find any information about them (yet), but if you have any information or old Kodak literature that might allow us to date these plates do let us know! We’ll post it here and give you the credit.  Below, photographs of one of the boxes.

Sometimes however I’ve found that when it’s in the pocket or in the backpack when hiking, it loses it’s connection and we end up with gaps in the GPS coords.  It’s not the end of the world, but a quick hack was in order.

I had a vague recollection of news from PMA 2007 of JOBO’s PhotoGPS which mounted on the flash shoe.  This seemed like a clever idea and I considered this easily addressable with the PhotoTrackr.  We don’t use an on camera flash or the shoe for the type of photography we do, so this would work nicely.

Make no mistake this is an easy hack that doesn’t require a lot time or effort. However, as my standard disclaimer if you destroy you’re camera/flash/phototrackr/self, I am not responsible, yada, yada, yada. You all know the drill.

Things you’ll need: Old shoe mounted flash you don’t mind destroying, hacksaw/jigsaw/cutting implement, sand paper, clamp, glue (I’ve had good results with Gorilla Glue)

Total time: Takes 15 minutes to assemble, let glue dry for at least 24 hours

Did I mention this wasn’t rocket science?  It’s a pretty simple hack, and while I couldn’t find anyone who had previously completed a similar hack with the PhotoTrackr, I’m sure someone out there has done the same.  Improvements could be made (locking nut for tighter fit on the flash shoe for instance) but otherwise the PhotoTrackr is just the right size for the top of the Canon 40D (I can’t speak to other DSLR’s).

As part two of this hack, if you have an old hot shoe lying around, you could easily attach said hotshoe to the side of your monitor and just slide your newly case-modded PhotoTrackr to the side of your monitor for storage (it’s on my list to do this evening).

An even better idea would be a molded option which would just replace the existing battery back. If I had the time, I’d probably do that as a cleaner option. But in the mean time, this will do nicely.

• StickmanVentures.com - After about a month, I finally got around to launching the much more content rich and feature ready Stickman Ventures site.  For those of you who are unaware, Stickman Ventures is part of my ongoing work in starting up niche targeted business ventures with Gareth Coen and my brother James.  Along with that we’ve added an investment arm and have partnered with several firms to help offer more value to our corporate clients, startup or not.
• JustinandMonica.com - On the other end of the spectrum we have Monica and I’s wedding site.  With the date set and invitations in the mail, we setup this site a clearinghouse of useful information.  I also built a different type of registry with Google Checkout for our planned honeymoon trip to Tahiti.  We’re planning on having one hell’ve of a party, so pictures from said event will also make it on to the site post haste.

In addition to these two site launches, I have three other site launches in the works over the next three weeks.  It’s going to be a busy time but will be a lot of fun as well.

In other updates:

• The speculation is true, I’ve dropped 25 pounds in the last four weeks.  After a rough 2007 which took its toll on my health, I decided that I wanted to get back to match fitness (in football/soccer speak, that means get back to game ready state) and have been working on it over the last month.  I’ve largely based my diet on Tim Ferris’ model, and added in training to increase muscle.  I’m using Wii Fit to track progress on a daily basis.  Those who knew me as an undergrad in Seattle are probably remembering this is not the first time I’ve experimented on my health.  Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.
• Monica and I have dove head first into gecko genetics as we tackle a new breeding project.  We’ve already added a third gecko (a bell albino) to go with our patternless and Monica’s favorite of the last six years, Icarus, a giant gecko by chance she raised early on.  A fourth is just around the corner, and I’m writing software to help track the gene combination’s and results.  Given Monica’s experience in biology (she was a project biologist), I suspect it’ll be an interesting experiment to say the least.  Genetics is just interesting.
• Monica and I recently took our engagement photographs with Tammy Hughes, who I just can’t speak highly enough of.  Her use of natural light is fantastic and her prints look spectacular.  I have a great deal of respect for her work.  She’ll be shooting at our wedding in October.  In the mean time, you can check out her website.
• My buddy Joe Kiernan is running a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  I’ve worked with Joe and he’s a great guy and it’s a great cause.  Get over there and donate some money; it’s a tax deduction to boot.
• For those who were in the Riverbank High Class of 1998, our reunion is taking place on September 20th.  I’m not sure if I’ll be able to attend, but if you were part of the class and are looking for information, head on over to the MySpace page for ticket information.  If you get a chance, thank Sonia who has put a lot of work in to make it happen.

