Why I Blog

As world 2.0 evolves and we head into what we may perhaps label 3.0 social interaction online, I had a unique opportunity to appreciate what blogging has done for me.

I have been blogging now for close to 8 years (remember the xanga days?) and I maintained this blog pretty faithfully for the last 5.   My blog has meant many things to me starting with a place for private social interaction among other cynics who were there to essentially mock one another and any newcomers too, to its most recent public iteration with caution regarding anything potentially mean-spirited.  It has meant a place to learn about my friends, to cohabitate online with people who I wish I lived near in real life.  It has served as a reunion to help me connect with those who I used to know and wish to know again and sometimes a place to meet new interesting people to fill in the crevices of my friendships with interesting and diverse mortar.

But as 3.0 existence may push out my own blog in favor of those that are specialized and provide valuable resources to like-minded people, I discover that the real value of my blog lay in secret, a latent purpose waiting for a need and point in time:  a record of my life.  I discovered this when a co-worker asked me about my work at the charter school in California, you know the one where I spent all of my waking hours in Santa Barbara?  And I was able to piece together the journey using my blog.  I walked down memory lane as I pondered the timeline:

My first post and explanation

One of my angry moments before they let us speak up

Newspaper article midpoint

I hate the superintendent (not anymore)

Our heartwarming activist moment (article is linked to blog)

Wait I still do hate this guy!! Nevermind.  Here is the video where he they show us and then him.  I have a cute haircut and way better skin, I think I need to move back to California.

The stay of execution (we won!  Wait, what did we win?)

My lamentations of public information laws

My better-late-than-never resignation

The final newspaper article which is kind of my swan song, has disappeared.  School was saved, got a 3 year charter, blah blah blah.

And I realized how lucky I was to have this blog.  The memory of that great work has already faded from my mind and I only remember the tragedy and heartache.  But if you look at some of those moments in time, I got to be part of a real movement, a local movement, a community-led fight against the man and the system.  Who would I be today without this experience?  And the record of it is all here in this neat little web application.  And there are other strands, years of halloween costumes, Catholic cigar box tributes to my deceased relatives, art shows, farewell parties, travels coast-to-coast, and my disheveled first day of school photos.  I have recorded the life and love I experienced over the years and my only wish is that I had blogged the first 30 years of my life to go back and verify my charmed existence in html.

If you don't blog, I sure hope you keep a journal because, well... how sweet it is to be reminded of the gifts of our years.

Droid Review Part Deux

As I specifically mentioned it in my Christmas letter, I thought I would reread my review of the HTC Incredible vs. Iphone and decided to provide an update.  You are welcome iphonies.

I recently helped my MIL program her Iphone and nostalgia washed over me in remembrance of a different era... and I realized that pleasurable usability is Apples piece de resistance.  Other notes:

Droid offers....

• Turn-by-turn directions from the maps app--no fee, no extra app, no programming, just straight up gps, garmin-like directions (the new update includes a google-earth style tilt)
• Flash (no fight with adobe here)
• A lot more free apps (Angry Birds free version has at least 10 levels--since I am there now) 
• Open home--you can design the phone to look however you want it to look without doing anything that will violate your contract
• Haptic feedback
• Better stock ringtones and alarm tones 
• VERIZON (rarely, I mean rarely dropped calls)
• No accidental calls (aka butt calls)
• Micro SD allows you to pick your own storage amount

There are some other things that are better but Iphone 4 + new operating system might have caught up in the last 6 months so I don't want to assume but just in case:

• Facebook app allows you to scroll the photos across the bottom and you can see the status updates above without being bogged down by a bunch of lame photos
• Quick access to my settings from the menu at any time
• Notifications at the top of the screen that you can pull down at any time
• 8 megapixel camera complete with pretty solid flash camera

Iphone still reigns in:

• Touch navigation.  Droid is good, but iphone has that dialed in but good
• Overall design and curviness
• WAY better accessories in general--cases for the droid you can count on one hand--you can't even count the varieties of screen protectors for the iphone on one hand
• Better paid apps (like lets create pottery for crying out loud)
• When you navigate back to the home screen it closes the app (that might have changed somewhat, please chime in) whereas the Droid can have five hundred apps open that you didn't realize were draining your battery.  App killer is hit and miss, you just have to back out of everything a million times.
• Text messages that show up on the face of your phone.  This is my holy grail on the droid--can't figure out how to do this and I really need that to occur
• Full synchronization with Itunes, essential for keeping a low effort updated music library

In summary:

If you travel and work like I do and need it to be reliable for professional productivity including long conference calls, go with a droid

If you want a really fun phone to blog, email,  play games with your friends on the go and accessorize, go with the Iphone.  

