Smartphone Apps

I've been toying around with the idea of making a program for either the iPhone or Gphone (Android) or both. Every time I come up with an idea though I always think that nobody would use it or find that someone has already built a similar app, usually far superior to my idea. Developing on this platform is interesting to me because a smartphone is the convergence of nearly every electronic gadget that you own. Computer, MP3 player, GPS, TV, calculator, watch,... all of these functions can be performed by one device. The main problem being that it is a jack of all trades master of none (I guess it is master of mobility). For example, your not going to write your dissertation on an iPhone and the calculator on the Gphone isn't going to graph 3D equations like your TI-89 but the you could in fact perform both of these on a smartphone.

Mobile applications are by far the most interesting market to me. Sometimes they seem like magic. Take for example Wikitude. This app uses the phones gps and Wikipedia to find interesting things around you. Using the phones camera you can create an augmented reality that points at the location. Have you ever been looking for a museum or store only to find out you were right next to it all along? Wikitude to the rescue! From the website...

The truly compelling feature is the augmented reality cam view, users may hold the phone’s camera against a spectacular mountain range and see the names and heights displayed as overlay mapped with the mountains in the camera. Users may look out of an airplane window to see what is down there. Users may walk through a city like Seville, Spain, holding the phone’s camera against a building and Wikitude tells what it is.

Click here to look at the demo.

The question I have is will people buy these types of applications and how much will they pay for them.

Assuming your phone does the basic things like calling, calender, email, etc... If you could have any application on a phone what would it be? What do want that nobody is making?

Settling In

We got the keys to our new house on 3 October and spent our first night here the next evening. Getting to know our new house has been fun for us. The previous owners left us a house in emaculate shape. The left window coverings for windows in all of the rooms and everything seems to be in really good shape. One bonus we've found is that our house gets alot of heat from the sun. In the living room there are five large windows and one sliding glass doors. These windows face East, West and South so the room always has direct sunlight. All of this sunlight warms the room up to ten degrees warmer than outside. Hopefully the drapes and blinds will deflect that heat next July. 

One thing we've found is that while it's a long and expensive process to buy a house it's an even longer and arguably more expensive process to fill it. Luckily we've had some good luck at garage sales. With the help of my mother, the expert garage saler and West Salem navigator, we've managed to take up some of the room in our house with various furnishings. We spent $20 on a really nice dining room table with four chairs. And got two La-Z-boy recliners for $80. Our mattress was a different story. My expectations was to spend around $300 on a "decent" mattress/box spring set. Having never purchased one before I was shocked to find that "decent" mattresses start at $600 and those are really more bottom line. We looked on craigslist and at garage sales but didn't have any luck finding one so we bit the bullet and got a really comfortable one for $850. We also spent retail on a nice washer/dryer set. Well, it actually wasn't a set. The dryer that matched our washer was $700. I asked the salesperson what the difference between the matching one and one for $300 was and he said "This one matches". Due to some generous gift cards from our wedding and a Sears card that got us 15% off and no payments or interest for a year this wasn't quite as big of a blow as the mattress set. Next month we'll probably start shopping for a couch and a TV. For now, the saying "Shop till you drop" applies to us, only it's our checking account that is doing the dropping.

Oliver enjoying the "new" La-Z-boy...

Megan viewing a rainbow from our back deck...

The rainbow in it's vivid glory...

(Note: there is a perched humming bird on a branch of the tree on the right)

Welcome Connor!

Monday morning (11:22am East Coast) my sister, Kate, gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Connor. Kate was really tired, so I think she'll appreciate my not posting her picture just yet. Here's one with a proud grandma, and one with the relieved dad.

Peach of a Century

Today I rode my bicycle 64 miles (a little more than a metric century) around the Willamette Valley. I've never done an organized ride (one might say I've never done anything organized, but that is a different post). For $23 ($18 if you pre register, I, being unorganized, didn't) you get a route map, a rider number, tons of food at the rest stops, mechanical help at all (3) stops, spray painted markers at all turns, and a large slice of peach pie! Definitely $23 well spent. I've always been critical of organized events such as running events or rides like this but not anymore, I'm a converted man. The best part of the ride were the scheduled rest stops with ample amounts of food. There was no scheduled start time but with more than a thousand riders the course was busy the whole time and the rest stops were bustling.

I elected to ride the metric century as the "real"century sounded like a lot of work and I hadn't prepared for it. At the end I had the muscle strength to go 35 more miles but I'm not sure my shoulders, elbows or back would have allowed it so I made a wise choice to stick with the 64 miles. 

The only downside to my ride was when I rode over a giant pot hole. My water bottle flew off of my bike and before I stopped both of my tires were flat. I was riding very close to another rider and he was also riding close to another rider. He notified me of the hole as he swerved and I didn't have enough time to react. We had the bike in working order in 15 minutes and were back to the grind. Another advantage of riding in a large event like this was that help was never far away. Nearly every minute while we were stopped someone asked us if we had everything we needed.

The ride was put on by the Salem Bicycle Club. The club also sponsors a watermelon ride and the Monster Cookie ride. Maybe next year I'll do the "real" century for one of these.

