vacation: belem and alfalma in lisbon, portugal
Wake up to no water and no concierge to help, but thankfully it came back on in time for a shower, hurray. We try several times to get out to Belem before noon, but the cards were stacked against us. We missed our bus, another didn’t operate on Sundays. And no delicious European standing cafes with tasty pastries. Instead it was Brown’s Coffee Shop playing bossa nova style YMCA and Ace of Base covers. Unacceptable pastels de nata and a chocolate croissant with sprinkles (yikes!).
We stumble upon traditionally dressed Portuguese dancers and bag pipe players headed towards PraOa da Figueria for the Festa do Folar. We take the tram to Belem, where people are walking around with large palms for Palm Sunday service. Pasties de Belem are far superior… flaky, creamy, not too sweet, just right.
Since we aren’t allowed to go into the Mosterio de Jeronimos, we visit the nearby flea market with overpriced silver wares (the dragon tongs were awesome) and rows of ancient post cards. Peruvian flute music echoes from the shoreline… doo-wop and greatest hits opera. Tom thinks the Monumento dos Descobimentos would look cooler if they were “climbing up to the moon”. We get sun burnt in the nice weather.
Torre de Belem is crowded but free. We continue our tradition of monster mask pictures wherever we can sneak it, before heading back to Baixa for lunch. No luck on a Sunday… all tourist places with pictures of food on menu, Ena Pai. Tom’s suckling pig is the best. Alyssa might have gotten food poisoning from her watery crème brulee or fish food. Mine is just all sorts of bland… bachalau bland.
Pass through Festa do Folar on our way up to Castelo Sao Jorge, tough on the feet uphill on cobblestones. We find an abandoned house on a more scenic way up to the top, with lots of colorful laundry hanging on clothes lines. Stray cats run around the castle, as another strange man (wizard?) plays flute. Tom freaks some American girls out when he questions what the peacock might taste like… duck perhaps?
Our feet are dying. Alyssa looks sick. We get on the historic Tram 28 through Alfalma, Baixa, and Chaido. Go to Pingo Doce for food… no linguica but they have Panda spaceman cereal, cheap wine, and soft tasty cheese. We rest and rest and rest until it is far past dinner for America, but the night has just begun for the Portuguese.
Taxi it to Restaurante Alfaia in Barrio Alto where we wait a while for a table in the back. I have Acorda de Gambas, a thick bread soup with shrimp. Alyssa is convinced to eat a steak with a fried egg on top covered in some meat gravy aka delicious. Tom has the best of all, pork with clams in white wine sauce. The food is mmm mmm great. The wine is even better. We come back happy and drained and stay up to the wee hours chatting over Vinho Verde.
Tomorrow: A day at the beach in Cascais & Estoril
issue: Michigan House Bill 6644
On December 4th 2008, the House of Representatives in Michigan passed HB 6644. Although, passed would be an understatement in a ruling that read 97 in favor to 9… that’s right, only 9… opposed. So what is in HB 6644 that was so unarguably beneficial to Michigan that it brought Democrats and Republicans alike together…
“House Bill 6644 would amend the Michigan Liquor Control Code to delete the provisions described above. Instead, the bill would specify that notwithstanding a commission rule allowing an off-premises licensee to deliver a preordered quantity of alcoholic liquor to a customer, a retailer could not deliver alcoholic liquor to a consumer at his or her home or business or at any location away from the retailer’s licensed premises.”
Yes, the legislative officials at Lansing came together in unison to make it ILLEGAL for consumers to shop for wine over the internet… to make it ILLEGAL for small wine shops in Michigan to deliver wine to customers… to make it ILLEGAL for restaurants and caterers to buy wine any place but through Michigan wholesalers, who control the styles of wines and the prices they are sold at.
This is called the 3-tier system, a system that dates all the way back to the repeal of prohibition. You can either be a supplier, a wholesaler, or a retailer. It’s a chain at the bottom of which is the consumer. We can only interact with the retailer. The retailer is at the mercy of the wholesaler and their relationships with suppliers. Wholesalers determine which brands are carried in the state and which in-state wines get sold out of state. It’s all tied to a very expensive out-of-state license which basically means… if you are a small winery in Michigan, don’t expect to sell your wines outside of Michigan. If you are a small winery outside of Michigan, don’t expect to sell your wines in Michigan. And let’s not even get started on out of country wines!!