I hear a new rumor everyday that iphone is going verizon but I have been hearing that for two years to no avail.  That is NOT happening, sorry to say, so for now, you still have to decide.  

A Few Updates

Droid is great. I am used to it now, have no complaints about the service or the interface and it has now taken the place of my iPhone. I will always love my iPhone but I can no longer say that it was a better phone. Too many cool things on the droid.

Gillian is doing really well--we took her this summer to get a second opinion from a specialist in Utah and he said that the treatment she is getting here is stellar (current treatment: do nothing, medically known as "wait and watch')

I have a list of 13 things I am going to do in Santa Barbara before I leave town. I completed #1 on Saturday. Here is my list, feel free to join me if you like and reviews welcome

1) Gaviota Hot Springs (it was like a warm, stinky bathtub, the girls totally went swimming and loved it, picture coming next post)

2) Tidepool--the problem here is that the low tide is early morning or late at night so I have to pick a Friday night or something

3) Painted Caves

4) Red Rock Swimming Hole

5) Railroad depot to take pictures of my kids

6) UCSB Art Museum

7) Storke tower--I want to see if I can find my way to the top, I hear they don't do that anymore but I would love to try

8) SB Orchid Estate

9) Clairmont Lavender Farm

10) Gaviota Coast Conservatory

11) Ganey Vineyards

12) Drum Circle on East/West Beach

13) Oak Park Wading Pool

I know that anyone who lives here has already done all of these things, I am just a slacker. We have already done cool stuff locally but we don't get out enough.  It is tough to do everything when you live a mile from a couple of beaches, a butterfly preserve, a couple of nice hikes, a lake, and a Costco.  Who else can claim that?

First Loves and Rocky Relationships

One of the downsides of living in a more transparent society is that the whole world gets to experience your snafus.

You buy some medication online from Canada and your email account takes a life of its own and starts inviting your friends to enhanced experiences.

You forget to inactivate an account from a year ago and suddenly your name is tweeting in German.

People can even experience poor wardrobe choices you made when you were 15 via social networking sites.

Most egregious, you can throw a party and forget to invite someone and they find out about it from someone you barely know through facebook.

It's a murky world out there... and yet.  That vulnerability makes us more compassionate.  You get an email from someone with questionable content and your first thought is to feel sorry for the sender having experienced a hijacked account yourself.

It is that empathy that I rely upon when I experiment with new technology myself--like my new HTC Incredible phone.

Before I start in on my own recent blunders, let me tell you, it lives up to the reputation of being able to rival the iPhone.  It is a smooth ride, with some nice little features that my generation iPhone didn't have.  I can hear you now Tiff, asking "like what??" so I will share with you:

1.  You can just touch the "phone" button (which is always in the center because, after all, it is a phone) and start spelling the name of whomever you would like to call. You can type in numbers if you know any, you can spell the first OR last name and it pulls it up for you.  Speedy.

2.  Say you go to a mission reunion and want to get someone's phone number? On the iPhone you had to create a new contact that always took forever--on the Android you can just put in the number and it magically asks you "add as contact?" which really speeds up the process.

3.  I can have widgets or apps open at any time--but I can also kill all the apps at once to save on my battery life.  The widgets are kind of "ready to roll" apps and I can do a bunch of stuff with each of those individual, customizable screens (you get 7) and you can save as many themes as you want. So say I organize my apps a certain way but want to experiment?  I can save that theme and then I can go back to it if I don't like the way I organized it.

4.  Tons of free ringtones.  This is my current one.  No pay, just free.

5.  The apps alert you when something is new at the top of your screen so you don't have to see the app to know if you have something going on--and it is accurate as opposed to the iPhone fake facebook notifications.