That’s the all the highlights and updates!

Why the switch? As a Palm OS user since 2000, I was well acquainted with the Palm platform.  I had invested heavily in the commercial applications over the years, even going so far as doing some development many years ago.  I had used three devices (Palm V, Palm m515, Palm Treo 650, all of which I still own) with great success.  The Treo 650 had been my standby for over three years, and it functioned great in the field.

Yet Blazer, the internet browser in the Palm OS, offered limited functionality and was never fully stable for me.  Opera Mini was a nice addition, but the Java virtual machine on the Palm OS was slow and cumbersome and Opera’s responsiveness suffered.  I missed not having WiFi and with no SD card driver options (the hacks were not stable in use) I was left high and dry. Web apps had always been an important to me, but now I found myself needing them beyond what the Treo could deliver.  The latest Palm offering left much to be desired.  Looking for an alternative, I turned to the iPhone.

The original offering of the iPhone did not win me over; with basically no SDK (software development kit) I wasn’t going to be able to extend it myself (unless through web apps) and others wouldn’t be able to provide the applications I would need.  When the jailbreak of the phone happened, my interest was again rekindled.  With the announcement of an SDK, I figured I’d be on board with whatever the next version was.  That turned out to be the iPhone3G.

About a week after launch I purchased one.  The in store activation requirement was frankly ridiculous, though it only took me 15 minutes at the most.  My thoughts on such a policy is that it has only made it harder on both store employees and consumers looking to buy and hasn’t made people like AT&T any better.

The iPhone itself is quite nice to handle.  It’s sleak, polished, and has a gorgeous screen and fonts.  The touch screen is easy to handle, and the controls are straight forward.  With iPhone nearby, the Treo looks dated in it’s design (then again, my Treo looks dated compared to a Palm V as well, so take that with a grain of salt).

The one thing that I thought I would dislike about the move is the on-screen virtual keyboard.  Having moved from graffiti (does anyone remember it?) to the the Treo’s keyboard I remember it took some getting used to, but I grew to like the feel of the keyboard.  I thought this would be no different and after a few days, I’ve found typing on the virtual keyboard quite easy.  My biggest complaint is lag; randomly applications and some web forms have considerable lag between key press and display and it’s absolutely brutal.  SMS seems to be the worst case.

Speaking of SMS, the app lacks polish.  The SMS app in the Treo is better in my opinion, offering character count and MMS support inline.  While I’m not big on MMS and don’t miss this feature, I miss the character count.  A simple list format option as opposed to conversation mode would be nice, as well as filters to simply see sent messages.  For me SMS is not a deal breaker, but it could stand some feature enhancements.

The other apps that come standard on the iPhone (contacts, mail, calendar) offer basic functionality I would put on par with the standard Palm OS offerings.  The contacts annoy me because you can’t set a default group (it always reverts to Show All), and switching groups (sort of like categories in the Palm) takes too long.  I could do for a simply dropdown list or filter option on the search.

I’m not holding Apple fully responsible given that I used a number of apps on Palm to handle my extended needs.  These included DateBK5, AddressXT, and Snappermail, all which offered extended functionality over their bundled counterparts.  My assumption is that developers will (much as everyone did on Palm) extend the iPhone OS with enhancements as time goes on.

There in lies the problem for my use of the iPhone for daily business: it doesn’t currently offer the types of applications I use to get work done.  The App store is nice and it has some slick applications, but in terms of productivity I need things like Docs to Go (sometimes I need to edit some numbers, not just view) and ACT! which at the moment the iPhone doesn’t have counterparts to.