And I sit here and ask myself… why is it in a time of progress and transparency, in a time where the consumer can collaborate with big brands like Starbucks and Dell, where consumers are given a voice in government… why is Michigan so in favor of a system that keeps consumers at the very bottom of the ladder in so little control of the products they can buy and the prices they can buy them at?
There are a lot of people who righteously like to call a “pig a pig”, and say that the Michigan Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association have been fattening pockets in Lansing, while the small wineries just haven’t been putting up the fight they did a few years ago. The Wholesalers Association will claim that they are protecting businesses from the chaos of opening the market up, that they are protecting minors (rich minors with good taste) from buying wine online, and that they are protecting in-state businesses from competing with out-of-state businesses. But let’s not quibble over WHY the government is doing it. I’m hear to talk about WHAT this bill is going to do… because it is about to go to the Senate on December 18th to get passed right in time for Christmas.
Who does this bill hurt?
1. Me, my mom, my father-in-law, and all the people like us
I have bought the last 3 years of Christmas presents and birthday presents for my husband online. Ever since we honeymooned in Napa Valley, we fell in love with the wine culture. It is a huge part of our life together and our marriage, as we bond over the experiences and the memories we create touring wine countries. I’ve created unique gift packages of wines from those vacations that we can’t get back at home. And now… I will no longer be able to do that.
My mom is the queen of unique gift giving. She loves to find those gifts that no one else would be able to find, and for her daughter and son-in-law, a lot of those gifts have dealt with wine. Even most recently, she gave us some unique wines from the South, from her heritage. And we shared in an evening of good ol’ Southern cooking and beverages. And now… she will no longer be able to do that.
My father-in-law fell in love with French Bordeaux in his younger age, a wine that doesn’t come easily to Michigan. And when Tom and Sandy raised their three boys, they made it a point to buy a wine from each of their birth years to give to them on their wedding day. It took lots of research to find the perfect wine, the one that would age 20-30 years. When we were given that wine on our wedding day, my husband and I both teared up and made a promise to do the same for our children. Will we be able to keep that promise?
2. Small local businesses like Winebuys.com and Rick Wolf
But it’s not just consumers who suffer. It’s local businesses. Winebuys.com is a Ferndale-based business based almost entirely on direct shipment to customers. Michael Solarz, the owner, brought it from California to Michigan a year ago. They have six employees but hope reach 25 within two years, but with this law, they will be moving their business elsewhere.
“I find it extremely antibusiness and distressing. We wanted to get into a business that wasn’t dependent on the Michigan economy. Then we get hit with this?”
And then there is Rick Wolf, who works for a wine retailer in Madison Heights:
“Our Madison Heights team has developed sound relationships with clients all over Michigan. We are proud we can personally cater to our clients’ tastes and their budgets prior to delivering their wines… The practical ramifications of House Bill 6644 passing would be catastrophic for my company, as well as hundreds of other wine retailers and catering companies. We would be forced to employ less delivery drivers, warehouse workers, and even customer service representatives. During this particularly trying holiday season, the Michigan House of Representatives would be better served considering a bill that can create more jobs, not one that is certain to take jobs away.”
3. The future residents and businesses of Michigan
If places like Winebuys.com are moving out of Michigan, this all but assures that businesses like them will not be moving in. The cost and restrictions will no longer make it reasonable for a wine associated start-up to make headway in a state like Michigan. But what about the future residents of Michigan? You could say it is beyond a stretch that someone would chose to move or not to move to Michigan based on this bill… but I say that it is “quality of life” issue and that it sends the wrong message to future Michiganders about the governments priorities.
When it came time to vote this November, I wanted to make sure that I was doing my part to elect the right kind of people not only into Washington, but into Lansing. That is why I spent time watching local debates like this one between Rep. Marc Corriveau (D) and Jerry Vorva (R). Marc Corriveau won me over because he seemed to understand that the key to solving Michigan’s crisis was not just making it attractive for businesses to move to Michigan, but making it attracting for people to move to Michigan. He said that if you improved the quality of life… the roads, the schools, the culture, that businesses would follow.