Motorcycle (boring mpg info)

I've been riding my motorcycle (Suzuki Gz250) to work nearly every day since I stared in late July. With fall upon us I'll be riding less and less but thus far I've ridden it over 3500 miles. When gas was over $4 per gallon I saved nearly $10 per day by taking the motorcycle over my Subaru. 

The Subaru gets about 27 mpg on the highway whereas my motorcycle gets between 70 and 82 mpg. When I use premium I average 77.5 but when I use regular I average 75 mpg. Since premium costs about 20¢ more I save money by using regular - but the money saved is actually pretty trivial. I caclulated my cost per mile and for premium it's 4.77¢ per mile while regular is 4.67¢ per mile so after 10,000 miles the savings would only be $10 using regular. Publish Post

Cyndi is my Idol

I want to be just like Cyndi, so Andrew and I bought a used blue/silver Saturn, just like hers.

Bike Ride!

I just rode my bike from West Salem to Western Oregon University! It was a pleasant (and flat) country ride. Here's the route I took, only I started at Andrew's parents house and don't want to post their address, so I went about 2 miles less.


View Larger Map

I wish I brought a camera to take pictures. Now I have to ride home. Maybe a stop at Burgerville first...

Pennsylvania Vs. Oregon

No, I'm not talking about the Nittany Lions vs. the Ducks (or Beavers), not even the Volcanoes vs. the Iron Pigs (ok - they're in different divisions). After growing up in PA, living in OR for a few months, visiting PA, and returning home to OR, I noticed a few things I like and miss. Obviously my husband (& dog) in OR, and the family I grew up with in PA top the lists. Here are some other things that stand out:

PA

1. Warm Summer Mornings & Evenings - I took a walk in the morning and wore shorts and felt the sun and warm air. When I walk Oliver in OR mornings (even on a 90-degree-high day), I need pants & sweatshirt. I also love to enjoy a dinner-time cookout and still wear shorts. I need a sweatshirt in OR.
   
2. Lightening Bugs - They're just really pretty.
3. Thunder Storms - So much more fun and dramatic than OR rain. I have witnessed some lightening on OR - But not nearly as thrilling.
4. Fall Leaves - Another thing that's just really pretty.

OR

1. Cool Summer Nights - Also the nights of the days with 90-degree highs. Sleeping is so much more pleasant.
2. Berries - there's lots of berries that grow around here and ripen at different times of the summer. We pick pounds and pounds and freeze them and have a delicious treat whenever. Some I've been able to experience so far: marionberries, blueberries, blackberries.
3. Dramatic Mountains - They do put the little rounded PA mountains to shame. On clear days you can see Mt. Jefferson and some others towering over Salem.
4. Skiing - Wow, so much fun. At the higher elevations, we get drier fluffier snow out here (and more of it and for a much longer season). Pair that with the monster mountains and the Northeast can't begin to compete.

Which state wins? I don't know.

So last weekend I went to visit my family in PA. Dan drove up from D.C. and we threw a wild baby shower for Kate (due Oct. 1st). I finally got to meet some of Kate's husband's family. All 3 of his sisters (Anita, Melissa, Angela) were there to pick on him, and his Aunt Karen was a lot of fun too.

The men hang out upstairs. Here's Dan, Dad, and Kate's husband, Andrew. Yes, we sisters married guys with the same name. It makes for some confusing conversations.

Tami and Corynn (and baby Ryan) drove out for the party. Here they are playing a game racing to dress a doll.

Kate says, "What?! You aint got nuttin on this belly!" I guess this is one of the first pictures of the cousins together. Kate looks really healthy and energetic. She bounces up and down my parents front hill (pretty big/steep), and 2 sets of stairs. She goes to the Y most mornings for swimming and other workouts, and it shows. I hope I can stay as active and healthy as she is! To see her so well, alleviated a lot of my anxieties/fears (of course now I'm nervous about a dry red itchy irritated tummy that becomes allergic to lotions & creams). Any day now... Connor's coming!

And just to show you my belly is growing, here it is at 17.5 weeks:

Sweet Bloopers

Nothing really exciting to write about over the past few weeks. My job is going well and I really enjoy it and the people I work with. And...well that's pretty much it. So I'll share four really funny videos. These are from Home Shopping Network type shows and the best parts are when after the salesperson screws something up they are still trying to sell their junk. Have a look..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeLg9cKhrIw&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC70vdm4Al0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv5woNs9WRE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZhMfzc9RbU&feature=related

Accepted!!!

Megan and I made an offer on a house at 2pm on Saturday and our offer was accepted at 7pm! It's a very nice house that is on the end of a dead end street. It has four bedrooms, two baths and is around 1500 square feet. Our favorite part about the house is that it has a lot of windows but also a lot of privacy. Next door to our house is an elementary school and less that 100 feet from our front door is a nice field with a 1/4 mile track. I didn't post the address on purpose maybe that is just me being paranoid but here are some pics that I lifted from the realty site.













There are a few more hurdles (home inspections, VA loan inspections, etc..) we have to overcome before we move in so we're trying not to get too excited. But we really are :o)