What the iPhone may lack in applications, it does not lack on web functionality.  I’ve been progressively moving to web based applications, running apps like Google Apps for Domains, Remember The Milk, and a lot of custom self-hosted services.  It is for this reason that the iPhone is going to be my main phone of use.  Using WiFi and receiving calls is a godsend and once Google Docs has edit functionality in it’s mobile version, I’ll be pretty content.

The other reason that I purchased outside of business use is the hacking potentional.  Running the jailbreak which came out a short while after my purchase opened up more possiblities (secure shell (SSH) was a must anyhow, as it sees daily use on my Treo).  I’m already working on a USB hardware hack, and I have plans to write some software as well.

Overall, I think the iPhone is amazing even given the transitional pains I’ve had moving to it.  As more applications become available and when they add cut and paste functionality, I’ll be certain I’ll be able to leave the Treo behind.  I’ll just have to be patient.

In the era where MySpace, SMS, and cell phone cameras rule the world, there is the often forgotten film camera at many a garage and estate sale.  People often pass them by without much of a glance, some even pick them up and wonder what it does.  The concept of film and non-automatic exposure is alien to most, and even at the cheapest of prices, most people simply pass.

Sometimes the opposite occurs and the camera is priced well above any chance of sale; the Polaroid Land camera is probably our most common find, and about half of the people selling do not want to hear that the camera they want $20 is worth maybe $2.  We should know, we only have 15 at last count.

At all ends of the price scale, in places from basements to barns, you will often find an old camera.  Monica and I look for the rare and unusual, but have no problem walking away with a $3 bakelite 620 film camera that nobody wants.  The reason behind it stems from the social aspect of that old film camera.

While most people would pass at the opportunity to buy an old film camera, given the opportunity and the conditions, they are more than happy to take pictures with one.  We’re found that if you hand someone an old camera, they act like it’s an antique and are almost afraid of it.  While that may very well be the case, my philosophy is that it’s still a camera and it was made to take photographs.  Age or not, lets have some fun with it.

On this thread, Monica and I started handing them to the cell phone camera addicted friends we had who had no concept of shooting film or manual cameras.  We loaded up everything from twin lens reflex style 620 point and shoots to basic 120 box cameras.  It doesn’t take much to opperate one of these cameras, simply press the button or pull the shutter switch, and roll to the next number.  With no LCD to offer immediate satisfaction this experiment could have been the shortest attempt at getting the non-photographer interested in something old, manual, and forgotten.

Instead, something interesting happened: people got into the process and started to like that old film camera in their hands.  People started telling us how much fun it was, and soon enough they were asking for more film on our outings.  Some even wanted to process their own film, which was something we did not expect.

Given the response, we soon let people take the camera of their choice.  Many of them cost us next to nothing, and any old camera in service is okay by us.  We’ve given away everything from plastic 35mm toy cameras to SLR’s.  If they want to develop the film at our place, we let them have at it.  We let people experiment and play, and we all have fun together.  It’s a great atmosphere to be around.

You could argue that the same social aspect exists with digital cameras, that the photo walks that many people organize is along the same idea and that places like Flickr or Photo.net allow people to freely exchange photography ideas.  I find this to be very true, and I often use these places and events to see what creative outlets people are trying.

At the end of the day, the social aspect of old film cameras appeals to my sense of the then and now, the idea of preserving history and having fun doing it not by oneself, but with friends.  I don’t get that feel with digital (yet).  Every new old camera is another learning experience and another opportunity for that age old question at the park, “what kind of camera is that?”