Marc Corriveau voted yes to HB 6644, and never have I so quickly felt personally let down by someone in office… someone I voted to be there.
Will this post make a difference? Will it convince Senator Bruce Patterson to oppose the bill when it comes to Senate on December 18th? Probably not. But it will stay in the Google archives, it will spread around the internet, and it will be a constant reminder to some that the AGAINST argument is perhaps worthy of a little more than a single paragraph.
Thank you for listening,
Marta Strickland
technology: iPhone
Something happened this week that is going to change our daily lives. No, I’m not pregnant… yet. It is something seemingly less dramatic, but something that nonetheless will change our lives.
We bought new mobile phones. For me, it was the new iPhone 3G. For Tom, it was the Samsung Blackjack, which is admittedly very much like my old Motorola Q. There is no denying that my phone is cooler, but we are both taking it one step at a time, immersing ourselves in a new culture, a culture we were both reluctant to join and surely will come to embrace.
Welcome to the Connected Masses
As soon as Tom set up e-mail on his Samsung, as soon has he began to put bookmarks into his mobile browser, I knew it was all over for him. He had entered into the world of the always connected. No longer would there be online time and offline time. With internet and e-mail always at your side, the lines blur, the worlds collide. You are always connected.
This is a world that I have been part of for quite some time, but only truly embraced about a year ago. I had worn down the keys of my Motorola Q. It had become an appendage. But I had outgrow it. I needed more… more efficiency… more applications. I was already connected, I wanted a cultural revolution. I didn’t want the internet all the time, I wanted it infused into my lifestream.
Forced into the iCult
When I had first decided that it was time to get a new phone, I had all but decided on the Google Android. I had ruled the iPhone out, because I have never felt part of Apple culture and had figured that many of the perks of the phone would only benefit those already immersed in the iCult.
But, several months went by and the reports of the iPhone App Store awesomeness grew, while the launch date of Android pushed further and further into the distance. I couldn’t wait any longer. So on Wednesday of this week, my husband spent an excruciatingly long time at Best Buy purchasing and setting up our new phones.
As he walked through the door with my phone, I wasn’t like a giddy child on Christmas day. It was like an alien object. I kept blogging, I kept working, while the black monolith sat there on the desk waiting to be played with.
Once I started, I got into the hang of it pretty easy. I immediately went to the App Store and began downloading all of the apps I had been reading about for the past many months. As the screens began to fill up with icons, I realized how easy and addicting it was, this could become trouble.
I Shalt Not Act Like a Douche
It had been sitting in the back of my mind for weeks, and now it was reality. I was marked as part of a culture with this phone, would this be something I would come to love or hate? I’m not sure even now. But, when I walked through the doors of my work the next day, I can tell you one thing… I was definitely iPhone shy.
I didn’t want to whip it out and show it off. I didn’t even really want to talk about it. It still was that foreign object, friendly but foreign. But, like it or not… the comments came. “Oh, so you got the new iPhone.” “Wait, I thought you were going to get the Android.” “Hey, since when do you have an iPhone?”
It’s nothing bad, it’s nothing even meaningful. But I was now one of those iPhone people.
Our New “Connected” Lives
The change in our lives was never so apparent as when Tom and I had dinner together yesterday. We were on the road and decided to take a detour by 6 mile to see if there were any new restaurants. We didn’t see any, but when I pulled up my Urban Spoon application and found a highly rated restaurant hidden in the back of the strip.
We sat down, enjoyed some snacks, ordered our drinks, and then… the phones came back onto the tables. Off and on during the dinner the phones served as discussion points. Places to look up information, and places to even record information about the wines we were drinking. I wouldn’t say there was ever a moment where my husband and I were distracted from each others company. It was almost like there was another presence at the table. Like we were not eating alone.