Having said that, there are a few things that are better about the iPhone:

1.  The alarm.  Last night after a VERY fun mission reunion, I got home and packed, was exhausted when I selected the 5 am alarm for an early flight to Indy.  I woke up with the sun, around 6ish, realizing that my alarm did not sound.  I have relied on my iPhone and it has not failed me for 1.5 years.  The droid makes the assumption that every human being sleeps in on Saturday and Sunday.  Honestly, maybe they are idealists, but whomever made the app is not Mormon.  We have places to be on Sunday mornings.  Like the airport.  I rescheduled for 5 pm and it was actually a blessing because I went to church with my family and really enjoyed it. Only downside is that I won't hit my hotel until 3 am tomorrow morning.

2.  Text messaging not nearly as good.  Downloaded an app to make it nicer but now I get two notifications--one in the built-in app and one in the new app.  Annoying.

3.  Apparently the droid mms pictures not sending to iPhones.  My cute pics not being received, must address this issue asap.

4.  Droid users are less of a club.  I see people with an iPhone and I feel like last year's prom queen--I promise I understand, I promise!! But telling someone "I used to have an iPhone" is not the same as just making eye contact, looking at your phone, and smiling smugly.  You can't even tell who is in the droid club :(

5.  Pictures and video uploading more than meets the eye.  This is much nicer on the iPhone.  I have to go to my FB account to clean up the fact that I posted two of each picture.  Also, note, yesterday I posted a picture of a skater.  How did this happen?  I think I must have accidentally selected it, but why is this a stock photo on the droid?  Who wants this pic as their default?  Is that guy someone famous?  Is this someone's way of testing the lameness of new droid users and someone is tracking the number of times this shows up online on some blog mocking us all?

So in summary, the iPhone will always be my first love.  And yes, I am having a rocky relationship with the Droid but we have a promising future together.  Plus my company has benefitted from this and sometimes the happiness of others creates a super happiness in me.

Mockers, remember your own vulnerability and next time you make a blunder I will be there to support you too.

Ground Control to Major Tom

Recently I have discovered that my cerebral operating system has limited space. This was always a known issue, but it has come to a peak lately.

Someone shared an article (via twitter you haters who haven't learned the value yet) regarding the need for digital natives to meditate. I didn't actually read the article because I am so constantly multitasking that I just read summaries and then pass on info to people.

Recent studies have determined that people who multitask do each task less efficiently. It is like they know me.

Forgive the analogy for the non-tech types, but I just realized that the Operating System analogy is very powerful. How is my brain like an operating system?

1. It begins to run less and less efficiently when certain programs are running in the background. Programs like listening to my children fight, or having to work on my expense reports which keeeel me.

2. I always, I mean always, have 2-3 programs going. I often have a song in my head (or maybe I am singing it) and I maintain simultaneous thoughts and repeat conversations in my head.

3. If my brain has been engaged for a long time, it begins to be overwhelmed and I need to shut down. My friends in college used to accuse me of randomly picking up the phone and calling someone mid-conversation. Controlling those impulses is key for me because I still have this habit. Someone asks a question and I immediately pick up my phone, only now I use texting or a browser to solve my issues instead of actually calling someone.

I have recently discovered, sadly, that I can't seem to concentrate very well when I am having conversations with people one-on-one. I can't complete a thought coherently, I am not engaged in many conversations, etc.

My solution to this:

1. NO screen time for set periods of the day. No phone, no computer, no nothing.

2. MUST workout. I am trying to go religiously three times a week. The other days if I can go on a walk, even better. I seem to be able to concentrate on conversations better during that time too so if you want to talk to me about something you should definitely go on a walk with me.

3. When I get in the car, I can't turn on the radio or play with my phone for at least part of the drive. I should be using this time to converse with whomever is actually IN the car.

4. I need to create a "to do" list. Instead of doing five things partway, I need to set two simple things I am going to complete each day. This means I need to actually create said list. I am looking for an app for that btw.

5. Meditation. I haven't done this effectively yet, but I plan on at the very least, trying to pray more often and focus my brain in that way. Maybe that is part of the reason why we ought to do so.

6. Getting enough sleep. Megs still thinks it is okay to get up in the middle of the night and I am often at diminished capacity. I have no resolution for this right now but hopefully it will get better soon.

What other strategies do people have for brain restart, or at least hibernation?