We decided to head in to town to our local custom television and stereo shop to get a quote on some gear, try out some sets before shopping online. I typically don’t get sticker shock; we knew that gear wasn’t going to be cheap, but after explaining our situation and getting an estimated quote of $10-$15,000 to build what we wanted, we left somewhat dejected. It was well outside of our budget and plans

In that price was a custom cabinet to be built into the alcove, which ran anywhere from $2-$4,000. In a gutsy move, Monica went out and bought me a very nice Craftsman circular saw as encouragement to build it myself. My limited experience in cabinetry (none) made me hesitant, but with Monica’s encouragement and my good genetic building genes (my dad can build just about anything) I figured what could possibly go wrong. I threw myself into the task of learning how to build an entertainment center.

I researched online. I read books and magazines on cabinetry. I watched design shows on DIY and HGTV. I talked to people. I quickly came to two conclusions; one, I could build it and two, I was under equipped for the job. I had no router, I didn’t have a fancy table saw, and they all used a nail gun. This was going to require creativity.

After seeing an episode of Wasted Spaces, I liked the idea of building blocks, or boxes. By simply visualizing that the entertainment center was simply a series of boxes, I could build it. Given the odd walls of the alcove (front to back on the left and right corners were different measurements), I decided this would work. My basic plans looked like this:

My design was simple: using 2×4’s and 1/2 inch plywood, I would construct a base made of simple boxes which would then be wrapped in oak to match the existing cabinets in the house. To make it more interesting I decided that I had enough room to create three boxes to house gear that would be the proper dimensions for a 19 inch rack, should I decide to put in mounting strips later. Given the height of these boxes, it worked out to about 11U worth of space.

With the plan now firm, I calculated the amount of wood needed and went shopping. In all, I spent about $250 on the wood and some supplies and went to work.

With the entertainment center coming together, after careful research we decided what and how our system would be built. We decided on the following pieces of hardware:

• Mitsubishi Diamond Series 65″ DLP WD65833 (link)
• Marantz SR5002 A/V Receiver (link)
• (2) SpeakerCraft AIM8 Three (link)
• (2) SpeakCraft AIM Wide Three (link)
• (1) SpeakerCraft AIM LCR Three (link)
• (1) Velodyne DLS-4000R Subwoofer (link)

The sound gear was easy to come by at the local sound shop, and by taking advantage of a couple sales (the center channel, subwoofer, AVR), we were able to get the sound system in it’s entirety for about $3,600 (about $1,500 off the total sticker price).

The television was another story. After seeking out a local shop that sold it, the only place we could find wanted the MSRP of $3,399. California sales tax alone would bring the price up near $3,700, and they wanted a delivery fee of $150. Needless to say, we did not choose this option. Since the cabinet wasn’t finished, we decided to head online to find a reputable outlet to sell and ship.

We turned to Amazon.com. They had several vendors selling the item at over $1,200 off the MSRP with free shipping. This sounded good. We ordered through Amazon.com, expecting the usual series of events to occur. Monica and I had both ordered items from Amazon.com and their never ending list of third party sellers and had never had a problem. That was until this television.

Two canceled orders and three weeks later, there is no television. Amazon.com had failed on a massive level; they lied about the shipping information from one of the vendors (I talked to the vendor and they had received no order) only to cancel the order and not inform us, locked us out of two accounts, and then having the audacity to ask us to order again because “we value your business”. I sent over 30 emails, placed 10 phone calls…you don’t value my business, which you just lost.

We finally ordered the television from OneCall.com, located in Spokane, Washington. Best service ever; they called an hour after the order was submitted, let me know all the details about the shipping, and explained it would be there in three days. When the television arrived via FedEx Freight on time, it was if it hadn’t been touched. Not a dent or scratch. The ShockWatch was intact (impressive, given their sensitivity which Monica and I later tried out). OneCall.com called about an hour after delivery to verify that everything was good. We can’t recommend them enough. With shipping, we paid only $2,200 for the television.

With TV having arrived, what to make of the cabinet? Did encouragement and genetic makeup help overcome my complete lack of experience in wood work? Yes, they did. The base cabinet had come together nicely, and using some struts from the base up to the top shelf which would house the center channel speaker, added support. We used oak baseboard and door trim to finish various edges of the cabinet, which gave it very nice finish.