At the end of the meal, my husband told the waiter/sommelier how we had almost missed coming here. I toyed with the idea of showing him my phone, until the urge was just too strong. I had to pull it out and show him the Urbanspoon and how well rated the restaurant was. He had thought it was cool, but didn’t really grasp what I was trying to show. Without being “always connected”, my husband and I would not have even dined there tonight, we would have had a total different experience.
And so that is why I say that it is just that… Something happened this week that is going to change our daily lives. It’s going to change vacations, it’s going to change just sitting around our house in our pajamas. It’s going to change the way we have dinners. It’s going to change the way my husband and I connect to each other.
Don’t believe me, just read this awesome New York Times article, Brave New World of Digital Intimacy - I’m So Totally, Digitally Close To You.
life: my first new car buying experience
My husband and I are getting a new vehicle!! After many months of very casual discussion, a broken air conditioner and a particularly steamy month of May propelled us into a serious vehicle hunt. And as quickly as that hunt seemed to begin, we ended up choosing and ordering an… All-New 2009 Dodge Journey… feature packed, value added, technology driven!!! Woohoo, right?
You’ll have to excuse me, but this has been a very strange process for me that has not come without a fair amount of bias, both positive and negative. There is hefty pride and hefty skepticism, which was very difficult for me to overcome in an effort to make this decision as objective as possible.
The Journey began with consumer empathy…
You see, the Journey (which it wasn’t titled originally) was the first vehicle that I was dedicated to working on for my job. I participated in focus groups and did my first one-on-one ethnographic interviews with couples in their homes. While I did not know this before starting my job at Organic, I love doing empathetic, conversational consumer research. And the fact that I was doing it with young couples, recently married, recent first time home owners, pre-children, busy lives… well, I can’t say that it didn’t set my brain on a pathway to start thinking about how a crossover vehicle could really help out my lifestyle.
My husband was set on replacing his car with another car. But, as soon as I dropped this idea of possibilities, space, flexibility, and you know they aren’t as bad with fuel economy as they used to be, he was hooked as well. He started having dreams of the GMC Acadia and SUVs with built in DVD players. After all, this will be our first family vehicle.
Next was a lesson in engineering
Next, I spent some time interviewing the engineers who actually worked on the Journey vehicle. If you spend a great amount of time, like I do, stuck in never ending meetings about positioning lines and banner ads and marketing budgets, it can start to make you a cynic to the entire automotive process. The flashy enthusiasm of marketing speak becomes numbing and bland. But, when you sit down and interview the people who are actually excited because they created something with their own brains and with their own hands, you can’t help but get excited too. These are smart people, and they are really trying to make good decisions that actually relate to making better product and making products based on what people need. I am sure it is like this inside every automaker’s walls, inside every product manufacturer’s walls really. And sometimes that is easy to forget, unless you are talking to these people directly, which is why we do it.
So when my husband and I decided on a whim to stop by a Dodge dealer on the way home to check out the Journey, I knew far more that the car salesmen about the features and the reasons behind them. Actually, so did my husband, since he has been working on the Journey car commercials lately. Really, the dealer didn’t know much about anything and told us he’d get the keys for a test drive and then never returned. Hmmm… you’d think a car salesmen would be interested in making such a seemingly easy sale, even though we weren’t really ready to buy. While I had preconceived positive notions about Journey, I also had preconceived negative notions about dealers.
Overcoming preconceived notions
There comes in the trouble… preconceived ideas, biases. I felt a pit in my stomach that I was succumbing to enthusiasm based on the professional kool-aid that I have been drinking. And that only lead me to unearth a bunch of negative biases I also had built up in my system. Once the seed of doubt was planted that “this is too good to be true”, I began to feed the doubt with all the other not so positive information I am exposed to on a daily basis.
A big part of my job is also keeping tabs on the “voice of the consumer”. Whether it is through social networks, blogs, surveys, articles, etc., I often monitor the consumer perceptions that Chrysler needs to overcome in order to inform the work I do for Organic. After you hear the mantra of “poor interior quality” over and over again, it’s not only hard to disagree with it, but it is hard not to dwell on it. So I knew that to make a rationale and informed decision, we were going to need to keep our options open, start from the drawing board of true possibilities, and choose our favorites based on a multitude of factors.