For the doors, we decided to go with black speaker cloth centers, allowing the subwoofer to be housed to the right of the television. By using 2 inch trim, we cut holes in three 20 inch by 21 inch oak boards to allow the sort of recess type that you would most often see in a frame (1/4 inch all the way around). By creating basically box panels (think painters canvas frame), we stretched the speaker cloth and stapled, and inserted them into the door panels. IR signals from the remotes will actually pass though, though we’ve been using the IR blaster which came with the television.

The rest of the installation was a breeze. The speakers required our original ceiling holes to be cut out slightly more, allowing for the bigger speakers that we had purchased (SpeakerCraft give you a cutting template with each speaker). The hardest part about the speaker install was that they weighed more than expected and took some finesse to get in. The preexisting wiring worked without any issues and configuring the 5.1 surround sound thought the Marantez AVR was a breeze (my brother Jim reconfigured it for optimum sound as well, which was nice).

The Mitsubishi WD65833 comes out the box with pretty good picture quality and color. I reconfigured it using a THX DVD, but otherwise the picture quality is stunning. We’re waiting on adding Blu-ray to the mix, but our Sony 480p DVD gets up converted by the television to 1080p and it looks stunning. HD content using a Dish Network ViP 722 is stellar and watching Euro Cup 2008 has been a treat. You just can’t beat high definition soccer.

Everything in the living room was measured and arranged to optimize the viewing and listening experience. To figure out all the logistics of this scene of musical chairs, I used Carlton Bale’s Home Theater Calculator, an Excel spreadsheet which does a really nice job.

All said and done after wiring everything up, building an entertainment center into the alcove, and configuring the hardware, watching films or playing video games has become an immersing experience. Coming in at a little over $6,000 for everything out the door, we’ve been pleased with the performance of the system and have no plans on changing anything out. I am planning on doing some custom wiring of PS2/3 and Gamecube/Wii control ports, but that’s for a different day.

A couple of weeks go by without even a phone call from anyone. Monica and I proceed to head over to the house, where low and behold we find the house unlocked. We head in to inspect when we find that the house is being shown, nearly four weeks after we had an agreement. Our realtor explains that they’re still taking bids as the house hasn’t been set to pending in the MLS, and that she had requested they remove the lockboxes which the selling realtor did not do. I convinced her to take the key out of the lock box.

Five weeks had passed by, and we were no closer to making this deal reality. After being brushed off by the selling realtor (“you’ll just have to wait, the bank has a glitch”) and our realtor doing nothing (“I can’t talk to the bank, that’s the selling realtors job”), I took matters into my own hands. After digging up which bank owned this house (of which neither realtor would tell me), I contacted Option One Mortgage Corporation. If you’ve never heard of Option One, they’re basically a sub-prime lender formerly owned by H&R Block which lost loads of money and recently sold.

I called Option One. I spoke with one of their reps about the problem and was told that indeed there was a glitch within their system that was preventing the contract from being generated and sent. When I asked them when this would be resolved, the reply was dismal: it’s hit of miss; could be a week or could be a month, they just didn’t know. Undeterred, I asked how I might help resolve the glitch, and was told that the selling realtor should be working with an asset manager to resolve the problem. When I asked who this asset manager was, I was rebuked and told only realtors talk to asset managers. It didn’t matter, I had all the information I needed.

Knowing full well that I needed to talk to an asset manager, I again called the main Option One switchboard, and one by one, went through their directory leaving messages. Eventually I was bound to find someone who could fix this problem. I then dug around on the web and found email addresses, and sent kind emails asking for assistance.

After a day full of phone calls and emails, I sent an email to our realtor explaining that if the selling realtor Ken didn’t get on the ball, so help me I’d close this deal without him and he could kiss his commission goodbye.

Two days later the contract showed up. Coincidence? I think not; executive email blasting and phone calls has been shown to work (see Consumerist). Once we had signed the contract, we told them we needed to close as quickly as possible; both Monica and I had put in our notice with our landlords based on the original close date, and the clock was ticking.