Nissan Rogue
This was by far our most horrible dealership experience. We got a nice enough older Korean man, who wasn’t pushy per-say, but he also did not know ANYTHING about the vehicle. In fact, he proceeded to tell us misinformation, like that the Rogue had a DVD player option. We somehow got roped into sitting down for half an hour as he bounced back and forth between his boss and us, before telling us he couldn’t give us a quote, we would need to bring him a quote and he would match it. What??
But let’s get to the car. I’m not going to go into much detail, only gut reactions. We were not too happy about the exterior of the Rogue. It looks like a bug, the front end just sits too high and it feels a little cartoon-y. We honestly don’t care enough about cars to ever make that a deciding factor, although there are many who would. The interior, however, WOWed us. This was quality. The armrests were soft, the dash was stitched. Things felt nice, comfy, and substantial. American interior quality in the same price range is just not the same, and I was finally being given a good benchmark to base that assessment on.
Pontiac Torrent / Chevy Equinox (Saturn Vue)
We were hoping to compare more cars against the Rogue and the Journey, but the Torrent and Equinox were essentially the SAME exact car and thus we truly only looked at three models. In that mix as well is the Saturn Vue, which is slightly different than the Torrent and Equinox, but suffered many of the same drawbacks in our eyes. The dealership experience was at least quite pleasant, and we never got that ever feared pushy salesman.
The cars, however, were nothing terribly inspiring. They look quite good from the outside. We liked the look of the Equinox and certainly the Vue. But, cheap interior design was not a unique Chrysler problem, something that many forums and blogs I have read would have me believe. Maybe it was just the price point of these vehicles, but the interiors were of poor quality. I actually broke a piece of the seat handle in the Torrent in our test drive by just merely trying to tilt my seat back.
Back to the Dodge Journey
Our first real dealership experience, getting a test drive and a price quote, was far more enjoyable that our absent-minded salesmen at the previous dealership. We visited the Journey again to put everything back in perspective. It had magically made it on the list of cross-overs of a reasonable size in a reasonable price range, and the more we learned about the Journey the more that its value became a convincing factor. I was coming to expect things in other vehicles that seemed logical, they made sense, but they just weren’t there: fold flat seats, in floor storage, dvd system option. They were in the Journey, but not its competitors
The finishing line
And then it happened. Tom was ready to buy, just like that. He had done enough research. Because honestly, this was his new car we were buying. And so he was the master of the spreadsheet and the dealer relationship, and he was convinced. But my brain had a freak out… I tried to think of every reason why buying a Journey might be a bad idea. And ultimately, it came back to a gut reaction. Tom liked the Journey. I liked the Journey. What else matters?
All of my doubting and all of my playing devil’s advocate came back to why other people would not buy the Journey, not why we wouldn’t. That is the way my brain has been trained to think. I have been trained to think for the consumer to the point where sometimes I have a hard time thinking as myself in a consumer situation. So I said… fuck it, buy it. And we did.
It will arrive in 4 weeks, packed full of great features, ordered just the way we wanted it. And when it does, I’m sure I will have a whole other fun blog to write. Phew!!
website: France & Italy - Tom & Marta’s European Vacation 2007
You might remember, before I left for my trip to Europe, I decided that “it was about time to push my scrapbooking pursuits into the 21st century”. So, in order to do that, I began collecting digital artifacts of my journey. Those artifacts included twitter feeds, Flickr images, YouTube videos, blog journal entries, Google maps, GPX data, mp3 jukeboxes, and an RSS feed of useful links.
I assembled all those artifacts into a website, where users can take a tour through the daily experiences of our trip. Beyond that, I used a very amazing new tool called Sprout to create a “widget” that included the essence of some of this content… a slide show, a video, a jukebox, etc. By taking this content into the world of widgets, I was able to extend the experience beyond the special site and into things like my MySpace page, my Facebook page, NetVibes, and the various blogs I contribute to.