The contract called for an exact amount to be sent to the escrow service in Southern California to kick things off. Again, no problem. Cut check, gave to our realtor to send to escrow along with contract. Called the loan people, said get ready to cash out, send everything over to document department. Everything was rolling.

After the loan paperwork went to their documents department for finalization and sending off to escrow, we received a call asking for verification of income and a letter detailing mismatching addresses on a credit card I had. This severely irked me; this could have been done a months ago. We had offered to provide tax returns, pay stubs, the whole nine yards. They said it wasn’t needed. Even now, they didn’t want those things, they just wanted to talk to the place we worked. After having called our places of work, they asked for no verification of our actual gross pay. I could have given them friends’ phone numbers and they wouldn’t have known the difference. This delayed the paperwork a few days.

Finally after much delay the paperwork just needed to be signed and notarized. I called our realtor to set it up, but she had become worthless at this point. She didn’t know who to call, and although she had the escrows name and number, offered no assistance. She instead points us to a local title company whom is supposedly the agent for the escrow company. Turns out they don’t have the paperwork but are supposed to transfer the title later and offer no assistance.

I get on the phone to the escrow and schedule a mobile notary to bring the paperwork to us for signing. To our amazement, the final wire amount for our down seems heavily inflated. After a call to the escrow, the error is found: they hadn’t received the good faith payment with the original signed counteroffer contract. I call our realtor and sure enough she hadn’t sent it. Needless to say, we were not pleased. I give her the address and tell her it needs to be there tomorrow.

After wiring the remaining money overnight, our side of the deal was complete. All paperwork had been signed, the money in place, insurance setup, and we were good to go. As per the contract, the house was set to close just five days later (five days after the approval of our loan). We begin making preparations to move into the house March 1st, two days after closing. However, the house didn’t close on February 28th. Remember I said the house closed on March 12th? Yes, sure enough the selling realtor and the bank had misplaced the actual title, and could not transfer. You heard that right, they wouldn’t take the loan money or our money. After two days of phone calls to the title company and the bank, nothing had been done; the title company lied to us on several occasions, at which point the escrow service stepped in to resolve the matter.

With the bank in breech of their own contract terms, our realtor and the selling realtor having been completely worthless in the process, the title company basically lying to us, we decided to take matters into our own hands. After verifying that the insurance start date was in fact February 28th we convinced our realtor to give us the key to the house. For those that don’t know, they’re not supposed to give you the key until you close.

First thing we did: changed all the locks. It wasn’t hard; called the locksmith and he didn’t even want proof we owned the house, just the key. He re-keyed all the locks within an hour. As a bonus, he also took the bank and realtor key boxes off the door. Next, we setup all the services. Within a day, every service in the house (water, electric, gas, satellite, phone, internet) was on and in our name. Again, it’s amazing how little you need to prove you actually own or are living at the house; in only one case was I asked to show paperwork, and even then I didn’t show it. I said I had forgotten my escrow docs in the car (which was true) that I’d run out and go get them, and that was all the social engineering it took. No need they said, we believe you.

It was at this point we moved in the weekend of March 1st. I stopped calling the title company and the bank, I stopped calling the realtors and we decided if they want to screw around they could knock yourselves out. We had paid them, and as far as I was concerned we owned the house. I feigned interest via email but I stopped the hard push.

When March 12th rolled around and the house actually closed, we didn’t hear from anyone. Robin the loan officer had told us March 10th that the loan had funded, but it wasn’t until something came in the mail that we knew on March 12th the title was filed.

For those keeping score, from start to finish, it took 65 days to close this deal. The bank was in breech of their own contract by 18 days. The selling realtor didn’t come for the key boxes and the for sale sign until 28 days after closing. We gave them their sign with a storage bill; we told them to go talk to the locksmith for their key boxes. They weren’t happy, but I had a grin on my face.Our realtor pleaded that she was trying hard to get it done, but in reality Monica and I in the end had to do all the heavy lifting.