So, in order to avoid over explaining something that is supposed to be experiential, I will stop here. Please enjoy our digital scrapbook!!
cell phones: Blackberry, Verizon Smartphones, Android, iPhone
So now that I have decided that I am truly in the market for a new phone, there are several big questions I need to answer. For one, what type of phones are available to me as a Verizon customer? While there is always the option of finding an “unlocked” version of a phone (if the perfect phone isn’t offered by Verizon), there is always an associated cost with that. Another question, would it benefit me more to shop for a phone now or wait until the summer when some of the newest phones are going to hit the market?
So, let’s start by having a look at what I could use on my network:
1. Blackberry Phones
Blackberry is one of the leading smartphone engineers for a reason. People seem to love the interface and the usability of the phone, and the types of advancements the newer editions of the Blackberries have made are impressive. With the Curve there is now a decent quality digital camera, GPS support, and on some editions Wi-Fi support. The 8830 is compatible with 3G networks, can be used globally, and has a built-in media player that supports a wide variety of audio and video formats. Both phones are also very capable when it comes to opening documents, such as Excel spreadsheets and Powerpoint presentations (no editing capability however).
The problem with the avaiable Blackberry phones is that what one can do, the other can’t. The 8830 has no camera or wi-fi, while the Curve is not capable of connective to Verizon’s 3G network. And, in the end, the Blackberry phones do not offer anything revolutionary when it comes to the operating system. In fact, I would see moving from a Windows Mobile OS to a proprietary Blackberry OS as a step in the wrong direction when it comes to potential future integration. Although, buying the most popular phone in the country would mean entering into a great community that offers support, hacks, applications, etc.
2. Verizon Compatible Smartphones
The Verizon smartphones actually get me a little more excited, especially the XV6800 and the SCH-i760. The XV6800 is compatible with both wi-fi and Verizon’s 3G network. It runs on the Windows Mobile 6 platform, and while that is not terribly exciting, it is at least familiar. It also has a decent quality camera phone with video support. All in all, some great features.
What is ultimately the really fun thing about these phones is that they offer both the touch-screen interface and full QWERTY keyboard. I have become incredibly fast at typing on my Q and cannot imagine degrading to a standard number pad, but at the same time am a little weary about going to full touchscreen. There is still something about feeling keys underneath my fingers that makes me a little more confident and speedy when I am typing. However, there is no denying that touch-screen offers way more in the realm of user interface flexibility. And, so long as it is a little more accurate than say the Garmin is at sensing finger presses, I am willing to try it out and these phones offer me the best of both worlds.
Every phone has its cons. These are substantial in size, not nice and slim, as well as cost. There are sensitivity issues with the touch screen, and one is reported to have less than perfect call quality. However, I expect there is always going to be a give in take, and if I was to go out and buy a cell phone right this second… it would probably be one of these two. They don’t have the type of OS updatability or integration I have dreamed of, but they are worlds better than what I have now.
So, back to the second question at hand… should I settle now, or should I see what the future has to offer?
3. Android Phones
There are a lot of rumors of what the new Android phone will do, and I am sure that the first generation phones will not be without their quirks. However, there is always something a little revolutionary behind what Google does and I would be excited to be part of it. The idea of services like YouTube, Google Maps, Google Docs, search, widgets, and many more being integrated from day one into a cell phone operating system is an attractive prospect. Not only that though, it represents a new momentum towards blurring the lines between what is web service and what is software. Other recent news promises things like better software integration and multi-player gaming. While not all of the dreamed about details could come to fruition, there is a level of excitement about this phone that is getting software developers and phone manufacturers behind it with determination, and that can only be a good thing.
4. iPhone (2nd Generation)
Another revolutionary phone is the iPhone. I’ve never been a Mac fangirl, but the attractiveness of this phone cannot be denied. I like the idea of a multi-touchscreen interface that supports gestures as a way to navigate photos and websites. It seems to make navigating your phone more natural and organic. While the phone is beautiful and sleek, as most Apple products, there are MANY features of the first generation phone that are lacking, including support for enterprise level e-mail (beyond necessity), 3G, a camera that takes video, Flash video, GPS, and much more. There have been rumors of at least some of these things being supported in the new phone. But ultimately, even if the phone improves, it seems to me like it benefits those who love Apple most… those who use iTunes and AppleTV, those who are the fanboys and girls. Apple integrates best with its own fans and own products, and for me and the products I use daily, I’d benefit far more with a system built by Google or Microsoft.
So, I think my best option is to wait it out just a while longer to see what Google has up their sleeve. The Verizon options are certainly great as a fall back, but I’m still not ready to give up on Google as the catalyst to another phone revolution.
cell phone: Motorola Q
When I first received my Q, to be honest, I was a little intimidated. It was a birthday present and it was exciting, but as my husband explained to me all of the features, I just kept thinking… I’m never going to be doing all that with my phone, this is too much for my needs. And, in reality, I didn’t really get the full use out of it for those first six months. Sure, I would pull up a few e-mails now and then and check my calendar, but it was not an integrated part of my life.
All that changed the minute I got my new job. Suddenly having constant access to my e-mail and calendar became a necessity of the position. I was using Google Maps on the road to get me to where I needed to go, and was sending photo messages back to my husband to keep us connected while away. Before I knew it I was IMing, Twittering, catching up on my industry blogs on NetVibes Mobile… maybe even sneaking some time on LostPedia during a really dull meeting. I ordered my husbands Christmas present using my phone while waiting in line at Sam’s Club. That’s about as integrated into daily life as you can get.
To my surprise, the time has come. I’ve hit the point where my faithful Q, well, no longer cuts it. It doesn’t support Flash video. The operating system, not to mention the web, run excrutiatingly slow. Some web pages are not even navigable. The battery life is pathetic even with the big pack. And almost daily, I have to reboot the phone due to a system freeze, sometimes it even requires me removing the battery pack.
My Dream Phone
On long drives home, I fantasize about what my perfect phone would be:
1. Flash Video
An absolute must, big enough to have its own category. How entertaining it would be to pull up that funny YouTube video for the friends in your bar? That’s a perk, but for me I could see an almost daily use. I would love to follow Gary Vaynerchuck’s almost daily wine video blog. It’s an intimidating time commitment to become a true Vayniac, but something in me wants to be one, merely because I have so much respect for what Gary is doing for the industry. It’s fresh, it’s interactive, it’s the blend of my two big loves in life. Give me a Flash-enabled phone and a headphone jack and I’d gladly give up 10 minutes of my 45 minute commute to listen to the show.
2. True Internet
While it is a part of it, I’m not limiting this idea to the iPhone “true internet”. There are actually times I find a targeted mobile version of a website very helpful. But then there are others where I just want to have the web work like it does on a computer… AJAX, Google Maps with all the features, no crashes, faster speeds, delete my temporary internet files easily, save my passwords, cookies. I want to easily subscribe to RSS feeds and bookmark on del.icio.us. I want to find words, cut and paste, save images to my background. Oh, and… I really want to be able connect to WiFi when its available for even faster surfing!!
3. Location-Based Services
Ultimately, it is a mobile phone, the keyword being “mobile”. Tools should be tailored for that purpose. Google My Maps is a great way to build a travel guide before you go somewhere. A phone with a GPS feature could add an extra layer of functionality, layering your custom map travel guide onto your physical environment. What is the closest wine bar I researched? Any good sushi nearby? Based on where I am, what is the best way to get there and avoid traffic?
4. Flexibility and Extendibility
Just like my Q proved, the right phone now could be the wrong phone tomorrow. The Wii can add new channels, the PS3 can launch the Home network, and every OS comes with their service packs and upgrades. Why then is cell phone technology so inflexible, such a black box? There should be a built in feedback mechanism and frequent updates. I want Windows and Verizon to know just how much my cell phone crashes. And I want widgets, a custom desktop showing weather… I want an iconic alert the minute I look at my phone telling me if there is traffic in my future or if my favorite blog just updated.
Bottomline, I want a phone that makes my life easier and better.
So… what is THAT phone?
In a follow-up article, I will analyze the cutting-edge phones that are on the market and the technologies on the horizon that might make my dreams come true (or not).