In summary, we now own the house and are happily building a home. If you take one thing away from this (long) story, make it this: when it comes down to it, do not be afraid to get in the fight and get things done.

After a fair amount of research we knew that prices would continue to fall into 2008, and we decided to bid accordingly. Thought not necessary, we decided to get a pre-approval from Countrywide, our lender of choice. When we came in to ask for the pre-approval, the reps first question summed up the current housing situation: do you have any money to put down? We were putting down no less than 10% no matter what, and with a sigh of relief the rep said “you just made my life easy. ”

With pre-approval in hand, we set out to find a house worthy of a bid. Looking at houses had become somewhat of a problem; while I didn’t want a realtor, it was apparent actually looking at houses was somewhat difficult without one. Monica and I eventually settled on Karen, whom had shown us a few houses she was selling and seemed straightforward and nice.

Trying to sell us both on a house was a tough proposition; I was absolutely brutal on everything, from price and taxes, down to nit-picking a houses’ defects. I drove Monica crazy. We looked at hundreds of houses in November and December, and while that may sound like an exaggeration, I can assure you it is not. The sheer volume of houses on the market was staggering; by my rudimentary calculations, there was over a 12 month supply on the market in the area we were looking at. All of this worked in our favor, and we were going to exploit it.

While we walked away from the first house we bid on after the builder wouldn’t budge on price (too many houses on the market to not give), we found a house in a similar area. It was a foreclosed home, had been on the market for nearly half a year with little interest. The realtor had sent the listing to us a month prior, but I had shrugged it off. The listing did little to sell the house and it was a poor attempt at marketing by the selling realtor. One picture, basic stats, and the words “great buy” in the description. Asking price wasn’t close to going market rate by any indicator and it wasn’t the least bit surprising that they had no bids, let alone lookers.

Upon looking at the house, it was actually quite nice. The house had it share of upgrades, including such things as granite countertops, dark hardwood floor, upgraded carpet, CAT5e wiring throughout and built in surround sound in the living room. With a three car tandem garage and over 2600 square feet of space, it was worth the look.

For it’s strong points, the house had it’s weaknesses. The surround sound was wired, but the speakers had been removed, leaving gapping holes in the ceiling. The house was wired with CAT5e, but wasn’t networked; the main network panel containing networking, phone, and video wiring was a disaster. The backyard was a barren landscape as were a few ceilings, as fixtures appeared to be missing.

Some people would have passed; we saw it as a house that had been barely lived in with some minor problems that could be resolved. There were other families around with young kids, and an elementary school was being planned to be built within walking distance. After some back and forth, we decided it was bidding time.

The price they wanted was high, well above everything else in the market that was comparable. We bid 20% less than asking. It was at this point that things started getting odd.

Our realtor had been in touch with the selling realtor over the weekend to see if there was any interest. He had told her no. On a Monday in January we submitted our bid, only to see the house re-listed at a lower price the same day in an attempt to drum up bids. Not unheard of and we weren’t concerned. The next day, we’re told they have two additional bids that had come out of the blue after no interest; the selling realtor claims the lower price is what magically drummed up interest. We’re skeptical of this claim.

A week went by and the bank reviewed our bid and counter-offered. It was at this point that the push begin. The seller wanted to close quick, by February 15th. Our realtor tried to get us to commit right away, as she told us the other bids were most likely to be considered if we didn’t sign and we might lose the house. This did not sit well with me; if they already had other two other bids then why counteroffer on ours? Monica and I discussed the issue; the counteroffer was good, below even the revised asking pricing they had been trying to drum bids up with, and while not quite 20%, it would suffice.

We called our realtor, told her to tell them yes and to send over the paperwork. We could close by the 15th given our current loan status, and we had cash in waiting. Only thing they had to do was send the paperwork. What proceeded to happen was anything but a smooth transaction.