We will now resume our regularly scheduled program…
Lately my life has been on a major pause. As soon as I returned from Europe, it was a mad rush for the holidays, followed by New Years, followed by a week long trip for work that had me bouncing around North America… which all resulted in me getting some form of the flu. The problem with all this is that I had built up a sort of forward momentum. The Europe excursion and then my week with some of the most interesting minds in my company, it had all been very inspiring. But there is nothing as momentum killing as the flu to knock the wind of inspiration out of you.
In an effort to regain enthusiasm, I decided to build my very own “Eight Imperatives for Greatness in 2008″, inspired by Organic’s 8 for ‘08. So when I’m feeling down, uninspired, or directionless, I can look at this list of resolutions and find my way again:
USE IT OR LOSE IT
I resolve to make the most of my surroundings.
Let’s face it with Michigan’s economy the way it is, I’m not going to be moving anytime soon. It’s time to stop dreaming of a bigger and better kitchen with an island and walk-in pantry, and start making it a reality in whatever little ways I can. Build shelves, repaint, out with the old and in with the new.
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS
I resolve to jump at the chance without thinking too hard about where I’m going to land.
In a few years, kids will enter the picture and change everything. I may never have the chance to be the “career woman†again, and I might like it that way. So now is the time for me to see how far I can get and how quickly. It’s time to open my arms to opportunity, even if it involves a little pain, a little elbow grease, and a little travel. And why not build a long weekend with Lon & Roxy off of a focus group trip? We aren’t accumulating those airline miles for nothing. Let’s throw a little more caution to the wind while we still have the chance.
INVENT PRIORITIES
I resolve to have a more active role in molding my career.
I’m always asking for tasks in my downtime. If I am going to prove that I am a big thinker, I should take a more active role. Sure, there is plenty of stuff that has to get done, but there is also plenty of space in between to lead my own initiatives. Nobody is going to remember whether or not I did a good job writing that 20th interactive brief, but they are going to remember if I did something new or innovative. Inspiration shouldn’t always be on the back-burner.
FEED PASSION
I resolve to go further with the things I love to do.
I am not going to be content to stagnate this year. If it is something I love to do, there is no reason it shouldn’t be treated like any other ambition. I’m probably not going to open a restaurant or a wine store, at least not in the next twenty years. But if I don’t push the bounds of my hobbies and passions, I’m going to forget why I liked doing them so much in the first place. Whether its trying a new spice or working on my presentation skills, I need to find ways to challenge myself and stay excited.
SPICE UP THE ROUTINE
I resolve to integrate new things into my life routine.
I’m always struggling to find things to blog about. Why does it have to be such a task? It should be fun. The problem is that a lot of my life is routine and it takes effort to break from that. I want to build in little challenges… one new restaurant a month or find five new technologies I can’t live without by the end of the year. By making adventure part of the routine, it should make life a little more interesting and thus bloggable.
BUILD A ROAD MAP
I resolve to lay down a feasible plan for my big personal projects for the year.
Often I get overwhelmed by all the stuff I want to do. It seems as though its never going to get done: the kitchen, the Star Performers DVD, the Eurotrip website. Each project requires its own dedication, and without a clear order of priority, I find myself struggling to make steps forward. I need to lay down a roadmap. What could and what should I work on in the next week, next month, next year? Make it more attainable.
TRAIN YOUR BRAIN
I resolve to stay on top of my own intelligence and creativity.
Its easy to have your brain get bogged down with the challenges at work. Often the easiest way to soothe yourself is to come home and numb that big gray mass with entertainment, wine, and sleep. But the brain needs a good work out just like any other part of the body, and I find that I start to feel more alive and more excited the more I learn… the more I realize that my brain has room to hold a lot more than the latest web trends. Time to give some exercise to my full brain, left and right.
MAKE ME FEEL GOOD
I resolve to not feel guilty or obligated.
Ultimately, making myself feel at peace is what all these resolutions are about. I get in the habit of feeling guilty or feeling behind, that I have somehow not done all that I wanted. But, in the end, if it is all about making myself happy then there should be no qualifications around it. Part of making me happy is making other people happy. Part of it is learning how to relax and do nothing. These incentives should be about giving myself direction and goals, not tasks and obligations.
RECENT WINES